‘Okay,’ he said, laughing. ‘You got me there.’
‘But it’s more than other places too, isn’t it? It’s the people you meet. That means you’re part of my journey, Ben. A big part of it.’
It wasn’t lost on him that he’d said something very similar to her in that hidden garden back in London all those years ago. It made him feel that if he could reach out and scratch just a few thin layers away, her memories of him might be hiding there, just under the surface. What if they did all come back in a rush,wiping the current ones away? Part of him wished for that, so she could remember how it was before, so he could explain and seek forgiveness, but another part of him didn’t. He didn’t want to lose the time they’d had together over the last few days, either.
Out of the corner of his eye, he was aware of Alice moving away, balancing her phone on one of the tumbledown walls.
He was about to ask her what she was doing when, in one smooth motion, she scooped a handful of snow off the corner of the wall and pressed it between her hands. A second later, his face was full of ice, and he was spluttering for breath.
Alice laughed. And it wasn’t the soft chuckle he’d heard her do before. This time it came right up from inside her, rough and dirty and unstoppable. He couldn’t help joining in. He also couldn’t help reaching down, finding his own handful of snow, and flinging it back at her.
She was too quick for him, darting to the side before it made impact. But he was pretty sure he had a better throwing arm and longer legs. It took three attempts, but he finally got her, and then all-out war ensued. After ten minutes, they were both breathless and feeling the chill of melted ice down the backs of their necks.
While he brushed himself down, Alice looked up. Clouds had drifted in since they’d arrived at the ruined castle, and now both land and sky were painted with the same soft white palette. ‘Do you think it’s going to snow again?’
He came to stand beside her. ‘Probably.’
‘My ears are freezing.’
He thought for a moment, then reached inside his coat pocket, pulled out his grey beanie and pulled it down over her snowball-tousled hair.Her eyes widened, and she moved to take it off again, but he shook his head. ‘Keep it. For now.’
They walked around, looking at what must have been the remains of the different rooms inside the castle, most only low walls unless they were part of the exterior of the structure. Alice took a few more shots of different things but frowned when she looked at the results. ‘Some of my shots look washed out. What am I doing wrong?’
‘It’s all about lighting, mainly,’ he said. ‘And contrast – finding an area of dark and shadow to feature, so it’s not just different shades of white in the shot.’ He took a couple of shots of a snow-covered bush from different angles and showed her the difference.
‘Oh, yes. I see what you mean now!’ She handed his phone back to him, and her expression grew serious. ‘This is your passion, isn’t it? Taking photographs?’
‘Um … Well, yes.’ There wasn’t much he could do to deny it now.
She was looking at him the same way she had done countless times when they’d hopped around London together – like she wanted to get a screwdriver, unlatch his skull and peer inside at his brain to find out what made him tick. Ben steeled himself for the next soft probe.
‘When we were on the train, you said you used to be a travel photographer.Usedto be. If you love it so much, why did you give it up?’
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Five months before the wedding.
‘JUSTIN …’ I SAID laughing, ‘do I really have to wear this thing?’ I reached up to touch the silk covering my eyes. I was sitting in the passenger seat of his Range Rover, and he’d been driving for about forty minutes. Five minutes ago, he’d pulled over and insisted he knot one of his ties firmly around my head.
‘It won’t be long now,’ he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice. ‘I don’t want to spoil the surprise.’
I relaxed back into the comfortable leather seat and smiled to myself. However high maintenance Justin could be sometimes, he was also loving and romantic, and when he pulled out all the stops, he made me feel like a princess.
A short while later, he came off the motorway – I felt the car slow, and then we took much more winding roads for a few minutes, before turning into what I guessed was a drive of some kind, because he kept his speed low and now and again we had to bunny hop our way over little speed bumps. Finally, he parked. I went to push the tie up onto my forehead, but his hand shot out and stopped me. ‘Not yet, Miss Impatient.’
I laughed, but I did as I was told. He came round to my side of the car,opened the door, and helped me down. I could feel rough, slightly stony ground under my feet. The summer was heaving its last dying breaths, evidenced by the cool breeze that rippled around me. I could hear voices, birds, trees rustling, but none of them gave me any clue to where we were. I gripped onto his arm tightly when he offered it to me.
Justin put his arm around me and led me along a firm, tarmacked path. It was just as well because, since I hadn’t known where we were going today, Justin had picked my outfit, and I was wearing nude pumps with four-inch heels. They were beautiful but not very practical for being out in the countryside.
‘I thought you said you were going to trust me when I put the blindfold on you,’ Justin said softly, but there was no irritation in his voice, only humour.
‘Sorry.’ I did my best to let him lead me, discovering it was easier if I stopped thinking for myself, trying to work out where we were and how I should put my feet, and let Justin think for me. After a while, I kind of checked out, and it was like waking from a daze when he finally brought me to a halt and lifted the blindfold from my eyes.
‘What do you think?’
I blinked, trying to get my blurry eyes to adjust to the light of the bright September morning. The first thing I saw was water – so flat and calm it had become a mirror for the cloudless blue sky above. The only hint that it was a lake were the tiny ripples fluttering across the surface in the wake of a pair of swans.
My gaze travelled upwards and I saw … I inhaled sharply. A castle. With turrets and windows and crenelated walls, all shaped in soft yellow sandstone.What I’d thought was a lake was actually a moat, and the main part of the castle was joined to the shore by a small, arched bridge.
