She nodded. ‘There’s no rush. We don’t have to be there until late afternoon. I’ll wait for you here.’
They finished their breakfast, and when Ben left in search of clothing, she Googled travel info for the castle – with a backup route, just in case of delays, even though there wasn’t a speck of snow on the ground in London.
On the way back to her room, she passed the small lounge opposite the reception desk and decided to go in to see if there was a bookshelf. Reading would help kill some time until Ben returned. The walls were papered with sheet music, and it had rows of dark mahogany bookshelves. However, when she tried to pick up a dusty looking hardback, she discovered they were all fake.Just the spines of old books glued onto a board and shoved into the recess to make it look like an old-fashioned library.
However, there were also other shelves filled with ornaments and music-related objects. An instrument case lay on the shelf below. Was that fake too? She pulled it towards her and unclipped the catches. Much to her surprise, she found a real violin inside.
What had Ben said in the early hours of yesterday morning? That she’d been at a music school somewhere in this city?
Holding her breath, she ran her fingers over the strings, over the scrolling woodwork at the neck. It was just so beautiful. And there was something about it that called to her. A thought came to her, one that might solve all their problems at once.
Ben strolled back to the hotel with some fresh clothes and a cheap rucksack that would probably fall apart before he reached Glasgow. He still wasn’t quite sure how he was going to get back to Invergarrig, but he might be able to get a coach ticket. Twice the journey time of the train, but at a fraction of the price.
The weather was cold but clear, so instead of drenching himself in exhaust fumes walking along the busy main road, he cut through Kensington Gardens, planning to exit back onto the street opposite the Albert Memorial, only a short walk to the hotel.
He’d only just entered the park when he heard music, the sweet, soulful strains of a violin drifting through the trees towards him.Curious, he veered from the path and crossed the grass towards the sound, emerging from a more densely planted area onto a wide lawn. A small, ornate bandstand stood a short distance away, a handful of people gathered around it. Ben walked round to join the back of the crowd, but when he saw who was standing on the raised platform, he almost fell over with surprise.
It wasAlicestanding up there, playing the violin.
Her eyes were closed, and she held the instrument as if she was born to do it, her body swaying and dipping with the sound. It was electrifying. He couldn’t have stopped watching even if he’d wanted to.
When she finished the piece, the audience applauded. She beamed at them and bowed, as if it was completely natural for her to be standing in front of people, sharing her gift with them. He didn’t know how to describe it. The best he could come up with was that, while he’d thought she was pretty wonderful, it was as if the Alice he’d known up until now had only been in black-and-white but now … now she was a Picasso or a Kandinsky, full of bold and bright colours. Astounding. Glorious.
And today was the last day he’d ever see her.
She spotted him and ran towards him, her face lit up. ‘I had an idea to drum up some extra cash. Look …’ She pointed to his grey beanie hat, upside down on the floor of the bandstand, dotted with lots of coins and a few notes. ‘We’ve definitely got enough for another ticket to Hadsborough Castle now, and I reckon if I move along to outside the Albert Hall, I could probably get even more, probably enough for your train ticket home.’
Ben stared at the hat and then the violin and then back into her bright, shining eyes. ‘How did you …? Where did you …?’
‘The violin?’ She laughed. ‘I found it in the hotel lounge. I asked Marco if I could borrow it.’
‘You’rereallygood,’ he said, aware how much of an understatement that was. ‘I mean, I don’t know much about music, but …’
‘I am, aren’t I?’ she said, glowing again. There was no hint of shyness or embarrassment about her answer, but also no arrogance. She was simply stating a fact.
‘Oh, Ben,’ she said, jumping back up onto the bandstand to collect the hat full of cash. ‘It was wonderful! When I was playing, it was like I was flying. It was like nothing else mattered. I might not know much, but I know thatthisis who I am. This is what I love to do.’ Her voice grew hoarse at the end of her sentence, and her eyes glittered with a jubilant ferocity.
Ben could hardly resist her. He wanted to kiss her so badly it hurt.
‘Play something else,’ he said. ‘But before you do it, give me your phone.’
She shot him a puzzled look but did as he asked, and when she raised the violin and bow, he held up the phone and started to film.
‘If you want memories of your trip. You’re not going to want to miss this one.’
Chapter Fifty
Now.
THE SUN WAS hovering low in the sky when Ben and Alice arrived, casting a golden glow over the warm sandstone bricks of what was possibly the prettiest castle Alice had ever seen. It sat on an island in the middle of the moat, reached by an arching bridge, and the vast array of tall leaded windows reflected the golds and pinks of the gathering sunset.
‘It’s the perfect place for a wedding,’ she said, swallowing down the knot in her throat. Ben’s only reply was a soft grunt.
Nothing felt real any more. She’d been on such a high after busking in Kensington Gardens earlier that day. How had her fingers known how to hold the bow and cause it to fly over the strings? But know they had, and she’d played tune after tune after tune with hardly a wrong note, her muscles remembering something her conscious brain could not. The endorphins stampeding around her system had made her feel as if she was about to explode with joy, but now, in the aftermath of all those rushing emotions, she just felt weird. As if she was watching the world go by from inside a goldfish bowl.
Hadsborough Castle … Getting here had been the focal point of her whole existence, it seemed, but now the moment had come,she’d rather be anywhere else on the planet.Run,a little voice inside her head whispered.Just go…
But she couldn’t. What was she going to do? Run forever?
