‘I’ve been alone ever since,’ he told her. ‘It hasn’t been all bad, and I’ve had a wonderful career and made brilliant friends, but it’s never quite the same as sharing one’s life with a partner.’
‘No,’ she said, wrapping her palm more tightly around the warm mug she held. ‘No, Charles, it’s not. I wish the world was more accepting.’Of you, of me, of the things we cannot change.
‘My dear, so do I,’ he said with a long sigh. ‘But sometimes the world surprises us and does the right thing. It brought me you, after all.’
Hope rose and placed a hand on her uncle’s shoulder, before bending low and pressing a kiss to his cheek. ‘You’re a good man, Charles,’ she murmured. ‘The very best, if you ask me.’
His smile was warm, and when his palm closed over her hand, their eyes met. Not so long ago he’d been a distant relative, but now he was the closest family member she had, and she loved him more than he’d probably ever realise.
‘There’s a reason my friends loved you so much tonight, Hope,’ he said, just as she was lifting her hand.
Her eyebrows tugged together. ‘Why’s that?’
‘Because you accepted them as readily as they accepted you,’ he said. ‘Your smile touched each and every one of them.’
‘It wasn’t so hard to smile, not in a room full of your friends.’Friends who hadn’t once seemed to judge her because of her circumstances.
‘I’ve never been so proud to call someone family as I was of you tonight, Hope.’
Charles might have been the teary-eyed one at first, but as she walked back to the kitchen to rinse their empty mugs, it was her eyes that burned fiercely with unshed emotion. Because he had no idea how much his words meant to her. Or maybe, given everything else he’d just said, he did.
31
‘A letter arrived for you today, Hope,’ Charles called out.
Hope took off her coat and scarf and hung them in the hallway, following his voice to the kitchen and walking past one of the paintings she’d done for him since she’d arrived. It wasn’t done with the passion she’d once had, but setting up in one of the upstairs bedrooms and having paint around her again had taken her back in time and reminded her of when she’d first met Gus and shown him her studio.
Her uncle was cooking something that smelt wonderful, and it made Hope’s stomach growl as she inhaled. She’d never known a man to cook so well before, and it still surprised her every time she saw him standing in front of the cooker. In the beginning, she’d imagined he simply heated up whatever his housekeeper made for him, but he’d quickly shown her that that was not the case. He had a full, vibrant life in London, even if he was on his own.
‘It’s just on the table there,’ he said, his back still turned.
Hope picked up the envelope, her heart skipping a beat when she saw the name of the sender on the back.
‘News from home?’ Charles asked.
‘It’s from Gus’s sister,’ Hope said, excitedly tearing open the back with her nail, her hands shaking as she opened it. ‘She’s the only one who knows where to find me. There must be news.’
Charles said something else, but she didn’t hear him, her eyes racing across the words on the page.
No. A sob slipped from her lips and Hope dropped into the seat beside her.
Not Gus. No, it couldn’t be Gus.
She was aware of warm hands closing over her shoulders, could hear the muffled cries that she later realised were her own, her hand pressed to her mouth as she tried to reconcile what she’d just read, tried to understand how it could possibly be true.
But she reached for the letter again, forcing herself to read it.
Dear Hope,
It is with great sadness that I write to tell you of the passing of my darling brother Gus. My parents received a telegram to inform them that he was tragically killed during a training exercise, but we don’t have any further details. My parents don’t know that I’ve contacted you, but I know how much he loved you, and if he’d had the chance he would have left everything behind to meet you in London. The telegram should have been sent to you, Hope—you were his everything, and I only wish you could have been married before he’d left so that things could have been different now he’s gone.
I don’t know how to offer you comfort from so far away, but what I can say is that you will always be family to me. I only pray that one day we can see each other again, and that I can meet my brother’s child, although I can only imagine the decisions you will face now that you’ve received this news. With that in mind, I’ve included some money with thisletter, and my hope is that it will tide you over for a time. I’m sorry it’s not more.
Hope, I wish I knew what to say, but the truth is that I don’t. My heart is broken, and I’m devastated over the loss of my brother, and I know that you will be feeling the same.
With all my love,
Marie
