‘What is it, Charlie?’ she asked when they were alone.
‘So… Topsy told you about Ruth.’
‘That’s right.’
‘I might have guessed she would. She’s a terrible gossip. I’m sorry you had to find out like that.’
‘What is she like, this Ruth?’
‘She’s a lovely girl. Very jolly. You’ll like her.’
He looked earnest and anxious, his eyes scanning hers to see what her reaction was going to be.
‘I’m sure I will.’ She forced a smile. ‘Look, Charlie, it’s all right. It was bound to be a little awkward, I suppose, but… I’m glad you’ve met someone new. Genuinely I am. You deserve to be happy.’
‘That’s really how you feel?’
‘Of course.’
‘Right.’ He was silent for a moment, looking rather sombre.
For a second she thought about mentioning the telegram she’d sent, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so. She was too embarrassed. Clearly he was too.
‘I have to go home,’ she said, taking his silence as the signal that their conversation was at an end.
‘Wait. Don’t go yet.’ He put a hand on her arm.
‘What is it, Charlie?’
‘I thought, since you were home early… I made you a promise once, Bobby, and I feel guilty that I never managed to fulfil it.’
‘What promise?’
He nodded to the peak of Bowside. ‘I promised to take you up there to see the sunset before this summer was over, didn’t I?’
‘You did take me up there.’
‘That hardly counts.’ He flashed her the old familiar smile, the one she’d missed every day he’d been away, and Bobby felt herself start to melt as she had so many times before.
‘There’s a nice fire blazing in the parlour at Moorside, and I’m sure Reggie, Mary and the girls would be glad of Rob’s company for the day,’ Charlie said, sensing her weakening. ‘One more fell walk, for old time’s sake? It won’t be so easy once I’m a married man, you know. I’d like us to be better friends again.’
‘I’ll have to change into my walking things first.’
He grinned. ‘I knew you couldn’t say no to me.’
Some time later, they were once again striding the lower slopes of Great Bowside with the summit in their sights. Bobby could almost forget everything that had happened between them, forget Ruth, and imagine things had been restored to how they were during their happiest time together. The cuckoo time, when the fells had stretched out endlessly and Charlie’s arms had been for her and her alone. She wished he would slip his arm around her waist as he used to, but then she remembered that such wishes were no longer permitted. What a fool she had been in the past to ever have pushed his arm away! She hadn’t known then, as she played at being coy, how one day she would long for his touch only to find it was now forbidden.
‘I haven’t been up here since that night,’ she said dreamily.
‘I often think of that night.’
‘So do I.’
‘How are our friends the airmen?’
‘Piotr is thriving,’ she said with a smile. ‘He can walk now, with the aid of a pair of crutches. I was introduced to his wife and little boy just last week. They’re well-matched, he and Jolka – truly a partnership of equals. I’ve never met a married couple quite like them.’
‘And the pilot? Topsy’s letters are full of him, but she gushes so about those people she decides to make pets of that it’s hard to build a proper picture.’
