‘So how are you all?’
Matthew nodded. ‘We’re well, and yourself?’
‘I’m very well.’
‘I think we have a couple of horses your father will be interested in.’ Matthew gestured towards a corner of the field where the horses were tethered. They were grazing contentedly.
‘We have one pure white foal and a palomino. She is superb! My father has kept them to give your father first chance.’ He kissed his fingers. ‘Her coat is like spun gold and her mane and tail are pure white.’
‘I’m sure my father will be interested to see them,’ Luca assured him. ‘But where are the rest of the family?’
Matthew pointed over his shoulder. ‘My mother has been unwell. Charity is seeing to her needs and my father is directing the last vardos into the camp.’
Luca felt strangely disappointed. If this was the case it was unlikely he would catch up with Charity that evening. Still, there was always tomorrow. He would look forward to it. He took a seat on the ground cross-legged beside his friend. They talked about the places they had visited and the things they had done since the last time they met.
The next morning, Matthew and his father left the camp early. It was cattle market day in the town. They took four of the horses they were hoping to sell. The market was always busy. Farmers from the farms surrounding the town would congregate with animals they wished to sell. There would be cages and pens full of pigs, cows, sheep, geese, chickens and ducks as well as horses. When bartering for the animals was finished, the farmers would go for a well-earned tankard of ale in the market tavern. Luca had no doubt the Gypsies would join them, which meant they could be gone for most of the day. It also meant that he might see Charity at the camp. Quickly, he went to see to the needs of the circus animals before wandering towards the vardos. And then he saw her. His heart skipped a beat. She was in the corner of the field brushing the horses with some of the other girls.
Charity spotted him as he came towards her and a flush rose to her cheeks. Over the last couple of years, he had changed a lot as well. He had been a lanky, skinny boy, but with hard work and a life in the fresh air he had grown into a very handsome young man. He was wearing an open-necked shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His skin was golden brown and she could see the muscles rippling in his arms.
‘Hello, Charity.’
As he stopped before her, she realised he had also grown taller. He now towered over her.
‘Hello, Luca. How are you?’
Once she would have thrown her arms about him and given him a hug. But that would be frowned upon now she was sixteen.
‘Do you fancy a stroll by the river?’ Luca asked.
Charity bit her lip. Did she dare? But then she reasoned that her father and Matthew would be gone for some time and her mother was still in the vardo feeling unwell. What harm could it do?
She nodded and they set off side by side. Once they were out of sight of the camp, they relaxed a little. They began to feel more at ease with each other.
They were strolling along the banks of the River Anker. Charity stopped to sit on the grass beneath the branches of a weeping willow and dangled her feet in the cool water.
‘So how have you been?’
As Luca turned to watch her, she thought of the kiss they had shared and she flushed again. There was a strange fluttering feeling in her stomach that she had never had before.
‘I’ve been well,’ she answered quietly. She was very conscious of his closeness. Their arms were almost touching and she wished they would. ‘I had my birthday. My sixteenth birthday, so Papa will be looking for a husband for me now.’
Luca scowled as he plucked a blade of glass and began to chew on it. It was the worst news he could have received. He realised that the thought of Charity with another man made him jealous in a way he never had been before.
‘And how do you feel about that?’
Charity shrugged as she tossed her long dark hair across her shoulder. ‘I’m not happy about it,’ she admitted. ‘But this is our custom. All Gypsy girls are expected to wed once they reach sixteen.’
‘But you can’t!’ The words burst from him before he could stop them.
Shocked, she faced him. ‘What did you just say?’
Luca gulped and mopped his forehead feeling foolish. ‘I’m sorry . . . I shouldn’t have said that.’
She was staring deep into his eyes and it was his turn to flush now.
‘But why?’ she whispered.
‘Because I can’t bear to think of you with anyone else. I’ve thought of you every single day since we last met.’
