Very gently I extricated myself out from under his arm and slowly I slid away to the edge of the bed. Noiseless, I sat up. My feet touched the ground before I was suddenly jerked back.
He nuzzled my neck. ‘And where do you think you are going at this time of the morning?’
‘Oh, darling,’ I said. ‘This is like a dream come true. I almost can’t believe that I am here with you. Sleeping with you.’
‘That’s all good, but it doesn’t answer my question.’
‘I was going to the grave. I want to see what you have done.’
‘Can’t you go later?’
‘Nope. I always visit her grave at this time before the sun comes up.’ I shrugged. ‘I know it sounds funny, but she’s never around when the sun is up.’
He looked at me with an expression of great tenderness. ‘Don’t ever change, Lena. You cannot imagine how innocent and irresistible you are right now.’
‘Please don’t ever fall out of love with me.’
‘Nothing can change the way I feel about you. Don’t you know it was dark and lonely in my world until you came? I thought I was dreaming the first time I saw you.’ He touched my hair. ‘You were so blonde, so white, and so perfect—you looked like an angel. An angel of light. You dazzled me.’ He smiled. ‘I’m dazzled now.’
But I pushed him off firmly and dressed warmly in a thick knit cream jumper, jeans, and boots. Guy got out of bed and jammed a woolen hat on my head. He wound a long scarf around my neck.
‘It’s not cold outside,’ I protested.
He kissed my nose. ‘I love you, Lena Seagull.’
‘Keep the bed warm. I’m coming back.’
I turned out of the castle and saw him at the window watching me. He waved and I blew him a kiss. I suddenly remembered the first night I had arrived at the castle, the impression I had of unspeakable loneliness. It was gone. The castle had been purged of its ghosts and renewed and re-energized.
I went over the bridge. It had been repaired and painted. The rocky fields were a riot of wild flowers. The sight of them made my heart sing. I picked a bunch. The cemetery had been cleaned. I went and stood at her tomb. Beside it was the small headstone of her child. They were finally together. I placed the flowers on their graves and felt peaceful and happy. The clouds parted and the sun beamed down and I was caught up in the momentary beauty of the graves, the trees, and the flowers sparkling in the sunlight.
Then I turned back and made my way back to the castle where Guy was waiting for me.
The End
Dear Reader,
Thank you for taking the time to read Guy and Lena’s story. They lived in my head until you touched them with your eyes and made them come alive, and for that I will be forever grateful.
xx Georgia
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Sneak preview…
Hypnotized
Georgia Le Carre
The power of a glance has been so much abused in love stories, that it has come to be disbelieved in. Few people dare now to say that two beings have fallen in love because they have looked at each other. Yet it is in this way that love begins, and in this way only.
?Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
Prologue
The girl behind the counter smiled at me and licked her lips. Shit. That was an invitation if ever I saw one. Sorry, honey, I’m married. Hey, I’m not just married, I’m in fucking love. I had the perfect life. A beautiful wife, two little terrors, a successful career. In fact, I was poised to dominate my industry.
The results of my research would soon be made public and I was going to be a star! Life was good.
‘Keep the change,’ I told her.
Her smile broadened and yet there was disappointment in her eyes.
I grinned and shrugged. ‘If I wasn’t already hooked I’d ask you out. You’re gorgeous.’
‘I’m not jealous,’ she said flirtatiously.
‘My wife is,’ I told her, and picked up the tray of drinks: cappuccino for me, latte for my wife, and two hot chocolates for my monsters. Suddenly I heard a man shout, ‘Fuck me!’ And though those two words had nothing to do with me, my body— No, not just my body, every part of me knew.
They concerned me.
I whirled around, jaw clenched, still clutching the paper tray of drinks—one cappuccino, one latte, and two hot chocolates—as if it was my last link to normality. For precious seconds I was so stunned, I froze. I could not believe what I was seeing. Then instinct older than life kicked in. The tray dropped from my hand—one cappuccino, one latte, and two hot chocolates—my last link with normality falling away from me forever. I began to race toward the burning car. My car. With my family trapped in it. I could see my babies screaming and banging on the car doors.
‘Get out, get out of the fucking car,’ I screamed as I ran.
I could see them pulling at the handles, their small spread palms banging desperately on the glass. I could even see their little mouths screaming for me.
‘Daddy, Daddy.’
It was shocking how frightened and white their little faces were. I could not see my wife. Where was she?
I was running so fast my legs felt as if they might buckle, but it was as if I was in slow motion. Time had slowed down. At that moment thoughts came into my head at sonic speed, but the disaster carried on in real time. Suddenly my wife lifted her head and I saw her. She was looking out through the window directly at me. I was twenty feet away when I saw everything clearly. I kept on running, but it was like being in a dream where your mother suddenly turns into an elephant.
You don’t go What the fuck?
You just carry on as normal even though your mother has just turned into a green elephant. I just carried on running. I no longer looked at my children. My gaze was riveted by the sight of my wife. I was ten feet away when the car exploded. Boom! The force of it picked me up and threw me backwards. I flew in the air and landed hard on the tarmac. I did not feel the pain of the impact. I got onto my elbows and watched the fire consume my family and the thick, black smoke that poured from the wreckage.
There was no grief then. Not even horror. It was just shock. And the inability to comprehend. The l
oss, the carnage, the tragedy, the green elephant. People came to help me up. I was shaking uncontrollably. They thought I was cold so they wrapped me in blankets. They sent me in an ambulance to the hospital. I never spoke. The whole time I was trying to figure out the green elephant. Why? How? It confused me. It destroyed my life, past, present and future.
Two years later
London
Marlow Kane
It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
‘Lady Swanson is here for her appointment,’ Beryl said into the intercom. Even her voice was all at once professional and terribly impressed.
‘Send her in,’ I said and rose from my desk.
The door opened and a classically beautiful woman entered. Her skin was very pale and as flawless as porcelain. It contrasted greatly with her shoulder-length dark hair and intensely blue eyes. Her dress and long coat were in the same cream material; her shoes exactly matched the color of her skin. The overriding impression was of an impossibly wealthy and elegant woman. Women like her lived in movies and magazines. They did not walk into the consulting rooms of disgraced hypnotists.
‘Lady Swanson,’ I said.
‘Dr. Kane,’ she murmured.
I winced inwardly. ‘Just Marlow, please,’ I said and gestured toward the chair.
She came forward and sat. She crossed her legs. They were long and encased in the sheerest tights I had seen in my life. Yes, she was an incredibly polished and cultivated woman.
I smiled.
She smiled back nervously.
‘So, I believe you refused to tell Beryl your reason for coming to see me?’
‘That is correct.’
‘What can I do for you, Lady Swanson?’
‘It’s not for me. It’s for my daughter. Well, she’s my stepdaughter, but she is just like my own. I’ve raised her since she was two years old. She’s twenty now.’
I nodded and began to raise the estimation of her age upwards. She must have been at least forty, but she didn’t look a day over twenty-eight.