Читать книгу The Stonecutter - Camilla Lackberg - Страница 16

It was a strange autumn. Anders had never before felt so exhausted, and yet so full of energy. Agnes seemed to infuse him with new strength, and sometimes he wondered how he’d been able to make his body function before she came into his life.

After that first evening, when she plucked up her courage and came to his window, his whole life had changed. Now-a-days the sun didn’t shine until Agnes arrived, and it went out when they parted. The first month they had approached each other cautiously. She was very shy and quiet, and he was still astonished that she had dared take that first step. It was unlike her to be so forward, and he felt a warmth come over him at the thought that she had made such a departure from her principles for his sake.

He would willingly admit that at first he had hesitated. He had sensed problems on the horizon and could see only how impossible the situation was. Yet the feeling inside him was so strong that he somehow managed to convince himself that everything would work out in the end. And she was brimming with confidence. When she leaned her head on his shoulder and rested her slender hand in his, he felt as though he could move mountains for her.

There weren’t many hours when they could meet. He didn’t get home from the quarry until late in the evening, and then he had to get up early in the morning to go to work again. But she always found a way, and he loved her for it. They took many long walks round the edge of town under cover of darkness, and despite the raw autumn cold they always found some dry spot where they could sit and kiss. By the time their hands began venturing under each other’s clothes it was already far into November, and he knew they had reached a crossroads.

He cautiously brought up the subject of the future. He didn’t want her to get in trouble, he loved her too much for that, but at the same time his body was urging him to choose the path that would lead them to a union. Yet his attempts to talk about his torment were silenced by a kiss from her.

‘Let’s not talk about that,’ she said, kissing him again. ‘Tomorrow, when I come to your place, don’t come outside to me. Instead let me come inside.’

‘But what about the widow —’ he said before she interrupted him again with a kiss.

‘Shh,’ she said. ‘We’ll be as quiet as two mice.’ She caressed his cheek and went on, ‘Two quiet mice who love each other.’

‘But what about —’ he continued, nervous, but at the same time excited.

‘Don’t think so much,’ she said with a smile. ‘Let’s just live in the present. Who knows, tomorrow we could be dead.’

‘Oh no, don’t talk like that,’ he said, pulling her close. She was right. He thought too much.