Читать книгу The Stationmaster’s Daughter - Kathleen McGurl, Kathleen McGurl - Страница 17

Ted was planning to spend a quiet Christmas on his own at Lynford station, as he’d done for so many years. Norah always spent the festive period with her husband and children – there was not enough space for them all in the station anyway, and Ted was not able to go to visit her. He was entitled to a couple of weeks’ holiday each year, but never took them. If he’d had a wife and family maybe he’d feel differently, but his life was here, at Lynford station, and he wanted no other. Or at least, that had been true until he’d fallen in love with Annie Galbraith.

The last train before the short closure was to be the 17.21 – Annie’s usual train. She was working that day. He’d seen her as usual in the morning, when she’d flashed him a smile and waggled her fingers at him as she hurried through the station in her red coat. Ted had taken pains to make the station look welcoming and festive, festooning the mantelpiece in the waiting room with sprigs of holly, and attaching paper-chains around the edge of the ticket counter. It wasn’t much but it was more than he normally did, and it was all for Annie.

To his surprise she returned early that afternoon – just after half past four. Ted was in the process of setting a fire in the waiting room. She sashayed in, humming a Christmas carol, and sat down on one of the chairs.

‘Well, Ted, the bank closed early today and we’ve been sent home. But my father is not expecting me until the usual time, so I wondered – what shall I do for the next half-hour or so? I know, I thought to myself, I’ll come and see my favourite stationmaster. So here I am!’

‘A-Annie! You’re very welcome. I’ll just light the fire, and then w-would you like some tea, perhaps?’

He was rewarded with a smile, that lit up the room like a Christmas tree. ‘I’d love a cup, but only if you’ve time to sit and drink one with me.’