Читать книгу The Remnants - W. P. Osborn - Страница 12

Twenty minutes later the two couples were carefully trekking down a dirt path beside an old wooden bridge covering a small stream. The girls stepped carefully in a vain attempt to not ruin their shoes or muddy the hems of their skirts.

They continued a hundred yards further down the path, past a grove of small trees to a large crook in the stream that was guarded impeccably by a huge willow whose upper branches stretched far out and down above the water creating the impression that the stream somehow flowed directly through the tree.

“Oh, how lovely!” Rose exclaimed as she pulled Danny to a stop, staring wonder-eyed, “I’ve never seen anything so lovely.”

“The best part is ‘round the other side,” Phil called as he and Maggie began to push through the curtain of leaves, “it’s our favourite hideout, ain’t it Dan?”

“Well, we’ve had occasion to make good use of it, that’s for sure,” Danny smiled as he led Rose by the hand through the lower branches.

“Ooo, it’s so lovely and cool under here,” Maggie cooed as she walked around the massive trunk, “and so dark you’d swear it was night.”

As they stepped through a drapery of leaves at the far side of the tree, the girls stopped and held their breath in awe. The wide rolling pasture in front of them was spectacular, a canvass of glorious blue and gold. The flowers were so tall and thick, it looked more like a tropical rain forest than a timid English meadow. “Daisies and bluebells, my most favourite flowers in the world,” Maggie swooned.

“How on earth did you ever find this place?” Rose gasped mesmerized by the display around her.

“Well, to be honest, the coppers was chasin’ us,” Phil admitted “and closin’ in fast, so we ducked down that path and hid under the bridge.”

“It was rainin’ and we knew they soon give up on us,” Dan continued. “We waited ‘til they’d run over and back again and when the rain quit we thought we should wait a while before we snuck back. So we started explorin’ the tree, walked through to this side and ‘Voila’ as they say in Gay Paree. We’ve been hidin’ out here ever since.”

The clouds came up suddenly on a cool breeze and it began to rain forcing them to run back under the oak’s umbrella. The glorious sunlight of earlier was gone. The interior space beneath the tree was cool and secluded.

The four quietly paired off to opposite sides of the tree.

“It looks like we’ll be here a while,” Phil pronounced as he pushed aside a low branch.

“We can’t be long. We must get back in time get our ride back,” Maggie whispered.

“No worries, luv, we’ll get you back in time,” he assured her as he removed his jacket and set it on the ground beside her.

Hidden behind a wide cluster of branches Danny and Rose stood nose to nose, “I think you are the loveliest thing I’ve ever seen,” he whispered.

“I guess you don’t get out much then,” she teased.

He grinned back and slipped his arm around her waist, “Enough to know trouble when I see it.”

She pushed closer and lifted her right hand up to his neck, “What do you mean, ‘trouble’?”

“I mean that you are going to trouble me for the rest of my life.”

“Oh, I don’t want to cause you any trouble. I rather hoped you might like me.”

“That’s exactly the trouble I’m talkin’ about luv. All the trouble in the world.” He eased forward to brush softly against her nose, “I know those eyes are gonna get me killed but afraid I’m already sunk.”

He kissed her softly at first but she held steady and pulled his neck forward from behind. He then stepped closer and she slowly turned her head slightly to one side. The embrace lasted much longer than either had expected. As they stood cheek-to-cheek, flushed and warm under a canopy of leaves, neither of them spoke for a long time. He inhaled the subtle scent of her lavender as she closed her eyes and listened to him breath. Finally sharing a delirious smile.

Once again Rose took the initiative, “Now what, Danny?” she whispered.

“Now you marry me and we live happily ever after, that’s what!”

“Just like that?” she snickered, “Well, that was easy.”

“Just like that, Rosie. Just like that,” Danny then eased forward to pull her into another long embrace when a soft tapping on a large branch interrupted the trance.

“Rosie, we’ve got to go or we’ll miss Mr. Alton.”

Rose smiled softly and whispered again into his ear, “til next time then, luv.”

“Can’t come soon enough,” he whispered back.

* * *