Coming Home Read Online Free PDF Page B

despair.
    She stepped out into the street. The day was drawing in. This would be the last time she would walk these streets alone at night. Everyone living on the northern slopes near the hospital knew the nurse from Sao Nazaire who limped home late at night. She felt safe.
    If it had been Lisbon, that would have been very different. For many years Lisbon had been a dirty, unsavoury place with a reputation for crime and corruption. That was why she had chosen to work in Porto. A woman alone needed to protect herself. Then she remembered a time when she had failed to protect herself and quickly thrust it out of her mind.
    She stopped to look back at Sao Nazaire for the last time and a tall man crossed the cobblestones to stand beside her. Stepping into his shadow, she paced along beside him.
    â€˜Good evening, Miss Colebrook.’
    â€˜Good evening, Brigade-Major Hetherington.’
    He cleared his throat. ‘From now on we must dispense with “Miss Colebrook” and “Brigade-Major Hetherington”. In company we had best use “Mr and Mrs Hetherington”. My friends call me Colly.’
    She nodded. She already knew that, and a lot more besides. In his semi-conscious state he had mumbled about many things. ‘Colly is short for Colwyn, is it not?’ Deus . She hadn’t meant to say that.

    â€˜Yes. Colwyn is my mother’s maiden name.’
    She hurried to speak before he realized she had made enquiries about him. ‘I am named for my mother and grandmother. I am Juliana Carlotta Ervedosa Colebrook.’
    He paused for a moment, then resumed walking.
    â€˜Is there something wrong, sir?’
    â€˜No.’
    Another pause. She could have sworn he was savouring her words.
    â€˜Do you have a portmanteau or bandbox you would like me to convey to the ship? I’ve paid a man to keep an eye on our belongings until we sail.’
    â€˜Thank you, sir. You must let me know how much you have remitted on my behalf. I shall repay you before we sail. I am visiting the bank in the morning.’ She was conscious that her voice had risen.
    He merely nodded in the half-dark.
    Thank goodness. Her hackles subsided. He was not going to take advantage of the situation. Just because circumstances forced her to be temporarily dependent on him, she did not want him to feel responsible for her. Most men would have taken over. Then again, she had not found him to be like other men. That was why she couldn’t help liking him even though it would be most unwise to trust him too far.
    Colly was her only chance of making a better life for herself. He might not be perfect, but then, neither was she. Colly didn’t know it but she was already ruined.
    She glanced at him sideways. He prowled beside her, his long legs eating up the flagstones, his hazel eyes fixed straight ahead. She would always remember this walk – the long, smooth Portuguese dusk with him at her side. As they drew further away from the city centre the air grew cooler and tiny fireflies flicked beneath bushes in the orange-scented gardens. This was her favourite time, the only time she got to smell the fragrant flowers she loved.
    Colly murmured, ‘You will miss Portugal.’
    â€˜Yes. I expect to be very homesick.’ She swallowed hard. ‘But I know I’m doing the right thing. A woman on her own needs her relatives.’
    He frowned and did not respond. Obviously his opinion of families had not changed overnight.
    â€˜Will you miss anything in Portugal, sir?’ she asked, presuming she would receive a resounding ‘No!’
    â€˜The bright colours,’ he answered at last, ‘and, of course, my horse.’
    â€˜Your horse?’
    â€˜Yes.’

    Was he serious?
    He was. ‘He’s a prime piece of horseflesh. Because of the overcrowded ships it’s not possible to take him back to England. But I shall miss him. He’s quite a character.’
    He sounded deeply