Quentins by Maeve Binchy Read Free Book Online Page B

a bottle of wine.
    â€œI’m just delighted to see you,” Ella said simply. There was something about the way she said it that made him put down everything on the table and take her in his arms.
    â€œElla, Angel Ella, I’m never going to hurt you or be bad for you in any way.”
    There was a choke in his voice as he spoke into her hair. “Nothing bad is ever going to happen to you, believe me.”
    And as she looked at him before she kissed him properly, Ella knew this was true.
    They put the orchid in a long, narrow vase and got about the business of preparing dinner. He sliced the mushrooms, she made the salad. They had a glass of cold white wine from her fridge. And he opened the bottle of red he had brought before they sat down in the most normal and natural way, as if this was where they had always lived. She didn’t ask him would he stay the whole night because she knew he would. They talked easily. He said he had enjoyed meeting her parents.
    â€œThey liked meeting you too, but, I expect, everyone does,” Ella said.
    â€œDoes that mean you think I’m putting on some kind of an act?” he asked, hurt.
    â€œNo, I don’t think it does, you do like people, and you make them feel as if there’s no one else in the room. It’s just the way you are . . . even now.”
    He looked round her flat. “Come on, there is no one else in the room!” he said, laughing.
    â€œNo, it’s a way you have, I expect you were great at the fund-raiser thing on Sunday.” Her eyes were bright.
    â€œI don’t know,” Don Richardson said thoughtfully. “People had been generous, I was just thanking them, making them feel that they weren’t being taken for granted, that the party appreciated them. It wasn’t meant to be all smarmy, just gratitude.”
    â€œGlad-handing,” she said, remembering his word.
    â€œYes, I was sending myself up when I said that, it’s just that I would have preferred to be with you.”
    â€œYou were very good at it, I saw you,” Ella said suddenly. She didn’t know why she had made this admission. Possibly because she wanted no lies, no pretending. To her amazement, he just nodded at her.
    â€œYes, I saw you too,” he said.
    She felt her face redden with shame. He had actually spotted her “stalking him,” as Deirdre described it.
    â€œNick, the guy who did the video, he’s a mate of mine. He wanted some help.”
    â€œSure.”
    â€œActually he didn’t want any help, I just asked if I could come along too.”
    â€œDid you, Ella? Why?” His hand rested on top of hers, lightly.
    â€œI just wanted to see you, Don, I was very sorry too that we weren’t meeting that night, to go to the do was the next best thing.”
    He stood up and held her face in his hands and kissedher. “I didn’t dare believe that might be true, Ella. I’ve thought about it over and over since then and prayed it was true.”
    â€œAnd would you ever have said that you’d seen me?”
    â€œNo, it was your business that you were there, I’d never interrogate you. Never.”
    â€œYou were very good, Don, you were tireless.”
    â€œNo, I was very tired. I drove past this house on the way back to my flat, I saw your lights on and realized you were home . . . but . . .”
    â€œBut what?” she asked.
    â€œBut our date was for tonight. I didn’t want to look foolish and too eager.”
    Her eyes had tears in them as she led him away from the table and to the bedroom. And it was everything that it had never been before, with Nick or with the college hero or the two one-night stands. Ella lay in his arms long after Don had gone to sleep. She was the luckiest woman in the world.
    Next morning, she just offered him coffee and orange juice, and didn’t fuss about breakfast. He seemed to like the lack of fuss.