The Story of My Heart by Margarita Felices Read Free Book Online Page A

at her friend, she began to tell the story.
    “I remember it all so clearly.  I got engaged to John in February that year and we planned to get married in September. The carnival arrived in the village mid-August. I was nineteen when I met Dave—Mr. Gorgeous,” she smiled and winked at Gwen, “and he was twenty-three.  He had seen places and done things I could only dream about and around that time the carnival was one of the most exciting things to happen in the village in an awful long time.  Well, fun things like that just don’t come to small places like here—they rarely came to ours, anyway.”  She took a sip of tea and continued. “The posters went up weeks before they arrived. It was all people could talk about and when they drove through the village it was like a big colourful parade. They had trailers with animals, there was a lady on one of those trapeze type swings in one of the other trailers and clowns ran up and down the street squirting water at the kids—and at some adults. It was funny. Everyone came out to look.  I remember my friends and me racing over to the fields like children, to see where they would set up.” She sighed deeply remembering the colours and the smells so alien to her; remembering the sweet smell of the candyfloss turning and the bright lights that lit up the sky at night.  “And oh my God,” she took a deep breath, “I remember the first time I set eyes on Dave.  He was busy pounding metal stakes into the ground for the beer tents.  He had dark, wavy, shoulder-length hair, faded blue jeans and an open white shirt. It was a warm day and the shirt stuck to him, showing every muscle, every—” She paused again and took another sip of tea.  “Well, you get the picture.”
    Gwen giggled. “Shagging gorgeous?”
    Megan nodded in agreement. “Imagine the muscle-bound men they stick on the front of those romantic books your sister likes; the ones who look like the bad boy gypsy or stable boy?”
    “Not only can I imagine” agreed Gwen, “but I make sure I take those same images to bed with me some nights.” She winked.
    “Well there you go.  Of course my parents put their feet down when I told them I was going when it opened.  Apparently, once you’re engaged you just don’t do that sort of thing.  I told them not to be silly; that all my friends were going, so I would be safe enough. But to be honest, all I was interested in was taking one more look at Dave.  When we got there, my friends Rhian and Beth dragged me around all the rides and played the games to win prizes, but I looked around to see where he was. I wanted one more glimpse.”
    CHAPTER TWO
    1982
    Cowbridge Playing Fields

      Megan, Rhian and Beth arrived at the fairground just after seven in the evening. It was still very warm for that time of day. Megan’s face felt the heat as she watched her friends throwing hoops into a booth full of pegs that clearly would never going to hook on.  She tutted as her friends laughed and shouted at how close they got to winning. All she could think about was the man she’d seen earlier.   And then, there he was at the end of one of the rides, handsome and dangerous and already with three young women hanging on to his every word, giggling and twirling their hair with their fingers.
    “Well we go to the other towns in the area and we thought we’d change a few routes, so here we are…”  He looked at one of the women, a very attractive blonde in a short skirt and a low-cut frilly blouse and smiled. “You can’t imagine how pleased I am to be here.”  He placed his arm around the blonde’s waist. “You know, I’ll need someone to show me around.” And off they went.
    “Did you see that?” Megan asked her two friends.
    Rhian turned in time to see him make off with the blonde. “Always was easy, that one.”
    “She may as well not have bothered getting dressed for what she was wearing,” said Beth.
    Megan huffed, “Well he didn’t waste