Lost and Found

Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Amelia had opened a bottle of wine whilst Sol was investigating the outhouses. He finally found three heaters that ran off Gas bottles and half a dozen lanterns with a supply of oil. Only one of the upstairs bedrooms had a fire, so he settled their belongings in there and lit the fire, it’d take a while to warm the icy air in the room. Then he positioned the heaters in the hallway and the closest bathroom.  It wasn’t dark enough for the lamps yet, but he’d filled them and positioned them in various places to illuminate the parts of the house they needed to use.

When he entered the kitchen he found two glasses of cold white wine and a plate of cheeses, a gift from the village for helping out earlier. But there was no sign of Amelia. Then he heard her voice, following it out to the utility room he found her sat on the work surface, talking intently into her phone.

                “The house is fine I promise. No burst pipes, no damage, and I’m not freezing to death. SO lie still and get better, ok? As soon as the weather lifts I’ll come to visit you. Ok?”

Sol could hear the earnest voice of her father coming down the phone line, and he moved across to stand between her thighs, sliding his arms around her waist.

                “Ok Dad. I’ll call again later to check how you are.” Then despite the reluctance from the distant end of the phone, she hung up. Then dropped her head to rest her forehead on his chest. “I didn’t tell him...” she looked up to meet his eyes, “about you being here. I’m sorry!” She felt dreadful for lying, not through any obligation to her father, but for Sol.

                “It’s ok. We don’t need to sort this now...when your father’s well we’ll talk to him. Ok?”

She grimaced, “it’s not good starting like this with lies. I want to tell the world about us Sol, and at the first chance I’ve had to lie!”

Dropping his lips to hers he kissed her, an overwhelming join of their lips and tongues. Any doubt left her mind as he claimed her, and she had no more concern than how quickly this could become more than a kiss. Finally he lifted his head and smiled at her passion dazed eyes.

                “We don’t need anyone else Meals, you know that don’t you? And if ever there’s a doubt...just kiss me, and it’ll all feel better! I promise nothing is going to take you away from me, not now, not ever!”

She grinned, “How do you always manage to say the right thing?”

He chuckled, lifting her down from the counter, “because I’ve had ten years to work out what I want, and now I’ve got it there’s no way I’m letting it go. There’s no room for playing hard to get or for ‘seeing how it goes’, I want you, forever, and that is the most simple thing in the world, isn’t it?”

Amelia felt tears well at her eyes, he was perfect. Just as she always knew he would be on those rare occasions in the past that she’d allowed herself to think about what might have been. After hugging him as though her life depended on it, she led him back to the food and wine she’d been preparing before calling the hospital.

With no TV, no radio or entertainment to talk of, they had to make their own amusement. They talked a lot, Sol telling Amelia all about his University years, and how just a few years after graduating he fell into a job at the publishing house, then had been right place and right time to take on a partnership. He’d been an instant success and had been voted as CEO by the board several years ago, the youngest person ever to hold that position. She told him about New York, the things she’d seen and done, and the ultimate collapse of her career world. Then about how she’d intended to return if not to this village, then one like it, to set up some sort of business so that she didn’t have to eat into her savings.