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CHAPTER ONE
It doesn’tto keep us apart There’s nobody else on this earth forin th of my love I want you to know that I love you more than life itself and alill
IMOGEN READ THE words and it was as though they bled onto the page, such was the impact they conveyed The depth and power of the senti that had been tight and unyielding for so long, started tohot tear splashed down onto the once tightly folded piece of notepaper in her hand
In her spare time she often browsed the charity shop shelves in the hope that sheThe note she was reading had been carefully inserted inside the anthology of a well-known roes the unexpected addition had spilled out and revealed itself The note had landed at her feet
There was no indication of the writer’s name, just the initials SB Was the writer en kneas that the poignant pro loved so deeply that she would never have cause to doubt that she was cared for
Her recent excoriating experience of being jilted at the altar had almost entirely crushed any hope she had that there wereand considerate Yet in a secret corner soen refused to relinquish that hope Had the note’s writer reconciled with his or her lover after whatever had torn them apart? she mused
With a treh, she momentarily shut her eyes It wasn’t easy to deal with the tuh her Sometimes they threatened to spill over and undermine what little confidence she had left
She’d never experienced such loving devotion and she longed to If only she could discover whether or not things had worked out well for the couple It would mean so much to her if they had She wanted evidence that hopes and drea as the lovers drew breath
SheCarefully reinserting the note inside the book, she moved across to the cashier to pay
The cheerful elderly assistant smelled liberally of lavender, and her pristine white blouse was perfectly ironed and starched, as though she wouldn’t drea the house unless it was
As she surveyed I smile, just as if she was a trusted old friend ‘Found so nice, have you, dear?’
‘Yes I have I’d like to buy this book,’ she replied
When the sale had been rung up on the till the wo
After en asked, ‘By the way, can I ask if you knoho donated the book? Only I was in here a couple of days ago and I didn’t notice it on the shelves then’
‘I can’t tell you who donated it, ue took a delivery of books fro house up on the hill yesterday Youabout—that splendid Gothic reen, I think it’s called It used to belong to the Siddons faone now I think there’s so after the place but no one knoho There’s a ruht by so You can always enquire Does that help?’
Although Ien smiled, the expression didn’t come as easily to her as it had used to She was sad about that What she wouldn’t give to return to the land of the living, with her heart whole again and the optied to somehow find well and truly restored
Clutching the carrier bag against the black bouclé jacket she’d discovered in another charity shop, she said, ‘It does Thanks for the tip’ Glancing across at the shop’s thick glass doors, she added, ‘Have a good day It looks like the sun ht come out if we’re lucky’
‘It does, doesn’t it? But it probably won’t shine on us for very long Still, I hope that won’t spoil things for you Perhaps reading some of those wonderful poems will help?’
As she walked back to the small flat she rented in a Victorian mid-terrace down a narrow side street, her route took her across the city’s historic cobblestones, and Ilanced towards the formidable cathedral that rose up before her It was a real Mecca for tourists, but personally she found it inti