Bridge Over the Atlantic (8 page)

Slowly she turned and saw Sam standing there, looking scared to death.
What the heck is going on
?
Oh no, he’s not going to sing, is he? Please no!
She cringed. Sam was not renowned for his vocal talents. In fact she had once joked that his voice could curdle milk. Thankfully, the band’s singer began the words that meant so much to the couple whilst Sam stood gazing at Mallory, his hand held out to her, needing her full and undivided attention.

Her eyes welled up with tears at the words she had held dear since their first night together. She rose to her feet and looked down at Renee whose eyes were filled with tears now too. Her hands were clasped in front of her face as if praying and a smile played on her lips. Ryan had a huge grin on his face as he looked up at Mallory and gestured that she should go to Sam; he was in on whatever was happening. The lovely but extremely hormonal Cara just sobbed.

She looked back to Sam who still beckoned her to him, the song continued and the magical words floated through the air like feathers on the wind; she began to walk towards him but her legs had suddenly turned to jelly. The singers beautiful voice went on coaxing her towards Sam whose gaze never broke from hers
.
She reached Sam as he stepped down from the stage and took her in his arms.

“Will you dance with me if I promise not to sing?” He whispered.

“Did you ask for them to play this?” She asked stroking his cheek. He nodded and planted a kiss on her nose. She giggled and slid her arms around his shoulders as they swayed to and fro in time with
their
song. The moment felt so perfect, even though they were now the centre of attention. All eyes were focused on the besotted couple as they danced. They gazed into each other’s eyes as the song carried on in the background. Suddenly Sam stopped dancing and silently mouthed the words that followed.

New tears sprang from her eyes as the song began to draw to a close. The musicians quieted down until their music was a faint whisper and the singers voice rang clearly out across the room, Sam continued to mouth the words along with the voice that was much better equipped than he to express them musically.

During the last bars of the song Sam dropped to one knee and with tears tracing the line of his handsome, smiling face he looked up into the eyes of his beloved, holding aloft a little velvet box containing the most beautiful ring Mallory had ever seen.

He took a gulp of air before he spoke, “Mallory Westerman, will you waste time ‘
chasing cars’
with me for the rest of our lives? Will you please marry me?” Wrought with emotion he struggled to get the words out.

Mallory stared down at the only man she had ever
truly
loved and the answer was easy.

“Yes” The restaurant erupted into thunderous applause as the couple sealed their engagement with a kiss.

April 2011

After spending far too much time in the loft talking about their romantic engagement, they went back to clearing out. They cleared out as much ‘tat and rubbish’ as they could possibly muster up the heart for and packed everything else over the following week. Mallory then set about cleaning around their essential items in order that the little cottage looked pristine for the new owners. Leaving the house was going to be very hard for her. But she was excited about the prospect of a total change of pace and a new adventure with the love of her life.

At eight-thirty, on the morning of moving day, there was a timely knock at the door. The bleary eyed removal team had arrived to take her whole life hundreds of miles northwards. She directed them here and there as to which items had been inherited by the new occupants of No.3 Railway Terrace. Where the heck was Sam? He had only nipped out to get some cash for their journey. Trust him to miss this bloody bit. She grumbled to herself and winced as she got a paper cut from a sheet of labels. Suddenly her cell phone rang.

“Where the bloody hell are you?” She scolded as she answered Sam’s call.

“Hey honey, I am soooo sorry but I got a call from Ryan, while I was on my way home from the ATM. There’s been a major crash on one of the client databases over here and he is stressing like a crazy person. He really needs me to go in there to help out, just for a couple hours. They’ve been on it all night but Ry didn’t want to bother me unless it was absolutely necessary. He does understand how important today is, babe, he just really needs my help.”

He sounded apologetic but Mallory was unimpressed that this job, which he was supposedly leaving behind, was getting in the way of the most important day of their lives so far.

“Well that’s just bloody great, Sam. What am I supposed to do? Go without you?”

“Honey, I am so sorry. Please don’t be mad. You know I would do anything I could to change this but I can’t. No one else knows the system like me and Ry and it’s just not feasible for him to get on a plane right now when I know I’ll be able to fix it. I’ll get this thing dealt with and I will get on the road as soon as humanly possible. I love you so much, you know that, right?”

“Well, I am mightily pissed off with you right now. And you can tell, Ryan to stick his problem where the sun don’t shine! This is so unfair, Sam, of all the days your brother needs you he chooses today? Really? It’s just not fair.”

She realised how immature she must have sounded when one of the removal men, barely out of his teens, grinned at her sulky retort. There was a long pause on the other end of the phone then Sam suddenly burst out laughing.

“You are one crazy Yorkshire terrier, do you know that? Hey, baby, I will get there ASAP. I promise.” His tone changed to a husky whisper, “and I can’t wait to get you on the rug in front of the fireplace and kiss every inch of that sexy body of yours. In fact, make sure the champagne is chilled, baby. I intend to get you good and drunk and take advantage of you tonight.” He growled that deep sexy way that made her legs turn to jelly and her lower regions quiver with anticipation.

“Well make sure you do get up there ASAP. You have a lot of making up to do for this, Mister.” She gathered herself, glancing around to ensure no one could see the heat rising from her chest to her face.

“I love ya, Miss Yorksher,” he whispered.

“I love you too, Mr. Canada.” She smiled. It was impossible to stay mad at him.

Her anger totally abated, Mallory joined the three men out at the truck to give them directions. When she got back to the house after waving off the truck filled with all of her worldly possessions, she stood in the lounge looking at the bare walls and floor. Tears stung the back of her eyes and she remembered back to the day she moved in…

October 2001

“Good grief, Mal! How much bloody stuff have you got?” Brad exclaimed as he humped another box from the self-hire van into the little house. Josie and Brad had been together forever, it seemed. He was tall, very muscular and had that dirty blonde ‘surfer dude’ floppy hair going on. He was ruggedly handsome and had a scar above his left eye where his brother had hit him with a Tonka truck when he was five. Mallory looked at him as the older brother she never had. Being an only child it was great to have someone tough looking out for her.

“Ooooh, only another three hundred boxes, Brad don’t worry.” Josie laughed as she and Mallory had set to the unpacking.

“I don’t get how you two are just allowed to sit there doing the easy bit. I am
one man
you know!” Brad moaned.

“Ahhh, but what a man you are.” Josie jumped up and ran over to her man, reaching up and slinking her arms around his neck. She kissed him deeply.

Mallory threw a cushion at the loved-up pair. “Aaargh, get a bloody room you guys.”

“Hey, Westerman, I think a snog is the least I deserve for helping out,” Brad complained pulling a face at her.

“Oh don’t worry, by the look of it you’ll be getting payment in kind from lusty lips there tonight.” Mallory laughed and Brad’s eyebrows wiggled suggestively at what she implied.

They had finished unloading and unpacking by ten o’clock that night and were all completely and utterly enervated. Pizza was ordered, but when it arrived they were pretty much past the point of being hungry. Brad had commented that they should just save it until morning. After all, there was nothing, what so ever, wrong with pizza for breakfast. The girls had laughed hysterically whilst Brad tried to justify not wasting good pizza.

Josie had produced a warm bottle of fake champagne and they had drunk it from mugs raising a toast to Mallory’s new home.

“May you have many happy years here, sweetie pie.” Josie had hugged her friend hard. “Enjoy tonight because Sylvia will be here tomorrow to tell you that your taste in IKEA furniture is deplorable.” She laughed uncontrollably and Mallory knew that she was absolutely, unequivocally correct. She loved her Aunt so very much, but boy could she be cantankerous and opinionated. It was going to be an interesting visit.

Aunt Sylvia had arrived the next morning sharply at nine. She was dressed in a lilac twin-set and her hair had a matching hue. Mallory stifled a giggle.

“Daaaaahling!” Aunt Sylvia yelled in her usual pseudo-posh accent hugging Mallory hard as if years had passed since their last meeting; in actual fact, it had been the previous day when Mallory had finally moved out from the ‘Manor House’.

Sylvia was her Dad’s older sister by around eight years. She had married a very wealthy man who had owned a string of butcher shops throughout
Yorkshire
. She had gradually become the stereotypical
Lady of the Manor
but she had a heart of gold. “Come on then, lovey; show your old Aunt Sylvia around your new crib.”

Mallory burst out laughing at the attempt Sylvia had made to be
down with the kids
. “My what?” she spluttered, holding her stomach for fear of her sides splitting.

“You know…they do it on the
MTV
programmes on Sky, haven’t you seen them? Oh, you really should watch it, Mallory, dear. You need to stay abreast. Anyway, they all go around and look inside the grand homes of the rich and famous and see where the magic happens, darling. You really should keep up with what’s
en-trend
, you know, young girl of your age.”

Sylvia didn’t crack a smile. She was unabashedly self-righteous in her explanation and subsequent dressing down of her niece.

“Okay, Aunt Sylvia, I will try harder.” Mallory smirked, “Come in, come in.” They stepped inside the lounge which was still full of boxes.

“Oh, it’s…um…compact…erm…delightful, darling, delightful.” Sylvia scanned the room almost with disdain. “It will be nice when you get it all sorted and have been with your friends to that Swedish furniture place you youngsters can’t seem to avoid. Honestly it must be like walking into the same house over and over when you all visit one another.” She looked to Mallory and her expression softened. “Sweet heart, you know you always have a home with me. Come back any time if you decide you don’t wish to be alone…here.”

Mallory saw a mixture of emotions behind her Aunts grey eyes. Perhaps it was
she
who was concerned about loneliness; after all Uncle Harold had died three years previously and that manor house was so big. She hugged her Aunt.

“Come through, Aunty, and I’ll make tea. I have little china mugs that I got from that antique place in Marsden. You’ll love them!”

At the end of the visit, after she had waved off her Aunt, Mallory found an envelope on the mantle. She opened it and inside was a card.

Wishing my dear Mallory a wonderful new life of independence, love Sylvia, P.S. don’t you dare eschew the enclosed gift. It is meant for you to invest as you see fit in order to make your new adventure a little more facile, much love.

Mallory rolled her eyes at her Aunts formal tone. Sure enough inside the card was a cheque for £500.

April 2011

Finally, and with more than a little trepidation, Mallory said goodbye to her happy little house of memories, locking the solid wooden door behind her. After a brief detour via the solicitors, to leave her keys, she and her little dog Ruby set off up the motorway on the first leg of their great adventure, surrounded by the essentials they would need on arrival at their Scottish destination.

The little yellow car was stacked to the hilt and the engine was somewhat protesting at the extra weight. Ruby sat on the passenger seat staring out the window whilst Mallory listened and sang along, emphatically, to the compilation CD of life affirming tracks and love songs that Sam had presented her with the day before. Tears streamed down her face as she sang along to their song ‘
Chasing Cars’
by Snow Patrol. She missed him already even though she knew she was going to see him in a few hours’ time.

Mallory gazed out of the window as she passed the large hotel at Scotch corner. She smiled fondly as she remembered the time she had been to
Scotland
with her parents when she was nine and she had got very excited because they had reached this place and she’d presumed that they had arrived. She was very disappointed when she discovered the truth. Scotch corner was nowhere near Scotland!
What a silly place
, she had thought sulkily.

Mallory made a brief stop at Annandale water services for Ruby to do what dogs do and to stretch her legs. She grabbed some chocolate and a bottle of water, from the shop and then they travelled on.

Glasgow was bustling by the time they were approaching the Erskine Bridge. The cosmopolitan city was bursting with life. People shopping; people dashing around in business suits, carrying briefcases in one hand take-out coffee in the other; obvious tourists with their bags of souvenirs, silly tartan hats and ‘bum bags’.
What is it about tourists and bum bags?
Mallory mused. She chuckled to herself as she spotted an elderly couple gesturing wildly and fighting with a large, crinkled map that had, apparently, acquired a mind of its own and was flapping, kite-like as they tried to tame it.