Belonging
By
MariaBernard
SmashwordsEdition
PublishedBy
Maria Bernardon Smashwords
Belonging
Copyright ©2017 by Maria Bernard
ISBN:978-0-9938067-4-2
All rightsreserved. Although you’ve downloaded this ebook, it remains thecopyrighted property of the author. This ebook may not bereproduced in whole or in part, by any means, without expressed,written permission. No alteration of content is allowed.
Thank you fordownloading this ebook. If you enjoyed this book, then encourageyour friends to download their own copy.
Your supportand respect for the property of this author is greatlyappreciated.
This book is awork of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, orplaces, events or locales is purely coincidental. The charactersare productions of the author’s imagination and usedfictitiously.
I hope youenjoy the story as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Once you’vefinished reading this book, please leave a review.
Every littlebit counts. Plus, I love hearing your thoughts.
Dedication
Many thanks tomy husband, Jeff, my very own personal rockstar.
To my readers,thank you for your encouragement.
*****
Belonging
*****
Chapter 1
When he cameinto the shop weeks ago, Gwen couldn’t stop staring. She couldn’tbelieve her eyes or keep her heart from racing. The man might aswell have stepped out of her many favourite historical romancenovels. In fact, he could be any number of characters, fromHeathcliff to Edward Rochester. For that matter, toss in Draculafor all the black he was wearing. Not to mention the pale skin, thelong wavy black hair, and haunted grey eyes. In short, the man wasbreathtaking, all her Victorian inspired dreams-come-true in theflesh.
Often whilestanding behind the counter at Mathewson’s Jewellers, thefamily-run business where she worked, she wondered how it all hadturned out for him. He had seemed so despondent if not jaded forlack of a better word. On the other hand, the girl he was withappeared so hopeful, so reassuring towards him. Even Gwen herselfhad gotten caught up in her enthusiasm. In truth, she recalled bothshe and Becky, as she had introduced herself, had practicallyganged up on him at the time. Becky had painted such a wistfulpicture and Gwen couldn’t help but fall under the spell of it.While Crispin, his name was, had looked on rather unconvinced theentire time.
In the end,Gwen had found the perfect gift for him to give the lucky lady inquestion. Gwen sighed every time she imagined it. The girl wouldhave to be a fool not to accept his gift. In fact, it was the mostbeautiful bracelet that Gwen herself had been admiring forever. Ithad arrived at the shop ages ago only to be ignored by the vastclientele. She had become so enamoured with the simple littlepewter bracelet. If only it was she he would have given it to. Thatman, that bracelet, together, it was all so very perfect.
Gwen couldn’tbelieve it when he had run his long slender fingers over thebracelet sitting amongst the other sparkly gold and silver trinketsthat Becky had requested for a closer look. Gwen had placed italongside the others in a last ditch attempt. With the slightestexchanges of eye contact with her, Crispin picked up the tinypewter bracelet and twisted it around his fingers.
“This is the one,” he said with a sigh before reaching for hiswallet.
***
Weeks laterwhile flipping through her many notes, Gwen found herselfdaydreaming about Crispin as she often did since that fateful daybefore Christmas. It was silly, really. She didn’t even know muchabout him, not even his last name. Still, she couldn’t help it.Once again, she wondered how it had turned out for him. No doubt,the lucky lady would have been thrilled with his gift. Hopefully,whoever she was would be appreciative of the bracelet for itsdelicate simplicity.
Oh, who wasshe kidding?
As much as she wanted to root for him as if he were acharacter in her books, a selfish part of her wanted him forherself. She wanted to claim the book boyfriend as her own, even atthe expense of his broken heart. In her imaginings, she would bethe true heroine who shows up near the end of the story and savesthe broken boy from further heartache. Ifonly real life could be as it was in her favouritebooks.
Snapping out ofher thoughts, Gwen took a soothing sip of her earl grey tea. Breaktime was almost over and soon she’d have to return to the shop nextdoor. For now, though, she was going to enjoy what time she hadleft by focusing on planning her dream holiday. A trip she sodesperately wanted to take but had no idea how she would everfollow through.
How could shepossibly get past her paralyzing fear of the unknown? She hadthought that by taking such great pains to plan out every aspect ofthe trip, she would feel better about going. But as much as shetried to convince herself, she simply could not get past the ideaof dealing with the airport, never mind flying itself. So muchcould go wrong! So many aspects to contend with. For someonesuffering from Generalized Anxiety Disorder, the fear of theunexpected or unrehearsed was crippling!
If she couldpersuade one of her friends to go with her, it might make thingseasier, but, of course, none of her friends were interested in atrip to dreary old England. They would much rather go south tosunny all-inclusive resorts. Gwen understood that yet she had nointerest in those types of trips. What she wanted most was England.She wanted to see the place that inspired so many of her favouritebooks.
Chapter 2
“Really?”Crispin muttered, glaring at the little sign on the shop door. “Whothe fuck has twenty minutes to stand around with nothing better todo? Back in twenty indeed!” What year is this? Who closes a shopdoor for coffee breaks anymore?
He should havereturned the blasted bracelet ages ago. In fact, he had come backhere shortly after Christmas but seeing the same girl behind thecounter, he had lost his nerve. That same girl
