It was almost a month before May came out and told me that there had been a letter delivered to me. I took it, turning the envelope in my hands. I recognised my sister’s handwriting from the first letter. I took the envelope and pushed it into my jacket pocket.
“Aren’t you going to open it?” Annie gasped.
“I will, soon…” The truth was that I was not ready for the answer that it contained, whatever my sister had written would likely see the end of my bucolic life here. If she asked me to join her wherever I would have to leave. If she didn’t I would feel that I would potentially outstay my welcome.
Annie was fit to burst by dinner time and virtually pushed me up the stairs, sitting me down and demanding that I read the letter. I slowly took it out and placed the single sheet of paper on the table. “What does it say?” I showed her. She glanced down. “Oh…”
***
I waved as the cab took me away, Annie had tears in her eyes but I’d promised I would keep in touch and return someday soon. She hugged me warmly, telling me to pass it on to Amanda. I felt her body in my arms and the drip of tears soaking my shoulder as her mother touched her arm and told her that it was time for me to leave.
The envelope had contained a single railway ticket, nothing else. The ticket had been dated for three days after the day it had arrived. It was a single ticket to somewhere called Kent’s Bank. I had never heard of it and it took some searching to find that it was a tiny country station in Cumbria. I had all too soon arrived back at Swindon station, and, after much scratching of the head of the ticket office clerk had a set of connections which would allow me to travel across the country to my destination.
It took many hours as I changed trains at Cheltenham, Birmingham and Manchester, each time lugging my holdall from the train and seeking out the next connection. Eventually, I was on my last train, watching rain lash against the windows as we crossed a bay and started to run alongside the foaming sea, the train started to slow, I stood up, pulling my heavy holdall down the carriage towards the door. Finally, we pulled to a halt.
Stepping down from the train I was at a tiny station, I watched as the train pulled away into the distance and then there was silence apart from the sound of the sea and the pouring rain. I glanced at my watch, there was no note saying that I would meet someone at a specific time so I looked for some shelter.
There were very few options as the tiny waiting room was locked and there was little else. I walked outside the station placing my bag beside a wall under a tree before I sat down on it. The train I had arrived on had been the last train of the day so I was in for a long wait to return if I had been stood up.
Despite the rain, I was tired, sat on my holdall, leaning back against the wall. I was sheltered from the worst of the downfall, pulling my coat around me and my hat down over my eyes. The rain falling, dripping on my wax cap was soporific and my eyes were soon closing. Before I realised it I’d fallen asleep.
***
I woke with a start, my boot was being kicked gently. I slowly opened my eyes, the evening had drawn in and it was becoming dark. There as a tall person standing before me. I looked up, unable to see their face as the lone street light was behind them. I staggered to my feet.
“Hello?” The voice was faint, tentative and instantly recognisable to me.
“Oh God, it’s you!” I leapt forward, grasping my sister in my arms. I had spent my journey wondering how I would greet her. Should I be cold and restrained as she had left me, or perhaps aloof? In the end, emotions overtook us both and we were soon sobbing in each other’s arms never wanting to let go of each other. “Oh, sis! I’ve missed you so much.”
She grabbed my bag and showed me to her car, I got in and we drove through the village and along the coast. She was quiet as she drove, constantly glancing in the rearview mirror.
“We’re not being followed… May told me…”
“The feeling doesn’t go away Adam… Sorry.”
After a while we drove through a thick forest and down a rough track, the road opened up and in the moonlight, I could see a farmhouse and beyond a stable yard. “Come on in.”
The house was warm, a wood-burning stove glowing in the front room and an Aga in the kitchen ensured that it felt cosy against the rain outside. We took off our dripping coats, hanging them up in the hallway. Amanda grabbed me, first hugging me and then holding me at arm’s length. “Let me see my grown-up little brother!” She sobbed, hugging me again. “You must be famished. Let’s eat.”
***
Stepping outside the next morning was a revelation, in the darkness, I had not been able to see the countryside we were set within. Behind the farmhouse was a dense forest, when you stepped out of the door there was a beautiful view of Morecambe Bay before you. To one side there was a horseshoe arrangement of beautiful brick stables and I could see an outdoor arena and barns. I heard footsteps behind me.
“Hello there, couldn’t sleep?”
“Too used to waking up early to do the horses. However, I see that’s not required here.”
“Yet… I want to create a small business.” She walked
