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Authors: Marguerite Kaye
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It was the knowing it wasn’t my fault but not believing it, thinking I could have done something, anything. It was all so random, nothing to do with right and wrong. That was the thing more than anything. The good guys suffered just as much as the bad. In the end, I wasn’t so sure there even were bad guys.’
‘Not like in the movies,’ she said.
‘No, but that’s not why I make them, before you ask,’ I said, though to be honest, I hadn’t thought about that before, and I wondered if it was true.
‘I know that. You’re not that uncomplicated.’ She kissed my hand then, a strange, comforting kind of kiss like she’d never given me before. Like I wouldn’t have wanted before. It worked. ‘Have I made any sense at all?’
‘For someone who’s only just started to try, a lot,’ she said. ‘I’ve had five years of trying and I’m only just—I think it might take awhile, Lewis.’
‘I think it might. What I’m wondering is—what I was wanting to ask you was…’ I swore under my breath. I hadn’t thought this part through. I hadn’t planned on doing any more than getting this far. I certainly hadn’t planned on baring my soul, but I knew I had to try. ‘I don’t want the war to have made a coward of me. I am scared, Poppy. I’m still scared. What if it turns out that all those years of cutting myself off mean I can’t do any different?’
‘I could say the same.’
‘You could.’ I looked at her then, trying not to hope, not yet, but I couldn’t stop myself. ‘Does that mean you’ll try?’
‘Does that mean you will?’
Such a typically Poppy answer that it made me laugh. ‘What on earth do you think I’ve been trying to say to you? I want to try. I want to try real hard. We’re survivors, you and I. If anyone can make it, we can. So I’m willing to take a chance, and I’m asking you to take one, too.’
‘Yes.’
I was so intent on getting ready to do battle, I thought I’d misheard. ‘What?’
‘Yes.’ She smiled at me, a smile I hadn’t seen before. ‘I said yes. I’m in love with you, too. I realised how much I was in love with you that day in the restaurant, and there was no way on earth I was going to let you know how I felt when I thought that you couldn’t—wouldn’t—but now you say that you will and I—I love you, Lewis.’
‘Why the hell didn’t you just say so!’
To say we fell on each other makes it sound less than romantic. We were starving for each other, though. We kissed as if we were parched. As if we couldn’t get enough. You’ll tell me it’s a cliché, but I don’t care. They felt different, those kisses. I felt different. When I kissed her, I was telling her with my mouth and my hands how much I loved her. How terrified I’d been at the thought of losing her. That I wanted her with me, inside me, tucked right there, inside me.
Yeah. Exactly. But there you go; it was the truth. And it felt as if she felt the same. And when I started to undress her there by the pool, she shook her head, and took my hand, and led me up to her bedroom. And you know what, I’m going to close the door on what happened then, because that was different, too. We made love. Enough said.
Epilogue
Variety
Magazine, April, 1924
RMS
Olympic
docked today in New York harbour. The sister ship of the tragic
Titanic
, there were no signs of her war service when she was piloted into her berth, paintwork spanking new, brasses shining.
Amongst those on board were the London stage actress Daisy Edwards and with her a real English aristocrat, Lord Harrington, known better to those who like to take to the air as the owner of Harrington Aviation. Miss Edwards was reunited with her sister, our own star of the silver screen, Poppy Edwards. As our photograph shows, despite the tears, the sisters made a glamorous pair.
No wonder movie mogul Lewis Cartsdyke is smiling there in the background. A little bird tells us that the sisters will be starring in his brand-new
‘Not like in the movies,’ she said.
‘No, but that’s not why I make them, before you ask,’ I said, though to be honest, I hadn’t thought about that before, and I wondered if it was true.
‘I know that. You’re not that uncomplicated.’ She kissed my hand then, a strange, comforting kind of kiss like she’d never given me before. Like I wouldn’t have wanted before. It worked. ‘Have I made any sense at all?’
‘For someone who’s only just started to try, a lot,’ she said. ‘I’ve had five years of trying and I’m only just—I think it might take awhile, Lewis.’
‘I think it might. What I’m wondering is—what I was wanting to ask you was…’ I swore under my breath. I hadn’t thought this part through. I hadn’t planned on doing any more than getting this far. I certainly hadn’t planned on baring my soul, but I knew I had to try. ‘I don’t want the war to have made a coward of me. I am scared, Poppy. I’m still scared. What if it turns out that all those years of cutting myself off mean I can’t do any different?’
‘I could say the same.’
‘You could.’ I looked at her then, trying not to hope, not yet, but I couldn’t stop myself. ‘Does that mean you’ll try?’
‘Does that mean you will?’
Such a typically Poppy answer that it made me laugh. ‘What on earth do you think I’ve been trying to say to you? I want to try. I want to try real hard. We’re survivors, you and I. If anyone can make it, we can. So I’m willing to take a chance, and I’m asking you to take one, too.’
‘Yes.’
I was so intent on getting ready to do battle, I thought I’d misheard. ‘What?’
‘Yes.’ She smiled at me, a smile I hadn’t seen before. ‘I said yes. I’m in love with you, too. I realised how much I was in love with you that day in the restaurant, and there was no way on earth I was going to let you know how I felt when I thought that you couldn’t—wouldn’t—but now you say that you will and I—I love you, Lewis.’
‘Why the hell didn’t you just say so!’
To say we fell on each other makes it sound less than romantic. We were starving for each other, though. We kissed as if we were parched. As if we couldn’t get enough. You’ll tell me it’s a cliché, but I don’t care. They felt different, those kisses. I felt different. When I kissed her, I was telling her with my mouth and my hands how much I loved her. How terrified I’d been at the thought of losing her. That I wanted her with me, inside me, tucked right there, inside me.
Yeah. Exactly. But there you go; it was the truth. And it felt as if she felt the same. And when I started to undress her there by the pool, she shook her head, and took my hand, and led me up to her bedroom. And you know what, I’m going to close the door on what happened then, because that was different, too. We made love. Enough said.
Epilogue
Variety
Magazine, April, 1924
RMS
Olympic
docked today in New York harbour. The sister ship of the tragic
Titanic
, there were no signs of her war service when she was piloted into her berth, paintwork spanking new, brasses shining.
Amongst those on board were the London stage actress Daisy Edwards and with her a real English aristocrat, Lord Harrington, known better to those who like to take to the air as the owner of Harrington Aviation. Miss Edwards was reunited with her sister, our own star of the silver screen, Poppy Edwards. As our photograph shows, despite the tears, the sisters made a glamorous pair.
No wonder movie mogul Lewis Cartsdyke is smiling there in the background. A little bird tells us that the sisters will be starring in his brand-new
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