Page 87 of Winter Magic on Railway Lane

Libby and her dad exchanged delighted smiles.

‘How wonderful,’ said Philip, looking amazed. ‘And how generous. Thank you. I shall ensure that it benefits as many people as we can muster.’

‘Champagne inside to celebrate!’ announced Ryan and everyone began to head inside.

Libby found she was holding herself back, anxious to wait for Ethan. He was using a cloth to wipe his face and had unzipped his blue overalls so that he was wearing just his jumper and a pair of jeans.

‘Well, that was a great success,’ she said.

He nodded. ‘It was,’ he replied, stepping away from her.

‘Ethan,’ she said to his back. ‘Please look at me.’

She watched as he sighed before he finally turned around.

‘Don’t do this,’ he told her, shaking his head. ‘I’m no good for you. You deserve the best and I can’t be that person you want me to be. After all that stuff with Mum, I can’t believe in love.’

‘I know,’ she replied.

And she did. She knew all this because she knew him so well. She knew that he still had to leave, that he couldn’t stay in Cranfield forever. That he couldn’t love her the way that she wanted him to. And yet, she couldn’t go on like this either.

‘I still have to leave at the end of January,’ he said.

‘Then we’d better not waste any more time,’ she told him, reaching out to take his hand in hers. ‘Don’t think about anything. Just kiss me again.’

She had wondered whether he would pull away from her again, but as soon as her hand touched his, he groaned and pulled her to him.

‘Libby,’ he whispered, before he dropped his head down to kiss her.

And then there was nothing but him.

52

It was the best of times and the worst of times, thought Ethan.

‘No chocolate tastes as sweet as you,’ he would tell Libby each day in his kitchen, kissing her bare neck where she had her hair scraped back into a messy bun revealing that soft, pale skin underneath.

‘Stop distracting me,’ she would reply. But she never seemed able to stop herself from turning around and kissing him back.

And those kisses never seemed to be enough for him to quell the need for more from her. But he had to make do during the busy hours servicing and running the train throughout January until he could be alone with her once more.

All he wanted to do was slow time down, to make the nights even longer, but they whizzed past in a blur with just a whisper of the memory of holding Libby in his arms in the darkness.

Each morning before dawn, she would creep out of the old school and back to her cottage before her dad would know that she was gone.

It was a secret love. But perhaps not so secret.

His brother cornered him one day with a knowing look. ‘Must say, I’m glad that you two have finally got together,’ said Ryan. ‘It’s only been, what, almost thirty years?’

Ethan looked at him. ‘How did you know?’ he couldn’t help but ask.

‘Because you look happy, bro,’ Ryan told him, clapping a hand on his shoulder. ‘Have you told her how you feel?’

Ethan gulped and shrugged his shoulders in response.

Ryan looked a little worried at his brother’s expression. ‘Maybe her psychic powers aren’t as strong as you think they should be.’

‘Maybe everyone should mind their own business,’ Ethan told him before walking away.