Page 60

‘Then we shall be friends from today, Fleur. I can tell my children are already as much in love with your Tom as you seem to be. They’ll never let anyone go who does that for them,’ she said, pointing.

Fleur laughed as she looked over to see Tom with Matti on his shoulders and Susan balancing on his feet as he walked, arms encircling his waist. William stood next to them, laughing loudly, amused by how awkwardly Tom was being forced to move. Even Jamie was grinning.

‘That one, Fleur, is a keeper,’ Claire said, touching Fleur’s cheek gently. ‘Do you love him?’

Fleur found herself nodding but shyly. She’d never thought of herself as self-conscious, but to admit to this about a man she barely knew was a novel feeling.

‘Then don’t you ever let him go, no matter what. Jamie and I were suddenly separated in the early part of the war and we had no idea where the other was. But I never gave up on him. I kept faith he’d survive. And he kept faith that I would keep my promise to meet him when the war was over at a London hotel.’

Fleur smiled. ‘Oh, how romantic.’

‘Outrageously so and, yet, we were so in love it felt such a normal promise to make to one another, just in case we were forced apart. And then we were.’

‘But you found each other,’ Fleur said, sounding awed.

‘Not without our private struggles, but we trusted our love was strong enough to bring us both through . . . and it did.’

‘I won’t doubt what I’m feeling, or him, I promise.’

Claire squeezed her wrist. ‘Thank you for being so kind, and changing my day.’

Fleur felt entirely encircled by Claire’s warmth and easy manner. It was as though they’d known each other for years, and she was convinced that she’d just made the first real female friend she’d ever had.

Fleur and Tom farewelled the Wren family with promises to meet again soon, and then, holding hands, they returned to the monkey cages. It had been fun to share the monkeys with the children, but she’d been so focused on making sure they had a good time. Now she wanted the chance to watch the primates more closely, try and engage with them.

‘It’s really Mary I want to see. She’s the sweetest little thing and quite the performer. There she is!’ Fleur said as she spotted her leaping about with her companions.

‘How do you know it’s her?’ Tom asked.

‘She’s the smallest. Arrived for Christmas a year or so ago.’

‘From Africa?’

She grinned. ‘Africa via the zoo in Scotland. We exchanged her for some Australian native animals and seventy pounds.’

He touched Fleur’s temple. ‘You carry all that information around,’ he said with awe.

She grinned. ‘Not much good to me. But it goes in and sticks.’

‘Imagine what you’ll do when you are let loose into your own company. I think we’ll be able to hear that big brain of yours whirring into action.’

She smiled. ‘I hope so. I’ve had the best day, Tom. Thank you.’

He shrugged. ‘It was your idea. I should be thanking you.’

‘No, you see, someone like Jimmy Coglin would never have found today as interesting as you have. You raised questions that forced me to consider how I feel about cages and zoos in general. Jimmy would have thrown peanuts at the monkeys or got up on that wagon and expected Lillian to drag him around. He’s the kind of fellow who’d throw a ball into the hippo compound . . . Jimmy is a lightweight, immature, not nearly enough man for me.’

‘I hope I am?’

‘Well, there’s plenty of you for a start,’ she said, letting her gaze roam over his height and width.

Outside her home, because it was daylight Tom seemed to take the precaution of kissing her gently on the cheek before kissing her hand. ‘I’ll see you day after tomorrow for dinner. Thank you again for the invitation.’

‘I can’t wait for Dad to meet you again. He’s going to get such a surprise.’

‘Why?’

‘You were a weedy sort of kid, I recall. Nothing weedy about you now.’