Josephine Cox - Blood Brothers

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Published by HarperCollins Publishers 2010

FIRST EDITION

Copyright © Josephine Cox 2010

Josephine Cox asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

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EBook Edition © FEBRUARY 2010 ISBN: 9780007353231

Version: 2017-08-10

This book is for my Ken, as always

Writing is often a lonely thing, but I find great joy in being part of the story, where the characters are like family; some you love, some you fear, and some you see as being very close like a friend or relative.

When a book is finished and the characters are launched onto an unsuspecting world, you wonder how the story and its people might be received.

I am always humbled and deeply moved by the opinions of people who interview me and by the way the world seems to have taken my stories to heart.

The letters from readers are a joy, and I want to thank you lovely people of all ages and genders, who talk to me through their correspondence, and who live the stories through reading, as passionately as I live the stories when writing them.

I want to say thank you to all my readers, for taking the time to write to me in your thousands!

And to apologise for being late with my reply. You will always get one, I promise – love and best wishes to you all. Jo x

P.S. I look forward to meeting many of you at the planned event in the Spring.

Cover Page

Title Page Blood Brothers Josephine Cox

Copyright

Dedication

Second Dedication

PART ONE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

PART TWO

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

PART THREE

CHAPTER EIGHT

PART FOUR

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

PART FIVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

PART SIX

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Also by Josephine Cox

About the Publisher

Bedfordshire – England

May 1952

Blood Brothers

GENTLY CRADLING THE injured bird, he stood on the high ground, his quiet gaze drawn to the field below.

Up there, in the windswept heights, he cut a fine figure of a man. He was not broad of shoulder, nor thick with muscle, but there was something about him, a certain strength and solitude, and the tall, proud manner in which he stood.

He was a man of integrity. He knew when to speak his mind and when to keep his silence. He also knew when to walk away.

A year ago, he had done exactly that, yet against his better instincts, he had answered his brother’s letter and made his way back. Even now he felt uneasy in this familiar place, with his family less than a mile away, and Alice just a few steps from where he now stood.

It seemed he had been away forever. A year ago he left this haven to travel far and wide to search for a quietness of heart that might allow him to build a new life and move on. Yet all he ever found was loneliness.

Out here, in the wide open skies and with only the wild creatures for company, he was at home.

When he was away, this was what he missed. This…and a woman who was not his, and never could be.

Now that he was so close to home, he still wasn’t sure he had done the right thing. ‘It might have been better if I’d stayed away…’

Deep down he had always known it would not be easy, seeing her again. Yet now, here he was and she was just a heartbeat away. Thankfully, she had not yet seen him.

He whispered her name, ‘ Alice. ’ Her name was oddly comforting on his lips, ‘ Alice. ’

After a while he moved into the spinney where he kept watch, secure in the knowledge that she could not see him.

Discreetly, he continued to watch her through the branches of the ancient trees. He shared her joy as she raced across the field, her green skirt billowing in the breeze, her long chestnut-coloured hair playing over her shoulders. Behind her the lambs followed like children, calling and skipping as she led them, like a pied piper, down to the water’s edge.

His thoughtful brown eyes followed her every step. She was the reason he had turned his back on friends and family, and yet it was not her fault, for she had done nothing wrong.

While he was away he had come to realise that whatever he did, wherever he went, she would be there; like the blood that coursed through his veins.

He saw her now; small, strappy shoes clutched in one hand, her skirt held high as she paddled barefoot through the cool-running stream. He blinked at the sun in the skies; he felt the warmth on his face, and for one magic moment the world stood still.

Oblivious to his presence, she rested herself on a boulder, her two arms stretched out and her head back, as she raised her face to the heavens. She made no move to collect the hem of her skirt as it dipped into the water. Instead she stretched out her bare legs to let the cool, frothing water trickle over her skin.

When a stray lamb drew close enough to nuzzle her neck, she tenderly reached out to caress its tiny face.

In this green and glorious landscape, wrapped in silence and surrounded by nature’s beauty, she seemed at one with all creation.

For a fleeting moment, when she seemed to lift her gaze his way, he feared she had seen him, yet he made no move. In truth, he could not tear himself away. He had to see her, to fill his senses with her simple beauty. Little more than a year ago she had unknowingly opened his heart and crept inside, and now she was etched there for all time.

It pained him to realise that soon he must turn away and be gone from here. This time, never to return.

For now though, the moment, and the woman, were his. Up here, above the hubbub and maelstrom of ordinary life, time did not exist. It was just the two of them, and that was how it should be. She belonged only to him.