Ruth turned over expectantly and then opened her eyes. Not only was Harry's side of the bed empty, but without the warmth that his body always generated, an involuntary shiver replaced her optimism. She was just about to curl up again and wait for her morning cup of tea to be delivered, something which if he did wake up first had become something of a ritual, when she heard voices. Or more precisely she heard one voice. Harry talking to himself, she could accept as a possibility, because everyone did that from time to time, didn't they? But Harry talking to a teddy bear, albeit a teddy bear that meant the world to a little girl who was no doubt awake and demanding to come over and see them, less likely. Thirsty as well as cold and short of an explanation as to what was going on downstairs, she grabbed her dressing gown, pulled on the warm socks that she'd worn the previous night and then padded across to the window and pulled back the curtains.
An action which revealed more than the fact that the snow had continued to fall overnight and now that the sun was coming up, she was able to get her first glimpse of the landscape on the opposite side of the valley. Which as the barn faced in a different direction to the house, altered the view of the church on top of the hill and the cottages, which if they drove home on what was a switchback of a road, into something that resembled a Christmas card. She was just wondering why she'd never stood by this window, for longer than it had taken her to clean it, when the one-sided conversation started up again.
The last thing she wanted was for Harry to think that she'd heard him or worse still had been listening, so went with 'ouch', suggesting that she'd walked into something, as she crossed the room and headed down the stairs. Before asking him the obvious question, 'how long had he been up?' Then adding, just for good measure, 'isn't it cold?'
His answer of, 'you know me, ages', one of Harry stock answers because he rarely checked the time these days, followed by, 'good morning darling, I was just about to bring you a cup of tea,' was delivered as he added wood to the fire with an even bigger smile on his face than he usually had when he greeted her in the morning. Which left her with no other option, than to assume it was because of what had happened before they'd fallen asleep, when in advance of making love for the first time as husband and wife, he'd suggested that Barry was looking at them and had turned him round so that he'd been facing the wall.
Barry who was now sitting on one of the two chairs that were either side of the fireplace and beside the other, stood what was left of a mug of coffee.
'Why don't we pretend that we are actually on our honeymoon and have breakfast in front of the fire?' She suggested to move things along, removing the bear that Harry had insisted had been on a surveillance mission, before sitting down on the chair that Barry had been occupying. Harry arriving with her tea and leaning in to kiss her again, before disappearing in the direction of the kitchen. Leaving her to conclude, that pressing Harry to tell her what he'd been doing since he'd got up wouldn't solve anything and that if he did have something on his mind, he'd eventually tell her. That much she had learnt.
Not that she had to wait long when, 'we ought to do this more often,' he told her, as though it had been his idea, settling himself back down in the chair that he'd previously been occupying. Toast, butter, marmalade for him and honey for her on the small table in front of them, a fresh brew made and in no rush to go anywhere. Before he added, 'because I've never felt more content than I do at the moment, I think we should forgo our morning walk today.'
Which in Harry speak, translated into, 'once we've finished our breakfast, I think we ought to go back to bed and make the most of what's left of our first morning as husband and wife.'
Which when said in a voice that resembled the honey that she was drizzling onto her toast, and with a look on his face that said please tell me don't you want another slice, was guaranteed to get her agreement. Which meant that by the time they'd tidied up what amounted to evidence that they hadn't made it as far as the bedroom, in fact they'd spent a most enjoyable half hour on the rug in front of the fire, after which they'd had a shower in an attempt to calm themselves down, which of course it hadn't, they'd consummated their marriage, more times than was probably wise, if you had friends who knew you as well as you knew yourselves. Especially as it was now closer to lunchtime when they resurfaced and went out to face the world outside. Ruth still none the wiser as to what Harry had been talking to Barry about and Harry looking as though he'd got his cake and eaten it, which of course he had, as they ploughed their way across the same thirty metres of snow-covered ground as they had done the previous night and opened the front door to the house.
Not at all surprised to see it neat and tidy and put back to what approximated normal, with Paul stretched out and fast asleep on the sofa and Ellie and Maddie in the kitchen preparing the lunch.
'Daddy's asleep because he's tired,' said Maddie, stating the obvious as she reclaimed Barry without any fuss and plonked him down on a chair, before returning to her task of mixing something in a bowl.
'Daddy's not the only one,' said Ellie, nodding in Maddie's direction. Ellie who unlike Ros, had the foresight not to mention that 'we've been having sex since first thing' was painted on their foreheads, before going on to say that, 'Maddie and Valerie's two girls had declared themselves as best friends and that Maddie had been invited to spend a day with them before they flew back to Germany.'
.
'I hadn't expected it to feel any different being married, but it does,' Ruth told Ellie, when they'd finished lunch and had wandered outside to see what was happening. To find that their respective husbands, how strange that still sounded in Ruth's head, were taking a breather from restoring Maddie's snowman back to something that resembled human, from the blob it had become overnight. Maddie back to her energetic and I love Harry self, with the early afternoon sun taking the edge off the cold. All of them wrapped up in several layers of clothing, so were warm and toasty and in their case were walking along the path that had been cleared earlier by Paul and Maurice. Where garden canes had been hammered in as markers, so that nobody would trip over the flowerpots which had yet to be investigated as to their contents.
'Good different?' asked Ellie, sidestepping not only the question, but one of several large rocks that had tumbled out of the wall. Something else that had been added to their to do list, when the snow eventually melted. Watched now by the herd of cattle that occupied the field at the end of their garden, oblivious to the cold or just used to it perhaps, as they polished off the winter feed that had been delivered, before a whistle from the farmer would see them heading back up the hill and under cover for the night.
'Exciting different, as though suddenly doors have been opened to us. I can't think of any other way to explain it.' Ruth's answer.
Ellie could. One look at Harry, who was squatting down in front of Maddie with his head on one side, listening to what she was telling him and Ellie knew what Ruth who was usually so capable when it came to stringing sentences together, wasn't formulating. Harry was melting, just as the snow eventually would, because Maddie as most children of that age did, always said what was on her mind. In the same way that Ruth was drawn in, when Maddie singled her to read her a story, or climbed onto her lap and demanded to be cuddled without asking. The Uncle and Aunt that Maddie had always craved. With the possibility that they could conceive a child of their own? Another question entirely.
What she did know, was that she and Paul were going to miss this easy and trusting relationship that they built together as couples, long before they boarded the flight back Germany. For how long, depended on where they themselves decided to call home in a month's time.
.
'Believe me you don't want to trudge over to the barn tonight or any other night and there's no need,' Harry told them, when Maddie yawned and Ellie said, 'we ought to get going.'
'Harry's right,' added Ruth, because she and Harry had already discussed how unnecessary it was. That if Paul and Ellie came back again in the summer, when they'd be able to sit outside long into the evening and with the doors open so that they could look in on Maddie, then fine. But now and because the previous night's occupants had gone, it was a far better option for everyone to sleep here under one roof. Maddie in the room where she'd slept the previous night and with a bit of minor juggling, them in their own bedroom.
Not that Harry intended to draw a line under their wedding after one night, far from it. They were still on their honeymoon as far as he was concerned and Ruth was going to be spoilt at every opportunity. But for the three days that were left before Paul and Ellie flew home and with the pressure off, he wasn't going to miss the opportunity of spending time with the couple, who were about to embark on a similar adventure that would change their lives for the better.
'It's a crisp dry cold, not like the cold in London and most days we get to see the sun,' was Harry midway into answering Paul's question as to whether they minded the cold and the isolation that the winter brought, as Ruth came downstairs, having read Maddie a couple of chapters by which time she was asleep. A bottle of wine and four glasses on the table and with the fire crackling and the side lights on, creating an atmosphere of complete calm as Ruth accepted the drink that Paul had poured for her and sank into the sofa beside Harry.
'You make it sound like one long holiday,' suggested Ellie, who was trying to imagine herself in the same situation.
'At first maybe, but that soon changed, it had to. Sink or swim and yes sometimes when the electricity goes off or the phone goes down and the internet with it, there's a moment of panic, but then we think what the hell, does it really matter? Now if you'd asked me the same question when I'd been working, then I'd have bitten you're head off as Ruth can well testify, whereas now,' was open ended. Because it wasn't the head of Section D they were listening too. It was a man who had turned his life on its head and was relishing every moment.
'Bed?' Suggested Ellie, whose eyes were beginning to close, as Harry stocked up the fire an hour later, by which time they'd drunk far too much wine, put the world to rights and if they didn't all go to bed now, they'd be fit for nothing the next morning.
Six months later.
In the end, the decision had boiled down to one of two things for Paul and Ellie and for Maddie's sake and for the boys when they came home for what were long summer holidays when you were at boarding school, they'd bought a house that overlooked the sea on the west coast. Busy in the summer, they'd accepted as inevitable, but like most rural locations in France, they knew that the winters would offer them the same peaceful existence that Harry and Ruth enjoyed, but without the isolation which would have prevented them from creating the new life they'd grown into.
Where within a few months of them moving in, Maddie who had started school almost as soon as they'd arrived, was speaking more French than she did English and with Paul able to pick her up each day, something that he'd never been able to do with the boys, she had the benefit of both parents at the end of a school day. More so, because Ellie who had been persuaded to take a part time job at the school, teaching English to the children of Maddie's age, something that had allowed them to apply as a family for dual nationality, was no longer the soldier's wife who had spent half of her life waiting for the dreaded phone call. She was just Mummy.
Who today, when the school had broken up for the long summer holiday and with a week to go before her brothers came home, was almost as excited as she was that their visitors were on the way.
A four- hour drive which was nothing to Harry, who still enjoyed driving on roads that today were taking them through villages where the colour of the roof tiles changed from the grey slate where they lived, to the orange that was recognisable around so many of Europe's coastlines. Ruth relaxing beside him with the sun on her face until they stopped for coffee in a picnic area. Reminding him of the journey that they themselves had made, when they'd been planning a new life together. Still pinching himself when people referred to Ruth as his wife. Where today and after the landscape had seemingly changed countless times until as it invariably did when you approached the sea, it was starting to flatten out. Teasing you now and again, by throwing in the odd hill that you had to climb. As if it was saying, we want to be sure you get the best view, but not just yet.
Before what was just the start of a holiday, that would give them a chance to catch up with the couple, who as they once had, had made the break from a routine that governed their every waking moment.