Part Five

"It's a long way down."

"Just concentrate on what's ahead." Jeff was helping Lucy to get used to riding a horse again. Lucy was terrified at first, especially when Bridie started walking, but she steeled herself and found that she was getting used to it.

"Okay now?" Jeff asked.

"Yes, I think so. Just so long as we don't go any faster than a trot," Lucy replied, watching Jeff get on his horse with remarkable ease. They finally set off, walking through the farm and out into the fields beyond, passing Grant on the way. He smiled at them as they went by but did not say anything. They each had a saddlebag bulging with goodies that Josie had packed for them.

"All that fresh air will make you hungry," she had insisted, when Jeff protested that it was too much for the two of them. Jeff knew better than to argue further with his mother, so reluctantly accepted the laden bags. He turned his head to look back at Lucy.

"How are you doing?" he called.

"I'm fine," she replied. They rode on in relative silence, enjoying the tranquillity of their surroundings. It was a beautiful day, and time seemed to have no meaning. Lucy looked behind her and saw that the farm had disappeared into the distance.

"You're not kidnapping me, are you?" she asked.

"Damn, how'd you guess?" Jeff answered, with a grin. Lucy laughed.

"How much further to the river?" she asked.

"Not long. Another mile or so," Jeff told her. "Want to try going faster?"

"Okay," Lucy said. They got the horses to break into a trot, and it wasn't long before they arrived at the creek. It wasn't a huge river, but it was big enough to make a pleasant diversion from fields. There was the odd tree here and there, and the land looked a little rougher.

"If we go upstream for a little way, there's a place we can stop and have something to eat," Jeff said. Lucy followed him, and soon they arrived at a place where the river ran shallow, and there was a sort of cove.

"My parents used to bring me here when I was little, as I could play in the river without being in danger, because it's shallow," Jeff explained as he dismounted, and hitched his horse to a nearby tree. He came back to help Lucy get down.

"It was just the local pool for me," Lucy said, watching Jeff hitch Bridie to the same tree as his horse. She scuffed at some pebbles with the toe of her shoe, then went closer to the edge of the water.

"Does the land across the river belong to your father too?" she asked.

"No, the river is the border between our farm and the next one," Jeff replied, coming to stand next to her.

"Good neighbours?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah, I suppose so," Jeff replied, a little hesitantly.

"What?" Lucy asked him. Jeff blushed slightly.

"Their daughter is the same age as me, and we sort of dated a couple of times," he said.

"Sort of?"

"Well, our parents kind of pushed us into it really. Nothing came of it though, we just weren't suited to each other," Jeff explained.

"Which was good," Lucy smiled.

"Yeah…she was kind of cute though," Jeff teased. Lucy put her arms round his neck.

"I'm not falling for that one," she grinned, reaching up for a kiss, which Jeff was happy to give.

"Mmm… Are you hungry?" Jeff asked.

"I am," Lucy replied.

"Let's go and see what Mom's packed for us," he said. They made their way back to where they had left the horses and the bags. After a rummage through various tubs, Jeff pulled out some snack items and divided them between himself and Lucy. They quickly polished them off, then decided they were still hungry, so got some more food out and ate that too.

"Guess your mother was right," Lucy said.

"Somehow, she always is," Jeff replied. Lucy stood up. "Where are you going?" he asked her.

"Nowhere," she said, smiling at him, and wandered back down to the edge of the river. She just liked looking at the water running over the rocks and pebbles. Lucy had never seen a river that looked so clear before. She could see little fish swimming about. She heard Jeff coming up behind her, and crouched down at the water's edge, looking intently at it.

"What are you looking at?" Jeff asked. Lucy said nothing, only peered closer. Jeff crouched down beside her. Lucy looked at him out of the corner of her eye, and suddenly swept her hand through the water, soaking Jeff, who protested loudly. He tried to get her back, but she was too quick for him, and had dodged out of range. She stood there laughing at him until he ran after her. She made a half-hearted attempt to avoid Jeff catching her and giggled madly when he picked her up.

"I'll teach you," he grinned, carrying her back to the river.

"No, don't!" Lucy squealed, clinging onto him as he lowered her towards the water. At the last minute, Jeff put her down on the edge of the river. She started towards him but slipped on a stone and fell backwards into the river. After a split second of alarm, Jeff realised that she was okay, and began laughing so hard that tears were running down his face. Lucy stayed sat in the water, trying to look indignant, but failing.

"Come and help me out," she said, between giggles. Jeff went to give her his hand, but Lucy tackled him and caused him to end up sat beside her, equally drenched.

"I think we're even?" Lucy grinned.

"I think so," Jeff replied, splashing her.


A couple of hours later, two slightly damp and dishevelled young people arrived back at the farmhouse. After grooming the horses and putting them back in their stables, they crept inside, only to come face to face with Josie.

"What on earth have you two been doing?" she asked. "Go and get changed at once. Dinner will be ready in half an hour." With that, she bustled back into the kitchen, shaking her head. She heard the muffled laughter from the stairs and smiled to herself. What it was to be young and in love. She could tell from what she had seen of the interaction between Jeff and Lucy that they were completely besotted with each other. Josie was pleased with her son's choice of girlfriend. She found Lucy to be a pleasant and charming young woman. Yes, she seemed very well suited to Jeff. It was still early days, but Josie had a very good feeling about this relationship.


Later that evening, Lucy and Jeff were in Lucy's room, discussing the day and things in general. They were sat on the bed, leaning against the headboard.

"It was your fault for splashing me," Jeff said.

"It was a good thing no one else was around," Lucy replied. "Else I'd have felt really stupid."

"You just looked funny, not stupid."

"So did you," Lucy said. Jeff squeezed her.

"It was a fun day though," he said.

"Yes, it was. I haven't enjoyed a day out like that so much before," Lucy said, then shook her head. "What am I saying? I haven't had a day out like that before."

"Next time you want to go swimming we'd better go to a proper pool or beach," said Jeff. Lucy poked him in the ribs and got no response. Not even a flinch. She groaned, and moved round to face Jeff, who simply smiled at her.

"It's not fair. You have got to be ticklish somewhere," she said.

"No, I don't," he replied. "What's your obsession with where I'm ticklish?"

"I'm not obsessed. I'm just determined to find it," Lucy said, and waved a finger over his chest, suddenly jabbing at a random location. Jeff shook his head, and prodded Lucy back. She held in a laugh, knowing that Jeff's parents were in bed, and went for him. They play-wrestled each other, trying to keep the giggles down to a minimum. Gradually though, the playfulness morphed into more serious caresses and fervent kisses and inevitably clothes began to be discarded.

"Your parents…" Lucy whispered, a sudden moment of clarity through the amorous haze, even as her fingers drifted down the contours of Jeff's well-defined torso.

"They won't hear a thing," Jeff assured, trailing feathery kisses southward.


They spent another day at the farm with Jeff's parents, before it was time to head back to Houston. After the weekend, the holiday feel was definitely over – Jeff had to return to training at the space centre, and Lucy had to start her job. She was going to work for a small local television network, a completely new experience for her in more ways than one.

"Nervous?" Jeff had asked her at breakfast.

"Of course," Lucy replied.

"You'll be fine," he told her. For the first time since she had arrived in America, they had gone their separate ways for the day. Lucy caught a bus and made her way to the imposing looking building she had seen when Jeff had driven her back from the airport. Despite the outside appearance, it was actually quite nice inside. Upon arriving at the correct floor, she approached the receptionist, a girl that looked barely older than herself.

"Hello, I'm Lucille Evans – I'm here on a placement for the next few weeks," Lucy said. The receptionist nodded.

"Yeah, I was told you were coming today. Follow me, I'll take you to meet Joel, the boss. I'm Linzi, by the way," she said. "So, you're from England, aren't you?"

"Yes," Lucy replied. "I come from Canterbury."

"Is that near London?" Linzi asked.

"It's a bit further south," Lucy answered. She followed Linzi through a maze of desks, taking in the atmosphere. Linzi stopped outside a door and knocked carefully before going in.

"Joel, this is Lucille," she said, ushering Lucy inside the office before giving her a smile and departing the room.

"Take a seat," Joel said. Lucy obliged, and looked at the man who was her new boss. He was middle-aged and looked like someone who enjoyed his wife's homemade pies a little too much.

"So, is it to be Lucille or Lucy?" he asked, jovially.

"Lucy," she replied. "But I prefer to publish my work as Lucille." Despite not being overly fond of her full given name in daily life, she had found that she liked it for her professional persona.

"Not a problem. Well, first things first, welcome to the channel."

"Thank you," Lucy said. "I've been looking forward to coming here."

"That's great. We've got a lot in store for you. So, if we can start by running through what sort of things you did back in England, as a recap for me, then I'll tell you a bit more about us, and then it'll be time to introduce you to the folks you'll be working with," Joel said. After a lengthy discussion, Joel led her out to a section of desks across the main room from his office.

"Lucy, this is Tom Delaney. He'll be who you'll work with most," Joel said. Tom stood up to greet the new arrival, offering his hand which Lucy took.

"Hey Lucy, pleased to meet you." Joel then directed her to two other people.

"These two are Anna Friend and Wes Darwin," he said. They smiled and nodded in unison. Joel continued. "I'm sure you'll all look after Lucy. Show her the ropes and get her settled into the way we do things," he said, then left his underlings to it. They heeded the instructions of their boss and showed Lucy her desk. They were quite welcoming, and Lucy forgot all about being the new girl. She had feared that her background would make her stand out, but it didn't seem to be the case. In fact, the four of them spent so much time talking, they almost forgot all about work. Lucy looked at her companions. Anna was quiet, but with a certain charm that meant she was not reserved. Wes was a light-hearted person with a seemingly endless supply of bad jokes. Tom was probably the most intellectual of them all. Lucy had a feeling that he was destined for bigger things than a little local television news channel. The four of them went for lunch together. It was then that Lucy remembered Jeff and checked her phone. He had sent her a message, asking how things were going. She tried to call him, but his phone diverted straight to voicemail, so she sent him a message telling him that she was fine.

"Anything interesting?" Tom asked her.

"What? Oh, I'm just sending a message to Jeff," Lucy said.

"Boyfriend?"

"Yes, he is," Lucy replied, looking back at her phone, and missing the slight flicker of disappointment in Tom's grey eyes.

"Guess it's serious if he came over with you."

"Oh, no. He's from Kansas. I'm the one who made the move." She wasn't quite ready to divulge to her new colleagues that Jeff was participating in the biggest space mission in decades. Fortunately, no more was asked about Jeff that day. The rest of the time passed quite fast, and soon Lucy was saying her goodbyes and making her way home. She felt quite elated as she let herself into the apartment and found that Jeff was already there.

"When did you get back?" she asked, putting down her bag and giving him a kiss and a cuddle.

"Not too long ago," Jeff replied. "How was your day?"

"It was great!" Lucy enthused. "Everyone was really nice. I didn't actually do too much work today, but I think I'll be kept busy!"

"Not too busy, I hope," Jeff smiled.

"I could never be too busy for you," Lucy replied, giving him another kiss.

"Glad to hear it." Jeff kissed her back.


Lucy learned a lot in the first few weeks of her new job. She felt as if she had been there forever. She knew that she had made the right decision to come and spend time over here, even if her mother still disagreed. Her father had told Lucy that he supported her choice, and her mother really agreed too, but missed Lucy very much. Lucy was now halfway through her stay, and she needed to think about what to do next. Jeff would be going on his first outing into space in the August of the following year, and Lucy was determined to be there to see it. She hoped more than anything that Joel would offer to extend her contract. Although the thought of going back to England jobless and once more apart from Jeff was nightmarish to her, if she did manage to stay in Houston for a while longer then she would like to make a visit to her parents, preferably with Jeff in tow.

"After all," Lucy said, "I think that it'll put my mother's mind at rest if she can finally properly meet this strange man her daughter has run off with!"

"Well, I'll see what I can do," replied Jeff, a little curtly. Lucy looked at him and sighed. She had learned that Jeff had odd little huffs occasionally, and usually the best way of dealing with them was to leave him alone for a couple of hours. She dropped the subject and turned back to the message she was writing to Karen. She was in the middle of recounting a couple of stories she and Tom had been working on. Lucy had made several friends at her place of work, but Tom was the closest of these. And this was the reason for Jeff's blackened mood. Lucy always chatted about her working day when she came home, but recently it all seemed to be, "Tom said this", "Tom did that", and although Lucy meant nothing by it, she had unwittingly stirred up one of Jeff's lesser traits – jealousy. It was rare for it to manifest itself and rationally, he trusted that Lucy would never be unfaithful to him. But love was not rational. He glanced over at her. She had her back to him, tapping away on the keyboard. He watched her tuck a strand of russet hair behind her ear. She was everything to him and the mere thought of another man encroaching on their relationship was enough to rile him. He returned to his mechanical engineering textbook. His studies were almost over, and soon he and his colleagues would be preparing for a mission for real. To think that all his hard work would be rewarded with being able to look down on the Earth from space was a pleasant distraction from this Tom guy…

"It's the Christmas party at work in a couple of weeks. Do you want to come?" Lucy interrupted his thoughts.

"Why? Are you going to go alone if I don't?" Jeff asked.

"Well, I'll have to, won't I? I don't want to miss out on it. Everyone is going to be there, and I'd like for you to meet them," Lucy told him. "After all, I've met a couple of your astronaut buddies."

"Yeah, why not?" Jeff replied, returning to his book.

"Don't sound so enthusiastic," Lucy said, unable to keep the annoyance out of her voice. Jeff shrugged. Lucy was unable to bear Jeff's mood anymore. She ended what she was doing on the computer and went to get her coat.

"Where are you going?" Jeff asked.

"Out," Lucy replied, brusquely. She gave Jeff a look and left him to his book.


Jeff's bad mood returned at Lucy's Christmas get-together. By now, Lucy's colleagues were aware of who he was, and he was happy enough at first to chat to them a little about life as a trainee astronaut. That was until Lucy spotted Tom and called him over. For Lucy's sake Jeff was polite to Tom, but he could tell without a doubt that the journalist had more than a platonic interest in his girlfriend. That was bad enough, but when he saw how much Lucy seemed to enjoy Tom's company, Jeff couldn't take it. He seized an opportunity when he and Lucy were alone.

"Lucy, I want to go," he said. She looked at him, surprised.

"Why?" she asked.

"I just do," he replied. "I want you to come with me."

"I have my key, so if you want to go by yourself…" Lucy began, but Jeff interrupted.

"I'm not going home by myself," he insisted, leaning close so he spoke in her ear. She stepped away from him.

"Jeff!" she hissed, trying not to make a scene. Unfortunately for Jeff, at that moment Tom reappeared.

"Everything alright?" he asked. Lucy recovered herself.

"Well, actually, we were just about to leave. Jeff's not feeling very well," she said.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Tom said. He looked at Jeff. "I can make sure Lucy gets a cab home if you like," he said. Lucy didn't need to look at Jeff to know that he was seething about something and answered before he could.

"That's nice of you, Tom, but I'd better go with him," she said.

"Okay, if you're sure," Tom replied, and gave Lucy a kiss on the cheek. "Have a nice Christmas."

"You too, Tom," Lucy smiled at him.

"Yeah, sure," Jeff muttered grumpily, causing Tom to raise an eyebrow slightly and Lucy to pretend she hadn't heard. Once they'd made their way outside the building, and away from people, Lucy exploded.

"Would you care to explain to me what that was all about?" she snapped.

"It's nothing. It doesn't matter," Jeff said.

"Don't you give me that. You've been moody on and off for the past fortnight."

"No, I haven't."

"Yes, you have. And don't think I didn't notice that you were rude to Tom just now."

"Tom, Tom… Is that all you care about?" Jeff snarled. Lucy was taken aback.

"Is this what it's all about? You're jealous of Tom? Honestly, Jeff. That's ridiculous."

"Is it? All you talk about is him," Jeff snapped.

"That's not true. Tom is a friend, a good friend. That is all. Really, Jeff, what do you take me for?" asked Lucy.

"He was looking at you in a way that's rather more than a friend," Jeff replied.

"You're being stupid," Lucy said.

"I am not." Their argument was attracting the stares of the few passers-by that there were, and Lucy was unwilling to argue any more in public. She started to walk down the road.

"Where are you going?" Jeff asked.

"Home," Lucy replied.

"You're not seriously walking home?" Jeff said, following her down the road. Lucy turned to face him, a withering look on her face.

"I'm not sharing a taxi home with you whilst you're being so irrational," she said, and continued walking.

"You can't walk all the way from here. It's too dangerous and you'll freeze!" Jeff yelled, but Lucy kept on walking. As if he was attached to her by a leash, Jeff followed behind her. Their argument over Tom flared up again and spread to quarrels over minor irritations that normally wouldn't warrant a full-blown row.


By the time they returned to their home some two hours later, they had run out of steam, and were in more familiar territory of joking around and having a civilised conversation. They got in, kicked off their shoes and collapsed on the sofa, worn out from the long walk and the heated words. Jeff offered an apology.

"I'm sorry for acting like an idiot."

"And I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings," Lucy replied. The tension that had been between them recently vanished, which was just as well as it was Christmas a few days later. It would be just the two of them to enjoy a quiet day and they were having an appropriately lazy morning. Jeff had made them breakfast and they were still in their nightwear, opening presents on the floor of the living area of their apartment. Lucy's mother had sent her a parcel of small gifts from herself, John and Lucy's brother, Peter. Jeff insisted that she open those first and after she had worked through them, he presented her with a big box.

"Happy Christmas." Lucy undid all the wrapping paper, only to find another box inside. She undid that and found another one.

"What's this, pass the parcel?" she grinned. "I should have put some music on."

"I know you like a good puzzle," Jeff replied. Lucy opened yet another box to find it stuffed with tissue paper. She took it out, and found a little box nestled inside which was obviously, finally, her present. She lifted it out and opened it up. Inside was a ring. An expensive looking white gold ring set with a single sapphire and diamonds. Lucy felt the colour drain out of her face and she looked at Jeff.

"Jeff…" she began, but Jeff hushed her.

"I know it's a bit out of the blue, but I've given it a lot of thought, and I know that you're the only woman I want for the rest of my life, the one I want with me through whatever the future holds," he said quietly, not taking his eyes off her. He took hold of one of her hands. "Lucy, will you marry me?" Lucy was completely taken aback, and it took her some seconds to find her voice. But there was only one answer she could give.

"Yes."