Chapter 16

We left at one minute before eight o'clock which foiled the traffic wardens who were already gathering for the morning feast of illegally parked cars. As I had hoped, we had a good run down to Heathrow and were parked and in the terminal by just after quarter to nine. The plane was shown as having landed a couple of minutes early and passengers were now in the baggage area. For nothing better to do we strolled over to Arrivals.

I was becoming more and more keyed up. Morag noticed it.

"You really are in love with her, aren't you?"

"Yes! Is it really that obvious."

"Very! You can't keep still and quite unlike your usual chatty self you haven't said a word to me since we read the arrivals board. And then you keep craning to see if you can see further down the passage."

"I'm sorry, Princess. It's very rude of me but I am on complete tenterhooks."

"Don't worry, darling. I quite understand and actually find it very touching. I wonder if you were this twitchy yesterday evening."

"You bet. I arrived much too early and had to drive round the block several times."

She chuckled. "Just as well" she said. "I was in such a state that nothing would go right and I thought I was never going to be ready for you. I was so relieved that you played the politeness rule and arrived ten minutes late."

It was my turn to chuckle. Then...

"There she is," I exclaimed and burst through the barrier to run to her. I gathered her in a huge hug and just held on. She clung to me. The familiar feel. The unforgettable scent. My beloved was back.

We parted as an official came to intervene.

"I'm sorry," I said. "Happiness overcame me."

He shook his head disapprovingly but there was a slight smile on his face.

"If she was my lady I'd have done the same," he said and was rewarded with a peck on the cheek from Mary which caused him to blush.

"Oh, darling, it's so wonderful to have you back," I said as I took over wheeling her trolley.

"Works both ways," she replied. "I had a lovely time and a lovely break but I missed you throughout, my darling man."

We had reached the barrier by this time and Morag was standing there with a shy half smile on her face.

"Hello, my little love!" said Mary opening her arms.

Morag fell into them and the two of them held on to each other like mother and daughter long separated.

Finally Mary gently disengaged and pulling a tissue from her coat pocket dabbed away Morag's tears.

"You are looking lovelier than I ever remembered," she said, "And that's saying something. I guess my man does you good."

Morag nodded vehemently. She was clearly still not confident of speaking.

"That makes two of us, my dear."

I cleared my throat.

"We're blocking the exit a bit," I said. "What about some breakfast, darling? I'll bet you didn't eat the one on the plane."

"Well, I had the roll and marmalade and drank some yuck coffee so I'm not starving but a little bit of something would go down well."

"Come on then," I said. "Let's go and pig ourselves."

"We got to the restaurant that we had used a number of times before. Mary just ordered scrambled eggs on toast. You'd never have known that Morag and I had had a feast the night before. We ordered the lot: bacon, fried egg, fried bread, tomatoes, sausage mushrooms and baked beans. We all had coffee, two mugs. Delicious!