Classic Bestsellers from Josephine Cox: Bumper Collection. Josephine Cox

experienced in anyone he had ever known.

      Going to the window he gazed out, at the forest and the waters beyond and, as always, his heart was uplifted. ‘Every time I leave the town behind and come out here, I feel like I’ve been set free. It’s like I belong, if you know what I mean? I feel … part of it all.’ He smiled with embarrassment. ‘Sorry! You must think I’m some kind of oddity?’ How could he expect anyone – even Amy – to understand how he felt?

      ‘I don’t think that at all,’ Amy answered. ‘I think any other man, given the chance, would want the same as you have here.’ In fact, there were times, she thought, when she too might have found peace and contentment in this place. One of those times was when Don dashed all her dreams and hopes, and she was as low as a woman could get. When she could see no way forward, the urge to run away and hide had been overwhelming. Was Ben running away, she wondered.

      Just then, Johnny came rushing in, and the growing closeness between Amy and Luke was broken. ‘Quick! Come and see!’ Eyes alight with excitement, he jumped up and down on the spot, the way he did when he was so happy, he could not contain himself.

      When they followed him outside, the excitement turned to disappointment. ‘Oh, it’s gone now.’ Dejected, he sat on the veranda steps, his gaze reaching all around.

      Amy and Luke sat down either side of him.

      ‘What was it?’ Amy asked. ‘What did you see?’

      ‘A dog.’ He pointed to the trees. ‘It was over there.’

      Luke understood. ‘That was my friend,’ he said, ‘the one I told you about. Remember?’

      Johnny shook his head. ‘No! It were a dog. I saw it, and now it’s gone.’

      Luke put his fingers to his lips. ‘Ssh.’ Pointing to the spot Johnny had indicated, he advised, ‘If you’re very quiet, she’ll come back. It’s just that she doesn’t know you and Amy yet. But she’s a curious little thing.’

      For long, breathless minutes they sat very still, watching and waiting, until suddenly there she was – the most beautiful creature, slim and elegant, her body brown and dappled and her dark brown eyes wide and her face silky as she gazed at them with nervous curiosity.

      She looked at Amy and the boy, and for an instant it seemed as though she might go away, but when Luke dipped into his jacket pocket and held out his hand, she took one hesitant step forward. A wary moment, then she took another. Johnny began to fidget. She stopped, eyes alert and frightened.

      Luke whispered for him to stop fidgeting.

      Slowly, the creature began to tread its way towards them again. Luke kept his hand stretched out and, murmuring words of persuasion, enticed her nearer, until she was only a step away.

      Now, she was nuzzling Luke’s hand, her soft, moist nose pushing against his skin and her eyes half closed as she tenderly took the corn treat. Slowly, Luke took Johnny’s tiny hand and, bringing it to the creature’s head, he tenderly stroked the length of her velvet-soft ears. ‘It’s all right,’ he kept saying, ‘it’s all right.’ And the deer knew they would not hurt her.

      After a while she turned and walked away, leaving the three seated on the steps: Luke delighted that she had come out to greet his visitors, and the other two trembling with the wonder of what they had just witnessed.

      ‘See!’ Johnny was the first to break the wondrous silence. ‘I told you I saw a dog.’

      Amy gave him a hug. ‘It wasn’t a dog,’ she said. ‘It was a deer.’

      ‘Can I have one?’

      ‘No,’ Amy laughed.

      ‘Why not?’ As always, Johnny wanted reasons.

      ‘They couldn’t live in a house,’ Luke told the boy. ‘They’re wild, you see? The forest is all they know. It took me an age to gain her trust, and now she comes to see me whenever she can.’

      The boy had put two and two together. ‘Was that your friend?’

      Luke nodded. ‘She’s my best friend in all the world.’

      ‘Can I see her again?’

      Raising his gaze to Amy, Luke answered, ‘That’s not for me to say. You’ll need to ask Amy.’

      Amy read his thoughts and her heart turned somersaults. ‘We’ll see,’ she told Johnny. ‘For now, though, we’d best be making tracks back to Daisy.’

      At that, Luke clambered up. ‘Not before you’ve sampled my tea,’ he said hopefully. ‘There’s plenty of time yet.’

      Amy agreed. ‘But then we’ll have to go,’ she finished reluctantly.

      Taking a bucket, he walked ahead. ‘You can come with me to the brook, if you like?’

      And so they went, and Johnny ran on ahead while Luke and Amy talked of the deer, and Luke’s cosy cabin, and Amy revealed how pleased she was that he’d asked them along.

      As they broke through the woods to emerge near a fast-flowing brook, Luke warned, ‘Stay away from the edge, Johnny. It’s dangerously slippery underfoot.’

      While he filled his bucket with clean fresh water, Amy kept the boy a short distance away. ‘I want to live here,’ Johnny declared. ‘We can bring Mammy and all of us, and make a house like Ben’s.’

      ‘That would be nice,’ Amy humoured him, ‘only we have to work, or we won’t have any money.’

      ‘Ben lives here,’ Johnny answered. ‘He doesn’t work, and it’s all right.’ And the boy’s innocent remark got Amy thinking.

      On the way back, while Johnny went forward towards the cabin, Amy took the opportunity to ask Luke about himself. ‘I think I already mentioned that I work in my parents’ shop,’ she began.

      ‘That’s right.’

      Curious, but needing to know more about him, Amy asked tentatively, ‘Would it be too forward of me to ask, what kind of work you do?’

      At her question he slowed his step, but he kept his gaze to the ground and remained silent for a time.

      Her curiosity had set his mind racing. Should he tell her the truth about himself? And if he was ever going to confide in her, then surely this would be the best chance he might ever get.

      But wouldn’t that put him in a bad light with her? After all, he had blatantly lied, calling himself by the name of Ben. If he was now to reveal the truth, what would she think of him? What if it turned her against him? Oh, he didn’t want that. He would never want that.

      Amy waited for his answer. When he was hesitant, she suspected he might be angry that she should have asked about his business, especially when he was so obviously a man who valued his privacy. After all, he was evidently no woodlander but a man of means with a smart motor car and the time and income to indulge himself with this charming grown-up playhouse. Maybe he was well known in Blackburn – he seemed to know Blackburn well – and was hiding a very public identity. Whatever, Amy decided there was no sinister motive – Ben was much too kind for that – so he must just be an intensely private person and she had intruded with her question.

      As they reached the clearing, Amy murmured, ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.’

      Luke’s answer was curt. ‘You didn’t offend me.’ Taking hold of Johnny’s hand, Amy followed Luke into the cabin. ‘I asked what you did for a living, and it’s none of my business,’ she persisted. ‘I had no right to ask. Forget I mentioned it, will you? Please?’

      Luke turned to smile at her. ‘It’s forgotten.’

      He then went to the drawer and, taking out a sheaf of drawing paper, gave it to Johnny. ‘You can sit at the table and draw if you like?’ He had his own reasons for wanting to keep the boy entertained.

      Johnny