Free Truly I do by Katherine West Page B

as if he were in
the room with her and she wished that he was.
    "Hello Dad -
so you heard all about my girlie sorrows then?"
    "I did." he
confirmed. "Do you want my opinion Julie-Anne?"
    "Go on then
Dad?" her smile broadened while she wondered what he was going to
say.
    "Take a chance
girl!" He declared jovially. "You're just jumping to conclusions.
Now that you've had all of these thoughts you can at least be on
your guard. But, Jools . . . "
    She gasped at
the sound of her dear father's pet name for her. Julie-Anne wished
she was a little girl in his care again. "What Pa?"
    "Jools, open
yourself up to the adventure! Get a bit of passion in your life
before it's all too late. Don't let my shining little girl become a
drab old spinster eh?"
    Silently she
listened to how the New Zealand drawl affected her father's speech,
it sounded nice and comforting, enhancing the timbres of his
natural voice. "I don't want to be an old spinster Dad!" She
agreed, "But I don't want to set myself up to get hurt either. My
life has always been so safe - I don't know how to live on the edge
like you do."
    "Listen girl,"
he answered in a conspiratorial tone, "I didn't say anything when
you plunged into marriage with the first so-safe-as-to-be-boring
bloke that came your way. I didn't tell you then that I thought you
ought to go out and have some proper adventures. But don't you know
that that's the reason I suddenly agreed to come out here with your
mother? I suddenly realised when I saw your blossoming life ebb
away to that lifeless experience you had married into, I was guilty
of doing the same to your Ma. She was such a vibrant, exciting girl
when I married her and I just squashed the life right out of her
with my determination to be steady and safe - dull! I saw her in
you and I saw it all draining away and I suddenly realised that I
owed it to her to come here and start again. Now you don't get that
chance, but look how it's revived us and given us back our love,
our relationship and our reason to cherish every single day of our
life together."
    Julie-Anne had
never realised any of this. She imagined the knowing smile on her
mother's face in the background. She noticed the fresh vibrancy in
her father's voice and knew the truth of what he was telling her.
"But Dad, does that really mean that I should trust myself to
Russell?"
    "Why not? Let
yourself go girl! You've got the place in Surrey. If this bloke
tosses you aside like you suspect then go home, tidy up, and come
out and try again. Now, your mother's back with some iced drink and
a wicked grin on her face so I'm off - but keep in touch eh!" He
hung up, Julie-Anne heard him flirting with her mother even as he
moved the telephone receiver back to its resting place. She bit her
lip and went thoughtfully back to bed. Maybe in the morning she
would have breakfast with Russell, apologise to him and take it
from there. Feeling settled, she closed her eyes and let herself
drift off to sleep.

Chapter
six

    'Oh, my
goodness!' Julie-Anne had awoken with a start, it had taken her so
long to get to sleep the night before that she had now overslept
and when she opened her eyes and saw true daylight through the
gothic-arched window of her room she realised it was much later
than she'd intended.
    In fact it was
just after nine o'clock. Hurriedly she rolled out of bed and
stumbled to the bathroom. Cleaning her teeth and brush her hair
almost simultaneously she decided she'd have to forego any make-up
until later. She pulled on a soft peach coloured silk teddy and
over it she slipped a new pair of bronze coloured, tight fitting,
pedal pushers and a roll necked, caramel, lambs wool sweater. With
a final glance in the dressing-table mirror she grabbed her room
key and rushed down stairs to try to find Russell.
    She knew from
the expression on the face of the receptionist when she approached
to ask where Russell might be, that her worst fears were about to
be realised. "I'm afraid he checked out at seven