Darkest Before Dawn Episode 29
Isobel was surprised to come home one day to find Stefan in the kitchen, standing barefoot at the stove, with a tea towel tucked into his belt to protect his trousers.
“Smells lovely,” she said. “What is it?”
“Is what you call a stew,” he said with a shy smile.
“With vegetables from Alf’s ground and some secret spices.
“It is a surprise for Mrs Pollard.”
“Secret spices?” Isobel stood next to him and inhaled the delicious smell.
“Dad often uses herbs and spices when he’s cooking.”
She realised she was almost leaning up against him and took a step away.
“Isobel, can I ask you something?” Stefan began.
“Yes, of course.”
“Would you like to come to the cinema with me tonight?”
She drew in her breath.
“And Jan?”
“No.” He laughed. “Just us.”
“I’d love to. As long as it’s not to see that war film showing at the Majestic.
“I’ve had enough of the war,” Isobel told him.
“So have I. A comedy then. Funny!”
“That sounds marvellous. There’s a good one on at the Regent.”
“After we eat,” Stefan said.
“What’s cooking?” Alf asked from the doorway.
Isobel hadn’t even noticed him come in.
“Who’s trying to do me out of a job?” he added, grinning.
He came over to the stove and looked in the pan.
“Do you mind?” he asked, and took up a spoon and had a taste. “That, son, is very tasty.
“I’d be proud to serve that up on board to posh passengers.
“Maud not home yet? I’ll walk along to meet her.”
“Do you do much cooking at home?” Isobel asked Stefan once her father had left.
His face fell a little at the mention of home, so Isobel changed the subject and got on with laying the table.
“So, you will come, yes?” Stefan asked.
“Most definitely yes, Stefan.” Isobel smiled.
For the first time in a long while, Isobel got dressed up and wore make-up and perfume.
“You look beautiful,” Stefan said when she came downstairs, and Isobel earned a worried look from her mother.
“We won’t be late, Mum,” she said.
Isobel and Stefan walked to the cinema side by side.
There wasn’t a moment when they ran out of things to talk about, and by the time they got there Isobel’s cheeks ached from laughing.
She wondered nervously if Stefan would put his arm around her in the cinema, but he was engrossed in the film.
She found herself watching him rather than the screen.
He had to concentrate hard to translate the words, but he laughed in all the right places.
She found him fascinating.
Afterwards, they walked home in the blackout and felt their way carefully.
“You should hold my arm,” he suggested, even though it wasn’t necessary. “To be safe.”
She didn’t need telling twice, so she linked her arm through his.
Being this close to him was causing all sorts of confusion.
All she knew was that, when she was with Stefan, she felt as if everything was right again, even though things were still far from right in the world.
As they turned into their road, Stefan stopped and pulled Isobel into his arms, almost as if he expected her to push him away.
“You are very special, Isobel,” he murmured.
“I think you are, too,” she replied, hardly able to breathe for her wildly hammering heart.
She closed her eyes and tilted her face to his.
When he kissed her, it was like nothing she’d ever experienced before. Was this what love felt like?
They walked on in silence.
Once home, Isobel kissed his cheek, thanked him for a lovely evening and crept upstairs to bed.
She could hear Peter’s soft breathing and crept quietly round the room in the dark, bumping her shin on the bed and biting her lip to stop herself from yelping.
“Well?” Tilly whispered. “How did it go? Did he kiss you, Isobel?”
“The very thought,” Isobel whispered back, her voice shaking.
“He did!” Tilly almost squealed. She sounded delighted.
“I thought he would. Tell me all about it.”
Isobel felt as if she’d burst if she didn’t talk, and she and Tilly sat up for ages, whispering on their beds in the darkness while Peter slept soundly in his cot.