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Chapters (84)
  1. All the Days of Our Lives
  2. 1945
  3. 1931-1944
  4. I
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-One
  26. Twenty-Two
  27. 1946
  28. II
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. III
  34. Twenty-Seven
  35. Twenty-Eight
  36. Twenty-Nine
  37. IV
  38. Thirty
  39. Thirty-One
  40. Thirty-Two
  41. V
  42. Thirty-Three
  43. Thirty-Four
  44. Thirty-Five
  45. VI
  46. Thirty-Six
  47. Thirty-Seven
  48. 1948-1949
  49. VII
  50. Thirty-Eight
  51. Thirty-Nine
  52. Forty
  53. VIII
  54. Forty-One
  55. Forty-Two
  56. Forty-Three
  57. IX
  58. Forty-Four
  59. Forty-Five
  60. Forty-Six
  61. X
  62. Forty-Seven
  63. Forty-Eight
  64. Forty-Nine
  65. Fifty
  66. Fifty-One
  67. Fifty-Two
  68. Fifty-Three
  69. Fifty-Four
  70. XI
  71. Fifty-Five
  72. Fifty-Six
  73. XII
  74. Fifty-Seven
  75. Fifty-Eight
  76. XIII
  77. Fifty-Nine
  78. XIV
  79. Sixty
  80. XV
  81. Sixty-One
  82. Sixty-Two
  83. 1953
  84. All the Days of Our Lives

Katie and Marek both tried not to show that they were pleased he was going, and wished him goodnight. As the door closed behind him, they looked at each other and smiled.

‘Well . . .’ Marek said. They could hear Piotr’s footsteps going upstairs.

‘It’s been a lovely day. I feel so nice and warm and well fed.’

‘Oh yes.’ Marek shook his head. ‘It is just wonderful.’ He looked up as the door closed upstairs, then held his arm out to Katie. ‘Come here . . .’ He was in the nice big, comfortable chair by the fire.

‘Let me put the light out,’ she said. ‘It’ll be cosy.’

Marek pulled her onto his lap and they snuggled up comfortably, Katie’s head resting on his shoulder, his arms close round her. She loved the way he held her very tight, as if she was utterly precious to him. She reached up and kissed his cheek, and he looked down at her.

‘You are so lovely,’ he said. ‘You are gift from God.’

‘Oh, I don’t know about that!’ she laughed. She stroked her palm across his cheek, bristly and lean, loving the feel of him, his heartbeat a gentle rhythm against her ribs. He reached down and they kissed, and she caressed the back of his neck.

‘I’ve been dying to kiss you all afternoon,’ she said, and Marek laughed.

‘Yes – I have the same feeling.’

‘Agnieska seems well – she’s settling in.’

‘Yes, it’s good. She is OK. She feels better.’

‘It must be so nice, having someone from your family with you now.’

Marek smiled. ‘Umm – it’s good.’

‘Marek?’ she said after a moment. ‘Will you tell me? At least some of it? I keep hearing little bits – what you said about your sister’s hair, and what Piotr told us today. I don’t know anything; I don’t even know where those places are, or what happened. Or about your family, and I haven’t known whether I should ask or not. I do want to know – about you, my darling. About all of it. And we shouldn’t keep secrets from one another.’

Marek breathed in, then out, very hard. ‘I know – I should speak about it. But it is easier now we are here, in England, not to think about it. To push it away. I just tell you because it is right that you know me. And I think if I do not talk, it will rot inside me.’

She could feel, by the way he was breathing more deeply, that this was already a struggle. She nodded, waiting, settling her head on his shoulder, one hand on his chest.

‘Just start off,’ she encouraged him. ‘And see how you get on.’