Ready To Catch Him Should He Fall

[~Ell BARTLETT] READY TO CATCH HIM SHOULD HE FALL I A DUITON BOOK IJUTTON Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Books USA Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. Penguin Books Ltd, 27 Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ, England Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 2801 John Street, Markham, Ontario, Canada L3R 1B4 Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England First American edition published by Dutton, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc. Distributed in Canada by McClelland & Stewart Inc. First Dutton Printing, September, 1991 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I Copyright © by Neil Bartlett, 1990 All rights reserved This book originally was published by Serpent's Tail in Great Britain. ~ REGISTERED TRADEMARK-MARC/\ REGISTRADA ~ LIBRARY o~· COI'OGI\F:SS CATALOGII'OG-IN-PliRLICATIO:'oi DATA: Bartlctt, Neil. Ready to catch him should he fall I 1\:eil Bartlett. Is! American ed. p. cm. PR6052.A 7543R43 823' .914-dc20 1991 91-10443 CJP Printed in the United States of America Set in Walbaum PURLISIIER'S 1\:0TE This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permssion of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. This book is dedicated to my grandmothers, Dorothy May Bartlett and Edna May Aston. ... it is a contradiction, an anomaly, an apparent impossibility; but it is a truth. I am glad to have it doubted, for in that circumstance I should find a sufficient assurance (if I wanted any) that it needed to be told. Charles Dickens, from the preface to Oliver Twist, 1837 CONTENTS SINGLE The First Week The First Month Week Five Six, Seven, and Eight Nine Ten Eleven The Last Week 18 52 51 56 67 72 85 85 COUPLE Meeting Exchanging Numbers Courtship (1) Courtship (2) Sleeping Together Engagement Publishing the Banns Robing the Bride Marriage Honeymoon Setting up Home Living Together FAMILY 101 107 tt5 127 156 151 174 186 205 215 221 259 249 SINGLE READY TO C A T C H HIM 11 This is a picture which I took of him myself. He was so beautiful in those days-listen to me, those days, talking like it was all ancient history. It's just that at the time it all seemed so beautiful and important, it was like some kind of historical event. History on legs, we used to say; a significant pair of legs, an important stomach, legendary ... a classic of the genre. Historic. Well it was true, all of it. I know that though I've shown you the photograph you still want me to describe him to you, this Boy of ours. What was he like, you say, and what you want to say is what was he really like then? Tell me something that no one else knows about him. Tell me something that will prove all of this. I understand; I mean, you want to know that someone isn't just making the whole thing up when they talk about a man being that special to them. But what can I tell you? That '/knew the moment I saw him'? (people do say that about their men, more often than you'd think). I could tell you that he had white skin, black eyes, and black hair, but you can see