Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
‘So, where was it?’ said Leo. ‘Before it got, you know, cut off.’
Evie had finally given in to a week of his pestering and now they were standing on the Millennium Bridge. There seemed to be fewer padlocks hanging off it than before. Maybe Evie’s mysterious council worker had done double shifts with the bolt cutter.
‘Actually, I’m not sure,’ said Evie, with a frown. ‘I must have erased its location from my memory …’
‘Hey, look!’ said Leo. ‘A cat!’
Evie expected a padlock shaped like a cat, but no, it was a real one. Black, and weaving towards them in that slinky feline way. The bridge was crowded with people walking to and fro, but strangely none of them gave the cat a second glance. There was a lot to look at, to be fair, thought Evie. The glittering stretch of the Thames. Your own face when you were taking a selfie. And the cat wasn’t very big.
It stopped beside them, and wound itself around their legs, purring.
‘Hello, puss-cat. Will you let me pat you?’
Leo squatted down, stroked the cat between its ears. It closed its eyes and purred louder, butting its head against Leo’s hand.
‘It doesn’t look like a stray,’ Evie said. ‘Its fur is lovely and shiny.’
‘And it has a collar. With a nametag.’ Leo cupped the tag, a little golden heart, so he could read the name. ‘ Miss L ,’ he said. ‘Can’t tell if that’s the cat’s name or the owner’s. No phone number.’
‘Its owner probably lives in one of these swanky places.’ Evie glanced around at the expensive apartment buildings that lined the river front. ‘Or maybe it belongs to her?’
She pointed towards a flower seller, who was sitting by the St Paul’s end of the bridge with her little brightly painted cart, pink to match her hair. The woman had a good-witch vibe that would fit with a black cat.
The cat stretched its front paws up onto Leo’s knee. ‘You’d like me to pick you up?’ he said. ‘Madam, your wish is my command.’
‘I didn’t know you were a cat person,’ Evie said, as he lifted the cat off the bridge.
‘I’d have cats and dogs if I could,’ said Leo. ‘Pigs, too. Goats. Donkeys.’
The black cat was lying cradled in Leo’s arms like a baby, purring.
‘Um, Evie,’ said Leo. He sounded tentative, uncertain.
‘Yes?’ she said, slightly anxious about what he was going to say.
‘I did something you might hate.’
‘Tell me immediately,’ she demanded.
‘I got us a padlock,’ Leo confessed. ‘I thought we could attach it here. Today …’
He paused, waiting for Evie’s response.
‘What does it say?’ She kept her face poker, but her heart was thumping.
‘Um, Leo and Evie , with a love heart, and today’s date. That’s all that would fit …’
‘What shape is it?’
‘Padlock shaped,’ said Leo. ‘The heart-shaped ones were a bit flimsy.’
‘Steel or brass?’
‘Brass.’
Evie waited a beat more, before she said, ‘That is the sweetest thing you’ve done for me besides offering to buy me a matching dressing gown. I love it.’
Leo visibly sagged with relief. He looked down at the cat, still purring in his arms.
‘Could you hold her? I need the use of my hands to do the padlock thing.’
Evie suspected the cat might object, but it barely stirred as she cradled it the same way Leo had.
Leo pulled the padlock out of his pocket and showed it to her. ‘I hope you like the typeface?’
‘The fact you even thought about the typeface is good enough for me,’ said Evie.
‘So, shall I attach it?’
‘Absolutely,’ said Evie. ‘It might get removed by a bolt-cutter tomorrow, but who cares?’
Leo fastened the padlock around the bridge wire. It hung there, looking bright and sturdy.
‘You know, someone once told me that it’s obvious which padlocks will endure,’ Evie said.
‘Ours will,’ Leo said, with conviction. ‘It’s got a hardened steel shackle.’
Evie laughed. ‘I’m not sure that’s what they meant.’
Her laugh disturbed the cat in her arms. It yawned widely, showing needle-sharp teeth. Then it opened its eyes.
‘Oh.’ Evie took another look at the padlocks hanging on the bridge. It might have been her imagination, but hers and Leo’s seemed to have a greeny-gold aura. ‘Oh,’ she murmured again. ‘Maybe it is obvious.’
The cat wriggled; it wanted to get down. Evie gently set it on the bridge, and Leo gave it one last ear scratch before it sauntered off, heading in the direction of the pink-haired flower seller. Evie’s hunch seemed to have been right. She wondered briefly if the woman did more besides sell brightly coloured blooms. Tell people’s fortunes, perhaps?
Leo slipped his arm around her waist and kissed her on the temple.
‘What would you like to do now?’ he said.
‘I’d like to stand here a while longer,’ Evie replied. ‘And just be with the man I love.’
‘Sounds good to me,’ said Leo. ‘In fact, I can’t think of anything I’d rather do right now.’
‘Yes, you can,’ said Evie.
‘Okay, yes, there is that ,’ agreed Leo. ‘But we’ve got time. In fact, we’ve got so much time ahead of us. Just think of all the great stuff we can do together!’
‘You’re a true romantic,’ said Evie. ‘I love you.’
‘I love you, too, Evie,’ he said. ‘And this is a perfect moment.’
Bravo, my friends, bravo. But I’ve already sensed another broken heart who needs our help, so let us leave our love-locked couple here in their perfect moment and move on. No rest for Miss Lovelock and her agents, and, of course, we wouldn’t have it any other way.