Chapter Twenty-Two
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Though the morning was warm and promised to get warmer still as the sun climbed the sky, there had been rain the day before, and so the path up the hill to the swimming hole was muddy.
‘At least it’s not crumbling away under our feet,’ Heath panted, holding out a hand to help Ottilie negotiate a particularly uneven section. ‘I’ve been up here with Gran as a kid during really dry summers and it was one step forward and two steps back. Once I thought I’d slide all the way down to the bottom.’
‘I can see she was a responsible adult when you were in her care.’
‘Not a bit,’ Heath grunted as he pulled Ottilie up. ‘But she was always fun. That’s what makes me sad about how she’s behaving now.’
‘Let’s not talk about that today.’
‘No…’ Heath stopped for a moment and gazed out over the view as the sun skimmed a distant hillside. ‘You’re right. We said we’d come out today and forget everything else for a while. Looking at that, shouldn’t be too difficult.’
Ottilie stood at his side and hitched up her rucksack. ‘You were right. We don’t take advantage of having this on our doorstep half as much as we ought to.’ She shaded her eyes and took in the path that continued to wind upwards. ‘How much further? I can’t exactly remember – Flo led the way last time, and I just followed.’
‘I can never tell you where it is until I’m almost on top of it, but I’d say about half an hour more. The ground levels out a bit and there’s a twist in the path. You can hear the waterfall before you see it.’
‘Do you think we should have told your gran we were coming up here? She does love it.’
Heath began to climb again, and Ottilie followed. ‘We came up here to get away from her, remember?’
‘Not just her.’
‘No, but she’s included in the stress package that is Thimblebury right now. What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her, and I won’t tell her if you don’t.’
‘I wouldn’t dare now.’
‘There you go then…’ Heath stepped over a high tussock of grass that was obstructing the path. ‘You’ve answered your own question.’
They climbed for another twenty minutes, stopping every so often to take in a new version of the heavenly view, across the valley and the road below and over to the opposite hills, until Ottilie heard a faint rushing, roaring sound.
‘I think we must be getting close if that’s the waterfall.’
Heath paused to listen and then nodded. ‘The twist in the path must be around here somewhere. Keep a look out for it in case I miss it. I don’t fancy climbing any higher than I have to.’
‘I thought you said you were half mountain goat.’
‘Yeah.’ He grinned. ‘That was at the bottom of the hill. I changed my mind – I think I’m half sloth after all.’
They found where the path forked, one direction continuing upwards and the other around the hill, until the ground levelled out onto a plateau and they could see water gushing from the hillside above and into a rocky cauldron of water. Ottilie smiled as the memories of her day there with Flo came flooding back. She turned to Heath.
‘Still nice and secret,’ he said, noting, as she’d done, that they were there alone. ‘I hate to gatekeep, but some things are better kept that way.’
‘I feel guilty for agreeing. Flo said the same when I came up with her before. As soon as somewhere like this gets out on social media, it’s ruined by too many people coming at the same time.’
‘And half the time it’s only for an Instagram pic anyway…’ Heath clambered over the rocks to get up to the pool, offering a hand to help Ottilie as he went.
‘I can probably climb it easier by myself if I take my time and watch my feet,’ she said.
‘It’s not too bad once you get past where they’re a bit more pointy.’
‘Is that the technical term?’ Ottilie asked as she picked her way through a gathering of tiny mountainous peaks and onto where the rocks levelled out. ‘Pointy?’
‘Yes, it’s mountaineer speak – I thought everyone knew that.’
At the edge of the pool, they found a boulder to sit on. Ottilie stripped down to the swimsuit she’d worn beneath her clothes and pulled on a pair of rubber shoes. The first time she’d been up here with Flo, she’d been unprepared and she’d been nervous about getting into the water. This time, she had the right equipment, and she had Heath to help if she got into trouble.
Once they were both ready, Heath tucked their rucksacks into a dry corner and helped Ottilie over the lip of the pool, where she sat and dangled her feet in. As she pondered the best way to enter the water without simply dropping in like a stone, she recalled that last time Flo had shown her a natural step that allowed easier access. She cast around for it, and Heath seemed to realise what she was looking for and pointed.
‘It’s easier to get in over there if you’re worried about jumping.’
‘I don’t want to jump; I have no idea how deep this is, and I don’t know how long I’d be sinking for.’
He started to laugh. ‘It’s not a journey to the centre of the earth, you know. I don’t know how deep it is, but I’m pretty sure you’d come back up after a few seconds.’
‘I’d rather not find out. I like my swimming to be on the surface, with my head above the water at all times.’
She got up and made her way cautiously to where the rocks allowed her to walk in a way. ‘Oh my God, I don’t remember it being this cold!’ she yelped.
‘Better to get straight in,’ Heath said, holding his nose and leaping with a splash so large that it soaked her. A moment later, he resurfaced, grinning. ‘It’s cold but not so bad when you get used to it.’
Ottilie brushed water from her eyes and glared at him. ‘Thanks!’ she said, making him laugh again.
‘Come on – better if you don’t dither.’
Ottilie took a breath and steeled herself, and then pushed off the side and into the pool.
The cold stole her breath, and she gasped as she struck out. ‘Remind me again why we thought this was a good idea!’ she panted.
‘But just look at it!’ Heath said, swimming to the rocks and leaning over them to gesture at their view.
Ottilie made for him and grabbed the same rocks to steady herself, shivering but still awestruck by the vista. The sun was above the hills now, and everything was different shades of green, dramatic pockets of light and shadow where the geology changed, and the sky was a cornflower blue, clear and vast above them. She kicked to keep herself warm as she bobbed in the crystal waters that had perhaps travelled for years and years through the rocks of their Lakeland home to reach her skin at this point.
‘You’d pay thousands for a view from a pool like this on holiday, and then it would never be this exclusive,’ he continued. ‘No wonder people would flock here if it ever got discovered. If I saw this on a post, I’d want to come here too.’
‘It is incredible,’ Ottilie agreed, turning to plant a kiss on his chilled lips. With her shoulders out of the water, the sun was warming them enough that she could manage the cold now she was getting used to it. ‘We’re the luckiest people in the world right now.’
‘I think we might be.’ He returned her kiss with one that was longer and more passionate. ‘I love you so much, Ottilie. I think I might be the luckiest person in the world. And not just now – whenever I’m with you.’
‘Silver tongue,’ Ottilie said with a laugh. ‘You think I’m falling for that. What do you want?’
With a grin, he let go of the rocks and pushed off, gliding through the water on his back. ‘I want to swim, and then maybe I want to fool about with you. And then lunch.’
‘Sounds like every teenage boy’s dream.’
‘Deep down, we’re all still teenage boys, you know.’
He held out his hands for Ottilie to join him. She paused, still warier of the depths than he was. It unnerved her not to know what was beneath them or how far it went down, but she wanted to be brave. Heath always made her want to be brave, and so, after a moment, she shook the fear and swam over.
‘Aren’t you glad we came?’ he asked as they trod water together and he wrapped his arms around her.
‘Yes.’ She smiled, safe in his embrace, the peace of their surroundings seeping into her soul. ‘Very.’