The Beautiful Hummingbird - Part I

Love Letter Five

Monday, 12th January 2014

26 Terrace Street, Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, England

My Darling Natasha,

After our wonderful date I drove you home. I took your hand in mine and a comfortable feeling was there. I hoped you would invite me in which you did but not before we met your next-door neighbour Albert in the street. I remember he was very fond of you and you looked out for him and that, I thought, was lovely. He even warned me to treat you nicely!

Your home was an extension of you and it oozed warmth. After your Mum died your Dad moved abroad and gifted it to you. You'd put your personality and love into making it yours. The decoration was an expression of your great taste all reds, greys and creams with bare stripped floorboards, checked sofas, soft rugs and an open fireplace. To me it felt welcoming and I could tell by your body language that you felt the happiest and safest in this space.

Loving photography I immediately noticed your 'special places' wall. A mix of black and white and colour photos in identical frames with black surrounds and white mounts. It was so clever and unique, just like you were turning out to be. There were pictures of places you'd visited for holidays as a child in the UK and abroad from Kynance Cove in Cornwall, to a view over Antibes in the South of France looking out to the Med, to iconic images of London landmarks like Tower Bridge and Big Ben, to the intrigue that is Pompeii in Italy with Vesuvius rising in the background.

One photo in particular caught my eye straightaway. It was a picture of a Loch cottage overlooking Loch Ness - so beautiful and remote. You explained it was owned by your Uncle and talked fondly about all your childhood holidays there. I sensed sadness in your voice when you were talking about it. You hadn't been back since your mum died because it held too many memories for you but I could tell by the way your voice tailed off that you were contemplating the thought.

Then there were the board games all stacked up in a big pile on the floor, looking as though they hadn't been played in a while. You were surprised that I would like Scrabble so I had to challenge you to a game. I take it seriously, mainly because I play it with Mum, and she's so good it's hard to beat her! I am quite competitive but you were so nonplussed about it that I think you liked that it made me grumpy when we argued about words not being words! To top it all you beat me and whilst you went to make tea I arranged the tiles to say 'Natasha Won' on the board. Really corny I know but you made me want to do silly little things like that for you!

Your Dad phoned to for a catch up but I didn't mind, family is the most important after all and I was just happy to be in your surroundings and in close proximity to you. You were gone for quite a while and I felt so sleepy that suddenly your sofa was so inviting that I nodded off!

My love is always yours, H.x

PS: I'd had such a lovely evening with you that I wanted to make you feel special. So I lied. Well just a little white one! I actually won the game of Scrabble but fixed the score so you won!