He sat down beside her and took off his hat.
‘How many have you had?’ he asked laughingly.
‘Loads. I love ’em. Don’t you?’
She put one to his lips and he accepted it, biting down so that the slightly sharp, mildly flavoured juice burst on to his tongue.
‘Very nice,’ he said, swallowing it down.
‘Have another,’ she said.
She popped one in her mouth, then she lifted her face to Adam’s, putting her hands around his neck and pulling him into a kiss. Once she had prised open his lips with her tongue, she pushed the blackberry into his mouth. Their tongues competed to burst it first, Evie winning the race.
‘Mmm. Let’s do that again.’
They consumed a lot of blackberries in this manner, the juice running down their chins, their lips and teeth bumping together, their tongues stained purple.
Adam grasped Evie around her waist and pulled her down so they lay, entwined and panting and surrounded by smashed blackberries, in the shadow of the hedgerow. Now the kissing continued without the fruit, sensual yet solemn, while the sun looked down upon them.
The lushness of her body beneath his hand made him moan with desire. The way she filled her dress, curving and spilling over, was too perfect to bear. He ran a hand up her thigh until he was inside her silky skirt, close to her silky briefs.
Evie broke off the kiss. ‘’Ere, vicar. You’re coming on a bit strong, aren’t you? Didn’t think you knew how to feel a girl up. I see I’ve got a lot to learn about you.’
‘You are going to marry me, Evie, aren’t you? Say yes.’
She sat up, dried grass stalks in her hair, blackberry juice on her breasts. God, she was obscenely gorgeous.
She put a finger on his lips, smiling fondly.
‘You’re covered in juice stains,’ she said. ‘What a funny bloke you are, Adam. You’re serious, aren’t you?’
‘You know I am. I love you so much it chokes me. I love you so much my vision goes black around the edges when I see you. I love you so much it’s driving me slowly insane. Well, not that slowly, actually.’ He laughed mirthlessly and grabbed her hand. ‘You have to say yes.’
‘All right then,’ she said. ‘After the Harvest Festival. OK.’
‘Really? You will?’
‘Yeah, why not? You’re fit as fuck and you’ll do for me.’ She giggled. ‘Imagine Evie Witts as the vicar’s wife. I’ll never hear the end of it.’
‘Oh Evie. Oh, you’ve saved my life.’
He threw his arms around her and locked her in a passionate kiss that threatened to drown the pair of them.
‘Steady,’ she laughed, emerging in even more of a mess than she had been before. ‘Where’s my ring then?’
‘Ring? Oh! Of course. Well, are you busy? Shall we go to Parham and look in the jewellers?’
‘I’m never too busy for new diamonds, lover. Not that I’ve got any old ones, mind.’
Mrs Witts, who had been watching from the back porch, mixing bowl under her arm, congratulated them as they passed by. The look exchanged between aunt and niece was a little strange, loaded with something. But Adam was too immersed in his private rapture to think about that too much.
‘You’ll have to give up that porn film work. If you can call it work.’
They lazed in the shade of a spreading oak tree by the river in Parham. Evie’s ring finger sparkled. She held it up to the sun, admiring it from every angle.
‘Why? I’m a modern woman, Adam.’ She laughed at his face. ‘I’m only joking. I know it’d get you in trouble with the bishop. Dunno why, though. It’s just sex.’
‘Evie! You can’t have sex with anyone else but me. We’ll be married. “Forsaking all others”, remember.’