Chapter Fourteen

‘Hi, Dad. Is Mum there too?'

Ed glanced from the computer screen towards the doorway across the room. ‘She's just put the jug on. She'll be back in a minute.'

‘How's things?'

Even from the other side of the world, Ed heard the unspoken question in Scott's voice. He glanced at the doorway again. ‘Fine. Good.'

Scott frowned. ‘Is something wrong? Something I should know about?'

‘Well …' Ed hesitated. The conflict inside him was not something he felt able to talk to Scott about. Steph was Scott's mother and, even after she disappeared, he had never said anything to Scott that might harm his son's chances of reconnecting with her. That habit had become so ingrained, he didn't feel able to break it now.

Before he could speak, Steph appeared in the doorway, two steaming mugs in her hands. ‘Here she is,' he told Scott quickly, before his son could say anything he might later regret.

‘Hello, Scott.' Stephanie sat down on the couch next to Ed. ‘Lovely to see you again. Is Katie with you?'

‘No, she's on night shift at the hospital.' Scott's face slipped into the slight smile he always wore when he talked about Katie. Ed recognised that smile. He'd worn it too a long time ago, back when he and Steph were both young.

‘She works such long shifts,' Stephanie said.

‘She's a nurse, Mum, it goes with the territory. And she's studying to be a doctor as well.' Ed could hear the pride in his son's voice.

He didn't pay too much attention to the rest of the conversation as he eased himself off the couch and took his tea to his armchair. He sipped the hot drink and watched his wife and son chat. After so many years alone, he was finding it strange to hear another human voice in his home. It was unexpected … and it was a pleasure.

Watching Steph and Scott made him feel like he had a family again. It made him feel almost like the young man he had once been. The young man who had fallen for a girl with blonde hair, a beautiful face and body, and a smile that could almost stop his heart.

At that moment, Steph looked up at him. Her face was glowing with pleasure and he saw, not the woman in her fifties a little bit battered by life, but rather that girl he had once loved beyond reason. And his heart gave a little jump.

That surprised him and left him feeling a bit confused. He got up and walked out into the kitchen, where he could be alone with his thoughts.

What about Helen? She was a real woman – not a memory of a girl. Those kingfisher blue eyes were lined with care, but even with Steph in the next room, Ed felt the desire to see Helen again. He wanted to talk to her and hear her laugh. He wanted those lovely eyes to shine up at him. He wanted …

‘Ed? Scott has something to show you.'

Feeling almost relieved to leave such troubling thoughts behind, Ed went back into his living room. He settled himself on the couch next to his wife, and started talking to their son.

Steph was still glowing later that evening as Ed walked her across the road back to the hotel. He hadn't planned to, but they had been talking animatedly about Scott and Katie, and it just seemed right to walk with her.

They stopped in front of the pub. The lights inside the bar were glowing with invitation. Ed glanced up at the shapes visible through the widows. The pub was fairly busy tonight.

‘Are you going to come in and have a drink?' Steph asked. ‘Let me buy you a beer. My way of saying thanks. I know how hard it must have been for you to cope with …' she took a deep breath as if to collect her courage ‘… to cope with me suddenly appearing like this. After all this time.'

Ed hesitated. ‘No. I don't think so.'

‘That's all right,' Steph said gently, putting a hand on his forearm. ‘I understand. But I just want to tell you how grateful I am to have reconnected with Scott.'

Steph raised herself on her toes, and kissed him. Like the previous time, it was a quick, soft kiss. But this time, for one brief moment, Ed felt an urge to kiss her back. Shocked by his own feeling, he drew away. As he did, their eyes met.

This was his wife. The woman he had pledged to love for the rest of his life. Ed felt a sharp pain inside his chest as for a few long moments they just stood, eyes locked.

Then he turned away and walked back across the road towards the house that had once been their home. His mind and his heart were whirling. He had meant it, all those years ago when he had vowed to love and honour her till death did them part. But Steph was the one who had parted them. Steph and the man she'd had an affair with.

But that was a long time ago. The anger had faded, and now she was back. And the invitation, the desire in her eyes, had been clear.

Ed was an honourable man. He wasn't one to lie. He never cheated the customers at his garage. He believed in helping people and being straight in his business life … and his personal life.

He had never broken his wedding vows … not once in all those years alone.

And now he and Steph had a second chance to make that marriage work. His honesty and integrity told him to take that chance. To tear up that brown envelope and the divorce papers it contained. He should forget all about Helen and her blue eyes. But his heart was telling him something different.

The car's headlights were on high beam as they approached the pub, and Helen could see Ed quite clearly as he crossed the road.

She had also seen him quite clearly as he had stood on the footpath kissing his ex-wife. No. Kissing his wife. There was nothing ex about Stephanie.

Helen could feel a crack forming in her heart. Of course he had chosen Stephanie. She was his first love. His wife. And the mother of his son. Not only that, Stephanie was still a beautiful woman. And that mattered to men – even a man in later life. No new frock or hair colour would ever make Helen as beautiful as Stephanie.

She bit back what could almost have been a sob. It didn't matter that she had already decided that Ed was not for her. All that mattered was how disappointed she felt, and how lonely the years ahead suddenly looked. Then Tia reached out and patted her hand.

‘Why don't you come back to the police station with me? I'm sure Max won't mind. Just for tonight.'

Helen was tempted, but she shook her head. That would be like running away, and she'd done that too many times.

‘No. I'm fine,' she said. ‘And besides, we need to stash your dress and everything here at the hotel. It wouldn't do for Max to see them before the wedding.'

Tia parked the car outside the pub and the two of them gathered up armloads of shopping, and a huge bag containing a wedding dress. Helen kept her eyes peeled for Stephanie as they made their way inside and up the staircase to her room. She glanced down the hallway, but the door to Stephanie's room was firmly shut. At least Helen knew that Ed wasn't in that room with her. That would have been too hard to take.

But maybe he soon would be …