by Des Ekin
She punched him gently on the arm. ‘Okay, I deserved that. I admit I’ve been … well, rather obsessive about my clinic. It’s been so much at the centre of my life for the past four years that I’ve overlooked some of the more important things.’ She stopped and put her arms around him. ‘Like you.’
He silently returned her embrace.
‘It took this dreadful business to force me to see the big picture,’ she said, her voice clear and certain. ‘I’ve been away from my clinic for over a week now, and the world hasn’t collapsed as a result. I’ve got a perfectly competent deputy who’s capable of running the place as well as I do. I think I’ll put him permanently in charge.’
‘Freeing you to do what?’
She shrugged. ‘I might move to Dublin. The Health Department has been after me for months to set up a clinic in the capital. I suppose now’s the best time. Before Robbie starts school. But I’m not sure whether I can do that, Hunter. It all depends.’
‘Depends on what?’
‘On us. And whether there is an us.’ She raised a forefinger to his lips before he could speak. ‘I know. You asked me before and I turned you down. And I didn’t have the courage to tell you why.’
Hunter stayed silent.
‘I’m a psychiatrist. I always demand that my patients be honest with themselves. Yet in this case, I didn’t take my own advice.’ Emma stared down at her feet. ‘I turned down your marriage proposal because of my father.’
‘Your father? But your father’s dead.’ He frowned. ‘You never did talk about him all that much.’
‘He was an alcoholic, Hunter. One of those on-again, off-again, on-again types. All his life. He broke my mother’s heart. Along with all the crockery and half the furniture.’ She smiled sadly. ‘I swore to myself that I’d never marry an alco, even a reformed one. Because I was afraid they couldn’t be trusted to stay dry.’
‘But you know that it’s possible for alcoholics to stay dry. You’ve helped them do it.’
‘Reality is one thing, Hunter. Personal fear is another. I didn’t want to end up like my mother, endlessly apologising, endlessly covering up.’
‘And that’s the only reason you turned me down? Because you didn’t think you could rely on me to stay sober in the long term?’
She nodded. ‘Yes. I’m sorry, Hunter, but that’s the truth.’
‘It wasn’t that you didn’t love me?’
‘No!’ She stared at him in astonishment. ‘Is that what you thought?’
‘Of course it was. What did you think I thought?’
She burst into laughter. ‘Let’s discuss things over dinner.’
‘Okay. Indian, Chinese, Japanese? I’ll let you decide.’
She checked the airport clock. ‘I already have. I think we’ll go to a French restaurant.’
‘Great. I love French cuisine. Which one?’
‘Les Princes. You’ll really like it.’
‘I haven’t heard of that one.’ He began walking towards the exit, but she stopped him and led him over towards the Air France check-in desk.
‘When I said a French restaurant, I meant a restaurant in France,’ she said. ‘Les Princes is in the Hotel Georges V in Paris.’
‘Where?’
‘On the right bank, near the Arc de Triomphe, between the Champs Elysées and the Seine.’ Emma laughed, deliberately misunderstanding his question. ‘I took the liberty of booking us in there for the next two days.’
Hunter stopped and stared at her in amused surprise.
‘What can I say? I’m lost for words. In English or in French.’
‘Well, you know what Claire always used to say,’ Emma quoted. ‘Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must remain silent.’
‘You know something? I never did work out what that actually means.’
She swung around to face him. ‘Simple,’ she said. ‘It means “shut up and kiss me”.’
About the Author
Des Ekin is a journalist and the author of four books. Born in County Down, Northern Ireland, he began his career as a reporter. After spending several years covering the Ulster Troubles, he rose to become Deputy Editor of the Belfast Sunday News before moving to his current home in Dublin. He worked as a journalist, columnist, Assistant Editor and finally Political Correspondent for The Sunday World until 2012. His book The Stolen Village (2006) was shortlisted for the Argosy Irish Nonfiction Book of the Year and for Book of the Decade in the Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards 2010. His most recent book, The Last Armada (2014), was shortlisted for the National Book Tokens Nonfiction Book of the Year. He is married with a son and two daughters.
Copyright
This eBook edition first published 2016 by The O’Brien Press Ltd.,
12 Terenure Road East, Rathgar, Dublin 6, Ireland.
Tel: +353 1 4923333; Fax: +353 1 4922777
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.obrien.ie.
First published 2001 by The O’Brien Press Ltd.
The O’Brien Press is a member of Publishing Ireland.
eBook ISBN: 978–1–84717–860–2
Copyright for text © Des Ekin
Copyright for editing, typesetting, layout, design © The O’Brien Press Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or in any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Editing, typesetting, layout, design: The O’Brien Press Ltd.