Still Married to Her Ex!

by Lucy Clark

  ‘OK, then. Travel safe.’

  ‘And you go out and celebrate.’ Molly pointed sternly to her friend. ‘You did an excellent job with that surgery. You deserve to reward yourself.’

  ‘You’ve got that right!’ Alexis’s earlier smile returned and the two of them walked out of the changing rooms together. It was only as they reached the theatre clerk’s desk near the doors that Molly realised Fletcher was standing there, clearly waiting for her because when he saw her he stopped talking to the clerk and gave her his full attention, smiling warmly.

  ‘There you are. I was beginning to think you’d snuck out another door.’

  ‘Nope. Ready to go?’

  ‘Oh?’ The theatre clerk grinned at them both suggestively. ‘Where are the two of you going?’

  ‘Out for a drink to celebrate the successful surgeries we’ve done,’ Alexis commented quickly. ‘You’re welcome to join us at the pub across the road when you’re done.’

  The theatre clerk gave Fletcher a quick perusal and a feline smile. ‘I might just do that.’

  ‘And Fetching Fletcher strikes again,’ Alexis said once they were clear of the theatre department.

  Fletcher merely shrugged one shoulder. ‘I simply cannot help it if I am found utterly irresistible by the opposite sex,’ he joked.

  ‘Ha.’ Molly couldn’t help but laugh, pleased he was at least in a good mood for the start of their weekend together.

  ‘And not just the opposite sex, either,’ Alexis said, winking at him before laughing. They went down the stairs and out into the early evening. ‘What time are the two of you leaving?’ she asked and Molly noticed Fletcher raise his eyebrows in surprise. ‘Or do you actually have time for a quick celebratory drink across the road?’ She jerked her thumb towards the pub.

  ‘I think we can definitely squeeze in a non-alcoholic drink before we leave,’ Fletcher remarked. ‘Molly?’

  ‘Absolutely.’

  ‘A job well done for all of us,’ Alexis said as they walked towards the pedestrian crossing.

  ‘Well, not for Fletch,’ Molly added. ‘I’m sure by now he can do the surgery in his sleep.’

  ‘Hmm. I did wonder why there were so many scalpel holes in my pillows.’

  Alexis and Molly laughed and she felt the weight of her earlier oppression lift from her shoulders. What did it matter what Fletcher’s plans were for the future? His life was his life just as her life was hers. She had plans to travel and help others and to be the best surgeon she could be. Why couldn’t he have plans to marry someone else?

  Determined to be happy for him, just as a true friend would be, she resolved to let go of her neuroses, at least for the weekend, so she could enjoy herself with her family.

  After they’d had a drink with Alexis, they headed back to the duplex where they quickly finished packing, starting on the road only an hour later than originally planned.

  ‘Nice hire car. Smooth.’ She changed gears as she navigated her way through the end of the Sydney evening rush-hour traffic. She was also glad he’d offered her the keys.

  ‘Want to drive? I put your name on the hire contract.’

  ‘You remembered how I like driving?’

  ‘I did.’

  As she manoeuvred the car out onto the motorway they discussed the surgery he’d performed with Alexis, as well as talking about the surgical cases she’d done in Theatre.

  ‘It’s so great to be able to talk about my day with you,’ she said, soft jazz music playing in the background. ‘You know the people I work with, you know their temperaments and personalities. It’s nice.’

  ‘Surely you can talk to your sisters about the cases?’

  ‘Of course, but they don’t know a lot of the actual people I work with, apart from Alexis. It just makes a difference when I say things like…David was underfoot again.’

  ‘Ah. Yes. David. He’s a jittery sort of fellow, isn’t he?’ He nodded. ‘I know this is his first year on the surgical training programme but if he doesn’t get rid of his nerves, he’ll never make a good surgeon.’

  ‘Surgeons need to have nerves of steel,’ she said in a deep voice and they both laughed.

  ‘Now, before we get to your house, tell me more about your siblings—the ones I don’t know.’

  Molly was more than happy to tell him about Jasmine’s desire to go into medicine when she’d finished her schooling and how George and Lydia loved their rabbits. ‘And along with Pierce’s sister, Nell, they like entering their rabbits in the rabbit-jumping contests.’

  ‘Rabbit-jumping contests?’ He glanced at her in disbelief. ‘You’re pulling my leg.’

  ‘Not at all. It’s a very serious business and George, Lydia and Nell are devoted to it.’

  ‘Then I shall listen intently to all they have to say on the subject.’

  She smiled across at him. ‘Thank you. That means a lot. Most men, when they discover I share guardianship of my younger siblings, tend to shy away from wanting anything to do with them.’

  ‘I think you’ll find, my dear Molly, that I am nothing like “most men”.’

  ‘True. You’ve always been the type of man to walk to the beat of your own drum.’

  ‘I’m so glad you’ve noticed.’

  ‘Oh, I noticed quite a long time ago, Fletch.’ She glanced across at him as she slowed the car down to stop at traffic lights.

  His voice dropped to an intimate whisper. ‘There are quite a few things I’ve noticed about you, too.’

  ‘Such as?’ She knew she was fishing but couldn’t help it.

  ‘Such as you’re more focused. You’re still just as stubborn as you always were but now your stubbornness is more clearly directed.’

  ‘Ha! You cheeky sod.’ She laughed, enjoying spending time with him, just as she had in the past. This was how they’d been when they’d been travelling all those years ago, joking and teasing each other, laughing and enjoying themselves. It was nice to be able to do that again.

  By the time she pulled the car into the driveway of her family home, she was more than ready to escape the confines of the enclosed capsule of the car.

  ‘And about time you arrived,’ Cora called as she came out, her arms wide open towards Fletcher. ‘It’s really good to see you again,’ she told him, enveloping him in a hug as though no time had passed at all. ‘Brother-in-law.’ She winked and before he could say anything, the rest of the clan trooped out to greet them.

  The Wilton clan was even more rowdy than all those years ago, the family home filled with lots of love and laughter, and Fletcher couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so relaxed. Travelling, getting to know Eliza, seeing Molly again, had exhausted him far more than he’d realised, but learning about rabbit jumping, doing jigsaw puzzles and generally connecting again with Molly’s family made him feel as though he’d never left.

  It also made him realise just how much he’d missed having a real family. He hadn’t even had the chance to meet Eliza’s father yet but her son had joined them for a few weeks travelling around with them on mid-semester break. It had been good to get to know him but Eliza’s family still didn’t make him feel anything like he’d felt with the Wiltons. Being with the Wiltons all those years ago had helped him to realise what a family was supposed to be like because, until then, the only model he’d ever really known was his own dysfunctional one.

  The laughter, the sharing, the helping. Even Pierce and Archer seemed so natural, so at home within this crazy family. Reading stories, making snacks, picking up toys, organising bath time, preparing meals, hanging out washing. There was always something to do and always someone to do it with and, although the large house could accommodate them all, it was difficult to walk down the hallway without meeting someone.

  ‘I hadn’t really realised how…isolated I’ve become,’ he said to Eliza on Saturday evening when he called her. The day had been a full but fun one and he was lying on his single bed with one hand behind his head, the other holding his cell phone to
his ear.

  ‘Ouch. Thanks a lot,’ Eliza replied with a laugh.

  ‘That’s not what I meant.’ He spoke quickly, closing his eyes and cringing a little at his lack of decorum. ‘Of course I have you but…well, you also have your father and your son.’

  ‘I know what you’re saying,’ Eliza continued. ‘Seeing Molly’s family up close, remembering how you used to be a part of it…well, it’s bound to bring back memories as well as the sense that something is missing from your own life.’

  A picture of Molly instantly came to mind and his eyes snapped open in shock. Molly? Was Molly what was missing from his life? Molly and the possibility of a family of their own? No. No. He was with Eliza. He couldn’t go back to where he and Molly had started. Could he?

  It wouldn’t be the same beginning, it would be a different beginning. They were different people after all, people with almost two decades’ worth of different memories and more experience when it came to making relationships work.

  ‘Fletcher?’

  He brought his thoughts back to the present. ‘Sorry, Eliza. I guess I’m a little preoccupied this evening.’

  ‘Tonight’s not the only night.’ There was a softness to her words. ‘I guess we’ve both been a little preoccupied lately.’

  They’d already discussed her father’s improving health and also how her son was progressing at medical school. ‘You have a point.’

  ‘Do you think, now that we’re not travelling together, that things seem a little…I don’t know…’ She searched for the right word.

  ‘Forced between us?’ He shook his head as he realised what he needed to do. Eliza made a good point and he couldn’t promise that even once the fellowship ended, things wouldn’t still seem forced or uncomfortable between them.

  ‘Yes,’ she agreed. ‘Don’t get me wrong, Fletcher, I love talking to you and hearing about what’s happening in your life but…I don’t spend all day long thinking about you, either. I guess it’s because I’m so busy. Looking after a parent isn’t easy but having my sisters dropping in and helping out, so that I can take some time to go and have lunch with my son, definitely helps.’

  ‘While my focus has been on finishing the fellowship and trying to get this divorce thing sorted out.’ Even as he said the words he felt a pang of regret, of sadness at the thought that one day soon, in a few months’ time, he would be officially divorced from Molly. He’d had to go through the pain of losing her once, of assuming his divorce had been finalised, but then to discover they were still legally joined in holy matrimony had given him a small glimpse of an alternative future, one he’d never thought possible.

  ‘Oh, Fletcher,’ Eliza said after a moment’s pause. ‘Are we kidding ourselves?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Perhaps it was a mistake—me proposing to you and you accepting.’ She sighed. ‘Why did you accept?’

  ‘Because I thought we’d be able to make each other happy for the next twenty or thirty years.’

  ‘But that was before you realised you were still legally married to Molly.’

  ‘Well…yes.’ He frowned. ‘What are you saying?’

  ‘I’m saying that I think we need to call off our engagement. I’m very fond of you and I would have been honoured to spend the rest of my life with you. You make me laugh, you’ve helped me not to take myself so seriously. You brought me out of the void I was in after my husband’s death, out of that fog, and I can never thank you enough for that. Scotty was the love of my life, the father of my child, my soulmate and I can never see him again.’ She paused. ‘You, on the other hand, you have actually been given a second chance to be with your soulmate.’

  ‘Soulmate?’ He raised his eyebrows and was pleased when he heard her chuckle.

  ‘Come on, Fletcher. It’s not that difficult to work it out. Who’s the one woman you want to see every day, who makes your heart race with excitement, who drives you completely insane, who is the first person you want to tell your good and bad news?’

  ‘Molly.’ He breathed her name.

  ‘Exactly. I can tell by the way you talk about her, by the way you try and disguise what you’re really feeling by making your accounts more professional. You also seem to go silent on the phone, no doubt drifting off into some old memory of the two of you together.’ She sighed and Fletcher listened intently, trying not to feel terrible that their time together was coming to an end. ‘I know these things, Fletcher, because I’ve been there. I’ve lived off my old memories for so long and I’ll continue to do so but I’ve realised—you have helped me to realise—that it’s OK to visit those memories but to take delight in the people around me. My son, especially, as well as my father and sisters.’

  ‘Eliza, I—’

  ‘Fletcher, it’s quite clear to me that your feelings for Molly are still very much alive. I would never want to stand in the way of that sort of love. Take it while you can. Hold on to it for as long as you can. Life is short, far too short to have regrets. This is the right thing to do, Fletcher. For both of us.’

  ‘And we’ll stay friends? I don’t want to lose you as a friend.’

  ‘No chance of that,’ Eliza told him with a chuckle. ‘When you’re all done with the fellowship—and you’ve managed to sort things out with Molly—come to Melbourne. I’d love to meet her. She sounds like such a wonderful person.’

  ‘She is.’ He smiled, feeling as though an enormous weight had just been lifted from his shoulders, from his head, from his heart. No more conflicting emotions. No feeling guilty. No more hiding from the way he really felt about Molly. He concluded his call to Eliza—his ex-fiancée—and started making plans on how best to convince his legal wife to remain his legal wife, for ever.

  ‘Molly.’ He breathed her name and smiled, his heart singing with love for her.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  ‘HOW ARE YOU holding up?’ she asked him on Sunday morning at breakfast. She was brighter, happier and completely content. He could remember it always being that way when she was with her family. The three of them, Stacey, Cora and Molly, were such an integral part of each other, sharing a bond that no one else could really understand, but it certainly made them all happy and he loved seeing her that way. Her hair was less curly here, bouncing around her shoulders in soft waves, enticing him to touch. Her green eyes were vibrant, compelling him to stare into them all day long. Her smile was wide and bright and perfect, making him want to kiss her lips and never stop.

  There was no denying his attraction to her. Not any more. After his conversation with Eliza last night, he was a free man. Free to pursue Molly. Free to woo her. Free to convince her that staying married to him was the right…was the only decision.

  Being here with her family, getting to know Jasmine, George and Lydia as well as Stacey’s husband, Pierce, and his sister, Nell, reacquainting himself with Cora’s husband, Archer, and meeting their adopted son, Ty, only confirmed that this was what he wanted, this was the place where he felt more at home than any other place in the world. He’d lived overseas, travelled and worked in too many countries to count but never had he gained a pure sense of family, of belonging, as he did right here, right now, sitting at the dining-room table with Molly, staring at her with such an intensity that he was positive she started to blush.

  ‘Are you going to answer my question or are you just going to sit there and stare at me?’

  ‘Definitely the latter,’ he commented. That was another thing his time here in Newcastle had confirmed. He loved Molly. He was completely and utterly in love with Molly Wilton. He wanted to have children with her, to find a job in Australia, preferably in Sydney or Newcastle so she could be close to her siblings.

  Their children would have her blonde curls and his blue eyes. They would spend time with their aunties and uncles, play with their cousins. They would be raised in a completely different environment from that he’d had to suffer through. They would be loved, not only by their parents, but by their extended family.
They would be made to feel their worth, to grow to be secure and happy adults.

  He and Molly could do this. They could be a family together, the family they’d planned to be all those years ago. That dream could become a reality for both of them and the thought of that prospect made him sigh with contentment. It felt right. It felt as though this was where he’d meant to be his whole life and, although he’d regretted his past actions, he was being handed a second chance. Hope soared within him. Was this much happiness possible again? He had to at least try.

  ‘Fletch.’ She smiled as she spoke his name softly, her gaze brightening with delight at his answer. ‘You’re still staring at me.’

  ‘I know. I’m enjoying it.’ He reached out and took her hand in his, raising it to his lips and brushing a soft kiss across her knuckles.

  ‘Fletcher?’ She tried to remove her hand but he only linked his fingers with hers. ‘What about Eliza?’ Her voice was a whisper and she glanced around lest any of her family should see them.

  ‘I spoke to Eliza last night.’ He shook his head slowly, not taking his gaze from hers. ‘And…well…long story short—we’re not together any more.’

  ‘What?’ The word was barely audible, her eyes widening with surprise. Was it a delighted surprise? Was it a shocked surprise? Was it a repulsed surprise? ‘You called off your engagement?’

  ‘Yes…er…well, she did actually but it was a mutual decision. We’re still going to remain friends.’ Fletch smiled and kissed her hand once again.

  ‘But Eliza’s OK with it? Isn’t it a bit sudden to just end it like that? On the phone? Don’t you at least want to see her and—’

  He reached out and put a finger gently across her lips to stop her talking. What he’d really wanted to do was to keep her quiet by pressing his mouth to hers but he felt that might have been jumping the gun a little bit. It was true that the attraction between them was still very much alive but that didn’t mean that she would be willing to try again.

  ‘Shh. It’s all fine.’ He lowered his hand to stop himself from touching her further. Slowly, slowly. ‘Eliza and I were never really in love with each other.’