by Shari Low
She scrolled down some more, when another name caught her eye.
Jean Pascal.
With a shaking Shellac nail, she opened it.
Je te veux. Nous devrions parler, non?
She quickly plugged the sentence into Google translate.
I want you. We should talk, no?
Oh yes. Oh yes, yes, yes.
Ken Manson could piss right off. Clearly she didn’t need him.
Being the wife of an eminent heart surgeon had been her dream for so long. But you know what topped that?
Being the wife of an international football star, especially one who looked like Jean Pascal.
She clicked reply, then typed in the phrase she’d just acquired courtesy of Google translate.
Ne fais que parler?
Only talk?
A minute past midnight
Chapter 33
Just a person. Lying in a bed. In a hospital room. Breathing.
There was no time to say goodbye. No time for regrets or recriminations. No time to wait until the loved ones had gathered by the bed to bid them farewell.
They didn’t know that somewhere out there a heart had just been crushed by the weight of broken promises. Or that someone else sighed with relief as they walked away from the past. Or that someone’s plans for a new life had turned to dust. Or that a very unexpected love was pulling two hearts together.
They didn’t know that the person they loved most in the world wouldn’t make it in time. Maybe wouldn’t make it at all.
They didn’t know that a love had died, that when it came right down to it, the only love that mattered was the one that endured, that stuck, that was meant to be.
Just a person. Lying on a bed. In a hospital room. Breathing.
Just a heart beating.
And then it stopped.
Yvonne Anderson, Caro’s mum, was gone with the words of her daughter echoing across the void…
Know I love you.
Nine Days Later – New Year’s Eve
Epilogue – Part 1
Caro and Cammy
‘How do I look?’ Todd asked, jutting his jaw forward and putting his hands on the hips of his sharp suit, in a superhero pose.
Caro descended into giggles. ‘Clark Kent right after he realised he was gay and got a great wardrobe,’ she replied.
‘My work here is done,’ Jared said, laughing.
She needed this. At first, she’d thought it was a terrible idea, returning to the city her dad lived in, so soon after her mum had passed. There was still perhaps a one per cent chance that her recent trauma would cause a psychological break that would set her off on a violent hunt for him, ending only when she’d tracked him down again, and removed his heart with her bare hands. Or perhaps that thought was only there because she, Todd and Jared had got through most of the last week and a half by binge-watching four seasons of Criminal Minds. That could plant seriously twisted seeds in a person’s psyche. Now, though, she was glad she came.
Besides, coming here had killed two birds with one stone. No, that wasn’t another Criminal Minds reference. It had given them a change of scenery and she’d been able to pick up the stuff that the Hilton had kept in storage for her.
‘So I’ll go on down to meet him. I’ll only be half an hour or so, then we can go for dinner.’
‘No problem. Just give us a shout when you’re ready. We’ll be here,’ Todd replied, hugging her.
‘You always are,’ she murmured, gratefully. He’d been incredible over the last week. Strong. Steady. Always ready to laugh or cry, whatever the moment required. She knew how lucky she was to have Todd and Jared in her life.
The lift down to the lobby seemed to take an age, or maybe it was just that she was keen to get there and thank the other guy who’d been great this week. Since he’d dropped her at the hospital, making sure Todd met them at the door, Cammy had called her every day, just checking in, asking how she was. She appreciated it. Lila was a crazy woman to have walked away from a guy like that.
As soon as the lift doors opened, she spotted him. Cammy stood up to greet her, arms outstretched and she realised she was ridiculously pleased to see him.
‘Hey, you made it,’ he said.
‘Hey, you have a top on,’ she retorted. Teasing him about all those topless photos Lila used to post had become one of the mainstays of their conversations.
‘Wow. Bitchy. Sarcastic. I love her already.’
Caro’s head swivelled to the two ladies sitting across the coffee table from where Cammy had been perched.
Now, he was sighing, but Caro could see it came from a place of affection. ‘Caro, this is Josie…’ he gestured to a woman in perhaps her sixties, with a shock of grey, spiky hair, dressed in a black polo neck sweater, black tailored trousers and high leather boots with a steel-spiked heel. She looked ferocious. ‘And this is Val.’ Val was younger than Josie, her blonde hair piled high on her head in an elaborate beehive affair, her make-up perfect, her grin wide and welcoming. Cammy went on, ‘I’m sorry, they made me bring them. I had no choice. You’ve no idea what they’re like.’
For a moment Caro wondered if she should feel disappointed that they weren’t going to get a chance to speak on their own, but the two faces beaming at her from the chairs batted that thought right out of the park. As did the easy atmosphere and obvious love between them. In some ways it reminded her of Todd’s relationship with her mum. Funny. Cheeky. All about love. Caro immediately felt herself relax.
‘It’s good to meet you,’ she said, hugging each of them in turn. ‘Cammy told me all about you both.’
Josie cackled. ‘Did he say anything about getting a restraining order in the same sentence?’
Caro was chuckling now too. ‘He said he tried but it wouldn’t work, because you have no fear of the authorities.’
They were still laughing when a waiter came over to take a new drinks order. She asked for a gin and tonic. It wasn’t up there with, say, going on a search to find herself or taking a world cruise, but it was just one of the little things she’d found herself embracing. There had been major things too. She’d decided to sell her house. She was going to take a sabbatical from work, and do a bit of travelling. She’d come to this hotel. She’d bought some new clothes. Okay, it was a smart suit for her mum’s funeral, but in past days, she’d just have gone with the old trusty one she’d had for years. But no. Caro had decided that after years of looking after her mum, of living the same life, doing the same things every day, it was time to start living. Really living.
These women seemed like they knew a thing or two about that. For ten minutes or so, they chatted, their conversations easy, full of warmth and fun, invariably teasing Cammy in that way that made it obvious just how much they loved him.
Caro loved every moment of it.
‘Right, so I have to ask…’ Josie blurted.
‘Here we go,’ Cammy interjected. ‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you.’
Caro took a deep breath, then exhaled, aping an athlete warming up for a challenge. ‘Okay, I’m ready. Shoot.’
‘Have you heard from your dad? Or that daft cow of a wife? Or that feckless tart that this one tried to propose to?’ Josie asked.
The answers should hurt. Really hurt. Yet even as she prepared to deliver them, Caro felt no pain. It didn’t matter. If she’d learned anything in the last week, it was that the lies, and the past and the people who didn’t love her didn’t matter. All that mattered was the future, and the people she brought into her life from this point onwards.
‘He called, once, the day after I got back. I didn’t tell him Mum had died. Didn’t want to give him any kind of closure in case there was even a tiny bit of guilt in his messed-up mind. Anyway, he wasn’t calling to say sorry, or to ask how I was. He was calling because his wife, his other wife asked him to…’
‘She stayed with him?’ Val gasped, incredulous. ‘I’d have had my Don’s balls off and his stuff in a skip.’
‘She stayed with him,’ Caro confirmed. ‘She actually came on the phone and asked me to promise that I wouldn’t contact Lila and tell her the truth about him. Said his heart wasn’t up to it. After all that he’s done, she’s still pandering to him, defending him, still allowing him to live a lie.’
‘What did you say?’ Josie this time.
Caro shrugged. ‘I said he’d been using his heart condition to manipulate her and my mum for years. Then I said he could rot in hell.’
‘Good girl,’ Josie responded.
‘It wasn’t my best work,’ Caro said, with a rueful smile.
‘Are you going to tell her?’ Cammy asked.
Caro shook her head. ‘No. What would be the point? It’s not my story to tell. They made it quite clear that she wouldn’t appreciate knowing that she had a half-sister, sharing her space in her dad’s life, and that they wanted to preserve their family unit. I’m not one for dropping bombs into people’s lives so I’m going to leave them to it. It’s up to them. I hope if you see her that you won’t tell her either.’
Josie and Val gave her a look that wasn’t entirely convincing, but Cammy nodded.
‘I agree. No point in messing up her life…’
‘Oh for the love of God, what are you like?’ Josie reprimanded him.
He put his hands up in a surrender position. ‘Look, I admit I was a first-class idiot, but come on; Lila isn’t exactly going to welcome Caro with open arms is she? She’d hate it. It would cause chaos with her parents, and let’s be honest, they’re all she’s got. Caro doesn’t need the carnage that Lila would bring either. I agree with her – best leave them all to it.’
Caro nodded. They’d discussed this on the phone so none of it came as a surprise.
Cammy clearly decided it was time to change the subject.
‘Anyway, enough of all that. So Caro, we were thinking…. ’
*
Cammy was trying not to let Josie’s glare of irritation sidetrack him. He knew she thought he was sticking up for Lila and sparing her heartache by not telling her, but it wasn’t that simple. His biggest motivation for agreeing with Caro was that it would prevent any more heartache for the woman sitting next to him, holding her own against the Glasgow inquisition by Josie and Val. Lila would want nothing to do with Caro, he knew that for sure. She was cut from the same cloth as her dad. Caro, meanwhile, was completely different, and she’d lost enough. Her dad. Her mum. Her life as she knew it. He wanted only good things for her, no more heartache. It was beyond strange. He’d known her for a handful of days, and yet he felt like he’d known her forever, got her, understood her. It wasn’t like his relationship with Lila. This was more like the bond he had with Josie, with Val, with… Mel. He waited for the stab of longing that always came when he thought about her. It didn’t.
‘So anyway, we were thinking…’ he said, switching from the topic of Lila to better things. ‘You know I’ve moved in with Val until I find somewhere to live…?’
Caro nodded. He’d told her that he’d picked up all his stuff on the way back from Aberdeen.
‘Well, we’re having a party tonight to bring in the New Year and we’d like you to come.’
Caro’s face broke into a huge smile, then immediately flicked to what looked like disappointment. ‘Thank you so much, but I’m here with my cousin and his boyfriend and I couldn’t leave them.’
‘Of course you can’t!’ Val agreed. ‘They’re invited too!’
‘Really? Because I’m sure they’d love…’ She was cut off by the sight of the two gorgeous men alighting from the lift and walking towards them.
Val and Josie’s eyes immediately followed in the same direction.
‘Val, the one on the left is yours, I’ll take the one on the right. He looks like he could lead a conga.’
Caro was laughing now, properly belly laughing, and Cammy realised immediately it was contagious. He also knew he wanted to watch her laughing for the longest time. No, it didn’t make sense. And perhaps it would never come to anything more than great friends, but he was all in to find out.
Caro introduced her cousin Todd, and Jared, and they exchanged handshakes and hugs.
‘Thanks for taking care of her last week,’ Todd said to Cammy.
‘I was happy to do it,’ he replied, and the two of them shared a glance, a smile, a moment of mutual gratitude.
‘Right, that’s enough of the mushy stuff,’ Val interrupted. ‘Gents, you can either stay here tonight in a very civilised bar with all these very civilised people doing very civilised things, or you can come to my house, drink way too much, eat great food and let Josie teach you how to do the slosh. It’ll scar you for life but it’ll be worth it.’
‘I’m so up for that,’ Todd beamed.
‘Hell yes,’ Jared agreed.
Cammy felt a rush of relief.
‘Then I guess that’s what we’re doing. Caro?’
Instinctively, he held out his hand.
Instinctively, she took it.
‘Let’s go,’ she said, and Cammy knew. This was it. This was what it should feel like.
He squeezed her hand and followed the two couples in front of him, Val and Jared, Josie and Todd, each pair with their arms linked as they crossed the foyer.
‘You know that she wants him to go travelling with her,’ Todd whispered to Josie.
‘You know that he wants to go,’ Josie replied, and they danced to the door to the soundtrack of her infectious cackle.
Epilogue – Part 2
Bernadette and Lila
‘That woman has the best laugh I’ve ever heard,’ Nina giggled as a group passed their table in the foyer of the hotel.
Bernadette couldn’t reply as she was in mid-action.
‘Mum, if you start with the “Wheels On The Bus”, he’ll never let you stop,’ Nina warned. Bernadette was having too much fun to care.
This had been Stuart’s idea, coming out to a hotel to bring in the New Year, rather than celebrating it separately or having it at home. Sarah had invited them to spend it with her and Piers and their families, but Bernadette had gratefully declined. It was time to be with her children and grandchildren and start a new tradition for their family. They’d arranged for a babysitter to take the little ones up to their room at 9 p.m., leaving the adults to enjoy the party that was taking place in the ballroom. Nina and Gerry, and Gerry’s parents, and his two brothers and their lovely wives, and Stuart and Connor, Bernadette and… Just Bernadette. She hadn’t yet got used to not saying his name in the same sentence, but it was still a blessed relief every time it dawned that she no longer had to.
It was amazing how quickly a lifetime together could be unravelled. He’d already had his lawyers send her the contracts to buy out her share of the house, just as Nina had demanded. She was a smart cookie, her girl. At first Bernadette had resisted, bending to his protests that it would completely wipe him out financially, but she’d finally signed this morning and sent them back. He’d just have to deal with losing his savings. Maybe there was justice in that. She’d lost years of her life to their marriage, now he’d lost his wife, his money, and according to Marge, there were rumours swirling as to his relationship with Lila. That kind of gossip could damage a pillar of the community.
Retribution wasn’t the reason Bernadette had forced him to give her what she was due. The deciding factor had been the cottage that was for sale, tucked away in a beautiful little cul-de-sac down by the river, roughly halfway between Sarah’s home and Nina’s, about ten minutes either way. She’d made an offer for it and it had been accepted. Her settlement would be enough to buy it and to have enough left over to enjoy life, to go on holiday, to have some new adventures. Sarah’s husband Piers, had already persuaded her to join them on a Caribbean cruise over Easter. She couldn’t wait.
The best thing about it was that she hadn’t had to ask Kenneth’s permission. All those years she’d been desperate to go on a cruise and he’d blocked her. No more.
&nbs
p; She’d insisted that Nina invite him tonight so the kids could share the celebration with both parents, but he’d declined. Instead, he’d boarded a plane to New York, going a couple of days early for some big medical conference he’d been invited to. It was probably just as well. Stuart had told her that Kenneth was still apoplectic that he’d dropped medicine and was refusing to take his calls. He hadn’t even had a chance to tell him about Connor. Bernadette had invited them to Sarah’s for Christmas dinner and had a great night.
Kenneth had spent the day alone.
The man was a fool. Well, good luck to him. Bernadette could honestly say that she didn’t feel anger, or resentment or hostility.
She just felt free.
Fifteenth chorus of ‘Wheels on the Bus’ over, she headed to the ladies room, and Nina joined her at the mirrors. ‘I’ve never seen you look so great, Mum. You’re glowing. Makes me really happy.’ Bernadette knew she was right. Sarah had made her go to the hairdressers, have a couple of highlights added to her hair, tonight she had a bit of make-up on. But none of that was what really made the difference in how she looked. That was all down to happiness, pure and simple.
‘Thanks, my darling. If I’d have known it was going to feel this good, I’d have done it years ago,’ she said lightly.
‘I wish you had,’ Nina replied. ‘I really do. I hate the thought of him lying to you all those y—’
Bernadette put her hand on her daughter’s to stop her. ‘It’s all happened the way it was meant to. I don’t want to be all Doris Day, but everything for a reason.’
‘I know,’ Nina agreed, laughing. ‘I’m just glad they didn’t get together. Having her as a step-mother would have been a total nightmare.’
The first part of that revelation came as a surprise to Bernadette. She’d assumed that after she’d left him, Lila would have moved right in and she’d be sitting on the plane to New York with him right now.