by Nell Dixon
“Then he is this Silver Fox character?” Steve asked.
The policewoman nodded. “He was apprehended in Las Vegas. Unfortunately for him he decided to ‘marry’ his latest victim at the same wedding chapel where he married you.” She looked at Mum. “The Elvis singer was the same one who sang at your wedding and recognised Chuck. He tipped off the authorities there.”
“Will Mum get any of her money back?” Lou asked.
“It’s too early to say at the moment. There is quite a complicated financial trail to unravel,” the policewoman said. At least no one else would be tricked out of their savings now Chuck was in custody.
The police officers stayed for a while longer filling us all in on what would be likely to happen next, signing statements and the possibility of having to travel to Las Vegas, if necessary, for the trial.
Steve and I didn’t stay at Mum’s for long after the police had gone. Lou stayed to have Sunday lunch with Mum while we headed back to the cottage. We pulled into the space next to the skip and looked at the cottage.
“Kate, if I ask you something, will you be honest with me?” Steve’s tone was serious.
My mouth dried as I nodded my head. “I’ve never lied to you.”
The corner of his mouth quirked. “I know.” He shuffled his feet awkwardly, catching the edges of the foot pedals. “I’ve been thinking a lot over the last few months and especially since we, you know, slept together. I’d begun to lose hope until then. I thought that with Mike on the scene that I’d left it to late.”
He paused for a moment while I blinked back my tears and tried not to cry.
“I was at your mum’s on Friday and we were talking. She gives good advice, your mum. I needed to know what I could do to make things right again between us, Kate. I love you, I’ve always loved you and when we first split I thought maybe, given some space where we could both think things through, we’d work out a way to get back together again.” His dark eyes met mine.
My heart hammered against the wall of my chest. “You said you loved me before. Words are easy, Steve. I know you think I overreacted about the barn and this cottage but it wasn’t just that. I thought we were together and that we wanted the same things and then it became clear to me that we didn’t. I love you too, but maybe love isn’t enough for us.”
I’d explained badly, I knew that, but I couldn’t find a way to say exactly what I meant. I wanted to be with Steve so much but I was scared. What if it went wrong again? I didn’t think I could bear the heartbreak a second time.
Hurt showed in his eyes but he made no move towards me. “Does that mean we’re over?”
“No, I’m making a mess of this. I….” Tears rolled down my face, my voice choked and I couldn’t finish what I wanted to say.
He smoothed the wetness from my face with the pads of his thumbs. “I know we can’t go back, but we can go forwards. I love you, Kate. I know you saw the barn as a forever house but here, in this cottage, is the place I envisaged us staying. From the moment I first came to see this house, before the sale, even with the damp and rotten boards I felt a sense of belonging here. I thought you would feel that too.”
I looked up at him. “I hated it.”
“I know. You told me often enough. I was gutted, I thought at first the ghost thing was just another way of you telling me how much you hated this place..”
“I think it showed how far apart we’d grown and hadn’t realised.”
“I was so jealous when you started to see Mike,” he confessed.
“How do you think I felt when Nasreen told me about Chloe?”
“I thought after we’d made love that perhaps you might have had a change of heart and there was some hope for me again.”
“And then I told you we should forget it ever happened.” I’d been so stupid and so blind. I’d been such an idiot, Steve was right. We could go forwards if we really wanted to. I could learn to stop being an ostrich, refusing to face up to things that bothered me, if Steve was willing to communicate with me more.
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Marry me, Kate. Let’s listen to Mary Ann and make Myrtle Cottage our forever home.”
I stared at him, seeing the love he had for me written in his face. Deep inside, for the first time in months, I felt the faint flutterings of real hope.
The events of last night began to fade. It was as if they had happened a lifetime ago to someone else. I stared out through the window of the truck at the strimmed brambles and partly rotovated ground in front of us. I tried, as I’d done many times before, to visualise it fully restored. Suddenly I could see the herb garden, the formal knot garden, the flower borders and the wide expanse of lawn leading to the fruit trees beyond the outbuildings at the side of the house. I could see a swing set and a climbing frame and children playing. If I tried I could almost hear them laughing.
“You know I want a baby? A dog? Kittens? The whole domestic kit and caboodle?” Next to the house I could have sworn I saw Mary Ann smiling at me.
Steve kissed me, his mouth tender on mine. “Sounds okay to me.”
The ache around my heart diminished and a sense of peace filled me for the first time in months.
“Then, yes, I’ll marry you.”
Steve’s mouth closed on mine once more and I gave myself up to his kiss while the soft fragrant scent of lavender tickled my senses and I took that as Mary Ann’s seal of approval.
“There is one more thing; I think we should change the name of the house back to Walnut Cottage.” I looked at Steve.
He grinned. “To make Mary Ann happy?”
I smiled back at him. “No, just because it seems right.”
He gave a small shrug of his shoulders. “Walnut Cottage it is.”
“A forever house?”
His lips brushed mine as he corrected me. “Our forever house.”
Secrets at City Hospital (Medical Drama Romance) by Kate Allan
Spilt coffee, broken down car, laddered tights! Rachel's first day on duty as doctor in the busy maternity department at City Hospital couldn't have started any worse. Thrown in at the deep end and with an emergency to deal with, the last thing she needs is the spark of attraction she feels for capable male midwife Grant. She'd given up on relationships but she can't help falling for Grant even though it becomes clear he's hiding something – a second life?
Medical Drama Romance
Sensuality: Sweet
30,000 words (novella)
Ebook ISBN: 9781905802685