by Fox Brison
Number 16.
I knocked.
***
Newcastle airport was relatively quiet at six in the morning and the few travellers meandering the corridors with small pull-along suitcases were generally still half asleep. Unless you were one of the many hen parties heading to the continent. Then you were drunk and loud and just a little coarse.
It took a lot of cajoling and even more begging and finally tears before Mrs Jeffries had agreed to tell me where Natalie lived. She’d listened as I outlined my plans and the frown had, literally, turned upside down when she realised what I was willing to give up.
For her Natalie.
Michael and Tara drove me to the airport. It was almost as if my closest friends were desperate to get rid of me. Or rather, as Robbie put it the weekend before I’d left, “We’re sick of yer moping.” I had spent as much time as I could with my brothers and their families, even Ali and I reaching a tentative entente cordiale.
My phone beeped, constantly, from first arriving at Newcastle until I boarded the short hop plane down to Heathrow.
Wow.
That place was huge and I was slightly terrified. Actually I was a lot terrified, but I had to do this. “Suck it up,” I chastised myself, getting not a few quizzical glances from other travellers. I gulped when I saw the board announce my flight, the flickering golden letters and numbers giving me tacit permission to hope.
To hope Natalie had an extremely forgiving nature.
***
Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the blue wooden door. My confidence was waning, so my knock was rather strangled. I heard someone approach and pause. I presumed she was looking through the peephole.
I knocked again.
And again.
I bowed my head and realised she wasn’t going to entertain me.
“I love you,” I leaned my head against the door. “I’ve quit my position. Kind of. I’ve been offered an exchange for a term,” I chuckled, wryly, “semester. Until I know what the future is going to hold. For both of us. I can write anywhere and I’m working on the adaptation with the Beeb. I hope you’ll give me a second chance. I know I don’t deserve it. For a person who once tutored maths, I suck at basic addition. I put two and two together and came up with… you know, it doesn’t matter, I’m an idiot. I jumped to unfounded conclusions...” I pulled back, my palm flat against the door. I imagined hers was on the other side, touching mine. It probably wasn’t. “And I was scared. Oh Natalie, I was so scared. I gave you my heart and I was terrified. I didn’t think I deserved someone as amazing as you. I didn’t think I was good enough, or beautiful enough for you.” There was still no response so I took a folded piece of paper from the back pocket of my jeans and slipped it under the door. It was my new address in Boston and my cell number. I was almost at the kerb, readying to hail a cab when she reached me and pulled me into her arms.
“Don’t ever do that to me again,” Natalie whispered and kissed me. “I waited my whole life for you to realise you loved me as much as I loved you. When you walked away, I thought I was going to die, my heart hurt so much.”
“I won’t. You and me forever, Jeffries.”
Epilogue
Skye
Okay.
So quickly, what’s your favourite time of the day? Is it in the evening, when all your work’s been done and you can sip a nice merlot watching the latest box set on Netflix? Or that five minute break you weren’t expecting when your kids have actually done as they were told and gone to bed? Or is it like mine, early, when the darkness is slowly dissolving and the sky is a riot of colours, the empty void of night replaced by sepia clouds and a pale blue sky, when you take that first whiff, that first sip of the strong black coffee you rely on to wake yourself up? And what about location? Is the place you’re in and the person you’re with central to timing?
For me, the person is everything.
I know I said I would be happy to be bare foot and pregnant…
I bent over, awkwardly, and picked up the soccer boots left lying on the floor. Natalie came through from our dining room, our eldest son, Drew, flung over her shoulder. “And should Mam be picking up your soccer boots?” she asked as she playfully smacked his upturned bottom. Our daughter, Willow, was following, her thumb stuck firmly in her mouth. We’ve been told we should get her out of the habit, but hey, she’s two. I gasped as a familiar twinge pulsed through my body.
“Really?” Natalie asked, a glow about her. “Now?” She let Drew slide down and she took his boots from me.
“Now. Please god tell me the tide’s out.”
Natalie chuckled. “With your history, I double checked.” She picked up her mobile and called her mother to come and look after her grandchildren. Natalie was calm, a far cry from the hours before Drew was born. Luckily we were back in blighty; after a successful three years in Boston, she was offered a transfer to Sunderland Ladies Soccer team, so her family were on hand to ease her through the trauma of watching me give birth to our son.
So was mine.
My second favourite picture in the world is one of me, Natalie, Sara, Robbie and Cameron in the hospital, Drew in my arms, me in Natalie’s.
My favourite is of me Natalie and the children in front of Durham Cathedral, obviously.
Did I ever tell you how much I love change?
Other Books by Fox Brison
Out Now
Awakening Sorrows – book one in The Sorrows Series
The Dark Times are a whisper of a memory, of a time when Terrakuis was invaded by a vicious and merciless host, an army which tore through the continent like a vicious plague. But after being decimated in a battle seared on the souls of those left standing, the Kortoban army retreated to their homeland…
Teran, his sister and their two friends are living a peaceful life until their world is ripped apart when one of them is discovered to possess a rare and dangerous gift. Accompanied by two master magicians, Jacob, the wily Hunter of the Light and his much maligned apprentice Eslin, they become embroiled in a conspiracy which leads them to unearth an even more horrific truth; the only object that can halt the impending destruction of not only their world but the Light itself is The Star of Boran, a gift from the gods.
Hounded by those they fear and betrayed by those they should trust, their journey towards self-discovery ultimately turns into one of self-preservation.
The Shadow Moon is rising, an ominous warning that The Mistress of the Dark is gaining in power.
Her army is set to march once again.
Coming Soon
A Game to Love
Georgia Maskell was an up and coming tennis star that lost it all. Back on the circuit, her coach enlists the help of a sports psychologist to get to the root of Georgia’s mental block on court. Georgia finds that an unexpected friendship and the love she craves helps her rediscover her winning ways both on and off the grass.
Abiding Sorrows – book two in The Sorrows Series
Continuing from the last horrendous fight in Awakening Sorrows, Teran and his companions discover the path to safety first passes through loss and pain. The Dark may be on the back foot but they are not beaten and their insidious presence runs deeper than anyone realised, and not even the walls of Cavork can protect the innocent from the monsters the Mistress has created.