by Anna Jacobs
‘Most of my life. He threatened sometimes to have me locked away again. I didn’t think he could do it, not really, but the fear of him even trying kept me quiet. And if that makes me a coward, then I don’t care. You don’t know what it was like to be locked up and drugged.’
The phone rang again.
She pulled away from him. ‘I’d better answer that.’
‘I’ll do it.’ He went across the room to pick the phone up. ‘Regina? Yes, we just heard. Your sister is . . . upset by the circumstances, but relieved.’
He mouthed, ‘Do you want to speak to her?’, but Miranda shook her head. ‘Look, I’ll get her to ring you tomorrow, when she’s calmer . . . Yes, I promise I’ll look after her.’
He put the phone down and came back to Miranda, who was huddled in a corner of the couch, clutching some damp, crumpled tissues. Kneeling down beside her, he took the tissues away then held her hands. ‘What can I do to help you?’
She shook her head.
‘Then let me just hold you. There’s a solace in that, don’t you think?’
She looked at him warily, so he continued, ‘I don’t know where this is going to lead, but now that I know what happened I want to comfort you, and, I want to spend time with you and get to know you again.’
‘Why did you leave Perth? I never understood why you left me; didn’t come looking for me.’
‘I couldn’t find out where you were. I did try. But you can’t do much without money and they made it impossible for me to get a job. Since you weren’t answering my calls or letters, in the end I left.’
He raised one of her hands and absent-mindedly kissed it. ‘I was angry with you afterwards because I still loved you. It never stopped hurting that you’d betrayed me and given away my child. My marriage failed because she wasn’t you. I’m not proud of how I hurt her. She deserved better.’
Miranda didn’t know what to say. Did she dare trust him now?
As the silence continued, he begged, ‘Give me another chance, give us another chance.’
She made no move towards him because something had suddenly become clear to her. ‘I can’t talk about us, not in that way, until I’ve stopped grieving for Lou.’
‘The man who helped you?’
‘Yes. He was dying. He forbade me to fall in love with him, but I grew to love him anyway, not exactly a romantic love, but still, he was very special. I . . . can’t just switch my feelings around like that.’ She snapped her fingers to illustrate the point.
‘No. I can understand that. I wish I’d met him. I’ll never stop being grateful to him for rescuing you.’
‘You’d have liked him. Everyone did.’
Brody nodded. ‘I’m not going away, though. Not this time.’
‘No. Don’t. You and I can start by being friends again – can’t we?’
‘I’d like that, Miranda. We’ll make a start and you won’t close the door to anything else happening later, will you? I think the magic could grow again between us, given time.’ He put his arms round her and she leaned against him with a sigh.
Brody held her close, feeling incredibly protective. They both needed time to get used to what had really happened in their lives, but he knew he’d never be satisfied with only friendship, not from Miranda.
When she fell asleep suddenly, he stayed seated, enjoying the feel of her in his arms. His hand and lower right arm were going numb and he was aching to move his body, but he didn’t want to let go of her.
It was only half an hour before she woke, coming wide awake instantly, as she always had done, he remembered.
She looked sideways at him as if surprised to see him. ‘Brody. It wasn’t a dream, then. You’re still here. And Sebastian really is dead.’
He eased himself away from her. ‘Yes, and I’d like to keep hold of you, if only my arm wasn’t going numb.’ He winced as his hand flopped about, so numb he could feel nothing.
She helped him move it away carefully, smiling sympathetically as he winced again and shook his hand about as it started to regain sensation. ‘You should have moved.’
‘I didn’t want to wake you.’
‘You did that once before when I fell asleep on you. Do you remember?’
‘Oh, yes. I didn’t see you again after that night. There. That’s better.’ He held out his hand to pull her to her feet and she took it. When he tried to keep hold of her, however, she moved away.
He didn’t want her to go to bed. ‘How about a glass of wine? A celebration.’
‘Isn’t it a bit late to—’ she began then smiled and answered her own question. ‘No, it isn’t. Lou would tell me to enjoy life again, take a chance. He was a most unusual guardian angel.’
Brody led the way into the kitchen. ‘He sounds to have been a great guy.’
‘He was.’ She raised her glass. ‘To Lou, who set my feet on the right track again.’
They clinked and sipped, then Brody held out his glass again. ‘To life.’
Miranda felt breathless suddenly, younger and lighter, as she touched her glass against his. ‘To a full and happy life.’
Somehow she was sure she’d find happiness now, with or without Brody. Lou had taught her to value and enjoy life, given her confidence in herself. He would probably have told her to seize the moment with Brody, but this was her choice, her life, and she didn’t want to rush into anything.
Maybe she’d find happiness with Brody again. She hoped so. Oh, she definitely did!
When the phone rang, she was nearest, so picked it up. ‘Katie . . . Oh, I’m delighted to hear that Darren is improving . . . No, Ned is fine. Take as long as you like, but try to ring when Ned’s awake next time. I’m sure that’ll comfort him . . . All right. Bye.’
She held the phone out to Brody. ‘She wants to speak to you.’
He listened, nodding once or twice. ‘Yes, we’ve talked, really talked . . . I’m glad too . . . All right. Look after yourself. Bye.’
He put the phone down and smiled at Miranda. ‘I think we have our daughter back in our lives.’
‘And a grandson. Isn’t that marvellous?’ She couldn’t help returning his smile, unable to stay aloof because he seemed to have shed years and become the old Brody, the one she’d fallen in love with.
He held out his glass to her and said, ‘One final toast . . . To second chances!’
Without hesitation, she clinked hers against it. ‘To second chances!’
She could have sworn she heard Lou’s voice echoing behind theirs.