‘We have drifted together over the last few weeks.’
‘I’m not talking about us, I’m talking about Lara and me.’
He swore under his breath. ‘I don’t want to talk about Lara.’
‘What do you want?’
‘I want to hear you say it again, the reason why you can’t marry me.’
‘I love you.’ She lifted her chin; she’d thrown her pride away and it no longer mattered.
‘There’s no chance this is something temporary?’
She shook her head unhappily.
‘You didn’t want it to happen, but it did?’
Her eyes fluttered wide. ‘How do you know that?’
‘Because it happened to me too. I always thought I wasn’t capable of loving anyone...and I was glad of it. I was an idiot but you taught me, Lily, you taught me what love is... You made me whole. I love you, Lily, with all my heart.’
The simple sincerity of his words, the emotional throb in his deep voice, made her eyes fill with tears of joy. She shook her head, still unable to quite believe this was happening. ‘Why didn’t you tell me, Ben? I’ve been so miserable, pretending.’
‘I was waiting...’
‘For what?’
‘I wanted to prove to you that I was genuine, that I was worthy of you, committed.’
‘You made me think that all you cared about was being a father to Emmy.’
‘I was trying not to rush you...’ A shade of indignation slid into his voice. ‘How the hell was I to know you loved me?’ Before she could respond he bent his head, putting all the pent-up frustration of the last two weeks in the deep, hard, penetrating kiss.
She surfaced with a dreamy smile. ‘If you’d done that I might have told you,’ she admitted.
‘I had this plan in my head. I wanted to get everything right. I had this idea that the work at Warren Court would be finished, though obviously if I’d known you loved me I’d have thrown the plan out the window.’
She tugged at his shirt to get his attention and received more of it than she had anticipated as he claimed her mouth again in a series of hard, hungry kisses that merged into one and left her feeling drained and incredibly happy.
‘Work on Warren...?’ she mumbled against his mouth.
‘Yes, this place is a bit small and my grandfather is getting too old to live there alone. We thought that a ground-floor apartment would give him privacy—’
‘We? A conspiracy...?’ Before he could respond to the teasing she pressed her hand to his mouth. ‘What is this with you and houses? I don’t give that—’ she clicked her fingers with an expressive snap ‘—about houses. It’s people that I care about, you and Emmy. I love you so much, Ben—’
The rest was lost in his mouth as he kissed her until her head spun. When he placed her back on her feet she needed his support to stop her falling over.
She might have said he had kissed her senseless, but actually she realised she had only just come to her senses.
He stroked her face with a loving hand. ‘I don’t care about where I live either. My home is anywhere you are. I just wanted to prove to you that I was sincere, that I could be a good father and husband, that I am totally into this.’
Heart singing with joy she had never imagined ever feeling, she slipped her arms around his waist, tilted her head back to look up into his face. ‘Are you totally into me too?’
His mouth curved into a wicked grin. ‘Oh, absolutely—and ready and willing to prove it.’
‘Can you get upstairs without buying another house?’
‘I’ll try,’ he promised, scooping her up. At the door, he paused. ‘I should say there is a builder stopping by tomorrow. I thought I’d do a few renovations before I hand it over to the hospital... With a bit of work it could be perfect for families who find themselves in the situation we did.’
Lily’s eyes filled with tears. ‘Oh, Ben, that’s a lovely idea.’
‘I just hope that some of them have the happy ending we have had. This time last year my life was empty, and now I have...everything I need.’
Lily framed his face with her hands. ‘So do I.’ Adding, ‘Shush,’ as he ran up the stairs with her. ‘We don’t want to wake Lara. Too late,’ she added as there was the sound of someone loudly weeping from the door they were passing. ‘Sorry, Ben...’
He sighed. ‘Well, just remember where we were and promise me that if she comes to our wedding you’ll hide the booze.’
‘You wanted family life,’ she teased.
He covered the hand she had placed on the door handle with his and looked down with fierce longing into her face. ‘I’ve always wanted you. I always will.’
A few weeks later they exchanged vows in front of their friends and relations, but for Lily what he said at that moment meant so much more.
Emily Rose Warrender
Year One Homework.
MY WEEKEND.
I was going to ride my pony this weekend. He’s cool, but my mummy and daddy had to go to the hospital, so I stayed with my grandma and we played tea parties because she is quite old, maybe even twenty, and she needs to sit down a lot.
Mummy and Daddy brought home a baby this morning. Mummy says he looks like Daddy, but I don’t think so because my daddy is very tall and handsome and baby Harry is wrinkled and red. My mummy has red hair like me and she is very pretty and so am I.
Harry can’t do anything yet but Daddy says when he’s older, maybe next week, I can teach him stuff like how to kick a ball and other things that I’m very good at. Daddy says I can be the boss.
I love my mummy and daddy a lot, and Harry, but my pony is better. I am going to be a very good boss.
Louise Fuller
To Jane Arnold.
For Friday coffee and shopping;
for making it up to Southwold so many times;
and for being my friend.
Thank you.
SHE SHOULD BE PLEASED. Good publicity was what charities like hers survived on. Only it was doing more than surviving, Addie Farrell thought with a small smile of satisfaction as she glanced down at the newspaper. It was just five years since they had opened their doors to offer music to disadvantaged children in the city, but the way things were going, they might be able to open a second centre soon.
Addie frowned. The article was