After the Affair(42)

Dan's sigh carried an ocean of regret. 'I meant to contact you first thing in the morning, but all hell broke loose. When the doctor came with the news that Roberta would be a paraplegic for life, her father collapsed and died. A stroke... brought on by shock. Roberta kept asking for him. God, it was ghastly. I didn't know what to tell her, what to do. Whenever I tried to leave the room she became hysterical. I had her crying and doctors pleading with me to keep her calm.'

Dan lifted tormented eyes to Cassie. 'In the end I had to tell her the truth. It seemed kinder than letting her lie there in a torment of worry and doubt. Oh, Cassie...no matter what she'd done in the past, no one deserves to have to suffer that much. When she looked up at me from her hospital bed...so helpless...so distraught...so utterly, utterly alone...I knew that I couldn't leave her.'

His sigh was filled with pain. 'So I sat down and wrote you that letter—that rotten, soul-destroying letter.' Dan looked down at Cassie, his eyes flooding. 'Forgive me,' he rasped.

She pulled him close. 'Oh, Dan...darling...'

There was a moment when he resisted her embrace, then his arms swept around her, hugging her even more tightly than she was hugging him.

Tears flooded into Cassie's eyes as she finally accepted the truth of Dan's love, and the awful tragedy that had shaped his life. She could see now why he had acted as he had when he'd found out about Jason. First when he'd discovered his existence, and then today... My God! The control the man must have exercised over himself as he'd frantically gone through the motions of trying to save his son's life.

'I...I did my best to make life bearable for her, Cassie,' he murmured brokenly. 'She...died peacefully... Some type of embolism.'

'Hush, my love. No more.' She looked up at him, her heart overflowing with love and compassion. She laid a gentle, reassuring hand on his cheek. 'You did everything you could do.'

His hand came up to cover hers and he turned his face into the palm, kissing the warm, soft flesh. A shudder ran through him. 'Tell me you still love me,' he rasped. 'For pity's sake, just tell me that.'

Her eyes swam. 'Don't you know, my darling?' she whispered softly. 'I've always loved you. I'll never stop loving you.'

With a groan, he crushed her to him, his hands cradling the back of her head into the warmth of his neck. 'Oh, Cassie... Cassie... I love you so much. I thought I'd lost you today, really lost you.'

'Never.'

'But I was stupid, hateful, cruel. . I thought...I couldn't believe ‑'

'Hush... Tell me you love me again,' she murmured.

'I love you,' he said.

'Kiss me.'

He did.



'Mum? Dad?'

They spun out of their embrace and raced to the bed, hand in hand. Both of them had tears streaming down their faces.

Jason frowned with his one exposed eye. 'Oh, yuk,' he pronounced weakly. 'Sammy Johnson was right. You are going to be mushy all the time.'





CHAPTER THIRTEEN


A pale pre-dawn grey blanketed the island, a fine mist rising from the river. The helicopter came in low over the tree-tops to be landed with considerable expertise barely twenty metres from the front steps of Strath-haven.

'Home,' Cassie whispered.

Dan gave her a squeeze. 'Home,' he repeated, and kissed her lightly on the forehead.

'You'd better get this machine back to Sydney, Paul,' Dan informed the pilot as they alighted. 'Sorry about the long night.'

'That's all right, Mr McKay. Glad to hear that your boy's going to be all right.'

They watched from the veranda as the helicopter took off, disappearing quickly into the distance.

Dan had his arm around Cassie's shoulders, holding her close against him. She felt wonderfully warm and content. She sighed.

'Tired, Mrs McKay?'

'Oddly enough, not in the least.' She smiled up at him. 'Maybe I'm overtired. In a few hours I'll probably crash.'

'Fancy a walk?'

'A walk? Where?'

She saw his eyes drift down the hill towards the studio, and her stomach automatically contracted. A silly reaction, really. He loved her, didn't he? What was she afraid of now?

But the feeling would not pass. It held an insecurity, a fear of finding out some last hidden factor that might even now spoil her happiness. Life had taught her to be wary.

'OK,' she said, bravely keeping any fears to herself.

'You're very quiet,' Dan noted as they approached the small wooden cottage. 'Are you sure you're not tired? We can go back if you are.'

'No, no, I'm fine. A little cold.' She shivered, but more from nerves than the chill of the coming dawn.

He quickly took off his jacket and placed it round her shoulders. 'Better?'

She nodded, but the feeling of foreboding continued. 'Dan... Have you any special reason for wanting to come here?' She hoped that she didn't sound as nervous as she felt.

'In a way.'

'Oh?' She looked up at him, but he said nothing, merely smiled an enigmatic smile. Not even the most suspicious person could have found anything ominous in that smile. But still, Cassie's chest tightened.