“Damn you Kelly Brown, you are the most pig headed woman I have ever met”
He would say to her with real feeling in his voice. She had smiled at these thoughts before noticing the large sports car moving up the long drive. She had recognised it immediately as Philip’s, briefly wondered what he was doing there.
Over the weeks he had become a regular visitor to the villa, once arriving with a beautiful woman whom Kelly had taken an instant liking to. Theresa was stunning, with dark hair and large brown eyes which looked at Philip with such devotion, Kelly clearly seeing that he felt the same way; however, in his usual way Phil had constantly laughed and joked about the two of them. At one time he had made a comment which Kelly noticed caused Theresa to visibly flinch
“We have a great relationship – no ties, no tears”
At the time she had wondered about the two of them.
After several minutes, Phil had appeared where she and Max sat.
“Hi Kelly” he had said softly, kneeling down and peering into the buggy to look at Max
“He really does look like his daddy” he had said in wonder, before adding
“A bit like his mum too though” causing Kelly’s head to snap to him in surprise
“You knew Trudy”
“A little” he replied, and Kelly had warmed even more to Philip for his acknowledgement of Trudy with Max.
“Wow” he exclaimed having moved around behind her so that he could see the painting she was working on
“You really caught the look of the place”
Kelly who was usually very secretive about work she was doing until complete had smiled gently
“Thank you……it’s nearly finished…. you looking for Marc?” she had asked softly seeing as Philip had pulled up a seat to sit closer to her
“No..actually, I came to talk to you”
Kelly had raised an eyebrow in surprise. Looking at him more closely she was surprised to see that he was pale. His hair looked as though he had not combed it or had been running his fingers through it, and his eyes which the other night had seemed to sparkle with such life seemed dull and haunted
“Are you OK Phil” she asked a note of worry in her voice, before wringing his hands he had blurted out
“She dumped me… Theresa finished it all. God Kelly I don’t know what to do. I love her and she says she never wants to see me again”
He had sunk his head into his hands moaning pitifully.
“What happened” she had asked softly moving to sit beside him her hand stroking his arm in comfort
For a second there was silence as he seemed to pull himself together.
“Last night we went out for a meal. Everything seemed fine” he said looking up at her his eyes full of such sorrow
“She was talking about her cousin who is getting married and we were joking about how marriage was for losers when she went kinda quiet. I didn’t even see it coming Kelly. She just stood up and told me that we had a good couple of years and that it was over. She said that she thought it would be better if we didn’t see each other again and left. I tried to go after her but she wouldn’t talk to me” he had moaned the sound like that of a small wounded animal
“What am I going to do?”
Kelly had sighed with exasperation
“Phil….. think, this is really important. You said that you were joking about marriage. Was Theresa joking too or was it just you”
Philip had scowled in puzzlement
“What difference….” He began
“It’s important” she stated, as he had furrowed his brow
“Well…” he said thoughtfully “I guess I was doing the joking, but…”
“You idiot” she had rounded on him
“Why are men so stupid sometimes?”
He was looking at her with shocked hurt in his eyes
“She doesn’t ever want to see me again Kelly” he had moaned
“Oh, she doesn’t mean that.” She had said with an exasperated sigh “She’s fed up Phil. How long have you two been dating?”
“Two years” he had replied
“That is a long time. Have you ever asked her to marry you?”
“No… it never seemed important”
Kelly had softened her tone seeing how truly upset Philip was
“Do you love her Phil” She asked gently as he had nodded
“Do you want to spend the rest of your life with her?”
He had given a strangled “yes”
“Do you want to have children with this woman?”
Looking at Max a soft smile had lit his face as he had once more nodded
“Do you want to marry her?”
“Yes….but now I’ll never get the chance to tell her” he said his voice full of such sadness