You And Me, Always(29)

When he'd finished reading them, Declan had to gather himself for a  moment before he was able to speak. Finally he said, ‘Thank you for  showing them to me.'                       
       
           



       

‘I wanted you to see them.' Lily was winding a length of curly ribbon from the box around her index finger. ‘Aren't they good?'

Declan nodded slowly, because they were better than good. Jo had taken  care to make each letter appropriate to the age Lily would have been  when she read it for the first time. As she'd grown up, so the words and  sentences had grown longer. ‘Her voice is so clear in them,' he  marvelled. ‘I can hear her saying every word.'

‘I know.' Coral smiled. ‘We all can.'

In one of the earlier letters Jo had said, Darling Lily, I know you'll  always be happy with Coral and Nick. They love you so much  –  to the moon  and back! And maybe one day they'll have a baby of their own, then you  can all be happy together! Oh wouldn't that be fantastic?

‘Am I allowed to ask, or is it too personal?' Declan lightly tapped the  relevant letter and looked at Coral. ‘You didn't have any other children   … ?' It was a highly personal question, but somehow it seemed safe to  ask it tonight.

Coral smiled briefly. ‘We tried, but it just never happened. Maybe we  could have tried harder, investigated other avenues  …  but we had Lily,  so somehow it didn't seem as important. Thanks to this one,' she  affectionately touched Lily's shoulder, ‘we weren't desperate. She was  Jo's gift to us. She was ours and she was enough.'

Their eyes met across the table and Declan said gently, ‘That's good.'

‘How about you?' said Coral. ‘Did you ever want children?'

They were already aware that he didn't have any of his own. Declan said,  ‘I lived with a lovely woman fifteen years ago. We were together for  four years. We tried for a family, Meg got pregnant, then she  miscarried.' He hesitated, then said, ‘Twice. Both times at ten weeks.'

‘Oh I'm sorry, that must have been awful,' said Lily. ‘For both of you.'

‘It was a rough time,' Declan admitted. ‘Meg was devastated. We broke up  a year after the second miscarriage. The good news is, I heard through  friends that she married an Italian guy and went on to have healthy twin  boys.' He shrugged. ‘I'm happy for her.'

‘Not so easy, though, is it?' There were sympathetic tears in Coral's eyes.

‘It was a long time ago. I'm used to it now.' Finishing the last mouthful of coffee, Declan said, ‘Life goes on.'



It was 1.30 in the morning by the time Declan arrived back in Notting  Hill. When he saw the lights on in the house, he knew Gail had come over  and let herself in, and was waiting for him. Well, either that or the  burglar had forgotten his torch.

When he climbed the stairs and pushed open the bedroom door, she was sitting up in his bed.

‘Hi,' said Declan.

‘Darling, I'm sorry.' She closed her laptop and placed it on the bedside  table. Her long hair gleamed in the flattering lamplight and she was  wearing an elegant pistachio silk nightdress. ‘What can I tell you? I  was having a tough day at work, everyone else was being an idiot and I  wanted to yell at them but I couldn't. Then I got your text and took it  out on you.'

‘Right. I guessed it might have been something like that.' Declan kept  his tone neutral. When she'd messaged him earlier to ask where he was,  he'd told her Stanton Langley without elaborating further. The reply had  come flying back:

Sounds to me like you'd far rather be there than here. It's been nice knowing you. Goodbye.

This message had come through at three o'clock, while he'd been at  Weaver's Cottage meeting with the kitchen fitter recommended to him by  Coral. He'd switched off his mobile without replying.

‘Come here.' Gail held out her toned arms, beckoning him closer. ‘I didn't mean it. You do know I didn't mean it, don't you?'

Declan hesitated, then nodded. There were unshed tears shimmering in her  eyes and she was silently pleading with him for forgiveness, which  wasn't something that came naturally to her.

‘I do. Listen, there's nothing to worry about. I met Lily and her  friends and family. I like them all. But I like Stanton Langley too.  It's a fantastic place. If you saw it, you'd understand what I'm talking  about.'

Gail was nodding along enthusiastically as he said it, eager to make  amends. ‘I will, I'd like to. So you went there today to see Lily and  the village. It'd be great to meet her. We could go down next weekend.'

‘Fine, we'll do that. I bought a property there this morning.'                       
       
           



       

That took her aback. ‘You did?'

‘It's my job. I went along to the auction and snapped it up.' He shrugged. ‘It's a great investment.'

‘To live in?'

‘Not to live in.' He shook his head; she knew he'd often talked about  one day leaving London and moving out to Kent or maybe Berkshire. As a  committed city-dweller herself, the idea was anathema to her.

‘So it's just something to do up and sell on.' She looked relieved.

‘I haven't decided yet. Either sell it on, or add it to the portfolio  and let it out. If you did want to come and see it for yourself, you  could tell me what you think.'

‘I will. And I'm sorry about earlier.' Gail reached for him and pulled  his face down to hers for a kiss, then patted the mattress beside her.  ‘It's late, come to bed.'

‘I'm pretty tired,' said Declan before she could get any ideas. ‘Here, I  took some photos of the cottage.' He handed her his phone and began to  unbutton his shirt.

‘Looks pretty run-down.' Gail scrolled through the pictures.

She'd never been particularly interested in his career. ‘If it weren't,'  Declan explained, ‘I wouldn't be buying it. See those views over the  valley? That's the money shot, right there. You'll never lose on a place  with views like that.'

‘And this is Lily and her friends.' Already bored with photos of peeling  purple wallpaper and unevenly plastered ceilings, Gail was scrolling  further on through the gallery. ‘Seems like a nice place, wherever it  is.'

‘We had dinner in the garden of the local pub, the Star Inn.'

‘They all look great too.' Keen to make up for her earlier strop, she  was now being extra-magnanimous. ‘So that's the woman who adopted her,  yes? Carol?'

‘Coral.'

‘Right. And the brunette?'

‘That's Patsy, she's a hairdresser. She used to babysit when Lily was small and they've been close ever since.'

‘And this one?' Gail pointed to Dan. ‘Is he Lily's boyfriend?'

‘No, they're just friends. He's Patsy's younger brother.'

‘He's very good-looking.'

‘And knows it.' Declan climbed into bed. ‘He's an airline pilot.'

‘Oh damn, hairdresser.' Raising her palms in despair, Gail said, ‘I  completely forgot, I've got an appointment at Fenn Lomax next Saturday  afternoon.'

‘Well you can always call them and cancel,' said Declan. ‘Patsy has her  own salon in Stanton Langley. I'm sure she could fit you in while we're  down there.'

Gail threw back her head and barked with laughter. ‘You mean I should  cancel my appointment with Fenn Lomax and let some village hairdresser  loose on my hair instead? Oh darling  …  ha ha ha, this is why I love you  so much!'





Chapter 24



Lily couldn't stop gazing out through the tinted window of the  limousine. Leicester Square was packed, ablaze with lights and buzzing  with anticipation. The red carpet stretched ahead of them like a river,  cordoned off from the fans squashed up against the metal barriers. There  were TV cameras and reporters and security staff with earpieces and  walkie-talkies milling about.

‘Well?' said Eddie, next to her on the back seat. ‘What d'you think?'

‘It looks just like it does on the telly. Look at all the people.'

He smiled. ‘That's kind of the point. If there's a film premiere but  nobody turns up to see the stars arrive, did it ever really happen?'

‘I knew it'd be busy,' said Lily, ‘but I didn't think it'd be this busy.'

‘Ah well, it helps that it isn't raining. Are you ready?' he added as  the car moved up a few feet towards the head of the queue. ‘We're next.'

Oh wow, surreal or what? The gleaming black chauffeur-driven car had  collected them from the hotel just a few streets away, then crawled  through the rush-hour traffic to bring them here, despite the fact that  it would have been five times quicker to walk.