‘I’ll do a lot more than tell you...’ She jabbed him in the ribs.
‘Always?’
‘Yes, always.’
Always was more than he deserved, and more than he’d ever thought possible. Ethan would take it.
‘Come to bed.’ He wanted Kate in his arms more than anything now.
‘I thought you’d never ask...’
EPILOGUE
Six months later.
THEY’D SEEN THE last of the hot summer days and the beginning of autumn, the sparkle of Christmas and bright new hope for the coming year.
Things hadn’t always been easy. Kate had worked hard to make Sam feel that she wasn’t taking his father from him and that she wasn’t trying to replace his mother. But Sam, already secure in the knowledge that his father loved him, had come up with his own answer. His mother was ‘Mummy’ and, after a few months, he’d started to call Kate ‘Mum’. When Kate had taken him to buy a Christmas present for Ethan, Sam had revelled in having a secret to keep and someone else to keep it with.
The evening she’d come home late from work and found Ethan pacing the sitting room had brought back all Kate’s old fears. The silence between them had lasted for a while and then Ethan had simply walked up to her and hugged her. She’d felt his tears, wet against her face, and they’d talked for hours. His darkest fears and hers were finally seeing the light of day, where they could at last be calmed.
When she’d moved into Ethan’s house, she’d kept most of the boxes she’d brought with her packed, not wanting to disturb anything that Jenna might have done. Her cottage was closed up, all the furniture under dust sheets, because Kate could quite bring herself to rent it out yet. Ethan had said nothing for a week and then, when Kate had returned home from a shopping trip with his mother, she’d found that everything had been moved. Cutlery was in a different drawer, plates were in a different cupboard. The furniture was in a different place in their bedroom and Kate’s things had been neatly packed away in drawers and cabinets. The relief was tempered by neither of them being able to find anything for weeks.
* * *
Ethan had organised a surprise, a visit to London with a stay in a luxurious hotel. Just the two of them, while Sam stayed with Ethan’s parents. They had breakfast in the huge bed and then a walk in the crisp, winter morning.
‘Is this the place?’ He stopped suddenly, right next to the statue of Boudicca that looked out over the Thames.
‘You remembered!’ Kate smiled up at him.
‘Your second-favourite place.’ He wrapped his arms around her. They were both secure in the knowledge that being in each other’s arms was their shared favourite place.
‘Yes. Even in winter I like it.’
He was looking up at the statue. ‘Think Boudicca had red hair—like you?’
Kate laughed. ‘I have absolutely no idea. I wouldn’t mind the chariot, though.’
‘Sam and I could take a look at your car. I’m sure we could do something with it.’ Ethan grinned, shoving his hands in the pockets of his coat, his breath pluming in front of him in the cold air.
‘Is this...was there something you wanted to mention?’ Kate was going to wait, and pretend she knew nothing about any surprise, but he seemed so on edge all of a sudden and it seemed downright cruel not to put Ethan out of his misery.
He winced. ‘Sam told you, didn’t he?’
‘No, he didn’t. When you were taking his things inside at your parents’ house he sat in the car, looking at me with his hands over his mouth. I asked him if anything was the matter, and he said that he’d promised you not to tell. He says that, now that he’s six, he’s grown up enough to keep a secret.’
Ethan laughed. ‘Do you mind? That he’s in on it?’
‘Of course not. He’s your wing man, isn’t he?’
They’d talked about going away somewhere for Easter and Kate had come to the conclusion that Ethan must have tickets in his pocket.
‘Yes. I might have to have a word with him about strategy...’ Ethan wound his arms around her shoulders, kissing her.
‘Mmm. Lovely. Can we go now? I’m getting cold,’ she teased him.
‘No, stay right there. Don’t move an inch.’