When Jonah’s gaze clocked their hands together and he looked up at Adrian neither of them looked away. Adrian had to admit he was terrified. Of an eleven-year-old boy and the effect his reaction was about to have on him.
‘You’re my dad?’ Jonah asked.
His mouth went dry, everything around him stilled. ‘I am.’
‘You’re why I like the water, why I’m good at swimming?’ Eyes wide, he was at last solving what was, to him, a lifelong mystery.
‘I like to think so,’ said Adrian.
‘Well it’s not from my mum,’ said Jonah. ‘She hates the water.’
‘I do not hate the water, it’s just, I’m a little afraid.’
‘We could all go out on the boat together.’ Jonah’s eyes lit up.
‘That sounds like a wonderful idea,’ Adrian said.
‘Can I drive it?’
Adrian laughed. ‘One step at a time, eh … one step at a time.’
Leo came over and gave Jonah a hug, told him how worried he’d been too. ‘I can’t lose my helper at the boathouse can I?’
‘I’m sorry I took the kayak,’ said Jonah. He looked sorry too.
‘The kayak is round the side of the café,’ Molly told them as she breezed past with a bowl of warming soup with chunky pieces of bread on the side and delivered it to a customer. On her way back she added, ‘Matt brought it up here.’
Leo put a hand on Jonah’s shoulder. ‘You do know what this means, don’t you?’
Jonah shook his head.
‘It means that when you help me at the boathouse we’re going to have to do a repair job, get it looking good as new.’
‘I’ll do it all.’ Jonah’s words tumbled out. ‘I’m really sorry.’
‘I know you are mate. And to be honest I don’t care about the kayak, it was its occupant I was concerned about.’ He ruffled the top of Jonah’s hair. You’d never know he’d been in the water now he was dry and warm. ‘I’m glad you were wise enough to take the vest. You get a big tick of approval for that, and for not panicking and controlling the kayak in the wind and rain enough to reach the pier.’
‘I was lucky.’
‘You were, but I suspect you kept your head.’
Jonah nodded. ‘I wasn’t scared, not really.’
Adrian knew otherwise. But he’d been a little boy once, and he’d have said exactly the same. It seemed the apple really hadn’t fallen too far from the tree on that score.
‘Walk you home?’ Leo asked Nina who’d been helping Arthur serve hot drinks. It seemed the whole town had been on high alert at Jonah’s disappearance and they were all inside the café now, glad the boy was safe.
As Adrian took Jonah’s empty mugs and plates up tothe counter Maeve went with him. ‘I know you’re still angry, Adrian.’
But he shook his head. ‘We don’t need to get into it now. Jonah is safe.’
‘I want to tell you all about him, show you photos.’ She looked down at the floor. ‘We’ve got a lot to catch up on. If you want to spend some time with me that is. I’ll understand if you don’t, if you only want to see Jonah.’
Adrian leaned in, just briefly so nobody would notice, and kissed her lightly on the forehead, whispering into her hair, ‘I’d like to see both of you if you wouldn’t mind.’
He wanted to hold his family tight and never let them go again.
Chapter Twenty-Four
