Although that wasn’t strictly true. Lucas had never regarded Ellis as a threat to his relationship with his mother, but then he had been a small boy when Ellis and Diana had met, and perhaps therefore more amenable to the idea of having a new father. Had Lucas been a teenager it might have been a different story.
But really, what could Martha and Willow have against their mother being happy? Could they not understand that they were making herunhappy by being resistant to change?
Ellis had readily agreed to give Naomi the time and space she claimed she needed, but he realised now that he hadn’t meant it. He had merely said what he knew she wanted him to say, thereby portraying himself as being as patient and accommodating as she wanted him to be. But it turned out he was neither of those things. He was impatient to move forward, to put their relationship on a more permanent footing. He knew just how fragile life could be – as should Naomi – and he didn’t want to lose this unexpected chance of happiness.The thing was, you could reach an age when you thought the best years of your life were behind you, then from nowhere you realise something so amazing it stops you in your tracks. And that something was that actually the best is yet to come.
Marriage. That was what he’d had in mind as he and Naomi had walked along the beach together when he’d last seen her, more than a week ago. He’d been on the verge of telling her he loved her and wanted to ask her to be his wife. He had even pictured them going ring-shopping together and planning for the future. He’d had it all falling into place in his head. Until that moment when she’d said she didn’t want to be forced into making a choice between him or her daughters.
Would he be better off walking away now, before he wasted any more time hoping for Naomi to reach the decision he wanted her to? She had pushed him away once before; what was to stop her doing it a second time?
No, that wasn’t fair. She had been pregnant with Colin’s child and had acted selflessly and for what she saw as the best. From everything Naomi had shared with him, she had not regretted the decision, or more importantly doubted her certainty that Colin was the father. Ellis hadn’t doubted her certainty either, because he knew she wouldn’t betray him so cruelly, she just wasn’t the sort. And now, having seen photographs at Anchor House of Colin and Martha the similarity between father and daughter was unmistakable.
As hard as it had been to walk away from Naomi all those years ago, he hadn’t spent the rest of his days nursing a broken heart. He’d thrown himself into many a relationship afterwards, but nothing of any substance until he’d met Diana.
At the sudden loud and ugly cry of a seagull overhead, he opened his eyes and sat up. The tide was coming in, creeping inexorably towards him. Back the way he’d come, along the sweep of shoreline, he could see the mudflats had all but disappeared, the wading birds now gone.
Would he be gone one day too? Why would he stay if Naomi chose her family over him? The trouble was he liked it here. He felt at home in this small harbour village and enjoyed being part of the community that had been so welcoming; he felt it was somewhere he could put down roots. He also enjoyed having the sea on his doorstep, something he’d never experienced before. There was a reassuring constancy about the watery beauty of the shoreline and horizon beyond, and he often marvelled how little, in essence, it must have changed since the days when the Romans set up camp at nearby Fishbourne Palace.
The rental agreement on Waterside Cottage was only for six months and would be due for renewal before too long. Whatever Naomi’s decision was, he would soon have one of his own to make. To stay or not to stay.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Martha hadn’t heard from either her mother or sister since going down to Anchor House well over a week ago. She had texted and left messages on their voicemails but had received nothing in return. She was sure they were both deliberately avoiding her. Or was that conviction fuelled by guilt, or even paranoia on her part?
Their mother wasn’t the sort to hold a grudge, nor was Willow for that matter, but Martha thought it very likely that in this instance Mum might still be annoyed with her for cross-examining Ellis the way she had. But to Martha it had been perfectly reasonable to ask the questions she had; she just knew it was what her father would want her to do. With a sad smile of remembrance, she thought of him interrogating every boyfriend she’d ever brought home. Not that there were that many. Tom had won her father’s immediate approval though and had bonded over a beer and game of rugby on the telly.
Through the kitchen window and in the evening sun, Martha watched Tom out in the garden as he rode the sit-on mower he’d treated himself to this spring. It was his favourite new toy and she’d joked with him that one of these days he might just let her have a go on it. Not that she was that keen to mow the lawn,she was more than happy for him to do that job. Her task this evening was to cook supper. It was something easy – steaks with jacket potatoes and a watercress salad.
She wished her day had been as easy. With Jason away dealing with an existing client, she’d given her pitch to Topolino and had been painfully aware that it had lacked pizazz. She’d rolled out the usual spiel that a brand is a promise to a customer that their product and service was of the highest quality, before moving onto the nub of the matter, which was essentially an act of reparation in the form of a one-way-door offer. For an indefinite period of time, Topolino would pledge themselves to a scheme whereby for every babygrow they sold here one would be given to a child living in poverty in Bangladesh.
Judging by their restrained response – a restraint that was practically suffocating – she sensed she had blown it and when the meeting was over, she had disappeared to her office, shut her door and kicked her desk. Channelling Jason, she had kicked it three times for good measure.
With everything for supper now prepared, the potatoes pricked and in the oven, she tried ringing Willow again. The phone rang and rang and just as Martha was about to give up, she heard a voice that most definitely wasn’t Willow’s. Assuming she had somehow rung the wrong number, she was all set to end the call when the voice in her ear said, ‘Is that Martha?’
‘Yes,’ she replied cautiously. ‘Who’s that?’
‘It’s Rick.’
‘Oh,’ she said, ‘is Willow there?’
‘No,’ he replied.
Martha waited for him to expand on that, but when he didn’t,she asked if he knew where her sister was and when she would be able to speak to her.
‘She’s working,’ he said.
Not liking the abruptness to Rick’s voice, and guessing he was still cross with her for excluding him from what she’d considered family business, she tried to placate him by keeping her voice light. ‘I suppose Willow dashed out and forgot to take her mobile, then?’
‘Something like that,’ he said flatly. ‘Was there anything else?’
Wow, he really was cross with her, wasn’t he? ‘Er … yes,’ she said, reluctantly acknowledging that maybe she should make more of an effort to put things right between them. ‘I think I might have inadvertently offended you, Rick.’
There was a pause before he responded. ‘You think, or youknowthat you inadvertently offended me?’
‘Okay,’ she said, waving back at Tom as he waved to her from the garden on the mower. ‘I know that I was rude that day at my mother’s.’
‘If it was only then, it wouldn’t matter. But you keep doing it.’
Now it was her turn to pause before answering. ‘Doing what?’ she asked.
