Gracie wanted the ground to swallow her up. Ed went to follow him but Gracie blocked his way.
‘Ed, don’t.’ She felt a lump rise in her throat and ran to the toilet. Looking at herself in the mirror, she bit her lip. The realisation dawned. Yes, she was still angry with Lewis, but true love was a relentless bugger and, cheat or no cheat, theyhadbeen his babies, too.
FORTY-EIGHT
Professor Princeton wafted his Jo Malone spray around his office and swallowed a mouthful of coffee. He had five minutes before Gracie Davies arrived. He would call Maya again. He glanced at hisRacing Postas her answerphone message spoke to him. This was getting strange, he thought, a whole month had passed and she hadn’t picked up. He was so used to her being at his beck and call that he began to worry. What if one of her tricks had hurt her? He would hate to think of her in danger or hurt in any way.
He texted her, put his phone on silent and got his book out ready to take notes when Gracie arrived. He sat at his desk and drained the rest of his coffee. If he were honest, he was missing the young Czech girl. Sex aside, he liked her: her devil-may-care attitude, her flippancy; liked the fact that she had said that she loved him.I mean, what man wouldn’t, really?Especially someone with as big an ego as him. It was never going to go anywhere. It couldn’t. He was old enough to be her father. He would try her phone again when Gracie had gone. Maybe he would even pop by her place with some flowers. Women loved flowers. He would woo her back to his way of thinking. She would start taking his calls again, he was sure. He was starting to understand why all the women he saw with relationship problems found it hard to deal with men who didn’t respond immediately to their texts or calls. Maya’s treat ’em mean, keep ’em keen attitude was certainly working. He wasn’t used to not being in control and realised he didn’t like it. Didn’t like it at all.
Gracie lay on the chaise longue. She had sat and talked with him on the chair before but realised it was easier for her to have her eyes closed. Lying down and not looking at the psychologist made her feel less vulnerable so that she could say more. This was definitely going to be her last session. Miscarriage Matters had become such a big part of her life now and the weekly sessions were getting busier and busier. She and Ed were dating officially; in fact, they were going for dinner that night. His rape case was going to court in two months’ time. He was optimistic that he would be proven innocent.
‘It’s been an age, Gracie.’
‘I know. I can’t believe it’s July already. I just felt the time was right to see you again.’
‘I’m always here, you know that.’
Gracie felt soothed by Scott’s words. ‘I knew the miscarriage sessions would be a success. It’s amazing how many women have appeared out of the woodwork who have suffered losses. It’s been so cathartic for me to talk things through, too.’
‘How are you feeling about that now?’ Scott took a drink of water.
‘I feel that talking about my experience has sort of cleansed me inside. I sometimes leave the hut and cry all the way home, but that in itself is helping me. I’ve also started doing deep yoga-type breathing from my stomach whenever I feel a bit stressed or panicky. It works so well to relieve the stress.’ Gracie sighed deeply.
‘All very positive.’
‘I’m dating Ed, now, remember, the landscaper from the common?’
The professor nodded.
‘Please don’t judge – I can’t believe I can say this so flippantly – but he’s up on a rape charge. But there is no way he did it. He is so caring and gentle with me. Remember me telling you that he was a bit funny the first time we were going to have sex? Well, it all made sense once he told me about what had happened to him.’
‘You are being very grown up about this, Gracie.’
‘I’m communicating, we are communicating and it does make such a difference.’
‘Good, good.’ Scott glanced at hisRacing Post. Rightly or wrongly, he had discussed the case with Cynthia over dinner one night and she had more or less said that if the lad was guilty she would eat her hat, so he had dropped all concern for Gracie on this front now.
‘I also went on the most amazing holiday with my sister and nephew to the Caribbean. It really chilled me out.’ Gracie was desperate to tell him about Leo Grant but her allegiance to her sister was too strong for her to give anything away even in the safety of a therapy session.
‘That’s excellent news. I always feel taking a holiday allows you to kick-start a new beginning.’ Scott noticed a horse called Coconut Hooves and ringed it with this red pen.
‘Yes, it has felt like that, with the new job and everything. Something else major happened since I last saw you, too.’
‘Go on.’
‘Closure with Lewis.’
‘Really?’
‘He proposed, you see,’ Gracie said matter-of-factly.
‘OK?’ Scott nodded slowly. ‘And closure, really?’
‘Yes, it was in the street, not anywhere romantic, on Wimbledon High Street, actually.’
‘And how did that make you feel?’
‘Sad, weird, confused. Wishing he could have done it a year earlier in different circumstances.’
