“Even so, I’m still sorry. I shouldn’t have let you leave without talking things through together.” I cup her face and stroke her cheeks with my thumb. “I’ll never do it again. We’ll solve every problem together from now on. Promise?”
She nods. “I promise.”
“There,” Noah says, bringing a tray with four fresh mugs of tea over to the table. “That’s what I like to see.”
I chuckle, get up, and sit beside Beth, holding her hand. “You’re such an old romantic.”
“I am,” he says. “And I’m very happy to admit it.”
“He wants everyone at the Ark to find their soulmate.” Abby sits in the armchair opposite.
“Life’s long and lonely when you don’t have someone.” He leans back with his mug. “If I can do something—anything—to help others, I’m going to do it.”
Beth looks at where our fingers are intertwined and gives a shaky sigh. “Thank you for coming to find me.”
“I’m just sorry I took so long.” Later, I’ll tell her about Kath’s revelation, but for now I’m happy to bask in the glow of being with her.
“So… does this mean you two are officially together?” Noah asks.
Abby tuts, but I smile. “I think so. Right?”
Beth nods happily.
I lift her hand and kiss her fingers. “I hope you’ll move in with me?”
She rubs her nose. “I’d like that.”
“Do you think you’ll stay at your family home?” Noah asks. “Or would you rather get a new place together?”
“You did say you feel as if your father’s ghost haunts it,” Beth jokes.
But I shake my head. “I don’t think he’s there anymore. It’s up to you, though, I’ll be very happy to find a new place if you’d rather.”
“No, I’m happy to stay there. It’s a beautiful house.”
Noah starts talking about house prices in the area, and I half listen, but I’m conscious of Beth resting her free hand on her stomach. For the first time, I think about the fact that she has a little person growing inside her, part of her, and part of me. It almost takes my breath away. She’s having my baby. How can that ever have been anything but miraculous to me?
We’ll have to hold an engagement party. The house will be full of life again, of friends and family, and dogs and children. And it’ll be a life that belongs to me and Beth, and nobody else. Our mistakes will be ours to make, and we’ll be able to celebrate our successes together.
Noah cracks a joke, and we all laugh, while the rain patters on the windows, and the dogs stretch out on the rugs and fill the air with their snores.
Epilogue
13th of April (six weeks later)
Beth
“It’s really coming together,” Natalie says.
I nod, moving back from where I’m in the middle of painting the W of the word PAWS on the wall of the Den, and admire my handiwork.
She’s right; the center is beginning to look like a real place of business. Everywhere smells of fresh paint and varnish. Isaac and his team finished the vinyl flooring a couple of days ago, and now it’s all about getting the furniture in and adding the finishing touches.
I’ve started stenciling the acronym PAWS and its accompanying words: Peace, Acceptance, Wellbeing, and Strength. I’m also handwriting several taglines around the Den, like the one on the sign out the front: ‘Where healing begins, one paw at a time,’ as well as sentences like, ‘PAWS for thought’ and ‘PAWS and reflect.’ Natalie has also been painting dog paw prints all around the place, including all along the top of the kitchen counter.
Tyr comes in with Dane, both of them carrying cardboard boxes with kitchen equipment. They put them on the counter, and obviously spot Natalie’s work.
“Are you painting paw prints,” Dane asks, “or did you just lose a fight with a very small, determined animal?”
