‘I won’t, Mum,’ he said with a faint smile. ‘Gabri nearly fell off a cliff and I wouldn’t want that to happen.’
When she snapped her gaze to Gabri, it was to find an odd expression on his face: part amusement, part dismay.
‘I’m glad you’re looking out for me,’ he said drily. ‘I should…’ He gestured over his shoulder with a half-hearted motion.
‘Wait, I?—’
Toni wasn’t sure what she could say. She needed to fuss over Cillian, get him into bed, process the horrible evening and then try to let it go – along with the necessary recriminations for the way her first I Do wedding had turned out.
But she kind of wanted to do that processing with Gabri, where she could press her cheek to his chest.
‘You need to… I can—’ His hands expressed the words he couldn’t seem to find.
‘You have a cut on your forehead,’ she blurted out. ‘Let me clean it for you?’
‘You don’t have to?—’
Cillian gave a loud yawn and they both glanced down at him.
‘Sweetie, go wash up and put your PJs on. I’ll be there in a minute.’ As though a minute would be long enough to… She didn’t know what she wanted to do with Gabri.
After Cillian disappeared inside, she grasped his arm and pulled him to one of the porch chairs, urging him to sit. ‘Stay there. I’ll get some swabs and antiseptic for that cut.’
The wariness in his eyes made her wonder if he’d stay put or disappear into the night without saying goodbye. The experience of losing Cillian must have triggered all of his anxieties, but he’d gone out in search of him anyway – the way he’d helped her clean up her leg despite his own discomfort.
Some hint of a realisation tickled in the back of her mind as she brushed a hand over his cheek and went to fetch the first aid supplies, but she was too tired and mixed-up to reason it through. He was a good man – the best – no matter what he thought of himself.
The kick of attraction and recognition when she turned his face up and gently cleaned the wound landed with more force than she’d expected. The heightened emotions of the day were catching up with her.
‘Thank you,’ he said, his voice gravelly.
‘I should be thankingyou.’
He shook his head, then turned it, taking her wrist gently and pressing a feather-light kiss to the inside. Toni froze, no defences left against the quiet tenderness.
But his words broke the spell that had threatened to upset the careful balance of her life. ‘Anyone would have done it.’
It wasn’t true, but she couldn’t dispute it, because what he meant was: she shouldn’t read anything into his actions. He still needed his simple, lonely life, the selfish idealist.
‘Was it awful, being worried for me?’
His brow drew in, making him wince at the sting from the scratch. ‘It was horrendous.’
‘Lucky we’re going tomorrow then,’ she said lightly.
‘Toni.’ The frustration in his voice took her aback.
‘It’s all right,’ she insisted, inspecting the wound. It was shallow, barely a scratch. It had probably only bled so much because it was a facial wound – blood vessels close to the skin and all that.
‘I don’t know that it is all right,’ he disagreed, his eyes dropping closed and his hands gripping her waist.
‘Tone, are you going to read—? Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll just— I’m not here. Carry on.’ Daphne slipped into the cabin backside first, her hand slapped over her eyes.
Then came a voice from behind her. ‘Is Mum going to read a chapter of our book? She said she—’ Cillian came scooting to a stop in the doorway when he caught sight of them. Gabri had dropped his hands from her body, but she was still standing between his knees, steadying herself on his shoulder.
The scrape of the plastic porch chair tore through the awkward tableau as Gabri rushed to his feet. ‘I’ll leave you to get him to bed,’ he said tightly. With a brief squeeze to her elbow, he turned and left without another word.
‘Have a wonderful time on your honeymoon. Come and see us – I mean Sophie – at the office when you get back and she’ll take you through the photos.’
