‘ARE you warm enough?’ Jordan enquired courteously, his eyes never straying from the road. ‘Would you like the heater turned up?’
‘No, thank you. I’m fine,’ Tamsin returned with equal politeness. Cautiously, she slid him a sideways glance. The strong, masculine features were impassive but the flicker of a muscle along the line of his hard jaw, the knuckles of his lean hands gripping the steering wheel betrayed his tension.
She focused her gaze back out the window but every inch of her was aware of the man by her side, alert to his slightest movement. The silence was becoming unendurable.
‘This really is a waste of time.’ Her voice was unnatural, too high-pitched.
‘You heard the doctor,’ Jordan returned quietly. ‘The X-ray is merely a precaution.’
‘Well, I’m sure it’s unnecessary. I feel perfectly all right,’ she lied. Her head was thudding but whether it was from the knock on her temple or caused by the tension in the car she didn’t know. She could feel the familiar frustration swirling up inside her as she shot him another sideways glance. He’d withdrawn away from her again. The man who had sat cradling her in his arms such a short time ago had been transformed into this courteous but remote stranger.
Her eyes widened with horror as she felt the nausea welling up in her throat. ‘Jordan…could you stop the car, p-please?’ she mumbled desperately, terrified of committing the ultimate humiliation in front of him.
As the car jerked to a halt, she wrenched open the door, stumbling onto the verge. She gulped air into her lungs and slowly felt the wave of sickness receding.
‘Feel better?’
‘Yes,’ she mumbled, feeling the touch of Jordan’s hand on her shoulder. Shakily, she turned round to face him.
He looked down at her and then pulled her wordlessly into the circle of his arms. Her head fell against his chest, her eyes closing. She felt so safe, enveloped in a secure, protective cocoon, then gave a little protesting mew as she felt his hold slacken.
‘The sooner you get to hospital the better,’ Jordan muttered gruffly and then, catching her totally unawares, crushed her against him. ‘Oh, God, if anything should ever happen to you…’
Slowly and disbelievingly, Tamsin raised her eyes to his face. Had she heard him correctly? The expression in the dark blue eyes made her draw in her breath. Perhaps she really was concussed, she thought wildly.
‘If anything ever happened to me…’ she prompted unsteadily.
His mouth quirked. ‘Your mother would doubtlessly hold me responsible and have me shot at dawn,’ he said carelessly.
Tamsin froze as she saw the veil dropping over his eyes, the male features forming into a bland mask. She was so sick of this, just couldn’t deal with this constant emotional see-saw any longer.
‘Why do you do this to me every time?’ The words tore from her throat before she even had time to think. ‘Make me believe you care and then just switch off, push me away?’ Her voice shook. ‘It’s cruel, Jordan. Sadistic.’ She wheeled away from him.
‘Tamsin!’ He snaked out a hand and spun her back towards him. ‘Is that what you want?’ he demanded urgently. ‘Me to care about you?’
Oh, no, she wasn’t going to fall into that little trap, make herself wide open and vulnerable, give him further ammunition with which to taunt her in the future.
‘Care?’ She laughed brittlely. ‘You don’t know the meaning of the word, Jordan. You’re incapable of caring, of any real depth of feeling for anyone.’ She wrenched her hand from his grasp. Her head was thudding so much she could hardly think straight. ‘I pity any woman who ever falls in love with you because it would be like trying to love a brick wall. Maybe your early childhood stunted your emotional development but…’
She stopped, appalled, her eyes dark with shame and self-disgust. She was behaving like a thwarted child, striking out because she couldn’t have what she wanted. And that last gibe about his childhood had been unforgivable. ‘Jordan, I’m sorry,’ she muttered huskily.
His face was unreadable, a granite mask. His eyes sweeping over her reflected nothing but indifference. Her words had hardly penetrated, let alone wounded him, she realized slowly. You had to care about someone before they could hurt you, she acknowledged. She turned back towards the car and this time Jordan made no effort to restrain her.
* * *
Overnight for observation. Hugging the white hospital gown around her, Tamsin scrambled into bed under the watchful eye of the uniformed figure. It had never occurred to her that she might actually be admitted to the hospital, hadn’t even thought about bringing an overnight case.
The middle-aged nurse gave her a brisk smile. ‘Your boyfriend’s waiting outside to say goodbye. Two minutes and that’s all,’ she added firmly, moving off down the ward.
Tamsin looked across to the door and saw the lean figure striding towards her. Boyfriend? she thought drily. Wrong on both counts. Her lips twitched despite herself. Jordan was hardly a boy! Her smile faded. And friend would be about the last word she’d ever use to describe their relationship.
‘I didn’t expect you to wait,’ she greeted Jordan coolly as he reached the bed. She’d assumed he’d left the hospital when she’d been taken up to the ward, relieved that he’d expended his duty, that she was no longer his responsibility.
He shrugged, his expression indifferent. ‘I’ll come and collect you in the morning,’ he informed her crisply.
‘You needn’t bother,’ she returned swiftly. ‘I’m perfectly capable of catching a bus.’ She feigned a yawn. ‘And if you don’t mind, I really am very tired.’
She saw his mouth tighten. ‘Good night, Tamsin.’
Her eyes dark with misery, she watched him stride back across the ward, wanting desperately to call him back. She hadn’t even thanked him for bringing her to hospital.
Until her outburst, Jordan had been kind, considerate, gentle. Why couldn’t she have settled for that? Why had she to spoil everything by wanting more? Squeezing her eyes shut, she buried her face in the pillow.
Slipping the hospital gown back on after her bath, Tamsin pulled the borrowed comb through her long, tousled hair and pulled a wry face as she inspected herself in the mirror above the basin.
‘You’re no thing of beauty this morning,’ she informed the reflected image kindly. The livid bruise on her temple stood out luridly against her ashen skin and there were dark shadows under her eyes. But although she could have quite easily crawled back into bed for the next twenty-four hours, the throbbing in her head had mercifully stopped.
Tightening the robe around her slim figure, she padded back to the ward, scrambling in between the sheets of her bed just as the doctor began his morning rounds.
He smiled at her briskly from the foot of her bed. ‘How are you feeling today?’
‘Much better,’ she said, smiling back at the whitecoated figure. She thought it was the same doctor who had admitted her yesterday but couldn’t be sure. Everything about the preceding evening had assumed a dreamlike quality.
‘No more dizziness?’ He gestured to the attendant nurse to pull the screens around the bed. ‘Good,’ he murmured with satisfaction after his brief examination and then picked up the folder he had deposited on the chair and flicked through it. He raised his head. ‘We’ve had the result of your test back from the lab,’ he said quietly. ‘It’s positive.’
Tamsin stared at him numbly. ‘You mean I’m pregnant?’ She shook her head. ‘I don’t believe it…I didn’t think for one moment that I really could be…I’ve always been erratic and I thought with the stress of a new job…’ And she’d been taking a contraceptive. She closed her eyes. She’d had a stomach upset that preceding week…It had never occurred to her…Her eyes opened. ‘Are you sure? There couldn’t be some mistake?’
‘No,’ the doctor said quietly.
She saw the concern in his eyes, realized that he must be aware of her single status and uncertain of how welcome was the news.
Welcome? Jordan’s baby? She was going to have Jordan’s baby! She hadn’t even dared to contemplate it until now, terrified of the disappointment. She began to grin inanely, her eyes glowing.
‘Congratulations.’ The doctor smiled with evident relief. ‘Make an appointment to see your local GP.’
She nodded, hardly aware of his departure, still gripped by euphoria. She wanted to shout out her news to the world. She felt different. Did she look different? Jordan’s baby. A part of him that would always belong to her. Dazedly, she registered the figure by her bed.
‘Sorry?’
The young student nurse grinned. ‘Your boyfriend’s brought a change of clothes in for you.’ She placed a small canvas bag on the locker. ‘He’s waiting in the dayroom.’
‘Thanks.’ Tamsin beamed as the nurse disappeared. Not her boyfriend. But the father of her child. She opened the bag and inspected the contents. Jordan had presumably been round to the house and asked her flatmate for the clean underwear and toiletries. Humming, she began to dress and suddenly laughed out loud. Jordan’s child within her body.
‘Oh, my God! I’m going to have a baby!’ She slumped down onto the bed. She was pregnant. Unmarried. Not in any long-term, committed relationship. She was going to have a child, be solely responsible for its welfare, upbringing. She could feel beads of perspiration forming on her brow, panic twisting her body, as reality, rationality, the sheer practicalities of what lay ahead crashed through the euphoria.
But there was one thing of which she was certain. She wanted this child, wanted it more than anything in the world. And she would manage. Other women brought up children single-handedly, coped, and so would she.
She rose to her feet. And now somehow she had to face Jordan. She bit her lip.
‘Nearly ready?’ A nurse popped her head around the curtain. ‘Your boyfriend has had to rush off but he’s arranged a taxi for you.’
Tamsin nodded, pretending to be busy fastening the zip of her small case. Jordan couldn’t be bothered to wait even a few minutes for her, had dutifully deposited her clothes and rushed off. The stab of pain that tore through her was so intense that she almost cried out. He had handed her over to a taxi as if she were an unwanted parcel. Well, she was glad, relieved that she wouldn’t have to face him today after all…
‘Hey, are you all right?’ the nurse enquired.
‘I’m fine,’ Tamsin said brightly and burst into tears.
‘This is a final check-in call for Lyne Air flight 326 to Jersey and Guernsey. Would all passengers not yet in possession of a boarding card for this service, please attend the check-in desk in the main hall?’
Releasing the button on the Tannoy, Tamsin’s eyes flicked to the wall clock above it. She would close the flight in a few more minutes and then hand over to the late shift. And tomorrow, she thought thankfully, she had a day off, the first one in the past fortnight.
There had been the opportunity to work overtime last week and she had grabbed it, conscious now of the need to save every penny from her salary. It was odd how calm she’d felt in the past couple of days, she reflected, and how strangely isolated from the rest of the world.
She smiled at the elderly couple approaching the desk with their suitcases.
‘If you’d like to put your cases on the scale?’ She glanced down at their ticket to check their destination and then stiffened as she looked up and saw Jordan walking through the automatic glass doors into the terminal. She’d seen little of him since her return to work, had at times wondered if he were deliberately avoiding her. On the few occasions she had encountered him on his own in the corridor in the administration block, he had acknowledged her presence with a brisk nod but made no attempt at conversation.
Quickly, she extracted two destination tags from the pigeon-holes on the desk and tied them around the cases.
‘Excuse me, miss. But we’re going to Jersey, not Guernsey.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ Tamsin gave what she hoped was a reassuring, confident smile and swiftly rectified the error. With a sinking heart, she realized that Jordan was standing a few feet away, had doubtlessly witnessed the mistake. The smile still fixed to her face, she pulled the relevant coupon from the ticket and handed it back to the passengers together with their boarding cards and baggage receipts. ‘Your flight will be called through gate number two in twenty minutes.’
As the couple moved away, she turned her attention to the fair man who had been queuing behind them.
‘I asked for a non-smoking seat and I’ve just looked at my boarding card and you gave me smoking.’
‘I’m sorry, sir.’ Unhappily conscious that Jordan was still within earshot, Tamsin reissued the seat number, grateful that the flight wasn’t full.
‘I did request a window seat.’
‘I’m sorry but the only seats left in non-smoking are aisle seats.’ Please don’t be difficult, not with Jordan watching.
Grumbling under his breath, the man ambled away. Refusing to even glance at Jordan, she bent her head, quickly totalled the figures on the sheet of paper in front of her and picked up the internal telephone to relay the passenger figures and baggage weight to the operations office.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jordan approaching the desk and, replacing the receiver, looked up at him resignedly.
‘I’d like to see you in my office when you’ve finished your shift,’ he said quietly and turned away.
Sighing under her breath, she collected up the ticket coupons and placed them in an envelope with the passenger list. Then as soon as her relief arrived, she made her way back from the terminal to the administration block.
‘Come in,’ Jordan commanded as she knocked at his door. He was standing by the window, his back to her as she entered the office. ‘Sit down, Tamsin.’
How did he know it was even her? she wondered as she obeyed. He hadn’t even glanced at her.
‘What’s the matter, Tamsin?’ He turned round, his dark blue eyes moving pensively over her face. ‘You’ve been late for three early shifts in the past fortnight.’ He moved across the carpet and sat down behind his desk. ‘You’ve made numerous careless errors and seem to be suffering from increasing lapses in concentration. Why, Tamsin?’ he demanded evenly.
She stiffened, completely thrown off balance. She had mentally braced herself for a reprimand but not this quiet inquisition. Uneasily, she stared down at the carpet. ‘I’ve already apologized to the senior duty officer,’ she said evasively.
‘Next time you’re late, Tamsin, unless you can offer a legitimate excuse…’ He let the unspoken threat hang in the air.
Tamsin bit her lip. Pull your socks up or else. She couldn’t afford to lose this job, needed to continue working for as long as she was able.
‘Would you like a coffee?’
Startled, she looked up as Jordan rose to his feet. ‘No, thank you,’ she said swiftly, blanching. Even the thought of it made her feel queasy.
‘How crass of me.’ Jordan sat down again, stretching out his long legs. ‘The smell of coffee, hmm? It affects a lot-of pregnant women like that, so I believe.’
Tamsin went rigid. She tried to speak but her lips seemed frozen.
‘There’s no point in denying it, Tamsin,’ Jordan said quietly. ‘I found out the morning I came to pick you up at the hospital. The sister had to leave her office while I was there and she left your notes on her desk.’
‘And you looked at them?’ The colour drained from her face. So that was why he had left without waiting for her. The moment he had discovered she was pregnant, he had just walked out. Pain twisted inside her like a knife. ‘You had no damn right—’
‘No right to know that you are carrying my child?’ he thundered, pushing back his chair. He began to pace jerkily around the room. ‘Why the hell didn’t you tell me yourself?’ He ground to a halt in front of his desk and then cursed as the internal telephone rang.
‘Yes?’ he bit out as he picked up the receiver. ‘Tell him I’ll call him back. Tomorrow. And, Jill, I shall be out of the office for the rest of the day.’ He slammed down the receiver and looked up. ‘We need to talk. Somewhere with no interruptions.’
‘I can’t see what there’s left to talk about,’ Tamsin returned huskily. Hell, she was going to burst into tears any minute and breaking down was the last thing she wanted to do in front of Jordan. ‘It’s my problem and I shall deal with it.’
A muscle tightened along his jaw. ‘A problem?’ he rasped. ‘Is that how you see it? And how many solutions have you considered?’ His mouth tightened. ‘Abortion?’ he lashed.
‘No!’ she choked. Her eyes wide with shock and disgust, Tamsin dropped her hands protectively to her abdomen. How could he think for a moment that she would even contemplate such a course of action? She began to shudder convulsively.
‘I’m sorry. That was unpardonable.’
Slowly, she looked up. Jordan had risen to his feet and was crossing the room towards her. Gently, he laid a hand on her arm and pulled her to her feet.
‘Come on,’ he said quietly and shepherded her from the room.
‘Would you like to get out and walk?’ Jordan asked as he drew the car to a halt in the deserted car park of a local beauty spot.
‘Yes.’ Tamsin nodded. Rolling meadows lay in front of them, stretching down to a river, shimmering under the May sunshine. Calm and therapeutic. Slipping off her uniform jacket, Tamsin slid out of the car.
‘The footpath starts by that gate,’ Jordan murmured, guiding her towards it.
Tamsin breathed in the fresh, scented air as they walked along in silence, the sun warm on her bare arms. She could feel the tension easing from her body, her muscles beginning to relax. Rounding a bend, they reached a gate and paused, leaning over it, gazing at the view beyond.
‘If I hadn’t found out, would you have ever told me about the baby?’ Jordan finally broke the silence.
‘I don’t know,’ Tamsin said honestly. It was a decision she had been unable to reach, one that had plagued her every waking thought. ‘Probably. Eventually.’
Jordan’s hands were resting on the top bar of the gate, only inches away from hers. Lean, capable. The temptation to touch them, to draw strength from them was overwhelming. Deliberately, she raised her head and stared reflectively into the distance.
‘It’s not something I could have kept secret forever anyway,’ she added wryly.
‘Didn’t it occur to you that I might be interested in the fact that you were carrying my child?’
Not your child. Our child. Tamsin’s eyes leaped to his face as the words screamed in her head. ‘So interested that the second you found out, you fled the hospital!’
‘I was angry,’ Jordan said quietly. ‘Angry because you hadn’t told me yourself.’
‘But I didn’t know myself until then.’
He raised a sceptical dark eyebrow. ‘Oh, come on. You must have suspected, had some inkling.’ His eyes darkened. ‘Or did you just block your mind off to it? Hope it would go away?’
‘It?’ She rounded on him. ‘It’s not an it…it’s a baby—’
‘Our baby,’ Jordan muttered gruffly, his voice so low that Tamsin only just managed to decipher the words.
Her eyes jerked to his face, hope surging inside her.
‘I won’t marry you,’ he said evenly, looking down at her.
The hope was expelled as quickly as it had been ignited. ‘I don’t recall asking you to!’ But hadn’t some part of her expected him to at least make the gesture? Even though she would have refused.
‘It wouldn’t work,’ he continued quietly. ‘We would be getting married for all the wrong reasons.’
‘Yes,’ she mumbled. A marriage without love. Just like the one his parents had been forced into.
‘It wouldn’t be fair on anyone,’ he continued. ‘Not least the child.’
Tamsin bit her lip. Was he comparing her with his mother? Did he seriously think that she would ever walk out on their child? Then unbidden, her thoughts turned to her own mother, enduring her father’s infidelity for her sake.
‘No,’ she finally muttered, vaguely conscious that they had turned round and were retracing their steps back along the footpath.
‘But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to be involved,’ Jordan said softly. ‘And not simply financially. I want to be part of our son’s or daughter’s life.’ He unlocked the car and held the passenger door open for her. ‘And I’d like you to come and stay at Swallow Lodge at least until the baby’s born.’
She stiffened. ‘You want me to give up work? Immediately?’ Become totally dependent on him financially. ‘And if I refuse?’
He shrugged but the set of his square chin left her in no doubt about the answer.
‘I see. You’d terminate my employment,’ she said flatly. And as a temporary employee she would have no real recourse if he chose to do so. ‘Of course, I appreciate that I would be an embarrassment at the airport once my condition became apparent,’ she said bitterly. ‘Much more convenient to have me secreted out of the way at Swallow Lodge.’ She slithered into her seat and slammed the door shut with all her might.
‘Think about it,’ Jordan murmured as he joined her. ‘Shift work, irregular hours, irregular meals, on your feet for much of the time.’
She didn’t answer but was forced to recognize the sense of his words. At the same time, it suddenly occurred to her that he hadn’t once questioned the fact that he was the father of her baby. Nor had he demanded to know how she had become pregnant after assuring him that she was on the pill. He hadn’t apportioned any blame to her, had accepted and recognized his own responsibility. Her mouth tightened. And was dealing with the situation in his usual calm, rational, unemotional way.
Her hands formed into fists in her lap. And after the baby was born? What then? Her eyes glazed over as the scenario formed in her head. Jordan would provide a house for her, give her a generous allowance. She and the baby would be financially secure for life. She ought to be grateful; countless women would envy her.
And she would spend every day waiting for him to phone, to appear on the doorstep. Except it wouldn’t be her he wanted to speak to, to see. And one day, he would come accompanied, introduce the woman by his side as his future wife.
She was going to end up like Simone, spend the rest of her life wanting a man who would never be hers. She would never be free of Jordan. Because of a one-night stand that had meant nothing more to him than sexual gratification, part of her was bound to him forever. Bleakly, she stared out the window as Jordan turned into the familiar road and drew to a halt.
She reached for the door handle and paused. ‘I’d be grateful if you wouldn’t say anything to my mother or Andrew yet,’ she said formally. ‘I’d rather wait until after their wedding, when they return from their honeymoon.’ It wouldn’t be fair to mar her mother’s happiness straight away.
‘As you wish,’ Jordan returned evenly as she scrambled from the car. ‘Don’t forget your jacket.’
She nodded and, slinging it over her shoulder, walked up the path. She was just about to insert her key in the front door when she heard a woman scream.
She swung round, her eyes opening in horror as she saw the toddler dive out into the road in front of Jordan. There was the squeal of brakes followed by the sickening thud of metal as the car swerved into a lamppost.
‘Oh, my God! Jordan!’ As she raced towards the car, she could see him slumped back in his seat. ‘Jordan,’ she cried out despairingly, wrenching open the driver’s door.
His eyes were closed, a line of dark red trickling down the side of his face. She froze. Her nightmare had turned back to reality. Then, adrenalin surged through her, releasing her cramped muscles from their immobility.
‘Please be all right, Jordan,’ she croaked as, acting on autopilot, she felt for the pulse in his neck. ‘I couldn’t bear it if…’ She sighed her relief as she registered the strong, regular beat. ‘I love you so much,’ she whispered huskily, hardly aware that she had spoken the words hammering in her brain out loud. Pulling a dean tissue from the pocket of her jacket, she wiped his face gently.
‘I think it’s only a superficial graze,’ a deep voice drawled. Blue eyes flicked open and surveyed her.
‘You were bluffing!’ Tamsin’s face flamed with furious colour as he nonchalantly swung himself out of the car and stood towering over her. ‘How could you do that to me? You lousy, stinking—’
‘And by the way, I love you, too.’
‘…rotten bastard…what?’ Tamsin’s stomach lurched. She can’t have heard correctly. Must have misheard him. Blood pounding in her ears, Tamsin searched his face with wide, uncertain eyes. If this was another of his games…She drew in a short, shallow breath as she saw the expression in his eyes, her head beginning to swim.
‘I love you, Tamsin…I want to marry you.’
As she heard the catch in his voice, saw the look of naked vulnerability in his eyes, any remaining doubts vanished. ‘You really love me?’ she said weakly, her eyes glowing.
‘More than anything in the world,’ he muttered gruffly and pulled her gently into his arms. ‘I fell in love with you that first summer.’
She tilted her face up to his. ‘But why didn’t you tell me?’ All those years of misery for nothing.
His mouth quirked wryly. ‘I was terrified of your reaction if you knew just how I felt.’ He kissed her lightly on the tip of her freckled nose. ‘I knew you were attracted to me—’
‘You conceited wretch,’ Tamsin said, grinning.
‘But I didn’t want to be the object of a fleeting physical infatuation and you were still young enough to confuse—’
‘Desire with love,’ Tamsin broke in softly, remembering his words to her and how she’d misinterpreted them. ‘But why did you disappear to America? Without even saying goodbye?’
‘I didn’t trust myself with you any longer,’ he said simply. ‘Then when I returned, you froze me out completely, acted as if you could hardly bear to have me in the same room.’
‘I was hurt,’ she said quietly.
‘And besides, you were always with Tom,’ he groaned. ‘I was so damn jealous.’
Tamsin looked at him incredibly. ‘There’s only ever been you,’ she said softly and gave a blissful sigh as his mouth took possession of hers.
Raising his head, Jordan smiled down into her dazed eyes. ‘You do realize that you seem to have overcome your phobia?’
‘Yes.’ Tamsin smiled back up at him and then became aware that they had an audience.
A young, white-faced woman, holding a bawling toddler in her arms, was hovering by the car. Breaking free from Jordan’s arms, Tamsin turned towards her.
‘I’m so sorry,’ the woman began. ‘I don’t know what happened. One minute, Tommy was holding on to my hand and then the next moment, he was running into the road.’ Her eyes encompassed Jordan. ‘Thank God you’re not hurt.’ Her gaze dropped to the car.
‘The insurance will take care of everything,’ Jordan assured her swiftly.
‘If you hadn’t been driving so slowly, reacted so quickly…’ She shuddered. ‘Thank you,’ she said quietly, her hold tightening on the small boy. ‘You must be shaken. I live at number twelve. Please come and have a cup of tea…use the phone.’
‘Thank you,’ Jordan murmured courteously. ‘But my fiancée lives just across the road.’
‘Oh, I see. Well, if you’re sure you’re all right…’ Hesitating for a second, she turned and walked away.
Tamsin glanced up at Jordan. ‘Fiancée?’ she enquired sweetly. ‘Aren’t you taking a little for granted?’ she teased him.
‘Oh, no,’ he said softly. ‘That’s one thing I shall never do, Tamsin. Take you for granted.’
‘Oh, Tamsin darling, that is the best wedding present you could have given me!’ Anne Keston exclaimed with delight. ‘I didn’t think anything could make today more perfect—’ unconsciously, she glanced down at the shining gold band on her left hand ‘—but you just have!’
Her mouth curving in that idiotic smile that seemed to have become a permanent fixture of late, Tamsin returned her mother’s hug.
‘Andrew and I were wondering when you and Jordan would come to your senses!’
Tamsin’s grin widened as she smoothed down the skirt of her silky blue bridesmaid’s dress. She couldn’t remember ever seeing her mother look so happy or so serenely beautiful. The day had been perfect, from the simple, moving ceremony in the local church to the reception for family and close friends back at Swallow Lodge.
‘I think I’ve got everything.’ Slipping on the soft peach jacket over her matching dress, her mother glanced swiftly round the room before closing her small overnight case. The rest of her luggage had already been stowed in the back of the limousine that would shortly be taking her and Andrew to London, where they would spend the first night of their honeymoon in a luxurious hotel, before flying out to the Greek Islands the following day. ‘By the way, darling, did I ever thank you for falling off your bike?’
‘No, you didn’t, actually,’ Tamsin admonished straight-faced, her thoughts immediately flying back over the years to that miraculous afternoon that had brought both Andrew and Jordan into their lives.
‘Oh, heavens, I’m going to be a grandmother and I feel about eighteen!’
Mother’s and daughter’s eyes met and they both began to giggle like teenagers, sobering up at the light tap on the door, which opened to admit Andrew.
‘Jordan is the second luckiest man in the world,’ he said simply, kissing Tamsin on the cheek.
Her gaze instantly darted to the tall, lean figure behind him, the expression in the blue eyes making her dizzy. No, she was the lucky one, the luckiest, happiest person alive.
She started to follow her mother and Andrew down the landing when Jordan shot out a hand to restrain her, pushing her gently back into the room.
‘Jordan, they’re just about to leave…’ she protested weakly as his mouth came down on hers.
‘I’m just following tradition,’ he informed her solemnly as he raised his head.
‘Tradition?’ she echoed, curling her arms around his neck, loving him so much that it hurt as she looked into the brilliant eyes.
‘The bridesmaid and the best man…’ He paused to give her another long, lingering kiss.
‘Now, now, you two…’
Simultaneously, they looked round and saw Mrs. Duncan standing in the open doorway, an expression of mock disapproval on her face.
‘You’ve the rest of your lives for this, so just behave yourselves for five minutes and go down and see your parents off!’
‘Yes, Mrs. Duncan,’ Jordan said meekly and catching the plump woman off guard swept her up in a huge bearhug.
Tamsin burst into laughter. The rest of your lives…