Jack knew a grand total of seven people in the crowd of about fifty who were currently milling around the conference room and adjoining patio, gulping down Pimm’s – which Jack assumed he’d paid for. The conference room had been disguised well, behind lavish lace drapes and silver ‘baby’ balloons. Only the projector, stuck underneath a table in the corner, gave the game away. As he swapped his empty glass of orange juice for a full one, Jack imagined that at the same time tomorrow this room could be full of arseholes like Barrowman, talking pompous horseshit to each other about the price of gold bullion.
Jack moved out to the patio and stood away from the smokers to enjoy the view of the stunning grounds of this five-star Richmond hotel. Maggie had been right to book it. Turning, he could see her chatting to a group of people he didn’t know, work colleagues from the hospital, he guessed. Penny was by the gift table peering through a tiny rip in the paper on one of the presents, trying to work out what it was. And Ridley . . . Ridley was surrounded by cooing women, being force-fed Pimm’s as he cradled a sleeping Hannah in his arms.
An hour later, DCI Simon Ridley, the stiffest man on the force, was attempting to sing a lullaby that he only knew half the words to.
Hannah was riveted by Ridley’s out-of-tune rendition. And, although he was surrounded by ladies, he only had eyes for the one in his arms.
In the far corner of the room, out of Jack’s eyeline, Laura was being chatted up by a doctor giving her the full ‘their beating heart was in the palm of my hand’ story, but although she was smiling in all the right places, she wasn’t listening to a word. Instead she was listening to Ridley singing.
Laura, like many people who worked all the hours God sends for the emergency services, had been single for a long time, and every married police officer she knew, male or female, was with someone else from the emergency services. Not surprisingly, since there was no time to meet anyone outside of the job. She even went to the pub with people from work, so how on earth was she ever going to meet anyone new?
Her life was full and exciting, but it was repetitive. She’d been out with paramedics, firemen, policemen, so perhaps this handsome but boring doctor was going to be next? There was a time when Laura would have begun a relationship with an attractive man like this in a heartbeat, but today she felt like walking away.
She turned and, right behind her was Ridley. He put a sleeping Hannah into her arms and said, ‘Just have to nip, you know.’ He smiled his thanks, put his hand on Laura’s elbow and, as he walked away, his fingers slid down her bare arm and to her fingertips before he walked out of reach. Goosebumps immediately broke out over her entire body and she could feel herself blushing and heart palpitating.
Sadly, she knew that Ridley would not have had the same reaction from her touch. Laura looked down at Hannah and took advantage of the fact that a woman close to tears in public was perfectly acceptable if she happened to have a gorgeous baby in her arms.
On the patio, Penny had appeared by Jack’s side. ‘Hannah’s been given four cot quilts and three mobiles. You’d think people would confer.’
‘Why would you give a baby a mobile?’ Jack asked.
‘Not a mobile phone, darling. A dangly mobile. For above her cot.’ Penny wrapped her arm around Jack’s waist and, together, they watched the room. They were amazed by the number of people who wanted to say hello to their little Hannah. It reminded Penny of the number of people who had turned out to say goodbye to their Charlie.
‘A funeral, a christening and a wedding all in the same twelve months,’ she said, thinking out loud. Jack squeezed Penny’s shoulder and she rested her head against his chest.
‘I think the wedding will be next year, Mum. I’d like to take Maggie back to St Lucia for the honeymoon and, well, it’s not cheap. Plus Maggie wants to get back down to a size ten.’
‘Oh, she could do that in a couple of months if she put her mind to it.’
‘She’s a hormonal woman with a currently insatiable craving for Chinese takeaways and red wine . . . are you going to tell her to “put her mind to it”? ’Cos I’m bloody not!’
*
Although Hannah had slept through much of her big day, she still went straight down as soon as they got home. As did Penny.
Jack hadn’t drunk a drop of alcohol at the naming ceremony because he was the designated driver but once safely back home, he sat down on the sofa with Maggie and poured himself a large brandy. Maggie ventured to ask how his assignment to the Cotswolds was going and he told her how he felt he’d been shafted: ‘First of all I get personally requested because of my experience in similar cases, then I’m outranked by a couple of Oxford Robbery guys. And Ridley’s playing both sides. He bollocked me for show, so that Chipping Norton thinks I’m on some kind of fucking leash, but then, he’s also told me to bypass them and report directly to him.’
‘You get the same sort of political games in the NHS,’ Maggie shrugged. ‘It doesn’t mean Ridley doesn’t trust you.’
‘I know that,’ Jack conceded, ‘but sometimes I wish he’d just stand up and be counted.’ Maggie moved closer to Jack and gently laced her fingers through his. ‘I don’t know, Mags. It’s bad timing, I guess. The team over there are just starting to respect me and . . .’ Maggie leant over and kissed him.
‘Does that mean shut up?’ he asked, laughing. She kissed him again.
Jack seized this rare intimate moment. He picked Maggie up, making an ‘ooomph’ noise as she settled on his hips and linked her ankles behind his back. Three stairs up and Jack stepped on a pile of ironed babygrows, which sent him tumbling forwards onto his left hand – while his right hand stayed firmly around Maggie’s waist so that he didn’t drop her. They giggled as quietly as possible, trying not to lose the moment.
Jack stood up, leaving Maggie sitting on the stairs. ‘Get me a brandy,’ she instructed. ‘Then get your arse upstairs before I fall asleep.’
Not needing to be asked twice, Jack raced down to the kitchen.
It was the first time that Jack and Maggie had made love since Hannah was born – and the quickest. As they lay together afterwards, relaxed in each other’s arms, it felt like a new, exciting chapter was about to begin. Maggie declared that she was happier now than she had ever been in her entire life. And part of her happiness came from Jack finally finding his place in the world.
‘Go back to the Cotswolds with your head high, Jack. Whether they know it or not, they’re lucky to have you.’ Maggie was clearly in a soppy mood, but her words were sincere and made Jack feel better about the awkward situation he was in. Maggie propped herself up on Jack’s chest, so she could look him in the eyes. ‘You’re a special copper, you know that, don’t you? With the mind of Harry Rawlins and the heart of Charlie Warr.’ Jack was surprised to hear Maggie speak Harry’s name. He assumed that Maggie had erased him from their lives as a long-dead, bad influence. But apparently Harry Rawlins popped into her mind every now and then, just as he popped into Jack’s. ‘They make you who you are. Think like Harry, act like Charlie, and you’ll be invincible. You are the very best of two strong and memorable men. You are a force to be reckoned with, Jack Warr.’