Chapter 24 #2
‘I would! I can’t thank you enough. It would make so much difference!
’ He sat down next to Rory, the possibilities tumbling through his mind.
‘I wouldn’t ever have dared to dream about all this,’ he said.
‘Just seeing you is one thing, but knowing you want to keep in touch… I can’t believe my luck. ’
‘It’s nothing.’ Rory rubbed his forehead. ‘Danny, I have to be honest with you. There’s something I have to tell you. Something really important. It’s about my wife.’
Danny nodded. ‘Go on. She’s okay, isn’t she? I mean she’s not ill or anything?’
‘No, no. She’s fine. Absolutely fine. It’s just… Danny, I didn’t tell you everything. I know I should have, but it was all a bit overwhelming when I first met you, and I didn’t know how. You see, when I said I got married ten years ago…’
He swallowed hard and Danny gave him a puzzled look. What was so hard to say?
‘It’s all right,’ he said reassuringly. ‘You can tell me anything. No judgement here. You know that.’
‘I know.’ Rory shook his head. ‘You always were the nice one.’ He took a steadying breath then turned to face his brother. ‘Danny, the truth is – the truth is I married Kirsty.’
Danny wasn’t sure he’d heard right at first.
‘What?’
‘Kirsty. Your Kirsty. Well, my Kirsty. That is, ten years ago, Kirsty and I got married. And that’s not all.
The other big news is that she’s here with me in Rowan Vale.
I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you earlier,’ he added quickly as Danny turned away, hardly able to process this new information.
‘I wanted to, honestly. But how do you tell someone you love that his widow married his big brother?’
Danny walked over to the window and gazed down on the street below. Somewhere in this very village was Kirsty, the woman who’d haunted his dreams for years. The woman he’d pined for, for almost two decades.
‘She’s been here all this time?’ he asked.
‘Yes.’ Rory sounded full of shame. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘How long?’
‘Excuse me?’
Danny turned to face him. ‘How long? How long did she wait before she started seeing you?’
Rory shook his head. ‘It wasn’t like that. We didn’t get together for a long time. Years. Kirsty cut off from our family after you – after the accident. She ended up selling the house and moving in with her mum and dad for a while. Then she bought a new house in Borehamwood.’
‘Borehamwood?’ Danny frowned. ‘That’s where she’s living now?’
‘Yeah. Anyway, Mum and Dad were worried about her, and they missed her. So in the end I got in touch with her mum and dad and they gave me her address, and I went to see her – just to make sure she was okay. She wasn’t keen on letting me in at first, but she finally relented when I told her Mum and Dad really needed to know she was okay. ’
‘And was she?’ Danny’s voice sounded strange, even to himself.
‘Yes. Well, sort of. Not really. She’d thrown herself into work.
Didn’t really have a social life. She was getting by, but that’s pretty much it.
I realised she needed company so I asked if it was okay to go back another time and she agreed – reluctantly, it has to be said. Eventually we became friends.’
‘Friends!’ Danny said bitterly.
‘Yes, honestly! We were just friends. For ages I was still seeing other women, and Kirsty would give me dating advice. I don’t know how things changed, Danny.
I just know that they did. But look, it was seven years after your death when we got together.
It wasn’t like we rushed into it. It wasn’t like we’d forgotten all about you.
We’d never do that. I think maybe the fact that we both loved you and were grieving for you helped bring us together. You have to believe that.’
‘And Kirsty knows I’m here?’ Danny forced himself to ask.
‘She does now. She bumped into Brooke and—’
‘Brooke! Brooke knew Kirsty was here?’ Danny couldn’t believe the pain that suddenly surged through him. Bad enough that Kirsty and Rory were keeping things from him, but Brooke?
‘Yes, but don’t be angry with her. It was Brooke who told Kirsty that you had a right to know she was here.
We – we thought it would be better if you didn’t know.
That you didn’t find out we were married.
We didn’t want to hurt you, you see. But Brooke said it wasn’t fair.
That you deserved the truth. And she was right, wasn’t she? ’
Danny turned back to the window. ‘And Kirsty didn’t want to come here with you?’
‘There wouldn’t be any point,’ Rory explained gently. ‘She can’t see or hear you.’
‘But I can see and hear her!’ Danny yelled, spinning round to glare at his brother.
‘It’s been eighteen years! Eighteen years since I’ve seen my wife and—’ He ran a hand through his hair, feeling stricken.
‘Except she’s not my wife any more, is she?
She’s yours. You lied to me about that. I asked you if she’d remarried and you said she hadn’t. ’
‘Strictly speaking,’ Rory said nervously, ‘I said she was still Mrs Harrison. Which she is.’
Danny shook his head. ‘Wow! I honestly don’t know what to say to you.’
‘Danny, I’m so sorry I really am. We never meant to hurt you.’
‘Can you go now please?’
‘I’m sorry?’
‘Can you leave? I need – I need some time to process this. I just can’t…’
Rory got to his feet. ‘Of course. Whatever you need.’ He gave Danny a pleading look. ‘We really do love you, Danny. You have to believe that.’
But Danny didn’t know what to think any more. He watched as his big brother left the flat, closing the door gently behind him, then he hurried through to his bedroom and threw himself on the bed.
Kirsty had been in the village all this time, and she hadn’t bothered to visit him. She hadn’t had the courage or decency to tell him herself that she was married to Rory. She hadn’t even passed on a message for him through his brother or Brooke.
And Brooke had known she was here but hadn’t said a word.
At that moment, he honestly didn’t know which of the three of them had hurt him the most.