Epilogue
Two weeks later, as March prepared to roll into April and Spring was in full swing, Maddie and James made their breakfast in the kitchen and took it outside to enjoy on the porch.
It was just three days before the recovery retreat was due to open.
The lawn was lush and moist with dew, the sky tinged pink with the remnants of a truly spectacular sunrise.
Maddie watched James and Stevie Licks skip happily across the lawn on their way to free Pigglesworth from his pigpen.
As they raced back towards her, she acknowledged that she had never been happier in her entire life.
Though he had been gone for less than a minute, James kissed her on the cheek on his return. “I love you,” he said, grinning happily.
“I love you, too,” Maddie sighed, tapping the seat beside her.
James shifted the blanket she had draped across her lap and sat down, tucking them both in beneath it.
He poured them coffee while she topped their oatmeal with raisins, maple syrup and banana.
When they were ready, they clinked their mugs together in celebration of a new day, a morning tradition that had somehow started.
Maddie hoped it would continue. Satisfied, they settled in to watch Stevie and Pigglesworth exploring the garden while they ate.
Maddie had expected the house to feel big and empty when everyone left — Bluebell and her parents had flown to Italy, Marley and Autumn had taken Benjamin to the Lake District for a honeymoon of sorts, and Pip had gone back to London to continue his role as part-time communications manager and full-time activist — but the house was still bursting with love.
Freed once again from the shackles of an impending departure, Maddie and James were experiencing a new phase of their relationship, one in which they got to indulge their excitement for the future.
Their preparations for the retreat were almost complete.
Eager to broaden her social circle, Maddie had joined a village book club with Jennifer and had re-taken up yoga.
Her life felt full of love and adventure.
She didn’t have time to worry, she was too busy doing things she enjoyed.
‘The time before’ was gone. She and James had fought their battles and they had won — this was ‘the time after’.
After confusion, after mistakes, after heartbreak, grief and loneliness.
“Look at us,” James remarked, halfway through breakfast. Maddie didn’t know what to say, so she smiled and snuggled closer to him, in silent awe of the fact that a life neither of them had ever dared dream for themselves would soon be theirs.
Maddie had never expected that she would find someone she felt like herself with and trusted so much with her heart.
James had never fathomed he could find love, contentment and happiness in the village where he had grown up.
For both of them, it felt like a real adventure.
“It doesn’t get any better than this,” James murmured, balancing his bowl on his knees, his free hand reaching for hers beneath the blanket.
They ate the rest of their breakfast in comfortable silence, completely content with the state of all things.
They had just finished eating when they were joined by a familiar friend — the robin.
“My brother is here.”
They said it together, before laughing at their own absurdity.
They fell quickly back into a satisfied silence, turning back to the robin to watch him pottering around the garden.
He spent a few minutes dancing around and sussing them out, before heading for the stack of raisins, which Maddie already knew he could safely eat.
These days, he ate with them almost every morning.
Playfully squabbling over whether his appearance was a sign from Bowie or a visit from Harry was part of Maddie’s and James’ daily routine.
It was one of their private jokes, one of the first steps they had taken towards becoming a proper couple.
Maddie grinned. They had personal banter — things only they found funny because ‘you had to be there’.
James put his arm around her shoulder, squeezing her tight.
They watched the robin pinch a raisin, then fly onto the lawn to eat it.
He tossed it around with his beak, breaking it up into manageable chunks, before making quick work of it and returning to the table for more.
Before pinching another one, he sang them a small song.
His growing confidence made Maddie smile.
“Listen to him sing! You are Bowie, aren’t you?
” Maddie said. The robin watched her, bobbing his head.
Maddie nudged James pointedly. She opened her mouth to tell him that settled it, but a flutter of feathers and a flash of red in the tree to her left caught her attention.
She turned to investigate. James followed her gaze.
Sitting on a branch, basking in the sunlight, was a second robin redbreast.
Maddie and James turned to each other, and smiled.
THE END