Chapter Thirty-One
“Ever After”
‘What are you doing? It’s proof! It tells you everything about why I broke my own heart to do what I thought was right! How I realised my mistake within hours of you leaving, begged you to forgive me, to get in touch.’
‘If the fire was lit, I’d burn it,’ Will bit out, tossing the pieces of paper onto the sofa.
Ellie’s mind was in turmoil, her heart quivering.
‘Why?’
Will hadn’t taken his eyes off her, and Ellie tried to modify her breathing, but it was as though someone had reduced the oxygen in the air around them.
‘Because I’ve realised arguing about an email sent twelve years ago is futile.’ He stalled, drew in a short breath, and she could see the pain of the past deep in his eyes. ‘I tried to forget you, to move on, but something always held me back. I can’t stop thinking about you, or what we had.’
Will’s gaze burned into Ellie’s, his face fully expressive of his turmoil. ‘I’m in pieces, torn between hope and agony… but I’m scared to ask—’
‘Ask me anything,’ Ellie interrupted, her heart off on one of its capers again.
Only hurry up, or I’m just going to go for it.
‘Your love…’ He swallowed visibly. ‘How you felt. Has it… have those precious feelings gone forever?’
Ellie took a step forward. ‘I’ve borne them here,’ she pressed a hand against her breastbone, ‘for all this time. The love may have slumbered, but it never died.’
‘Nor did mine for you.’
‘You… you still love me? You…’ She shook her head, disbelieving. ‘You should have stuck with acting, Will. I’d never have known.’
Will started to laugh, but then he sobered, reaching out to capture both her hands in his. ‘It was my own pig-headedness. If I’d only listened to you, trusted in you…’
Freeing a hand, Ellie placed a finger against his lips. ‘Don’t. If an ancient email doesn’t matter, nor does anything else before this moment. Right here. Now.’
‘If I hadn’t blocked you— I’m an imbecile.’
Tendrils of delight began to circle around Ellie, wrapping her heart in a gentle, encouraging embrace. Her throat was tight, her eyes wide as she fought back tears.
‘It’s fine, Will,’ she all but croaked. ‘I don’t blame you for being so angry you didn’t want to hear from me.’
Will shook his head vehemently. ‘You don’t understand. My temper soon abated; my true emotion was gut-wrenching despair. Grief. I blocked you out of self-preservation.’
Ellie stared at him, confused. ‘But—’
Taking her hands in his again, Will stepped nearer, holding her gaze intently. ‘I couldn’t bear the pain of knowing you’d never tried to contact me, of checking and checking and there being nothing. At the time, it made sense – it was an act of survival.’
‘Oh,’ Ellie managed to whisper as the enormity of the distress he’d endured hit home. ‘I’m so sorry.’
The dark eyes holding Ellie’s were the ones she remembered – warm and full of fire.
‘It’s done. In the past,’ Will said softly, shuffling closer. ‘But somehow, there are pleasanter things on my mind just now.’
He pulled Ellie into his arms, his mouth descending on hers, tentatively at first, as though he couldn’t quite believe it, but then with increased urgency.
Dormant sensations stirred within Ellie as her hands travelled to Will’s shoulders, returning his kisses with equal fervour. This her body remembered.
Drawing the kiss to a close, Will dropped a trail of them across Ellie’s cheek, then whispered in her ear, ‘I feel like crying. I can’t believe you still love me.’
His voice broke on the word ‘love’, and Ellie leaned back in his arms.
‘Try.’ Her lips curved upwards as his gaze met hers.
‘After all this time… and the way I reacted to you.’
‘Yes.’ Ellie gave a rueful smile. ‘Constancy appears to be my middle name.’
Will made a small sound. ‘Idiocy seems to be mine.’ She laughed shakily, but he shook his head. ‘I have loved none but you, Ellie.’
Will silenced her with another kiss, but she couldn’t help amusement rising in the midst of her delight, and he pulled back to look at her.
‘What?’
‘It tickles. You didn’t have a beard when we were last kissing.’
‘Nor did you,’ he retorted as Ellie’s amusement increased. ‘I never forgot you. I meant to, but you had burrowed deep into my heart, and it wasn’t prepared to let you go. Nor should I have been.’ He rested the back of his hand against Ellie’s soft cheek.
‘Will? You there? We need to talk.’
They broke apart, staring at each other as Alex’s voice permeated the air between them. A momentary fear gripped Ellie. Could history be about to repeat itself?
‘I’ll go,’ Ellie reassured Will, even as he began to shake his head, but Alex had opened the door and stood on the threshold.
‘Call me,’ she whispered, kissing his cheek before stepping past Alex without looking at him.
‘Put your damn phone on charge,’ Will called, but then Alex closed the door, and Ellie shot outside, trying to comprehend everything that had happened in the last half-hour.
Alex’s flashy sports car had pulled up behind Ellie’s, thankfully leaving her enough room to extract Fifi, but as she opened the door, Bella emerged from Alex’s car.
‘Thank God you’re here!’ she exclaimed, throwing her arms around Ellie, who hugged her back in astonishment.
‘But I thought you weren’t coming back until next week? You were so vague the other day, and I—’
Bella put a finger to her lips, casting a swift glance towards the cottage.
‘I told him to get in there.’ She jabbed a finger towards Peaches.
‘He’s got some explaining to do, but I think it best he talk to Will on his own.
He wanted me to go in with him, but I told him no way.
Look.’ Bella fixed Ellie with her keen amber eyes.
‘Can I come and see you in a bit? There’s something I need to say as well. ’
Hoping Will would be calling later, Ellie bit her lip, then nodded. Bella seemed both earnest and, worryingly, anxious – a characteristic she rarely displayed.
‘I’ll be at Westerleigh for the rest of the day.’
She did, after all, have some daydreaming to do.
‘You’re back!’ Anna greeted Ellie with enthusiasm as she entered the kitchen. ‘And?’
Ellie dropped her bag on the island, walking over to watch Anna as she resumed mincing some vegetables. How could such mundane things be happening when she’d just been in Will’s arms again, heard him say he still loved her?
Anna nudged her. ‘You’ve gone pink.’
Smiling faintly, Ellie slid onto a stool. ‘I keep trying to be cautious, in case things aren’t what they seem, but there’s definitely progress.’
Removing the lid, Anna stirred the mushy mixture, then looked up. ‘What’s holding you back?’
‘Nothing on my side, but we were interrupted.’
‘Oh no!’ Anna exclaimed. ‘Talk about bad timing!’
‘It was Alex.’
Anna almost dropped her spatula. ‘What’s that man up to? Oliver took a call from him earlier, but he hasn’t emerged from his den since. Oh.’
The door opened and Oliver came in.
‘Our presence has been requested at some sort of summit. In our own home, no less.’ His tone was dry, but Ellie suspected he wasn’t much amused.
‘Do you need me to go out? I could do with stretching my legs and I’ll take—’
Oliver shook his head. ‘No. I’m afraid you’ve been asked to be there too. Three thirty. Is that okay?’
Ellie exchanged a puzzled look with Anna, but Oliver’s face remained impassive. Was that it?
‘What’s it about, Oliver?’
He shrugged at his wife. ‘No idea. Tremayne requested it. Said he had things he wished to talk about.’
Anna looked thoughtful. ‘Maybe he’s got hidden depths.’
Oliver rolled his eyes, walking off to scoop Bertie into his arms as he tried to pull himself up on the sofa arm. ‘We might need to call in Douggie’s dredger to find them.’
Anna turned to Ellie. ‘Has Will mentioned this?’
‘No, but he’s—’ Ellie glanced at her phone as it pinged. ‘Oh, hold on. This is him.’
Can you call me? It’s urgent xx
Ellie hurried back into the orangery and closed the door as the call connected. Her heart had begun to pound, but not in a good way.
‘Will? What’s happened?’
‘Alex.’ His tone hardened. ‘I could kill him!’ Ellie blinked, but Will released a heavy sigh.
‘Not really, but I’m sure you understand the sentiment.
Look, he’s just confessed to having done something which explains a lot.
Twelve years, dammit! I loved you so much, Ells. Splitting up broke me in two.’
‘What’s Alex done?’ Ellie’s own voice sounded distant, as though it belonged to someone else, her mind flying towards the last time she’d seen Alex Tremayne back then. He may have been the one to tell her Will had already left, moved on, but he was trying to let her down gently…
A huff of breath. ‘Can I come over? Alex said something as he left, about being at Westerleigh later, but I don’t want you having to see him without me.’
‘He’s been in touch with Oliver. We’re summoned to some sort of gathering here at half three. What’s he done, Will? It’s not to do with Bella, is it?’
A disgruntled sound came from Will. ‘Not directly. Look, I’ll fill you in when I see you. I’ve no idea what the idiot is up to now.’
‘Well, there’s safety in numbers.’ Relief made Ellie’s voice wobble.
‘Hey.’ Will’s evident concern was almost too much after all this time. ‘Ells, don’t let this get to you. I’ll come over a bit earlier, if Anna and Oliver don’t mind.’
‘They won’t.’ Ellie sniffed, then gave a watery laugh. ‘They are the loveliest people.’
Three thirty couldn’t come soon enough, whatever Alex Tremayne’s purpose.
Ellie killed the time before Will arrived, trying not to overthink things and deciding to keep busy having another go at tidying up her workspace.
It was only when she discovered the missing pack of screen wipes tucked under the edge of the sofa that she recalled what she’d been doing earlier that morning, and tugging one out, she opened up her laptop, giving the screen a quick clean, then tilted it to see if the fingerprint smudge had gone.
She couldn’t see it now, so she settled back at the table and logged in, the images from the newspaper still on the screen. Ellie’s eyes narrowed as she tilted the screen.
The mark was back and— wait! It was in exactly the same place on both photos!
Ellie flopped back in her chair, staring at the images. Then she picked up the laptop and headed for the hall closet, closing the door. In totally blackness, the screen stood out starkly, and so did something else.
With a jolt of shock, she closed the laptop with a snap and groped for the door. ‘These aren’t my photos,’ she muttered as she emerged into the hall again. ‘At least, they are , but these are photos of the photos.’
Unable to get her head around what might have happened, it took all Ellie’s willpower, when Will walked through the door at three o’clock, to not throw herself at him. Were they truly close to untangling the mistakes of the past, to finding a new future?
They escaped up to Ellie’s attic room, but as she closed the door and leaned against it, Will swung around to face her, his face tortured.
Then, without warning, he swept her into his arms.
‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered, his chin resting on her head, holding Ellie close to his body as she tried to catch her breath, corral her capering mind. ‘My God, Ells, I’m so so sorry.’
Brow furrowed, Ellie forced herself upright, leaning back in his arms to scan his contrite features.
‘For what?’
Will didn’t answer, steering her over to the bed and pulling Ellie down beside him. Her heart beating a hopeful tattoo, she watched as he entwined his fingers with hers, awash with memories of the past and the immediacy of this precious, present moment.
‘Can you ever forgive me? For not hearing you out, back then or now? Damn it.’ Will ran his free hand through his hair, leaving it in charming, tousled disarray.
Emboldened, despite her confusion, Ellie did what she’d longed to do, brushing his hair back into place with her hand, only for Will to capture it in his and bury his mouth in her palm.
‘I thought we’d agreed to forget the past,’ said Ellie. ‘The missing email. All of it.’
‘I’ve just heard the truth of it. From Alex.’ He almost spat the name. ‘We were both right. You sent an email, and I never saw it. Because he did. That’s why you got a read receipt.’