Special Relationship (41 page)

Ella Megan
Hensen, named after the two people she had lost with the surname of the one she had found, played happily on the beach at Sandbanks. It was three days before her third birthday and Alex watched her giggle as she tried to scoop sand into a bucket only to succeed in covering herself.

Getting up and toddling awkwardly to her mother, she held out her small arms. “Hug, mummy,” she said in a little voice that Alex found so endearing. She pulled her up and kissed her rosy cheeks.

“How are you, darling?”

Ella grinned and pulled her mother's hair with surprising force.

“Ouch, that hurt, Ella.”

The toddler just giggled some more.

“Look, here's daddy,” her mother said as Nick came back from the house with drinks for the three of them. He laid the tray down, tickled his daughter and kissed Alex gently on the lips.

He handed Ella her apple juice, or “
joose” as she still pronounced it, and poured some wine for his wife.

“Don't want to go back to the smoke tomorrow,” he lamented.

“Mmm...pity,” she replied before asking if they could take the long route and visit Megan's grave on the way back.

“Of course,” he replied before looking at Ella, wondering how she and Megan would have got on as sisters. On Alex's suggestion, and because he felt as close to a girl he had never met to the two that were with him at that time, he had given up using the term 'half-sister' when he tried to explain to Ella about Megan. They were sisters.

After they had played with their daughter for half an hour, Nick suggested it was getting a bit cold for the beach. “And bath time for the little 'un,” he added, tickling Ella's tiny feet.

“You coming?”

“Give me ten minutes more,” Alex replied.

When they had gone back to the house, she put on her earphones and listened to her favourite band play Skeletons, a haunting ballad
that had tortured her ever since Megan's death.

As she listened to t
he song she heard Megan's message. It was a plea from someone who had died not to forget them but still to carry on with their own life.

The lyrics included three simple words, “Love don't cry.” This time, Alex didn't.

From the author

I hope you enjoyed  reading my debut novel as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Please consider writing a review of Special Relationship on the Kindle store and if you enjoyed it look out for my second book which I am working on currently.

Alessandra Fox