The Girl Who Came Back (37 page)

Not sure that it even mattered, Jules drank her coffee, looked at Joe and felt an absurd rush of tears suddenly stinging her eyes. Turning away, she went to the back door and stepped out into the garden. In spite of the sunshine and joyful birdsong it was going to be a long, horrible day, with more long, horrible days to come, and she wasn’t sure she had the energy to get through them.

‘Fancy going for a walk?’ Joe murmured, coming up behind her.

Leaning into him as he put an arm around her, she had to fight back the tears again before she could speak. It simply wasn’t fair that her daughter was no longer a part of this wonderful young man’s life. They’d have been so happy together, had always seemed meant for one another, so what foul, evil demon had thought to use Amelia Quentin to smash it all apart? The same foul, evil demon that had driven Kian to abduct the murdering lunatic; to try and wreak some sort of vengeance for what she’d done to his precious girl?

A while later she and Joe were strolling through the surf of West Beach, watching their bare feet in the clear water, while listening to the screech of gulls as they soared and dived around the bay. The heat was intense, but since there was no sand here, only stones, there weren’t many people around, just a couple of dog-walkers, and a young family having fun flying a kite. It sent Jules’s mind back to the summer Joe and Daisy had flown a kite from a boat on Lake Max, and ended up capsizing. How they’d laughed and teased one another afterwards, seeming to need no one but each other to complete the perfect world they were in.

‘Are you OK?’ Joe asked softly.

‘Fine,’ she assured him.

‘Thinking of Kian?’

‘Daisy, actually.’ She wondered why she found it so easy to be honest with him, and if she ought really to spare his feelings.

His voice was throaty, broken as he said, ‘You know what scares me? It’s the thought that one day you won’t feel like my family any more.’

Taking his hands in hers she turned him to her, and said, ‘I can promise you this, when that time comes it won’t matter, because years will have passed and you’ll have a family of your own.’

His face was strained as he turned to the horizon.

Jules spoke very gently. ‘Stephie told me you were planning to set off for Paris in a few days. I want you to go, Joe, please. You can’t allow what’s happening to Kian to hold you back. He wouldn’t want that, nor would Daisy and nor do I.’

After holding her gaze he let his head fall forward, coming to rest on hers.

‘Live your life,’ she whispered. ‘There’s more happiness waiting for you, I swear it, and if you ever want to share it with us we’ll always be here for you.’

Gathering her into his arms he held her tightly as he wept, letting grief roll from his heart to try and make way for the future he feared.

In the end, with their arms linked, they walked back to the car and paused for a moment to gaze along the coast to where the Mermaid’s roof and chimneys were glinting tantalisingly amongst the trees.

‘Do you never go there?’ he asked, turning to look at her.

She shook her head. ‘Our story there has ended. It wouldn’t be right to try and step into someone else’s.’

His smile was faint. ‘Ruby did,’ he reminded her.

Jules’s head tilted to one side. ‘Yes, Ruby did, and I sometimes wonder if she misses us, or did she leave with Daisy.’

‘Maybe they’re both still there.’

Jules shook her head. ‘I don’t think so.’

He started to say more, but stopped as her mobile rang.

Seeing who it was, she felt such a jolt in her heart that she almost dropped the phone. ‘It’s Kian,’ she murmured and quickly clicked on. ‘Where are you?’ she demanded. ‘Are you OK?’

‘I’m fine,’ he assured her, sounding tired, but not as shattered as she might have expected. ‘Are you?’

‘I’m worried about you. What’s happening?’

‘They’re just signing me out.’

‘Signing you out?’ She looked at Joe in bewilderment. ‘Do you mean they’re letting you go?’ Could she dare to believe it? It didn’t seem to make any sense.

‘I’ll explain everything when I get there. I’ve only got euros so are you OK to pay for the taxi?’

‘Of course. I can come and get you …’

‘No, taxi’s here now so I won’t be long.’

‘Is Danny coming too?’

‘No, it’s a bit more complicated for him, so I’m not sure when they’ll let him go.’

‘But they will? His mother will want to know.’

‘Like I said, I’ll tell you everything when I get there.’

WATCHING THE TAXI
coming along the street and pulling up outside the house was like watching a dream unfold. It was hard for Jules to make herself accept it was happening, that Kian really was here at last, while at the same time it was as though he’d never gone away. Time seemed to contract, distance itself, disappear; all the love, grief and confusion that had kept them apart now seemed to be drawing them together.

Going to him, aware of the others watching from the window, she realised he’d always been here, in her heart, and like Daisy would never leave. Emotions overwhelmed her as he stepped on to the street, his tousled blond curls as familiar as if they were her own, his violet-blue eyes showing tiredness, pain, but most of all relief and love as they locked to hers.

Wrapping his arms around her he held her so tightly she could hardly breathe, but she held him the same way. It felt so right, so reassuring, even exhilarating, as though her body was returning to where it had always belonged. She could feel that he’d lost weight, but he smelled so wonderfully, magically like himself that she began to laugh through her tears. All this time of being alone, of doing her best to stay strong and courageous, she’d only been a shadowy, fractured part of herself. Without him and Daisy she’d lost her real purpose, had forgotten how to function fully, no longer feeling that she was even properly alive.

Gazing deeply into his eyes she saw a flicker of the old humour returning, and felt her heart stirring with relief and hope. He was through the worst of it, had found himself again and in so doing had come back to find her.

Please God she was reading this correctly.

‘The house looks full,’ he murmured wryly as he glanced at the faces crowded at the window. ‘What do you say we get back in the cab and run away?’

Knowing he was only half joking, she said, ‘If Danny were here to explain what the heck is going on, I’d say let’s do it and don’t look back.’

Grimacing, he stood aside as she paid the driver, then gazed at her proudly, teasingly, as she linked his arm ready to re-enter the house. They were like newlyweds coming home as they sailed down the path.

If only that were true. The chance to start over again.

The next few minutes turned into a rowdy, back-slapping melee, with more hugs for the women than most had enjoyed in a while, and a hearty embrace for Joe, who’d grown a full four inches since the last time Kian had seen him.

‘My boy,’ Kian whispered roughly as he clutched Joe’s shoulders and gazed incredulously into his eyes. ‘Look what’s happened to you. You’ve become a man.’

‘That’s what he tells everyone,’ Ethan teased as Joe introduced him. ‘Take it from me, it’s all surface.’

Laughing, Kian greeted Ethan warmly, before turning back to Stephie and drinking her in all over again. ‘You’re a beautiful young lady,’ he told her tenderly. ‘I always knew you would be.’

Everyone was thinking of Daisy in that moment, but no one mentioned her as Stephie threw herself at him, weeping as she laughed. ‘It’s so good to see you, Kian. I really missed you. We all did.’

‘I missed you too,’ he assured her, ‘but it was thinking of you all that kept me going.’

‘Are you tired?’ Bridget queried, peering at him knowingly. ‘You look like you could do with a wash.’

‘And a shave,’ he agreed. ‘They don’t have much in the way of facilities down at Kesterly nick.’

Knowing they wouldn’t be able to wait for him to freshen up, Jules led him to the sofa, perched on the arm next to him and waited for the others to settle. ‘This better be good,’ she informed him, as Joe passed him a cold beer, ‘because if you’re off to prison, or Danny is …’

‘Where is Danny?’ Bridget wanted to know. ‘Why didn’t they let him go at the same time as you?’

‘Because he’s a bit more involved in it than I am,’ Kian admitted.

‘Oh, well wouldn’t that be typical,’ she clucked knowingly. ‘And who the hell is the other bloke they’ve been going on about, that’s what I want to know?’

‘That’s a good question,’ Kian replied, reaching for Jules’s hand and entwining their fingers. ‘I have to be honest, I wouldn’t have recognised him when I saw him, he’s changed that much … I guess we all have, in our ways, but what’s happened to him …’

‘Who
is
he?’ Bridget pressed. ‘We need to know who you’re talking about.’

‘They’re not naming him in the press yet, but it’s Dean’s dad, Gavin Foggarty,’ Kian told them.

Everyone’s eyes widened in amazement.

‘You mean the Archangel Foggarty?’ Bridget murmured in bewilderment.

Kian nodded. ‘That’s him.’

‘I thought they’d moved up north,’ Terry said.

‘They did,’ Stephie told her.

‘So what happened?’ Liam wanted to know. ‘Don’t tell me, he came back after the girl …’

‘… and who can bloody blame him,’ Bridget snorted, ‘when his son’s serving a sentence he didn’t deserve and that bitch who stitched him up is walking round free as a bird?’

‘We need to let Kian tell it,’ Jules reminded them.

All eyes returned to Kian, and Jules couldn’t help smiling secretly to herself as she felt her husband warming to his audience and beginning to speak in the melodic, natural storyteller’s way that she knew so well, drawing them all in so that they might almost have been through the past few days with him.

‘Kian, my man, it’s good to see you,’ Danny cried, emerging through the airport crowd to wrap his cousin in a boisterous hug. ‘You’re looking good, mate. Better than good, but I’m afraid we’ve got a problem.’

Just like that, no preamble, no chatty wander out to the car first, just straight in with ‘we’ve got a problem.’

Warily, Kian said, ‘What sort of a problem?’

Danny was buzzing. ‘A big one, but you’re not to worry, we’ll sort it.’

Kian regarded his cousin’s round, rugged face with all its scars and ruddy good looks, and tried to remember a time when there hadn’t been a problem. ‘You know why I’m here,’ he said darkly, ‘and I don’t need anything going wrong …’

‘Nothing will, cross my heart. We’ve just got this bit of business to deal with, then everything’ll happen the way it’s supposed to. Come on, let’s get you to the car, I’ll explain on the way.’

Minutes later they were exiting the airport complex and heading south on the A38 towards the Somerset border. This was a journey Kian knew well, and had even been looking forward to – now he wasn’t so sure. ‘I need to let Jules know I’m here,’ he stated, turning on his phone.

Danny’s hand came out to stop him. ‘Not yet,’ he cautioned. ‘I need to tell you what’s happened first.’

Not liking the sound of that, Kian said, ‘Tell me Jules is all right. Nothing’s …’

‘Jules is good. She’s fine, nothing to do with her, it’s just she’ll expect to see you right away if you call and like I said, there’s this bit of business we need to sort.’

Kian said, ‘Dan, if you’ve got yourself into some kind of trouble …’

‘Don’t worry, I’ve got most of it sorted already, but well, it’s like this …’

Kian noticed his hands tightening on the steering wheel, while his head kept turning towards Kian and back.

‘I got a call on Thursday night,’ he began. ‘I swear I thought it was a joke, I mean he was the last person I was expecting to hear from, I didn’t even know he had my number, not that it’s a secret, but he’s hardly the sort …’

‘Who are we talking about?’ Kian cut in evenly.

‘Gavin Foggarty, Dean’s old man,’ was the surprising reply.

Danny glanced at Kian again, registered the restrained shock and hurried on. ‘Honest to God, he calls up out of the blue, like we was old mates or something, and asks for a favour. He didn’t call it a favour, he said help, and when he tells me what he needs help with … Well, like I said, I thought it was a joke, but it turns out he was deadly serious, and when I got to thinking about it, I thought, yeah, why not give the poor bastard a hand? His one and only’s rotting away in that prison for something we all know he didn’t do, and the only one who can change that is the Quentin bitch.’

The mention of Dean’s name had been enough to liquefy Kian’s insides; knowing now that Amelia Quentin was in some way involved was making him wish he’d stayed in Ireland.

Shaking off the echoes of screams, and images of terrible stabbings into the most precious flesh that ever existed, he said, ‘What’s happened? And whatever it is, does Jules know about it?’

‘Good God no!’ Danny exclaimed. ‘No one knows, and they can’t, not yet anyway, because we haven’t finished sorting it out. I thought it would be done before you got here, but things haven’t gone quite the way we expected and I thought … Well, I said to myself, if anyone can handle this our Kian can.’

Certain he didn’t want to handle anything, Kian said, ‘Go on.’

Danny’s glance was part hopeful, part grateful. ‘So, it’s like this,’ he continued. ‘Gavin had this plan, well that’s a bit generous because it wasn’t any sort of a plan at all, but the basic idea was sound. He wanted me to help him get to the girl so he could persuade her to tell the truth about Dean, so his lad can go free. Obviously I had no problem with that, why would I when none of us is happy about what happened to the boy, and I thought, at the same time we were having a chat with her I could do my bit in persuading her to get the hell out of Dodge, so to speak.’

Kian’s eyes turned to the passing countryside, seeing only a blur, feeling far too much as he realised where this was going. ‘So you’ve had a chat with her?’ he prompted.

‘We have, a few times, and I’m afraid it’s not going well.’

Wishing he didn’t have to ask, Kian said, ‘How are you getting her to speak to you at all?’