Ivy Lane: Winter: by Cathy Bramley Page B

it for myself this summer; he’d had a phone clamped to his ear semi-permanently. And of course I hadn’t left a message; I’d panicked and ended the call immediately.
    I smiled shyly at him. ‘In that case, we’re both single.’
    He nodded and I gazed into his eyes and took a step closer, weaving my arms round him, desire for him intensifying as all the things that had stood in our path melted away. I could hardly wait to feel his body against mine, to taste his kisses. There was just one last thing to say . . .
    ‘I told you my life was complicated and it is . . . was . . .’ I hesitated, my mind searching for the right words.
    Tell him, Tilly, open your heart.
    I wanted to tell him, but the lump in my throat got in the way and I lowered my forehead to his chest.
    Aidan gently lifted my chin and the look he gave me was so tender that tears pricked at my eyes.
    ‘Charlie told me about James, about the car accident and losing the baby,’ he murmured.
    Words failed me suddenly so I simply nodded.
    ‘Tilly, knowing what you’ve been through only makes me . . .’ He took a deep breath and brushed the tip of his thumb across my lips, ‘It makes me love you more. And I promise you that from now on, I will do everything – anything – to make you the happiest girl in the world. I can only imagine . . .’
    I placed a finger lightly to his lips.
    ‘Thank you,’ I whispered, my mind racing as I processed his words.
    He loves me
.
    ‘Aidan, sometimes terrible things happen and you wish with all your heart that you could turn the clock back, do things differently, and you tell yourself that if only this had happened, or that had happened it could have all worked out perfectly.’
    I swallowed and stroked his beautiful face with my fingertips.
    ‘But that’s not how life works. It’s taken me a long time to come to terms with that since losing James. And an even longer time to look on the bright side, to find the silver lining in my life. But the thing is . . .’ I tilted my chin until I could feel his breath on my face. ‘I think that you just might be my silver lining.’
    He laced his hands through tendrils of my hair and kissed me. The feel of his lips against mine was so sweet, so exquisite, that it was almost too much to bear. And as I kissed him back, with every atom of my body rising to meet his, I felt a lightness, as if I was floating on air. My heart was lifting too and the last traces of grief that had been with me since losing James finally dissolved and melted in to the past.
    As the kiss ended, I pulled away and cradled his face in my hands, committing the feel of his cheekbones, the scent of his skin, every contour, every detail to memory. From now on I realized I would be making new memories and, whilst James would be forever part of me, I had a new life to look forward to.
    My new life with Aidan.
    As we gazed at each other for a long moment, a feeling of peace washed over me and I knew unequivocally that this man was my future.
    I glanced up to the ceiling and noticed a small sprig of mistletoe, nailed roughly to the ceiling in the middle of the shed.
    All Charlie’s work.
    What a sweet thing to do. My heart swelled with warmth for Charlie for bringing Aidan and I together so selflessly.
    ‘I’m so sorry,’ I said, pulling him playfully by the lapels of his jacket until we were directly underneath the mistletoe. I lifted my eyes upwards and he followed my gaze. ‘But I’m afraid we are going to have to do that all over again.’
    I smiled into the eyes of the man who had brought me back to life, back to love, and saw my own happiness reflected back at me.
    He lowered his mouth to mine. ‘With my absolute pleasure.’

Four months later
    I finally located my mobile on approximately the twelfth ring after a frantic search through the trail of abandoned clothes on the living-room floor and blushed at the memory of our ‘quiet night in’.
    Whoever it was, calling at this time in the