‘I know that. Don’t worry about it.’
Rhys shook his head. ‘I can’t go, but you still can. In fact, you have to.’
I stared at him for a long moment as arguments lined up in my head, jostling position to be the first voiced.
‘You told me this wedding has been planned with almost military precision?’
‘International coups have been organised with less fuss,’ I said with a wry smile, thinking about the numerous late-night texts Jackson had sent over the last few weeks beginning with I’ve had another idea... or the laminated list of duties he’d handed to Mel and me. I’d surreptitiously swapped out many of the tasks, giving myself the most arduous ones. But if I wasn’t there, Mel wouldattempt to take them all on herself, however pregnant she was. And I couldn’t let her do that.
And what about Jackson? I’d vowed never to let him down again, and I was so close to doing so now it scared me. But leaving Rhys here when his daughter was still so ill felt like a betrayal.
His daughter. His responsibility. His life. And just in case you haven’t noticed, he hasn’t actually asked you to share any of those, has he? piped up Old Ellie from wherever it was I’d banished her.
I looked up at him with troubled eyes.
Ask me to stay. Ask me to stay and I’ll find a way to make it work, I silently implored.
‘You have to go,’ Rhys reiterated instead.
I nodded sadly in agreement.
‘I know you’re right. And I do want to be there for Jackson and Mel.’ I gave a sad sigh. ‘But I also want to be close by in case you need...’ I paused, not exactly sure what I was offering here.
‘You,’ said Rhys softly, slipping off the stool and pulling me into his arms. ‘I’m always going to need you. But right now, Jackson and Mel need you more.’
‘Are you sure?’
I could feel the warmth of his breath ruffling the strands of my hair as he spoke into them.
‘I’m sure that I’m going to miss holding you in my arms for the next few days and falling asleep with your head on my chest. I’m sure I’m going to miss seeing how beautiful you look in your Groom’s Woman dress and watching you get all sentimental when your best friend says his vows. But I’m also sure there’ll be other weddings we’ll go to together, perhaps ones that’ll be even more special.’
My heart actually forgot to beat for a good ten seconds as one possible meaning behind those words filtered through. I drew backin his arms and saw something in his eyes that could have been a glimpse of a future I’d never dared to dream of.
‘But for now the right place for me to be is here with Tasha and Annalise, and yours is in Scotland with Jackson and Mel.’
I’d only seen him once more before I’d left for the wedding. We’d squeezed in a quick meet-up halfway through the afternoon. Tasha had been in hospital for two days by then and was improving enough to start feeling bored.
‘I’ve bought her some books and games,’ I said, passing him a huge glossy carrier bag with a large furry cat sticking out the top. ‘And something to cuddle,’ I added.
‘She’ll love it,’ Rhys said, his eyes warm as he took the bag from me.
‘You don’t have to say it’s from me if that’ll make things awkward with Annalise. You can say you bought it.’
‘Absolutely not. Annalise is going to have to learn to get over that,’ Rhys said firmly, which settled me more than he could ever have known. ‘Besides, she’s too busy being the most clued-up mother of an asthma patient in the universe to worry about anything else. I swear she must have read every paper in existence on the condition in the last two days.’
I laughed. ‘I admire her for that. Tasha’s a lucky girl to have parents who love her the way you both do.’
‘I think that’s possibly the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me,’ Rhys said, his eyes molten emeralds. ‘Thank you, Ellie.’
‘Breathe in,’ I said, gently trying to persuade Mel’s zip to fasten.
‘I don’t think baby bumps work like that,’ Mel grumbled, hands on her hips to persuade the material to give her just anotherhalf an inch. Amazingly it took pity on her and I eased the dress closed with a soft purr of the zip.
‘You’ll probably have to cut me out of it later,’ she said with a grin, stepping back to my side so that we could admire our reflections in the floor-length mirror.
‘We don’t look too shabby,’ she said, smoothing down the fabric of the gorgeous silk dress with her hands. She turned ninety degrees and gave a small snort of laughter. ‘Well, at least from the front.’
I put my arms around her and gave her as big a hug as my godchild would allow.