The Lie of Love Page 19

  He nodded, gave her a lopsided smile, and then was gone.

  Sophie beamed up at Darcy. ‘Did you see me?’ she squeaked.

  ‘I did!’ Darcy cried, wrapping her in her arms. ‘I did, you clever girl!’

  Even Jake was grinning as he watched them. ‘Do it again, Soph!’

  Sophie grabbed the arm of the sofa to steady herself, took a deep breath, and began to walk. Her steps were awkward, flat-footed and stiff-legged, but she had let go and went unaided, her arms out for balance.

  ‘Isn’t that just the best thing you’ve ever seen?’ Darcy said, a grin so wide it would burst from her face. ‘Get your phone, Jake, we need to film this for your dad.’

  Jake ran to the other room as Sophie leaned against the opposite armchair, smiling. ‘Is Dad coming over today?’

  ‘I think so. He will when he hears our exciting news, I’m sure.’

  ‘I miss him,’ Jake said, arriving back with his phone.

  ‘I know you do,’ Darcy said, her smile slipping. ‘But we’ve got along just fine since he left and he comes every week, so you still see him.’

  ‘I don’t know why he had to leave.’

  ‘Jake…’ Darcy sighed. ‘I’ve told you it isn’t your fault so stop thinking it is. We just didn’t get along anymore, me and him. It happens all the time. But we can be friends, even if we’re not married anymore.’

  ‘Will you get divorced?’ Jake asked.

  Darcy glanced at Sophie, whose eyes were wide now, all triumph and excitement forgotten. There was that stab of guilt in her heart again, one that plagued her daily. Ged had been gone for three months now and at first the children had been convinced he would return. But as the weeks rolled by and nothing changed, Darcy saw the sadness, the growing hole in their lives. Their suffering was because of her and it tore into her soul. They could never go back, she knew that, but she was working hard on making the best of it for them, trying to fill the void Ged’s absence had left.

  ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘Dad and I have to talk about that as soon as we’re both ready. But you know that it won’t ever change what he feels about you.’

  ‘Daddy made you sad, sometimes,’ Sophie said.

  Darcy stared at her. Sophie so rarely showed such a deep understanding of what was going on around her, that it was easy to forget that she was there, silently soaking it all up. Occasionally, she would say something and shock Darcy with her insight. This was one of those moments. Ged and Darcy’s marriage had been ailing for some time, like a like a dying fox in the road that just needed someone brave enough to wield the shovel and finish it. Darcy had always felt she did a good job of hiding that. So good, in fact, that she herself didn’t even realise it. But here was Sophie, showing that she knew all along.

  ‘Sometimes,’ Darcy replied. ‘But he didn’t mean to. And sometimes I made him sad too.’

  Sophie waddled towards her and threw her arms around her neck. ‘You’ll never make me sad,’ she whispered, kissing her cheek. ‘I love you and Jake does too.’

  Jake came over and Darcy wrapped her arms around the both of them. They nestled together and Darcy held on tight. This was her life now, right here in this room, and she wouldn’t want it any other way.

  THE END

  THE LIE OF LOVE © Belinda Martin

  E-edition published worldwide 2014

  Kindle edition copyright Belinda Martin

  All characters and events featured in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are entirely fictitious and any resemblance to any person, organisation, place or thing, living or dead, or event or place, is purely coincidental and completely unintentional.

  ALSO BY BELINDA MARTIN

  LOVE UNDER THE LEMON TREES (LOVE AND THE JONES SISTERS #1)

  ADORE ME UNDER THE OAKS (LOVE AND THE JONES SISTERS #2)

  WEEP FOR ME UNDER THE WILLOWS (LOVE AND THE JONES SISTERS #3)

  MARRY ME UNDER THE MAPLES (LOVE AND THE JONES SISTERS #4)

  BURY ME UNDER THE ASH (LOVE AND THE JONES SISTERS #5)

  Christmas on the Coast

  Some people get second chances at love, but not Michelle. Her husband, Rob, was her life, her soulmate, her everything. But their happiness is cut tragically short when, aged forty-three, he dies and Michelle is left alone with a withered heart that will never mend.

  But two long years later, Jonathan appears in her life - a chance meeting in the pouring rain one November afternoon. Michelle has never believed in fate, but after the first meeting he keeps turning up unexpectedly, as though drawn to her by some invisible force beyond either of their control.

  When Michelle takes her terminally ill mother for a holiday in Cornwall, hoping to make her last Christmas the best one ever, fate steps in again with unexpected consequences. Will Michelle finally be able to move on from Rob and find happiness a second time?