“And he’s...he’s happy?”
“I think so. He’s a good boy – even when he is unhappy he tries to hide it from me, he doesn’t like to worry me. He’s very mature for his age”
“He sounds it. And he’s...healthy?”
“Yes. Very much so. Lots of energy!”
We both laugh. Ollie reaches out and squeezes my hand.
“Eden, I wanted to tell you as soon as I saw you again last night...I’ve been hoping to see you again for years. I just – I didn’t want to contact you in case you’d moved on or – or something – I didn’t want to ruin your life by showing up again”
“The last thing you could ever do is ruin my life”
“The thing is – Christ, Ede, I still love you. I’ve always loved you. I loved you when you told me you’d read War and Peace and I loved you last night when you were saying my name over and over – and I loved you at all the bits in between, too. I love every stupid, crazy little thing about you, and I’ve wanted to be with you for...well, it feels like forever” he looks at me, “I’m not in the Army any more. My only duty left is the one I have to you and to me and our screwed up, messed up relationship. Let’s try again, Ede. And make it last this time”
I draw my hand away from his, “If you’re just saying this because you want to see George...I understand, you don’t have to be with me just to get to him, you can still see him – “
“Eden! Even after all this time you’re still questioning the fact that I love you? If you want the God’s honest truth, Ede, my life is nothing without you. I am nothing without you. I need you. And yeah, if I get a son out of that then that is a pretty damn amazing and unexpected bonus. But it’s you I want. It’s always been you, you idiot!” he presses his lips to my forehead, takes my hands back into his, “Didn’t you realise that last night?”
“I – I wasn’t sure...I mean, sex can be just...well, just sex, to some people – “
“Not with us” he winks to make me laugh, “Sex was always more than just sex with us”
I laugh again, “Yeah, I guess so. Oh God, Ollie, you have no idea how long I’ve waited – how long I’ve wanted – I - oh God, I can’t even speak right! I just love you so much. Impossibly”
We kiss again, for some time. He pushes me back onto the bed and murmurs in my ear;
“So...that training you had when you were a stripper...” his lips move to my neck, “When do I get to see that?”
I laugh, louder than before, completely exhilarated, and push him away, “Tell you what. Why don’t we go and meet your son first?”
His eyes widen, “You’re serious?”
“He’s waited a very long time for this. I guess you both have, even if you didn’t realise it”
“He’ll – he’ll like me, right?” he looks as nervous as George did on his first day of school.
“Ollie, he loves you already. I promise”
************************************************************************************************************
“Oliver!” Mum shrieks louder than I have ever heard her shriek when she opens the door, “Oh my God, Oliver – Eden! Did you two make plans, you never said – “
“No, it was – it was an accident” I reach out behind me, searching, but Ollie’s hands instinctively catch mine. His palms are clammy, like they get when he’s nervous. I have to suppress a smile.
“Oliver, I – it’s so good to see you” Mum kisses his cheek, “Will you be sticking around this time?”
I look over my shoulder at him and see him smile, “If Eden’ll have me”
Mum opens her mouth to respond, but I cut her off, feeling suddenly tense, “Mum, where’s – “
“Mummy!”
George comes hammering downstairs, my Dad chasing after him with a pair of jeans and a t-shirt held aloft. George is so stubborn about getting dressed in the morning. Dad freezes on the stairs, gaping; but when I’m nearby, George stops for no-one.
His small, warm body slams into me, his arms fastening around my legs and clinging as though he will never let me go. I lift him up and kiss him all over his beaming face.
“Mummy, Nanny and Grandad took me to the zoo yesterday, and there was a monkey and an elephant like you said Daddy likes and we had ice cream and I had a bath with lots of bubbles and – “ he stops, looks over my shoulder, “Mummy, who’s that?”
I turn to face Ollie; my parents melt away to give us some privacy. Ollie looks stunned, his eyes shining wetly.
“George, this is someone very special that I want you to meet”
His grip on me tightens, “Has he hurt you, Mummy?”
I laugh, “No! No, darling, no. Not at all” I kiss his cheek and murmur, “Do you not recognise him from the picture?”
George’s eyes grow slowly wider; they fix on Ollie’s. He slides down from my arms and stands in front of Ollie, craning his neck to look up at him.
“You’re my Daddy” he says, sounding as shocked as Ollie looks.
“Yeah” says Ollie, sounding slightly choked up, “Yeah, I guess I am”
And, looking wary, he crouches down to George’s level and holds out his arms.
And my son bursts into tears and falls into them.
And Ollie looks as though he can’t believe his luck.
YOU ARE READING
Paper Hearts
Romance“Something magical has happened to me: like a dream when one feels frightened and creepy, and suddenly wakes up to the knowledge that no such terrors exist. I have wakened up.” - Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy. Eden Copley is sixteen the day she meets O...
