She was staring down at the sea, watching the lone surfer who was finally calling it a day and riding the dregs of a wave back to shore. Was she remembering the thrilling last ride of the day that they’d just watched? Imagining it to be Estelle, like he had?
Realising what it would have meant to the young girl if she had lost her leg?
Kate seemed to feel the intensity of his gaze. She turned her head slowly and the instant her eyes met his, Connor knew that she got it.
All of it.
His smile felt crooked. ‘Life’s full of corners, isn’t it? They appear from nowhere and sometimes you have no control over which ones you have to take.’
Kate was silent. She held his gaze.
‘One wrong turn can be enough to change the whole direction of your life and often, no matter how badly you might want it, you can’t find a way back.’
Connor was silent for a moment.
‘A terrible mistake almost happened today. A corner could have been turned that would have changed a great many lives, but most of all Estelle’s.’
Kate wasn’t looking at him now. Her head was bowed.
‘You saved more than Estelle’s leg today,’ Connor told her softly. ‘You saved her dreams and they’re what make life worth living, aren’t they?’
* * *
Kate couldn’t answer.
Connor’s words had slipped into a place they shouldn’t have been allowed to enter. The sentiment they expressed was touching a place so deep and so raw it felt as if it was bleeding despite the touch being so gentle.
He had a wisdom she had not expected.
And a depth of caring for a single patient that blew her away.
Kate knew all about those corners in life. Obviously, Connor did too. What turning points had he been forced to follow in his life? Was he trying to find his way back? She certainly wasn’t but if none of it had ever happened, what would her life be like now?
How would she feel if she’d had an upbringing like Bella’s, for instance, and was now sitting here with Connor Matthews?
She’d feel full of hope. She would know that she was on the verge of falling in love with a very special man.
She would have dreams for her future that were nothing like any dreams she currently held.
There would be a very big corner to turn in her life that she would take with joy and the absolute conviction that it was the best possible direction to take.
But there was no such corner in the road map of Kate’s life. Or, if there was, it was blocked by a barrier she had no idea how to negotiate.
And that was indescribably sad.
Sad enough to give her a tightness in her chest that squeezed and squeezed until it rose up into her throat and passed the back of her nose to reach her eyes. Tight enough to squeeze a single tear from them.
Unbelievable.
Kate hadn’t cried since she was fifteen years old.
‘We’d better go,’ she heard Connor say. ‘Let’s get off this hill before it’s too dark to see anything.’
Kate nodded, surreptitiously wiping those errant drops of moisture away before following Connor’s example and scrambling to her feet. She was glad it was getting dark so quickly now. At least Connor couldn’t possibly see that she’d been crying.
‘Ready?’ Connor held out his hand to help her over some small rocks to get to the smoother surface of the track. Without thinking, Kate accepted the offer.
‘I’m ready,’ she agreed. ‘Let’s go.’
