Page 77 of One More Time

Charlie nodded. ‘It makes me happy to see you and Jacob so happy.’

‘Ha.’ Hudson wrapped an arm around Charlie’s shoulder. ‘Thanks, Dad.’

They remained like this, the comfortable, reflective silence bonding them beyond what words could ever bring.

‘Well then.’ Charlie took a breath. ‘I’d best get your mum home.’

After helping Edith into her friend’s car, then gathering their children and grandchildren so they could say goodnight, Charlie and Grace climbed into the Valiant and began their drive home.

On the journey, Charlie hungered to glance Grace’s way, but his gut instinct told him to keep his gaze strictly on the road ahead. But he could only do this for so long.

Pulling to the side of the road so he could safely give his wife the kiss he was aching to, he leant across the seat.

‘What are you doing, Charlie?’

‘This,’ he said, right before he met her lips.

‘Oh, Charlie. I adore your spontaneity.’ She cupped his cheeks. ‘Never stop being you.’

‘I promise I won’t, Grace, because you allow me to be me.’

Like the deep-seated need of a sunflower to follow the sun’s warmth, he’d followed her glowing heart with his, for all his life, to this very instant.

They stayed like this for a few moments more, staring into each other’s eyes, their silence filled with so much profound, enduring love that Charlie found himself blinking back tears and failing to hold them at bay. Grace brought her fingertips to his cheeks and gently brushed away the few that fell. Overwhelmed by the intensity of this fragment in time, he couldn’t help but feel that there was something so intensely familiar with this magical moment, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.

‘You know what I want to do?’ Her smile was filled with mischief.

‘We will do whatever your heart desires.’

‘Can we stop by the annual fair on the way home, to grab a bag of pink fairy floss?’

‘Of course we can.’ Charlie chuckled. ‘That wasn’t what I was expecting, but I should have learnt by now that you will always find new ways to surprise me.’

Settling back behind the wheel, he indicated and eased back onto the deserted road, coming to a stop at the intersection that would take them straight past the fair on their way home. But, instead of turning, Charlie checked there were no cars behind them then took Grace’s hand from where it was resting upon his leg and lifted it to his lips to kiss her just one more time. Just as he did, blinding headlights approached from behind Grace, and a truck zoomed past on the carriageway, veering slightly onto the wrong side of the road before straightening trajectory.

An intense sensation of déjà vu came over Charlie, and he was momentarily dumbstruck. His mouth dry and his mind spinning, he drew in a steadying breath as he fought to shake the feeling off.

Her eyes wide, Grace turned to him and tutted. ‘That driver is very clearly over the speed limit.’

‘And not watching the road, by the way that truck just swerved.’ Charlie shook his head. ‘He’s most likely tired and at the end of a long journey, but it’s no excuse. It’s motorists like that who end up killing people.’

Open-mouthed, she turned to him. ‘I’m so glad you thought to kiss my hand, Charlie, before turning out, or we could have been those unfortunate people.’

The thought made Charlie sick to the stomach, as an all too real image of their car crashing into a guardrail flashed through his mind. ‘Saved by a kiss.’

‘It appears so.’ She placed her hand back to his now bouncing knee, steadying it like she always could. ‘We’re alive and well, so let’s go and get me that fairy floss.’

Charlie took a breath, and then nodded. ‘Yes, let’s.’

The annual spring fair was close to shutting down for the night when they pulled up. ‘If you want to wait here, I can run in and grab a bucket of fairy floss for you.’

She peered to her left and pointed. ‘There’s that fortune teller we went to, and her lights are still on.’ She jiggled in her seat. ‘Can we see if she’ll do a reading for us, Charlie? Pleeease?’

Charlie loved how excited his wife was. ‘Come on, then, before she closes.’

Climbing the four stairs of the old-world wagon, he parted the red velvet curtains and moved inside. Just like the last time he’d come here with Grace, as twenty-something lovebirds, it was like stepping through a portal and into another world.

The same ageless eyes met them. ‘I’ve been waiting for you.’ Lit by the soft glow of a lamp, the elderly woman waved them over. ‘Come, sit.’