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Stefan has a point! yelled a voice in the back of her head. This is not what you want—imagine the humiliation when he tires of you.
I may tire of him.
Yeah, right. Dream on.
Fine.
‘I think we should have a very short-term relationship—just for the honeymoon. Once we get back to London we’ll live separate lives for the year.’
He hesitated, searched her face as if he wished he could penetrate her very soul. ‘You are sure that is what you want?’
‘Yes.’ This was under her control—she was putting the time limit on it. This way she couldn’t get hurt and she would get to replay last night. Win-win, right? ‘But only if you do.’
‘Oh, I definitely do.’
Finally his face relaxed into a grin that curled her toes and sent a thrill of anticipation through her entire body.
‘In fact, why don’t I show you exactly how much I want this? Want you.’
Temptation beckoned, but she shook her head. ‘No can do. I have a plan for the day. We need to get going.’
‘Get going to where?’
‘Xanos Island.’
The smile dropped from his lips but she soldiered on. ‘Sunita mentioned it. She said it’s an amazing little island, completely secluded, with sand, rocks, caves—the works. I’ve figured out the tides, a boat awaits us, and we have the most amazing picnic ever.’
‘Did Sunita say anything else about it?’
‘Yes.’ There was no point lying about it. ‘She said Eloise used to take you there.’
‘So you figured it was a good place to go to?’
‘Yes.’
Because she thought the best way for him to let go of the past might be to revisit the good bits of it. He might not have had many good bits, but it seemed clear that he and Eloise had shared a few happy years before the divorce and its horrors. More than that, so had he and Frederick, under Eloise’s guidance.
‘I thought you might like to revisit some of your good childhood memories. I know there may not be many of them, but that makes them all the more precious.’ She hauled in breath. ‘And it’s not only for you—it’s for me as well.’
‘How so?’
‘I told you that your mother broke my father’s heart when she married your father. But the repercussions went deeper than that. My mother loved my father and she couldn’t deal with his relationship with Eloise. Couldn’t deal with the fact that my father didn’t really love her. So she hated your mother with real venom—and I was brought up to do the same. To me, your mother was the wicked witch incarnate and I never questioned that.’
It hadn’t taken the young Holly long to figure out that the best way to win a crumb of her mother’s attention, if not her affection, had been to insult Eloise.
‘I’d like to make amends—go somewhere like Xanos Island and remember Eloise differently.’
Stefan met her gaze and then he nodded. ‘Thank you. For feeling able to give her memory a chance. I truly don’t believe she wanted to hurt anyone. And she wouldn’t have wanted the fall-out to hurt you—I know first-hand how horrible it is to be a child caught in the web of your parents’ destructive marriage. I’m sorry you went through that and so would she be.’
He rose.
‘Xanos Island here we come.’
* * *
As the small red and white motorboat bobbed over the waves Stefan could picture his younger self, recall the sheer joy of being on a real boat, singing a sea shanty with the Captain and his mother joining in, the soft lilt of her voice helping him with the words.
But it hadn’t only been the three of them singing—it had been Frederick as well. The memory, long buried, slipped into focus. His five-year-old self sitting on Frederick’s lap, leaning over the side, safe in the knowledge that his older brother held him secure around the waist as he trailed his fingers in the water.
