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‘But, on the other hand …’
Callum caught her smile. ‘On the other hand …?
‘I think if you hadn’t grown up with Henry as your father, you wouldn’t have turned out to be the wonderful man I love.’
‘A slightly confused man.’
‘Huh?’
‘Do you know how many surnames I’ve had?’ He started to reel them off, ‘There’s my real name, MacFadden, then Henry’s surname Cavendish, then the show’s character name, Fergus MacGregor.’
‘And don’t forget your stage name!’
He shook his head. ‘Yep, that too. Do I need to change my name back to MacFadden, do you think?’
Thea looked at him. ‘I think not. If we were to marry—’
‘What do you meanif?’
‘Whenwe marry, I rather do like the name Cavendish.’
Callum grinned. ‘So do I.’
They both turned to look at Henry.
Thea said, ‘If it wasn’t for Henry’s business selling books, which brought your mother and Henry together, and The Bookshop of Memories, perhaps I would never have met the love of my life.’
Callum knitted his eyebrows. ‘Who’s that, then?’
Thea nudged him playfully. She knew he was joking, but she said it anyway, ‘Why, it’s you, of course.’
They stared at each other, thinking about how fate had brought them together. Thinking of Mabel, Callum smiled. Perhaps it was inevitable.
Callum broke the silence. ‘I wonder how Edward is finding retirement,’ he said off-hand.
Thea smiled. Soon after he had returned everything he had stolen, Edward had decided to retire from the job he loved. ‘I think he’s finding it just fine.’ Thea understood why Edward had resumed trying to sell stolen books again years and years after Henry’s disappearance; Edward thought his wife’s illness had returned, and she’d need expensive treatment again. But it had been a false alarm. She was quite well.
Edward had decided to look at it as a wake-up call. He was the type who had always said he’d never retire. But retire he had, to spend time with his wife. He’d said that nobody knew how much time anyone had, but finding Henry had put things in perspective. He and his wife wanted to make the most their twilight years, making memories together.
Thea smiled. ‘He’s found a new lease of life – well, they both have.’
‘What are they doing? Taking up golf, or something?’
‘Or something …’ Thea repeated. ‘They’re going to a yoga retreat.’ She grinned.
‘A yoga retreat?’ Callum couldn’t help but smile. ‘In Nepal?’
‘Oh, no, a bit closer to home. I think they’re off to Cornwall.’
Callum laughed. ‘Good for them. I imagine your mum had something to do with encouraging them to give it a try.’
‘She certainly did.’
Thea heard her father greet another customer and ring up the cost of a book on the old-fashioned till.
The customer said, ‘Bye! Thank you, Henry,’ and walked out of the shop. She’d worried about her dad living here on his own in the little flat above the shop. She still did. ‘Will he be okay?’ she asked Callum, not for the first time.
‘Who – Henry?’
