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Nina looks at my hand in hers. She’s changed since I left. She’s softer now. A gentleness in her posture as if she’s at one with herself and her life here. “No.” She looks up at me. “No, I don’t. I decided a long time ago that it wouldn’t ever go beyond the two of us. Vinny wouldn’t—”
“I know,” I tell her.
“And you deserve my word.” She stands, her hand squeezing mine once more before she steps away. “After everything you’ve been through and done for them, you deserve a chance to move forward. A chance at your own happy.”
I shake my head and avert my gaze as it burns. “I am sorry, Nina,” I force out. “For the time you lost with Mase and Ellis. I know you say you forgive me, but I’ll never forget what I did. What I took from the three of you.”
She stares at me for a moment, her head tilting. “You have to. You’ve got to let it all go now. Don’t be bitter or angry or sad. Trust me, you’ll only make life more painful if you carry it.” She scans me, her eyes lingering on my leg. “You’re not a criminal, Lance. You do know that, don’t you? There’s a reason you’re sat here just seven years after… after what happened. It’s because you don’t know malice. I don’t believe you know anything but love. Find me anyone who wouldn’t have done what you did when faced with what you were. You lost more that day protecting Scar—Mason’s baby sister—than Mase lost in the six months the two of us were apart. And ifIhad let it go—the bitterness, anger, and pain—we’d have made it out of our mess long before Ellis was even born.”
“You have changed,” I say aloud.
She huffs a laugh. “I grew up. I learnt a lot along the way. Mase, too.”
I never imagined Mason would be here by the time I got out. I knew he’d come home, but I always imagined it would be later in life when he was done with the company. To think he came back here, likely for the sake of Scarlet and Waverley.
“I buried the deeds.” I look up at Nina as a small smile pulls at the corner of my lips. “They’re under Ellis’s trees in the meadow. The fifth one.”
She gives me a quizzical look. “Why the fifth?”
“Ellis. His birthday.”
Scarlet
“How long are you off work, Scar?”
I sit down in the chair between Elliot and Lance as Elliot bites into the slab of steak Mason has cooked and sliced up. We’re in the garden having a BBQ. Elliot, Lucy, and the children are here as well as Charlie and Lissie.
“They told me to take two weeks to let the bruising settle down, and then they’ll have me in to decide if I’m ready to come back. I have annual leave booked at the end of next month, so I think they’ll wait until after that before having me in again.”
He grins at me. “You must not know what to do with yourself. How long has it been since you had time off like that?”
“A long time,” I agree. “Probably after Ave when I took my break.”
“You took time off after you had her?” Lance asks.
He came down late this afternoon despite us telling him he didn’t have to. He wanted to get out of the room, which is understandable. I can tell he’s in pain still. The bruising on my neck is nothing compared to the bruising on his face and body, and this morning his leg was twice the size as it was yesterday.
“Just over a year. I knew it would be too difficult balancing both so soon after giving birth.” I just had no idea how badly I’d need that time off when I planned it.
“And she wouldn’t let us help her,” Elliot adds.
“That’s not true. I snapped your hands off once she was born and I realised I needed you all.”
“It only took you seven months.”
I turn away from him, rolling my eyes at Lance. “I was fine.”
“You’re always fine,” he mutters, smiling as he looks down at the beer in his hands. “They let you do that, though. You took the year and then went back?”
“Yep. It was only my second year. After everything that happened and then being on placement whilst pregnant, I was ready for the break.”
In hindsight, it was probably exactly what I needed at the time.
“When did you graduate?”
“Two years ago.” I feel my cheeks widen as Lance’s eyes spark. “I’m in my second foundation year now.”
“Mase threw a huge party here on the estate with all her classmates,” Elliot tells him. “Rivalled one of the fancy balls she puts on.”
