Free Be Careful What You Hear by Paul Pilkington Page B

seemed a perfectly reasonable thing to have
considered.
    James seemed
surprised by my lack of conviction. ‘I thought you might want to
get home as soon as possible, and send me packing.’ He seemed
deadly serious.
    ‘I won’t be
doing that,’ I replied, without really thinking. Whether it was my
heart talking or not, I don’t know. But I knew as soon as the words
left my lips that it was what I wanted. ‘That doesn’t mean
there aren’t going to be hard times,’ I added. ‘It will take
time.’
    ‘Thank you,’
James smiled, reaching out to take my hand. I pulled it away before
it met mine. He nodded his understanding. ‘If you do decide that
it’s best for us to go home early, then I totally understand.’
    ‘Maybe it’s
best that we deal with it here,’ I said.
    ‘Maybe.’
    He got up and
dropped his empty bowl into the sink. ‘Well, we survived the
storm,’ he said, gazing out of the kitchen window at the now calm
world outside. ‘We could go for a walk along the coast later,’ he
said, returning to his seat. ‘There’s a lovely Blue Flag beach just
a mile down from here.’
    ‘Sounds good.’
I heard Grace stirring from the bedroom. ‘You know,’ I said, before
I left to see to her, ‘my mother used to say that you don’t measure
the strength of a marriage in the best of times; you measure it in
the worst of times.’
     
    ***
     
    We went for
our walk along the coast, taking in the beauty of the North Devon
environment. The weather was clear, fresh and bright, affording us
spectacular views along the coastline and out to sea. We descended
to the beach that James had mentioned, and spent an hour exploring
the rock pools and caves that had been left exposed by the
retreating tide. Grace was snug in the baby carrier, sleeping part
of the time. She particularly enjoyed seeing the sea life that had
been left stranded in the pools – including several starfish and a
crab.
    Things felt
strangely normal while we were out. We even shared a few laughs,
although there was no physical contact. It was only upon our return
to the cottage for lunch that I again began to brood over the
affair.
    And then, just
after we had finished lunch, someone knocked at the door.
    We looked at
one another. Then James jumped up and peered around the kitchen
window, to see if he could catch sight of the visitor.
    ‘I’d better
answer it,’ he said, making for the door.
    ‘Wait!’ I said,
halting him in his tracks. ‘What if it’s her?’
    Now there were
a series of bangs. Someone was hammering on the wood with what
sounded like a clenched fist.
    ‘Please!’ we
heard a voice shout through the letter box. ‘Please, let me in to
explain!’
    It was Sophie.

 
     
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    ‘Please, just
let me in!’
    James looked at
me for direction. I couldn’t think fast enough. I really didn’t
want her in the cottage, but what other alternative was there? ‘Be
careful,’ was all I could manage.
    James nodded.
‘Maybe you should take Grace into the living room.’
    I didn’t need
asking twice. I lifted her out of the high chair and retreated to
the next room. There was no way that I wanted Grace to be caught up
in something like this, even if she was too young to understand
what was happening. I stood just behind the living room door,
waiting with trepidation as James approached the front door.
    ‘Sophie,’ he
said, through the still closed door. ‘You shouldn’t have come
here.’
    ‘I need to
explain!’ she shouted. ‘Let me in, please !’
    She began
banging on the door again.
    ‘There’s no way
I’m letting her in while she’s in that state,’ James said, entering
the living room. ‘No chance.’
    ‘James!’ she
shouted.
    I held Grace
closer to me. ‘So what are we going to do? We can’t call the
police, that’s for sure. We can’t call anyone.’
    James ran a
hand through his hair. ‘I don’t know.’
    ‘James, open
the door!’
    More
banging.
    ‘I’ll jump
right off this cliff if you