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“I know things went bad for a while there, but we have to give us a second chance,” he said, eyes glistening. “I know you’ve missed me. And I was so patient with you, Ellie. I waited so long. I helped you, I let you get everything out of your system, and I know that you’ve had time to think, time to reconsider, time to see what we truly could be.”

Her breath was stuck inside her chest and she was heaving now, eyes watering, trying to get air.

“Calm down, El, just calm down, count your breaths, remember?”

In that second, she snapped. The band on her chest loosened and with tight, hard fists she ran at Paul’s strong figure, hating him for what he did to her, pushing him, crashing into him.

He stumbled backward, catching Jasper’s arm as he did so,careening into Jasper until both men, arms reeling, fell into the scummy pond beneath the water feature.

And Ellie finally took a deep, full breath.

She was shuddering as Jem’s arms wrapped around her and held her tight. “Sorry, sorry,” she mumbled.

“Nothing to be sorry for,” Jem said, keeping her close. She leaned down. “You know, you’re supposed to put your own face in cold water for the panic attacks, not someone else’s, right?”

Ellie managed a small laugh and Jem let her go.

“What’s going on?” asked Rolly, rushing into the courtyard.

“Where’s Dave?” asked Jem.

“Here,” said Dave, appearing next to Rolly.

“Ellie has a restraining order against him,” Jem said, pointing to Paul who was sputtering water and trying to climb out of the slippery pond.

“Arrest him,” Rolly said.

“Arrest him?” Jem and Ellie said together.

“David is a policeman,” said Rolly.

“Dark horse,” murmured Jem.

Dave waded into the pond, grabbing at Paul’s hand. “You’re under arrest, mate.”

“No,” Jasper said, standing up, his elegant suit dripping. “Arrest her.” He pointed at Ellie.

Dave paused for a moment, his hand around Paul’s wrist. “Why?”

“She pushed us. That’s assault,” Jasper said.

“What’s going on here?” Alistair Darlington strode into the courtyard and every single person there ignored him.

Dave turned to Ellie and raised an eyebrow. “It was an accident,” Ellie said. “Well, the Jasper part was an accident. And he was being slightly homophobic at the time too, so…”

“Hate speech is a crime,” offered Dave, twisting a protesting Paul’s arm behind his back as he dragged him up.

“What?” Jasper cried. “That woman assaulted me.”

“And you can press charges,” Dave said calmly. “As can she, for hate speech.”

Jasper’s mouth flapped open but he was prevented from speaking further by the appearance of Annabelle who yelled out his name as she rounded the courtyard. “Jasper, oh thank God. Rosie’s in labor.”

Jasper paled and followed Annabelle back to the party, Dave pushed Paul ahead of him and Rolly went after them both. Alistair Darlington regarded the pond, then the two women, then shook his head. “I’ll get started on the speeches, that should distract attention from all this kerfuffle,” he said, and strode away.

And Ellie sank back into Jem’s arms, letting safety warm her.

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