Page 137 of Wedlock

“It’s been six months,” I sigh.

“Yes.”

She continues drawing in the sand and I study the fine streak of grey at her forehead, barely perceptible to anyone who didn’t know her well, but clear to me. It had appeared after Phil passed.

“Do you still think of him?” I ask her quietly.

“Yes. I wonder what I could have done differently. If I could have forgiven him as he hoped, and gone back to him. If he would be alive today had I done so. It’s a false hope, though. Do you still think of your vampire?”

“You know I do. I’m not as good at hiding my feelings as you, Yin.”

“I’m very glad to hear that,” a deep voice says from behind us.

Gasping, we both jump to our feet and spin to see Falcon standing, hands in pockets, barely three feet from us.

“Please, sit down,” he says quietly, sauntering close and sitting on the powdery white sand. “I don’t mean to alarm you.”

“Falcon,” I whisper, sitting down beside him on the sand, as directed, my knees suddenly weak. “Alarm isn’t the word I’d use for seeing you here.”

“Disgust is closer,” Yin growls, “and pity.”

“You pity me?” He cocks an eyebrow.

“I pity those with mental health issues,” she snaps.

“There’s no doubt I’m sick,” he shrugs, “not in my head, though. In my heart.”

“You don’t have a heart,” she snarls. “You’re a serial-killing stalker.”

“Last time I looked you weren’t far from being that yourself,” he snorts.

“Yin,” I sigh, signalling to her to rein it in as the twins approach.

“Hello, children,” he smiles at the pair.

Both kids stand close to me. Suzume holds a sea urchin she’d found earlier. Talon has nothing but a naughty grin, and I realise why as he spits a mouthful of seawater at Yin.

She shoots me a quick ‘get rid of him’ glance as she rises to chase my boy.

“Come here, you little rascal!”

Falcon and I watch as Talon zips back to the surf, presumably to get more water, pursued by Yin and a giggling Suzume.

As they leave, he turns to me, his expression serious.

“I wonder that I didn’t notice the first time I met her that she has your eyes, Angie, but then, I might have just assumed they were passed down through your family.”

“They were,” I whisper.

He shakes his head as he stares out at the dark sea.

“I know she’s mine. I know Tiger is Sophie’s son. It’s taken me months of investigation, but I’ve finally unwound the knot of lies and secrets surrounding me and mine.”

‘I know,” I sigh, keeping my gaze on the children, not daring to meet his eyes. “I knew you wouldn’t give up that easily.”

“I’ll never give up on you,” he murmurs. “I think you know that. Perhaps that’s why you don’t seem surprised to see me,” he adds quietly.

I smile and shake my head.