The Marriage K.L. Slater (classic romance novels TXT) 📖

‘We need to talk, Mum,’ he said in an ominous tone. ‘There are important things I need to discuss with you.’

I looked at his face, his serious expression, his furrowed brow. I felt my burst of hope drain away from me. I dreaded what might come next.

Nineteen Tom

Jill offered to make a hot drink, but Tom asked for a glass of water. They sat on the kitchen sofa and Jill stared wordlessly out at the garden.

His father must have heard him in the hallway but he never came out of the office to say hello. Typical.

Tom felt suddenly desperate to fill the awful silence.

‘I hope you’re OK, Mum. I know it was a shock.’

‘I was thinking earlier about your silver birch nights,’ she said. ‘Can you remember? You’d sit on the step and stare at the moonlight shining on the tree trunk. You really believed it was made of bone.’

‘I do remember,’ he said softly.

‘I actually spoke to your dad a couple of months ago about the garden. I said we should get someone in to give us ideas on what to do with it. You know, put some borders in and get more colour in there. The lawn’s lush now but it was always scrappy because you and Jesse would play so many ball games on there and—’

‘Mum.’ He kept his voice calm and gentle.

Jill clamped her mouth closed. Urgently, she pressed her hand to her chest as if her heart might be mere seconds away from bursting out of it.

‘I know you had a massive shock last night, but I hope you’ll accept that Bridget and I are married and—’

‘I have accepted it. I have to, don’t I?’ The tendons in her neck bulged dangerously. ‘The way I see it, I have little choice in the matter.’

‘Please let me speak, Mum, I know you’re incredibly upset. Bridget understands, you know. She says it’s natural you’ll be devastated.’

‘Of course I’m upset, it was a shock.’ She bristled at the mention of his wife. ‘It’s your choice, I know that. I do wish you’d found it in your heart to tell me on one of my visits.’ He hung his head but didn’t comment. ‘I can’t help wondering how it happened, though, how you came to marry the mother of your victim. Because regardless of the fact that you acted in self-defence, you do realise that’s what people will say? That she’s the mother of the best friend you killed.’

‘Mum. I accept it must be almost impossible for you to understand how we came to fall in love. But it didn’t happen overnight, Bridget has been visiting me for the last couple of years. The only way I can describe it is that Bridget my wife feels like someone completely different and separate to Bridget the mum of Jesse all those years ago. That seems like another life for both of us. We feel brand new to each other, if that makes sense.’

Judging by the look on his mother’s face, it didn’t make any sense to her at all.

‘I see,’ she said finally, touching her face with the back of a hand. Her cheeks looked flushed and hot.

Tom dipped his chin down and looked up at her. ‘I’m not sure you do see.’

‘If the tables were turned and I’d married Jesse, how do you think you’d be feeling about it?’

For a moment or two Tom felt nonplussed. Then he said, honestly, ‘I’d be shocked. In denial for a while, I expect.’

His words hung in the air for a few moments before Jill spoke again.

‘There’s only two years in age between Bridget and myself. I assume you know that, right? Two years between your mother and your new wife.’

‘Of course I know that, but it’s different somehow. Bridget, she’s so … I don’t know, young in her ways, her outlook. Do you know what I mean?’

‘Yes,’ Jill said shortly. ‘But someone closer to your own age might have given you children, for a start. Bridget is a grandmother!’

She’d told Tom on one of her earliest visits that her friend, Audrey, had heard the news that Coral had given birth to Jesse’s son.

‘I don’t want anyone else, I’m in love with Bridget, Mum. The fact that there won’t be children is a far less important consideration for me. Anyway, we have Ellis.’

‘Ellis isn’t your son, though, he’s Jesse’s!’ Jill bit her lip. ‘What I can’t understand is why you had to get married before your release. In prison, of all places! Why would you rush into marrying her instead of dating for a while … did she force your hand?’

‘Of course she didn’t, it was my idea.’

‘Did you know she’s posted a picture on Facebook of your wedding?’

Tom frowned. ‘No, I didn’t know, but … well, that’s OK, isn’t it?’

Tom hadn’t got a Facebook account yet, what with being in prison but Jill seemed to think it was a big deal.

‘I can’t understand why you had to get married in secret,’ she said again, petulantly.

Tom sighed. ‘Because of exactly this. The way you’re behaving. We knew people would disapprove. We knew you’d try and stop us.’

‘Just me?’

‘Everyone. Ellis’s mum, Coral … she’s giving Bridget a hard time about it too, and the boy won’t even look at me yet.’

‘Well, I can understand that. Jesse was Coral’s partner and Ellis’s father, after all. The lad is young to have to deal with you being in his face all of a sudden.’

Tom swept a hand towards her. ‘This is exactly it, you see. Everybody has an opinion about us, about what we’ve done. But we’re married now. We made our commitment to each other because against the odds, we fell in love. I don’t want some clueless girl my own age. I want Bridget. Someone strong, who has a bit of life experience. Someone who understands everything I’ve been through.’

Tom had never possessed Jesse’s confidence when it came to girls. He’d been on a handful of dates