and so was the finance. All I could offer the people was my time and my commitment to keeping the promises he had made.’
He dropped his head back and pressed both hands palm flat against the top of his head as he closed his eyes. ‘I know you, Kate O’Neill. I knew that you would never leave Gemma—especially when your dad had cancer. And I had been to Ghana before. I knew there was no way you could have brought a child out here. Life was tough enough for a single man on his own. I just about coped with finding clean water and food to get by. A little girl like Gemma would have been … impossible to care for. And I was certainly in no state to be a father figure. No. You had to put her first. And that meant you had to stay. And I had to leave on my own. No matter how much it hurt.’
‘Were you lonely?’ she asked, after what was probably only a few seconds of silence which had seemed to stretch for hours.
He nodded. ‘Missed you all like crazy. But somehow being in Ghana helped me mourn my father. This was the one place where my dad and I had been happy working together. The village gave me a home and a purpose in life. A lifeline, if you like, when I needed it. Everything I have done since then has been to repay that debt. They are my family, and now they are going to be my people.’
‘You kept the promises your dad made. You should be proud of that.’
Simon smiled a couple of times. ‘I suppose I did. Just as you kept your promises to Gemma. And you should be proud of that.
The light had faded now to a dim glow from the white sand, and as he smiled in reassurance Simon noticed the dark shadows that were growing all around them as the final rays of the sun dropped below the horizon, taking the glorious sunset with it.
Suddenly Kate rolled to one side, away from Simon, and in one movement started gathering together her things and tugging the dress she had borrowed from Molly back into position.
‘What is it, Katie? Are you cold?’ Simon asked.
‘No. Not cold,’ she replied, with a smile he could hear in her voice. ‘Just sad.’
He reached out and caught her hand, forcing her to be still for a moment.
‘Why sad? We’ve both come a long way these past three years so that we can sit on this beach together in this beautiful place. Who knows what the next three years will bring?’
‘Oh, Simon. Don’t do this. You are a prince, soon to be a king, with responsibilities and people who need you. Right here in Ghana. While I still have a sister back in England who needs me, and a dad who is sick. So not much seems to have changed on that front, does it? If anything, I would say that our lives are even further apart than ever.’
Simon gasped and choked out a question. ‘You don’t mean that? We have only just …’
‘Just what? Remembered old times? Yes, it has been wonderful, and just for the record I never stopped missing you. But unless one of us is prepared to move to another continent this is one long-distance relationship that is not going to work. We both know what this kind of job does to couples.’
Simon took an even tighter grip on both of her hands.
‘Don’t give up on us quite just yet, Katie. You were always the creative one. Won’t you even try to come up with a few ideas? Andy doesn’t work here all year—far from it. And there are webcams and video links we could bring in, so that you could see your family and talk to them any time you wanted.’
She paused for a moment, then nodded. ‘That’s true. But it would have to work both ways, so that you could talk to the other tribal leaders from the UK. Here is an idea for you. From what I saw today you are proud of being a one-man band, taking all the responsibilities onto your own shoulders.’ Kate slid closer to him along the beach towel. ‘It doesn’t have to be that way. Most of the other presentations today came from teams of volunteers, where the company has provided the equipment and there’s more than one project leader.’
She reached out and touched his face with one finger