and her laugh danced on the crystal cold air as she clung to Jonny’s arm – not that he was much of an anchor for her in those ridiculous cowboy boots.
He liked Jonny a lot, but at that moment he’d have loved nothing more than for the other man to disappear in a puff of smoke. For it to be his arm that Marla clutched, and his jokes that brought out that big laugh.
She drew closer, and he could so easily have stepped out of the darkness and called her name, but fear held him still as she rushed by. Besides, it was bloody freezing. Romantic as the notion was, he didn’t want to say what he needed to in an icy car park.
Marla spotted her mother straight away. She was difficult to miss, snoring and resplendent in her gold dress with her shoes kicked off underneath her chair. She was cuddled up against the water cooler, and behind her, a rather sparsely decorated Christmas tree flashed in time with the piped Christmas carols.
‘Christ. It seems the world’s oldest fairy has fallen off the top of the tree,’ Jonny tittered, but Marla was too distracted to laugh with him. Her eyes skittered around the room in search of a familiar dark head, her entire body braced with the anticipation of seeing Gabe again. The disappointment of his absence felt rather like the entire hospital had crumbled on her head.
She touched her mother’s shoulder.
‘Mom?’
Cecilia woke up and detached herself from the side of the water cooler in an undignified manner that involved drool and lop-sided hair.
‘Marla, darling, you’re here.’
Her eyes slid from Marla to Jonny, and then flickered around reception.
‘Where’s Gabriel gone?’
Jonny glanced at Marla’s stricken expression and came to her rescue.
‘I was just about to ask you the same question.’
Cecilia frowned. ‘Oh. Well, he was here, and then …’
‘You fell into a drunken stupor and have no idea when he left?’ Jonny supplied in a sympathetic voice, and batted his eyelids at Cecilia with a knowing smirk.
Marla sank down into the seat next to her mother and dropped her head in her hands.
She was too late.
It had been too much to expect that he’d still be here, and the flame of hope within her fizzled out.
He’d gone.
On the other side of the glass entrance doors, Gabe watched Marla drop down dejected next to her mother.
What was wrong?
Had something happened to Emily, or the baby?
He couldn’t stand it any longer.
He knocked the snow out of his hair and went inside.
Chapter Forty-Three
‘Marla.’
God, she had to get a grip. Jonny had even started to sound like Gabe in her head now. Marla peeled her hands away from her eyes and looked down at the feet in front of her.
Hmmm.
They definitely weren’t Jonny’s cowboy boots, and the purple satin trousers had been replaced by faded jeans that hugged in all the right places. She forced her eyes to skim past the crotch area, even though they wanted to linger.
Gabe’s leather jacket clung to him, and snowflakes clung to it.
Lucky snowflakes.
Marla licked her dry lips and finally looked up into his face.
Still beautiful. But did he look a little gaunt?
Neither Jonny nor Cecilia moved a muscle nor said a word.
‘Is everything okay with the baby?’
Marla frowned, too dumbstruck by his presence to know the answer to any question more difficult than her own name.
What baby?
Again, Jonny rushed to her aid. ‘No news yet, bud.’ He reached down and yanked Cecilia onto her feet. ‘Come on. Let’s go and find you some coffee.’
‘My shoes …’ Cecilia grumbled and tried to bend to retrieve them, but Jonny, who had her tucked firmly under one arm, frog marched her down the corridor.
Marla’s throat constricted with nerves as Gabe sat down next to her.
‘You came back,’ she said.
‘Yes.’
‘How have you been?’
He studied her face for a few seconds before he answered. ‘Okay.’
‘Will you be leaving again soon?’
‘Depends. Will you be done with the small talk soon?’
‘Yes.’
‘Thank God for that.’
He glanced around the waiting area with its constant ebb and flow of people.
‘Come on. Lets go and find somewhere more quiet.’
Dan jumped out of the taxi he’d just paid an extortionate fare for and watched in relief as Gabe and Marla left the reception area.
How the hell would he have explained his presence here to them, when he couldn’t even explain it to himself?
Cecilia leaned against the side of the drinks machine as Jonny stabbed at the buttons.
‘Well, let’s just hope those two stop pissing around and get their act