The Butterfly Cove Collection

The groan and clank of old pipes startled him and he opened his eyes as he listened to the water hiss through them. Her little bathroom lay just the other side of the wall. His wash kit perched on the window ledge in there mixed together with the myriad bottles and tubes all women seemed to accumulate. He’d felt a bit strange going into her room but it was the only working bathroom on the top floor. At least he’d kept his eyes to himself, crossing her bedroom as quickly as possible whenever he went in there.

An image of Mia slipping into the roll-topped tub filled his head and he buried his head in the pillows with a groan. Being so close to her was torture. With a sigh, he sat up and threw his pillow towards the foot of the bed in frustration. He needed a distraction. Dragging his laptop back over, he did his best to focus on the images on the screen rather than the ones in his mind.

The ache in his neck from leaning forward too long forced him to stop in the end, and he put the laptop into shutdown mode and stowed it on the bedside cabinet. There was no sound from next door, and he frowned trying to recall if he’d heard the bath emptying. He strained his ears for some sign of movement next door, but heard nothing. He was being stupid; she must have got out while he was focused on his work. Crawling under the covers with a tired sigh, he clicked the lamp off and shut his eyes.

Bollocks.

Daniel threw back the quilt and crept quietly from his bed and down the hall. The door to Mia’s bedroom stood slightly ajar, soft light shining through the gap. He peered through, hoping she didn’t catch him acting like some Peeping Tom. The bed lay undisturbed, so he nudged the door a bit wider and took a careful step into the room. A neatly folded pair of pyjamas sat on the foot of the bed. ‘Mia?’

No answer. He crossed to the bathroom and tapped lightly on the door. ‘Everything all right?’ What if she’d slipped over and banged her head or something? Filled with trepidation he turned the handle, raising a hand to his chest in relief at the sight greeting him.

Mia lay in the tub, head pillowed on a folded towel, fast asleep. A few stray bubbles lingered on the surface of the water. He crouched beside the tub, keeping his eyes on her face rather than the blurred outline of her body. ‘Hey, sleepyhead,’ he murmured.

Long dark lashes blinked slowly at him. This close, he could see the ring of dark grey edging the deep brown of her irises. A frown creased her brow. ‘Did I fall asleep?’

‘Mm-hmm. Come on, you must be freezing.’ Keeping his eyes averted, he stood up to grab a bath towel from the rail and held it out to her. Water sloshed and the drain began to gurgle as she pulled the plug and climbed out. He engulfed her in the towel and rubbed her dry with more vigour than finesse.

Satisfied once her skin was pink and glowing, Daniel fetched her pyjamas, leaving the room again to let her dress in private. He glanced around the bedroom, not sure whether he should leave or wait for her to emerge. Deciding he had trespassed enough, he took a step towards the door. The soft gleam of the bedside lamp caught the edge of a silver-framed photo and he paused. He couldn’t make out the detail, but the pose of the couple and their outfits told him it was a wedding picture. A black and white photo stood next to it and he blinked in disbelief. It couldn’t be.

He walked around the side of the bed and picked it up. The picture was of a woman’s delicate hand cradled protectively in a larger, masculine grasp. The man’s thumb was caressing the thick wedding band on the woman’s ring finger. The hands in the photo were not young, but creased and spotted with age and the ring she wore was scratched and nicked. It was a beautiful, simple image of enduring love. In the bottom corner of the image was a familiar scrawled word, Fitz.

‘Oh, you’re still here.’ Mia padded over to his side, smiling as she saw the picture in his hand. ‘Jamie gave it to me on our wedding day.’

‘It’s mine.’ He croaked, unable to tear his eyes from the image.

‘What do you mean it’s yours?’ She peered over his shoulder then up into his face. ‘You took this?’ He didn’t blame her for sounding incredulous. It seemed an impossible act of serendipity, but there was no denying it. The picture was from an early collection he’d done, a study of different hands. You could tell a person’s life story by their hands his dad had always reckoned, and the collection had been an homage to him.

‘Jamie said he wanted our own hands to look like that together one day. But some things are just not meant to be, I suppose.’ She eased the frame from his hands and placed it carefully on the table, staring at it for a long moment before turning back to him.

‘Do you believe in signs?’

He shook his head. He’d always been of a practical nature. Dreams and portents were flights of fancy to be captured through his lens, but that’s where they stayed, frozen in a single moment in time. She raised her eyebrows at him and he saw something in her eyes. ‘But you do?’

She shrugged. ‘I don’t know, maybe. Or maybe I’m just looking for something to help me find the right answer.’

She looked so forlorn, like a little girl lost in her striped pyjamas and her hair all tousled from the bath. He took her hand, rubbing her fingers, marvelling at the contrast between the softness in their skin. ‘And what’s the question?’

Dropping her head forward so it rested on his chest, she heaved a huge sigh. ‘You’re the question.’

He dropped a kiss on the top of her head, then took a step back before he did something foolish like tug her down onto the bed with him. ‘Maybe you should sleep on it and see if the answer’s any clearer in the morning.’ God, he hoped so.

She gave him a nod. Opened her mouth to say something and ended up smothering a huge yawn instead. That was his cue to leave her in peace. He placed a kiss on the top of her nose and lifted the bedcovers. ‘Let’s get you tucked in.’

Mia climbed into bed and settled onto her side. She stared up at him. ‘I won’t keep you dangling for ever. I just need to be sure.’

‘Don’t rush. I’m not going anywhere, love. If, and when, you’re ready, I’ll be around.’ He hoped she understood he meant every word.

Chapter Fifteen (#ulink_55a637c6-5938-52e3-874c-00821ffa3944)

Mia was alone in the house when the phone rang. She had baking to catch up on and it was nice to take a breather from the men and have a bit of quiet time to herself. This constant indecision over Daniel was driving her to distraction. Goodness knows what he must think of her blowing hot and cold, but every time she thought she’d made up her mind some little chink from the past cropped up to unsettle her again. She dusted her hands clean on a tea towel and tucked the phone beneath her chin.

‘’Lo,’ she said into the mouthpiece, looking down and brushing ineffectually at the flour on the front of her T-shirt.

‘Mimi,’ the voice on the other end of the phone quavered.

‘Kiki-Dee? What is it, darling? Are you all right?’ Mia’s voice was sharp with concern at how sad her sister sounded.

‘Oh, Mia, can you come up please? I think Mother’s really ill this time. Dad is totally useless, refusing to see how bad things are. Neil is at the end of his tether and the kids have got some hideous D&V bug Matty picked up at school. And trying to organise this bloody dinner is the last thing I need. I’m… God, I’m just… Can you come? I need you, Mimi.’ The sobs choked off the end of her entreaty.

‘Hush, darling. Hush. Of course, I’ll come. I was waiting for Mother to be released from hospital. Hang on, what dinner are you talking about? Dad said he would cancel it.’ She couldn’t believe he was going ahead with it and expecting Kiki to help him.

‘He was going to, but Neil was so cross about it because he was banking on dad to help him secure funding for his next grant.’ Kiki’s voice broke again and Mia tamped down the anger building, knowing exactly how much pressure that bastard Neil would have heaped on his wife. It had been the same since he’d stuck a ring on her finger.

He seemed to resent anything that took her time away from him, including his own children, which was something that Mia had never understood. They were two of the sweetest little souls it had ever been her delight to meet and she hated that she didn’t see them as much as she wanted to.

Neil made every visit so unpleasant and Mia hadn’t been in a fit state since Jamie had died to spend proper time with them without risking getting upset and upsetting them in return. Matty had not understood why Uncle Jamie was suddenly no longer around and it had broken her heart anew when she realised little Charlie was too young to remember him at all.

She pressed her forehead against the cold wall and listened to her sister sob into the phone. Kiki had always been the softest of them, the one who’d taken most to heart their dad’s inability to care for them and their mother’s drunken scorn. Neil had seemed a good match at first. Calm and seemingly enamoured, his flattering attention had been a balm to Kiki and she had soaked it up and slaked her desperate need to love and be loved with him. Mia had become concerned and then outright opposed to their relationship as Kiki slowly subsumed what little bit of herself was left and moulded herself into the image of the perfect wife that Neil demanded.

Sadly, it was soon apparent no matter what Kiki did, it was not quite good enough. How many times had she tried to explain to Mia why it was her own fault that Neil wasn’t happy with this or that minor thing? Mia had begged her not to marry him but by that stage, her sister was so far under his thumb she wouldn’t listen.

Then there had been the awful dinner party that Jamie and Mia had been invited to as a celebration of their engagement. It was clear from the moment they arrived that Neil hadn’t wanted to host them and he had picked at and criticised Kiki until Mia was ready to climb over the table and throttle him. Only Jamie’s hard grip on her thigh under the table had held her in her seat, but she hadn’t been able to keep her mouth shut and had eventually told Neil not to fucking speak to her sister like that.

Neil had stormed out and Mia and Jamie had been ushered to the door soon after by a frantic Kiki who kept telling them over and over that it wasn’t his fault. He was tired and so busy at work and it had been Kiki’s selfishness for insisting on holding the meal that was to blame. Poor Neil was under pressure from the grant committee who were a bunch of short-sighted fools because they had rejected his latest project for funding.

She had been in tears as she practically shoved them out the door and ran to soothe Neil’s pathetic ego. Mia had cried all the way home, the only way she could relieve the pressure of her frustration at the mess of her sister’s life. Jamie had been the voice of reason, calming Mia and reminding her that her behaviour wouldn’t have helped Kiki and that he was sure her sister understood why Mia was upset but that she was in such a low place that she couldn’t see a way to get herself free of it.

Mia had taken a bouquet around the next day and been utterly horrified at the bruise on her sister’s face. Kiki had trotted out some excuse about slipping on the stairs and catching her face on the bannister but Mia had known that Neil had punished Kiki because of her own outburst. She had left her sister’s house in a rage and had stormed straight over to the university and into Neil’s office.

She’d warned Neil that if she ever saw another mark on her sister it wouldn’t be the police he would have to worry about because she would do for him. She had been completely serious and from then she saw no evidence of violence on her sister, although the verbal abuse had continued. She wondered now if he’d just made sure to hit Kiki where the bruises wouldn’t show. It didn’t bear thinking about.

Mia made soothing sounds into the phone as the thoughts and memories swirled in her head. Eventually the storm of weeping subsided and she had a chance of being heard. ‘Listen, Kiki Dee, I’m sorry I’ve left you in the lurch. I spoke to Dad and thought everything was under control. Can you hold on for twenty-four hours so I can sort something out?’ She’d swallow her doubts and stay at her parents’ place if she had to, but it would be a last resort.

There was a pause from the other end as Kiki drew in a few sniffling breaths and then she asked the obvious question. The one Mia had been avoiding. ‘What about Bill and Pat? Can’t you stay with them? I’m sure they’d be glad to see you.’

The mention of Jamie’s parents froze her blood. Not because they had been awful to her since their son’s death, the complete opposite. They had given her the love and support that her own parents had frequently failed to offer. They would understand and probably be happy to help with the kids for a couple of days as they had always been pleased to spend time with them before.

But now there was Daniel, and Mia didn’t feel right about asking them for help when she was starting to move on. ‘I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Kiki. Things are a bit complicated at my end these days. I’ll talk to you about it when I get there. Just hang on a little bit longer and I’ll be there to help you, I promise.’ Kiki hiccupped as she tried to keep her control and Mia promised to call again in the morning once she had sorted her arrangements out. They ended the call with their usual endearments.

Mia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It looked like the time for hiding out and looking after only her own needs was over. The world outside was beckoning her forward and for once she felt strong and centred enough to face it. First she needed to speak to Daniel and see what he wanted to do. She felt a bit weird about leaving him alone in the house, but then she supposed it was because she had only ever pictured them there together.

She thought again about Bill and Pat. It had been too long since she had seen them and perhaps it was time to sort that out too. She picked up the phone and screwed her courage tight as she dialled their number.

‘Mia, lovely girl, is that really you?’ The bright greeting was enough to lift Mia’s heart and she found herself smiling as though Pat would be able to see her.

‘Hello, Ma, how’s things? Sorry it’s been so long since I called.’

‘Hush, lovey. Bill and I understand perfectly how hard everything has been for you. Are you okay though? Nothing wrong is there?’ The warmth and caring enveloped Mia even from a distance and she said a silent prayer of thanks that she had such wonderful surrogates in her life in Pat and Bill and now also Madeline and Richard.