Please Forgive Me (43 page)

‘Well, seeing as you’re the one who likes to solve mysteries,’ Adam said with a mischievous smile. ‘I guess you’re just going to have to figure that one out for yourself.’

SEPTEMBER

The morning mail plopped onto the mat, and Alex padded barefoot into the hallway to retrieve it.

She was expecting a few things this week; in particular a wedding invitation.

Leonie was back in Ireland and back with Adam, and while she missed her friend, she knew she was insanely happy.

Aha, there it was!

Going back into the kitchen, Alex opened the first envelope, immediately recognising Leonie’s distinctive handwriting.

Removing the contents, she had to smile at the sickeningly sentimental, but at the same time unashamedly romantic inscriptions on the invite. The theme on the day would be ‘everlasting love’ which apparently had something to do with red tulips, as they were pictures of them dotted all over the invite! It was – as the girl herself might describe it –‘pure Leonie’. Clearly she hadn’t changed.

Alex was really looking forward to travelling to Dublin for the wedding at the end of the year. She hadn’t been to the Emerald Isle before, and apart from the weather, it was supposed to be a pretty cool place. It would be nice to see her and Adam too; they’d met a few months back when Leonie’s fiancé had come to the city to whisk her off her feet and bring her back to Dublin, and he seemed like a really sweet guy. Not to mention it would be good to catch up with Grace too.

By the sound of things, this wedding would be one hell of a celebration.

Then Alex’s gaze shifted towards the second, more official looking piece of mail.

Her eyes widened when she saw the postmark. Could this finally be it?

She took a deep breath, and turning it over, opened the flap before gently sliding a single piece of paper out of the envelope.

She felt a mix of emotions as she unfolded the document and examined at it properly.

State of California Divorce Decree.

The bonds of matrimony now existing between the Plaintiff and the Defendant are dissolved on the grounds of irreconcilable differences, and the Plaintiff is awarded an absolute decree of divorce from the Defendant.

So that was that.

Her marriage to Seth was finally over. There were no more delays, intentional mistakes and most importantly, no more disagreements. After their long conversation at the hospital, he finally understood what Alex wanted – what she
needed
– and for once he’d agreed with her, and complied with her wishes.

‘I guess you’re right,’ he admitted sadly, when she’d managed to convince him that there was no other way. ‘It is worthless. We made a mockery of our vows.’

She knew that Jon too was relieved to have the situation finally clarified.

Having made a fresh pot of coffee, she put the single sheaf of paper signifying the end of her marriage under her arm and returned to the bedroom.

‘Anything interesting?’ her companion asked.
 

‘Mmm, maybe,’ she teased, before happily dangling the piece of paper in front of his face.

‘Well it’s about time!’ he exclaimed, sounding just as satisfied as she was.

Getting back into bed, Alex slid beneath the covers alongside him while together they both studied the divorce decree, each keenly aware of its significance.

‘So I guess, that’s that then,’ she said, resting her head against his bare chest. ‘As of today that marriage is done, over with, history.’

‘And thank the Lord for that too,’ Seth chuckled, reaching down and gently kissing his ex-wife on the head. ‘We’ve got that blank page you wanted, so now we get to start over.’
 

Nathan was alone in the day room by the window, reading the latest Grisham novel. He liked Grisham; the guy wrote in great detail about skulduggery amongst the upper echelons of politics and power and by Nathan’s reckoning, always got it pretty much spot on. Nathan had more experience than he’d like with that kind of that thing, but he was never really cut out for politics. His brother on the other hand had exactly the right personality for mixing with the wheelers and dealers, which was probably why David was still out there fighting the great fight, while Nathan was stuck here doing – well doing nothing really …

He paused mid-thought, as he heard the sound of footsteps outside in the hallway and Frank’s loud booming tones getting closer.

‘I should warn you that he can be a cantankerous old goat sometimes, but don’t take it personally,’ the other man joked, stopping outside Nathan’s room. ‘Yo, Nate my man,’ he called in, ‘you’ve got a visitor today so be nice.’

Visitor? What visitor? Nathan had never had a visitor here before.

‘Must be some mistake,’ he muttered gruffly, turning to look, but Frank had already taken off back down the hallway, whistling as he went.
 
‘I don’t know about any…’
 

But then his gaze alighted on the solitary figure standing in the doorway, and his old ticker gave a little somersault.

It couldn’t be … could it?

And right then time seemed to slow down, as incredibly, Nathan came face to face with the woman he had loved for most of his life, yet never expected to see again.

‘Helena…?’ he said croakily, unable to believe his eyes.

‘Hello Nathan,’ the woman said, moving tentatively towards him, her hands shaking. Even though he could see she was old, as old as he was, the years just seemed to melt away and in his mind, she was forever twenty-two and he would be forever twenty four.

Helena….

‘I’m hallucinating, I must be,’ he whispered softly, unable to take his eyes off her. ‘Frank must have upped my meds this morning.’

‘It’s no hallucination, Nathan,’ she replied with a nervous laugh. ‘But I must say I’m glad you recognise me after all this time.’

‘How could I not when you’re still as beautiful as ever? Oh my Lord, Is it really you?’ he said, his voice cracking with emotion, as he went to get up out of his chair.

‘It’s really me,’ she said, approaching slowly. ‘I talked to your brother a while back and he told me you were here, so I thought it was time I paid you a visit.’

‘Never thought you’d see me in a place like this, did you?’ he said suddenly self-conscious about his surroundings. All this must look pathetic to her.

‘Nothing wrong with being looked after Nathan,’ she replied gently. ‘After all you’ve been through.’

‘Ah, the only thing wrong with me is laziness,’ he told her lightly, ‘that and a pesky old ticker, which means I have to let these clowns push me around and tell me what to do.’

‘It’s a very pretty place and that aide seems nice too.’

‘Yeah, Frank’s OK,’ Nathan agreed. ‘But this is an open patient facility you know, I can get out of here whenever I like. I just don’t bother all that much.’

It was the only reason he’d agreed to residential care; if Cypress Gardens had been closed facility Nathan would have run a mile.

Well, he would have tried anyway.

‘So that’s how you delivered that last letter.’ Helena said, as if talking to herself, and Nathan’s head snapped up.

‘You mean you got my sympathy note? I wasn’t sure if you were still living at Green Street, but when I read about your mom in the obits in the Chronicle, I thought I’d drop by to pass on my condolences next time I was in town. I couldn’t bring myself to ring the bell though …’

‘I haven’t lived there for forty years Nathan. Actually, I haven’t set foot inside the place since …well since the last time you and I …’ She trailed off, bashful. ‘So I’m sorry but I never got those other letters you sent either. At least not until recently.’

‘The other ones …’ he repeated frowning, ‘you mean the ones from – ‘

‘Yes. I didn’t get them way back then, you see. I moved away, and Mom must have kept them for me, and it was only when…oh, it’s such a long story.’
 

She was close now, so close that Nathan was almost afraid to touch her in case it was really all a dream and she would dissolve in front of his eyes. ‘Well, as you can probably tell, I’ve got all the time in the world to hear it,’ he murmured, tentatively reaching for her hand.

‘I’m so sorry, I should never have made you choose like that.’ Helena was moved to tears as the emotion of it all overwhelmed her too. ‘It’s me who should be asking for forgiveness, I should never have…’

‘Shush, it’s, OK,’ he interjected gently and closed his eyes as his precious Helena rested her head on his shoulder. ‘None of that means anything now, and I don’t care how long those letters took to find you. All that matters is that they did and you’re here.’

Then Helena gently wrapped her arms around him, and for the first time since returning to his country thirty-eight years before, Nathan felt like he’d finally come home.