Page 132 of Duplicity

I shake my head and sniff. ‘Nothing. Just being a bit silly. I still can’t quite get used to you making every single one of my dreams come true.’

‘Well you’d better believe it.’ He wraps an arm around my shoulders and pulls me in closer. ‘I need you to get on board with this, love, because I’m never letting you go. This is it. You guys have endured more shit than anyone else I know, but that’s allover now. This is going to be the phase that makes all the other crap feel worthwhile.’

I nod tearfully, twisting my head so I can bury my face in the crook of his neck. This is my favourite way to be: in Brendan’s arms, his immense physicality the most effective reminder that I’ve found a safe place to land. That I don’t have to do it all by myself anymore. That I have a true partner in every sense I’ve ever wished for and many, many more. I’m still working for him, mainly because we hate being apart from each other all day.

There are a lot of happy endings for both of us in the office.

‘I love you,’ I say, because it’s easier than launching into a tearful monologue about the million ways in which he’s touched my and Tabby’s lives.

‘I love you. So much.’ He pauses. ‘So… we can go visit the school any time we want, and we could look around the house this weekend. Or we can look at any houses you choose. It’s just that this one jumped out at me. I could see it fitting us.’

I sniff back my tears. ‘Why’s that?’

‘There’s a hollow at the end of the garden,’ he says slowly, ‘that I think would make the most amazing spot for an adventure playground. Also, there’s a pool. From what I can see online, the main drawing room has a big south-facing bay window where you could play the piano. And the basement is vast. It could easily accommodate a recording studio for you, if you wanted one.’ He pauses. ‘If we got our skates on, we could be in before Christmas and then Tabs could start at Chancery in January.’

‘That all sounds amazing, honey,’ I tell him. ‘I can’t wait to see it.’

‘There’s also a smaller investment property nearby that I was thinking of buying,’ he says casually. ‘It’s a good price, but it’s a lot of upkeep. Huge kitchen garden. I thought your folks might like to live in it for me, and I could pay them to maintain it.’

I stare at him, my eyes filling. He doesn’t fool me for a second. He’s been plotting for a way to get my parents’ futures secured without making it feel like charity, and he’s all too aware of how much they love growing fruit and vegetables. ‘I don’t know what to say.’

‘You don’t need to say anything.’ He slides a hand around the back of my neck and tucks my head under his chin. ‘Your parents gave up a lot to make sure that you and Tabs found your way to me in one piece, and now it’s payback time. That’s all there is to it.’

‘Thank you,’ I whisper, snuggling in more closely against his chest.

Brendan Sullivan may adore his construction firm and his LEGO room, but it seems building a fairytale life for the two women he loves is his new favourite passion project.

And he’s good at it.

He’s really, really good at it.

BRENDAN

The water is crystal clear in Jost Van Dyck’s White Bay, and the sand is white. We moved into our new home a fortnight before Christmas, just in time to get a tree up, but I’ve whisked the girls off to the British Virgin Islands for a week post-Christmas.

The trip is an opportunity to let the builders crack on with constructing Marlowe’s new recording studio while we play with our newest toy, the Lagoon SEVENTY 8 catamaran,Tabitha. With everything that the summer held for us, I didn’t get achance to play with her in the Med, so I had her taken out here to the BVIs.

When we met, Marlowe was working so hard to survive that she had forgotten how to play and I was playing so hard that I had forgotten how to feel very much at all.

Now we’re in a position of extreme privilege. We have love, health, wealth, and even a touch of wisdom, and we’re damn well going to make the most of it. So at a time of year when we’re lucky to get eight hours of daylight each day, the sensible thing seemed to give the bleak midwinter a huge Fuck You and jet off to somewhere where life is warmer and gentler.

Tabby’s entire cardio-pulmonary system is operating perfectly these days, which is a polite way of saying she is fucking inexhaustible. She’s already signed up for after-school clubs at her new school every day of the weekandextra dance and trampoline classes on Saturdays. I thought I was in good shape, but my stamina is nowhere compared to that of a little girl with nine years of enforced downtime to make up for.

But it’s cool. We’ve found a rhythm. We’ve been pottering around the BVIs for five days now. Tabs and I spend our mornings having diving and swimming competitions in the clear turquoise waters while Marlowe sunbathes on the cushioned tanning deck in various skimpy bikinis. It’s a great eye-fucking setup for both of us. In the afternoons, we dock and explore the various islands, while our evenings are spent at beach bars—like last night at the iconic Soggy Dollar Bar—or eating quietly on the boat together.

Tabby’s sleeping like a dream out here. No fucking wonder—she never takes a breather during the day. The slide I had added onto the catamaran is up there with the best purchases I’ve made. She must have done a hundred slides into the sea this morning. But it’s all good, because when she’s asleep, I can makelove to my girlfriend as I gaze at the stars and thank them over and over for the incredible richness of my life.

This evening is just another blissfully chilled-out night as far as my girls are concerned. But for me, it’s a big one. We’re sitting out on the deck in our swimwear. We’ll shower later, but we’ve promised Tabs a sunset swim before we get cleaned up. Tabby’s wearing a sweet little custard-yellow skirt over her swimsuit, while her beautiful mother has wrapped a sarong we bought on one of the islands around herself and tied it behind her neck. Her blonde hair cascades in salty waves over shoulders that are bare and sun-kissed. She’s never looked so stunning as she does here, carefree and tanned and utterly at ease.

Despite the fact that we’re enjoying the view from a multi-million-pound catamaran, we’re doing a pretty good job of demonstrating that the best things in life are free. Light beers—Orangina for Tabs—and crisps on deck as we watch the sky grow prettily pink is all we need to take the edge off as our chef prepares fish tacos below deck. It’s a regular family moment, and it feels real enough for me to reach under the cushioned bench for the small bag I stashed earlier.

I adjust my baseball cap self-consciously. ‘I wanted to talk to you both about something.’

They both look at me. Marlowe brushes her fingertips over the sand that’s dried on my shoulder. ‘What is it, honey?’

‘Well, I wanted to say’—I clear my throat—‘how much it means to me to have you both here. We’ve made a lot of memories already, and I can’t wait to make more. And it feels like we’re a proper… family, you know? Especially now that we’re all living together properly.’

Tabby beams at me. I wink at her before catching Marlowe’s eye. Thrilled as she seems with our new home, I know that giving up her independence to move her and her daughter in with me wasn’t a straightforward decision for her. I’m painfullyconscious that they’ve let me into their little family unit, that I’m a third wheel among two people with a stronger bond than any I’ve seen. That’s why it was important for us all to move into a new home: neutral territory.

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