Page 96 of Surprises on the Scottish Isle

He shook his head. ‘She’s fine.’

Bonnie sniffed, ‘She’s gone. She told Daddy she doesn’t want to be his girlfriend, and now he’s really sad. Mhairi said I was being selfish.’

‘Go inside,’ Yvaine said. ‘I’ll be there in a minute.’ She waited until Bonnie was out of earshot then said, ‘You need to explain.’

Cal didn’t have time for this, so he made it quick, finishing with, ‘She’s gone to the Isle of Wight, to her mother’s, and I’m going after her.’ He stared defiantly at his ex-wife, sick of letting her call the shots. If she wanted to make a thing of this, she’d have to wait. He had a six-hundred-mile drive ahead of him and the love of his life to win back first.

Yvaine surprised him by bursting into tears.

At a loss, he eyed her uncertainly, wondering whether he should give her a hug or call Lenn.

‘You almost died,’ she cried, her face in her hands.

Cal froze in shock. She didn’t still love him, did she? Oh, hell!

‘But I didn’t,’ he replied. ‘I’m still alive and kicking.’ He stepped towards her, then hesitated. ‘I’m sorry, Yvaine.’

She dropped her hands and sniffed. A wry smile appeared on her tear-streaked face. ‘For not dying?’

He huffed out a breath. ‘For everything. For not loving you enough, for not trying harder to make it work. I really did care about you. I still do.’

‘But you don’t love me.’

Filled with deep regret, he shook his head and repeated, ‘I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you.’

‘I know.’ She swallowed and looked away. ‘You can’t help who you fall in love with.’

‘You can’t,’ he agreed sadly, his heart going out to her. He’d made such a godawful mess of everything.

She said, ‘We never should have got married.’

‘No.’

Yvaine brought her gaze back to him. ‘I always knew you didn’t love me the way I loved you, and when I realised why and that she’d come back into your life, I kind of flipped.’ Her eyes bored into him and he shuffled uncomfortably. This wasn’t easy to hear but he owed it to Yvaine to listen as she continued, ‘I’m sorry for being such a cow. It was wrong. I suppose I wanted to get back at you, and I was also cheesed off by your attitude toward Lenn. He’s no threat to you, Cal. You’ll always be Bonnie’s father.’

‘Are you happy, Yvaine?’

She looked surprised at the question. ‘I am. I love Lenn with all my heart. He’s a good man, and he thinks the world of Bonnie.’

‘I’m glad. You deserve to be happy.’

‘As do you. Go get her, Cal. Persuade Tara to come back to Skye.’

That was precisely what he intended to do –ifhe could convince her to give him another chance.

Tara woke feeling even more exhausted than when she’d gone to bed.Her back ached, her shoulders and arms were in agony, and her hands feltlike claws from gripping the steering wheel for hours on end. To add toher list of woes, her eyes were dry and gritty, her neck had gone into aspasm, her head pounded, and her hips and legs felt like they belongedto an eighty-year-old.

But those physical woes were nothing compared to the emotional ones.

Tara’s heart had been torn out of her chest, and the gaping hole was a throbbing, pulsing agony. Each time she thought of Cal, pain so intense that it made her gasp shot through her. Yet, not thinking about him was as impossible as not breathing.

Damn him! It had taken her years to get her life back on track after the last time he’d broken her heart. She had an awful suspicion she mightn’t get it back on track at all this time.

Snippets of yesterday’s long drive floated into her head – the endless motorway, the sun in her eyes as she headed south, the tears on her cheeks, then the safety of her mother’s embrace, and the feel of her cool hand on Tara’s clammy brow as she tucked her into bed.

A clock on the nightstand told her it was only seven a.m.

Maybe she would stay here for the rest of the day. Tomorrow, as well. What was there to get up for?

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