Page 74 of Take Me Slowly: part 2
LEAH
"We're right here with you,"Riley said as we approached Gavin's small house. "Everything is going to be fine."
"I don't want to upset him," I said. "He's been through enough. What if this pushes him over the edge?" I was more than half-tempted to turn around and walk back to my cottage. The fire was burning inside, keeping the place warm and cosy. Safe. Less…potentially confrontational or damaging.
"If he starts to get anxious, we won't say anything," Fiona said. She'd volunteered to come with us, knowing him better than the rest of us. "We'll keep it to ourselves for now." She gave me a reassuring smile and pushed open the door before stepping inside.
I hesitated before letting my breath mist the air as I sighed, and stamped the snow off my boots to follow her in.
Gavin sat in his usual chair, the TV on, a mug of what looked like hot chocolate in his hands. A marshmallow was floating on the top, melted and gooey.
"Good morning Gavin," Fiona said lightly. "How are you feeling today?"
Gavin took us all in before his gaze settled on me. He huffed.
"Looks like an interrogation squad." He seemed more lucid than I'd seen him before. And more suspicious. Was it too late to walk away after all?
"We're not here to interrogate you," I said gently. I lowered myself to the chair beside his. "We have a couple of questions." I glanced up at Fiona who nodded reassuringly.
"You're her, aren't you?" he asked before I could say anything. "I always wondered if you'd come back."
"I've been here before to help Fiona," I said carefully.
The expression on his face would have given Connor a run for his money. He didn't roll his eyes, but he might as well have. We weren't fooling him for a moment.
"I don't mean the other day," he said. "I mean, you're… Not Coral."
"No, I'm not Coral," I agreed. "I'm Leah."
He nodded slowly, his eyes tired and sad, but still clear.
"You must hate me," he said into his drink. "I didn't know what Susan did. She's dead, you know? Heard the nurse talking about her when she thought I wasn't listening." He paused for a beat before he added, "I thought she cheated."
I frowned. "The nurse? Oh, you mean Susan."
He responded with a rumbling chuckle. "Yeah, Susan. I knew Coral wasn't mine. I thought she'd done the deed with some other man and tried to pass the baby off as mine. Always treated her like she was mine." His eyes were glazed now, but this time thinking back, rather than lost in his own head.
"Yes, you did." Josiah came to sit on the other side of Gavin. "You were good to her. You were good to me too."
"Until I wasn't," Gavin said. "I heard the things they said about you and I didn't know how to tell them the truth. They kept telling me she fell in the river. That was what they wanted me to believe. After a while, I started to think it was what really happened."
He shook his head slowly. "It wasn't until I saw you, Leah, that I knew. I let myself remember. Her mother came and took her back. It was my fault you were kept from her for so long. I think, deep down, I knew what Susan did. I knew and I did nothing to stop it."
I glanced over to Josiah. I wouldn't blame him if he hated Gavin, although Gavin clearly hadn't been in his right mind for so long.
Josiah shook his head slowly. No, he didn't harbour any hatred or resentment. Frustration, yes, but nothing more. No desire for anger or vengeance. He had accepted the situation a long time ago. It couldn't be undone now.
"Am I going to jail?" Gavin asked.
"I think we've all been through enough already," I said slowly. "You said you thought Susan cheated. They can't prove you had anything to do with it."
Honestly, I didn't believe him when he said he knew deep down. If he had, he would have come forward and said something.Donesomething. It was too late to speculate on that now.
Besides, Susan might have run and taken me with her if he'd given her any sign he knew. I could be on the other side of the planet right now.
Or worse.
"I used to hold Coral and wonder what she'd be like as an adult," Gavin said softly. "I knew she'd be beautiful. And smart. I used to sing lullabies to her and tell her she could be anything when she grew up. She… You were always so good at art. You used to sit there for hours and draw and paint. And…make things."
