All I Want For Christmas (13 page)

They strolled along in silence for a while, fingers intertwined, but Lauren knew she had one more question to ask.

‘Anna,' she said, turning to him. ‘And the guilt you feel over her death.'

‘You took that guilt away from me, Lauren. Remember? When you spoke about the lorry being driven in the middle of the road. You were right. It was that driver's guilt, not mine. I'd never thought about it in that way.'

‘And your love for her?'

‘I did love Anna, and always will, but that was a different love for a different woman. Now,' he said, drawing her into his arms. ‘It's you I love.' And she was lost in the depths of his kiss.

‘We must tell Zoe,' Lauren insisted, as they went back to the cottage. ‘D'you think she'll mind sharing her Daddy with me?'

But she needn't have worried. On hearing the news as the three of them walked over the sand, the little girl slipped her hands into theirs, saying, ‘Now I'll have a Daddy and a Mummy, and we'll really, really be a family.'

A family,
Lauren thought contentedly.

Lauren and Zoe stayed on with Rose and Ted, while Matthew returned to clear his flat and work out a month's notice at the hospital. Each weekend he joined them, and together
they
found another cottage near the cove.

Spring filled the hedgerows with primroses and violets, and later the woods were hazed in bluebells. Their wedding, in a tiny grey-stone church, was to be a quiet one. Ted, proud to give Lauren away. Zoe, the bridesmaid in a fairytale dress.

Waking that morning, seeing the cove under a sky of blue brilliance patterned with tiny white clouds, Lauren had only one thought in her mind.
Today I'm getting married again, but this time it will be for ever.