Page 116 of Tears of Glass

I walk up the stairs, heading for the floor beneath mine and knock on the white door. There’s a sound of talking and baby wails from behind the door before it opens. The woman’s dark eyes land on my face. “Hi.” It’s hard not to look sheepish. “I’m Faith from upstairs.” I point at the ceiling. “We had coffee a while back.”

She nods and the baby crawls along the passageway to her ankles and tries to stand. She sweeps him up, kissing him tenderly. My heart clenches. Am I really going to do this? Am I going to bring back bad memories, drag the past back into her present?

I chew my bottom lip and think of Lewis, the boy without a mother.

“Actually, it’s Lucy, right? I was hoping I could talk to you about Melanie Duncan.”

Her eyes widen and she goes to shut the door, but I put a hand on the plastic frame and stop it swinging in my face. “I’m a friend of her son. And I want to tell you what happened to me.”

She stops, her face falling, and then a tear rolls from her eye and splatters on the fair hair of her son in her arms, and she nods.

“It’s time we all stop running.”

Chapter Thirty

“Dan, just pick up the phone for fuck’s sake.” I inhale my cigarette. It’s late and cold out in Eli’s garden. “I just want to know you are okay, I’m worried.”

I hang up and put my phone next to me on the rattan sofa. It’s late. I should be in bed, but I can’t switch off. Eli isn’t home even though it’s gone eleven. I called him when I left Lucy’s.

I’ve cried a lot today. The dam holding the tears has been breached. I spent my time since I got home in the studio, casting my eyes over the surprise canvas I produced and creating glass to match. I’ve managed to suspend gold dust within amber coloured glass. It shines like the sun coming through the window in France.

Sighing, I stare at the sky.

I can’t believe my own father threatened me.

What will happen when people find out what Aiden did? How will it affect Elijah?

Is this another reason to keep it quiet?

“What are you doing out here, it’s freezing?” Eli’s voice cuts through my thoughts as he opens the door and pokes his head outside.

“Thinking.” Inhaling deeply on my cigarette, I blow a cloud of smoke into the air.

“Can I join you?”

He slips onto the sofa and settles next to me, his thigh pressing against mine. “Long day, huh?” I say.

He lifts my hand, turning it palm up and bringing it to his lips, pressing a gentle kiss into the centre of my palm. “Longer for you, I think.”

I shrug, but inside me my chest tightens and my stomach rolls like it’s full of lead balls.

We sit as silence weaves around us, my gaze is on the stars, but I know his is on me.

“You did a good thing today, Faith. But I’m sorry if it’s opened wounds again. I promised nothing else would hurt you.”

I shake my head and turn to meet him. Stunning under the moonlight, he steals the air I need to breathe. With his soul-searching gaze, he eases the heaviness in my tummy.

“The wounds don’t hurt anymore, not like they did before I met you.”

He offers me a smile, his beautiful lips curving at the edges.

“I spoke to Tabitha the other week, too. Told her the truth. It seems with you in my life, talking is easier.”

“Well that’s good.”

I rub at my nose. “My dad called today.”

Eli’s eyes widen a fraction, the delphinium turning to deep pools, dark under the dark sky. “And?”