Another Chance (28 page)

He hugged her. “Cass, you’re over-thinking it, but I’m really glad you’re here. Particularly because it’s Friday and I get to take you to bed for the whole weekend.”

“I thought you’d show me around,” she said, giving him an icy stare as if he’d offended her greatly.

Patrick grinned. “I’ll show you my bedroom, how does that sound?”

“It actually sounds pretty good to me,” Cassie murmured affectionately and kissed him.

“I still have a couple of patients to see before I come home, but I’ll give you a key and the alarm code,” he said, writing it down.

“Hey what’s the deal with all the sour faced teenagers out there?” Cassie asked.

“Don’t ask. One came onto me, and I turned her down because I am already in love with the most amazing woman in the universe and the other was a patient who became a little obsessed with me. She’s not supposed to be here, and I called her parents earlier, they were coming to get her.”

Sure enough, when they went out into the reception area again, Emily was gone. “Mr and Mrs Shaw thanked you for your patience. They said she is getting better, but it’s taking some time.”

“I really just hope they have gotten her the help she needs,” Patrick said dourly.

That meant the girl behind the reception desk was the one who came onto him and Cassie looked her in the eye. The sour look disappeared, and something else crossed the girl's face as she realised Patrick had told Cassie. Cassie smiled contentedly. The girl was pretty, but Patrick had chosen her over the much younger woman.

“I’ll see you as soon as I’m finished. Won’t be too late,” Patrick said, squeezing her hand.

“I’m going to swing past the supermarket and grab something to cook for dinner for when you get home.”

“Aren’t I lucky?” He said, leaning in for another kiss.

Cassie smiled at Angela. “It was nice meeting you, no doubt we’ll see each other again.”

“No doubt,” Angela said with a grin.

Inside the house was as crazy as the outside, Patrick had chosen well. Cassie gave herself the grand tour and went room to room, marvelling at the size of the place. He had decorated too, and had thought of her and Sophie when he had.

Cassie was touched when she saw his bedroom was furnished for both of them, and another of the rooms was painted the way he thought Sophie would like. One day they could all live here, and Patrick would get to know his daughter.

The kitchen was amazing with all the modern appliances. She was almost afraid to get anything dirty, it was obvious Patrick had barely used it and when she opened the fridge she was very glad she had been to the supermarket. A real bachelor pad this was, but one waiting for a family. Her family. The thought made her heart swell with pride, and she hurried to make something special for him.

Soon the house was filled with the smell of cooking and Patrick closed his eyes when he came in the door, breathing in the cooking aromas. His girl had cooked for him, and he couldn’t wait to show her his appreciation. In an instant, she was in his arms, and he was kissing her.

“Hello,” she whispered.

“Honey, I’m home.”

Cassie hugged him tight. “I only hope you like dinner.”

“You probably could have made toast, and I would have been happy.”

“From the looks of it, that’s all you make, so I’m not surprised.”

He laughed, and she led him by the hand into the kitchen where dinner was almost ready. The table was all set out complete with candles though it was still light outside and there was no need to light them just yet. “It looks great. This is why I need you here. To turn my house into a home.”

“I’m seeing that.”

“If you keep feeding me like this, I’ll get fat,” Patrick said, leaning back in his chair after eating dinner.

Cassie laughed. “I doubt you have an ounce of fat on you, I’d be surprised if I could change that.”

“You should treat it as a challenge, Miss Warren. We need to go straight upstairs and work it off.”

“You sit down and watch TV. I’ll do the dishes, and I’ll join you in there.”

“Forget the dishes, come to bed.”

She rolled her eyes, he got up from his chair and moved around the table, bending down to kiss her. “Come on, Cassandra. Let’s make the most of the time we have together while I try to convince you to move in with me. You and Sophie.”

Cassie let him lead her upstairs to the bedroom. He laughed. “You’ve put your things away. Did you work out all your furniture then? Cass, did you see Sophie’s room?”

“I did, it’s lovely.”

“You’re lovely and I want you with me all the time, not just for the weekend.”

“I want that too,” she whispered.

He put his hand under her chin and lifted her face to look at him. “I’ve loved you all my life, Cassie Warren. Everything went wrong the first time we tried, but this time I don’t intend to let you go. I only wish we could have had all the years in between to love each other.”

Cassie’s stomach flipped. It was what she had thought about too, but it kept coming back to her that if they had been together she wouldn’t have had Mark in her life, and the thought of that was gut wrenching.

Almost as if he could read her mind, Patrick pulled her close, murmuring, “I’m not jealous of the time you had with Mark, Cassie. You loved him, and it kills me that you hurt so much when he died. Now I’m here again and want to be with you if you’re ready and I will be here for the rest of our lives.”

“Patrick, I’m so glad I decided to come here.”

“So am I. Now, Cassie, I want to make love to you and sleep with you in my arms all night. I want to show you what every night together could be like.” She turned her face up to him, and he kissed her tenderly. “It’s early, but it’s bedtime, Cass.”

Cassie nodded. “I agree.”

In bed, he kissed her, kissed every inch of her that he could and she looked at him with all the love that he needed to see. “So many times I thought of you, Cassie, wondered where you were, who you were with. Wondered if you were married, if you ever thought of me.”

“Every time I looked at Sophie I thought of you,” she whispered.

Patrick looked into her eyes, those green eyes he had dreamed about. “I love you both so much, Cassie, I can’t even tell you how much.”

“Sophie will love you in time, I am so already there.”

She laughed, and he kissed her again. “I don’t know if I can let you go home. We might just send for her.”

Cassie laughed again. “I have to go home at some point. I do still have a job.”

“Come and live with me, Cassie, you can stay at home or find something up here.”

“In time, we need to get used to this first.”

“I want to do this every damn day of our lives. We’ve got a lot of time to make up for.”

“I know,” she said, pulling him closer to her, “I know.”

Patrick woke her up the next morning, and making love before breakfast seemed like the most natural thing in the world. “How about we drive up and visit Mum and Dad today?”

“Where are they?”

“Up north, a couple of hours drive,” he said, “thing is that I haven’t told them that we’re back together.”

She shrugged. “I’m sure they can handle that. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen them.”

“Cass, I took our breakup hard. That first year at Uni, it was a real struggle at times. I don’t know how Mum is going to feel about you.”

“Oh.”

“There’s only one way to make things better though. Come with me, and we’ll tell them about Sophie. Together. Besides, this is what I want. You are what I want. While I would like them to be happy for us, I can live without it if I have to.”

“Patrick, that’s awful. I don’t want to come between you and your parents.”

“You won’t. We have Sophie as our secret weapon. They won’t be able to resist their granddaughter and that will give us time for them to get to know you again.”

“Fine. It makes sense I guess. We’d have to get it over and done with sooner or later.”

“They don’t know about your parents either.”

Cassie nodded. “You were our neighbours for a lot of years. They should know.”

Jane Cross was in the garden when Patrick’s car pulled up. She loved living on the rural property they’d bought not far from the city, but far enough they enjoyed their peace and quiet. He had someone with him today, and she hoped that he’d found someone nice to go out with.

He’d never brought another girlfriend home, and he had gone from woman to woman after Cassie. A fact she still bitterly resented. It was her. A little more mature, but the woman in the car with Patrick was definitely Cassie.

“Patrick.” Jane smiled warmly at her son, barely giving Cassie a glance. He crossed the front of the car, putting his arm around Cassie’s waist and all her worst fears were realised.

“Mum, you remember Cassie?” he asked

“Of course I do,” she snapped.

“We decided to come and see you. Cassie, and I have some news.”

She rolled her eyes as she walked to the house “Come on, I’ll call your father and put on the jug.”

“Cassie,” Brian Cross said, smiling at her. He seemed genuinely happy to see her and Cassie relaxed a little. At least one of them might not be too hard to get through. Jane glared at her husband, and he ignored her. “How have you been love? Keeping well?”

“Not too bad, thanks for asking.”

“How are your mum and dad.”

She blinked, not expecting that question up front for some reason. Before she got a chance to speak, the tears had already welled up. For some reason telling the Crosses what had happened was proving to be more painful than usual. “Are you all right love?”

Cassie closed her eyes while Patrick squeezed her hand. “Actually Dad…”

“They died.”

Jane glanced at her husband. “What happened, Cassie, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“About a week after you left, we had a house fire. I was the only one who survived.”

“Oh love,” Brian said. “I’m really sorry to hear that. Your parents were lovely people.”

“Cassie could have been killed herself,” said Patrick. “As it was she was badly hurt.”

“Oh, Cassie,” Jane said. The compassion was clear in her voice.

“I broke my back and both my legs after having to jump out my bedroom window.” Cassie explained.

“Oh you poor thing, are you fully recovered?” Jane asked.

Cassie nodded. “It took a while and some surgeries, but I got back to normal. Whatever normal is. I went to live with my grandmother in Hamilton.”

“There’s more, Mum, Dad,” Patrick said.

“Patrick it’s a lot to take in.” Cassie raised an eyebrow at him. “Let them digest this first.”

“I guess you’re right. I just wanted to get to the good news.”

“What good news?” Brian asked.

Cassie laughed. “Now you’ve done it.”

Patrick grinned. “That’s because I can’t wait to tell them.”

It was Jane’s turn to raise an eyebrow at Cassie and Patrick. “Tell us what?”

“Cassie was pregnant at the time of the fire. She had the baby. The baby was mine.”

His parents exchanged a glance. “So that would have been what, nearly thirteen years ago?” His father said.

“Yes,” Cassie said, “Sophie had her twelfth birthday a little while ago.”

“That’s her name? Sophie?” Jane asked.

“That’s right, Mum,” said Patrick, “You’re grandparents.”

“Patrick, this is a lot to take in.”

“I know, Mum, but Cassie and I are together again now and you can meet Sophie soon. We need to find the right time to tell her I’m her father.”

“She doesn’t know?”

“We’re still working through everything, Mum. Cassie and I haven’t been back together very long, and her and Sophie have been through a lot of the past couple of years. What I hope will happen is that they will come and live with me, but we need to make some decisions and do what’s best for all of us.” He kissed Cassie on the forehead, and she grinned, snuggling closer to him.

“I have photos if you’d like to see them.” Cassie pulled out her phone, flicking to the most recent photo of Sophie. “There she is, that's our girl.”

“She’s lovely. She’s so much like Patrick. Especially the eyes.”

Cassie nodded. “She’s very much like him. Quick witted, smart, very sweet girl.”

“Cheeky,” said Patrick laughing.

“That too.”

“If I had known ahead that we were coming I would have brought some baby photos with me,” Cassie said.

“We’d love to see them.” Brian spoke up finally after looking at the pictures.

“Maybe our next trip we can bring Sophie up here herself.”

Jane’s eyes shone with excitement. “We would love that.”

Patrick went outside with his father to look at the improvements he’d made around the house, leaving Cassie with Jane which made her nervous. “Cassie, there’s something I really need to ask you.”

She nodded.