Carl was a terrific father and spent lots of time with Becky and Jacob who were growing up fast. So when Carl suggested having another baby, Rachel was not altogether against the idea. She was really quite excited about the possibility and hoped it would happen soon as neither of them was getting any younger.
She and Ellie had kept up their friendship and tried to meet up at least once a week, if only for a coffee.
Ellie could talk of little else but Robin.
Ellie was still working for Sam although Robin had tried to entice her away to work for him. But Ellie and Sam were still bosom buddies and she stayed loyal to him. She and Robin
had moved in together and were head over heels in love. Robin had hinted at marriage but Ellie wanted to take it slowly. She hadn
’
t forgotten how close she
’
d come to marrying the wrong man before. This time she wanted to be absolutely sure and was enjoying living with Robin and getting to know him.
She
’
d never have believed it possible to be so happy. Robin was a wonderful partner and lover and was always touching and caressing her, unable to be away from her for a moment. She still talked of her
‘
lucky escape
’
but now she could laugh about it. It gave her some satisfaction to know that things hadn
’
t worked out for David and Sandrine although she felt no bitterness towards David. Her relationship with her sister was still very strained and Sandrine was more jealous of her than ever after she
’
d been introduced to Robin.
Sam had a new girlfriend, a glamorous TV presenter, but it didn
’
t look like it was going anywhere. Everyone had thought that Sam and Ellie might have ended up together but that was before Robin appeared on the scene. It seemed that Sam would be another George Clooney – a perennial bachelor! They were all looking forward to the Diploma Course which was due to start in September. By all accounts it was very rigorous and Rachel hoped she
’
d find the time for all that study but Carl assured her that he
’
d take over the business to allow her to do
it
.
Ronan and she still had a very close bond. They
’
d been a great support to each other through the troubled times and neither of them would ever forget it. They still kept in touch regularly but they were both busy with their new careers and both had moved on in their personal lives too. She was very happy that he
’
d found love with Fiona. Rachel hadn
’
t been at all surprised when he
’
d told her. She
’
d known that Fiona was in love with him but like all men, Ronan had been a bit slow on the uptake. He was mad about Oisín who was now a darling bundle of energy, walking already
,
although he wasn
’
t quite a year old. Becky and Jacob adored him. Fiona was having a big party for his first birthday and Rachel suspected that there might be another announcement made at that time. She hoped so. Ronan deserved to be happy. He was such a wonderful guy.
As she waited for the first of her friends to arrive
,
she surveyed the beautifully set table.
Just then Carl came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She leaned back into him.
“
What a difference this is from last year,
”
he said, nuzzling her neck.
“
But you know something? I like this much better.
”
“
Me too
,”
she agreed, her voice gentle
.
“
I guess it took all that heartache for us to realise what really matters. Family and friends
,”
he remarked, turning her around in his arms.
“
I guess behind every cloud, there is a silver lining,
”
she said softly, as she reached up to kiss him.