Chapter Thirty-Eight
Three in the morning. Faith stared at the clock. Still awake. She hadn’t bothered to get undressed or go to bed when she’d got back from Zane’s cottage earlier. Instead, she’d switched the TV on and slumped on the sofa, going over and over things in her head.
Should she go back?
This was crazy.
Fifteen minutes later she found herself standing in front of his cottage. There were still no lights on, but now his car was parked outside. He was home, but probably asleep.
Well, at least one of them was getting some sleep.
Not for long, though.
Faith knocked on the front door and stepped back to look at the upstairs windows. Had she knocked loud enough? Had he heard her? Would he even answer the door if he had?
A bedroom light went on.
Moments later an outside light came on and she heard the front door being unlocked.
Zane blinked in the light.
“Faith? What are you doing here? Are you OK?”
“We need to talk.”
“Now? It’s three in the morning.”
“Yes. Now.”
Faith pushed past him into the cottage and he closed the door behind her. She looked at him. Dressed in tracksuit bottoms and a T-shirt, his hair dishevelled, his eyes looking tired.
“I thought we said we’d give it a day or so.”
“I know we did. But I need to talk to you now.”
“Faith, look—”
She held up a hand. “No. Just listen. Now it’s my turn to have a say. I’ve made up my mind.”
Zane pushed his fingers through his hair and then shook his head as if accepting his fate. “OK.”
“I called earlier but you were out.” Faith waited for an explanation.
“I was at Carrdale. I couldn’t sleep so I went to use the indoor climbing wall, try to burn off some energy. Matt was there too. Turned out he couldn’t sleep either.”
He glanced at her.
“We talked a few things through. He’s going to book a flight to Austria and go and see Karo, try to sort things out. He says he wants to see if they can make their marriage work.”
Faith nodded. “I truly hope that Karo feels the same way. But if they do get back together, where does that leave you and Carrdale?”
“Matt says if they are going to try again then he’s going to try to persuade her to move over here with him, so they can have a completely fresh start. Whichever way things turn out, he should be back at Carrdale.”
“Well, let’s keep our fingers crossed for both of them, eh?”
Zane nodded and pushed a hand through his hair again, looking nervous. “Do you want a drink or something?”
“No. I need to tell you something. Can you sit down and listen?”
“OK.” Zane flopped onto the sofa, tucking a cushion behind him.
“Right.” Faith sat next to him, took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“Well, I have to be honest and say I can’t ignore all the things you told me earlier. I’m so sorry all of those things happened and that you got hurt. I want to do anything I can to ease some of that pain for you. And I do feel sorry for what you went through. I feel angry on your behalf. But none of that is out of sympathy or pity. It’s because I love you. I love you and I want to be with you.”
She rushed on, keen to get all the words out.
“I know we can work through this. I know we can be amazing together. We were before, and we can be again. Let me help you with all of this. Purely because I love you, not for any other reason. Please don’t fight me on this, Zane, because I won’t give up on you or on us. I want to be with you. I want you. I want us.”
Zane looked at her. Properly. His blue eyes staring into her own. He seemed uncertain. “You’re sure?”
She nodded, stroking a hand gently down his cheek. “I’m two hundred per cent positive.”
“OK.” He nodded. “I want us to be back together, and I’m sorry for all of…”
His voice trailed off, the sentence unfinished.
“No apologies,” Faith said, kissing him softly on the lips. He returned her kiss, slipping a hand to her waist and pressing her closer to him.
She felt relief surge through her.
It was going to be OK. She knew it was. It might take some time, but she was in no rush.
“So now what happens?” she asked, as she snuggled closer to him on the sofa.
Zane eased her out of the way and got to his feet. For a moment she wondered what he was going to say or do. He walked to the front door and turned the key, crossed the room back to where she was sitting on the sofa, then offered her his hand, pulling her to her feet.
She said nothing as he led her towards the stairs, switching off the living room lights as she followed him up to his bedroom.
All he said was, “Stay with me.”
She had a feeling that he didn’t mean just for the night.