Page 111 of Moonlight Kisses at Willow Tree Hall

‘And yet you still treat them with complete indifference,’ she told him, rolling her eyes.

‘Because they’re going to give up on me eventually, just like everyone else,’ he retorted before he could think.

He paused and shook his head. Had he really just said that aloud?

Lily took a sharp intake of breath. ‘My God,’ she whispered. ‘You still think they’re going to leave you? Even after all this time?’

He shrugged his shoulders. ‘Everyone leaves eventually.’

‘But you’re the one pushing them away,’ she said, shaking her head sadly. ‘Not the other way round. They want to be in your life. Is this what you do with everyone in your life?’

He grabbed her and pulled her close to him. ‘Does this look as if I’m pushing everyone away?’ he said, in a fierce tone.

‘You did once. Now you’re just doing it to prove me wrong. But you know I’m right.’ She reached out and stroked his cheek with her hand. ‘Listen to me,’ she told him, her tone much softer now. ‘Those are good people in there. They’re not going anywhere. You have to trust them. It’s time to put your faith in them.’

He reached out and imprisoned the hand against his cheek with his. ‘I don’t know if I can,’ he told her. He barely recognised his own voice as it sounded so hoarse.

‘You can do anything you put your mind to, Jack Carter,’ she told him, with a gentle smile. ‘Look at everything you’ve achieved. Everything you’ve fought against. Everyone you’ve helped. Surely you can do this one small thing and have a nice dinner with your parents?’

‘For you?’ he said. ‘I’ll try.’

She shook her head. ‘Don’t do it for me. Do it for yourself,’ she told him. She reached up to brush her lips against his cheek. ‘I’m going to the ladies’. And you’re going back in there to make amends.’

They locked eyes for a second before she turned and walked away.

Jack took a deep breath before he walked back into the restaurant, forcing himself to relax.

He looked at his parents, holding hands at the table. He hadn’t booked them a table at The Ivy to impress them. They knew his humble beginnings and they weren’t snobs, anyway. But he had wanted it to be a treat.

Sitting down, he took a grateful gulp of wine from his glass to give him the courage to speak the words that he needed to say. Words that Lily had encouraged him to say. If only she were here to give him that same strength now.

But this was something he had to face.

‘There’s something I want to say,’ he began, trying to keep his tone deliberately casual.

He watched his parents exchange a worried look, but they stayed silent.

‘I just thought I should tell you…’ His voice trailed off into a croak, so he cleared his throat and tried again. ‘I’ve come to realise that…’

There was silence for a moment. He had to do this. He had to say something after all these years. What if he never got the chance again? What if the fates weren’t in his favour? He knew he would regret never saying the words that had to be said aloud.

‘What is it, son?’ asked Peter, gently.

Jack cleared his throat. ‘I’ve been thinking recently that I never said thank you. For taking me on. For adopting me all those years ago.’

The air stilled around the table as his words sunk in.

‘And I should have done,’ he carried on. ‘I should have said thank you a long time ago.’

With a tear rolling down her cheek, Joan reached out and took his hand. For once, he made himself not pull his own away in response. He let her continue to squeeze his hand as she spoke.

‘I don’t know how you put up with me,’ said Jack, trying and failing to inject some humour into the conversation. ‘It must have been a nightmare. I was so angry.’

‘And with good reason!’ said his father in a cross tone. ‘But look at what you’ve accomplished since then.’

‘Thanks to the good education that you paid for,’ added Jack.

Peter shrugged his shoulders. ‘That’s just books and stuff,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘That didn’t give you the generous heart and the need to help people out. Something you’ve done so much recently. That’s what makes me proud. You could have said to hell with the world. Nobody’s ever been good to me so why should I bother? But you didn’t. You fight for them. And that’s what makes you the man you are.’