I stepped away from him. ‘That’s got nothing to do with this.’

He put his hands on my shoulders, dark eyes pleading with me. ‘Yes, it does! I want us both to be open with one another, otherwise what’s the point of us?’

‘Us? What is us, Dylan? You walked out on me.’

‘And you kept our daughter from me!’

‘Exactly. We’re a mess.’

‘Yeah,’ he said, his hands dropping from my shoulders, his eyes alight with anger. ‘A fucking mess.’

‘What’s the point?’ I went to walk out but then he grabbed my arm.

‘Don’t go, Gwyneth.’

I looked down at his hand then at his face, which flickered with emotion.

‘Okay, if you want the truth,’ I said. He looked at me expectantly. I thought about telling him in that moment, I really did. But when it came to the crunch, I just couldn’t. So instead I told another truth. ‘I love you.’

He blinked, face unreadable.

‘I’m not asking for anything,’ I quickly added. ‘I’m not expecting you to love me in return, that’s not why I’m telling you. I just need to tell the truth about something. I know you probably don’t love me and I’ll be happy if you’re in my life through Lumin. I just needed you to know and—’

He pulled me towards him, pressing his lips against mine. I felt my whole body relax as he wrapped his arm around my waist to pull me even closer, his fingers on my neck.

‘God, I love you too.’ He laughed against my lips. ‘Jesus Christ, we really are a mess, aren’t we?’

‘The best kind of mess,’ I said. Our kisses grew more intense and we stumbled towards his bed. As we made love, it felt like nothing had changed between us. No years had passed from the moment he left. And the secrets we’d each come so close to divulging just moments ago had been forgotten.

After, we lay in each other’s arms, smiling giddily at each other as new snow started drifting from the dark skies outside and our child slept in her room next door.

Our child.

How wonderful it felt to think that.

I looked up at Dylan. He had one arm stretched behind his head, the other around my shoulders as he stared up the ceiling. So we’d finally told each other we loved one another. But what did that mean for our future? And did I want there to be a future between us?

Yes, of course. I’d grown used to my little family unit with Lumin. But the idea of Dylan being part of that filled me with joy.

He noticed me watching him. ‘So …?’

‘So what?’ I asked.