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Back When I Lost You Save as PDF
Chapters (81)
  1. Cover
  2. About the Author
  3. Dedication
  4. Prologue
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-one
  26. Twenty-two
  27. Twenty-three
  28. Twenty-four
  29. Twenty-five
  30. Twenty-six
  31. Twenty-seven
  32. Twenty-eight
  33. Twenty-nine
  34. Thirty
  35. Thirty-one
  36. Thirty-two
  37. Thirty-three
  38. Thirty-four
  39. Thirty-five
  40. Thirty-six
  41. Thirty-seven
  42. Thirty-eight
  43. Thirty-nine
  44. Forty
  45. Forty-one
  46. Forty-two
  47. Forty-three
  48. Forty-four
  49. Forty-five
  50. Forty-six
  51. Forty-seven
  52. Forty-eight
  53. Forty-nine
  54. Fifty
  55. Fifty-one
  56. Fifty-two
  57. Fifty-three
  58. Fifty-four
  59. Fifty-five
  60. Fifty-six
  61. Fifty-seven
  62. Fifty-eight
  63. Fifty-nine
  64. Sixty
  65. Sixty-one
  66. Sixty-two
  67. Sixty-three
  68. Sixty-four
  69. Sixty-five
  70. Sixty-six
  71. Sixty-seven
  72. Epilogue
  73. Acknowledgments
  74. Read More
  75. Prologue
  76. One
  77. Two
  78. Three
  79. Four
  80. Follow Merilyn online
  81. Dedication

‘Well, I’m sure things will become clearer as we progress.’ And he smiled his irritating smile, although now Nell didn’t seem to find it quite as irritating as she had before.

Twenty-five

Then

I’m running down the beach. It’s dark, but for some reason I don’t slip. I want to turn to Aoife and call back, but Alf is standing on the wall and I know he wants me to come to him.

‘Mary,’ she calls again and this time I stop. I look at Alf, then back to Aoife. She’s so far away I can hardly see her, but in her arms I notice a blanket clutched to her chest, and the kitten-like mew from the child wrapped within it carries itself to me on the wind.

‘Mary!’ Alf’s voice is next to me and I jump. ‘She’ll ruin it for us. She’ll always put the baby first and when she does, you’ll be left all alone. There’s no turning back, Mary.’ His breath hits my cheek. ‘It’s Aoife or me.’

I wake with a start. I have no air in my lungs and I start to panic, hunched over, clawing at the blanket on my bed as I try to pull in a breath.

‘Hey, Mary, what’s the matter?’ Aoife looks over from her bed, my desperate noises having woken her, and she’s up and over to mine when she sees I’m in trouble.

‘Come on now, just calm down.’ She’s stroking my back and I try to focus on the rhythmic movement. It helps. I feel slivers of air run down my throat before I take a huge breath and then two more. I collapse back on the bed, panting.

‘Jesus, I thought you were dying.’

‘So did I.’ I try a laugh but it doesn’t come. Aoife lies down next to me.

‘Bad dream?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Want to tell me?’

I shake my head. The residue of the dream hangs between us. I look at her stomach, growing bigger by the week. ‘It’s all going to change, isn’t it? When it’s born.’

She follows my eyes and puts a hand on her stomach, something she’s been doing more and more. ‘Well, there will be a baby, that’s definitely a change.’ She laughs, but when she sees my face she stops.

‘I meant between us. Things will change between us.’

Aoife shakes her head, red curls emphasising her point. ‘No. Nothing will change. This baby is as much yours as mine. We got into this together and we’ll get out of it the same way.’