‘Thank you. I needed to hear that.’ Somehow Hannah didn’t seem hurt. She didn’t seem beaten. She had that light in her eyes that ignited when she faced a challenge.
‘Thank you for the opportunity of saying it.’
Nothing had changed. Everything had c
hanged. The fear of seeming like his father had dissolved suddenly and Matt was his own man. His head began to swim.
‘I’ve come to tell you something, Matt. Just so you know.’
He’d listen. Whatever it was that Hannah wanted to get off her chest, he’d take it. Matt nodded her on.
‘I’ve thought about this a lot, and when I heard that yesterday was your last day at the hospital, I had to make a decision.’ She took a deep breath, as if there was no going back now. ‘I promised myself I’d never follow anyone again, but that was before I fell in love with you. So wherever you go, I’ll follow. Whenever you want me, I’ll be there.’
Bright, blinding light. Suddenly everything was in sharp focus and the world seemed full of colour. Maybe he’d died and gone to heaven. Matt pulled himself together.
‘Hannah, you can’t.’
‘Try me.’
He shook his head, trying to clear it. ‘What about Sam? And your mother...?’
‘Mum and Sam are staying here, and so am I. But my heart will always go with you. It’ll wait, and if you ever want me...’ Her face crumpled suddenly and she clasped her hands together. ‘If you do want me, then you should call.’
He wanted to hold her. Matt wanted to forget all of the reasons that they couldn’t be together and plunge into the fantasy of being with Hannah. But this was real. She was serious about this, and there were real obstacles.
‘I want you every day. I love you...’ Matt shook his head. ‘But this isn’t the smart thing to do, Hannah, you and Sam deserve more than I know how to give.’
‘We both know how to change. It’s just a matter of whether we want to enough.’
Matt’s world crashed down around him. Everything that he’d thought he knew, everything that had made it so impossible for them to be together. Hannah had done the impossible, and smashed through it all. He got to his feet, kneeling in front of her.
‘Hannah, you’re the bravest, most beautiful woman...’ She started to cry suddenly, and he reached to brush away her tears.
‘You said that I should call you when I was ready. I’m calling you now. I don’t know how I can ever begin to deserve you, but I’m going to find a way. I want to be the one that loves and protects you, and Sam, for the rest of my life.’
She threw her arms around his neck. ‘Neither of us has to do it alone, Matt. If we stick together we can do all the things we thought we’d never do.’
‘Flash and Robin. Ready to take on anything.’ He kissed her, holding her as if he was never going to let her go. There was no as if about it. He never was going to let Hannah go.
EPILOGUE
Six months later
IT HADN’T BEEN EASY. But that had never stopped them before.
Love had carried them through it all. The therapy, where Matt had begun to shake off the burden of his childhood trauma. His long commute between Hamblewell and London, and the lonely nights when Matt had stayed over at the hospital.
Hannah’s fears for Sam and her mother had turned out to be unfounded. Sam loved Matt, and had begun to wonder aloud whether marrying his mum might make Matt his father. Hannah’s mother had dismissed the suggestion that she might like to live with them, saying that she had a life of her own now. Wherever Matt and Hannah decided to make their home, she’d visit regularly. Sophie had promised to do so as well, when she wasn’t busy with her A and E doctor. Hannah had confided to Matt that she thought that Sophie’s days of serial dating were over.
Wanting to know more about Matt’s childhood, Hannah had read Matt’s mother’s book from cover to cover and been moved to tears by it. The two women had liked each other immediately when Matt had taken Hannah and Sam down to Devon to visit, and the warmth of his mother’s welcome had left them in no doubt that she was delighted to see her son finally settling down.
The weekend in Tuscany, when Matt had proposed to her, had been wonderful. They’d stayed on a secluded beach, eating, swimming and making love for two days, and when they’d arrived back home, Matt had asked Sam if he could be his dad.
And it had all led them here. To the doorstep of a house in a leafy suburb of London, which backed onto a park. There was a great school, just down the road, and Sam had already visited and begun to get to know the teachers and the other children. The outside of the house had been newly decorated, and the front garden planted with shrubs, but the inside still needed some work.
Matt took the key from his pocket, handing it to Sam and lifting him up so that he could reach the lock.
‘Is this our house now?’