Epilogue

Eighteen months later

“Tom…”

“Um.”

“What was that noise last night?”

“What noise, Keira?”

“That flapping thing in the hut after you had…” She shivered with remembered desire. She couldn’t say out loud what he had been doing, but it had, partly, taken her mind off the noises. “That thud and the scurrying noise?”

Tom smiled as he helped her into the canoe. The river was a glassy mirror reflecting thatched-roof huts on stilts, and behind them the jungle swayed slowly in the thick, hot breeze.

“The flapping and the thuds were probably fruit bats hitting the wall. The scurrying was probably mice. Maybe you had a nightmare, and no wonder after what you got up to yesterday.”

Her lip jutted out.

“Ow!” She felt his fingers tap lightly on the small of her back. The tattoo she’d had the day before had hurt like hell. In fact, it had had to be turned into a teeny tiny flower, not the gorgeous butterfly she’d intended.

“I don’t believe you about the mice,” she said, laughing. “No mouse in England ever made a racket like that. You’re just teasing me.”

He squeezed her hand. “I decided discretion was the better part of valour. Now smile,” he said, “and wave.”

Keira lifted her hand as they waved their farewells to the villagers they’d been staying with for the past week. When they’d arrived, palm fronds and oranges had adorned the balcony of their guesthouse, and there were coconuts, heavy with sweet water, waiting for them. She could see why Tom loved these people, this place, and she wanted their son to share it.

“I wish Henry could see all this…” she said.

“He will. One day,” said Tom firmly, feeling that fierce twinge of joy and pain that struck him at unexpected moments. He was happy he’d shared this place with Keira, even if it meant they’d had to leave little Henry with his grandmother and uncles for three long weeks. He’d wanted so much for his wife to share this experience, and she’d been incredible with the children as he’d supervised the new medics he’d helped to fund. Now, like her, he ached to be with his baby son again.

He turned to Keira and saw her eyes, knowing she was thinking exactly the same as him. Then he cradled her beautiful face in his hands and kissed her, long and deep, as the canoe wobbled away from the bank.