Both Peter and Assumpta suffered a sleepless night. No matter how hard he tried to close his eyes Peter had tossed and turned, his impatience and anger coming back to haunt him in the way he had spoken to her. No wonder she had pushed him out into the night and slammed the door in his face. He would have given anything to take back the words.

Assumptas' restlessness had a similar cause. She tried to stay angry, she knew where she was with anger. But all she could see was the pain she had caused him. It wasn't his fault, deep down she knew that. It was hard for him to change how other people saw him, how he saw himself and she had struck at the one nerve she knew would be the sorest. How many times could even he find forgiveness for her, had she pushed him too far this time?

For both of them the night seemed to go on forever.

The next morning Peter was resolved to go to Fitzgeralds and apologise. The sense of loss was too much to bear. If it meant he had to swallow his pride then so be it, he couldn't let her go through this alone.

Assumpta fidgeted with her sweater and glanced at the clock for what must have been the hundredth time. As soon as one of the regulars arrived she would go to find him, tell him how sorry she was, beg… well perhaps not quite that far, but all she knew was that she had to see Peter as soon as possible, once she saw him it would all be alright. Trust none of them to be in early this morning. Normally Paidrig would be demanding coffee, Brendan a breakfast bun, even Siobhan would be demanding something to eat or drink, were this a normal day when she wanted to get on. But today the silence of the bar rang in her ears. Finally unable to stand it any longer she decided to close up. Peter was more important.

Throwing on her coat, Assumpta opened the door to the street. She stopped in her tracks. There he was, standing outside Hendleys, hands in the pockets of his jeans, staring straight at the pub.

For all the world it was as only the two of them existed. Their eyes locked across the street as Bally K went about its business. For each of them there was nothing else. Peter took a step forward, just as the dark blue soft top pulled over to the side of the road. The slam of the car door broke the spell.

"Isn't this a touching scene?" Leo said with more than a tinge of sarcasm.

Assumpta looked at her ex husband in surprise. 'What on earth is he doing here?' She thought, her mind racing. Glancing back to Peter she was shocked to see the anger and almost disgust in his face as he glared at Leo. Without a further word, the ex priest turned and stormed off along the street.

"Ah…Peter!" Assumpta called, but if he heard her he didn't respond.

"Bad time?" Leo asked jovially.

"What do you want Leo?" Assumpta asked wearily as she hung up her coat.

"What? I can't come and see my old Scotia once in a while?"

Assumpta raised and eyebrow.

"Ok, ok." Leo said producing a newspaper from under his arm. "I take it you haven't seen this then?"

From the front page Peter looked towards the camera. He seemed normal, as though caught in mid conversation as he unlocked the door to the pub.

PRIEST AND PUBLICAN PASSION the headline screamed.

"That's the best they can do, it makes you want to cry doesn't it?" Leo said.

"So that's it? You're here for the story?" Assumpta said crossly.

"What do you take me for Assumpta?"

"Well aren't you?" Her eyes flashing with anger. "The other journalists didn't think it was worth coming down here, what are you going to do, give it from the jilted husbands' point of view!"

"I'd hardly need to come down here for that would I?" Leo shot back.

Taking a breath he continued in a more level tone. "Did you not wonder why none of the other papers came? Why they didn't run it?"

"Not news, not interesting, a waste of time!" She snapped.

Leo laughed. "This is Ireland sweetheart or have you forgotten. A priest breaking his vows, that's big news, big juicy news that people are going to want to get their teeth into."

"So why?" Assumpta asked.

"Because when I got the lead about this story I called in some favours, spoke to some people, told them it was all lies, a fabrication, basically did all I could to stop it going to press."

"You did that… for us? Thank you." Assumpta said in amazement.

Leo leaned across the bar, his anger visible. "I didn't do it for you. Do you think I want everyone in the country to know that my wife left me because she was in love with a…priest?"

"It… it wasn't like that…" Assumpta began lamely.

"It was exactly like that!" Leo spat. "I was just the booby prize, the second choice, not the man you actually wanted, the one you dreamed about, the one you couldn't leave no matter how unavailable he was, you had to be here just to be near him."

"Leo I…"

"You what? How many times did you go to meet him when I was working upstairs? When I was trying to make you happy? What was it? Little romantic meetings under the bridge perhaps, is that where he took you, or perhaps here under the same roof you lived with your husband, in one of the rooms, or here across this bar!" His fist slammed down on the woodwork making Assumpta jump involuntarily.

Her eyes flashed in temper. "How dare you!" She growled. "Nothing, and I mean nothing happened while we were together… nothing even happened while we were still officially married! You know Peter, he would never do something so… so… wrong!"

"Oh he wouldn't? If he is so saintly why didn't he go back to England rather than coming between a man and his wife, why didn't he just go away!"

"He could have gone to another planet but it wouldn't have stopped me loving him!"

They both stopped, breathing heavily with the effort.

Leo straightened his jacket.

"That's a word I never thought I'd hear you say." He said almost calmly.

"I do love him Leo… Do you think I would have done that to you, honestly, if I had any control over it? I love him more than anything in the world; I can't imagine life without him."

Leo nodded slowly. "Then he is a very lucky man."

Jenny watched the scene on the street from her bedroom window. She almost smiled, this was too perfect. Grabbing a sweater she tiptoed quietly down the stairs. How to get out without anyone seeing her? She could hear the raised voices from the bar. As much as she wanted to stay and listen, she needed to find Peter, she had a feeling that this was her chance.

She found him by the river Angel throwing pebbles into the water with a force she didn't think she had ever seen in him before.

"Careful." She said softly, "You'll be giving the fish concussion."

Peter glanced briefly in her direction, then bent to pick up another handful of stones.

"Now is not a good time Jenny." He said without looking at her.

Leaning against a tree Jenny watched him for a moment.

"I'd say this was a perfect time, you seem…upset. Do you want to talk about it… friend to friend?"

Peter sighed. "I don't really… but thank you."

"It's just I heard Assumpta talking to a man…"

Peter said nothing.

"They were discussing the newspaper article. I suppose he is a friend of hers, he was promising to help. She seemed very grateful, so surely that is a good thing, that she has someone to turn to?"

The barrage on the water increased.

"Peter… why are you torturing yourself, this isn't your fault? I hate to see you like this. Perhaps you should think about getting away for a while… until it all dies down?"

"And where would I go? Where should I go? To leave Assumpta to deal with this alone?"

"She isn't alone… she has her friend. You would probably be doing her a favour, getting out of the way… you could come and stay in Manchester, be with your own friends?"

Peter turned slowly to look at her, his face a mask.

"Peter?" Jenny said.

He said nothing just continued to look at her.

"Peter?" She said again.

"It was you." He said. There was no anger or malice, it was a simple statement as if he had asked her to pass the salt.

Jenny laughed nervously. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the person who started all of this, the one who went to the newspapers… that person was you Jenny."

She laughed again, shifting uncomfortably. "I told you I would never do anything to hurt you."

"Not me, no, but you would hurt Assumpta, and that's the way the story read, woman seduces priest. Jenny how could you?"

"Because it should have been me!" She burst out suddenly. "You had strong feelings for me! I told you there would be others, a next time, but I thought it would make you realise that I was your first love… I was the one!"

"So you came here to destroy my life!"

"No. I came to make you see how much you needed me, that this life was… was a fantasy… not the life you wanted. You can't make it work here, in England we could be ok. No-one would care, but here, it's a crime almost. Why would you stay here for that?"

"For Assumpta."

"She has turned you against me. It's me that you loved. I know it. If we could just get away from her… from here, you would see, it is me that you love!"

Peter shook his head. "I'm sorry Jenny, I don't love you."

"You love me!" She shouted, her fists clenched. "You can't see it because you are under the spell of this… this place. You love me, you know you do, and deep down you know it."

The Peter Jenny was used to would have blushed, dodged the subject, even run from such confrontation, instead he stood with a look of complete assertion.

"Jenny. Thank you."

Assumpta woke to a strange scraping noise. She lay there in the dark listening for a moment, trying to work out what was happening. Eventually she pulled back the duvet and made her way to the window. Throwing up the sash she looked down to see the top of Peters head as he stood in front of the window to the bar… scraping."

"What…" She said. "Are you doing?"

He looked up at her and Assumptas' heart skipped a beat. 'How does he always have this affect on me?' She scolded herself.

"Nothing, go back to bed." He said simply before returning to his task.

Putting on her dressing gown Assumpta crept down the stairs. Fumbling with the bolts she opened the door, to find Peter still scraping at the window.

"How can I go to sleep with you making all that noise?" She said stepping out into the street.

The word was partially removed, but Assumpta could see from the remaining letters that it was something very unpleasant.

"I wanted to get rid of it before you saw it." Peter said apologetically. "I can't imagine who would do something like this."

"I can." She said, taking up a sponge and helping to wipe away the paint.

Peter smiled slightly. "Is this going to be a sermon on the evil influence of the church?"

"Not tonight." She replied.

They cleaned in silence until the graffiti was gone.

"A drink?" Assumpta asked. "It's all the thanks you'll get."

Peter nodded.

In the bar Assumpta poured a large glass of wine for them both.

"Peter… I wanted to explain… about Leo."

"You do not have to answer to me Assumpta."

"I know, it's just he had some information… about where the story came from…?"

"Jenny Clarke."

Assumpta looked into her glass. "I'm sorry Peter."

"Why?" He said taking a large mouthful. "You were right all along."

"I take no pleasure in it." She said sadly.

"I do."

Assumpta gaped, her glass halfway to her lips. "You do?"

"It's out in the open now. We don't have to hide, or pretend. If we can get through this we can get through anything, and for you I would go through anything."

Putting down her glass Assumpta moved towards this gentle man.

Taking his cheek in her hand she gazed into those hazel eyes.

"I know I can be difficult, I get angry, frustrated… I don't know, sometimes the feelings just overwhelm me."

Peter smiled slightly. "I'm not arguing." He said.

Despite herself Assumpta smiled. "You're not going to make this easy for me are you?"

Peter lifted a piece of her hair and tucked it behind her ear. "When did you ever opt for the easy way?" He asked playfully.

"I love you Peter."

The words hung in the air. The first time she had ever spoken them out loud. Peter felt as though his heart would burst with the sheer joy of hearing them.

Before he could speak she pressed her lips gently to his. Increasing the pressure he kissed her back, pulling her towards him.

Breathless, they separated.

"Please don't leave me." She whispered.

"Never." He breathed into her hair.

"I mean tonight… stay with me."

Sensing his body stiffen she moved away, her hands still either side of his shoulders.

"Everyone thinks… anyway…" She faltered. "I don't want to be alone… but if you want to go…"

Peter smiled. "May as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb? I'm not going anywhere."