Thought this might be the last but it isn't!


Saturday – The Day

Ruth sat at home.

"Shouldn't you be going?"

"I can't, Beth. I can't sit there and watch him, I just can't."


Harry looked around for Ruth.

She wasn't there.

He sighed and readied himself.


"At least go to the evening do."

"Why should I?"

"Because he's asked you and you have to work together and it might actually help."

"Help how?"

"Not that I like the word but it might give you some kind of closure."

"Oh god," said Ruth.


Harry was at the bar when Ruth walked in.

She looked beautiful in a simple, sleek wine coloured dress.

"Hi," he grinned, "I didn't think you were coming."

"I'm sorry I thought it better to come later,"

He handed her a glass of champagne from the bar.

"Did it all go well?" she asked.

"Yes, like a dream."

That hurt.

"Well, you look very handsome."

He laughed.

He did, she thought. The burgundy waistcoat, white shirt unbuttoned slightly and the unfastened dickie bow hanging loosely round his neck looked particularly attractive.

"And you look beautiful," he offered quietly.

She smiled.

"Harry can I ask you something?"

"Of course," he said and they moved to a slightly quieter corner away from the bar.

"What is it, Ruth?"

She hesitated now, afraid to ask.

"I just need to know the answer. I don't know why. And of course it doesn't matter now anyway."

"Then ask." he said simply.

"When you...when we….after Ros's funeral...when I tried to explain why I'd said no."

Harry nodded.

"When I said about the house in Sussex and the neighbours and how it wouldn't work. What were you thinking?"

He looked at her and sighed.

"Do you even remember?" she asked.

"Yes, I remember, very well. I was wondering who'd mentioned a cottage, or Sussex, not that there's anything wrong with Sussex but it just seemed rather random."

Ruth shrugged, she didn't know either.

"And then you asked what would we do, what would we talk about when the neighbours came round? I was thinking, no actually, I was screaming, who cares about the bloody neighbours, I don't want them round. I know very well what I'd want to do with you. And it would be wonderful. Wherever. Even in bloody Sussex. And it would work. And you're wrong we could be more, so much more.

That's what I was thinking."

He finished and she looked at him.

She smiled sadly, "Thank you for telling me, not that it matters now anyway."

"It matters to me," he said.

It was not right for him to be saying this here.

"Well it shouldn't, not anymore."

"Why not, Ruth?"

"Erm, because today you married Jane."

"Er, no, today Catherine married Jonathon."

"Catherine?"

All was still in Ruth's world.

"Yes, Catherine, my daughter married Jonathon, my son in law."

"And you didn't marry Jane?"

"Not since before I divorced her, no."

"But she knew about Albany and she kept asking you around and Dimitri said you'd spent all your time there during the Inquiry."

"Did he now," Harry smiled.

"And you put two and two together and came up with the wrong answer. That's not like you, Ruth."

"I've not been myself," was all she could manage.

"It's true that I did spend a lot of time with Catherine during the Inquiry, Jane was away on holiday. I was pretty low and I needed someone to talk to and I'm glad it was my daughter, though she's not very good at keeping secrets, clearly. It was her I told about Albany.

"So you're...you're...?" stammered Ruth.

"Available...is that the word you're looking for, Ruth?"

"No..well, yes,…oh, it'll do."

"No, actually I'm not."

Her face fell.

"I was spoken for long ago. Promised myself to a truly wonderful woman but she rejected me and then left the country. But I waited for her. Always. And when she came back, I waited. Even gave up a state secret for her, still got me nowhere."

Ruth felt the world turning once more. And it was hard not to smile.

"Well then, Harry, if you don't mind me saying she seems hardly worth bothering with, she sounds a little mad."

"Please Ruth, I won't let you talk about her like that because I love her more than she'll ever know."

"Then she's a very lucky woman."

"I wish you'd tell her that, Ruth"

"I think someone already has."

"And what's her response, do you know?"

"Yes, she asks to be forgiven her foolish ways and wants it to be known that she loves you with her heart and soul and wants to live anywhere but Sussex, not that there's anything wrong with Sussex and she wants to live in a house with no possibility of ever seeing the neighbours!"

Harry laughed.

"And will she then be happy, Ruth?"

"I'd be happy in a tent if it was with you, Harry."

"Ruth, I'm glad you could come," said Jane, stretching out a hand.

Ruth was a little thrown by her untimely intervention, she opened her mouth to speak and then there were more.

"Hello, we've never met, I'm Catherine."

"Hi. Congratulations," said Ruth, "You look stunning."

"Thank you, you too," she beamed and then looked at her father, "I've heard a lot about you."

Ruth blushed and said, "Oh dear."

"All good," said Catherine, still smiling.

"Oh yes, all good," added Jane.

Harry was confused he'd not said anything to Jane about Ruth but clearly his daughter had.

"Enjoy yourselves," said Catherine and she and her mother headed off.

"Harry, what's been going on?"

"You tell me. Women, I'll never understand them."

Ruth kissed him delicately.

"Is that more comprehensible?" she asked.

"Oh, considerably."

She smiled.

"Ruth, I think there's a tent outside."

"No, Harry that's a marquee."

"I've got a room."

"What county are we in?"

"Berkshire."

"Mmm, I like Berkshire."

"Not that there's anything wrong with Sussex," they both said together and began to laugh. Harry reached out for Ruth.

Jane reappeared. "Harry, emergency, I need you now."

"Get someone else," he said dismissively, eyes never leaving Ruth.

"Seriously Harry, we have a problem with the hotel and you're the only one who can sort it out. Father of the bride's responsibility and all that, though we know you're not that big on responsibility, don't we?"

He sighed impatiently, "Fine, I'm coming."

And yet he lingered. Unwilling.

"Don't worry, Harry. I'm not going anywhere. Not this time," she added and beamed a beautiful smile at him.

He walked away with Jane but looked back more than once.

More to come.