Chapter Ten

A/N: Thank you to TheDarkMistressBellatrix and Guest for reviewing the last chapter.

Even once she had spoken his name, Julia could hardly summon the energy to breathe, let alone to speak again. To think that, after all the time she had spent wishing and hoping and praying for the man's return, he had appeared out of nowhere like a shadow in the night time. It was almost too much for her to bear.

"Hello, Julie." the dark haired man greeted, sounding just as breathless as the woman felt herself, though he looked to be a great deal calmer, as he should have been, having had the advantage of knowing that they were going to meet a little sooner than she had. He, however, had managed to force a smile onto his face, something that she still seemed unable to do, despite the fact that his return was one of the two things that she had wished for ever since the time she had lost her family. She immediately pushed that thought from her mind, having remembered that the other wish was to have Maddy returned to her also.

Finally, she summoned the courage to speak, and took a deep breath, opening and closing her mouth until she found that words that she wished to say, and the question that she needed to ask. "Caleb, what are you doing here? How did you find me?"

"You aren't as difficult to find as you think, Julie." the man answered cryptically, a slight smile on his face as he did so. Julia recalled the time when she had seen that smile every day, and when it had given her as much happiness as anything else in the world. Now, it did not seem to look quite the same, but it was still as dazzling as it had once been, to her at least. "And anyway, I didn't find you. I found Cairan and Kathy. I was on my way to see them, when I saw you."

"It's amazing how much of a coincidence that is." she sighed, though she did not believe in it not being so to the extent that her tone implied. David, apparently, thought the opposite, as he sighed as well, though seeming to be a little more annoyed at Caleb than his mother was, as he had only really heard of how the man had disappeared without a trace, leaving Julia heartbroken and alone. However, he calmed a little when the redhead placed her hand on his shoulder, elaborating a little on the point she had made. "You followed my brother and his family to Collinsport and just happened to find me here, without ever expecting to, because I hadn't seen my brother for five years, before his son became best friends with David. The same amount of time in which I haven't seen you."

"You don't sound that pleased to see me." the elder man pointed out, his tone as flat as the sands below their feet. As soon as she heard this change in his voice, Julia became horrified, not wishing for her estranged husband to think that the statement he made was truthful.

"No!" she responded, looking up abruptly. "No, Caleb, that isn't true! I'm just a little shocked to see you, that's all. I still can't believe that you're really here."

Her rebuttal of his observation was not fictional at all, as she was extremely shocked to see the man, and only now, as the shock began to fade enough for her to be able to see past it, the woman could allow herself to feel the happiness which had come as a result of her husband returning to her. Once again having lost the ability to speak, the redhead conveyed her emotion in the only way that she could think of doing. She stepped forward, distancing herself slightly from her son, and throwing her arms around her husband, holding him as tightly to her as she could.

"Oh, Julie." the man sighed, clutching at his wife with all of his strength, both of them seeming to believe that, should they loosen their grip, the other would disappear as suddenly as they had done all those years ago. The pair remained in that embrace for a long while, until David cleared his throat pointedly, as if he was intent on reminding them, his mother in particular, that he was present on the beach as well.

Even when their embrace had ended, neither Caleb nor Julia seemed to be in a rush to separate, and remained with one arm loosely around each other's waists, still seeming to be reluctant to let their spouse go.

"What is it, David?" the redhead asked, smiling at her son just as brightly as she had done at her husband, by way of an apology for ignoring him for the length of time that she had done, though David did not really feel that she was at fault, as she had not seen the man for half a decade.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we are actually on this beach to do something." the boy reminded her, though with not a hint of harshness in his voice. "We still haven't found her, Mom."

"Hang on a second." the man pointed out, a slight bit more of the flat tone returning to his voice, much to the confusion of the pair. "Mom?"

"I can explain, but I can't explain now." his wife informed him, well aware of what he was thinking, though David was just a tad too young to realise what he was implying. After a second, the flash of a brilliant idea raced through the younger woman's mind, a hypothetical light bulb appearing above her head. Immediately, she spoke again, asking the question that she could not quite believe she had not thought of before, as it was so obvious when she thought of it properly. "So, where's Madeleine?"

However, what she had not expected was his response, one which left her even more heartbroken than she had been previous to the inkling that had come over her, due to the fact that she had had her hopes raised and thrown back down to the dirt again. Four words changed everything, making it so much worse.

"You don't have Maddy?"

A/N: I know, a bit of an odd cliffhanger, but still. Please review!