The meal they were cooking together, the wine was chilling and a lone candle was waiting to be lit. It was a moment that had been several years in the making and yet Harry was still determined to keep the dance going for a little while longer. A dance that had taken him into the darkest of places when she gone away and now that she was back, into a light that was so bright, that he wasn't quite ready to let it go. Not until he was truly free and would be able offer Ruth anything she asked of him, with the certainty she deserved.
'I'm sorry this isn't the most romantic of venues for us to be talking about my retirement and I how we plan to enjoy it. Despite the benefits of being on our own, rather than in a restaurant surrounded by other people, where if you recall my rather obvious attempt to seduce you into going on what I described as a grand tour. Which here are considerably increased by me not having to drive you home.'
'Your attempt to seduce me, which if my memory serves me correctly, didn't meet with any resistance, given what happened when I invited you in for coffee,' Ruth told him. Knowing instinctively why, until Harry has officially retired, he'll continue flirt with the past as if this is their first date. Something which if she's being honest, she'd like to continue, given that it's less than two months since they were reunited. When everything is so new and to be honest exciting. And yet here they are, completely compatible in every sense. And she does mean every, which is why she's looking forward to bedtime and his promise of an early Christmas present.
'Lest we forget, which neither of us did thank god, or we wouldn't be standing here,' he tells her, leaning in for a kiss.
Unfortunately, although not unexpected, any further talk about how they plan to spend the next few days before they go home, or Harry's obvious seduction techniques, are interrupted by a knock on the door that is recognisable as belonging to Wes. Something which also prevents Harry from broaching the subject of their impending trip to London. Or at least that's what he thinks, until Wes climbs onto the nearest stool, looking serious beyond his years. The one thing he can be certain about, because it's become part and parcel of every bedtime, since he and Wes moved in with Ruth, is that Wes, as well as saying goodnight to them both, will thank them for his day. The only variation being in the contents, which generally depends how late it is and as a consequence how tired he is. Which tonight and because he's sharing a room with Michael who is already asleep and because Angela has disappeared into her own bedroom, is the reason he's chosen to seek them while they're still in the kitchen, he supposes?
Which is why, 'no, you're not interrupting,' he tells him, when he looks at the meal which has yet to be served and then back at them. Before Harry suggests that they go through to their bedroom, with the unspoken thought that not only will it be more comfortable, but it will create the same atmosphere had they been at home. The warmth and the intimacy that they are used to, restored on what is special night if you're a child, now in the forefront of Harry's mind.
In Ruth's as well, as she looks at Wes, whose likeness to Adam, which almost every day seems to grow stronger, as does the height to which he was growing, both of which always managed to burrow a little further into her heart. None more so than tonight, when she can imagine other nights such as this, when he would have been tucked up in bed by either Fiona or Adam. With the promise of a happy family Christmas together. How much Wes has lost, but despite this, is displaying an inner strength, which despite his young years, can only be due to his upbringing. Helped now she knows, by the way that Harry is including Wes in everything he does. Which makes her hope, not for the first time, that if Adam and Fiona can see him, they know just how much Harry and she as well, are not only trying to give Wes the life that they would have wanted for their son, but the love that goes with it.
Her thoughts interrupted by, 'when we go to London, I want to take Ruth to see where my mum and dad are,' Wes tells Harry, as if it's something he's been thinking about for a while. 'Can we?' he asks in such a sure voice that Harry can only respond to by saying, 'yes of course we can.'
Which not only scuppers their original plan, which was that they were going to spend some time on their own, but raises the question of when, because Wes is due to start school on the fourth.
'I suppose by now, we shouldn't be surprised by what Wes considers to be important,' says Harry, once Wes has gone to bed and they are after what now feels like a very long day, finally able to sit down to dinner. The quiet even more pronounced than it is when they are at home and now with more than just Harry's powers of seduction on their minds.
Which in Harry's case because everything has been brought forward, is his need to call Ros. To check who will be where and when in the next few days and now that Wes is going to be with them, that his send- off which he is sure Ros will want to happen, will be child appropriate. Not forgetting that he and Ruth are planning to take Malcolm out to lunch and if that isn't enough to occupy his mind, the up front and personal chat he intends having with Dolby. The one person who is guaranteed to make some un-called for remarks, concerning his ability to make Ruth happy.
Whilst Ruth, is now trying to imagine two graves side by side, with a fair idea as to how she'll react. And how at this moment, what she needs more than ever, is to be in bed with Harry and to ask him to help her forget that this is something she can't avoid.
.
The patter of Wes's not so tiny footsteps, announces Christmas morning in a way that Harry hasn't experienced since he left Jane. Although waking up with Ruth in his arms, is a significant improvement on being asked, 'where the hell he'd been the previous evening,' which for the best part had always been at work. That Wes has made tea for Ruth and coffee for him, balanced on a tray combined with a smile, forces him to pretend he isn't still tired. Or that Ruth's hand which is resting on his groin, isn't having an effect on him which is totally inappropriate in the presence of a ten-year old.
'Michael's making tea for his mum,' Wes tells him, which suggests that Angela is also going to be woken up far earlier than she usually does. But not with a stray hand, which despite Ruth being asleep has started to wander. Angela, who Harry in an attempt to ignore what is happening, has to admit, had adapted well to being his own personal shopper forward slash spy, by managing to find exactly what he wanted in the way of presents.
'Come on then,' he tells Wes, patting the covers on his side of the bed, by way of another distraction. Which within moments sees not only Wes, but the contents of what are hopefully acceptable small items that Santa has delivered overnight, spilling over onto Ruth. Making Harry think not for the first time, that to some extent they have to be guided by Wes, in as much that perhaps what he did when his mother and father, he wants to continue with them. Hopefully preventing sex in the morning, not being one of them.
What is left of Christmas morning once everyone has showered and dressed, is taken up by breakfast and then a flurry of present opening. Before Harry takes the boys for a walk, to inspect the fishing lake where Wes and Michael have been offered a free permit for the following season. The first item on Wes's wish list, ticked off by the owner who Harry was yet to meet, which leaves Ruth and Angela to ponder the why's and wherefores of cooking Christmas lunch in a kitchen that isn't their own, and for Ruth to give Angela the news that he is going to retire. Which in a typically Ruth fashion, she'd told him it was the only present that she needed, so he'd left it at that. What else he has up his sleeve, he plans of leaving there until they're home, rather than provoke questions as to where and when he's going to take Ruth to wherever she wants to go.
Angela happy with her rebooked painting course which Ruth had managed to organise on line and him with his new phone, which Wes had taken great pleasure in telling him he'd been party to choosing and collecting on the day he'd bought Ruth her flowers. A double agent in the making if ever there was one, Harry had kept to himself.
.
Malcolm was sitting at home watching the late- night news when his phone rang.
His response of 'I'm so pleased' when Harry told him he wanted to tell him in advance of anyone else, so typical of Malcolm.
As was his response to Ruth telling him that 'Wes was coming with them for what would now be just a two - night stay, because they wanted to be at home to celebrate the arrival of the New Year on their own and that Wes was looking forward to starting school.' Not though before she'd answered his question truthfully by saying 'yes blissfully' when he'd asked very gingerly, 'if she was happy?'
Because she was, she'd told herself when she'd been chopping the carrots over vigorously when she and Angela had been preparing lunch. The past was just that. Good, bad or indifferent, it was gone. She had a future that she'd never believed possible to look forward to. With the man who was going to walk away from what had been a lifetime of service, to be with her and Wes. In a part of the country which she'd fallen in love with and now so had they.
Three days later in Harry's house in London, having driven up the night before.
'I'll come to you if that's ok? It gives me an excuse to get out of the house for a few hours. I'll have to call in at the office on the way to pick up the paperwork, so I'll be with you about eleven. See you then Harry.'
'He's coming here which means one less trip for us,' Harry told Ruth, who was finding her way around Harry's kitchen, having never been in Harry's house before, never mind slept in his bed. Something which had prompted a discussion as to whether or not they could squeeze a larger bed into Ruth's house in Suffolk.
Him being Harry's solicitor, who he'd rung the previous day, asking him if he could make an appointment to see him. Not only to amend the paperwork that Adam had signed, by adding Ruth's name as an additional guardian, but with a view to finding out if that would require them to make some sort of written commitment to each other before she could do so.
The original plan of two days in London, having overnight been extended to three. Which even then, left them with very little room for manoeuvre. Something at work, which Ros hadn't been specific about when Harry had spoken to her, meant that Malcolm was now coming to see them this evening and that Harry was going to Thames House the following morning for his meeting with Dolby. Dolby who apparently had a dreadful cold. One which Harry didn't intend catching, but if the bastard wasn't feeling one hundred percent, gave him an additional upper hand. After which and in an attempt to do do something normal, they were planning on a rare bit of site seeing. Which left the following day, pencilled in to visit the church where Adam and Fiona were buried and the evening for Harry's send off, which apparently Jo was in charge of.
All of which was why, 'one step at a time,' Harry told Ruth, when the front doorbell rang announcing the arrival of his solicitor. The first person from a past life, who was going to ensure that the next was everything they both wanted it to be.
