It was getting dark when Charlie stopped the car outside the cottage. "Thanks, Charlie."

"My pleasure, ma'am."

Abbey steadied herself as she made her way to the door. Her heart had quickened a little when she had seen the silver-grey car parked up outside and knew that Jed was back. He would want to know where she had been, and she knew that she would have to make him to listen to her – now and not later. She drew in a deep breath.

"Hello gumdrop!" she called brightly as she went in. "How was your meeting with Alan?"

Jed lifted his head from his book and looked at her over his glasses. "Good." Then "Where have you been?"

"Didn't you see my note?"

He inclined his head slightly to the note she had left on the table. "'Gone Fishing – with Charlie' – what the hell was I supposed to make of that?"

"That I'd gone fishing with Charlie?" Abbey said lightly.

"You hate fishing!"

"Yeah, you're right. So okay, I didn't go fishing – but I didn't want you to be worried if you were back here before me."

"So where have you been?"

Abbey started to take off her jacket so as to avoid his eyes for the moment. "I've been to Ballykane."

Jed's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"To see someone."

"Oh." Jed looked down again at his book.

Abbey dropped her jacket on the back of a chair and looked across at him. "Is that all you're gonna say?"

He didn't look up. "What d'you want me to say?" Abbey hesitated and he went on, "Yeah, okay, you want me to ask who you've been to see – and then no doubt you're gonna embark on some more gut-wrenching revelations." He slammed his book shut, flung it on the couch, took off his glasses and looked up at her. "So maybe my answer shouldn't just have been 'Oh', maybe it should have been 'No'. No, I don't want to know who you've been to see – no, I don't want to know about any more family skeletons – and in case you didn't get the message the first time, no, I don't want to talk about it."

Abbey had to force herself not to retaliate in the same tone. This wasn't something that they should be fighting about. So instead she said quietly "And I don't want you to push it all to the back of your mind and not even think about it."

Jed was still irritated. "I didn't say that. I said that I don't want to talk about it – because I can't do that until I've done some thinking about it – and I haven't had any time to do that yet."

Abbey looked at him steadily. "Yes, you have Jed – you've had time, maybe not enough time yet to sort it all out in your mind – but you're never gonna do that when you're forcing yourself not to think about any of it."

"I'm not doing that."

She sighed. "Yes you are. Do you think I don't know you after thirty eight years of marriage? Do you think I can't tell that you're fighting yourself at the moment? I could tell during the last eight years when I was only with you for a few hours each day, and often not even that – so do you really think that I can't tell when I've been with you 24/7 for the last few days?"

"So you're adding mind-reading to your skills now, are you?" The glimmer of a smile softened Jed's tight mouth for a moment.

"No, it's called woman's intuition – it's called a wife's intuition. And if you don't believe me, I can tell you exactly the times when you forced yourself to stop thinking about it all."

Jed leant back against the couch and rolled his eyes. "Well, you're gonna tell me anyhow – so carry on."

"Okay – well, okay then–" Abbey drew in her breath and thought for a few seconds. "You did it when we left that bench at the top of the hill – you did it when you came out of the church – you did it as we drove out of Ballykane – you did it when we got back here that evening–"

"Hey, hold on, I think that you might have had something to do with that time," Jed interrupted, looking at her under his eyelashes in mock reproach.

Abbey's mouth twitched slightly. "Well, yes, I might–" then she stopped. "No, it had already happened – it happened when you closed your book and stood up."

Jed nodded slowly, remembering. "Yeah – it did – how in heavens' name did you know that?"

Abbey gave him a small smile. "Intuition? Do you want any more times?"

"I think you've made your point."

"That you are forcing yourself not to think about it?"

"Maybe." Jed shrugged then stood up, put his hands in his pockets and walked across to the window. He stood looking out into the fading daylight for a few minutes. "Well, no, not exactly – I did try that night, you know – when I stayed in here while you went to bed – I was trying to remember anything I might ever have known about Eddy Bartlet."

"And did you remember anything?"

He shook his head. "Not really. I couldn't even see the photo clearly in my mind. But I did remember asking my grandfather about the photo – and he told me about Eddy. He even gave me the clue. I asked him if Eddy was my uncle, like my uncle Steve. 'No' he said, 'he died – so he's not your uncle.' I'd forgotten his exact words until my mind replayed them the other night."

"What else did he say?"

"Not much, just about Eddy's sub being lost. My Dad came in and told him not to dwell on the past. And then–"

Jed stopped and Abbey watched him. "And then what, Jed?" she asked quietly. "What happened?"

Jed turned to her, his eyes suddenly wary. "My God, you really can read me, can't you?"

"He hit you, didn't he?"

Jed's eyes met hers and he nodded.

"And now you're in switch-off mode again," she said.

Jed held up his hands. "Abbey, I can't revisit all that, I really can't – you know I can't – and anyway, there's no point, it was a long time ago – there really is no point."

"What you mean is that it's too painful."

Jed opened his mouth to reply, then let his breath out. "Yeah, okay," he acknowledged briefly.

Abbey hesitated. "So what about happier memories, Jed? Could you revisit those?"

"What d'you mean?"

"The other day you said 'Too many unanswered questions' about your mother and Eddy Bartlet. So what if some of those questions could be answered?"

"I'm not sure that I really want to know the answers."

"I think you do. I think you need to know them. I think you need to know about your mother and Eddy."

"And you're gonna tell me?"

"No – your mother's gonna tell you."

Jed frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Abbey reached for her jacket pocket – for the letter that Mary Cavanagh had given to her. "Keep it, m' dear," she had said. "I don't need it anymore – and it's going to be very important to y'r husband, isn't it?"

She brought out the folded sheets of notepaper. "I think you need to read this – but you need to sit down first, Jed."

Jed looked at her doubtfully as he moved back towards the couch. "Is it bad?"

Abbey smiled. "No, Jed, it's good – I promise you–"

TBC