Leaning against his car door, Joseph Byrne's thoughts quickly returned to the pained expression that had momentarily flickered in her eyes, her beautiful eyes, only a short while ago. He looked up at the night's sky dejectedly, pensively, and inwardly mused about how things could have been different; for they should have been so different. This was not how it should have happened at all. He knew in his heart that, even though he couldn't seem to admit it to himself just yet, that Jac Naylor was still the love of his life. She always had been and she always would be. He understood now that, no matter where he escapes to, and no matter how hard he tries to erase her from his tortured soul, the memory of them together would still be the overriding force, compelling him to think of her: her beauty, her charm, her dry wit, her intelligence, her brutal honesty; these were all factors that had drawn him to her from the very start. The very moment he saw her walk casually through the hospital doors in her motorcycle gear, oozing confidence. A sexy sophistication.
But she had betrayed him; she had committed the unthinkable crime of sleeping with his father and surely, this could never be atoned for. He couldn't even bare to think about it. His Jac. His girl. The woman he had loved unconditionally had brandished her finest, sharpest knife and stabbed him so viciously, so heartlessly, in the back, just to satisfy her raging ambition. Could this be atoned for? After all of these years...?
He had a son. He had responsibilities now. He had made the right decision.
But had he? This thought lingered tentatively at the back of his mind.
Such conflicting emotions were driving him insane, and the sudden opening of the heavens, causing bucketfuls of rain to fall, did nothing to assuage the darkness of his mood. A seething anger unexpectedly erupted inside him, and he punched the roof of his car...and again, and again, until the pain was too much to bear. Why did these women have such an affect on him? First Jac and her manipulation, and then Faye and her lies, her crocodile tears, her adulterous intentions. Yet, surprisingly, the pain that Faye had caused him, at this very minute, seemed a lot more than Jac had ever caused him. Maybe time was a healer, or maybe Jac was just worth the suffering. They were compatible after all.
That's it. He loved her. He, Joseph Byrne, loved Jac Naylor.
The rain continued to fall, faster, heavier, and Joseph Byrne swivelled around to face the hospital entrance. A figure. He squinted in the darkness, aghast, trying to identify the person who was standing there on the spot, a few yards away from him, looking directly at him.
Jac.
His heart leapt to his mouth as she began to slowly walk towards him.