Not only had Malcolm done the legwork, but as far back as when Adam had raced into his office and asked him where Harry was, he had known that this moment was possible. Until he and Martin had followed in his and Harry's footsteps to France when one look at the reunited couple had been enough for him to realise it was an inevitability. Which was the sole reason that when he had booked, with privacy at the top of his requirements, he had led the manager of the hotel to believe that they were a close knit family who were coming together to say what might be a final goodbye to much loved relatives who were taking an extended holiday to far flung shores with every possibility that they would set up home there and as such, didn't want to be interrupted every few minutes with questions as to whether or not they were enjoying their meal or needed more drinks, to the point where he'd actually said he would ensure that his staff treated treat them as if they were a wedding party, to which Adam had responded exactly that and he himself had handed him a seating plan around what was a circular table which meant that with Adam's blessing he was going to be sitting next to Ruth and Wes next to Harry.
All of which ensured that in no way would it feel as though they were in the meeting room at Thames House a stunned Adam who had never seen Malcolm as a fixer had realised when they had been on the way back, before adding that if he smiled at Dolby more often, he might allow them to upgrade the coffee and biscuits during evening meetings to look something close to a menu that would take some deciding as to what you were going to order.
Apart from Wes of course whose first words after they sat down were, 'please can I have chips Uncle Harry?'
.
The mood that Harry was in meant that Wes could have asked anything of him as the various conversations around the table turned to what everyone was going to order. More than that it allowed him to look at each of his once colleagues and reflect. Jo, with so much still to learn, Zaf the joker who if you believed what he said had a different girl lined up for every night of the week, Ros the enigma, Adam who in another life he would have been proud to have called his son and Malcolm who was so much more than a friend. All discussing the menu with such ease that any tension Ruth had been feeling had been replaced by a calm that only someone that knew her as well as he did could recognise. His past his present and his future all under one roof, did in those few moments which were available to him, allow him to forgive what he had perceived to be his failures and look at the woman who was going to be his wife. Whilst thanking his lucky stars that she not only did loved him unconditionally, but understood the man who had for so long hidden himself behind a mask.
What he didn't know was that she'd also had a quiet word with Adam, which meant that throughout the meal the questions such as they were, didn't go beyond their life in France as it was now in as much as they told them how they walked into the village every morning, how the location where they now lived was surrounded by waterways and how in the Spring they were going to explore both the countryside and the coastline for a home that would be theirs, ensuring that his requirement to make a thank you speech was replaced by either a handshake or a hug when they were saying what were their final goodbyes.
But as had always been the way with them up until recently, with every positive there came a negative and what none of them had realised not even Adam because Wes had behaved in way to suggest he was much older than his seven years, was the impact the various conversations had had on his son. Who despite having being told by his father that not only would he be able to track Harry's and Ruth's progress in pursuit of their forever home, but that he would take him to see them in the Spring had felt less and less likely as the evening had worn on. Because not only was his dad always at work but by the sound of it, the journey across a country which was not only twice the size of the UK, but had huge mountain ranges, wide rivers and a coastline that was vast, was something a tired child who had lived his entire life in London couldn't visualise, other than to think they would never reach the destination in the time available, or worse still they would get lost on the way and their bodies never found.
.
Now at home, Adam unable to get an answer out of Wes who wasn't prone to crying but worse still was starting to shiver, rings the only two people he can really trust, apologising for the lateness of the call before asking if they would come over? If for no other reason than he had never doubted Ruth's ability when it comes to solving a problem, or to get someone to open their hearts as to what is worrying them.
And is why twenty minutes later, which he realises means that Harry will have broken the speed limit to get here, not a good idea when your car registration suggests that you're French, he and Harry are sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee and looking anxious, whilst Ruth has headed upstairs as she had at bedtime when they had been looking after his son, but this time in the hope of firstly calming him down and secondly finding out why he is so upset.
Not knowing what to expect Ruth's intuition sees her sitting on the bed next to him, and wrapping her arms around him. When the sobbing reduces, she successfully persuades him to come through to the bathroom where after she has helped him to undress, she washes his hands and face, ignoring what at other times would have been to ensure that he brushed his teeth, before wrapping him in what is a large fluffy towel and tempting him back along the landing to his bedroom. Where once he has put his pyjamas on, she tucks him up in bed. The book that she had read to him still beside his bed, she moves to one side so as not to distract him before holding his hand and with the patience of someone who has never been a mother other than to those on the grid who have seen her as such, she waits until he settles to the point where she feels confident enough to ask him what has upset him?
The reason shocks her but the solution a simple one assuming that Wes still wants to come to France when he wakes up in the morning, given that she has convinced him that what he thought will never happen, she suggests to an equally tired Harry and a stressed Adam, is that as the weekend is only three days away and the fact that he is still in credit with Ros, that Adam brings Wes to see them. By which time they themselves will be have been at home for two days as their train is booked for lunchtime tomorrow.
.
Ros, true to her word according to a message from Adam, sees the very relieved couple in question walking along the towpath on the morning after they arrive home. The fresh air the familiarity of the surroundings and above all the silence which from the moment Harry had lit the fire the previous evening, combining to make them feel as though the weight of the world had been lifted off their shoulders and with plenty of time to settle back into their routine before Adam and Wes arrive in what now is less than two days.
That the silence in the sense that they love it will be broken once Wes arrives, is outweighed by the fact that during the week he is going to spend with them they hope that they will be able to be able to prove that any lingering doubts he has are unfounded and hopefully if Ruth can work her magic, discover if there is an underlying factor about his mother's death which is still troubling him?
That they are equals who love him in Wes's eyes has never been in doubt, or that when Adam brings him and stays in the hotel for one night and does the same at the end of the week that Wes will want to stay with them, something that has been made possible thanks to Malcolm who having hung onto the camp bed that so long ago he had offered Zoe, means that Wes will be spared from sleeping on the sofa belonging to two people who intend to put to one side any thoughts as to when or where they will get married, to ensure the time he spends with them will not only see him smiling again but will be an adventure he will never forget.