‘Holy hell.’ Edward sighed.
‘I told her that I don’t believe in surprises, which I don’t, and that I would be telling you. I would expect a call any moment.’
As though summoned by Hilditch herself, his phone rang.
‘Christ on a bike,’ he said and he saw Hilditch laugh a little.
‘You sound like Miss Eve.’
He looked at the screen on his phone. ‘Los Angeles area code.’ He put the phone down. ‘I need to think. I’ll call her later.’
‘You can’t have her back here,’ she said with a warning in her voice.
‘I know, but she’s the mother of the children. I can’t ignore that.’
Edward sat for a moment. ‘We’re going to Eve’s family for Christmas,’ he said firmly. ‘Amber can wait in line.’
Hilditch paused. ‘She said she wants to take the children back to Los Angeles.’
Edward laughed. ‘Over my dead body she will. She’s not fit to be a parent.’
But Hilditch shook her head, ‘Unless you decide to do something about this in court, then she does have a right even if she isn’t fit to parent.’
‘I don’t have time for her right now,’ he said. ‘Maybe she can come and see the children after Christmas and we can try and find time for her to visit?’
‘You think Amber is going to be satisfied with a visit?’
Edward put his head back against the chair and closed his eyes. ‘I pay for everything, because I’ve realised I pay her to stay away from us all.’
He looked at Hilditch. ‘For the first time Myles is eating dinner with us, he’s playing with Flora, he isn’t screaming at me. He has friends.’
But Hilditch snorted at him.
‘That’s not because Amber is away, it’s because Eve is here. She’s the glue in all of this.’
He nodded at her words.
‘I know.’
‘So what happens when Eve returns to her life?’
Edward couldn’t bear to think about it. He needed to finish the book and then he could be with Eve but Amber coming back to Cranberry Cross was not ever in the way he had plotted out his and Eve’s ending.
‘I need to write,’ he said to Hilditch. ‘But thank you for telling me. I’ll call her and work it out.’
Hilditch left him alone again and he picked up his phone and texted Amber.
Hil tells me you’re coming to town. We have plans for Christmas and won’t be here until the new year. Please let me know when you wish to see them. They don’t need surprises from you. We also need to discuss the divorce and the children staying on with me full-time. You can visit them when I’m here but you can’t have them until I know you are sober for a year and have regular drug and alcohol tests. This is not negotiable, Amber.
Ed
He pressed send and heard the whooshing noise as it made its way to Amber. This was the right thing to do. No matter how much Flora yearned for her mother, it wasn’t who Amber could be or had ever been. And he knew forcing Myles back to try and connect to Amber was fraught and would set him back in his trust of adults.
He moved back to his desk and looked at the paragraphs he had written.
Onwards, he told himself and he started to write.
28
