‘How did you get his email address?’
‘Off his website.’
Ivy couldn’t think of anything worse than Louis turning up at her birthday party, especially when she had nothing to celebrate other than getting a year older and having her heart broken in the process. ‘Cancel it. I don’t want a party. I’ve never felt less like celebrating.’
Millie looked horrified. ‘Oh, Ivy, you can’t let a milestone like this pass by without some sort of celebration. We’ve gone to a lot of trouble, and a lot of people will be disappointed if you don’t show up. You can still pretend to be surprised. Please don’t tell Zoey I let it slip. She’ll roast me alive. She’s done a lot of the planning and would be so upset if she thought—’
Ivy sighed. ‘Okay, let’s go ahead with the party.’ She just hoped that Louis wouldn’t spoil it even further by showing up.
Louis was so distracted by what had happened in Paris that he didn’t check his emails until he was on the flight back to London the following afternoon. Which was frankly weird and totally out of character for him. He could normally set a world record for the amount of daily screen time he used. But, no, he had pushed work aside to ruminate over the disaster of the end of his fling with Ivy. An end he’d known was coming from the start but had allowed himself to think wouldn’t hurt him. How misguided had he been? But he was only feeling this searing pain in his gut because he had disappointed her. It had nothing to do with anything else. What else could it be?
He scrolled through the dozens of emails and saw the invitation to a surprise party for Ivy’s thirtieth birthday. He mentally groaned. No way could he show up and cause any more hurt to her. He would ruin the party for her. He would have to stay away and send a present, hoping she wouldn’t throw it back in his face.
But not pink diamonds.
Definitely not pink diamonds.
A couple of days later, Louis was on his way to work when he got a call from his mother, informing him his father had been rushed to hospital during the night with a heart scare. Louis dropped everything to meet her on the cardiac ward. When he arrived, his father was lying asleep on a bed, hooked up to various monitors, and his mother was sitting white-faced and pinched-looking beside him.
‘Oh, Louis, I was so frightened I was going to lose him,’ she choked.
Louis went over to her and enveloped her in a hug. He suddenly realised it had been years since he had last hugged his mother. Their usual greetings and farewells were little more than impersonal air-kisses. Not full-on hugs where you could feel the other’s heart beating against your own. How had their relationship got so distant? ‘I’m here now.’ He slowly put her from him but kept hold of her hands. ‘How is he?’
She blinked back tears. ‘The specialist said it was a mild heart attack. He’s booked in for some scans with the possibility of surgery, but we have to wait and see. He’s sleeping now. He was awake most of the night complaining of chest pain but he wouldn’t let me call an ambulance. He kept saying it was indigestion, but in the end, I rang anyway.’
‘Good decision. At least he’s safe here now,’ Louis said, and released her hand to glance at his sleeping father. That was another sudden realisation—his father was his mother’s world. She would be shattered if she lost him. And, when he thought back to the time when she had been in the clinic, his father had been equally distraught at the prospect of losing her. Who could figure out love in all its guises?
‘Yes, he’s safe.’ She gave a little shudder and tried to smile but it didn’t quite work. ‘I’m sorry for calling you in such a state. I know you’re frightfully busy.’
‘Not too busy to be here for you when I’m needed.’
Her eyes watered up again. ‘Louis, I know your father can be difficult at times, but he’s not had it easy. I’m wondering now if the stress of his work has contributed to his heart condition. He never wanted to be an accountant, but he felt pressured by your grandfather. Deep down, I think he’s a bit jealous of you—that you had the courage and grit to find your own pathway in life. He’s proud of you, in his way. As indeed I am. Your dad is a good man. Oh, I know he finds fault far more than favour, but he’s never been unfaithful, in spite of all my mental health struggles. I haven’t been the easiest wife to live with, but I love him. He’s the only man I’ve ever loved—apart from you, of course.’
Louis enveloped her in another tight hug. ‘Thank you. I love you too.’
A couple of days later, after his conversation with his mother, Louis was working on a new design for a hotel in New York and trying not to think about Ivy. Every hour of the day he tried not to think of how unhappy he had made her, not to mention himself.
But at least he had other things that had gone better for him just lately. His father was back home after having had a stent inserted and was recovering well, even talking of retirement. Louis had seen a remarkable change in how his parents spoke to each other. The health scare had helped each of them realise the deep care and affection they still had for each other. And he liked to think he saw a change in how they spoke to him. Each time he visited, he enveloped both of them in a hug, enjoying their new-found closeness. He had come to understand his father’s sacrifice of his own dreams and aspirations, and it humbled Louis to think of how difficult and painful that must have been for him, and why it had impacted his relationship with his only son.
Louis recalled Ivy’s comments about him not being true to himself about what he really wanted. He had been true to himself about his desire to pursue architecture. He hadn’t let anything or anyone get in the way of his hopes and dreams. But his personal life had suffered. He had fixed things with his parents but his relationship with Ivy was still a sore point. He kept revisiting it, mulling over each moment he’d spent with her, wondering if he could have done anything differently and not ended up with this infernal pain burrowing into his chest. It wasn’t indigestion. It wasn’t a heart attack...or maybe it was. Not a genuine, medical heart attack, but his heart was definitely hurting in a way it never had before.
But he would have to get over it. Work would have to go back to filling the hole Ivy had left in his life. A hole he had foolishly allowed to open.
Louis was thinking about how much he needed a coffee when his office door opened after the briefest of knocks. He looked up to see Natalie, his secretary, who was currently on maternity leave, standing there with a baby strapped to her chest in a sling carrier.
‘Hi, Louis. How come no one’s manning the desk? Where’s the temp—Maureen?’
Louis pushed his computer mouse aside and scowled. ‘She called in sick.’ He didn’t wish ill health on anyone, but he was relieved he didn’t have to deal with any more of Maureen’s questions about why he’d come home early from Paris.