Page 61 of The Wedding Proposal

Then two lads in their late teens came clattering into the computer room and she was glad to turn her thoughts away from what might be happening in a hospital many miles away to a woman who probably didn’t comprehend that it was happening.

‘Kif inti?’ she greeted them, varying her limited Maltese greetings from bongu. In reply, she received a scowl from the big kid and a smirk from his smaller friend. OK. Not every youth that visited Nicholas Centre was easy to like. Aggression, cockiness or suspicion were all common.

After waiting ten minutes to let the boys settle, she wandered around their side of the island of computers. ‘Is there anything you’d like help with?’

She received another darkling look and a torrent of Maltese from the bigger lad. The smaller one burst into delighted laughter.

Elle didn’t react except to say, ‘Tell me if you do.’ She returned to her machine and picked up her phone to text her father. Let me know when you know anything about Mum, pls. x

She checked her e-mail, in case her father or someone at The Briars had sent a message. They hadn’t, but there was something from Simon, sent Friday, giving her the news from Rose Wines, how incredibly busy he was and that he’d had hardly any time for drinking in bars and chasing women! So how are you surviving with your shipmate? he went on. I hope that by now you’ve buried old hatchets (not in each other’s heads) and found a way to get along. Update me! She began to type.

Simon,

Charlie has just flown out here and now I know why you were surprised that I said Kayleigh was Lucas’s girlfriend! I suppose you felt some male solidarity not to rat Lucas out.

Adding a couple of rapid paragraphs, she caught him up with events regarding her mother, the boat, the island and Nicholas Centre, the sort of chatty news she usually exchanged with him a couple of times a week. She signed off: No hatchets in heads. Elle xxx

Last night was too surprising, too fragile, to share. What if it turned out not to be something new, but something doomed? Last night, they’d expressed nothing deeper than desire.

In the cold light of day — or the hot light of day, as they were in Malta — Elle’s heart was too wary to easily shuck off its stab jacket. She was too mindful of how long her scars had taken to heal, too aware of all that was unresolved. You know I’m weird about secrets. So the obvious answer lay in telling him the rest of the story. Now. Before they got in deeper. Before she had more to lose. She found herself staring into space while her head and heart debated the situation. You know it’s the only sensible way forward, declared her head. But you know how he can hurt me! quavered her heart.

She snapped out of her reverie as two girls tumbled, giggling, into the computer room, one of them Giorgina, the avid Facebooker. Instantly, the boys increased the volume of their voices. The largest — and noisiest — kept calling things in Maltese to the girls, which, judging from their outraged expressions, were not welcome and, in view of the apprehensive looks they cast Elle’s way, probably not clean.

‘Shall we keep it down a bit?’ Elle suggested pleasantly. She picked up her phone to text Joseph and ask if he had a few minutes to come up and spread a little calm in Maltese, then she rolled her chair over to Giorgina’s and Alice’s machines to offer support in ignoring the big mouths. She joked and chatted calmly and showed them a Pinterest account she’d created for the Nicholas Centre, where she’d pinned photos of the computer room, the games room and the gym.

It was only a few minutes before Joseph wandered in, hands in pockets. He paused to chat to Elle, Giorgina and Alice; then strolled over to the boys, who were now stifling laughter behind their computer monitor.

Joseph addressed them in Maltese. The boys’ replies seemed truculent, although it was hard for Elle to judge as Maltese frequently sounded staccato to her ears. Joseph stayed as cool and easy as always, but the large lad suddenly jumped up and barged out of the room. The smaller one followed at a trot, still sniggering.

Proving that they could speak some English, a stream of it floated up into the computer room in company with the sound of running feet on the stairs.

‘Shit!’

‘Fuck!’

‘Piss!’

Their laughter faded into the distance.

Joseph lifted a querying eyebrow in Elle’s direction.

She smiled an I’m OK. She had to get used to the occasional outbreak of the verbals and also that, at Nicholas Centre, there were no recriminations over bad behaviour. Joseph did sometimes send kids away, inviting them to return the next day, when, he said, he was sure their behaviour would be more acceptable, but Elle hadn’t yet seen any youngster made to feel that she or he would never be able to drop in to the centre again.

Her phone rang, instantly diverting her thoughts. The screen told her who was calling and she picked the phone up with a hand that wasn’t quite steady. ‘Dad?’

Joseph waved to indicate that she was free to leave the room and seated himself at a vacant machine. It wasn’t that the computer room had to be constantly supervised but disenchanted youths taking out their frustrations on the equipment had to be allowed for. The behaviour of the two who had just left would definitely raise such concerns.

She made her way quickly across the landing to the big salon at the front of the building, sure of privacy there, as it was generally used only for planned events. ‘How’s Mum?’

Will was reassuringly businesslike. ‘The hospital say that your mother passed a comfortable night, which I think meant that nothing much changed and she wasn’t in pain, and she’s being kept in for observation. It wasn’t such a big stroke, this time, but you know how these things are.’

‘Anything could happen.’ She sighed. ‘Have you talked to The Briars? She might need additional care when she comes out.’ She let herself down on one of the blue chairs set around the edge of the big room, staring up at the high ceiling and the twin old-fashioned fans hanging motionless.

‘All they say is that they’ll have to wait and see how she progresses.’

Elle let her head tip back against the wall. Her eyelids were heavy. She supposed she hadn’t got a lot of sleep last night. ‘If that’s all they can say, and she doesn’t seem in any immediate need of me, I’ll hang on here for now. I can probably be of more use when she’s ready to come out.’ She swallowed, the vision of her mother in the hospital bed flashing once again across her consciousness. ‘H-have you seen her?’

Her father cleared his throat. ‘That’s a trifle awkward, what with Tania and the fact that I’m several hours’ drive away. And since your mother doesn’t seem to be in any danger—’

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