Just My Luck

I was crying now and sat myself on the grass beside the lane. I watched them slowly make their way across the beach and then start up the path. They were talking and laughing. I just didn't know what was I going to say to them. My actions had kept them apart. I had kept a father from his girls and the girls from what looked like a loving father.

They were getting closer now and I began to panic. I looked around for somewhere to hide. How could I face them? There was a gap in the bushes that lined the lane and I hid in amongst them.

They were closer now and I could hear their laughter, and Dave's voice. Happy now, not as it had been when I last heard it at the airport the day I left.

By the time they got level with my hiding place, I was shaking like a leaf and trying to stifle my sobs in case they heard me.

"I would have thought you would be happy to see me after all these years Angel, not hide from me."

'Angel', that's it! That's what Dave always used to call me.

"Mother, we know you're in there. We saw you from the beach. Come on out here. We've got a father here who says he can get a marriage licence real quick if you'd like."

My daughters came over, took my hands and pulled me from my hiding place. Ever the gentleman Dave offered me a handkerchief as I got near to him. But as I reached out to take it from him, he grabbed me and took me in his arms.

"Okay, girls, I think I can handle things from here. You go back to the cottage and get the kettle on for some tea. You mother and I have got some serious talking to do."

"But, dad?" The twins said in harmony.

"Do as your father tells you, please, girls," I struggled to say. "How quickly my girls seem to have taken to their father," I thought. "Damn that's just how he swept me off my feet all those years ago."

As the girls left us, Dave pushed me away from him slightly.

"Hey, gorgeous, do you know the difference between sex and conversation?"

"No!" I said, a little confused as to exactly what Dave was asking me.

"Good, that's exactly what you said the last time. You'd better come along with me and we'll have another long conversation."

Damn Dave's sense of humour! That had been his pick up line when he first chatted me up at that bus stop.

"Any chance we can try for boys this time?" he smiled down at me."

"How can you still love me after what I did to you?"

"I never stopped loving you, Angel. I never stopped. But just in case, this time I think I'll hang on to your passport. You ain't getting away again!"

Life goes on.