‘Okay, hold it up...’
Charlotte kept a discreet hold on the top of the kite, in case Isaac decided to let go of it before he was supposed to.
‘Now, on my count... One...two...three...let her go!’
The kite rose in a straight line, up into the clear blue sky. Isaac shouted at the top of his voice in excitement, and suddenly the only thing to do was to shout with him.
‘Nooooo!’ The kite dipped erratically and Isaac screamed in horror.
Edward fought for control for long moments and then the kite soared upwards again. Charlotte cheered, and Isaac followed suit, running towards Edward.
‘That didn’t quite work...’ Edward was grinning at her. ‘Perhaps I’ll just concentrate on keeping it up there at this stage.’
‘I want to hold it... Pleeeease...’ Isaac was pulling at Charlotte’s windcheater in excitement.
‘I don’t think so, sweetie. It’s very hard to control. We don’t want you flying away with the kite.’
‘Owww.’ Isaac seemed to think that flying away was an added bonus.
‘What about yours?’ Edward reeled his kite in and turned his attention to Isaac’s blue and silver kite.
Isaac’s face was a picture. Happiness that he was a part of their great enterprise and not just relegated to watching. Pride when the kite soared up into the sky, with Edward kneeling at his side, showing him how to control it.
‘Thank you.’ Charlotte caught at his sleeve as he stepped back, letting Isaac go solo. ‘Thank you so much.’
Edward nodded in satisfaction. ‘Every boy needs a kite. I’m just going to make a few adjustments to mine and perhaps you’ll help me launch it again.’
A few knots, a little staring into the middle distance as Edward estimated airflow and wind speed, and the kite was up in the air again, this time flying more steadily. Charlotte ran back to Edward’s side and he looped his arms over her head.
‘Here, you try. Take hold of the reels.’
She pressed her hands over his, trying to stop her fingers from trembling. The wind around them buffeted her, but she was safe in his arms, her back against his strong body, his scent surrounding her and then blown away by the wind.
‘That’s right.’
His lips were almost touching her ear.
‘Pull it a bit to the right.’ He guided her arm and the kite dipped to the right, shooting back upwards as the breeze caught it again. ‘Ooops. Hang on tight.’
Suddenly he had left her, and was loping across to Isaac, who was struggling to keep his kite in the air.
Charlotte concentrated hard on controlling her own little bit of airspace while Edward restored Isaac’s kite safely back above their heads. He made sure that Isaac was happily in control again and then he was back.
‘What do you think?’ He was surveying the flight path of the kite.
‘It’s pulling really hard...’ Her arms were already beginning to ache.
Edward chuckled, looping his arms around her again. ‘Let me give you a hand with it.’
He wasn’t helping at all. All that happened was that she melted into his arms, turning to jelly and losing whatever strength she had left. He was controlling not only the kite but her as well. She let go of the kite strings and he strengthened his grip, catching them just in time. Turning in his arms, she faced him.
His rakish half-smile told her that this was just what he wanted. ‘Giving up already?’
‘You’re so much better at it than I am.’
‘Think so? You dip beautifully.’ He leaned towards her.
She couldn’t do this. Not with Isaac just yards away—even if he was paying them no attention.
She ducked out of the circle of his arms, feeling the wind suddenly chill her. ‘Are you hungry?’
Edward chuckled. ‘Ravenous.’
She fixed him with a glare. Even the thought of Peter’s quiet charm, and the way that had worked out, wasn’t enough to calm the insistent thunder in her veins. Peter was like a faded shadow of a man next to Edward. Edward was different. Different from pretty much everyone she’d ever met.
‘Would you like an apple?’ She gritted her teeth and doggedly refused to take any notice of the alternative interpretation of hungry that the curve of his eyebrow suggested.
‘In a minute. I’ve got my hands full at the moment.’ His gaze left her, flipping over towards Isaac. ‘Steady on, there, chief...’
Charlotte ran to her son, helping him to pull on the string so that the kite fluttered upwards again. ‘Enjoying yourself, sweetie?’ She whispered the words tremulously in his ear.
‘Yes, Mum.’ Isaac’s attention was on the kite, its tail shimmering and sparkling in the sunshine. He submitted to a hug for a moment and then wriggled free.
‘Good. I’m glad.’
She could have cried. The scared little boy who had clung to her when the debt collectors knocked on the door was gone. In his place a child who was enjoying himself so much that he had no time for his mother’s cuddles.
‘All right over there?’ Edward nodded over to Isaac.
‘Just fine. He loves this.’
‘Yeah. Me, too.’
* * *
Edward sat at the piano, his fingers wandering across the keys, playing a soft melody of his own composition. He’d had a great time. The kite had flown better than he’d expected once he’d made a few adjustments to the lines which had altered its angle of flight slightly. Isaac had liked his kite, too, and had insisted on taking it to bed with him. And Charlotte...
He’d planned to give her a great day—help her forget about the troubles of the past week. And she’d shone in the sunshine like a beautiful jewel, full of life and light. But however hard he tried to please her he seemed to end up only pleasing himself, as the echoes of her joie de vivre washed over him.
Charlotte. The chords seemed to sing out her name. A sudden slip into a minor key lent an element of yearning to the music that hadn’t been there before.
‘Why so sad?’
He hadn’t noticed her behind him, standing in the doorway which led from the kitchen. He stopped playing abruptly, aware that the music had given away much more than he had ever intended. ‘It’s a slow piece of music.’
A slight frown of disbelief. It seemed that he could lie to the rest of the world, but Charlotte caught him out every time.
‘I recognise it. You’ve played it before.’
When
