shrugged. Getting all the details hadn’t been high on her list of priorities. ‘Old enough to go to school, I guess.’
‘So he’s just been killing time, fooling around with you, until his wife gets here?’ Ruby sounded horrified.
‘I always knew there was something suspicious about him.’ Tilly sounded as though she’d like a chance to tear Rob to pieces.
‘Well, you’ll love the next bit even more,’ Ellie told her, thinking it would give Tilly further reason to dislike Rob. ‘He seemed to think I’d like to keep the relationship going once his wife arrived.’
‘You’re kidding! I hope you set him straight.’
‘Of course. I actually created quite a scene. I didn’t think I had it in me. I think that’s why he orchestrated to have the conversation in a public place—I’m sure he thought there’d be safety in numbers.’ Thinking back to her reaction, Ellie was rather pleased she’d shown some fight. Even if the whole experience had left her feeling embarrassed and nauseous, at least she’d had the last word. And, as depressing as the evening had been, she did feel marginally better once she’d shared the saga with her girlfriends. ‘I can’t believe I’ve been such an idiot.’
‘It’s not your fault, Ellie. Rob lied to you,’ Ruby tried to console her.
‘God, his poor wife,’ said Tilly.
‘Who cares about his wife! What about Ellie?’ Jess was outraged.
Tilly just shrugged. ‘Ellie is better off without him. His wife isn’t so lucky, she’s stuck with him.’
‘But you guys know how much I want to belong to someone,’ Ellie said as she reached for yet another tissue. ‘I had all my hopes pinned on Rob and he’s played me for a complete fool.’
‘Rob is the fool, Ellie,’ Ruby interjected. ‘Don’t waste your time crying over him. You’ll meet someone else, someone who deserves you.’
Jess agreed. ‘Your soul mate is out there and he’s worth waiting for. Then everything will fall into place. You’ll have your happy ever after.’
‘I thought he might be “the one”.’
‘Trust me, Ellie, he’s not. You’ll know when you meet “the one”. You won’t be left wondering.’ Ruby had found her true love in Cort and she was convinced everyone else should, and would, experience the same happiness.
‘I feel like I’m running out of time.’
‘For goodness’ sake, you’re only twenty-three.’ Tilly spoke up with the wisdom her few extra years gave her.
‘I know, but I want children. You know I was an IVF baby—what if I have trouble getting pregnant, like my parents did? I want to know sooner rather than later.’
‘If you want my advice, I wouldn’t advertise that fact. It’s likely to scare most men away.’ Tilly was her usual pragmatic self.
‘If they don’t want children then they’re not the man for me, are they?’ Ellie responded.
‘But wanting children doesn’t automatically make them right for you and I don’t think you’ll find most men putting kids at the top of their to-do list, even the decent ones.’
Ellie could feel tears welling up again. ‘Rob said he wanted kids.’
‘Now you know why. He’s already got one.’ Tilly in particular didn’t keep her opinions to herself. Ellie loved Tilly dearly but she was definitely a person who saw the world in two dimensions—right and wrong—and unless you agreed with her you were obviously wrong! This made her a very good person to have in your corner but you didn’t want to be on her bad side. She hadn’t liked Rob and it turned out she’d been right about him all along.
‘Tilly, a little sympathy wouldn’t go astray,’ Jess suggested.
Tilly reached around the bulky quilt and hugged Ellie. ‘I’m sorry you’re upset now but things will work out. I know they will.’
‘How on earth am I going to work with him?’ Ellie asked as she blew her nose again.
‘You go to work with your head held high. You’ve done nothing wrong. He lied to you.’
CHAPTER ONE
ELLIE’S eyes were stinging and she could feel tears welling up, accompanied by an unexpected lump in her throat as the coffin slid soundlessly on the stainless-steel rollers and disappeared through the curtain. Behind the curtain, screened from the mourners in the chapel, her grandmother’s body would be taken away and all that would remain would be able to be contained in a small urn. That urn would end up behind a small brass plaque, next to the ashes of Ellie’s grandfather and parents.
‘You okay?’
Jess was sitting to Ellie’s left. She was holding out a pack of tissues.
Ellie took one and smiled. ‘Yes, I’m okay.’ Her grandmother had been eighty-eight years old and her death hadn’t been unexpected but it did mean that Ellie was now truly alone, the sole remaining member of her family. She was an only child and her parents had been killed when she was eleven. Her maternal grandparents had been her guardians and now they were both gone too. Her tears were selfish ones.
Surrounding her, flanking her, protecting her, were her closest friends. Jessica and Ruby sat on her left, Tilly on her right. She and Jess had been friends for several years now since meeting at university where they’d studied nursing together. They’d gone through the highs and lows of good and bad results, good and bad relationships and good and bad times generally. Ruby and Tilly had become her friends more recently, since they’d all started sharing a house and working at Eastern Beaches Hospital. These three were like family to her but they weren’t family.
As she waited for the funeral music to stop playing Ellie thought back over the past two months. In the space of nine weeks she’d lost her boyfriend—well, not so much lost as found out he was actually someone else’s cheating husband—and now she’d lost her grandmother. True, she had her friends but they weren’t what she longed for. Her friends were fabulous but they weren’t enough. Ellie wanted to belong and she longed for a family to call her own. Stop being pathetic, she told herself. It was one thing to cry over the death of a loved one, that was allowed, expected even, but to sit here, at her grandmother’s funeral, feeling sorry for herself was being a little too self-indulgent. She was twenty-three years old, she had friends, she would be fine.
But the empty spot in her heart refused to listen. Ever since her parents had died she’d been conscious of this space waiting to be filled. She knew it could only be filled by love but it was a spot for family and family alone. No matter how much she loved her friends that spot was still there, empty, waiting. What if she never found her soul mate, her one true love. What if she never had the family she dreamed of? What if that empty spot was never filled?
Ellie shook her head. She couldn’t think like that. She had to be strong. She had to be positive. Somewhere her perfect partner waited for her, she had to believe that. Rob had been a mistake, it didn’t mean her quest for love was over. At least she hoped not.
The
