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‘For what?’

‘For stopping me when I was “being silly”, and before I could reach full-on dumb-arse levels.’

‘You’re really too hard on yourself. Now, will you come and meet Amrita properly? I think Sylvie really likes her, but she’s not going to take her on unless you agree.’

‘Yeah, I probably should go and apologise to her. Again.’

‘Apologise?’

‘Umm…’ Aiden could feel his cheeks getting hotter. ‘She was half in the corner cupboard when I came in. I might have sort of mistaken her for you and… oh, this is going to sound awful, because it really is and I feel truly terrible… but I might have grabbed her butt a bit.’

‘Oh no! How did she react?’

‘Impressively fast. She stopped about an inch away from giving me the slap I really deserved.’

‘Oh!’ Mia clapped her hand over her mouth, trying to smother giggles. ‘It’s a good thing she has a great sense of humour.’

‘So you think she’ll forgive me?’

‘Probably.’

‘That’s a relief. I’ll have to bake her a nice apology cake. Why was she looking for the hand pump, by the way?’

‘Oh, one of the physio exercises involves squeezing a ball between your knees, and the ball needed pumping up. Obviously.’

‘Obviously.’ Aiden nodded. ‘But can my second round of apologies wait a minute or two more? I wanted to talk to you anyway. And I didn’t really want Ma knowing about it, and as everyone’s keeping secrets now, I don’t have to feel guilty about it… Kev from the genetics team called this morning. He’d had a last-minute cancellation, and Katie was in the store, so I did the counselling talk – such as it is – today. A couple of hours ago, actually. I’m surprised at how quickly everything fell into place.’

‘One of those Hudsbury things.’ Her eyes sparkled. ‘The magic lining things up for you.’

‘I guess.’

‘But no wonder you’re more on edge than usual. Can I ask how it went?’

Of course she could ask. She was part of the reason he was doing this – for her and the future he wanted to have with her. But all of that seemed too much to say in the middle of his ma’s kitchen, minutes after he’d had his hands on another woman’s arse. He winced slightly, still mortified at what he’d done.

‘It was OK. A lot quicker than I imagined. Kev agreed I understand the ramifications of being tested, and is happy to sign off on it. They’re going to post me out the forms, and then I just have to go and have the blood taken. I’ll know a month or so after that.’

‘So you still want to know?’

‘I still need to.’

‘OK.’ She twisted her fingers through his. ‘Still want me to hold your hand?’

‘Always.’

EPILOGUE

Aiden’s hands trembled slightly as he turned over the letter from the hospital. He’d had it sent to Glimmers – not wanting to risk his ma seeing it – but as the crystals started to vibrate on their shelves, he wondered if that was wrong. But sending it to the store also meant he hadn’t had to worry about it over Christmas or Yule, and had made it all the way to the new year without flinching every time he heard someone walk up the garden path or drop a card through the letter box.

He took a few deep breaths – the way Rayenne had taught him – and forced his energy to calm, even if his mind wasn’t.

Is that it? Mist leaped onto the shop counter.

‘I think so. But I didn’t expect it so soon. Do you think that means something?’

I think it means you’re part of this community and it’s just another of those Hudsbury things.

‘You don’t think it means anything about the results?’