Silence reigned for a few long seconds as the woman’s gaze shifted from Dylan to Kara.
“Looks like it’s down to me to make the introductions, darlin’,” she said, her eyebrows raised over her bitterly triumphant eyes.
Dylan let Justin go with a shove and turned to Kara. The look on his face broke her heart clean in two. Her world was about to turn upside down. She knew it in that split second as she waited mutely to hear what Dylan – or the woman - would say.
“Kara, please…”
“Oh, this is gonna be fuckin’ priceless,” Justin laughed. Without a second’s hesitation, Dylan swung around and punched him so hard on the jaw that he fell to his knees. Kara flinched, as much for the anguished, animal sound that left Dylan’s body when the blow struck its target as for the sound of knuckles smashing against bone.
“Some things never change, Matthew,” the woman said coolly, watching with apparent disinterest as Justin staggered to his feet, swiping blood from his mouth on the back of his hand.
Dylan’s heart was beating hard enough to give him a coronary. It wasn’t supposed to end like this.
“Kara…” he said, hating the hunted look in her eyes and wanting like hell to hold her.
“She called you Matthew,” Kara whispered, her face ashen even in the moonlight. “Why did she call you Matthew?”
The woman’s eyes widened and a small laugh escaped her throat.
“Oh my God,” she said, amused, furious, dangerous beyond reason. “She doesn’t even know your fucking name.”
“Shut the fuck up, Suzie,” Dylan said, never taking his eyes off Kara. He reached for her hands but she stepped backwards, out of his reach.
“Who is she?” Kara demanded, terrified of hearing his answer.
Suzie didn’t shut the fuck up. She stepped up alongside Dylan instead and stuck her hand out. Kara stared at it dumbly.
“I’m Suzie, honey,” she said, retracting her hand with a shrug, laying it on Dylan’s bicep instead. “His wife.” She glanced sideways and waved her other hand towards the pushchair. “And that’s his son.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Kara ran. She ran barefoot across the beach, as fast as she could without looking back. She heard Dylan call her name, once, and then again closer behind her. He caught her easily, his arms banding around her midriff, holding her against his chest as she struggled, throwing her elbows back into his body as hard and viciously as she could.
“Let me go,” she panted, fighting against him with every ounce of strength in her.
“She’s not my wife, Kara,” he said desperately, still holding her tight. “Not any more, I swear to you.”
She stilled in his grasp, winded by his words. He let go slowly, as if he feared she was preparing to run again. But she wasn’t. She didn’t want to run, suddenly. She wanted to hit him, to hurt him, to give him even the smallest taste of how much he was hurting her at that moment.
“But she was your wife, and you just conveniently forgot to mention her,” she spat. “I only ever asked you for one thing, Dylan.” She laughed, acid-harsh, as she said his name. “Or Matthew. Which is it?” She shook her head, and the icy revulsion in her eyes chilled his bones. “I only ever asked you for honesty.”
“I wanted to tell you, Kara,” he said hopelessly. “I wanted to tell you more than anything.”
“Well, you had plenty of fucking opportunities,” she threw back. “Months. Months of working alongside me, of screwing me all over this goddamn island, of listening to me spill my guts to you about fucking Richard, and my fucking dad.” She was crying now, big, heavy sobs dragging on her chest that made talking hard, but the words kept tumbling out regardless. “You really saw me coming, didn’t you?”
In the distance, the baby cried out.
“You’re not the man I thought you were,” Kara said, her voice broken and quiet. “I was going to tell you that I love you tonight. That I wanted to stay with you forever on that fucking boat.”
Dylan stared at her, hating himself, loving her so much it physically hurt. He could feel himself losing her and nothing he could say was going to make her stay.
“You’re someone else’s husband, and you let me fall in love with you,” Kara said. “She has your baby, and you pretend it’s never happened and let me fall in love with you.”
“It’s not my baby,” he whispered.
“You expect me to believe that?” Her eyes were daggers.
He didn’t. “Kara, we’re divorced. I have the papers on the boat…” Raw desperation hollowed his voice. He reached out for her and she backed away, shaking her head vehemently.
“I don’t want your papers, or your lies, or your fucking hands on me ever again.” Her voice shook with rage. “You make me feel dirty.”
It was the hardest thing anyone had ever said to him. She carried on retreating, watching him like a wounded animal, her furious face telling him how much she didn’t want him to follow. “I don’t know who you are,” she said flatly, a few metres away from him now. “I don’t know who you are.” She pressed her hands against her cheeks. Shock was setting in. She was cold, shivering despite the warmth of the evening.
“Yes you do,” he said softly, desperate to touch her, knowing she didn’t want him to. “You know me better than anyone else has ever known me.” He glanced back up the beach. “I don’t belong with them, Kara. I belong here, with you. I love you.”
For the briefest of seconds he saw her falter, and hope flared bright in his heart. Would she stop? Would she come back? The truth was so dreadfully overdue, but he would tell it all, right now, if she gave him the chance. Please come back.
Pain etched lines across her forehead as she fought to make sense of the evening’s revelations, to pick the bones of truth out from amongst the lies.
Kara had made her mind up.
“Go.” she said, clearly. “Go back to your family.” She jerked her head towards the end of the beach, her expression determined. “I never want to see you again.”
Dylan watched her walk away, taking his heart with her. He didn’t try to stop her. How could he? He had no defence.
Every word she’d said was true. He had lied to her from the moment he’d met her. He had chosen not to take a single one of the many opportunities there had been to tell her the truth.