and if we put up at a hotel there we can still get to Gretna before the register office opens. Don't pull out!'
Daniel swore and drew back just in time as a juggernaut thundered past him.
'I didn't see him,' he admitted. 'All right. We'll stay overnight in Carlisle.'
They stopped at the first hotel they came to. It was a small place, slightly shabby but cosy and friendly. While Daniel brought in the bags Lee booked two single rooms. She knew she'd been right to insist on stopping. Daniel's face was grey with strain and weariness.
'I'll call Room Service for a snack and then turn in,' he said.
'I'm afraid this hotel doesn't have Room Service,' Lee told him. 'We'll have to go downstairs.'
'I'll fall asleep over the soup.'
'I won't let you,' she promised. 'Come on.'
They secured the last table in the restaurant and ate without speaking until the main course was over. Once Daniel glanced up, smiled briefly and looked away again.
'I feel more human now,' he admitted. 'I've booked an early call tomorrow, so we'll have time to get there.'
'Daniel, what are you going to do when we meet them?'
'Don't worry, I'm not going to make a scene. I'll just tell Phoebe very calmly that I've come to take her home.'
'And suppose she won't go with you?'
'She'll have to. She's got to see sense about this.'
'But if she won't? What are you going to do? Drag her to the car?'
'It won't come to that.'
'But if it does?'
'Lee, please, don't push me now. I'm not in complete control of my temper.'
And not to be in control was something he hated. Lee gave up the attempt. Tomorrow would bring whatever it brought. She could only hope Daniel showed more wisdom in handling his daughter than he had so far.
As they were getting ready to leave the table a hesitant voice halted them. 'Forgive me, but-you are Daniel Raife, aren't you?'
He raised his head with a look of impatience, which faded as he saw an elderly lady, her hands clutched tightly together. Her face was a mixture of nervousness and determination, as though she'd had to force herself to speak.
'Yes, I am,' Daniel admitted with a tired smile.
'Do forgive me for- That is, I know you must hate people forcing themselves on you-but you're the only person who could help me. I don't know where else to turn.'
Without hesitation Daniel pulled over a free chair and waved the old woman into it with his most delightful smile. Lee, who knew the state he was in, marvelled at the self-control that enabled him to brush his own feelings aside.
'Tell me about it,' he said.
The story came out haltingly. Her name was Mrs Myra Hallam and just over a year ago her husband had been knocked down and killed by a drunk driver. The driver had subsequently been fined two hundred and fifty pounds.
'It was like saying all Freddy was worth was two hundred and fifty pounds,' Mrs Hallam said, in tears. 'If the man had been properly punished-it wouldn't have brought Freddy back, but it would have done him justice. But this-' She buried her face in her hands for a moment, then made an effort to recover herself.
'Now all I want to do is tell people. It happens all the time-drunks who kill people and get off lightly. I never understood before-it's got to be stopped. People have got to be told. And you can tell them. Your show…'
Lee was wrung with pity for her, especially as she knew Daniel had already covered a similar theme recently on the show, and that his producer wouldn't look at it again for a long time. She wondered how he would manage to break the truth to her.
Then she realised that the old lady had gone back to the beginning and was telling the story again. Daniel showed no sign of impatience but sat with his hand enfolding hers, watching her with eyes that were gentle. Even when everything was repeated a third time his perfect kindness and courtesy never failed him.
'Look,' he said at last, bringing a notebook from his pocket, 'give me your phone number. I've already used this subject on the show, and it'll be a while before I can touch it again on television, but I can write about it. I'll call you in a few days and we can have a proper talk then.'
'Oh, thank you. You're so kind.'
'I wish I could do more,' he said.
'But you've helped so much-just listening to me. It's the only thing I can do for Freddy, you see, tell his story.'
Daniel hailed a waiter and ordered three coffees. 'I'll just be a moment,' he said, rising. 'I want to pay the bill so that we can leave early.'
He hurried out to Reception, leaving Lee alone with Mrs Hallam.
'I'm afraid I've rambled on rather,' the old lady confided. 'But I can't help brooding about it, especially just now, because next week would have been our wedding anniversary. We would have been married fifty-one years.'
'Oh, no!' Lee exclaimed. 'You mean he died just before, your Golden Wedding?'
'Yes. You know, nobody expected our marriage to be a success-we were so different. But I think that was why it worked so well. Where one was foolish, the other was wise, and so we helped each other.
'It was the night before our Golden Wedding and I had a big surprise planned for him. He kept trying to find out. I told him to go out to the pub and stop trying to peek. I even got a little cross with him because I was afraid the surprise would be spoiled. So he went out that night and-and he didn't come back. He never got to see the surprise at all.'
Lee could only look at her in sympathy, her own eyes filled with tears.
'I'll always regret it,' Mrs Hallam said simply. 'I was so busy worrying about tomorrow that I neglected today. Now I know that today is all we're ever sure of. But it's too late. Perhaps everyone learns that too late.'
In the distance they could see Daniel returning. Mrs Hallam blew her nose and forced herself to speak brightly. 'I was really nervous about approaching him. He seems very pleasant on television, only you wonder what people are like when the cameras are off. But he really is a nice man, isn't he?'
'Yes,' Lee agreed quietly. 'He really is a nice man.'
Lee thought she was sure to fall asleep at once, but despite her tiredness she lay awake for hours that night. Mrs Hallam's words tormented her: 'I was so busy worrying about tomorrow that I neglected today… today is all we're ever sure of…everyone learns that too late.'
She'd refused to commit herself to her love, asking for some kind of guarantee for the future before she did so. But there were no guarantees. There were only risks. But it was love that gave you the courage to take those risks.
She loved Daniel. That was the only certainty. But she'd allowed fear to overcome her, as though fear were more important than love. And because her courage had failed she hadn't been the woman Daniel needed in his hour of crisis.
Brenda had said, 'I hope you marry Phoebe's father soon. You'll be a steadying influence on her.'
Daniel had sometimes blamed her unjustly, but he'd never thrown at her the accusation she now threw at herself: if she'd married him when he'd first asked she could have steered him clear of this disaster. She would have been living with him and Phoebe these last few weeks and then, she was sure, things would never have come to this pass.
He'd begged her to be his wife, out of love but also out of need. Some instinct had told him that she was the woman who could guide him away from the pitfalls. But she'd abandoned him in his need, leaving him to make mistake after mistake, with no one to help him.
Mrs Hallam had known the secret. 'Where one was foolish, the other was wise, and so we helped each other.' It was so simple really.
At last Lee rose, slipped on her dressing gown and went out into the corridor. His room was next to hers. She paused outside his door, her hand uplifted to knock, but after a moment she went in without knocking. She knew he wouldn't be asleep.
