Read Chapter 18: — HOME LEAVE

The consortium granted Daniel a short leave after the city viaduct reached a major milestone.

He flew back to England carrying more questions than luggage.

Maggie met him at Leeds station.

For several seconds neither moved.

Then she hugged him.

Daniel hugged her back.

Forgiveness did not happen in the embrace. But neither did rejection.

They spent three days talking in fragments.

Maggie showed him old letters. Graham’s early project photographs. A marriage certificate Daniel had never seen. A telegram announcing his birth. Another from Graham promising to return and failing to do so.

There was no single betrayal large enough to explain thirty years.

There were hundreds of small ones.

Absence.

Pride.

Assumption.

Silence.

Maya joined them by video one evening.

She called Maggie “Maggie” at first, then stopped midway through the conversation.

“You looked after me when I was little, didn’t you?”

“For a while,” Maggie said softly.

“I don’t remember.”

“You liked strawberry yoghurt and hated socks.”

Maya laughed, then cried.

Maggie cried too.

Daniel watched the two women discover a relationship older than either had been allowed to remember.

When he returned to Almar, Maggie packed food despite airline restrictions, complained about his weight and said, “Tell Graham he still owes me thirty years of explanations.”

Daniel raised an eyebrow.

“Should I use those exact words?”

“Yes.”

“Maybe slightly edited.”

“Coward.”

On the flight back, Daniel realised something uncomfortable.

He was no longer travelling only toward a construction site.

Part of his family was waiting there.