"Markus!" Callie's excited shout attracted the attention of most of the people around us and there were a family beside us who tutted, and muttered about how not everyone needed to know our business. "Mummy said we would never see you again."

"Did she now?" I didn't need to turn around to know that Markus was hurt by what I had told my daughter, but I didn't think that he would come to the airport to look for me. Especially not when I could smell the alcohol radiating off him and I am almost certain that he was drunk.

"Well, she said that mummy needed to go home, and she said mummy has to do what's best. Mummy no hurt you." I wanted to laugh at the innocence of my daughter, and at the naivety of her, but I was fighting back the tears instead.

"Callie, sweetie, why don't you go over to that shop and get yourself some treats for the plane." Callie clapped her hands excitedly and took the money which Markus handed to her, and I watched as she ran off into the shop and waved the money in the cashier's face.

"What are you doing here, Mark?"

"I can't let you and Callie leave, Soph. I would be an idiot to do that." He walked round from the back of the seats and took a seat in the empty one beside me, pushing Callie's bag out of the way as he did so.

"I told Alexander not to tell you that I had gone until the morning."

"It is the morning. Coming up to almost half two. So, I guess Alex never broke his promise," Markus attempted to joke. I turned to face him and, in the warmth and happiness of his eyes, there was an underlying sadness which you could only spot if you knew him well enough. "It was also Amena who convinced me that I should come after you. She told me that I would be an absolute fool if I let you go without even attempting to fight for you."

"You could have gotten dressed before coming here. People are staring." I managed to laugh. He might have stunk of booze and I might have been wondering how he got here in the first place, but I also found it amusing that he had turned up dressed like he had gotten dressed in the dark.

"Then I would have missed you and probably lost you. Turning up here in a pair of joggers and a hoodie is better than considering the thought of being without you."

"You're better off without me." I pushed away his attempts to be calm and affectionate, and I turned my attention to my daughter who was charming the cashier in the shop as she shoved her hand into the bag of sweets she had purchased. "I fuck everything up and I would only do the same to you."

"Rows 1 to 15 are now boarding the three thirty flight to London." A voice called over the tannoy and, all around me, people began moving towards the boarding gate with their luggage and children in tow. My eyes moved to Callie who was now bidding the cashier goodbye and she ran towards me, shouting that it was time for us to go home and that Markus should come with us.

"Come, Mummy. Home time," Callie grinned. She picked her Barbie up off the floor and pulled her teddy close to her chest, pointing to her carry on and my handbag which were both on the floor in front of me.

"Just give me a minute, baby. Markus and mummy need to say goodbye."

"I wait over by gate. OK, Mummy?" I just nodded at her and watched as she sprinted over to join the back of the queue which was waiting to board. I didn't miss the looks of disgust which were thrown my way and neither did I miss the whispers of how I was unfit to be a mother, but she was an energetic three-year-old, and there was no stopping her when she wanted to do something.

I challenged any of the people before me to live my life, and then they would have the right to judge me and my parenting skills. But none of them knew what I had endured, and they didn't know how much love I held for my daughter, and I wouldn't hesitate to put any of them in their place if they continued to assume that I was a bad mother.

"I'm already fucked up, as you have pointed out to me more than once." Markus continued where we had left off, and he was making this harder than it needed to be.

"It would never work. We both know that you don't do relationships, nor do you do falling in love. You might be happy with me for a while but it wouldn't be long before you got bored with me, and you were going off with other women. I must think about Callie here as well. She'd never cope with having you as a temporary fixture in her life."

"So, you lied in this letter, did you?" He pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and he shoved it in my face with tears in his eyes. "I know I'm not perfect, Sophie, but then neither are you. You can be the person who loves me. I want you to be that person."

"I can't deal with any more pain in my life, Markus. I've suffered too much already. I need to leave, to get on with my life with Callie, and I need you to forget about me." The tears almost stopped the words from leaving my mouth, but I needed him to understand that Callie was my top priority in my life. I wasn't going to risk giving her something, just to lose it once she was used to it being in her life.

"I can't do that. I need you."

"You don't need me at all, you want me. There's a difference."

"No. I need you, Soph. I might have been a player and I might have broken hearts, and I have never wanted to settle down before now, but there's something about you and Callie which has changed all of that." The look in Markus' eyes told me that he was being sincere. I knew, in that moment, that he genuinely did need me and he wanted to be in my life for the long run, but I wasn't given the chance to say anything before Markus continued. "I want to wake up next you every single morning and I want to tell you how beautiful you are. I want to be able to call you mine and be allowed to get jealous when another man looks at you. I want to kiss you whenever I feel like it and tell you how much I love you. I want to be Callie's father and to give her everything she deserves, because that little girl deserves the world. You used to be everything I wanted but, now, you are something I need. Without you, I am nothing."

I found myself unable to respond. Instead, I just stared at Markus in total silence.

Everything was a mess and this just messed things up even more. I thought that I would be able to walk away, no complications and no regrets, just walk away and go back to my shitty life in London.

I hadn't planned for any of this. Callie was almost hoping that I would ask Markus to come back with us and Markus was hoping that we would stay here with him. But, even if neither Callie nor Markus would accept it, neither of their realities could happen.

"Well?" Markus clearly wanted an answer to his little speech. I felt his hand make contact with my cheek and his thumb brushed away the tears which were falling, forcing me to look into his eyes.

It felt exactly as it did when he first kissed me and, if I was being totally honest, I half expected him to kiss me now. If only to prove that he was telling the truth and that this wasn't another one of his mind games to get what he wanted from me: I just wanted him to kiss me and make me forget this entire nightmare.

"You should have put some clothes on. People are staring." It was the first thing which came to my mind and it also meant that I could avoid responding to the speech he had just given me.

"You make me do crazy things." I don't know whether it was to prove his point or because he had read my mind, but he closed the gap between us and I felt his lips against my own. They were rough, desperate, wanting more than he was giving, but he was holding back and only giving what he thought was appropriate.

I could taste the alcohol on his tongue when it brushed my lips, and the reality of it all hit home. He had drunk because I had walked away from him. He had wanted to forget and he had wanted to pretend that the pain wasn't real, and I was the reason for that.

"I love you, Sophie Peterson, and I'll do anything to prove that to you. I'll announce it over the tannoy if you want me to. Tell this entire airport that I love this woman and her daughter. Just, please, don't get on that plane."

I felt my walls break and there was no hiding anymore. There was no denying what I had tried to deny. "I love you too, Markus Barnes, and you don't need to prove anything to me. I won't get on that plane. Not without you."

I could feel all the negative thoughts leave my mind. All the complications seemed nothing but a story you told children to frighten them. My worst fears all seemed to melt away with the simple declaration of love.

This moment, just Markus and I, everything felt right. Nothing else was relevant other than the man who was declaring to me that he loved me.

"Say it again?" Markus rest his forehead against my own and his eyes fell closed. "Please?"

"I fucking love you, Markus." The words came out louder than intended and the few people who now remained in the queue for the flight turned to look at me with disgust. Especially those who had young children with them and didn't appreciate my language. "Callie loves you too. She has always wanted a father and I'm sure you could fill the role perfectly."

"In that case, you have to come back with me now. Don't you?" Markus chuckled as he moved away from me and picked my bags up from the floor, gesturing for Callie to come over to the both of us.

Her grin was so wide as she bound over to us and stared up at Markus. "We go home with you?"

"Well—"

"This is the final call for Rows 1 to 15. Please make your way to the gate now if you are boarding this fight." The voice on the tannoy put a stop to what Markus was about to say, and I was relieved about that. I didn't want Markus to give Callie hope, just for me to take it away from her again.

"We have to go, baby." I took our bags from Markus and gave him an apologetic look before I turned my back on him, directing Callie towards the gate holding back the tears as I did so.

"You're still going to leave?" Markus questioned.

"Are you coming with me?" I was hopeful that he would agree to come with me and, despite knowing that it was a stupid question, I still wanted to believe that he would leave his life in Arizona behind him and that he would come to London with us.

"What? Just like that? Leave everything behind me?"

"I can't stay here, Markus. As much as I would love to stay here with you, I just can't do it. I need to get on that plane and I need to leave."

"Please—"

"Being here is a constant reminder of everything that happened between Matthew and I. It is a reminder of how stupid and foolish I was. My life is in London now, it's where my home and job are, and it's where my best friend is. It's where Callie knows and I can't take her away from that."

"I understand, Sophie. I love you, and I love Callie, and know that I'll be thinking of the both of you until the next time I see you." Markus had never been one to admit defeat and I didn't expect him to let me walk away, not when he had made the effort to come and stop me from leaving, but I also understood that he couldn't leave everything behind. "Goodbye, my love."

"Goodbye, Markus." And they were the last words I spoke to him as I walked to the boarding gate, Callie dragging her feet along behind me as she waved to the man who had been her father for the last three weeks, and to the man who had loved her from the moment he met her. "I love you too. Don't forget me."

"Mummy?" Callie pulled on the bottom of my shirt as I handed over our boarding passes and passports.

"Yes, baby?"

"Markus coming?"

"I'm sorry, sweetie. It's just you and me. Again." I tried not to be disappointed by those words and I tried to ignore my heart which was breaking, but neither of those things were possible. "It'll always be me and you."

"We be okay, Mummy. You got me." I looked back one last time, hoping to see Markus there, but all I saw was him dragging himself towards the exit as he faced the trip back home with me and my daughter.

"I know. And you got me. I love you, Callie."

"I love you too, Mummy. Forever and always."

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