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A faded wedding photograph
You and me in our first dance
Our eyes are closed, we’re lost in one sweet embrace
Since those days the world had changed
But our love remains the same
God knows we’ve had our share of saving grace
And I’m proud of all the blessings you have given me
The mountains we have climbed to get this far
We’ve learned to take the laughter with the tears
After all these years
- Journey, ‘After All These Years’
“So you’re sticking with the beard, huh?” Ilsa chuckled, setting her glass of wine on the table and plopping into the chair next to her friend.
“Robin likes it,” Strike shrugged as he stroked his chin. “Says it makes me look distinguished.”
“Mmhm,” Ilsa smiled, taking a sip of her wine.
“What?” He grinned. “You mean to tell me Nick wouldn’t grow a full beard if you told him you liked it?”
“Nick couldn’t grow a beard if his life depended on it,” she laughed. “But yeah, I see her point. Combined with the suit and the surly expression you’ve really got a whole vibe going on here.”
Strike chuckled and took a pull from his beer, looking around the room at all the wedding guests.
“Lots of people here,” he commented.
“Yeah,” Ilsa nodded. “Nothing like an open bar to bring people out in droves.”
Strike raised his glass and took another sip. “Only reason I’m here.”
“Cormoran, he’s your nephew!” she chided, looking over to where Adam was standing proudly next to his blushing bride, Lucy flitting around them and making a fuss.
“Doesn’t mean I like weddings,” he shrugged. “If you recall I didn’t even want one of my own.”
“Never did think I’d see the day when Cormoran Strike settled down,” she smiled.
“Yeah, well, I was just waiting for the right person, wasn’t I?”
“Waited too long if you ask me,” Ilsa huffed.
“I married her less than a year after we got together,” he reminded her.
“After seven years of dancing around each other,” she replied, shaking her head fondly.
Strike shrugged and took another sip of his drink.
“Lucy looks happy,” Ilsa commented. “All her boys together in one room. It’s nice Jack was able to come.”
“Yeah,” Strike nodded, looking at his favourite nephew as he stood in his freshly pressed army dress uniform talking to his brother. “He called me the other day.”
“What about?”
Strike looked around to make sure no one else was listening and leaned in close. “Wanted to ask about a job with the agency,” he smiled. “He’s thinking of leaving the SIB for something permanent in London…his wife’s pregnant.”
“Really?” Ilsa grinned. “That’s great!”
“They haven’t told anyone yet, so mum’s the word.”
“Of course,” Ilsa nodded. “So what do you think, about him working at the agency?”
“Well the timing is good actually,” he nodded. “Tasha just accepted a long term gig on Broadway and is moving to the States. Midge is going with her, so we’re in need of a senior investigator.”
He took another pull off his beer, raising it with a smile at his nephew as he looked in his direction and waved, almost as if he could hear them discussing him from across the room.
“Robin’s thrilled with the idea,” Strike continued. “She’s always had a soft spot for Jack.”
“I think you have as well,” she smiled. “Must be a proud thing, to have him following in your footsteps.”
“Yeah, career wise,” he nodded. “His personal life is a lot more put together…married, a kid on the way. He’s nearly the same age I was when I started the agency and it took me several years after to get my own personal shit together.”
“Well I for one am glad you finally pulled your head out of your arse,” she smiled. “I would’ve never forgiven you if you’d sat back and let her marry Murphy.”
“You told her to go out with him,” he scoffed.
“Not gonna let that go are you?” she grinned, taking a sip of her wine.
Strike contemplated his friend’s profile, watching her as she gazed off into the distance.
“How are you doing, with Benjy off at Uni?”
“It’s just Ben now,” she chuckled. “He only tolerates me calling him Benjy because I’m his mum.”
“That’s right,” he grinned.
“It’s tough not having him around,” Ilsa sighed. “But his first year has been going great, he loves it. He’ll be home in a couple weeks for the Easter break, you should come over for dinner.”
“I’d like that,” Strike nodded.
“Just don’t try and persuade him to leave university for the army.”
“I didn’t persuade Jack to leave..” he started.
“I didn’t say you did,” Ilsa smiled. “You just seem to have a lot of influence over the young men in your life. Benjy looks up to you, just like Jack.”
“Well if he decided to leave, not by my influence mind you, I don’t see what’s so bad about the army. Jack’s made a good career out of it,” he took another sip of his drink and smiled. “A university degree is overrated. Robin and I both dropped out and look how we fared - jointly running a successful business in London.”
“Except Robin went back and completed her degree,” Ilsa smiled.
“Yeah, and I’m bloody proud of her,” he said, looking over at the dance floor where Robin and Nick were dancing, her head thrown back in a laugh as Nick grinned and twirled her in a circle.
Ilsa followed his gaze and chuckled.
“Christ Ilsa, how did we get so lucky?”
“Dunno,” Ilsa shrugged, “But I’m grateful for it every day.”
“Me too,” Strike sighed, watching fondly as his friend spun his wife around the dance floor.
“How is Robin holding up?” Ilsa asked, a touch of sadness in her tone.
“Alright,” Strike nodded, not needing to clarify the question. “I convinced her to take some extended time off after the funeral. She’s been spending a lot of time in Masham, helping her mum clean out the house. She’s trying to convince her to sell and move closer to us in London.”
“Closer to you, or in with you?” Ilsa smirked.
Strike’s lips curled around his glass. “Closer to,” he chuckled.
“I thought you two got on now?”
“We do,” he nodded. “But there’s a far cry between getting on with your mother in law, and having her live with you.”
“Fair,” Ilsa smiled.
“I’d do it for her though,” Strike said softly, almost reverently, as he watched Robin on the dance floor. “If she asked,” he nodded, almost in a trance. He shook himself out of his thoughts and turned to Ilsa with a grin. “But, luckily for me, Linda and Robin are both incredibly stubborn. Neither one want to burden the other, and I think the coming and going at all hours would drive Linda crazy, so I don’t see that happening anytime soon. At least not while we’re both still active in the business.”
“I thought you were going to take a step back?” Ilsa asked.
“I don’t do as much on the ground surveillance anymore,” he nodded. “But I’m still active enough. Robin says I spend too much time working.”
“Pot. Kettle.” Ilsa laughed.
“Yeah,” Strike grinned. “Can you believe it’s been twenty five years since she showed up on my doorstep? Christ, it seems like it’s been an age, and at the same time only yesterday.”
“A lot has changed in that time,” she nodded. “And yet, it hasn’t.”
“Indeed.”
“How is everything else going at the office? New subcontractors working out?”
“Yeah, that’s been fine, but we’re looking for another office manager.”
“Again?”
“Yep, that’s three in the last five years. Haven’t found anyone suitable since Pat retired. I’ll deny having said this,” he gave a sideways glance to Ilsa. “But I really miss that woman.”
“Have you heard from her?”
Strike nodded. “Robin had lunch with her last week. Just had another great-grandchild…they named him Cameron.”
Ilsa laughed and clapped her hands with glee while Strike snorted into his glass.
“Ils, love,” Nick called out, approaching their table. “Would you like a dance? Robin nearly wore me out, but I think I have one or two left in me.”
“I’d love to,” she smiled, allowing Nick to pull her on to her feet. “Thanks for warming him up for me,” she grinned at Robin.
“Anytime,” Robin smiled, plopping into Ilsa’s vacated seat next to Strike.
“What were you two chatting about?” Robin asked, reaching over to grab Strike’s glass and taking a long pull of his beer.
“Nothing much,” he grinned. “Just catching up. She wants us to come over in a couple weeks when Ben is home on break.”
“Oh, I’d love that,” she nodded. “It’s been too long since we all had a curry night together.”
“Been a while since we’ve had a night out in general,” he smiled, looking at the crowd of guests laughing and tearing it up on the dance floor. “Just us, I mean. We should go out and celebrate our anniversary.”
“Our anniversary isn’t for a few months,” she said, confused.
“I mean the anniversary of when we first met,” he said, turning to her with a smile. “Twenty five years next week.”
“You’re right..” she replied, her eyebrows lifting as her mouth pulled into a grin. “Gosh that seems so long ago, and yet like it was just yesterday.”
Strike chuckled and nodded, reflecting on how he’d just said the exact same to Ilsa.
“Although it clearly wasn’t yesterday, was it?” Robin smiled, grasping his chin and running her fingers affectionately through his beard, the gray hairs now far outnumbering the black.
“Hey now,” he snorted.
“What?” she laughed. “I didn’t say you look old. In fact, you’ve aged quite nicely. Like a fine wine.”
Strike gave her his trademark lopsided grin. “And you,” he said, leaning closer to her. “Are still the most beautiful woman in all of London.”
“Only in London?” she teased, drawing closer so that their noses were nearly touching.
“Well, I haven’t traveled the whole globe, so I can’t say for certain…” he shrugged.
“Cheeky bugger,” Robin grinned.
“I love it when you talk Yorkshire to me. Say it again.”
“Bugger,” she smiled, drawing out her vowels before grasping his lapel and pulling his mouth to hers.
“Gross, get a room.”
Strike felt Robin smile against his lips and pulled his mouth away to turn and look at the person who had spoken, standing just behind them.
“Can I help you?” he asked with a raised brow and a smirk.
The girl, teen in age, folded her arms over her chest and looked between Strike and Robin. She was wearing a green and black knee length dress with tights, loosely tied combat boots and a black motorcycle jacket, a mass of dark tight curls clipped up on her head. Her piercing blue-gray eyes landed on Strike as she gave him a familiar lopsided grin.
“Can I go stay at Laura’s tonight?” she asked. “We have our term project to work on, and her mum said she’d take us to the cinema.”
“How are you getting there? You know I don’t like you taking the tube after dark.”
“I’m nearly sixteen,” she replied with an exasperated eye roll, then softened when she saw the concerned look in Strike’s eyes. “Her mum is picking me up. We’ll go to the show and then work on our project at her place. It’s all perfectly safe, I assure you.”
Robin smiled. “That’s fine sweetheart.”
“You know, my birthday is coming up - if you got me a moped - ”
“No,” Strike said firmly.
“But dad, I could drive that on my provisional license and then when I’m seventeen Sam said he’d teach me how to ride a motorbike - ”
“No,” he said again, deciding he’d need to have some words with his lead senior investigator.
“But with the moped I wouldn’t have to take the tube..”
“There’s nothing wrong with the tube, Ava,” Strike grumbled.
“Except at night, apparently.”
“You don’t need to be out at night,” Strike huffed.
“Mum,” Ava protested.
Robin shook her head. “Sorry, I’m not going to disagree with your father,” she said, giving her a ‘we’ll discuss this later’ look.
“Can I at least have some money for the cinema?”
Strike reached into his pocket, extracting his wallet and pulling out a ten pound note.
“Ten pounds? Have you been to the cinema lately? That’ll barely buy popcorn.”
“Christ,” Strike grumbled, pulling out another ten while Robin chuckled next to him. “You know sixteen is also old enough to get a job.”
“Mum said I could work at the agency this summer,” Ava replied, plucking the notes out of Strike’s hand and shoving them into the pocket of her jacket.
“Did she now?” Strike looked at Robin with a lifted brow.
“I said we’d talk about it,” Robin corrected.
Ava looked down at her mobile as it pinged in her hand. “Gotta go, Laura will be here in five minutes.”
“How - ” Strike started.
“I knew you’d say yes so I already told her to come get me, they left a while ago.”
Strike shook his head and couldn’t prevent the grin spreading across his face.
“I could change my mind, you know,” he said.
“Yeah, but you won’t,” Ava grinned, throwing her arms around Strike’s neck and hugging him from behind. She gave him a kiss on the cheek before turning to give Robin a hug.
“Bye mum.”
“Have fun, call me tomorrow to let me know what time you’ll be home,” Robin said, giving her daughter a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Oh, and make sure you say goodbye to your aunt Lucy before you leave.”
“I will.”
“Ava, don’t forget..” Strike started.
“I know,” she grinned. “I’m the best you’ve got.”
Strike smiled endearingly as she leaned forward to give him another kiss on the cheek.
“Dad, you really should shave, you’re starting to look like Sasquatch.”
Robin chuckled as Ava spun on her heel. “Love you!”
“Love you too,” Strike and Robin both replied in unison.
Strike shook his head fondly as he watched Lucy giving Ava a hug from across the room.
“Speaking of cheeky,” Strike chuckled. “She gets that from you.”
“I don’t think so,” Robin laughed. “Her attitude is all you.”
“Agree to disagree,” he smiled. “You know what this means though.”
“What’s that?” Robin replied, downing the last of the beer in Strike’s glass.
“We get the entire house to ourselves tonight.”
Robin’s lips curled up into a smile. “A night off from work and parenting? Together?”
“Yep.”
“Shall we get out of here then?”
“Absolutely,” Strike nodded. “Should probably say goodnight to everyone first.”
“Nah,” Robin grinned. “Let’s just go.”
“Rebel!” Strike laughed. “And you say she gets it from me.”
“She got the best of both of us,” Robin smiled, giving Strike a kiss.
“Mmm,” he smiled against her lips. “Want to go make another?”
“God no,” Robin laughed. “I mean, I don’t want another kid, but I do want to...”
“You’re right, no time for chat,” he said, smiling as he stood and pulled her up from her chair. “Let’s go celebrate that anniversary.”