by June Gadsby
“Crazy, am I?” Nadine had heard her words. “Yes, maybe I am, but then, wouldn’t you be crazy if you saw a multi-million dollar deal being flushed down the tubes. Send the kid over here. I want Anna over here – now!”
The gun was wavering in her hand, but even from across the room, Sally could see that the woman was pulling on the trigger. It could go off at any moment and Gavin would die, then it would be her turn.
This is not happening! It’s not real! It can’t be!
“Put the gun down, Nadine!”
The explosion took them all by surprise. Even Nadine herself, who had pulled the trigger, recoiled, her face as white as parchment. Sally clung desperately to Anna behind Gavin’s back. The room seemed to be full of the odours of cordite and hot metal. And the perspiration of fear.
“Anna, get over here or I’ll kill your friends, honey!” Nadine had recovered and was calling out to Anna, who pulled immediately away from Sally and went towards her mother before Sally could stop her. “You know I’ll do it, don’t you. Remember your dog!”
The child’s face twisted with mental agony as she placed herself at Nadine’s side.
“You were never an animal lover, Nadine,” Gavin said. “Any more than you loved children.”
Sally noticed that his voice was strained and he was clutching at his arm where a dark red stain was slowly seeping through his jacket.
“Gavin, you’re hurt!” she whispered.
“I’ll survive. It’s only a flesh wound.”
Sally was enraged. She turned on the woman with the gun. “You bitch! What kind of woman are you, any way?”
“A desperate one, honey,” Nadine said in a low voice, then her face locked rigid as another person joined them, someone who had entered by the back door and had possibly been listening to the entire conversation.
“Give me the gun, Nadine. You’re frightening our visitors.”
The soft, velvety tones held all the menace it needed to reduce Nadine to a quivering mass. She turned and looked at the short, stocky figure that had come up behind her and the gun went limp in her hand.
“Lorn!” Nadine seemed to shrink before him. “I was only doing it for you, so you could have your daughter back. You always said how your life was lacking without children. I’m your wife, so that makes Anna your daughter, right?”
“Wrong.” The man took the gun from his wife’s hand and placed it in his pocket, then he turned his attention to Gavin and Sally. “I’m too old to have young children around me. Take your daughter, Calder. And your pretty lady friend. Take them and go. All business between you and I is terminated. I never want to see hide nor hair of you again.”
“I think you’ll find that a little difficult, Macey. No doubt we’ll meet again. In court.”
“Only if you can find me, Calder. This isn’t the only hideaway. There are others, far more discreet than this one. Take your little family and forget about me.” He turned and fixed Nadine with a stony stare. “That includes you, sweetheart. Take her with you, Calder. She’s no more use to me.”
Gavin glanced at Sally, smiled through his pain and shook his head. “No. You keep her. You deserve one another it seems to me.” Then he looked at his daughter and his smile became warmer. “Come on Anna. Let’s go.”
Anna flung herself at him for the second time that evening, her face wreathed in happy smiles. She grabbed his coat sleeve, not noticing how he winced as she dragged him to the open door. Then she turned and held out her soft, baby hand to Sally.
“Sally!” she said. “Come on, Sally. You too!”
Gavin’s eyes met and locked with Sally’s. They looked glassy and she realised that they were swimming with unshed tears. She remembered how he told her that Anna had not spoken a word for about two years, ever since her mother ran off and left her with her step-father.
“Yes, I’m coming, Anna,” Sally said.
She swallowed the lump that had arisen in her throat and took Anna’s hand in hers. Together they left the lodge and walked slowly back to the car where Gavin called up his team of operatives on his mobile and gave them the location. He then contacted the police. His conversation was short and brief and it was obvious that they were not exactly ignorant of what was going on.
“Why didn’t you bring them in earlier?” Sally asked.
“Selfishness, I suppose,” he told her, brushing her cheek with the back of his good hand. “I wanted to be in on the kill.”
“They knew you had Anna, didn’t they?” Sally stared into the darkness, feeling Anna’s sleepy head getting heavier as the little girl nestled against her in the back seat of the car.
“Yes. I’ve been working with them to get evidence against Lorn Macey. They want him out of the country, so I guess he’ll be expedited back to the States and there’ll be quite a reception committee waiting for him there. He’s not exactly Mister Nice Guy in America, England or anywhere else.”
Sally felt her stomach sag slightly as a thought struck her. “So – no more work here for Calder Security Enterprises.”
There was a short pause before he replied. “No, I guess not.”
“Will you be going back to the States? You and Anna?”
“I guess we have to go back, yes. There’s a bit of unfinished business before this damned affair can be put behind us. And, of course, I have to see about finding a home for Anna and I. Maybe I’ll take some time off from business and just occupy myself with my daughter’s welfare for a while.”
“Her mother won’t try to get her back, will she?”
“No chance. Nadine only wanted to use Anna as a tool to pry a few million away from her rich husband. She never wanted children, but I didn’t find that out until it was too late. Anna was a mistake. She took us both by surprise. I thought maybe Nadine had changed her mind when she decided not to have an abortion, but I think even then she was working on Macey. Anna was only ten months old when Nadine left me and went to shack up with the boss. They cooked up a story against me, so I couldn’t get custody.” Gavin reached over the back of his seat and gently stroked his sleeping daughter’s dark head. “I stuck around as best I could to make sure she was all right and I think she was for a while. Then Nadine bolted. Took off with a younger man. She always was one for having a good time and Macey didn't come up to scratch. I don’t know why she came back. It doesn’t matter now. If she hadn’t, I wouldn’t have known about the abuse. It was a friend of hers that told me about it. And then, when I looked further into things I found he had a history of that kind of thing going back some. I couldn’t persuade them to let me take Anna away, so I took the matter into my own hands.”
Sally sighed. “You could still be in trouble with the authorities, Gavin, for what you did. You might even go to prison.”
“It’s possible, but I don’t think that will happen. Not now. We have too many witnesses. I expect your friend Rob will also give evidence.”
Sally licked her lips and thought how scared poor Rob had looked, but how proud he would be to be able to help Anna and her true father to finally get together. The child stirred in her arms and she hugged her close, glad that it was too dark for Gavin to see the tears in her eyes.
“You really love her, don’t you?” she said with a little break in her voice.
“I think she’s the greatest kid that ever lived,” Gavin told her. “And I hope she’ll have a bevy of brothers and sisters one day.”
“I never thought I’d ever hear a man say that,” Sally said, burying her face in Anna’s hair, struggling with feelings of envy and regret. And wondering if there was another man like Gavin somewhere, because it would be so easy to fall in love with him.
“Here they come,” Gavin said, jerking up straight in his seat and watching a procession of car headlights approaching from the distance like pin-pricks of white on black.
“So, it’s all over bar the shouting,” Sally said dully and felt Gavin look at her through the darkness.
“Yes. I daresay you could
be right.”
The silence fell heavy between them.
Chapter Ten
Sally gazed out of the window and thought there was something very special about a white Christmas. Everything outside was crisp and glistening and fluffy white snowflakes were fluttering down from an iced blue sky.
The doorbell jangled and she heard Bella greeting people, heard the stamping of feet as she shook off the snow, the jovial greetings and the rustle of wrapping paper on the gifts they carried.
For a moment it was all in the hazy distance, because Sally’s thoughts were sailing across the Atlantic to a ‘small house with well-established rose garden’, which was how Gavin’s letter had described his and Anna’s new home. There was a photograph stuck up on the notice board of Anna standing proudly before the white painted picket fence.
Sally wondered what kind of Christmas Day they were celebrating over there in the States and whether Gavin would have a thought for her as Anna opened the present of a Jojo musical clown she had sent.
“Merry Christmas, Sally!” Rob, his face glowing pink with the cold, his eyes shining happily, came and gave her a hug. “This is Stephen. You said I could bring somebody – I hope you don’t mind?”
“Of course not, Merry Christmas Rob – Stephen – make yourselves at home.” She shook hands with Rob’s new partner and decided she liked the look of him. He had honest eyes and a nice smile. "I’ll just go and put the finishing touches to the punch.”
“Hope it’s hot and spicy like you usually make!” Rob unwound a scarf from his neck and stood, rubbing his hands together.
“Hot, spicy and very alcoholic,” Sally laughed. “Bella knocked my elbow as I was pouring in the rum. She said it was an accident.”
“Well, you don’t have to believe me if you don’t want to,” Bella called out from the kitchen where she was basting the turkey.
Everything was prepared. Despite feeling dull around the edges, Sally had been determined to have a jolly, family Christmas with Bella and Rob and a couple of the girls who worked for her and, like her, didn’t have anywhere else to go at the festive season.
Jane and Linda were stacking presents under the Christmas tree while nibbling on crisps and nuts and generally enjoying themselves like excited children. It was just a pity that there weren’t any children present, because that was what made Christmas real, Sally always thought.
She had wondered about throwing the shop open just for the afternoon, but it wouldn’t have been fair on the staff that was needed to run things. However, she had lit the place up and set off the carousel which was now playing seasonal carols to lend a little magic to the Christmas atmosphere.
“Let’s take the punch and the nibbles downstairs,” she decided suddenly and Bella looked at her as if she was mad. “I want to hear the music better. I want to see the coloured lights and the horses going around and around and up and down and…”
“All right! All right! I’m convinced. Everybody downstairs!”
They had closed off the backyard area as an added security precaution. The work had been finished last week. It had made a big difference and Sally felt a lot safer coming and going that way.
She had stopped looking out of her bedroom window expecting to see the glow of a cigarette every night after dark. That, of course, had been Bruce, the bogus brother of Rob, who was doing a short stretch in Her Majesty’s Prison for his part in the affair. And back in the States, Lorn Macey and Nadine were doing a much longer stretch between them. The authorities had, for once, been on the ball and moved in before the couple could disappear.
Gavin’s name, of course, had been cleared. With Macey safe behind bars there was no end of witnesses speaking out against him.
“Sally! Hey! Where are you?” Sally swung around, not sure which one of the girls had called out to her.
“Sorry?” She had been standing in front of the carousel, her mind a million miles away, her heart feeling like a heavy brick inside her.
“Linda and I are opting to open prezzies now with the punch,” Jane said and the others nodded in total accord.
“Anything you say,” Sally smiled at them all, feeling a warm glow creep over her. She really must pull herself together and get on with her life. Gavin was history. She just wished he was long-past history, instead of something that was still close enough to touch her. Close enough to hurt.
Linda suddenly grabbed her and gave her a sisterly hug. “It’s really super of you to have us here today and it’s – oh, everything is so wonderful and…” She looked close to tears.
“Oh, for goodness sake, don’t! We’ll all be crying buckets if you go on like that!” Bella gave the girl an affectionate push and was about to say something to Sally when a rattling at the door made them all look in that direction.
“Hey, look!” Rob pointed at a small figure and a face pressed up against the glass of the door. “Is that who I think it is? Sally?”
Sally took a step or two forward, not believing her eyes. It was difficult to be sure, since the small girl was muffled up in clothes to keep out the winder chill and was sprinkled liberally with snow.
“Sally!”
She heard the child’s high voice penetrating the reinforced double glazing, saw the dark eyes widening, the pretty face dimpling into a smile.
“Anna? Anna, is that you?” She unlocked the door and pulled it wide. “What on earth…?”
Anna almost fell in upon her, hugging her tightly. Snowflakes billowed in after her. Then a movement to the side caught Sally’s attention. She looked up and her mouth opened silently with astonishment at the sight of Gavin standing there in the street, tall and dark and handsome. And he was looking at her with such an intense expression in his wonderful eyes and an uncertain smile playing about his mouth.
“Gavin!”
“Can we come in, Sally?”
Sally blinked snow from her eyelashes, shivered and stepped back into the shop, aware that her friends were all gathering around, full of curiosity at the latest visitors.
“Of course you can come in. Goodness, Gavin, you must be frozen standing out there like that. I – er – I think you’ve probably met everybody – er – except Stephen – Rob’s new friend….”
“I hope we’re not disturbing a family gathering,” Gavin stepped inside and brushed snow from his broad shoulders.
Sally left Rob to close the door behind him. She didn’t seem too capable of functioning right now. Her legs had turned to jelly.
“You’re more than welcome,” Bella stood on tiptoe to help Gavin remove his coat. Her eyes were big and shining and her thin eyebrows were almost out of control as she made signals to Sally from behind the big American’s back. “Isn’t he, Sally? The little one too. We’ve missed her – both of you –eh, Sally?”
“…er – yes.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Gavin’s mouth twitched and a spark of humour shot into his eyes, then he rubbed his hands together and sniffed the air. “Is that hot rum punch I can smell?”
Sally turned back to the punch, filled a glass with the steamy, spicy liquid and held it out to him. It shook discernibly and some of it spilled when he reached out and his fingers touched hers as he took it from her.
“Sorry!”
“Nervous?”
“Why should I be nervous?”
“I don’t know. Why should you?”
They fell silent then, looking at one another and it was all old memories and seeing things for the first time and Sally’s knees were beginning to give way beneath her.
“Sally! Sally! Where’s Jojo?” Anna was tugging at her, her eyes big and round like saucers, her cheeks dimpled.
“Jojo?” Sally recovered some equilibrium and glanced around her. “Well, I don’t know, Anna. You know, even clowns get time off at Christmas. Maybe – er – um – maybe Rob could go and look for him. It’s just possible he hasn’t gone home to Clownland.”
Sally raised her eyebrows at Rob, who got the message and disap
peared smartly into the staffroom.
“Is there really a place called Clownland?” Anna was ecstatic with her new knowledge.
“Well, of course! Clowns go home to Clownland and Santa goes home to Santaland and….”
“Do you believe in Santa Claus, Sally?” The little girl looked doubtful. “Mummy told me that he doesn’t really exist and that it’s all a silly story to fool children and make them appear stupid.”
“My goodness, Anna, that’s a big sentence for such a little girl!” Sally laughed and caught Gavin’s eye. He was watching her with his daughter with an expression she hoped she wasn’t mistaking.
“I believe in Clownland and Santaland and all the people who live in them, Anna,” Sally continued. “There are real clowns and there is certainly a real Santa Claus. He doesn’t always get around to everybody, which is sad, but then it’s a big world and there are lots of people – not just little children – who are making wishes out there.”
Anna thought about that, then a smile broke out all over her pretty face. “I made two wishes, Sally,” she said. “I wished that I could come back here and ride on the Rose Carousel again with you and Daddy.”
“Did you really?”
“Uh-huh! And I made another wish, but Daddy made me promise not to tell you, because he made the same wish and it’s a great big secret, but I don’t understand why…”
“Anna!” Gavin spoke sharply, but he was smiling. “There’s no need to give all our secrets away just yet, honey.”
Anna heaved a great sigh and looked at Sally with a very mature woman to woman ‘men!’ expression on her face.
At which point they were all saved from further embarrassment by the arrival of Bella and the girls bearing trays of hot canapés, which everyone fell on hungrily.
“Nice, isn’t it?” Bella whispered in Sally’s ear in passing. “Just like a family Christmas ought to be.”
“It’s pretty close,” Sally agreed, watching with a swelling heart as Gavin hunkered down to have a private chat with his daughter and they looked so good together she wanted to cry.