by Joanna Neil
'Yes, if that's what your mother wants to do.'
'Say yes, Mummy,' Connor pleaded, looking up at her with tear-filled eyes. 'I want to go there. He looked after me when that bad man was shouting. Can we, Mummy?'
'I expect so. I'll have to see what Rhea wants to do first of all. We can't leave her on her own.'
'Can't she stay at his house with us?' Connor looked at Taylor, his gaze expectant.
Taylor nodded. 'If that's what she wants to do.' He frowned. 'I'll probably have to make a bed up on the couch if we're going to fit everybody in.'
Connor smiled, and it was like a ray of sunshine peeping out from behind the clouds. 'Good,' he said. His eyes were shining with satisfaction, and Allison looked at him and thought how very much he looked like his father at that moment.
She glanced at Taylor, and it struck her that he was very quiet. He was studying Connor, too, and there was a hint of puzzlement in his steady gaze, as though he was working on a problem and had not yet found the answer. What was he thinking? Was he coming close to discovering the truth?
His expression was bleak, and Allison wasn't at all sure how he would react if he ever managed to work everything out.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Rhea sat patiently in the hospital room while her wrist was being encased in a cast.
'We'll take another X-ray just as soon as we've done this,' the nurse said, 'just to make sure that everything's in the right place. You'll need to let us know if you have any tingling in your fingers, or if you think there's anything untoward going on.'
'I'll do that. Thanks,' Rhea murmured. She glanced at Allison. 'Do you have any idea how long I'll need to wear this cast? It's going to make life difficult for me, but at least it's my left hand, so I should be able to go on doing my work somehow.'
'It might be a few weeks, I'm afraid.' Allison frowned. 'I had a look at the X-ray, and you've broken the scaphoid bone, as Taylor suggested. It's the small bone at the base of the thumb, but there's a good blood supply there, so it should heal without any problems. If you had broken the middle part it might have been more troublesome.'
'That's something, anyway. It could have been much worse, I guess.' Rhea gave a faint shiver. 'I tried to calm Steve down as best I could, but my nerves were beginning to get the better of me. I was so relieved when Taylor managed to talk his way in. And now that Nick's come to meet me and give me a ride home, I feel so much better.'
She cast a swift glance over to where Nick was sitting with Connor at the other side of the room, and he returned her gaze with a smile. Connor was playing with building blocks that the nurse had been thoughtful enough to provide, and Nick was showing him how to make an intricate construction.
'I felt so angry that Steve could imagine I would let him rule my life like that,' Rhea said. She was still pale and shocked, but something of her old self came to the fore as her annoyance at the situation took over.
'I've decided that I'm through with moving from place to place. I'm going to stay put from now on.' She gave a weak smile. 'Mind you, I can say that now that I know the police have him in custody. I doubt they'll let him out on bail.'
Allison gave her friend's uninjured hand a gentle squeeze. 'I'm glad that it turned out well enough in the end,' she murmured.
'You won't have to go through anything like that again,' Nick said, coming in on the conversation and sending Rhea a steady look. 'I won't let anything happen to you. As it is, I feel bad about not being there for you when you needed me. From now on I'm going to make sure that you're not on your own.'
Rhea's mouth curved at the corners. 'You're not going to let me forget that I should have waited for you, are you?'
'No, I'm not.' Nick turned back to the building blocks and Connor. 'You've nearly finished that castle. You could put a door in there to finish it off, if you like.'
Connor nodded, and yawned.
'I ought to think about getting him home,' Allison said, and then glanced at Rhea. 'Have you made up your mind what you want to do about staying at Taylor's place?'
'Yes, I have. I've decided to go back to my house after all and face up to my demons,' Rhea answered. 'I don't see why I should let Steve drive me away, any more.'
Allison frowned. 'Are you sure that you feel up to it?'
Rhea nodded, and Nick cut in quickly, 'I'll see to it that Rhea is looked after. She won't be on her own.'
Allison's eyes widened a little at that, but she wasn't about to make any comment in case she disturbed something precious in the making.
'OK, that's good to hear,' she murmured. Was that how the land lay? The two of them had kept things very quiet, hadn't they? Was her brother finally coming around to finding himself a girlfriend? It was a good feeling, knowing that two of the most important people in her life were possibly seizing a chance of happiness at last.
She left them together a short time later, and went to meet up with Taylor at the nurses' station. If only life could be as simple as far as he was concerned.
'Are we going home now?' Connor asked as they headed for the lifts and the car park.
She nodded. 'Taylor says he's going to take us back to his apartment.'
Connor's eyes widened. 'What's an apartment? Hasn't he got a house? Can't he come back to ours?'
Allison hesitated. What was she to tell him? The house was a mess and, apart from calling someone in to board up the broken window, she hadn't had a chance to sort it out.
'My apartment is like a house, but it's in the City and if we stay there it means we won't have far to go if we want to see something of London tomorrow,' Taylor cut in quickly. 'I thought you might like to spend some time going out, doing fun things,' he added.
He glanced at Allison, a question in his eyes. 'Neither of us has to work, and it might be an idea to do something special after all this.'
She realised that he wanted to take Connor's mind off what had happened, and she was perfectly ready to go along with that. In fact, she wanted to hug him for thinking of it.
Instead, she nodded, giving him an uncertain look. 'I think that would be a good idea, if you think you're up to it.' How would he cope, having a four-year-old in tow?
He must have read the question in her eyes, because he said softly, 'I can at least try. He's been through quite an ordeal, and I think some distraction is in order.'
Stepping through the main doors of the hospital and out into the main thoroughfare, Allison looked at Connor. 'Where would you like to go tomorrow?' she asked.
'Can we go and see where the Queen lives?' he asked. 'Rhea was going to take us but she didn't have time.' He frowned. 'And we could go to the farm,' he went on a moment later, gathering momentum. 'I want to sit on the tractors, and see the animals, and play on the swings.' He glanced at Taylor. 'You promised.'
Taylor was laughing by now. 'There won't be much time for anything else, will there, if we do all that? Do you think we might have time to sit and eat?'
Connor nodded vigorously. 'Oh, yes. We can have burger and chips and ice cream and milkshake. I like that.'
'Well, I think that's tomorrow sorted out,' Taylor murmured. 'I've no idea what we might do for the rest of the week.' By now they had arrived at the car park, and he showed them to his vehicle.
Connor frowned. 'We could go swimming, and to the park, and..He paused, thinking it through.
'I think I get the picture,' Taylor said, smiling. 'You'll never be short of ideas, will you?'
Connor shook his head, but his mind was busy, planning out the itinerary. 'Are we going on a bus?' he asked. 'I've never been on a bus before.'
'We'll see,' Allison said, helping him into the car. 'Let's just get today over with first, shall we?' She saw that Taylor had a booster seat fitted in the back of the car, and guessed that he was used to transporting his nephews around.
When they arrived at the apartment just a little while later, though, she started to worry all over again. Taylor's place was so beautiful, pristine and luxurious, and the thought
of letting a four-year-old loose in here was beginning to weigh heavily on her mind.
'Go on up to the living room,' Taylor said. 'I just want to gather up my post from the hall table, and I'll be with you in a moment.'
Allison showed Connor upstairs. 'You have to be careful not to break anything in here,' she told him as she pushed open the door to the living room, 'and we don't want to find any dirty fingermarks appearing anywhere, so no touching the glass with sticky fingers. Do you understand?'
Connor nodded, wide-eyed, as he looked around. 'Do you mean like this glass?' he asked, exploring the edge of the coffee-table with the tips of his fingers.
Allison groaned inwardly. 'That's exactly what I mean,' she said. 'And the cooker and the mirrors, and all the shelves.' She looked at the beautiful, delicately fashioned ornaments that had been so carefully arranged, and gave a little shudder. 'Especially the shelves,' she added.
Taylor came in and must have heard what they were saying. 'I don't want you to worry about any of that,' he said. 'You must use this place as if it was your own.'
Allison winced. That was easy enough for him to say. What did he know about four-year-old boys and the kind of destruction they were capable of? 'Have your sister's children stayed here before now?' she asked.
He shook his head. 'Not for more than an hour or so. I haven't had the place all that long, and Claire has only popped in on the odd occasion while she's been in the area.'
He looked around, a frown indenting his brow. 'Perhaps I'll just move one or two of the pieces out of harm's way.' Allison watched as he gathered up all of the ceramics and breakable items that were within reach of small hands and moved them to places of safety within various cupboards. Perhaps he wasn't as confident about this idea as he had led her to believe.
He glanced at Connor. 'There's a box of toys in a corner near the dining table,' he said, taking the child by the hand and showing him where to find it. 'Adam and Josh stop by sometimes with their mother, and they like to have something to keep them occupied.' He sent Allison a crooked grin. 'I find it's better for me if they have something to keep them busy,' he said with a wry smile.
Connor sat down and rummaged through the box. 'Wow!' he exclaimed. 'There's a train set.' He showed Allison what he had found. 'You wind it up with this key, see?' A minute or so later, he was making chug-chugging noises and copying the warning note that a train might make when it approaches a station.
'He seems to be happy enough for the time being,' Taylor murmured, taking Allison to one side. 'I'd better organise the sleeping arrangements. There's a pull-out guest bed that fits under the one in the second bedroom. I'll set that up in the dressing-room for Connor, if that's all right with you?'
'That would be great. Thank you.' She looked up at him. 'I'm really grateful to you for doing all this. I don't think I could have coped with going back to the house just yet. I'm not certain why, but everything seemed to overwhelm me for a while. It was the thought that someone had been there and acted with such hatred. Knowing that it was Steve doesn't make it any less upsetting.'
'I know.' His gaze was sympathetic. 'It must have come as a shock to you, and you might need to take a few days to get over it. Think of this is a breathing space.'
'I will. Thanks.'
Over the next hour or so he made them both feel as though they belonged there, and gradually the horrors of the day and evening began to fade away. He cooked a meal, a surprisingly appetising concoction of vegetables and shepherd's pie that even Connor tucked into without a murmur.
He polished off his fruit salad dessert, and told Taylor, 'This is my very favourite. Well, 'cept for chocolate pudding.' Then he yawned widely, and tried to pretend that he was still fully alert and ready for action.
'It's very late,' Allison told him, 'and way past your bedtime. We should start thinking about getting you settled down for bed.' She helped the little boy down from his chair, and led him to the bathroom to clean up.
Taylor produced some pyjamas that he kept to one side for his sister's children. 'They've never actually had occasion to use them,' he said, 'but Claire wanted me keep them here just in case. They might be a bit big for him, but you can always turn back the sleeves. There are some trousers and a few T-shirts and socks Connor could use, as well.' He made a wry face. 'You know how ditzy Claire is.. .even she knows there's always the chance she might have some crisis to deal with, and having the boys stay here is one option that might come in handy.'
Soon Connor was snuggled into the guest bed, tucked under a warm duvet. He looked around the strange room and started to whimper. 'I want my room,' he said. 'Why can't I have my room?'
'You can, in a little while,' Allison murmured, stroking his hair. 'It's all right. I'm here with you, and I'll stay until you fall asleep.' She dropped a gentle kiss on his cheek.
It wasn't long before his eyelids started to droop, and within minutes he was asleep. Allison crept silently out of the room.
Taylor was making coffee in the kitchen when she went back upstairs. 'Has he settled down?' he asked, and she nodded. 'That's good,' he said softly. 'I wondered if being in a strange place would upset him.'
'He's very tired. It's been a long day for him.'
She helped him to set a tray with coffee-cups and cream, and he carried it into the living room, placing it on the low table.
'Do you think Rhea will be all right back at her place?' he asked, coming to sit beside her on the corner sofa. 'I offered to find room for her here, but she turned me down. She said something about Nick coming to keep an eye on her.' He lifted a brow at that.
'Yes, that surprised me, too.' Her mouth twisted wryly. 'I hope she'll be OK, and I felt bad about leaving her, but she was positive that was what she wanted. If anyone can help her through this, Nick is the one to do it. They've always been good friends...it's just that I didn't realise there was anything more to it. Nick has always said that he didn't want to get involved with anyone in any kind of committed relationship.'
'Was that because of the way things were at home?'
She nodded, taking a sip of her coffee. 'It was very difficult, living in a place where there were constant arguments, and I think that was all because my parents were never really suited to one another. They were opposites, and I can't think how they ever came to get together in the first place. There was constant friction between them. My father was a wanderer, always looking beyond the horizon, wanting to take on some new challenge, and my mother was a home bird, needing to be close to her family. She couldn't understand why he wasn't ready to settle in one place.' She frowned. 'I suppose I'm the same as she was.'
She glanced at him, her green eyes cloudy. 'I'm not like you, ready to go off at any time in search of new challenges. I like to know where my roots are, and I need to be close to the people I love.'
'Yet you've been ambitious in your own way, haven't you?' Taylor drank some of his coffee and then put down his cup. 'You could have settled for being a GP, with working hours that might fit in around your family responsibilities, but instead of that you went ahead with your plans to work in A and E. That can't have been an easy choice. It's a difficult job at the best of times.'
'That's true enough. I just felt that I could make more of a difference in emergency situations. I don't think I would need to travel the country to find a place to do that, though. Perhaps my ambitions aren't as great as yours and, besides, I don't want to uproot Connor any more than I have to.'
'It must have been difficult for you, looking after him these past few years and taking on the role of both mother and father. You haven't had any help from your own father, have you?'
She shook her head. 'No, not a great deal. He's always working away somewhere. Connor knows that he has a grandad, and he sees him from time to time, but there isn't an awful lot of contact.'
'That must be hard for you, especially with your mother not being around any more. It must make you feel very isolated.'
'Yes, it does, sometimes.'
It seemed odd to her that he should understand. He was a confident man, always in control, and he had never appeared to need anybody.
'Do you feel much the same way that Nick does about getting involved with someone? Is that why you haven't let a man into your life? You must have thought about getting together with Connor's father?'
She hesitated, hovering on the brink of telling him the truth. 'Yes, I think I do feel much the same way. I'm always afraid that things won't work out, and I can't put that Uncertainty on Connor. Above all, I need to be sure that he has security.'
He moved closer to her, sliding an arm around her and drawing her to him. 'Surely, he'll get that just by being with you? Aren't you the one certain thing in his life?'
She loved the familiarity of having him hold her close. 'I hope so. I don't know.' She looked up at him, her gaze troubled. 'When things happen as they did this afternoon, I feel as though my whole world is crumbling around me. I know I shouldn't feel that way, because Rhea was the one who was hurt, and she was the one who had to go through all the trauma, but it just brought it all home to me, how vulnerable we are. Rhea's so capable, in her own way, but I don't know if I can live up to her example. I don't know if I'm strong enough to take care of Connor on my own. I should have been there for him. I feel that I let him down and I owe him so much more than that.'
'Rhea has always been adept at meeting things head on but, then again, she has always had her family behind her. She knows that her parents are there if she needs them. That's her safety net.' He frowned. 'You're just as capable as she is, and though you may feel otherwise, you're not alone. You have friends, a brother who loves you... And you have me... I want you to know that I'm here to help you through your troubles.'
Allison knew that he was sincere in what he was saying, but that was now, in the heat of the moment. How long would he be staying around to help out? The question reverberated through her mind, but there was no answer forthcoming.
Perhaps he sensed her turmoil, because he gave her a searching look and then bent his head to hers, and she was absorbed into another world as he drew her to him. He kissed her, gently brushing his lips over hers and testing the softness of her mouth, and as the kiss deepened, she realised that this was what she wanted, more than anything. Her whole body tingled in response, and every sensible thought flew out of her mind in that instant.