The Good Father

by Maggie Kingsley

  ‘Oh, wow!’ Maddie exclaimed, as she took Charlie’s jacket and hung it up. ‘So my boss is a good teacher, is he?’

  ‘The best,’ Charlie enthused. ‘You see, to hit the two trees what you have to do is—’

  ‘Oh, please—no more,’ Susie said. ‘Anybody would think you’d split the atom this morning instead of hitting two scabby old trees and a trash can.’

  Gabriel and Charlie exchanged ‘Typical woman’ glances and Maddie laughed.

  ‘I hope you weren’t too bored, Gabriel,’ she said after she’d ushered Charlie and Susie off to change their clothes and wash their hands. ‘I felt so guilty after you’d gone, landing you with both of them.’

  ‘I enjoyed it,’ he said. Well, he’d enjoyed kicking the ball about with Charlie and, if Susie’s repeated heavy sighs had been harder to take, he’d survived.

  ‘When did Charlie start calling you Gabe?’ she asked.

  ‘In the park. He said it was easier, much less—how did he phrase it?—much less stuck-up sounding.’

  ‘It’s certainly different,’ she said, and he knew she was trying very hard not to laugh.

  Lord, but she was pretty, he thought as the sunlight from the kitchen window illuminated her face. Not beautiful in the perfectly groomed, perfectly proportioned way Evelyn was, but warm and funny and good company, and he wanted her, badly.

  ‘How’s the article going?’ he said, not from any great desire to know, but just to keep her talking, to keep her there with him.

  ‘I should have it finished in about half an hour.’

  ‘Can I do anything to help?’ he said. ‘Perhaps translate some of my handwriting for you?’

  ‘I’ve seen worse,’ she said, then a dimple quivered at the corner of her mouth. ‘But not much.’

  He laughed. ‘Maddie—’

  ‘I’d better get back to your article,’ she interrupted. ‘Help yourself to some coffee, and there’s biscuits in the cookie jar.’

  She was turning to go, and he didn’t want her to go, not yet.

  ‘You’re looking very nice today,’ he blurted out, then winced as she blinked. Oh, hell, Gabriel, is that the best you can come up with? ‘I mean, you look very…’ Say pretty, damn it. But he didn’t want her to back away from him the way she had in the hospital. ‘Very summery.’

  ‘Summery?’ she repeated, glancing down at herself, then up at him in clear disbelief.

  In truth, he hadn’t even registered what she was wearing, just that her curly hair looked even curlier than normal as though she’d been running her fingers through it—I want to do that. And there was a smear of ink on her cheek—let me wipe it off for you, let me touch you…

  ‘Maddie, I was wondering if you might like to go—’

  ‘I’m starving,’ Susie said as she bounced into the kitchen. ‘What’s for lunch?’

  Maddie looked conscience-stricken. ‘Oh, Susie, I forgot all about lunch. Give me a few minutes. I’ll put something in the oven—’

  ‘But that will take ages, and you’ll have to stop typing, and Mr Dalgleish wants his article by two o’clock,’ her niece said.

  ‘It won’t take me ages, Susie,’ Maddie protested. ‘I’ll have a look in the freezer—’

  ‘I have an idea,’ Susie interrupted with a look Gabriel was beginning to recognise and dread. ‘How about if Mr Dalgleish makes us lunch and then you can get on with his typing?’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Susie!’Maddie exclaimed. ‘I can’t ask Mr Dalgleish to make you lunch.’

  Just as well, Gabriel thought, because he couldn’t cook, had never needed to know how to. If he was hungry he simply ate in the hospital canteen, or at a restaurant.

  ‘We’ll get something delivered,’ Maddie said firmly. ‘Gabriel, would you mind organising it? You’ll find some telephone numbers on the cork board.’

  ‘Not a problem,’ he said, and was rewarded with a smile from Maddie before she hurried back to her computer. ‘OK, Susie,’ he continued, ‘how about chicken biryani for four?’

  ‘I’m a vegetarian. That means I don’t eat meat,’ she said, for all the world as though he was a halfwit. ‘And Charlie doesn’t like rice.’

  ‘Pizza, then?’ Gabriel suggested.

  ‘Aunt Maddie makes wonderful pizza, but she makes it the proper Italian way, kneading the dough and everything.’

  ‘That’s good to know, but we’re having take-away,’ he said.

  ‘I wouldn’t have thought you’d have considered take-aways very healthy,’ Susie observed. ‘I mean, you don’t know what they put in them, do you?’

  In your case, hopefully arsenic, he thought, reaching for the phone.

  ‘That was really lovely,’ Maddie said, pushing the remains of her pizza away, knowing if she ate another bite the button on her jeans would most certainly pop. ‘But you must let me reimburse you.’

  Gabriel smiled. ‘My treat. It’s the least I can do after making you work on a Saturday.’

  ‘I didn’t work—I had fun,’ Charlie said, beaming, and Maddie laughed.

  ‘He’s a good kid,’ Gabriel said, when Charlie had dashed off to examine the game he’d given him, and Maddie had persuaded a clearly reluctant Susie that she really should phone the friend who had left a message for her while she’d been out.

  ‘They both are,’ Maddie said, as she began clearing the kitchen table. ‘I know Susie can be a bit difficult at times, but her heart’s in the right place.’

  Something about his expression told her he didn’t agree, and Maddie wondered what her niece could have said or done to get under his skin while they’d been in the Botanic Gardens, but she didn’t ask. Don’t invite trouble, her mother used to say, and on this occasion she suspected her mother had been right.

  ‘I owe you big time for what you did with Charlie,’ she said instead. ‘I haven’t seen him so happy in years.’

  ‘Maybe I should patent the idea,’ he observed. ‘The way to a child’s heart is to almost maim them.’

  She chuckled. ‘He didn’t seem to mind, and whatever makes Charlie happy makes me happy.’

  ‘Is that the only thing that does?’

  ‘The only thing that does what?’ she said in confusion.

  ‘You asked me once what made me happy, so what else—apart from Charlie being happy—makes you happy?’

  ‘Oh, Susie not complaining, sunny days, peace and quiet,’ she said lightly, but he clearly wasn’t satisfied.

  ‘Don’t you sometimes get a little lonely?’ he said. ‘Feel the need for something—somebody—else in your life?’

  Of course she did. There were days when she would have given anything to have another adult in the house—somebody to talk over the day’s problems with, somebody to share her worries with—but she knew that wasn’ t what he meant. He meant sex, and no way was she going to talk about sex with Gabriel Dalgleish.

  ‘You obviously don’t have children yourself or you’d know that loneliness isn’t a problem, it’s finding some time for yourself,’ she said. ‘Now, would you like me to email your article for you, or would you prefer me to copy it to a CD so you can send it yourself?’

  ‘If you can email it for me that would be terrific, but what I’d really like is for us to start dating.’

  To start dating? For a second she was certain she must have misheard him, but the way his eyes were fixed on hers told her she hadn’t.

  ‘But I thought you and Evelyn…I thought you and she…’

  ‘Ancient history.’

  Were they? She didn’t know, and to her dismay she suddenly realised she didn’t care and that was bad, seriously bad.

  ‘I don’t date,’ she said firmly, and saw his eyebrows rise.

  ‘You went out with Jonah.’

  ‘That was different,’ she floundered. And it was. When she’d gone out with Jonah she hadn’t thought of it as a date because Jonah didn’t make her feel the way the man standing in front of her did—nervous and expectant and, oh, so very much alive. �
�Gabriel—’

  ‘Maddie, do you like me?’

  Jonah had said that, word for word, and she couldn’t help but remember how their date had ended, with him feeling hurt, and her feeling mortified.

  ‘That’s not the point.’

  ‘I think it’s very much the point,’ he said softly. ‘Look, would it be so very wrong for us to go out together, to spend time learning more about one another, and see what happens?’

  Yes, oh, yes, it would be wrong. Nell would have her certified, and the staff at the Belfield…

  ‘Gabriel, you know what the Belfield is like,’ she protested. ‘If we start dating there’ll be talk, rumour.’

  ‘I don’t care.’

  Neither do I, a little voice whispered in her head, and though she tried to shut up the little voice it wouldn’t stay silent. She wanted to go out with him, she wanted to spend time with him, and suddenly she realised there was a way she could do it. A way they could spend time together without it leading to recriminations, accusations, later.

  ‘OK, I’ll go out with you,’ she said, but as his face lit up she added swiftly, ‘but you have to understand that I’m not a single woman with no commitments or attachments. Charlie and Susie come as part of the package, so if you want to get to know me better, you have to get to know them better, too.’

  ‘Not a problem,’ Gabriel said. ‘So how about the two of us take in a movie and a meal next Saturday?’

  ‘Gabriel, you haven’t listened to what I said,’ she said gently. ‘I’ll go out with you next Saturday, but when we go out I want to take Charlie and Susie with us.’

  ‘You want me to take your kids along on our date?’ he exclaimed, his jaw dropping. ‘But I thought—’

  ‘I know what you thought,’ she said, ‘but Charlie and Susie are the most important people in my world. There may be room in that world for you—I don’t know yet. But when you take on me, you take on them, too, and if you’re not happy about that you’d better walk away now.’

  He stared down at her silently, and she wondered what he was thinking. Probably trying to figure out how he could tell her he’d changed his mind. Well, it would hurt, but it was better to be hurt now rather than later. Better for them both to know the score right from the start, and when he cleared his throat she got ready to say, It’s OK, I understand. But she didn’t need to.

  He smiled, that slightly crooked smile which always set her pulses racing, and said, ‘I’m not walking anywhere, Maddie.’

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  ‘IT’S like Gabriel’s had a personality transplant, or something,’ Lynne said, holding out a cup of coffee to Maddie, while Jonah and Nell helped themselves to a biscuit from the tin on her desk. ‘Every time he’s met me in the corridor this week he’s smiled at me, and yesterday, when I dropped a syringe in IC, he said—now, get this, folks—he said, “Accidents will happen.”’

  ‘Maybe he’s got another job,’ Nell observed. ‘He didn’t come in to work last Saturday, and he never takes a day off, so maybe he went for an interview and has been offered some high-powered consultancy post in another hospital.’

  ‘You reckon?’ Lynne said, her eyes lighting up. ‘Maddie, has Gabriel received any official-looking emails or letters this week?’

  ‘Nothing that I’ve seen,’ Maddie replied, taking a deep gulp of her coffee and wishing Lynne would change the subject. ‘Just the usual queries, referrals, things like that.’

  ‘Damn. That puts the kibosh on a new job,’ Lynne said, then swivelled round in her seat towards Jonah. ‘You know him better than we do, Jonah. Have you any idea why he’s suddenly become Mr Geniality?’

  ‘The good weather we’ve been having has scrambled his brains?’ he suggested. Nell and Lynne laughed, and Maddie tried to laugh, too, but it wasn’t easy when Jonah’s eyes were fixed thoughtfully on her.

  How much did he know? How much had Gabriel told him?

  She’d made Gabriel promise not to tell anybody about their date tomorrow, but Jonah was his best friend, so he might not have thought he counted. Or, then again, maybe she’d got it all wrong, and Jonah didn’t know anything at all, and was merely gazing in her direction because there wasn’t much else to look at in Lynne’s small office.

  ‘You’re awfully quiet this afternoon, Maddie,’ Lynne said curiously. ‘Something wrong?’

  Apart from the fact I’m becoming paranoid?

  ‘I’m fine,’ Maddie said, putting as much brightness into her voice as she could. ‘It’s just been a long week.’

  A very long week. A week during which she’d lied to Nell—No, of course Gabriel won’t be coming round to my house again, Nell—and Susie and Charlie had fought non-stop.

  ‘He ruined last Saturday for us,’ Susie had exclaimed when she’d told her about the proposed day out, ‘so why do we have to be stuck with the dumbass again?’

  ‘Gabe is not a dumbass,’ Charlie had retorted, his little face enraged. ‘He might sometimes say stupid things, but he always says sorry afterwards, so he’s not a dumbass. You are.’

  And Maddie had tried to calm everything down without success and now she was seriously wondering whether she should just tell Gabriel to forget the whole thing.

  Except she didn’t want to forget it. She still wanted to go out with him. Even though she was getting nothing but grief at home, and Nell would hit the roof when she found out, she still wanted to go out with Gabriel.

  Maddie, you’re not paranoid, you’re crazy.

  ‘Yikes, is that the time?’ Lynne exclaimed, getting quickly to her feet. ‘We’ve got to get back to work, Nell.’

  ‘Either I’m getting older, or our coffee-breaks are getting shorter,’ Nell protested.

  Maddie wished they were shorter for all staff when Nell and Lynne hurried away while Jonah stayed resolutely where he was, clearly going nowhere.

  ‘I’d better be getting back to work, too,’ she said, gulping down her coffee so fast that her eyes watered. ‘Admin wants our monthly through-put figures by this evening, and—’

  ‘You’re never going to keep it a secret, you know,’ Jonah interrupted. ‘Not in this place.’

  Maddie opened her mouth, then closed it again. ‘I…I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she said, and he grinned.

  ‘Nice try, Maddie, but I’ve seen the way Gabriel’s been looking at you all week when he thinks nobody’s watching.’

  She gave up on pretence. ‘Please, don’t tell anybody, Jonah. It’s our first date tomorrow, and I want to keep it quiet for as long as possible.’

  ‘Yeah, well, good luck with that one,’ he said, ‘but you might advise Gabriel to tone down his Mr Geniality act, because if I’ve sussed out what’s going on, it won’t be long before everybody else does.’

  She bit her lip. ‘I know.’

  ‘I hope it works out for you—I really do,’ he continued, ‘but…’

  ‘But?’ she prompted, and he sighed.

  ‘Gabriel’s my oldest friend, but he’s not the easiest man in the world to understand, and he has absolutely no experience of children.’

  ‘I know, which is why I’ve told him we have to take it slowly,’ she said. ‘That he has to get to know Charlie and Susie as well as me, so he’s taking us all to Pollok House tomorrow.’

  ‘Gabriel’s taking your kids out with you on your first date?’ Jonah spluttered, laughter plain in his eyes. ‘That should be…interesting.’

  Interesting was the understatement of the year, Maddie decided as she made her escape. Potentially explosive was closer to the mark.

  ‘I have Ashley Ralston’s and Toby Merton’s discharge forms here for you to sign, Mr Dalgleish,’ Nell said, putting the slips down on Gabriel’s desk.

  ‘Has Toby been given an appointment to return to have his cast removed?’ Gabriel asked, and Nell nodded.

  ‘Maddie’s booked him in. Oh, and Mr and Mrs Scott would like a word with you some time this afternoon, if you can spare the time.’

  He c
ould, but he didn’t want to. Simon and Rhona wanted optimistic certainties from him, and he couldn’t give them any—nobody could. The blunt facts were that only a quarter of babies born at twenty-four weeks survived, and of that quarter almost half grew up with severe physical and mental problems. Whether Diana would die, be disabled in some way or grow up to become a hale and hearty adult depended upon so many factors that were outside his control, but the Scotts wouldn’t want to know that. He knew they wouldn’t.

  ‘Are you OK, Mr Dalgleish?’ Nell asked hesitantly, and he managed a smile.

  No, he wasn’t. For the first time in his life he wanted to play hookey. For the first time since he’d achieved his goal of becoming the youngest neonatologist in the country he wanted to go somewhere—anywhere—where he wouldn’t have to think about distraught parents or critically ill babies. And that was so unlike him. Once he would have described his work as challenging, fulfilling, but now…Now he felt restless, dissatisfied, and he didn’t know why.

  ‘Mr Dalgleish?’

  Nell’s eyes were on him, concerned, perplexed, and he frowned.

  ‘How long have you worked for me, Sister Sutherland?’

  Nell blinked. ‘Three years, sir.’

  And you’re still calling me Mr Dalgleish, or sir, and I’m still calling you Sister Sutherland.’ He sighed. ‘It’s not right, is it?’

  ‘Well, you’re my boss, sir,’ Nell said awkwardly, and Gabriel shook his head.

  ‘You should be calling me Gabriel, and I should be calling you Nell.’

  ‘If you say so, sir,’ Nell said, then blurted out, ‘Are you quite sure you’re all right, Mr Dalgleish?’

  ‘The name’s Gabriel, Nell,’ he replied, ‘and, I’m fine. It’s just been a long week.’

  A very long week. A week when he’d tried to concentrate on his work, but his mind had kept wandering off to his date with Maddie, and that wasn’t like him either. He’d dated plenty of women in the past, made love to quite a few of them, too, and yet none of them had managed to creep into his thoughts as constantly as Maddie had.

  ‘So, will I tell Mr and Mrs Scott you can see them this afternoon?’ Nell asked, and he sighed inwardly and nodded.