Double Fault

by Sheila Claydon

  “Mummy pretty,” Lauren put out a questioning finger and touched the large shiny buttons on Kerry’s dress. Then she pressed her hot little palm to Kerry’s lips. It was a signal for her mother to kiss first her hand, then her wrist, and then smother her with kisses until she was writhing and giggling with delight. Pierce watched, smiling, until Kerry started to get up from the bed. When Lauren realized the game was over she shrieked for more. Her excitement encouraged Ben to join in and soon the whole thing got out of hand as both children clung to Kerry’s neck, their voices shrill and demanding.

  “That’s enough,” Pierce stepped in and removed them gently but firmly, inserting each small body back under the covers. “Mummy’s tired and so are you. There will be plenty of time for games tomorrow.”

  Lauren gave in, sticking her thumb in her mouth with a final giggle, but Ben wriggled around until he was sitting upright again. He glared at his father with a mutinous expression on his face. Pierce held his ground while Kerry looked on in trepidation, waiting for an eruption of temper that didn’t come. An unexpected smile crept across her face as she watched Pierce match his son look for look. Maybe there would be a few benefits in having him around after all.

  He saw her smile and grinned. “You can only deal with it if you recognize it.”

  “You mean you were like that?” She watched Ben collapse onto his pillow and start to suck his thumb with something close to incredulity.

  “Still am,” he turned out the overhead light and put his arm around her as she stood looking down at the children. “It’s the same trait that’s seen me across the tennis courts of the world and that’s driving me to develop Greenleas into an international centre. I’m always trying to prove myself, to stop anyone else getting the upper hand.”

  “But surely that’s very different from the tennis circuit?” She asked the question with genuine interest.

  “Not so much. There’s not as much personal support of course and there’s nobody to cosset me or put up with the bursts of temperament I used to display on the circuit. I still work with a team though, only this time Greenleas is the focus of attention whereas in the past everyone concentrated on me and my tennis.”

  “Has the transition been easy?”

  He grinned at her. “Not really but when it gets me down I play god. Getting dictatorial with the people around me salves my hurt pride.” Although the room was only lit by the dim glow of the night-light she could still see the twinkle in his eyes. It told her he knew exactly what was said about him at Greenleas and even suspected Maggie might have told her.

  She dimpled at his unexpected honesty but then she remembered her own circumstances and turned away, her voice bitter. “That’s something you don’t need to tell me. I’m experiencing it at first hand in case you haven’t noticed!”

  He stopped her with a tug of his hand. “Don’t hate me for forcing you into this Kerry. I promise you it’ll work if you just give it a chance.”

  Their eyes met and held, and for a brief moment she glimpsed something almost pleading in his expression, but then Mel called to say the meal was ready. Immediately she pulled away from him, not wanting to see anything that might make her feel sorry for him because, if she did, she would have something else to add to her burden of guilt.

  * * *

  The rest of the evening went well, with Pierce and Mel putting themselves out to entertain, even vying for attention because they were both extroverts who enjoyed an audience as much as they enjoyed a joke at their own expense. By the time Pierce left he seemed to have been part of the family for years. Even Kerry, with Saturday hanging over her like the sword of Damocles, found she had enjoyed the evening sufficiently to smile at him as she accompanied him to the door.

  Her smile fell on stony ground, however, because once they were alone his good humor fell away like a discarded coat. He opened the front door. “See me to the car.”

  The softness in his voice was for Mel’s benefit as she whisked past them on her way to the kitchen with the dirty coffee cups. Kerry followed him wordlessly, trailing him down the path like a shadow in the moonlight until they reached the gate. Then he turned and, with a glance back at the house, deliberately bent his head and kissed her. His mouth was harsh and with a gasp she tried to draw away from him but he was too strong. He cradled her head in his hand and forced her lips apart with a bruising anger that left her shaken and afraid.

  “That was for the benefit of your supporter’s club. I’d hate them to think your silence this evening means you have some doubts about marrying me.”

  She hit out at him then, too angry to care about choosing her words. “I haven’t married you yet and if this is how you intend to treat me then I’m not going to.”

  He caught her flailing arms effortlessly and trapped them between their bodies, pulling her close. His hands felt like iron bands on her back and his eyes were like chips of black ice. “Oh but you will my love, and unlike this evening, you’ll look as if you’re enjoying every minute of it, if only for Ben and Lauren’s sake.”

  The threat was unmistakable. His good humor throughout the evening, his generosity, even the affection he had displayed earlier, it was all an act to gain credibility with the people who mattered to Kerry.

  The anger drained out of her as she stared up at him. She didn’t even bother to move when he finally released her. “Why do you want to marry me Pierce, when nothing I do pleases you? When you can see how unhappy it’s making me. Why don’t you just fight me for the children?”

  “Because it would take too long,” he stood with his hand on the gate, his expression grim under the wavering streetlight. “I don’t intend to lose another second of their lives while lawyers earn a fortune through court proceedings and appeals. Ben and Lauren belong to both of us Kerry. I was just as active in their creation as you were, something I remember with a certain degree of pleasure, even if you don’t.”

  His eyes grew darker as he leaned towards her and locked his hands around her waist, pulling her against the gate so that the wrought iron bit into her thighs and the soft flesh of her stomach. “Make no mistake about it. I’ve already got the special license and the rings so you’ll marry me on Saturday and you’ll smile as you do it.”

  Chapter Seven

  Smiling was the last thing Kerry felt like doing when she arrived at the registry office on Saturday morning and saw Pierce. Unfamiliar in a dark suit and tie, he came over to where she was standing with Mel and George and deliberately kissed her on the lips with every appearance of pleasure. She stiffened and then remained poker straight when he slipped his arm around her waist.

  “Pre-wedding nerves?” he asked Mel with believable innocence. She nodded her agreement.

  “We’ve hardly managed to get a word out of her this morning. Even Ben and Lauren gave up and went off with Mum to do some shopping.”

  “They are coming though,” this time Pierce addressed Kerry, his eyes full of fury although his lips were still smiling.

  “Afterwards,” she replied through tight lips. “They chatter too much to risk having them around during the ceremony, so Mary has promised to meet us outside afterwards.”

  She felt an inward surge of triumph as he accepted her decision with a slight frown, glad she’d managed to score a point by keeping the children away from the wedding. She knew her reasons were sound. Knew there was a distinct possibility Ben would grow bored and create a noisy diversion or that Lauren would ask too many questions in her penetrating treble voice. She also knew that a registry office wedding was far less formal than a church service so any problems could have been dealt with. Indeed, Mary had been prepared to try, but Kerry had remained adamant. Illogical as it was she felt that if the children were actually present when she married Pierce, they would have some weakening effect on her resolve to stop loving him.

  She looked at him now and wished emotions could be made to follow a set path but it was quite hopeless. The proud angle of his dusky profile, brooding now b
ecause Ben and Lauren were going to miss the ceremony, was almost enough to break her. It was one thing to tell herself he was a heartless bully who would go to any lengths to get his children, and quite another to stop her heart thudding against her breast when he gave her that blue sideways glance.

  “Okay?” he didn’t smile.

  She nodded, clutched the small posy of pink rosebuds Mel had insisted on ordering, and walked with him into the building. George and Mel followed, their faces wreathed in smiles of sympathy at what they thought were pre-wedding nerves, instead of the shriek of her breaking heart.

  * * *

  It was over in minutes. A few words from the registrar, her own promise little more than a whisper, Pierce’s voice deep and sure, and then a heavy gold band was pushed gently over her finger. Several signatures later she was Mrs Pierce Simon. Such little acts for something so momentous, something she would have embraced with all her heart three years earlier but which now left her feeling full of despair.

  “Congratulations!” Mel hugged her and then grinned at Pierce. “Doesn’t the bridegroom usually kiss the bride?”

  He obliged with a smile, his lips descending swiftly before Kerry could turn her cheek. And this time it was different. There was no animosity in his kiss, only a lingering sweetness as his mouth brushed hers and his arm tightened possessively about her waist.

  Surprised, she neither drew away nor responded but, instead, stood locked in his arms like a marble statue and almost as pale. He lifted his head and frowned, assessing the faint shadows under her eyes and her unnatural pallor.

  “Are you feeling all right?”

  She nodded wordlessly because she supposed that to be alive and not in actual physical pain counted as being all right. Maybe she was as right as she was ever going to be again. Cautiously she fingered the heavy wedding ring, twisting it around with her thumb and forefinger. It felt like a manacle, anchoring her to this man who didn’t want her, and who was only looking at her like this because George and Mel were watching.

  * * *

  Mary and the children were waiting outside. Mary was armed with confetti and the twins were each clutching a lucky charm. Ben saw them first and charged across the wintry grass with his arms outstretched.

  “Cat!” he shouted. “Black cat!”

  Pierce caught him with a chuckle and hoisted him skywards. “I think you’re meant to give that to Mummy?”

  Obligingly Ben handed Kerry a small wooden cat with several white ribbons around its neck. Then he look round for his sister. She was still holding Mary’s hand but was wriggling frantically in an attempt to get away. Kerry waved and then, disregarding the rough gravelly path, she went down on her knees as Lauren finally broke free and came running towards her. She was giggling excitedly as she trailed a lucky silver horseshoe behind her.

  “Mary gived,” she explained, handing it to Kerry. Then her eyes brightened. “Pretty flowers!”

  “Yes, they are very pretty flowers,” Kerry agreed, smiling her thanks to Mary as she let Lauren hold the posy.

  “Mummy pretty too,” Lauren abandoned the flowers when she noticed Kerry’s rose pink dress and shoes with heels. Only used to seeing her mother in jeans she looked slightly alarmed.

  “She is isn’t she,” Pierce, still holding Ben, descended to Lauren’s level and put out one brown finger to smooth his daughter’s curls. She smiled, still slightly in awe of him but prepared to be friendly.

  “Don’t move,” they hadn’t noticed George circling them with a camera and they all looked up startled as he addressed them. He grinned. “Come on, smile all of you. This is a wedding remember, so I want a happy family group.”

  He took a lot of photographs after that. Kerry alone, Kerry and Pierce together, the twins in various combinations and then some that included Mel and Mary. Finally, at Pierce’s insistence, there were a few of all of them thanks to an obliging bystander who followed George’s anxious instructions and clicked away obediently. And because everyone was pleased, and because the children chuckled with delight every time George told them to say cheese, and because Mary kept wiping tears of happiness from her eyes, Kerry smiled in every one of them even though her heart was breaking.

  * * *

  They ate at a discreet restaurant not far from the registry office. Pierce had booked a table in a private room where Ben and Lauren couldn’t disgrace themselves. The manager greeted Pierce like an old friend and bowed low over Kerry’s hand when she was introduced as his wife.

  “It’s a great pleasure to meet you Madame,” he said as he led her to the table and pulled out a chair. “I will do my best to make this meal a memorable one.”

  And he was as good as his word. After pouring everyone a glass of champagne he gave them plenty of time to look at the menu and then waited patiently while they made their choice. Everything was beautifully cooked and presented and the red and white wines that accompanied the different courses were excellent, but Kerry couldn’t eat. She toyed with the food on her plate while the others chatted, and refused to look at Pierce. Instead she concentrated on the twins who were eating something far less exotic with great gusto.

  “It seems to be a success,” finally Pierce leaned across and touched her hand, smiling as he nodded towards the children’s rapidly emptying plates.

  She forced an answering smile. “The regular menu would have been wasted on them.”

  “That’s what Carlo said. He offered to cook something that would keep them happy while we celebrated.”

  She stared at him and then asked the question that had been bugging her. “Why have you told him about our wedding when you quite obviously haven’t told anyone else? Why didn’t you invite a single guest Pierce? And what about your parents…when are you going to tell them?”

  His fingers tightened on hers. “For goodness sake Kerry, have some sense! Apart from the fact that my parents are holidaying in Florida at the moment, what else could I do? I haven’t been away from the circuit for long enough to lose my newsworthiness, especially as I’ve been promoting Greenleas on TV recently. I didn’t think you’d be too keen to expose Ben and Lauren to the sort of hysterical media coverage we could have expected if news of our wedding leaked out either.”

  There was an edge of impatience in his voice that contradicted the expression in his eyes as he looked at her. For a moment she almost believed he was pleading with her, willing her to understand something he hadn’t put into words. She looked down at their linked hands; his large and brown against her small, work roughened one.

  “I’m sorry. You’re right. I guess I’m not really thinking straight at the moment.”

  He ran his forefinger across a red burn mark on her thumb as he gave a faint sigh. “I’m sorry too, for bludgeoning you into all of this. I know you hate me for it but I’ll try not to make it too difficult for you. And once word gets out about Ben and Lauren you’ll be glad we’re married, glad of the protection I can give all three of you.”

  She stared at him, suddenly realizing what he’d saved her from by insisting they marry quickly. Another week, a casual word passed on, and their wedding would have been a circus with photographers and journalists descending like vultures. The whole story of their past relationship including her pregnancy, the birth of the twins, and the two years she had spent as a single parent, would have been splashed across the news in vivid detail. She shuddered.

  He read her thoughts and squeezed her hand sympathetically before lifting it to his lips. “It hasn’t happened. Nobody knows we’re married apart from Mel and her parents, and Carlo, and he’s the soul of discretion. And although I haven’t said a thing to the people at Greenleas, there’s a rumor going around that you’re a relative who’s just visiting. I don’t know who started it but I’m not about to contradict it at the moment. Eventually we’ll become public knowledge though and you’ll have to be strong then.”

  She watched as his lips brushed her fingertips, mesmerized by the blue depths of his eyes and wishing
she could believe the expression in them. If only his soft voice and public show of affection was more than just an act for the others.

  “That’s enough whispering you two,” Mel broke into their conversation with a knowing grin. “You’ll have time enough later for all the billing and cooing. In the meantime you’ve a cake to cut and champagne to drink.”

  It broke the mood and Pierce released Kerry’s hand as they both admired the extravagant pink and white sugar confection Carlo placed in the centre of the table. Then he turned back to her with a smile.

  “I imagine we’re expected to do the honors while George wields his camera.”

  George grinned. He was already in position and he started clicking away as they pushed the knife into the icing. It sliced smoothly into a feather light sponge. Ben and Lauren clapped their hands in delight when they were handed small pieces on tiny pink plates.

  “More! More!” Ben stuffed a great quantity into his mouth and then thrust his plate back in Pierce’s direction.

  “More cake please,” his father cut another sliver but then held it just out of reach while Ben gave him a baleful glare, his bottom lip beginning to quiver with temper.

  “He’ll make a fuss,” Kerry pleaded, not wanting to spoil the meal.

  “Let him,” Pierce shrugged as he turned back to his own plate without another glance in Ben’s direction.

  The others held their breath, knowing only too well the ear splitting shrieks he was capable of producing. Pierce smiled at them. “Surely you haven’t finished. Mary, let Carlo pour you some more champagne.”

  She shook her head as she hastily scooped up a pink sugar flower and held it out to Ben, hoping to dispel the storm clouds that were gathering ominously about his knotted black eyebrows. Pierce, however, intercepted her and placed it next to the slice of cake on Ben’s out-of-reach plate.

  “Cake please,” Ben’s voice was very clear. In the stunned silence that followed his smile was cherubic. His father silently handed him the plate. Nobody said a word but Kerry had to blink hard as she watched her son chew his way through his second slice of cake. If she’d had any doubts about the wisdom of marrying Pierce for the sake of the children, his quiet authority with Ben had laid them to rest. They needed him.