The Corrigan legacy

by Anna Jacobs

  'Why didn't you ring me? Didn't you know I'd be worried sick?'

  Lily looked at her, surprised that her mother's voice had broken and there were tears in her eyes. 'I thought about it, but I didn't want to get her in trouble and I didn't have my mobile with me.'

  'I don't believe you.'

  Lily shrugged.

  'You've been round to your father's. I'll report him to the Children's Officer.'

  'I haven't been near him. What's the point? He's out of town this weekend visiting a friend. He told me that last week.'

  'Why don't I believe you?' Kerry picked up the phone and pressed the shortcut button, holding it to her ear, foot tapping impatiently as she waited for Cal to answer. But all she got was his voice mail message.

  'Dad isn't involved in this,' Lily repeated. 'He wouldn't keep me overnight without phoning you, you know he wouldn't.'

  'Is she right?' Wayne asked.

  Kerry grimaced. 'Probably. I guess Cal would have phoned me.

  Lily tried not to show her relief as her mother turned to glare at her again.

  'Go up to your bedroom and stay there. You've ruined our weekend away and you're permanently grounded from now on. You don't leave the house unless I'm with you. I'll take you to school and pick you up every day, or Wayne will. We'll make very sure this doesn't happen again.'

  Lily went upstairs, lay on her bed and stared at the posters on her ceiling. When her eyes filled with tears she let them roll down her cheeks, rubbing the sore cheek again.

  She hated her mother.

  She hated Wayne too, now.

  And she wasn't going to America with them, whatever they said or did.

  In the house next door Nancy Baxter sat and worried about Lily. That was the second time she'd seen Kerry hit the child, and hit her hard too. What was going on?

  Lily looked so unhappy lately. Everything about her drooped and her eyes had dark circles round them.

  You couldn't interfere between parent and child, but something wasn't right next door.

  On the Saturday morning Cal took Judith for a walk on the tops, showing her a place he particularly loved but one which wasn't too hard a climb. She strolled beside him, breathing deeply, her eyes sparkling and her cheeks rosy.

  'Sorry about last night,' he said.

  'That's all right. I shouldn't have blurted my thoughts out like that.'

  'I'm glad you did.'

  When they got back he hesitated, then asked, 'Do you have any photos of him?'

  'Yes.' She wasn't so warped about her marriage that she'd cut Des out of the photos, as she'd heard some women did. 'I'll get them.'

  He studied the photos in silence, not saying anything. Then he pulled a tattered photo out of his wallet and laid it beside one of Mitch and Des. 'She looks a bit like him about the eyes.'

  'She's got a look of Mitch, too. Same hair colour.'

  'Well, he is her half-brother.'

  'Yes. We must introduce them one day. He gets on really well with his other two half-sisters.'

  'If I'm allowed to keep seeing her.'

  After lunch Cal fiddled with his coffee cup then looked at her across the table. 'I'm sorry. I can't seem to settle. Would you mind if I went home now? I have a lot to think about.'

  Judith tried to hide her disappointment that he hadn't said anything about seeing her again. Was he going to vanish from her life after one sexual encounter? Had that been all he was after? She'd thought they were becoming friends. Maybe she was too naive. Des had taunted her with it a few times.

  Worried, she watched Cal gather his belongings and go towards the front door. Pride kept her head high as she followed him outside, watched him settle his things in the panniers.

  He came across and pulled her into his arms for a long hug. 'I'll come back again, if I may. I really do want to get to know you better, even if our timing on getting together isn't the best.'

  She pushed back slightly against his chest, looking into his eyes, trying to work out whether he was just spinning her a line. He looked sad beneath the smile. 'You'll always be welcome . . . and I hope things go well for you and your daughter.'

  'I hope so too.'

  'You'll let me know you've arrived safely?'

  'Of course. And we'll email one another until we can meet again. Won't we?'

  She nodded.

  He walked out, turned and came back to plant a light kiss on her cheek. 'I do want to see you again, Judith.'

  She looked at him doubtfully.

  'I don't tell lies.'

  So she nodded and forced a smile. 'Good. I want to see you too.'

  But she felt bereft when he'd gone, walked round the house, couldn't settle. Fancy missing someone you'd only met twice! Fancy making love with him! She needed her head looking at.

  But he was a lovely fellow, so gentle and caring - and sexy, though he probably didn't realize it. He didn't have an intrusively macho ego, unlike Des. It was very refreshing.

  Thirteen

  Rain falls quietly on city streets, then drifts away to baptise the countryside. It leaves cars gleaming with moisture and runnels of water chasing each other down their paintwork.

  When Cal got home he knew at once that Lily had been there, even before he found her note, from the small disturbances she always left behind. She was incurably untidy while he always kept the place tidy, because he found that easier than cleaning up a mess. Frowning, he read the note, wondering how soon it would be before Kerry rang to harangue him. He read it several times, trying to see behind the words, upset that Lily was being driven to such deceit.

  I came round to see you, Dad, and I didn't mean to stay, but it was so lovely and peaceful I fell asleep till two in the morning, so then I couldn't go home till it was light.

  Please don't tell Mum I was here or she'll never let me near you again. I'll say I went to a friend's and fell asleep there.

  And Dad, please, please, PLEASE will you see a lawyer and find out where we stand? I think Mum is trying to pull the wool over our eyes about this. I think you do have some rights to custody.

  YOUR Lily!!!!!!!!

  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

  He smiled at her row of kisses, then the smile faded and he frowned. He hated lying. If he had a philosophy of life, it was to do as you would be done by, and do it openly and honestly. How was he going to deceive Kerry anyway? He never had been able to before.

  When the phone rang and he saw from the caller ID that it was his ex, he took the coward's way out and didn't answer.

  He couldn't get the thought of Lily out of his mind. A child of that age shouldn't crave peace the way she did lately, shouldn't have to face all these upheavals in her life, either. That set him thinking about her biological father. How ironic that it should be Judith's husband. What sort of a man was he? There must be some good in him to father a child like Lily, surely?

  And yet there were two reasons to despise Des Corrigan: the way he had ignored his daughter all her life and the way he was treating Judith now. Cal wondered how the man dealt with his son, what the son was like.

  With a sigh, he collected his emails, replying to those dealing with business. When a new one popped into his mailbox, he hesitated. Judith. He'd not been fair to her, he knew, keeping his thoughts to himself, leaving so abruptly. He closed his eyes for a moment, praying that she wasn't emailing to say goodbye, then clicked to open the email. To his relief, it was simply a friendly query, asking if he'd got home safely.

  He didn't answer it then, couldn't string two words together, let alone make them tactful. Going back to the job he was working on, he immersed himself in coding, fairly mindless work but you had to pay great attention not to get details wrong. That kept his worries at bay for a while, but he knew they'd resurface when he stopped work.

  He hoped that unconscious part of his mind, which sometimes continued working while he did the coding, would have some answers by then.

  Des went round to see Tiff because if he sat at home and thought abo
ut his problems, he would drink too much. Even though he saw nothing wrong in a few drinks, ever since Judith had left he'd begun to realize that he was drinking too much, because there was only him emptying the bottles in the marble-topped bar. He'd recently seen a business colleague go downhill rapidly because of alcohol and didn't like the thought of following that path.

  Tiff greeted him with her usual sunny smile, which always cheered him up, and he sat down beside her, feeling better already. After a few minutes he pulled out his notebook. 'Look, I've tried several times to do this and I can't seem to get it right. It's my speech as father of the bride. This isn't something I can farm out to a professional speech writer, it has to be more personal. Lacey wouldn't thank me for a meaningless gabble of words! Could you . . .?'

  'We'll go through it together. Maybe you just need a sounding board.'

  An hour later they had a short but witty speech prepared and he gave her a big hug. 'I didn't know you had such a way with words, Tiff.'

  She looked at him, pressing her lips tightly together in that way she had when she was wondering whether to say something.

  'Go on. Spit it out.'

  'You know I'm trying to write novels, so wouldn't you expect me to have a bit of a way with words?'

  He stared at her, frowning slightly. 'Yes. That's why I bought you the computer. But I didn't know you were that good.'

  She rolled her eyes. 'Heaven grant me patience, Des! I told you last time I sent the first few chapters of my latest effort to a publisher and they liked them so much they asked me for the rest. That means the writing was good.' She gave him a mock punch in the arm. 'It's not flattering for you to look so surprised, Des. You're a selfish sod sometimes.'

  'Sorry. What's it about, this story of yours?'

  Another punch, harder this time. 'It's a romance. I keep telling you, I like writing romances, because they always end happily. And if you ever looked at the titles in my bookcase, you'd have noticed that they're mainly romances too. I don't just sit here and wait for you to phone me, you know. I do have a life of my own.'

  'Sorry, Tiff.'

  'So you should be.'

  He put his arm round her shoulders and tried to think how he could make up for his clumsiness. 'Can I read it?'

  'No.'

  'Why not?'

  'Because you'll only mock me. This is women's stuff and you wouldn't like it at all.' She stared back at him, eyes narrowed, 'And don't start thinking about using your money to give me a helping hand. I'll get published on my own merit or not at all.'

  He grinned. 'How did you guess that was what I was thinking?'

  'We've been together for a while now. I know you pretty well, far better than you know me. You're amazingly generous with money, too generous sometimes.'

  He shrugged. 'It's nice to have plenty. Why not enjoy it?'

  That discussion made him thoughtful on the way home. What did she mean, saying she knew him better than he knew her. It wasn't true. He knew Tiff really well, of course he did. Though he'd been a bit busy lately, not paying much attention to anything except buying back the old family business.

  He smiled involuntarily. She was great, Tiff was. If he hadn't been married to Judith, he'd probably have married Tiff. She was much easier to live with.

  Late on Sunday morning Mitch's father turned up unexpectedly, strolling in with an air of proprietorship that infuriated his son, who couldn't help noticing how tense his Gran became lately every time his father visited them.

  'Your mother's got herself a man,' Des announced. 'Didn't waste much time, did she?'

  'I hope he makes her happy,' Mitch said. 'You've got another woman, so what's the difference?'

  Des turned a frowning, assessing look on him. 'Leave Tiff out of this! And just so you understand, this separation thing with your mother is only temporary. I'll reel her back in when I decide it's time.'

  Mitch couldn't believe his ears. 'What do you mean "reel her back in"?'

  'What do you think I mean? Bring her back home.'

  'And if she doesn't want to come back?'

  'She'll come anyway. She suits me, knows how to deal with all sorts of people. She's worth a fortune as a company wife.'

  'That's a disgusting way to talk about Mum.'

  Des shrugged. 'About time you got more realistic, Mitch.' He roared with laughter at his son's expression. 'Surely you don't still believe in true love and happy ever after? God, you're wet behind the ears. She's over-protected you. Well, I'm not having a son of mine grow up into a naive prat anyone can take advantage of.' He paused and looked from one to the other before saying in a quieter tone. 'Get your glad rags on. We're going out to lunch.'

  Mitch glared at him. 'I can't. I have studying to do.'

  'Do it later.'

  'It's tricky stuff. I need to do it now, while I'm fresh. And anyway, I don't want a fancy hotel meal at this time of day. I prefer something light.'

  Hilary intervened hastily. 'Why don't you have lunch here, Des? You always say you like my cooking.'

  'I do, but we're meeting some people for lunch, you, me and Mitch here. And I'll not take no for an answer. A businessman sometimes needs to produce a family, especially for earnest Americans like these. It soothes them. So since your dear daughter has abandoned her duties, it's up to you to fill her place when I need you. ' He glared at them both.

  'I didn't realize it was - important. We'd better go and change.' Hilary looked pleadingly at Mitch as she spoke.

  He walked upstairs behind her in silence to change his clothes.

  However, later on after his father dropped them at home after a rather boring lunch, he turned to his grandmother and said quietly, 'I'm going up to see Mum next weekend. I don't intend to be on call for Dad like this.'

  'You can't. It's the wedding.'

  'Oh, hell! I'd forgotten. The weekend after, then.'

  'Do you think you should?'

  'Yes. I miss Mum. In fact, I'll phone her tomorrow to arrange it. Now, I've still got that studying to do.'

  He went upstairs and didn't join her to watch television that evening. When she peeped into his bedroom, he was lying on his bed, arms folded behind his neck, frowning into space, his lips moving as if he was reciting something to himself. He gave her a quick smile but didn't speak, so she went downstairs again.

  After some thought she decided she too would go away the same weekend so that Des couldn't turn up at the last minute and harangue her about where Mitch was, or expect her to abandon everything again to do what he wanted. She had always quite liked Des, but was beginning to see another side of him now. He was like a juggernaut when he wanted something. It didn't even seem to occur to him that other people had needs. For Mitch's sake, she'd try to keep the peace, but didn't intend to jump to Des's bidding for ever. She had a life of her own to lead, though no one seemed to think of that.

  'I'll go and visit my cousin Gracie the weekend you're away,' she said over breakfast. 'I rang her last night and arranged it.'

  He grinned. 'Good thinking, Gran. And we won't say a word about any of it to Dad. After all, he gives us no warning about taking us out. I emailed Mum and asked if it was all right for me to go up and see her the weekend after the wedding, told her I need to chill out a bit. I could even stay till the Monday. It's only sport on Monday mornings and I'm never going to be good at that, however hard I practise.'

  The next day Des popped in at Tiff's flat on his way to work because he'd had an idea, wanted to run something past her. He rang the bell, then used his key to open the frontdoor. 'Hoy, Tiff, where are you?' He stared at her in surprise when she came out of the bathroom, because she was still in her dressing gown and looked distinctly wan. 'What's the matter? You don't look well. Do you need to see a doctor?'

  She hesitated. 'Just feeling a bit sickly. It'll pass.'

  'How about a cup of nice strong coffee?'

  She clapped one hand to her mouth and raced back into the bathroom. The sound of her vomiting had him fixed to the
spot as an unwelcome suspicion crept into his mind. But when she came out to join him, she looked so pale and wobbly, he put an arm round her and guided her into the living room. 'What can I get you?'

  'A glass of water and a plain biscuit.'

  He brought them back and sat opposite her. 'Surely you're not . . .?'

  'I'm pregnant. The Viagra was extremely effective, if you remember.'

  'But you're on the pill!'

  'I've been a bit preoccupied lately, got careless. I'd not have thought missing two days would be enough to let me get pregnant, but the test showed positive.'

  'It's early days. Won't be a problem to get rid of it.'

  'No.'

  'Tiff, you know you've never wanted children - especially now that you've got a publisher interested in your book.'

  'I didn't want children before but now it's happened, I've changed my mind.' She pressed one hand to her belly. 'I'm nearly forty. The old biological clock's ticking and I might not have another chance to have a child, so I've decided I want to keep this one. And you, Des Corrigan, can like that or lump it.'

  He scowled at her and stood up. 'Why do I always get mixed up with crazy women who want to ruin their bodies having children?'

  She shrugged, then asked in a hesitant voice, 'You'll pay maintenance for the baby, at least?'

  'If you can prove it's mine.'

  She shoved him away from her hard. 'I don't have to prove it. You know I've not seen anyone else since I've been with you.'

  He could see the tears in her eyes and felt guilty. 'Oh, hell, Tiff! I'm sorry. Of course I know you haven't been with anyone else, but I don't need this.'

  'It could have been better timed, I will agree. Why did you come round so early anyway? It's not like you.'

  'To invite you to the wedding.'

  There was a long silence then she said slowly, 'But I don't join in your family events.'

  He went and put his arm round her shoulders, guiding her to sit with him on the couch. He'd been thinking during a wakeful night and had surprised himself by realising suddenly that he wasn't at all sure about getting Judith back. 'Maybe you should start doing so - as my official partner.'

  She was quiet for so long that he turned to look at her and saw tears rolling down her cheeks.