‘So you enjoyed it after all, darling,’ said Jake, touching her hand fleetingly.
‘I feel silly now, because I was so nervous beforehand.’
‘Whereas the Hogans, en masse, took to you on sight,’ he said simply, ‘just as I said they would.’
When they got to Campden Road Margaret was sitting in the garden. She got up, smiling affectionately, when Davy shot out through the French windows to report on the wonderful time she’d had.
‘My family were very sorry you didn’t join us, Margaret,’ said Jake, ‘so no getting out of it next time.’
‘I shall look forward to it,’ she told him, and held out her hand. ‘I’ve put your things ready, Davy, but you need a bath before you’re fit to go back to school. No,’ she added as Sarah started forward. ‘You sit out here with Jake for a bit, and I’ll see to Davy.’
‘I think your grandmother’s thawing towards me,’ said Jake.
Sarah nodded. ‘She’s different with me these days, too. She found it hard at first, knowing that you were in on the family skeleton, but she’s basically a sensible woman. She knew it had to happen some time.’
‘Thank God it happened with me,’ said Jake, and perched on the foot of Sarah’s old steamer chair. ‘Come and sit here with me.’
She slid into the chair with a sigh, smiling at him as he took her hand. ‘You know, Jake, normally I never even think about it, but when I was watching Davy romping with your sister’s children today, it was hard to believe I’m not really her mother.’
‘But you are, in every way but biological fact,’ he said quietly. ‘And no one could be a better mother than you are, Sarah. Davy’s a great kid. Which is all down to you.’ The straight blue look gave due warning that something serious was coming next. ‘Which, talking of children, brings me to an overdue apology.’
Sarah gave him a slow, comprehending smile. ‘No apologies, Jake. I don’t mind. In fact, I’m glad.’
Jake let out a deep breath, and kissed the hand he was holding. ‘That hellish misunderstanding was the culprit. The other times I was prepared—’
‘I’ve been meaning to ask about that,’ she said, delighted when his face reddened. ‘Were you that sure you’d get lucky after Nick’s wedding, then?’
‘Not at all,’ he retorted, then grinned ruefully. ‘But when you asked to share my room I didn’t dare trust in my increasingly shaky will-power. Fortunately the men’s room at the hotel was fully equipped. Which was just as well when the storm brought things to a head.’ His eyes met hers with a look which brought matching colour to her own face. ‘But by the time we got to my place after the quarrel I was so desperate to make love to you my brain stopped functioning.’
Sarah kissed him. ‘So did mine.’
‘You’re not sorry we could be having a child, then?’ he said, with such deep satisfaction she kissed him again.
‘No, Jake Hogan. Not in the slightest.’
They sat together in dreamy silence for a few minutes, until Margaret coughed tactfully and came out to join them.
‘Davy’s ready, but not exactly fired with enthusiasm for the return to school. Which is only natural after such an exciting weekend.’
‘Right,’ said Jake, pulling Sarah to her feet. ‘Let’s go.’
Davy was waiting in the hall by her bag. ‘I don’t feel well,’ she said mutinously.
‘Too much pasta and ice-cream, maybe,’ said Sarah. ‘Tell you what, if your tummy’s protesting you can sit by Jake in the front, and I’ll take a back seat.’
Davy waved goodbye to Margaret, then brightened a little when Jake put a selection of the latest hits on the CD player. Sarah slid into the back seat with a yawn.
‘Gosh, I’m sleepy,’ she said, and leaned back gratefully against the leather. ‘Wake me if I snore.’
Which totally failed in its aim to win a smile from Davy, who sat hunched in her seat, apparently absorbed in the music.
Jake drove Sarah home afterwards, stayed to share a snack supper, then left early. ‘You look in need of a good night’s sleep, Sarah,’ he said firmly. ‘On our own, alas. Never mind. I shall warm my lonely bed with the thought that soon you’ll be sharing it with me every night. So get some rest while you can.’
The following evening Sarah got home from work feeling rather flat, because Jake was in London for the day, and might not make it home in time to see her. She ate a quick supper, then settled down to finish off the work she’d brought home. When Jake rang during the evening, as promised, he told her he wouldn’t be home until after ten.
‘In that case,’ said Sarah, disappointed, ‘I’ll have another early night and come round to your place tomorrow evening.’
‘Early,’ he ordered.
She smiled as she put the phone down, then put her feet up on the sofa, suddenly so tired she hadn’t the energy to get ready for bed. When her phone rang again every hair rose on her spine when a crisp voice said, ‘Irene Kendall here, Miss Tracy.’
‘Is Davy ill, Mrs Kendall?’ demanded Sarah in alarm.
‘It’s not that, Miss Tracy. Do you have someone with you?’
‘Yes. But just tell me what’s wrong—please!’
‘I regret to tell you that Davina is missing.’
Sarah gasped. ‘Missing? How could she be? Have you searched for her?’
‘Of course. She went to bed as usual, but when her house mother made the rounds just now Davina’s bed was empty. Everything possible has been done to find her before I rang you, both in the school itself and the grounds, but without success. I hoped so much that she would be with you.’
‘I would have rung you at once if she had been. But she’s not,’ said Sarah, her voice cracking. ‘Have you called the police?’
‘I wanted to make sure Davina wasn’t with you. But I’ll contact them at once.’
‘I’ll get in the car—’
‘No, Miss Tracy. Please. You must stay home in case Davina contacts you. The moment I hear anything I’ll ring you. Please do the same for me if—when you have any news yourself.’
‘Yes, of course,’ said Sarah unsteadily. Phone clasped in her clammy hand, she raced upstairs to tell her grandmother.
‘Dear God,’ said Margaret, white as a sheet. ‘Right,’ she said, pulling herself together. ‘Let’s not panic. We’ll go downstairs and make tea.’
‘I don’t want any tea,’ snapped Sarah, then closed her eyes in remorse. ‘Sorry, sorry.’
‘Brandy, then—no, maybe not, in case you need to drive.’
‘Where to?’ said Sarah blankly.
‘To fetch Davy when they find her.’
They exchanged a long, silent look, full of dread knowledge of all the things that might happen to a lost child, then went downstairs to wait together.
‘I’m afraid to ring Jake,’ said Sarah, pacing up and down the sitting room. ‘He’s on his way back from London. If I tell him about Davy he’ll probably break the sound barrier up the motorway.’
‘What time is he due home?’
‘About ten.’
‘Ring him after that.’ Margaret got up. ‘I’ll make that tea.’
When the phone rang at nine-thirty Sarah almost dropped it. ‘Hello?’ she said, her voice hoarse with hope.
‘Sarah?’ said Jake. ‘Something’s wrong. What’s up?’
She told him tersely. ‘But I have to hang up now, Jake, in case—’
‘Right. I’ll be with you as soon as I can.’
He rang off before Sarah could implore him to drive safely. Silently Margaret handed her a mug of tea.
‘I feel so helpless!’ Sarah began to pace, then dropped the mug with a crash when the phone rang again.
‘Irene Kendall, Miss Tracy. No news, I’m afraid. The police have been here, so I’m just letting you know you’ll receive a visit from them shortly. They’re searching the grounds as we speak, obviously of the opinion that our search wasn’t carried out efficiently.’
At any other time Sarah would have s
miled at the indignation the efficient Mrs Kendall couldn’t keep out of her voice. ‘I’m sure it was.’
‘My only consolation is that it’s still light at this time of the year.’
‘True,’ said Sarah desolately.
‘I’ll ring off now, to keep your line open. Try not to worry too much, Miss Tracy.’
‘Is she serious?’ exploded Sarah. ‘Try not to worry!’
‘It’s the kind of meaningless thing people say when there’s nothing else to say,’ said Margaret, then tensed as the doorbell rang.
‘Jake did break the sound barrier,’ said Sarah, and ran to open the door to him, then let out a sobbing cry of joy when she found Davy looking up at her with heart-rending doubt on her tearstained face.
‘I had to come home,’ she said. ‘Don’t be cross.’
Sarah hugged her cruelly close, then looked up to find Davy hadn’t arrived alone. Alison Rogers stood a little way apart, watching them, her car waiting at the kerb.
‘Alison!’ cried Sarah.
‘Mrs Rogers brought me home,’ said Davy, knuckling tears out of her eyes.
Alison gave Sarah a sympathetic look.
‘I saw Davy walking along the road into town, so I offered her a lift.’ She smiled. ‘I didn’t have a phone with me so I brought her straight here. She’s fine, Sarah, just upset.’
‘Oh Alison, I can’t thank you enough…’
‘I’m just glad I saw her,’ said Alison. ‘Look, you obviously need to talk. I’ll leave you in peace. See you later, Sarah. Bye-bye, Davy.’
Sarah watched with pride when Davy held out her hand to her rescuer.
‘Thank you very much for bringing me home.’
‘A pleasure, Davy.’ Alison’s eyes twinkled as she shook the small, grubby hand. ‘But let’s not meet again like that, please. Your poor mother must have been frantic.’
Davy gave Sarah a forlorn look. ‘Were you?’
‘You’ll never know how much!’ Sarah turned to Alison with a grateful smile. ‘Thank you again.’
‘My pleasure. Goodnight.’
Davina saw Margaret hovering in the hall and flew into her arms. ‘I just had to come home, Grandma,’ she sobbed. ‘Before I went back on Sunday I heard Mummy saying she wasn’t my mother. I’ve been thinking and thinking about it all the time, and I just couldn’t bear it in school a minute longer. So I sneaked out after lights out, and waited for a bus. Only it didn’t come, and I started walking, then a car stopped and Polly’s mummy brought me home.’
Sarah felt physically sick. She closed the door, gazing at the child clasped in Margaret’s arms, her mind frantically trying for an explanation Davy could cope with.
‘First of all, young lady,’ said Margaret firmly, meeting Sarah’s eyes over Davy’s untidy head. ‘I think you should have a bath, and by that time we’ll all be feeling a lot calmer. You gave us a dreadful fright, Davina Tracy.’
‘I’d better ring Mrs Kendall,’ said Sarah, pulling herself together.
Davy turned round in alarm. ‘She will be cross with me!’
‘Not when I explain,’ said Sarah firmly. ‘You go off and have a scrub in Grandma’s bathroom while I ring her.’
Shortly afterwards Jake arrived, his face so haggard Sarah held out her arms, smiling jubilantly to reassure him.
‘Davy’s home! Grandma’s taken her upstairs for a bath.’
‘Thank God.’ His hug endangered her ribs. ‘What on earth happened?’
Sarah explained, then looked up at him in anguish. ‘It’s all my fault. She overheard when I was talking to you about not being her mother. And now I’ve got to find some way to explain.’
Jake led her into the kitchen. ‘Make me some coffee, darling, while we think of the best way to tell her.’
Comforted by the ‘we’, Sarah put the kettle on, then leaned against Jake when he put his arm round her.
‘You would have had to tell her one day, Sarah.’
‘I know.’ She looked up at him in appeal. ‘Will you stay while I talk to her?’
‘I’ll do whatever you want,’ he assured her. ‘But will Davy want me around in this situation?’
‘I don’t know. But I want you.’
He kissed her swiftly. ‘Then I’ll stay.’
When Davy came in with Margaret her eyes lit up at the sight of Jake, obviously pleased to see him, and he swept her up in his arms.
‘Next time you want to go walkabout you ring me and I’ll fetch you myself, Davy Tracy,’ he said with mock menace, and sat down with her on his lap.
Davy settled herself comfortably in Jake’s hold, her questioning eyes on Sarah. ‘Grandma said you’d explain once I was clean.’
‘Right, then,’ said Sarah, bracing herself.
Margaret met her eyes. ‘I said you’d tell Davy who her mother was.’
The slight emphasis on the word ‘mother’ clarified things for Sarah. ‘I was going to tell you this when you were older, Davy—’
‘I’m nine,’ Davy interrupted hotly. ‘Not a baby.’
Sarah’s eyes filled. ‘No,’ she said thickly, ‘you’re not. Thank you,’ she added, when Margaret handed her some kitchen paper.
‘Am I adopted, then?’ blurted Davy.
‘Good heavens, no, darling.’
‘But if you’re not my mummy who is?’
Sarah took a deep breath. ‘It was your lovely granny, Davy. But she was so ill after you were born she just couldn’t look after you. So she gave you to me. You were my very own baby right from the first, though I had to share you with Granny and Gramps later on, when she was better—Grandma, too.’ Sarah smiled lovingly. ‘You were lucky, really, because when you were little you had four people to spoil you.’
‘I asked Sarah to be your mummy,’ said Margaret huskily. ‘Anne—your granny—was so ill, you see, and I was much too old. I thought Sarah would be the perfect mummy for you. And I was right, wasn’t I?’ Unaccustomed, painful tears welled in her eyes as all three of them waited with bated breath for Davy’s reaction.
It seemed a very long time before Davy let out a deep sigh and slid off Jake’s lap to go to Sarah. ‘I didn’t think I could be adopted, really, because everyone says I look just like you.’
And thank God for it, thought Sarah, weak with relief.
‘Are you hungry, darling?’ asked Margaret, blowing her nose. ‘I could cook something.’
‘I’ve got a better idea,’ said Jake, and grinned at Margaret. ‘Let’s ring up for a giant pizza. Do you like pizza, Grandma?’
‘I’ve never tasted it,’ she confessed, smiling. ‘But I’m sure it’s delicious.’
The weeks before summer term ended at Roedale were a halcyon time for Sarah. Jake went with her to sports day and watched Davy win the sprint, and displayed his pride as openly as any father there when the winner’s ribbon was pinned on her shirt. This momentous event was eclipsed only by the wedding, which took place soon afterwards, with Davy as chief bridesmaid, followed by Nina and Chloe, when Sarah walked down the aisle in the long white dress Jake had insisted on for his bride. There were so many contenders for Davy’s company while her mother was away on honeymoon that in the end she spent part of it with the Rogers family and part of it with Nina and Chloe, and in between was chauffeured on regular visits to Margaret, to reassure her that Grandma wasn’t lonely.
The housing situation had been solved with remarkable simplicity, and to Margaret Parker’s deep approval. Her bosom friend Barbara lived alone in a large house not far from the Rogers home, and the lady was only too happy to move into the ground-floor flat in Campden Road and sell her house to Jake and Sarah.
‘But we’ll live in my flat while the renovations are being done,’ said Jake, on the first night of their honeymoon.
Sarah looked out at the moonlight silvering the garden of the Greenacres Hotel and pinched herself hard.
‘What’s the matter?’ he demanded as she winced.
‘Just making sure I’m not dreaming.’ She
gave him a wry, wondering smile over her shoulder. ‘You must admit it’s a touch unreal. Not so long ago I was a hardworking single parent, then wham I fell in love with the unique and wonderful Mr Jacob Hogan.’
Jake laughed and turned her in his arms to look down into her face. ‘Not unique, exactly. I’m one of a pair, remember.’
‘Not to me,’ said Sarah firmly. ‘You, my darling husband, are one of a kind.’
Jake kissed her by way of appreciation, then kissed her again at length. ‘It’s getting cold,’ he whispered. ‘Let’s go to bed.’
‘It’s not cold at all,’ she said, laughing. ‘Though I like the idea of bed. But first,’ she added, ‘there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.’
‘Ask away.’
‘When you took us home to your parents the first time Liam apologised for the infamous car incident, and said he’d caused you enough trouble already. What did he mean?’
Jake gave her a wry smile. ‘You remember I told you that my London lady met someone else she preferred?’
‘Vividly.’ Sarah reached up and kissed him. ‘Though I don’t understand how she could!’
‘Thank you, my darling.’ He kissed her back. ‘But I introduced her to Liam one weekend.’
‘What happened?’
‘She forsook me for my identical twin.’
‘What? The woman has no taste. Besides, you and Liam aren’t really identical.’ Sarah smiled up at him. ‘To me, darling, you’re unique.’
‘Definitely time for bed,’ said Jake, and picked her up.
‘Will making love be different now we’re married?’ asked Sarah, when he laid her on the wide white bed that had filled her with such misgiving the first time she’d seen it.
‘Probably,’ said Jake, his eyes gleaming with anticipation. ‘I’ve never made love to a married woman before.’
‘Same here with a married man.’
‘Or any other man at all,’ said her husband, with deep satisfaction.
‘True.’ Sarah gave him a glowing smile and held up her arms. ‘Only you, Jake Hogan. Only you.’
ISBN: 978-1-4268-7311-9
Sarah's Secret Page 16