‘You don’t have to tell me, Spencer. It’s not important any more.’
‘I think it’s better out in the open.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Not long before Vicki was born, Natalie met up with Bill in Launceston. She was shopping for baby things. She felt faint for a few moments and he took her into a cafe for a glass of water then he offered to drive her home. She was grateful to him because it meant she wouldn’t have to ride in the bone-shaker bus.’ Spencer broke off to contain his growing emotion.
‘And then what happened?’ Laura prompted him softly, dreading the answer.
‘On… on the journey home he propositioned her. Can you imagine a man doing anything lower than that? Asking a heavily pregnant woman who he believed was his half-sister to go to bed with him?’
‘No, I can’t.’ Laura’s cheeks suffused with bright colour as a wave of contempt for the man she had been married to swept over her. ‘But I can imagine him doing it.’
Spencer swallowed and raised his eyes to the ceiling. There was more to the tale. ‘He-he stopped the car and grabbed her… Natalie had to fight him off. I think it was only her pregnancy that saved her in the end. Now can you see why I hate him so much? Natalie was so upset. She became depressed. I think it was the reason why she went into premature labour and… and why she died.’
Laura felt a special closeness to Spencer, and not just because he had saved her life twice and was Vicki’s father. She wanted to put her arms round him and give him comfort. What she said felt very inadequate. ‘I’m very sorry, Spencer. You’re only one of a lot of people who have suffered at Bill’s hands.’
He came closer to her. ‘I want you to know, Laura, that I don’t blame you, not now.’
She reached out to stroke his arm and he took her hand and held it. ‘I’m glad you’ve told me, Spencer, but there’s something you don’t know. I hope that in some small way it will make it easier for you to bear. Bill wasn’t William Lean’s son, he was in no way related to Natalie. Mrs Noon told me that it was Bill himself who started the rumours as a means to blackmail William Lean but it didn’t work. I asked Harry about it and he confirmed it was true.’
Spencer sat on the bed. ‘Natalie and I never talked about the rumours. It didn’t seem important with her father long dead when we married.’ After a pause, in which he dried his eyes, he managed a brief smile. ‘Vicki will be back in a minute. I just wanted to clear the air between us.’
He studied a picture on the wall above Laura’s head as if it was a lifeline. He held her hand a little tighter and Laura wondered what was to come. ‘I’ve been thinking. I… I know that you love Vicki dearly and she loves you. I acknowledge that without her own mother she’ll need you more and more. Perhaps one day we ought to think about making some sort of permanent arrangement for Vicki’s sake. What do you say?’
Laura was stunned. The proposition was totally unexpected. She had little hope of falling in love and getting married again, but could she marry Spencer for Vicki’s sake? ‘You mean have what people call an understanding?’
‘Yes, for Vicki’s sake,’ he stressed. He’d do anything for Vicki and he was afraid if Laura married again she’d have children of her own and Vicki would take a back seat, but the proposition was partly for himself. He hadn’t sorted out his feelings for the woman who had saved his daughter’s life but they were very strong.
They heard Vicki’s feet pitter-pattering up the stairs. She came into the room with a plate piled high with chocolate biscuits.
‘Goodness me!’ Laura exclaimed, laughing. ‘I don’t think I can eat that much.’
Vicki moved past her father and climbed up on the bed beside Laura. Laura indulgently took a biscuit off the plate. She knew Spencer was waiting for her answer. What she wanted most in all the world was to receive his little girl’s endless love. She looked into his eyes, smiled, nodded and hugged Vicki happily to her.
Next in The Kilgarthen Sagas:
Rosemerryn
An involving and entertaining sequel to Kilgarthen from the masterful Gloria Cook, perfect for fans of Katie Flynn and Anna Jacobs.
Find out more
First published in the United Kingdom in 1995 by Headline Book Publishing
This edition published in the United Kingdom in 2019 by
Canelo Digital Publishing Limited
57 Shepherds Lane
Beaconsfield, Bucks HP9 2DU
United Kingdom
Copyright © Gloria Cook, 1995
The moral right of Gloria Cook to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781788636469
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Kilgarthen Page 42