Marion Lennox - Their Baby Bargain

‘Yes,’ said Gabbie definitely-and then, somehow, there was nothing left for Luke to do but follow.

Wherever they led…

THE swim had been glorious, but it hadn’t stopped Luke from being confused. In fact, by the end of his time in the water he was feeling so confused he wasn’t sure whether he’d gone to sleep and woken in some other life.

He hadn’t swum in the sea for twenty years. And now… It hadn’t been a swim like he usually swam-steady laps of his local gymnasium pool designed to tone his body and make up for the days he sat at his computer, or in interminable meetings.

This had been something else. Something totally out of his ken.

They had all swum. Even Baby Grace hadn’t stayed in her carry-cot for long. She’d joined right in. Wendy and Gabbie had whooped down to the sea, with Luke following behind carrying Grace. By the time he’d topped the sandhills the pair were already in the water-fully dressed!

‘Because we’re filthy, too.’ Wendy had grinned as she’d beckoned him to join her. ‘The water’s warm and wonderful. Take off Grace’s clothes and bring her in.’

So two minutes later he’d been sitting in the shallows, holding a naked baby on his knee-a baby who’d thought this was the most wonderful sensation she’d ever felt and it was designed for her own personal enjoyment.

And ditto for Luke. He had let Wendy and her small foster-daughter rub bars of soap though his hair and tease the grime from his face and the aches from his various bruises, and he had experienced sensations he’d never felt in his life before.

Despite his protests, they’d removed his shirt-‘Because we can’t wash it while it’s on you!’-and it had only been by the resolute and determined tactic of refusing to stand up that he’d managed to keep his trousers on.

A man had some pride. Damn, he might have been waist-deep in water, and he might have been way out of depth emotionally, but if the electricians or glaziers had arrived and all he’d been wearing was boxer shorts with little red hearts on…

Good grief! The low waves broke over his legs, the girls soaped on, and he felt as if he’d been transported to another planet.

‘You need antiseptic on this.’ Wendy’s sympathetic words jerked him back to reality-almost. The bird’s claws had somehow made contact with his face. Wendy sat before him in the shallows, her skirt floating around her in the water in a soft blue swirl, and her blouse clinging much too closely.

Unaware of his reaction to her she ran a finger down the jagged scratch on his face. She’d brought a face cloth and she carefully soaped and cleaned the scratch-and the touch of her fingers on his face was enough to send him straight into orbit again. ‘The salt water will be great for it,’ she said softly. ‘It’s just what you need.’

It wasn’t the salt water that was just great. This was amazing! The shallow waves ran in and out on the golden sand. The morning sun was warm on his face and on his naked chest and his bare back. Gabbie giggled and splashed beside them, and Grace wiggled her toes in the water and chortled in glee every time a wave broke over her small person.

And Wendy smiled and smiled…

‘Enough!’ He rose too abruptly. Grace didn’t like being hauled from her wonderful playground and she puckered her face in distress-but he had to get out of here. Now!

‘There’s a truck coming,’ Luke said, gazing up at the house, and there was real relief in the way he said it. He might be only knee-deep in water but he was being drawn so far out of his depth that he was close to drowning. ‘It’ll be the electricians. I need to meet them.’

‘You do that.’ Wendy was watching his face from where she still sat, holding Gabbie in the water, and what she saw made her frown a little. She rose and took a step back, drawing imperceptibly away. The spell was broken. ‘I’ll take Grace while you go.’ She reached forward and took the baby into her arms, crooning gently as she hugged her close. ‘Hey, Grace, it’s okay. We’ll play some more.’ She didn’t look at Luke again. ‘Off you go and organise your minions,’ she told him. ‘I’ll come later with the children.’

‘I…yes. You’ll be all right?’

‘I can manage,’ she said softly-with dignity. ‘You’re the boss but we don’t need you, Luke.’

And he knew, instinctively, that he was being given a deeper message than the one on the surface. But…

‘I need to go.’ Damn, why did he feel as if he was apologising?

‘Of course you do.’ She smiled, but once again he had a feeling that the shutters were being pulled closed. He’d hardly noticed they were opening, but now there was pain behind her eyes, a pain he didn’t understand. She looked like a child who’d been slapped unexpectedly, and he didn’t know what he’d done.

He didn’t know what was causing her pain, and suddenly he wanted to. Badly.

‘Wendy-’

‘Go.’ Her voice turned bossy-organisational-and he knew also that this was her form of protecting herself. Why?

From emotional attachment? he wondered. Surely not. He’d kissed her once, for heaven’s sake, and surely it must count as a kiss of excitement and pleasure. Not of passion. It was no big deal.

Or was it?

Well, even if it was, then it was better to move fast and leave, he told himself. Get himself into organisational mode. Now!

‘I’ll meet you up at the house, then,’ he said neutrally. ‘Later.’

‘Of course.’ She hugged the now wailing Grace close to her. ‘Come on, Gabbie. Grace wants another swim. We’ll let her have what she wants, shall we?’

‘Doesn’t Luke want another swim?’ Gabbie asked curiously, kicking her toes out behind her in the shallows, and Wendy gave a tight little smile.

‘Uncle Luke has work to do. Very important work. It’s only us lucky ones who get to sit in the sea and play with our toes.’

Gabbie considered this, and slowly nodded. She turned her small face up to Luke’s, and her eyes were solemn.

‘I’m glad I’m not a daddy, then,’ she said. ‘If you can’t stay and play with us, then it’s sad.’

And suddenly that was exactly how Luke felt.

He was sad, and he was very, very sorry.

After that, the day passed in a blur of organisation. Luke went up to the house to meet the electrician. He showered the salt from himself and his clothes, and by the time he emerged, salt free, the glazier and the plumber had also arrived.

An hour later, when Wendy and Gabbie and Grace trudged happily up from the beach he was almost sun-dried. He was standing on the veranda discussing which of the windows were the most important to fix now, and as he saw the little procession head up from the beach he stopped mid-sentence to watch them come. The glazier turned to watch, too.

‘Is that your missus and kids?’ the man asked, and then, astonished, he recognised Wendy. ‘Hey! That’s never Wendy Maher from the kids’ home?’

‘Yes it is. She’s staying here to care for my half-sister and her own foster-daughter. That’s why I need the place to be fixed quickly.’

The man whistled. ‘Well, I’ll be blowed. I heard Wendy was leaving the kids’ home. She’s had it rough, that one, but she’s some lady. She has a heart bigger than Africa. Why didn’t you say it was for Wendy? Did I say I could only replace half a dozen windows today? If it’s Wendy living here with broken windows, then I’ll bring the whole team out and we’ll replace the lot by dusk. That woman’s a champion.’

She was.

Luke stood on the veranda and he watched them come-this tiny family he’d just created. Wendy was still sodden, her skirt and blouse clinging so he could see every gorgeous curve of her body. She was singing a silly little song and she was giggling, hugging a sleepy Grace to her very wet breast, and holding Gabbie’s hand as she came, and Luke felt such a surge of emotion at the sight of them that he almost choked.

What on earth was happening to him? he demanded desperately of himself. He had to get out of here. Get a grip on himself. Now!

Getting out of here was easier than he thought. From the tradesmen’s point of view, it seemed, if the job was for Wendy then anything was possible.

So by mid-afternoon they had the electricity on, a fire was burning brightly in the stove-‘The crows won’t come back once we have it smoking,’ Wendy told a worried Gabbie-and hot water and a phone and a clean bedroom for Wendy were organised as well.

Plus one hire car. Sort of.

‘So there’s nothing stopping you leaving,’ Wendy told Luke, as the glazier departed with the last of his men. ‘The sooner you go the sooner we can make this legal.’ She eyed him doubtfully, sensing the confusion he was feeling. ‘You keeping Grace, I mean.’

‘Yes. I know what you mean.’

‘And if you don’t go now you won’t get to Bay Beach Menswear before closing,’ she told him. She checked him out with doubt. He’d rinsed his clothes but they’d never be respectable again. ‘Just show them the colour of your money as soon as you walk in the door or they might throw you out on the spot.’

‘Do I look that bad?’ He rubbed his unshaven chin, and she smiled, but still with that strange, keep-your-distance look on her face.

‘You look like the local wino,’ she told him frankly. Then she gazed across at his hire car and her keep-your-distance attitude cracked a little as she chuckled. The newly delivered car was a vivid orange sedan-or half of it was vivid orange. The rest had been stripped, treated for rust and then painted with a strange blueish-orange undercoat. There were dents all over it. Bay Beach Motors had been right out of motors and this was the only one available. ‘You match your car beautifully,’ she told him.

‘Gee, thanks.’

‘Off you go,’ she told him, and she gave him a gentle shove toward the door. ‘Your Aston Martin keys and registration papers are in the living room desk, right?’