‘Bella isn’ta girl,’ Rosa said scornfully. ‘She’s a witch and I hate her. Wow. I love that drawing! Can you do another?’ Just like that she had switched from loathing for the nanny to excitable admiration at what Izzy had done. But Izzy had no time to reply because the door was pushed open and this time standing in the doorway, just as Rosa had stood in the doorway a short while ago, was Gabriel, devoid of the cool composure she had seen in him before.
‘Bella’s collapsed,’ he said abruptly. He looked at Rosa. ‘I could call an ambulance out, but by the time it got here it would probably be faster for me to drive her to the hospital.’
‘What’s wrong?’ Izzy leapt to her feet in consternation.
‘My guess would be appendicitis, judging from what she’s managed to say...and possibly a ruptured one. I have to go. Rosa...’ He raked frustrated fingers through his dark hair, his body restless with tension and urgency. ‘A hospital is not a suitable place. I will have to talk to doctors...’
‘I can come.’ The offer was out there before Izzy could think about it. She saw the struggle on his face, but time was of the essence, and he nodded.
‘It would help. I will be down in a few minutes. If you wouldn’t mind meeting me with Rosa by the front door...we need to move at speed.’
Izzy did as she was told, barely thinking as she hurried to the front door with Rosa, grabbing the crayons and paper and stuffing them into her bag, because she would have to occupy the child while her father did what he needed to do.
He could have left Rosa behind with her, but of course why would he? He didn’t know her from Adam.
How ironic that Izzy had come out here to try and imbibe the spirit of her mother, find solace in her memory in the wake of her broken heart, yet in the very house in which Beverley Stowe had grown up she felt nothing but Gabriel’s overwhelming personality. Now here she was, swept along on a wave of unexpected circumstances, and whimsy could not have been further from her mind. She could have dug her heels in and left him to his own devices, to sort out an ill nanny with his daughter in tow, but that option had not even occurred to Izzy.
She was barely aware of the drive to hospital. Rosa clung to her in the back seat of the black four-by-four, scared and silenced by the tension. In the front, Bella moaned while Gabriel drove fast, his body language signalling complete focus on what was going on. As soon as they made it to hospital, he turned to Izzy and, in between giving orders for a wheelchair to be brought for Bella, said that he would meet her as soon as he could in the reception area. He hugged Rosa, stooping to murmur a few reassuring words, and disentangled her even as he glanced up to where Izzy was staring down at them.
‘Thank you,’ he said gruffly.
Then he vanished behind the rush of people sweeping Bella away.
Izzy had never babysat anyone before in her life. Her dealings with young kids had largely been confined to meeting some of her friend Mia’s nephews and nieces now and again. Now, though, something fired up inside her as she held the little girl’s hand and hunted down the reception area, which was half-empty.
She felt a rush of emotion because she couldfeelRosa’s confusion. Being deprived of her dad frightened her, even for this short space of time, and Izzy could understand that fear. Heck, hadn’t she spent so much of her life experiencing something very like it?
She chatted all the while until she felt Rosa relax, her voice calm and soothing. She spent the next hour or so entertaining her by drawing whatever she wanted until, at a little after nine, Rosa fell asleep without warning and with the innocence of a child, her head resting on Izzy’s shoulder, her small body softening into slumber.
Izzy breathed in Rosa’s child smell, rested her head on hers and thought about her own childhood, but not in a way that was maudlin or self-pitying. She thought of her loneliness after her parents had died and the way she had hugged it to herself because there’d been only so much her brothers could do to alleviate it. She thought of Jefferson and wondered whether she’d been so desperate toloveand tobe lovedthat she had overlooked all the signs of a person who had never been right for her.
She mused about this quest of hers in Napa Valley, hoping for memories to be the balm that might heal her heart. She knew, in an accepting rush, that the only person who could help her deal with her broken heart was herself. Unlike Rosa, she wasn’t a child any longer.
It was after ten and she had drifted off to sleep by the time Gabriel returned, gently nudging her back to consciousness.
Izzy blinked, stifled a yawn and eased Rosa off her so that she could straighten.
He looked exhausted and, for the first time since she had met him, practically human.
‘Have you...? Is everything okay?’
‘Thank you for staying here with Rosa. I appreciate it.’ He lifted Rosa, who remained asleep, and nestled her against him, waiting for Izzy so that they could leave, briefly explaining what had happened as they walked towards his car, which mysteriously was waiting for them. He must have ordered someone to bring it to the front of the building.
‘I should be heading back.’ Izzy hesitated and glanced over at him. The breath caught in her throat. He was so extravagantly beautiful, she thought distractedly, especially right now with Rosa curled into him. She had managed a brief, whispered chat to Evelyn while Rosa had been asleep against her, and had detected the anxiety in her voice when she had asked how the meeting had gone. Izzy hadn’t had the heart to tell her that it hadn’t quite gone according to plan. The man who wanted to buy her out had no intention of being Mr Nice Guy, whatever the circumstances.
It was easy to start feeling gooey and soppy, because there was something so touching about a dad and his kid, but that was irrelevant. Just because a sudden emergency had blown his cool for a couple of hours didn’t mean that he had suddenly had a personality transplant.
‘You haven’t eaten.’
‘I’m fine.’ She blushed and looked away but he was already opening the door for her, having settled Rosa in the back seat.
‘How has Rosa been?’
Izzy hesitated and then dropped into the passenger seat, waiting until the car roared into life before talking.
He wanted to find out about his daughter and that was only to be expected. He would want to know whether she’d been upset or in any way traumatised by the sudden tempest that had blown up.
They maintained a truce for the duration of the drive back to his mansion as Izzy told him what she and Rosa had done whilst they’d waited for him to sort out the situation. And, once inside, the thought of digging her heels in and refusing the food on offer seemed a huge effort. She was tired, she was hungry and anyway, having done him this favour, maybe he would be more amenable to listening and really taking on board what she had to say about Evelyn.
