Chapter One
Chaos was around five foot six, with silky, shiny fair hair and blue eyes that had caused more than one man to drown.
It also possessed the authoritative tone of an army sergeant and, on a bad day, needed no weapons to command every living thing in the surrounding area.
Chaos had a name; one that Jonny Graham knew well. One that he’d grown up hearing and occasionally yelling himself. A name that induced fear and terror into both men and small children alike. This clubhouse, the place where residents of Severton came to play sports, have barbecues, watch fireworks, was more than used to chaos. Jonny was pretty sure that there was a place reserved for a plaque to mark some of the more extreme moments.
“It’s Rayah, Daddy! Can I go and see her?”
Jonny looked down at the imp that was his daughter. Sadie Grace Graham had never known her mother, yet she had come already pre-programmed to manipulate the absolute hell out of any male, including her father and two elder brothers.
“Do I have any form of choice?”
Sadie shook her head, dark red curls bouncing around, her smile sweet, a clear giveaway that she was up to something. “I want to to tell her I’ve got a new reading book.”
Like hell she did.
“Truth, Sadie.”
The bottom lip came out and Jonny shook his head.
She slumped her shoulders and looked up at him through dark eyelashes. “I want to ask her about Charlie’s party.”
Jonny considered the sweet smile, one front tooth pretty much through, the other part way there. To the unsuspecting stranger, his daughter was the image of an angel, all cherubic innocence and goodness. To a resident of Severton, she was mischief incarnate. Much like Rayah Maynard had been.
Still was.
“What do you want to ask her about Charlie’s party?”
Charlie was Jonny’s eldest son, ten going on thirty-nine. Sadie Grace was his tormentor, the tiny torturer who had him so under her thumb Charlie could barely stand up.
Just like someone else had been.
“I want to make sure she’s going.”
Jonny narrowed his eyes. “You know that Rayah will be there already.”
Sadie shook her head. “Of course Rayah will be there. It’s one of our birthdays. Rayah’s always there. But I need to ask her aboutthings.”
“Whatthings?” Jonny hesitated, unsure what was about to come out of his daughter’s mouth. It could be anything. Sadie Grace had filters, just ones she chose not to utilise.
“Girl things. You wouldn’t understand.” Her last word was barely comprehensible. The slight lisp she’d always had masking the word, probably more than it should’ve, because Sadie knew the power of that lisp.
So did Jonny. And he was immune to it. He was also immune to feeling as if he had two heavy weights tied to his feet in a piranha-infested pool when it came to single-parenting. He’d already used up his quota of sleepless nights worrying about the fact that his three children no longer had their mother around. They had a village instead.
“Try me.” She was six.Girl thingshadn’t started yet.
Her smile slipped. As much as Sadie was a master manipulator, Jonny was immune to her ways. It had been a case of survival, because if he’d been sucked in by her charm, the world would have no chance.
“Clothes. I wanted us to have matching party dresses.”
His heart melted a little. And broke. Grace, Sadie’s mother, would’ve done something like matching dresses. Before Sadie was born, before the hit and run that had killed her, Grace had bought a tiny baby-grow and a matching set of adult pyjamas. Jonny had kept them. Over the years he’d let go some of Grace’s belongings - clothes, books, her over-sized music collection - but the little baby grow and PJ’s had stayed wrapped up, never worn.
“Rayah might not want to have matching party dresses, baby.” Knowing Rayah, she’d be planning on a night out after Charlie’s party, so she could well be wearing leather trousers and some form of material around her chest. Jonny pictured her wearing a sack-like outfit, complete with rope belt, because anything else was asking for trouble on many, many levels.
Sadie gave a petite nod. “She said she would. She said we could go shopping. I had to ask you, but I wanted to check she still wanted to.”
Jonny stared at her, not really doubting what she said. Sadie didn’t tell lies; she might use the truth sparingly, but she didn’t need to make things up.
