Five minutes coincided with a break in the story line, and Dan stood up, Xander limbering to his feet as well, turning off the TV. They headed upstairs to the sound of water running in the bathroom. Laurel emerged.
“Well done.” She smiled.
It was a smile for Dan, but Xander stilled. From the moment he’d hauled her into his car to confront her over his stolen son, her expression had only been stony-faced. Or tense and drawn. Or filled with a false brightness.
Now, something caught at him.
I’d forgotten how she smiled. How it lit her face. Took my breath away.
For a moment, just a moment, memory pierced him. Just as it had when he’d reminded her about eating pizza in Greece.
Why the hell did I do that? Dragging back the past. Remembering a time I had to consign to oblivion.
He was flooded with anger at himself. Then he realised she was speaking.
“Dan’s pretty tired tonight,” she was saying. “So it’s best if I put him to bed. But tomorrow—” she seemed to be making a visible effort, an obviously stiffly unwilling concession “—you can lend a hand if you want.” She paused, then went on, her voice awkward. “Where…where are you staying? You didn’t say.”
For a moment, just a moment, Xander found himself wanting to say that there were three bedrooms to the cottage and he’d take the master…
But that was the last thing he wanted. Once Dan was in bed he had no use for Laurel’s company. No wish or desire for it. Why would he?
“I’m booked into a nearby hotel,” he said. “I’ll head off now.”
He lifted his hand to ruffle Dan’s hair lightly. “See you tomorrow. Today’s been good, hasn’t it?”
Dan nodded, another yawn escaping. “Yes,” he said.
Xander headed downstairs, giving Dan a last wave, not bothering to say anything more to Laurel. She was irrelevant to him, superfluous in her existence for any purpose but for the good of the son she’d kept from him for seven long years.
Anger bit at him again, familiar and acidic, eating into him as he let himself out of the house. Cold, unforgiving anger.
Laurel lay in bed. Though her window was open there was scarcely a sound in the night, only the occasional haunting hoot of an owl. Dan had gone out like a light after his bath and bedside read. She’d kissed him goodnight, faithful Mr. Teds, battered but much loved, snuggled beside him.
I like this holiday, Mumhad been his last, sleepy words.With you and my dad.
They had wrung her heart.
Now, as she lay in her own bed, sleep would not come. Only thoughts she should not have. Pointless thoughts. But they came all the same.
What if that damn bracelet had never gone missing? Xander wouldn’t hate me then. Nor I him.
But that would be all though. Xander was a married man. Missing bracelet or no missing bracelet, Dan could only ever be his secret son or, at best, his unintended love child, or whatever the coy term was. Not thatlovehad ever come into it. Seven years ago she and Xander had had a heady, passionate fling—that was all. Olympia’s arrival at the end had simply confirmed that, with all her snide insinuations that she was lined up to be Xander’s fiancée any time soon.
I never expected anything more than what we had, Xander and I, even before Olympia turned up and her bracelet went missing. I knew it and faced it.
She shifted restlessly, pulled the duvet over her head, and turned onto her side.
So, what did it matter if Xander still thought of her as a thief and she was still bitter at his accusation? All that was important was making herself cope with the bombshell that Xander’s reappearance into her life had caused.
Take it day at a time. It’s all you can do.
The mantra was still running through her head as she finally sank into a heavy, uneasy sleep.
Chapter Three
XANDER PULLED UPon the driveway. He was organising a car for Laurel to be delivered; she would need to be able to get around on her own. Go shopping, take Dan to school next term. As for himself, well, it was going to be complicated. He’d spend as much time as he could now with Dan. That was essential, his overriding priority, but he would have to put some time in back home, and Easter—Greek Easter—was looming too. He would need to be there for that; his father would be expecting him. And then, far more complicated yet, was going to be telling his father about Dan…
He shut his eyes a moment, only wanting to block that out. It would be difficult for his father to hear about Dan, but he had to know sometime. How he would react, Xander had no idea.
