The Second Family. Janice Carter

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ common.

      Tess waited while Molly fidgeted restlessly, getting comfortable. She reached out a hand to brush back a tendril of hair from Molly’s forehead and began to gently stroke the smooth skin in a circular pattern. When she pulled her hand away before getting up to leave, Molly’s eyes fluttered open.

      She withdrew her thumb just enough to be able to say, “Daddy does that, too.”

      Tess froze. She had a sudden memory of lying in a bed herself, someone bending over and stroking her brow. Had that been Richard? Or was her memory playing tricks on her?

      Molly fidgeted some more, then Tess resumed the stroking until the girl was fast asleep.

      “I’M STUFFED,” announced Molly, plunking her fork onto the plate of half-eaten pasta. She leaned forward to ask, in a dramatic whisper, “Do they do doggie bags here?”

      Tess laughed, catching Alec’s startled expression out of the corner of her eye. She wanted to make some gibe about having a sense of humor after all, but sensed it might spoil the neutral ambience of the evening so far.

      Dinner at the funky Italian restaurant she and Mavis had discovered years ago had been a success. Her first of the day, she thought, and was surprised how that pleased her. Even Nick had shown—though not verbally—obvious enjoyment of the noisy restaurant as waitstaff and cooks hollered orders back and forth. The eclectic array of items decorating the walls, along with the clotheslines strung from wall to wall and festooned with photographs of various celebrities who’d dined there, had been the subject of most of the dinner talk.

      “They do doggie bags,” Tess replied. “Believe me. I’ve taken many home from here.”

      When the bill arrived she and Alec had a brief debate over who was paying. He insisted that his expense account would cover it, but Tess was skeptical.

      Nick and Molly were busily examining some of the decor on their way to the door when the waitress returned with change.

      “You have a nice family,” she remarked.

      Tess felt her face redden but Alec acted as though he hadn’t heard. As they walked out behind the kids, she had the odd sensation of being part of a group. Although the feeling didn’t take long to evaporate.

      Out on the sidewalk, Molly and Nick were already bickering. Tess grit her teeth. She didn’t have the faintest idea how to get them to stop and suspected her impulse to scream would be deemed totally inappropriate.

      “It’s been a long day for them,” Alec said in her right ear.

      “Hasn’t it for all of us?”

      “Yes, but they’re only kids. This is how they deal with stress.” He paused a beat before asking, “What do you do about it?”

      She shot him a questioning look.

      “Stress,” he repeated.

      “Sometimes I go for a run—if the weather’s good.”

      “Never felt inclined to snap at people?”

      She stiffened at the indulgent smile in his face.

      “No. Why should I? Sometimes the orders I give out are a bit more…brusque.”

      “Ah, well. I suppose when you’re at the top of the heap, there’s no objection to…orders.”

      Tess found his grin irritating. Why was he always trying to bait her? What had she ever done to him? Self-pity surged through her. She knew what it felt like to be abandoned.

      “What time will you be picking up the children tomorrow?”

      The grin vanished. “I…uh…I thought maybe I’d come round early. Bring breakfast with me.”

      “If you like,” she said and, turning her back to walk up the steps to the condo, heard him say good-night to Nick and Molly.

      “I’ll see you two at breakfast, okay?”

      “Aren’t you staying here, too, Alec? We were supposed to watch videos.”

      For a tense second Tess froze on the steps, afraid one of the children would ask if he could, but fortunately Alec quickly said, “No, I’ve got a hotel room near the airport. And I think everyone’s far too tired for videos tonight, Molly.”

      Relieved, Tess continued on inside, holding the door open while the children waved to Alec as he climbed into a taxi. Then they turned and walked, slump-shouldered with disappointment, toward Tess.

      Once upstairs, Nick sullenly set to making up his bed on the couch. Molly didn’t ask to be tucked in, but lay silently staring up at Tess, her unblinking eyes tracking her every move until Tess switched off the light. She made for the bathroom and a hot shower, happy to have the day come to an end at last. She just wished she felt better about their leaving the next day.

      CHAPTER FOUR

      SOBS TORE INTO the quiet night, wrenching Tess from sleep. She sat up, disoriented, searching the darkness for a familiar landmark. She found one almost at once—the pale marine glow from her laptop monitor on the table beside her.

      She’d fallen asleep in the easy chair opposite the couch. The draft of a report lay strewn on the floor at her feet and the shape now rising from the dark space occupied by the couch must be Nick.

      They both hit the bedroom door at the same time. Tess had left one of the bedside lamps on when she’d said good-night to Molly and was glad she had. Otherwise, she and Nick could have crashed into the bed, frightening even more an already distraught Molly.

      “I want my mommy and daddy,” she cried. She was sitting huddled in the center of the bed, wiping at her eyes with both fists.

      Tess reached Molly’s side first and bent over to wrap an arm around her shoulders. But Molly pushed her arm away with a strength belying her delicate frame. “I want Nick,” she wailed, her voice pitching to near hysteria.

      Nick crawled up the bed from the end where he’d been standing and pulled Molly against him. Tess stood back, watching brother and sister in a scene that must have occurred many times since their parents’ death.

      “Shhh! It’s okay Molly. Just another bad dream. I’m here.”

      “Don’t leave me, Nick. Promise you won’t leave me,” she sobbed, tucking her head into the crook of his shoulder.

      He lowered his face to the top of her head and murmured, “I won’t leave you, I promise.”

      He was still comforting her, repeating those words over and over, when Tess left the room, softly closing the door behind them. She returned to the chair and sagged into it, covering her face with her hands. Thinking. Remembering again the day her father walked out, leaving her behind. Did she seriously think she could do the same?

      AS SOON as he walked in the door, Alec sensed that a change had taken place. He couldn’t put his finger on it, because everyone seemed just as subdued as they’d been when he’d left last night. Molly didn’t rush to greet him and Nick was blasé about the box СКАЧАТЬ