Captivated By The Single Dad. Barbara Hannay

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       CHAPTER TWO

      AS THE taxi pulled into the kerb on West 69th Street Gray Kidman was thinking about the first time he’d arrived at this red-brick apartment block. He’d been a bridegroom then, fired with love and certainty and hope, with no premonition of the heartache that lay ahead of him.

      This time he knew what he was in for, knew the challenges and the very real chances for failure. Right now, as he stepped onto the pavement and looked up to the level where his children were waiting, his stomach felt like a jar full of jumping grasshoppers.

      His hand was actually shaking as he pressed the security buzzer.

      The children answered immediately.

      ‘Daddy!’

      ‘Hi, Dad.’

      Gray closed his eyes, momentarily stunned by the emotion his children’s voices aroused. For three long months he’d been waiting for this. First, the wet season floods had held him up, then a broken ankle after a desperate attempt to cross a raging creek. Now, at last, he dipped his head to the speaker phone. ‘G’day, scallywags.’

      Anna squealed, ‘I’ll press the button to let you in.’

      ‘I’ve already pressed it,’ shouted Josh, full of self-importance and equally excited.

      A wry smile tilted Gray’s mouth and the glass doors slid open, allowing him access to the apartment block’s foyer. He hefted his duffel bag over one shoulder and strode with only the slightest hint of a limp across the blue-tiled floor. As he pressed the lift button, he reminded himself that he must remember to call this an elevator now. His kids would be quick to correct him.

      His kids…

      His stomach jumped like crazy.

      Taking sole charge of Anna and Josh was a huge task, probably the toughest challenge he’d ever faced. He wanted the very best for them. If it was in his power, he’d give his children the perfect foundation for their lives—a safe and comfortable home, a loving family network, and the best possible education.

      The irony was that they had all of the above right here in New York City. This apartment block was secure and modern. His ex-wife’s teacher cousin was a first-rate nanny, and the children’s doting grandparents were nearby. The school they attended had won all kinds of awards for educational excellence.

      Although it had nearly killed Gray to let his wife walk away from his Outback cattle property, taking their children with her, he’d been forced to accept that Anna and Josh were better off here in New York than in his home in one of the remotest corners of Australia.

      He hadn’t given in without a fight but, despite his heartbreak, he’d eventually let his family go.

      Yet, tragically, here he was, reclaiming his children and taking them halfway across the world to the very situation their mother had fled from.

      Gray had no other option. Running a cattle station was his only income-earning skill. Jabiru Creek Station was the best he had to offer. It was all he had to offer.

      He was very afraid it wasn’t enough.

      The elevator arrived and shot him quickly to the third floor, and when the doors slid open his children were waiting for him.

      ‘Daddy!’ Anna launched herself, like a small torpedo, straight into Gray’s arms.

      He let his duffel bag slip to the floor and lifted her high and she clasped him tightly around his neck.

      ‘Daddy! My daddy!’ She buried her face into his shoulder and her silky fair hair smelled wonderfully of flowers.

      ‘Hey, Dad.’ Josh was standing close, looking up expectantly.

      Crouching, Gray juggled Anna onto one knee and hugged his son. What a fine little fellow Josh was. Gray had been moved to tears when he’d heard that his small son had been brave and quick-thinking when his mother collapsed at home, rushing to dial Emergency.

      Now…how good it was to embrace them both. At last.

      They seemed fine. Gray had been worried he’d find them pale and pining, but they looked happy and healthy and bursting with energy. It was such a relief.

      ‘That’s some welcome,’ a voice said and he looked up to see a young woman with dark hair and dark shiny eyes standing in the apartment’s open doorway.

      Holly O’Mara, Chelsea’s young cousin. Gray sent her a smile that felt crooked with emotion. He winced at the twinge in his ankle when he stood once more.

      ‘Holly,’ he said, holding out his hand.

      ‘It’s good to see you, Gray.’

      He didn’t know this young woman very well. On the rare occasions they’d met at family gatherings, Holly had always been shy, keeping well in the background, as if she preferred her own company, so he’d never gone out of his way to chat with her. Besides, she was training to be an English teacher, which meant she was as well educated and cultured as his former wife, another woman destined to remind him of his inadequacies.

      But he couldn’t deny he owed her a great deal. She’d been sole carer of his children for three long, difficult months.

      With the twins skipping at his heels, he followed Holly inside the apartment. It was then, without warning, that he was sideswiped by a new emotion—the realisation that his beautiful bride was gone for ever.

      It was crazy to feel like this now. Truth was, Gray had already lost Chelsea three years ago when she left him. He’d done his grieving then, and in time he’d moved on, eventually finding comfort in a healthy cynicism for the married state.

      Now, suddenly, the finality of her passing hit him like a physical blow. A sense of loss descended like black, suffocating cloud.

      Don’t break down. Not now. Not in front of the children.

      He heard Holly say gently, ‘You’ve had a long journey. Why don’t you go through to the living room? Take the weight off. I have coffee brewing.’

      Gray was grateful for the normality and everyday ease of her welcome. ‘Thanks,’ he said. ‘Thanks for everything, Holly.’

      Their gazes СКАЧАТЬ