Fairytale With The Single Dad. Alison Roberts

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      Nathan had driven round to Paul and Helen’s to check up on them after the accident. They lived on the outskirts of Silverdale and were pretty easy to locate, and he pulled into their driveway feeling optimistic about what he would find. Helen had been released from hospital a while ago and he only needed to remove Paul’s stitches from the head laceration.

      As he drove in he saw the horse grazing in a field, a blanket wrapped around its body, and smiled. They’d all been very lucky to escape as easily as they had. The accident could have been a lot worse.

      But as he pulled up to the house, he spotted another vehicle.

      Sydney’s.

      Why was she here? To check on the horse? It had to be that. It was odd that she was here at the exact same time as him, though.

      Just lately she’d been in his thoughts a lot. The universe seemed to be conspiring to throw the two of them together, and whilst he didn’t mind that part—she was, after all, a beautiful woman—she did tend to remind him of all his faults and of how he could never be enough for her.

      His confidence had taken a knock after Gwyneth’s departure. Okay, they’d only been staying in their struggling relationship because she’d learnt she was expecting a baby and Nathan had wanted to be there for her. He’d always had his doubts, and she’d been incredibly high-maintenance, but he’d honestly believed she might change the closer she got to delivering. That they both would.

      She hadn’t. It had still been, Me, me, me!

      ‘Look at all the weight I’m putting on!’

      ‘This pregnancy’s giving me acne!’

      ‘I’m getting varicose veins!’

      ‘You do realise after the birth I’m going straight back to work?’

      Nathan had reassured her. Had promised her it would be amazing. But it had been his dream. Not hers.

      It had only been when she’d left him for someone else that he’d realised how much relief he felt. It had stung that she’d left him for someone better. Someone unencumbered by ill health. Someone rich, who could give her the lifestyle she craved. But he’d felt more sorry for his baby girl, who would grow up with a mother who only had enough love for herself.

      In the weeks afterwards, when he’d spent hours walking his baby daughter up and down as he tried to get her off to sleep, he’d begun to see how one-sided their relationship had always been.

      Gwyneth had always been about appearances. Worrying about whether her hair extensions were the best. Whether her nails needed redoing. How much weight she was carrying. Whether she was getting promoted above someone else. She’d been a social climber—a girl who had been given everything she’d ever wanted by her parents and had come to expect the same in adulthood.

      He’d fallen for her glamorous looks and the fact that in the beginning she’d seemed really sweet. But it had all been a snare. A trap. And he’d only begun to see the real Gwyneth when he’d got his diagnosis. Multiple sclerosis had scared her. The idea that she might become nursemaid to a man who wasn’t strong, the way she’d pictured him, had terrified her.

      When Nathan had discovered his illness, and Gwyneth had learned that their perfect life was not so perfect after all, her outlook had changed and she’d said some pretty harsh things. Things he’d taken to heart. That he’d believed.

      He didn’t want to burden Sydney with any of that.

      She’d looked after his daughter for a few hours, she’d looked after and cured their rabbit, she was kind and strong…

      She’s the sort of woman I would go out with if I could…

      But he couldn’t.

      She’d lost her only daughter. And where was the child’s father? From what he’d heard around the village, the father had left them just a couple of months after Olivia had passed away. Shocking them all.

      It seemed the whole village had thought the Harpers were strong enough to get through anything. But of course no one could know how such a tragic death would affect them.

      Hadn’t Sydney been through enough? He had a positive mind-set—even if he did sometimes take the things that Gwyneth had yelled at him to heart. He tried to remain upbeat. But just sometimes his mind would play tricks with him and say, Yeah, but what if she was right?

      Besides, he wasn’t sure he could trust his own judgement about those kinds of things any more. Affairs of the heart. He’d felt so sure about Gwyneth once! In the beginning, anyway. And he’d wanted to do everything for her and the baby. Had wanted the family life that had been right there in front of him. Ready and waiting.

      How wrong could he have been?

      He’d been floored when she’d left. She’d been high-maintenance, but not once had he suspected that she would react that way to his diagnosis. To having a baby, even. She’d been horrified at what her life had become and had been desperate to escape the drudgery she’d foreseen.

      And Nathan had known Gwyneth. Or thought he had.

      He didn’t know Sydney. СКАЧАТЬ