Читать книгу A Father For Poppy - Abigail Gordon, Abigail Gordon - Страница 9

AFTER THE LAST of the staff members had left Drake’s thoughts turned to food.

He was starving, and the thought of relaxing over a meal in a good restaurant in the town centre had no sooner surfaced than he was on his way there.

He had to pass a park on the way and happened to cast a glance at a certain bench that had memories of a time that was as clear in his mind now as it had been then. Did Tessa remember? he wondered. Did she think of it each time she passed this spot?

As he drove along a country lane not far from the hospital he unexpectedly found his curiosity satisfied about where she had moved to. It was in the porch of a cottage by the wayside that he saw Tessa, and he almost ran the hire car into the hedgerow in his surprise.

She was chatting to a guy of a similar age to himself and as he drove past Tessa reached out and hugged him to her. Drake’s first thought was that this had to be the man who had replaced him in her heart. His second thought, which took a while to summon up, was, So what? But at least he knew now where she was to be found out of working hours.

As for himself, he’d wandered into the house in the hospital grounds that she’d mentioned, after remembering the keys on his desk and the chairman’s note offering him the use of it, and thought it wasn’t his type of place. It was too drab and he thrived on light and colour. But he had already decided that its proximity to Horizons would be perfect in an emergency, so was going to take advantage of the offer. He’d look for something else when he had time.

The food was fine when he found a restaurant that was his type of place; it battened down his hunger with its goodness, but Drake hardly noticed it. He’d got the job of a lifetime back in his home town and a place to sleep that plenty would die for, yet he wasn’t happy.

It had been a mistake to come back to where he and Tessa had been so besotted with each other, so right for each other in every way. He’d had three years to realise in slow misery that he’d thrown away a precious thing without a second thought to satisfy his ambitions, and would have been even more selfish if he’d expected that time might have stood still where she was concerned.

She was just as beautiful now as she’d been then, but there was no warmth in her towards him, and as the night was young—it was barely seven o’clock—he decided to call on her on the drive back. If possible, he would wipe the slate clean by apologising for his past behaviour and assure her of his intention to stay clear, with the exception of their inevitable coming face to face sometimes in a professional capacity at Horizons.

When Tessa opened the door to him the shock of what he was seeing rendered him speechless. Standing behind her on the bottom step of the stairs and observing him unblinkingly was a small girl in a pretty flowered nightdress with hair dark as his own and big brown eyes.

‘Who is she?’ he questioned, standing transfixed in the doorway.

‘She’s my daughter,’ Tessa told him. ‘Her name is Poppy.’

‘How old is she?’ he asked hoarsely.

‘Three.’

There was a pause. ‘Is she mine too?’ he asked in barely a whisper as the colour drained from his face.

She shook her head and watched the dark hazel of his eyes become veiled. ‘Who is her father, then?’ he choked, as the small vision on the bottom step rubbed her eyes sleepily.

‘Poppy is my adopted daughter,’ she told him. ‘Her parents were killed in a car crash and we got to know each other when she was brought into Horizons with a bleed behind her eyes from the accident.

‘She was with us for quite some time and we became close. I used to sit beside her whenever I got a spare moment and take her a little surprise every day. In the end I applied to adopt her and was successful. So there you have it. No cause for alarm.’

Turning, she scooped Poppy up into her arms and held her close. As their glances met she told him, ‘Poppy has brought joy into my life.’

‘Yes, I’m sure that she must have,’ he said flatly, turning to go. But then thought that before he did he might as well ask another question that could have a body blow in the answer. ‘So is the guy I saw leaving earlier her new daddy?’

‘No, of course not,’ she replied, her voice rising at the question. ‘There are just the two of us and we’re loving it. The man you saw was the husband of my friend Lizzie who minds Poppy while I’m at work. When I picked her up this evening we left her doll behind, and he brought it, knowing that she would be upset without it.’

‘Ah, I see,’ he said, and added, with a last look at the child in her arms, ‘I’ll be off then, to let you get on with the bedtime routine and maybe see you somewhere on the job tomorrow.’

‘Yes, maybe,’ she replied.

She was relieved to see him go. Her heartbeat was thundering in her ears, her legs were weak with the shock of his surprise call, and she didn’t know how she was going to cope with having Drake so near yet so far away in everything else. He probably thought she was crazy to be taking on the role of mother to someone else’s child.

As he walked down the drive to his car she couldn’t let him go without asking, ‘Did you find somewhere to stay?’

He turned. ‘Er, yes. The keys for the mausoleum, along with a welcoming note to use it if I so wished, were waiting for me, and as it’s so near where I’m going to be working, and I didn’t feel like looking for anywhere else, I took advantage of the offer.’

‘You don’t sound too keen on the accommodation,’ she commented.

‘It’s a roof over my head, I suppose, but it’s rather dark and dreary. I’m more into light and colour, if you remember.’

She remembered, all right, remembered every single thing about him from the moment he’d knocked on her door early one morning until the day he’d packed his bags and left. But the memories had been battened down for the last three years and she wanted them to stay that way.

He had his hand on the car door and as he slid into the driving seat and waved goodbye, she carried a sleepy Poppy up to the pretty bedroom next to hers. Looking down at her, the feelings that being near him had brought back disappeared as her world righted itself again.

Tessa didn’t sleep much that night. She usually went to bed not long after Poppy to recharge her batteries for the next day, but not this time. Her moments of reassurance when Drake had gone and she’d carried Poppy up to bed hadn’t lasted.

She kept remembering how his face had changed colour from a healthy tan to a white mask of disbelief when he’d thought that Poppy was his, and when she’d told him that she wasn’t, she could tell that he’d thought she was crazy to adopt a child. Clearly nothing had changed with regard to what he saw as his priorities, and they obviously didn’t include parenthood.

Why did he have to come back into her life and disrupt her newfound contentment? she thought dismally as dawn began to filter across the sky.

In her role as health and safety manager Tessa went round the wards each week, chatting to patients at their bedsides about what they thought of the food, cleanliness and general arrangements of the famous hospital, taking note of any comments that were made. The morning after Drake’s surprise visit it was down as her first duty of the day.

As she made her way to the children’s ward, where it would be parents she was chatting to rather than the small patients, one of the nurses who had been there when Poppy had been admitted caught her up on the corridor and asked when she was going to bring her in to see them.

The plight of her small adopted daughter had pulled at all their heartstrings when she’d been admitted frightened and hurt after the car crash that had taken the lives of her parents. But Tessa had experienced a strong maternal feeling towards the little orphan that had made the promises she and Drake had made to each other seem selfish and immature.

At that time she’d had few expectations of ever seeing him again, but she’d been wrong and thought guiltily that she should be happy for the hospital’s sake that he had taken over, instead of complaining about the effect he was having on her life.

‘I’ll bring Poppy the first chance that comes along,’ she told her. ‘It is just that the days seem to fly.’

On the point of proceeding to wherever she was bound, the nurse said, ‘What about Drake Melford? Wow! If I wasn’t so fond of my Harry I’d be tempted. That man is every woman’s dream!’

He was certainly that, Tessa thought, and when she looked up the man himself was moving quickly along the corridor in their direction and the nurse made a swift departure.

She felt her shoulders tensing, but then reminded herself it was Drake the surgeon coming towards her, not the dream lover of the past, and with a brief ‘Hello, there,’ he was gone.

Drake had driven the short distance back to the hospital car park the night before in a state of amazement. The scene he’d just been confronted with at Tessa’s cottage had revealed that the person she’d moved house for was a parentless child, a small girl without a father. He could hardly get his head around what was certainly the last thing he’d expected to find on his return to Glenminster.

A husband and a child of her own wouldn’t have been too much of a surprise, but the dark-haired little tot at the bottom of the stairs had been nothing less than a shock to his system, and after seeing Tessa in the corridor just now, he had to admit that he was still reeling.

She had done the rounds of patient appraisals and been closeted with the laundry manageress for the rest of the morning. Then, after a bite of lunch, she’d spent the rest of the day in her office, dealing with the demands of the busy eye hospital, and it wasn’t until Tessa was leaving at the end of the day to go to collect Poppy that she saw Drake again on his way to Theatre. He nodded briefly in her direction, but instead of accepting thankfully that it was a sign he was keeping the low profile that she wanted from him, Tessa was filled with sudden melancholy.

It came from the memory of strong passions and their fulfilment in a relationship that for her had been transformed into a love that was strong and abiding, and not according to the promises they’d made to each other when they’d first met. If she’d told Drake back then how she’d felt he would have seen it as not keeping to her part of the pact they’d made and so she’d stayed silent.

And now when he had finished for the day, whenever that might be, he would be alone in the huge house that he had reluctantly opted for, while she would be alone in her living room, Poppy asleep upstairs. It was a matter of minutes between their respective homes, but an unimaginable distance in every way that mattered.

Why couldn’t he have stayed away, she thought anxiously as she set off to Lizzie’s, instead of coming back to awaken memories from the past that she’d finally been able to put aside because her life had been made liveable again since she’d adopted her precious child.

She’d seen his expression when she’d explained who Poppy was, as he’d observed her at the bottom of the stairs, and he’d actually gone pale.

Yet there was no one better than Drake for bringing a smile to the face of a frightened young patient in the children’s clinic, having them laugh instead of cry while he was making a shrewd assessment of their problems.

They’d been in a similar professional situation when they’d first met. He’d been on the staff of a less famous place than Horizons but had been moving up the ladder fast, already a name that was well known in the profession, and she’d been employed as a mid-level manager where she was now, which had brought her into his line of vision when he’d been the speaker at Horizons that night.

His had been a personality that had drawn her to him like a magnet. From the moment of their meeting she had been enraptured, and, being just as much a free spirit as he was, had thought that the pact they had made would survive any hazards or setbacks.

But lurking in the background had been his ambition, his determination to be at the top of his profession, and he’d gone and left her to pick up the pieces, taking her silence on the matter as her acceptance of the open-ended arrangement they’d agreed on.

Tessa had been thankful they hadn舗t lived together, had each kept their own space, that there had at least been one aspect of his going that she hadn舗t been left to face.

As days had turned to weeks and weeks to months she had felt only half-alive until Poppy had become part of her life and her own unhappiness had seemed as nothing compared to what had happened to the little orphaned girl.

When she arrived at Lizzie and Daniel舗s to collect her after each working day, she felt joy untold to hold her close and know that she was hers.

‘So how has another day with Drake around the place gone?’ Lizzie questioned when she arrived.

Her friend had been there for her during the long months after his departure, and knowing how much Tessa had been hurting, she had admired her when she’d adopted the small girl that she was holding close.

‘Not bad’ was the reply. ‘I’ve seen him briefly a couple of times but not to talk, so I guess he’s getting the message.’

‘And are we sure that it is the right one?’ Lizzie questioned, raising an eyebrow.

‘Yes,’ she was told firmly.

‘Good for you, then. He hasn’t brought anyone with him … maybe a wife or fiancée?’

‘It would appear not,’ Tessa told her, and went on to say, ‘I haven’t told you, have I, that when Drake called last night and saw Poppy, he asked if she was his. Something that would never have been on his agenda, and he seemed quite overcome with relief to be off the hook when I explained that she wasn’t.’

‘So nothing changes, then?’

‘No, it would seem not. And now that he’s taken over at Horizons I’m just grateful that I’m not on the wards or in Theatre. With my job our paths won’t cross that much.’ She smiled and took a breath. ‘He’s living in the big house in the hospital grounds at present and not liking it all that much, which I can believe. He is too much of a socialising sort of person to enjoy living on his own in that sort of place, but once he gets into his stride we shall be seeing the real Drake Melford.’

Later that evening, sitting alone in the cottage garden with Poppy fast asleep upstairs, Tessa was watching the sun set over the hills that surrounded the town in a circle of fresh greenery and letting her mind go back to that other time when its golden rays had embraced her and Drake on their last night together.

She’d vowed then that never again would she leave herself open and vulnerable to that sort of pain and loss, and had kept to it, relying on a polite but firm refusal when other men had sought her company.

There had been no expectation in her to hear from Drake again so she hadn’t been disappointed. But a part of her was still hurt that he hadn’t even dropped her a quick line to let her know how the new job was going, if nothing else.

Then out of darkness had come light. Poppy had come into her life and she’d begun to live and love again, and nothing was going to interfere with that, she vowed as the sun began to sink beneath the horizon.

On Saturdays she took Poppy to see her maternal grandfather in the town centre. Tessa had met him at her bedside when the little girl had been brought into Horizons after the accident, and had been aware of his frustration at the thought of his granddaughter being taken into care because he was too old to look after her.

When Randolph Simmonds had heard some time later that the smiley blonde hospital manager loved Poppy and wanted to adopt her, he had been overjoyed and looked forward to their weekly visits.

He had an apartment in a Regency terrace overlooking one of the parks not far away from the town’s famous shopping promenades, and always on Saturdays insisted on taking them out for lunch and afterwards driving them up into the hills, where pretty villages were dotted amongst the green slopes.

Randolph was due for eye treatment soon in Horizons and his first question when they arrived on the Saturday was whether the new fellow had arrived yet, as he wanted Drake Melford to be in charge of any surgery that might be necessary.

‘Yes,’ Tessa told him. ‘He has been with us a week, but, Randolph, you need to be on his waiting lists, or do you have an appointment to see him privately? Drake is extremely busy.’

‘Oh, so it’s Drake, is it?’ he said, twinkling across at her. ‘You’re on first-name terms?’

‘I knew him way back before he was so much in demand, though he was already making a name for himself,’ she explained flatly. ‘I hadn’t seen him for quite some time until the other day.’ Then she steered the conversation on to a different topic. ‘Do you want me to sort out an appointment for you privately? Or you can see him through your optician or GP, if they think it is necessary.’

‘You could make me a private appointment if you would,’ he said immediately. ‘I’m getting too old to be shuffling around waiting rooms and clinics.’ With his glance on Poppy, who had gone out into the garden to play, he asked, ‘How is the little one? Does she still cry for them in her sleep?’

‘Not so much,’ she told him. ‘I’ve taught Poppy to call me “Mummy Two” so that your daughter isn’t forgotten, and she seems happy with that.’

‘And maybe one day there might be a “Daddy Two”, do you think?’ he questioned.

‘There might, but don’t bank on it,’ she told him. ‘The three of us are happy as we are, aren’t we?’

He sighed. ‘Yes, you were heaven-sent, Tessa.’

When they went for lunch to Randolph’s favourite restaurant Tessa was dismayed to see Drake seated at one of the tables. But, she thought, having already promised to speak to him on Randolph’s behalf, and not looking forward to any kind of one-to-one discussions with him, it seemed an ideal opportunity to put forward the old man’s request.

‘Isn’t that the man himself?’ Randolph exclaimed. ‘I saw his picture in one of the local papers.’

‘Yes, that’s him. I’ll introduce you while he’s waiting to be served and you could mention an appointment now if you like,’ she said, as they approached his table.

‘Yes, why not?’ he agreed.

Drake had seen them. He rose to his feet as they drew near and Tessa saw that his glance was on Poppy, who was holding onto her grandfather’s hand and looking around her.

‘This is a surprise, Tessa. I wasn’t expecting to see you here,’ he said, with a questioning smile in Randolph’s direction.

She ignored the remark and changed the subject by saying, ‘Can I introduce Randolph Simmonds, Poppy’s grandfather?’

As they shook hands the old man said, ‘We have just been discussing my need for a private appointment with you, sir, which Tessa was going to organise, and here you are.’

It was a table for four and Drake pointed to the three empty seats and said, ‘Why don’t you join me for lunch and tell me what it is that you want of me.’ Beckoning a nearby member of staff, he asked them to bring a child’s chair for Poppy.

Tessa felt her heartbeat quicken. This wasn’t what she’d expected, but there was nothing she could do about it now, and while Poppy’s grandfather was engaged in explaining his eye problems to Drake she talked to Poppy and pretended that she wasn’t shaking inside.

Until Drake’s voice said from across the table, ‘I’ve just been explaining to Mr Simmonds that I’m going to do as my predecessor did before me and use the same facilities that he had put in place for his private practice in the big house in the grounds. So, yes, I will ask my secretary to get in touch with him first thing on Monday morning, if that will be satisfactory.’

This is ludicrous, he was thinking. Across the table from him was the woman he’d once romanced and made love to in a torrent of desire and had had it returned in full, and they were behaving like strangers. But he’d forfeited the right to anything else and was now paying the price. It was hellish, making polite conversation when he’d adored every inch of her way back in what seemed like another life.

Fresh menus were being brought to the table for the extra diners and as Tessa gazed at the selection of foods available the print blurred before her eyes.

She would have the fish with the creamed potatoes and fresh vegetables, she told them when they came for her order, with a child’s portion for her daughter.

Once they had eaten they would go their separate ways, and this would all be over. But soon it seemed that, like everyone else who met Drake, the old man had fallen under his spell and wanted to chat.

Yet Randolph had no problems about them moving on when she made the suggestion at the end of the meal, but to Tessa’s dismay Poppy had. She had wriggled down off her chair and gone round to the other side of the table, and climbing up onto Drake’s knee was sitting there, sucking her thumb. After a moment of complete astonishment on his part, his arms closed around her.

This is madness, Tessa thought wildly. Not only was Randolph impressed by Drake’s easy charm, but her beautiful Poppy must be seeing in him something she hadn’t seen in any other man since she’d lost her father. It had to be him of all people, him, for whom babies and mortgages were no-go areas.

Drake was reading her mind as clearly as if she was speaking her thoughts, and putting Poppy gently back onto her feet he led her back to where Tessa was sitting and said softly, ‘Yours, I think.’

‘You think correctly,’ she told him levelly, ‘and now, if you will excuse us, Poppy’s grandfather always takes us up into the hills when we’ve had lunch, don’t you, Randolph?’

‘Er, yes,’ he replied uncomfortably, and turned to their host. ‘It has been good to meet you, Mr Melford. Maybe next Saturday we could take you for a meal, if you aren’t too busy.’

Tessa noted that he didn’t say either yes or no, just smiled, and she thought, Please, let it be a no when next I see him.

When they were clear of the restaurant Randolph asked curiously ‘So what is it with you and the man back there, Tessa? What have you got against him? I thought he was most pleasant. We butted into his mealtime with our requests and interruptions and he never batted an eyelid.’ He looked down at Poppy’s dark curls. ‘Whatever you might think of him, our young miss took to him like a duck to water.’

‘Yes,’ she admitted. ‘I saw that. It is just that Drake and I had a misunderstanding a few years ago.’

‘And you still bear a grudge?’

Not a grudge, she thought. It was scars that she carried, mental and physical ones, but she wasn’t going to tell Randolph that, so she just let a shrug of the shoulders be the answer to that question, and he let the matter drop.

Randolph was very fond of both Poppy and Tessa, whose loving role of a second mother to his granddaughter took away some of the dreadful feeling of loss that he had to live with, and no way did he like to see her unhappy in any way.

But as he drove the last stretch homewards he was reminding himself that all he knew of her was what he saw now, in her early thirties and beautiful. There had to have been men in her life previously, if not at the present time, and it seemed that Drake Melford might have been one of them, though clearly not any more.

When the little family had left the restaurant after the uncomfortable moments when Poppy had been drawn to him, Drake sat deep in thought. It had been a mistake to come back to where his roots were, and where he’d had the mad fling with Tessa. Yet what was it he’d been expecting when he did? That nothing would have changed and Tessa would be waiting, patient and adoring, after the abrupt way their affair had ended?