The Beautiful Widow - By Helen Brooks Page 0,51
one night when we were having a fight about how little he was at home. He—he called them parasites.’
‘Hell.’ Steel jerked against her.
‘It was a couple of months before he died, and from that night I knew our marriage was over. But there were the girls and he was their father … I didn’t know what to do.’
‘It’s OK.’ His arms tightened still more and she felt his lips against her forehead.
‘They are my beautiful, precious girls, Steel, and he spoke about them as though …’ She dragged in a breath. ‘I could have killed him that night. If I’d had a weapon in my hands I would have used it.’
He moved her slightly, cupping her face in his hand, his thumb stroking the pure line of her silky cheek. ‘Broken kneecap job at the very least, I’d say.’
She gave a damp smile. ‘I’m sorry, you don’t want to hear this now, not when you’re so pleased about Annie.’
He ignored this. ‘How come you’re not still hating the guy?’ he asked quietly. ‘Because you don’t hate him, do you?’
‘I did for a while, even after he’d died. And then one day I realised he was the one who had missed out. The girls had done or said something, I can’t even remember what now, and it dawned on me I meant the world to them. For every little bit of love I gave them I got it back tenfold, and Richard had never, would never, experience that. They didn’t miss him—in fact they barely noticed he’d gone. And that was terribly sad. He was a stranger to them, a distant cold stranger who had as little impact on their lives as the man in the moon. It—it made me all the more determined to make sure no one would ever let them down again. They deserve the best.’
‘Hence the repelling of all boarders on the good ship, Toni George?’ The words could have been taken as light; the way he was looking at her was anything but.
‘I guess.’ She smiled wanly. ‘Yes.’
He stroked the tears from her face with large male hands. ‘You’re some woman.’ He pulled her into him again, his voice a rumble above her head as he said, ‘We came across each other too soon, didn’t we? You’d barely had time to come to terms with the fact you were free and then I was there.’
His insight surprised her. But it was true. And then she wondered if his words were a form of farewell. She couldn’t blame him if he was backing off so soon; he could have any woman he wanted. Why would he put his hand up for getting involved with someone who was little more than a nutcase?
‘You mentioned coffee?’ He placed his palms along either side of her face. ‘And if there’s any toast to go with that I wouldn’t say no. I’m absolutely starving.’
She had just prepared a pot of coffee and a plate of buttered toast when little footsteps alerted her to the fact the twins were up and about. Sure enough a few moments later two small figures clad in teddy-bear pyjamas appeared in the kitchen doorway and huge brown eyes stared questioningly.
‘Well, hello.’ Steel smiled at the two little girls who had hesitated on the threshold, clearly unsure of their welcome once they saw him. ‘I’ve just called to show your mummy a picture of my niece who was born this morning. Would you like to see it too?’ he added as he fetched a camera from his coat pocket. ‘She’s only an hour or two old—how about that?’
They sidled over to him, Amelia leading the way as normal, and stared wide-eyed at the pictures he showed them.
‘She’s very tiny.’ Amelia studied the camera with intense concentration. ‘And her face is all screwed up.’
‘And she hasn’t got any hair,’ Daisy put in. ‘Not even a bit.’
‘Not yet, but that will come.’ Steel smiled at the girls. ‘One day she’ll be as pretty as you.’
The twins looked doubtful. ‘Has she got a mummy and a daddy?’ Amelia asked after a moment or two.
Steel nodded. ‘A very nice mummy and daddy.’
‘We’ve just got a mummy,’ Daisy informed him. ‘Our daddy’s in heaven and he’s not coming back.’
Toni had just browned some more toast and now she froze, not knowing what to say to help Steel.
‘I think your mummy’s terrific,’ Steel said quietly, ‘better than any other mummy I know, which makes you very lucky, and I think she’s probably got