him. All those years apart with no contact, had Emma been raising his child? How could this have happened? Had he hurt her that much? She didn’t even have the whole of the story. She only knew what she saw… what she thought she saw. If she’d really loved him she should have waited for an explanation. An explanation she should have known would have come. He had been in a dire situation. A dire, disgusting, situation he still had nightmares about. What had happened that day had cost him Emma.
He wiped at his eyes with his fingers and thought about Luc. If this was all true then Luc would have been an uncle.
Chapter Nine
August 2005
‘Dad, would you mind if we didn’t go to Nice today?’ Emma asked.
It was almost ten. She had helped him cook blackened scrambled eggs on the camping stove and now she was watching him collect the plates and burned saucepan to take to the washing up area.
‘Oh, love, I thought we had it all planned. You, me, yacht-gazing, boutique-shopping and baguette-munching,’ Mike said. He looked over at her as he gathered up the utensils.
‘I know but I want you to enter the darts competition. You missed the one last week and there isn’t one the next. You should enter,’ Emma told him.
She had been planning this speech since last night when Guy had kissed her.
After their smooch to Roxette, she had left the dance floor lightheaded, her heart fit to explode. She had sought refuge in the toilets to get her breath back. Guy, the campsite pin-up, the boy everyone wanted to get close to had danced with her. That was one in the eye for Tasha and Melody. They’d been green enough to rival the Incredible Hulk.
When she’d emerged, lip-glossed and breathing more stably, he’d been stood in the shadows, waiting for her.
‘There’ll be other darts competitions. There’s the big one at the social club when we get home,’ Mike told her.
She hadn’t expected so much resistance. Her dad loved darts. It was the only hobby he’d kept up through her mum’s illness. He’d escaped the awfulness of it by visiting the social club for a couple of hours on a Friday night while Emma sat with her mum. At least that was where he said he was.
‘I want you to do it, Dad. For me… and for Mum,’ Emma said.
‘Your mum hated darts,’ Mike reminded. The beginnings of a smile played on his lips.
‘Yes, but she knew you loved it and she loved you. Anyway, I’ve got plans. I’m going to finish The Canterbury Tales and make a start on the notes before the Sumo competition this afternoon,’ Emma informed.
‘Sumo competition?’
‘Daft people in fat suits. It sounds fun,’ Emma said. She squinted her eyes as Mike moved and gone was her barrier from the sun.
‘Are you sure, love? I know I said you should hit the books so you don’t get behind but…’ Mike started.
‘I’m sure, Dad, honestly,’ she insisted.
Guy was meeting her in less than an hour and she needed her dad gone before then. She was sick with excitement. It was a date, a proper date. And last night she had experienced a kiss like no other. Ally would be unimpressed, but for Emma it was a milestone. The first boy she had wanted to kiss her, had kissed her.
He’d even been tentative about it. He’d held her hand first and stroked it with his long, tanned fingers. Then he’d entwined their hands and held them so firmly.
‘Tell me you do not leave for a long time,’ he’d whispered in her ear. ‘Two and a half weeks,’ she had replied.
And that’s when it happened. He had looked at her, with those jade-coloured eyes and slowly, almost teasingly, lowered his dark head towards hers.
‘Well, I’d better get on with this washing up then,’ Mike said, picking up the tea-towel and washing-up liquid.
‘Oh no, Dad, I’ll do it. You should be practising. Limbering up for the games,’ Emma told him. She stood up and grabbed the dishes from him.
‘Are you sure you wouldn’t rather go to Nice?’ Mike checked, looking at his daughter with slight suspicion.
‘Maybe we could go next week, plan it properly,’ Emma suggested, clutching the plastic plates closer to her.
‘OK, well, if you’re sure. I’d better change my shirt and find those darts,’ Mike said eagerly.
He’d finally left for the clubhouse forty-three minutes later and all Emma had managed to do before Guy arrived was run a brush through her