Happy Mother's Day! - By Sharon Kendrick Page 0,167

pink, but there was definite attitude behind that smile. The attitude was definitely not James and she wondered if he had inherited that along with his brown eyes from his mother.

‘Do you want to see my room now?’ Kane asked and, buoyed by the hope radiating from within her, Siena actually said yes.

Kane grabbed a rolled up sausage in bread for himself, took a hold of her right hand in his sticky one and dragged her upstairs.

Halfway up the stairs Siena’s confidence failed her as memories swarmed in. Okay, so the demon she’d thought she’d kicked had been bruised, but it was still alive and kicking. She paid close attention to the differences since the last time she had been upstairs several years before.

The stairs had been carpeted in her time; now they were polished wood. The stair rail had been replaced, the polish and grain reminding her of the work in James’s workshop. She let her left hand trail along the wood, feeling the craftsmanship, imagining James putting long hours into the piece to make sure the quality was up to his exacting standards.

But, even with James’s stamp all over it, it was still the same staircase. She could have traversed the walk with her eyes closed.

The hairs on the back of Siena’s neck stood on end as she prepared herself to face the whisper of old ghosts she had been running from for years. The fights with her brother after her many teenage tantrums, the accusations that her behaviour was putting undue stress on her father’s poor heart, the day her father died.

Kane turned left at the top of the stairs. Some of the anxiety subsided as she saw that Rick’s room had been turned into a kind of games area for Kane. She’d have to tell him that, to be sure.

Kane continued dragging her into what had once been her old room. Her pink floral wallpaper, white lace curtains and posters of Nirvana and Pearl Jam had been replaced by plain yellow walls, heavy white curtains and Kane’s favourite toys, including a football signed by the North Queensland Cowboys. But even as Kane pointed out his computer, his stereo and other prized possessions, Siena’s eyes kept flickering to the half-open door at the other end of the hall.

The master bedroom.

No doubt now James’s bedroom.

Her dad’s old bedroom …

She hadn’t meant to be home.

She had gone AWOL from school. It had been swimming that day and she had forgotten her togs, so rather than get in trouble she had forged a sick note from her dad and had played truant.

After a day spent at the local video game arcade, she had bought herself an ice-block with her bus money and had spent an hour walking home.

She’d let herself in just before one o’clock, She’d clomped up the stairs and headed into her dad’s room looking for any spare change he might have left on his chest of drawers.

And she had found him there, on his bed, not breathing.

Her mouth suddenly went dry. And it was only when Kane called out to her that she realised she was at the end of the hall with her hand on the doorknob.

‘Siena!’ James called out when he and Matt made it back into the kitchen. His voice grew more insistent when there was no response, ‘Kane?’

‘You check upstairs and I’ll check out front,’ Matt suggested.

James took the stairs two at a time, hoping against hope he would find both of them there, though considering the way Siena had looked upon Kane like an alien the last time they had been together he wasn’t all that hopeful.

Buying a new toy for Kane or teaching him a new trick each time she came over wouldn’t endear Kane to her for ever. And he wasn’t entirely sure she had a clue of any other way to make a connection with him. But he wanted her to know he was more than willing to help her if she was willing to learn.

But was he only being selfish? Following his own desires with such blind abandon and not thinking through Kane’s wishes and welfare?

Or did Kane long for a new mother as James longed for Siena? With a blind reaching hope that one day it would all work out for him?

Please don’t be gone, he thought, please don’t be gone. If she’d done a runner … He didn’t even want to go there.

He slowed when he heard a murmur of voices coming from inside his bedroom