“I’ll speak to the principal when we get back,” I tell her as I sit on the bed and put on my shoes.“No,” Regina’s eyes widen. “You can’t!”“Why not? They’re not going to stop until they’re told to.”“They’ve talked to them before, and they haven’t stopped. It’s just getting worse.” Regina says and bites her lip. “I’m trying to ignore them, but it’s not easy.”I hate feeling helpless, and knowing my daughter isn’t happy at school hurts me. I could pull her out and take her elsewhere, but that feels extreme. Right now, I can only report it and hope that works.I will never understand the mean kids at school and why they are cruel to others.“Okay, fine. I’ll leave it alone. For now.” I stand up. “Are you ready to go?”“Yes. I’m starving.” Regina winces and presses a hand to her stomach. “But then I think about what those girls said…”“Ignore them. They are not worth your time and energy. If you’re hungry, don’t you dare starve yourself. You’ll do yourself more damage in the future.”Re
Turning away quickly, I hurry after Caleb and Regina. I can’t be caught staring at her like that. It will make me look like an idiot.But even as I sit with my daughter and pick up the menu, I can’t help but look over at her table. She’s not looking at me, but I can see her clearly. She seems more relaxed now as if she’s forgotten about me.Somehow, I don’t want her to forget me.Lucia“Cheers!”Aliyah declares as we clink glasses. “Happy birthday to me!”I mumble in response and sip my drink. It’s already my third lemonade and lime, and I feel it going to my bladder. I’m going to need to take a bathroom break soon. At least that will soothe my ears with the pulsating beat pumping in my head. I have no idea why the bar has to have the music up this loud.“How are you feeling, Lucia?” Aliyah asks as she leans towards me, her voice loud over the noise. “Are you still sore from earlier?”“A little bit. I’m probably going to be worse tomorrow.” I shrug. “Nothing I can’t handle. I’ve had wo
Making up my mind mostly for my throbbing head, I pick up my purse and leave the bathroom, only to almost run into a solid wall. Hands grasp my arms as I wobble, and my leg nearly gives way.“I’m sorry, I….” Then I see who is holding me, and my heart sinks. “Nathan?”“Hey, Lucia.” Nathan gives me the crooked smile he usually gives me when trying to turn the charm on. “I thought you were going to take forever in there.”What the hell is he doing here? I thought his invitation had been revoked after what he did. Aliyah said that she had done that. I push his hands off me.“What are you doing here?” I demand. “I thought you were told not to come anymore.”“Aliyah said that’s what you wanted, but she wanted me to come, so I was never uninvited.”“What?”“She said this would be a good time for you and me to talk now that you’ve calmed down.” Nathan shrugs. “And I see her logic.”I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Is he saying that Aliyah isn’t on my side? Did she arrange this? Part of me wa
MichealWith Regina on her iPad and doing her own thing, I thought it would be a good idea to have some time to myself. The bar, though, is really loud. Either someone is having a party, or the staff has turned on the music to keep everyone else entertained. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea.I am about to leave, not wanting to blast my ears out with that noise, when I see the woman from earlier in the hall ahead of me. She’s with a young man near her age with blond hair who looks like he lifts weights for a living. He’s trying to talk to her, but she’s clearly furious. Her body language says she wants to be away from him.What’s going on? Is she having a drunken argument? I should leave them to it, but I find myself approaching them. If she’s drunk and this guy is harassing her…The relief in her eyes is palpable as she looks at me.“Everything’s fine,” she said stiffly. “Nathan was just going back to the party.”“I’m not going anywhere,” the guy says defiantly. “We need to talk, and
“She’s your responsibility. I could’ve been seriously hurt if I'd been traveling faster.”“I don’t think so.”“So you’re a doctor now? At least accept that you should have been paying more attention yourself. Otherwise, I might have been hurt. You’d certainly get a bill for my medical treatment if I hadn’t come away with just bruises.”She knows how to fight back with fire, although the wavering behind her expression tells me she doesn’t like doing it. I find that surprisingly cute. Something is really wrong with me.I just glare back at her, which is better than reaching for her and having her slap me as she did with her ex.“I’m sure we would find out who was at fault. You can’t blame a child for a mistake.”“I’m not blaming a child. I’m blaming you. Call yourself a parent? At least she seems like a decent kid. Hopefully, she gets that from her mom and not you.”She might as well have slapped me. I feel the anger build rapidly.“Her mother is dead,” I snarl. “And I would rather you
Aliyah looks uncomfortable as she sips her drink.“Nathan really regrets what he did. I believe him. He’s a genuine person,Lucia, and I know he means it.”“If he’s genuine, he wouldn’t have cheated on me!” I snap back. I gulp my milk and put the glass down with a thud on the table. “I can’t believe you condone cheating.”“I don’t!”“Then why did you do this? I told Nathan no, and he’s being as stubborn as a mule. If you want me to disrespect myself and get back with him, carry on as you want. Just don’t expect me to be at the end of the phone if you need any help from me from now on.”“What?”I don’t answer, storming out of the dining room. I don’t want to speak longer than I have to when I’m sure Nathan might turn up and I get cornered by both of them. That is a scene I don’t want to have in front of everyone. This is too embarrassing.Especially after it happened in front of that grumpy but strikingly handsome dad whom I’ve had the misfortune to encounter hot as he is, I know he’s f
“Yes.” Regina swallows. “My snowboard swerved when I tried a turn, and I fell. I felt a crack and the pain…it’s fucking awful…shit, I…I’m sorry…” she grimaces. “I shouldn’t be cursing.”“Given what you’ve done, I think you can be let off.” I open the kit. “You might have broken something, so we will keep you still. I’ll try to keep you warm and call for help.”“You have a phone? Dad says he doesn’t want me taking it up on the slopes in case it gets broken.”“Then just get a normal phone that isn’t as expensive and enough call card in case this happens. That’s what I do.” I bring out the foil blanket and shake it out. “Just like I always have my first aid kit with me. You never know what’s going to happen.”Regina looks bemused.“You do this a lot?”“I’ve been skiing for years. My parents ensured I knew exactly what to do if I was in trouble.” I lay the blanket around her and tuck it carefully around her body. “Do you want me to remove your goggles? I can do that, at least.”“Please.”
“Thank you.” I swallow. “How fast do you think they’ll be?”“Depends on how quickly they can get the helicopter here. She’s more than likely going to be airlifted out of here.”“Airlifted?” I glance at Regina, who whimpers. “Regina’s scared of heights. She gets sick.”“The paramedics will deal with that. They will take care of her.”“Will Dad be able to come up with me?” Regina asks.Lucia hesitates.“You’ll have to ask them. If not, your father’s going to have to drive over to the hospital.”Regina starts to sob again. I touch my fingers to her cheek and shake my head.“I’m not going anywhere without my daughter. I can’t leave her.”“It won’t be for long. You’ll meet her at the hospital.” Regina says and then squeezes my shoulder. “They’ll look after her, and you’ll be with her as soon as possible. She’s going to be fine.”“She might have broken her arm and might have a concussion!” I snap. “What’s fine about that?”Lucia nods at Regina, and I wish I could understand the look that pa
It would be so easy to reach out and take the comfort and warmth and pleasure of being with him again. He’d wrap her in his arms and stroke her back and kiss her hair, and she’d feel his body stir with desire for her and…She’d missed him so much. But if she gave in to the need aching through her now,Micheal would be encouraged to stick around, and the inevitable consequences would be worse than her current sense of deprivation.Better to remain independent.“I don’t need your help, Micheal,” she said flatly.“That’s not how it looks to me,Lucia.” He reached out and took her left hand, fondling it warmly, persuasively pressing a link between them as he added, “I think we should get married as soon as possible.”“No!” She snatched her hand away, feeling as though he’d burned her. Her eyes blazed fierce conviction. “I won’t marry you, Micheal.”“Why not? It’s the most sensible, practical thing to do.”“I will not subject my baby to a father who doesn’t want her.”“If you’re worried about
She was tempted to hurl it in Micheal ’s face. It might sober him up. Whatever impulsive and stupid ardour had driven him into this room needed dampening down. He wasn’t thinking straight, any more than she’d been seeing straight. But she could see straight through him! Having figured out what she was doing in a maternity ward, he had a hot case of guilt.“You need looking after, Lucia,” he said gruffly. “And I’m the man to do it. Drink up now.”She sipped, just to moisten her throat. Then she glared her outrage at him. “Don’t you tell me what to do, Micheal. You have no right.”He returned a determined look. “I contributed to this situation and—”“You did not.” She cut him off with more belligerent determination. “You trusted me to get the contraception right, and I messed up. It’s all my fault.”“Accidents happen,” he said grimly.“Well, you don’t have to pay for this one. I take full responsibility.”“Sure! And you’re doing a fine job of it, letting yourself get so run down you alm
Maurice’s question broke through the glaze of horror in his mind. They were looking quizzically at him. Had he missed something? Apart from a nine-month pregnancy?“Sorry.” He sucked in a deep breath and swallowed hard. “I was just thinking how great the three of you look together.”Ingrid laughed. “Time you found yourself a wife and started a family, Micheal.”Join the club. They all said that. Once they were caught in the family trap, it was as though anyone who was free of it was an offensive reminder of what they’d given up. The hell of it was he might very well have a child somewhere on this ward, a child whose mother had decided was better off fatherless than having Micheal in their lives.“Aren’t you thirty-something?” Ingrid persisted.“Darling, I’m forty,” Maurice reminded her. “Age has nothing to do with it. If I hadn’t met you, I’d still be a freewheeling bachelor like Micheal.”Micheal didn’t want to be a freewheeling bachelor. He wanteded Lucia. He didn’t care if she came
“He’s got my ears, poor little blighter.”Micheal smiled. “Well, one can always resort to plastic surgery.”Maurice laughed indulgently. “They’re not that bad. He’ll grow into them.”“Bound to,” Micheal agreed, his face aching with smiling.Micheal obediently performed the comparison, studying the straight, aristocratic nose of Maurice’s buxom blonde wife and the longer, slightly bumpy one of his friend. He forced another smile. “Yes. Much the better nose.”Why was it obligatory to divide a baby’s features between the parents? It was inevitably done, like a ritual, perhaps affirming true heritage, or an assurance that a little replica would fulfil its parents’ expectations. Not only was it a deadly boring exercise to Micheal,, it almost drove him to snap, “Let the kid be himself, for God’s sake!”But that wasn’t the done thing.He wondered whom Lucia had been visiting on this floor. Not that it mattered. No point in trying to find some contact point with her. From the attitude she ha
Her hair was cropped short, but he couldn’t mistake that face, those eyes as she stared straight at him. Recognition, shock, disbelief, fear, anger…each expression pulsed briefly at him from a stillness that shrieked with tension. Then she whirled past him, jabbed a finger at the control panel inside the elevator and hugged herself against the back wall, glaring a fierce rejection of him until the doors closed.The message burned into his brain. She didn’t want him. She didn’t want anything to do with him. He quelled the raging instinct to chase after her, find her, make her listen to him. Useless. She’d made her decision to shut him out. It hadn’t changed. It wasn’t about to change. She’d just done it again.He forced himself to walk away, to check the room numbers he passed along the corridor. He’d come here to oblige a friend. Never mind that he had no heart for it. It gave him something purposeful to do. He had to forget Lucia.But why had there been fear in her eyes? He’d never g
Micheal darkly reflected, undermined every normal, congenial intercourse between intelligent adults. They infiltrated people’s lives even before they entered the world, then took over like tyrannical dictators. Nothing was safe from them.Micheal brooded over these truths as he drove through the tunnel under Sydney Harbour, taking the shortest route to Paddington and the Royal Hospital for Women. He wished Maurice had been satisfied with hearty congratulations on the birth of his son. It was totally unreasonable of him to insist Jack actually come and view the new pride and joy. Paternal enthusiasm run rampant. Micheal wondered how long it would last.One by one his friends had succumbed to the lure of fatherhood, only to find themselves knocked off their happy perches of being the main focus of attention in their households. They’d groaned out their misery and their complaints to him, envying his freedom from the chaos they had brought upon themselves.“Good sex is impossible.”“You
“I think we can sort something out there. You don’t have to worry about that.” I tuck her hair behind her ear. “There's no doubt we’ve got a few issues to iron out, but I want to be with you. The fact that you’re pregnant with my baby is not the driving force, either. It just ends up being a bonus, that’s all.”“Does that mean…?”“That I want to raise the baby with you? Yes, I do.” I tilt her face up and kiss her softly. “I’m not asking you to marry me. I’m just asking you to be my girlfriend. Because I want to be with you—would you agree to that?”“Do you think I can say otherwise when I’m in your arms, and you’re kissing me like this?”“Okay.” I release her and step back. “How about now? Can you give me an answer?”“Micheal!”“What? You said you struggled to give me a proper answer when I was holding you.”“That’s not…” Lucia groans. “God, you’re an asshole.”“There is a teenager nearby, Lucia.”“I’m sure she’s said worse than that.” Lucia regards me thoughtfully. “You really mean i
“Could you put the kettle on and see if you can make Lucia a cup of tea? Then give us some space.”“Sure, Dad.” Regina hesitates. “Is it going to be okay?”I hope so. I send her a smile as I urge Regina to sit down.“I’ll be fine. Off you go.”Regina disappears, and Lucia frowns up at me.“You remember that I prefer tea to coffee?”“Of course I do. How can I not know when you’ve got teabags all over your apartment.”“Hey! No, I don’t!”“Close enough. I do pay attention to these things.”I sit beside her, and I have no idea what to say for a moment. How do I start this? Maybe with what I heard when I arrived. That would be a good starting point.“So…” God, I sound like a fool starting this. “You’re pregnant.”Lucia looks nervous, shifting a little away from me.“I am,” she mumbles.“And it’s my baby?”She doesn’t verbally respond. She nods, and I see the tears in her eyes. I’m about to ask why she’s about to cry when Lucia suddenly starts speaking so fast she’s almost tripping over her
Michael “There’s her dad’s house,” Katie says as she points. “Helen said it had some rose bushes in the garden with a red front door.”“And it looks like she’s already got a visitor,” I grumble as I pull up behind a black sedan. I can see Nathan and Lucia arguing on the sidewalk with a man I’m guessing is Lucia’s dad standing on the lawn with his arms folded and a garden hose in his hand. He looks ready for a fight. I can only hope he doesn’t turn that hose onto me.“Wait here, Regina.” I undo my seatbelt. “I don’t want you getting in the middle of this.”“Why?”“Just…do as you’re told, will you?”Regina sighs and sits back with her arms folded.“Okay, fine.”Grateful that my daughter is listening, I get out just as I hear Lucia shouting at Nathan.What are you talking about? No, of course not! Why would I waste my time and get back with a cheater?“Because I love you.”Well, I don’t love you!” Lucia snaps. She looks like she doesn’t know whether to lose her temper or burst into tear