For His Little Girl

'What did you say?' he asked Frank. His face was very pale.

'I said that Pippa is a very sick woman, was probably dying-before she ever came here-'

'That's not true,' Pippa said quickly. 'The doctor said I had a good chance-''

'He said you had a fair-to-middling chance if you had the operation quickly and didn't do anything stupid,' Frank growled. 'He didn't reckon on you taking a long flight over the Atlantic and another one back. Do you know how dangerous that is? As for what's gone on since you've been here-can you honestly say you've taken care?'

She barely heard him. Her eyes were on Luke's face as he turned to her. He looked puzzled, as though he heard the words but could put no meaning to them.

'Pippa?' he said quietly. 'What is this crazy man talking about?'

'Frank isn't crazy, Luke. He's just blown things up out of all proportion. I've been a bit poorly recently-'

'Yes, you told me, asthma-'

'Asthma be blowed!' Frank exploded. 'She's got mitral stenosis. You know what that is, do you, Danton? It's a malfunction of the mitral valve of the heart. It's a killer. It killed her mother. It's killing her.'

Luke might not have heard him for all the notice he took. His eyes, full of a dreadful question, were still fixed on Pippa's face.

'Yes,' she said despairingly. 'It's true.'

'But…I don't understand. You can't be ill. I've seen you every day, and you've been fine.'

'You mean she's fooled you into thinking she's fine,' Frank said with a sneer. 'I don't suppose it's hard to fool you where your own convenience is concerned.'

'Please, Frank,' Pippa whispered. 'This isn't the way.'

'And what is the way? Making it easy for him the way you've always done? All these years you've let him be a father on easy terms because those are the only terms he's interested in.'

'Frank, hush!' Elly protested. 'Josie may be about somewhere.'

'No, she's with my parents,' Luke said.

'How convenient,' Frank said disparagingly. 'A real takeover bid-now that it suits you.'

'What do you mean by that?'' Luke demanded.

'I mean I've seen the Web site. Making use of your own child to make yourself look good. How could you let him do it?' He turned on Pippa.

'Josie wanted it, Frank. It made her happy.'

'You don't give a child something that's bad for her just because she wants it. She needs adults who'll protect her, not exploit her for their own cheap ends.'

'If it wasn't for Pippa I'd knock you down for saying that,' Luke said in a harsh voice. 'I love my daughter.'

'Your daughter,' Frank sneered. 'That's rich, coming from you. What kind of father have you been? Sure, you've supported her, but money's easy. When did you do anything that wasn't easy?'

'I'm not arguing with you. I've told you, I love my daughter, and I love Pippa. We're going to be married. The past is the past. If Pippa and Josie can forgive me for it, then it's nobody else's damned business. Including yours.'

Frank completely lost control. 'You fool!' he screamed. 'Don't you understand, she's dying! If you'd treated her properly all those years ago she wouldn't have had to take this insane risk to find you now.'

'Frank-' Pippa and Elly both tried to silence him together, but he was like a man possessed.

'That operation is her last chance,' he screamed, 'and it's a very small one. What are you going to do when she's dead, eh? What's all your fine talk going to be worth when she's dead?'

Watching Luke, Pippa realized that until that moment he hadn't fully taken it in. He didn't speak, but his face seemed to grow withered before her eyes. Her head was beginning to swim. 'Frank, that's enough. I think you should go now.''

'I'll go when you come with me.'

'I'll come when I'm ready. Please, Frank, you shouldn't have done this. Just tell me where I can find you.'

'At the airport hotel,' Elly said.

But Frank wasn't about to give up. 'I still think we should wait and-'

'Go!' Pippa said with soft vehemence.

Elly drew him away, leaving Pippa and Luke alone together. She could hardly bear to look at him. He was breathing hard like a man who'd been punched over the heart.

'Dear God!' he said softly.

'I was going to tell you tonight.''

'Or tomorrow? Or the next day?'

'Yes, I've been putting it off. But it would have been tonight, because I have to go home. Oh, Luke

I'm so sorry you found out this way. It wasn't meant to happen.'

She touched him. He was trembling.

'I can't take this in,' he said at last. 'How long have you known?'

'A few weeks. I didn't know what to do. Suddenly there were so many things to be thought of, all at once.'

'You could have picked up the phone and called me then. I could have come over to England-'

'Would you have?' she asked wistfully.

'Of course I would. There was no need for this. I'd have come at once. I might have been able to help you cope with all those things you mentioned.' He looked at her distantly. 'But you never even thought of turning to me, did you?''

'No, I didn't,' she admitted.

'Well, I guess I only have myself to blame for that,' he said in deep bitterness. 'You don't have to say it.'

'I wasn't going to.'

There were tears in his eyes. He thumped his fist on the breakfast bar, then pulled her into his arms and held her fiercely. 'Dear God!' he wept. 'Pippa, Pippa!'

'It's going to be all right,' she said, clasping him. 'It has to be. We can't lose each other now.'

'Can't we?' he asked hoarsely. 'Frank seemed very sure.'

'Frank's an old woman, he's panicking.'

They clung to each other. Pippa was remembering the fear and shock that came with the first discovery. She'd faced it long ago, and from the reserves of strength she'd built up since, she could help him now.

But she'd forgotten the anger. In the first few hours of knowing she might die, she'd been swept by a terrible rage. It was different from the lively, combative spirit with which she'd always faced the world. That had been a searing, blistering fury against whatever had done this to her and to Josie, the little girl who might lose her mother. She had wanted to scream and scream at an unjust fate.

But that wasn't in her mind now, and when she felt Luke shaking violently in her arms, she didn't at first realize that he, too, had been swept by devastating anger. So his next remark came as a shock.

'But at least you told Frank the truth, which is a damned sight more than you did with me.'

'I couldn't help that. It was forced on me by circumstances.'

'But all this time you've had a secret agenda, haven't you? I thought we were close again, but how close could we be when you were hiding such a secret? Why did you really turn up here suddenly?''

'Because I knew I might not have very long, and I wanted to make sure you met Josie while there was time. All these years-I thought you might have come to see her just once. But you never did, and if…if Frank and Elly have to become her parents-they're good people-kind and reliable, and she'll need that. But I wanted her to know you, too. I wanted you to meet her and love her so that you'd never want to lose touch with her.'

He released her and drew back, looked at her strangely, as though trying to work out who she was.

'Luke,' she cried, 'please try to understand. I did what I had to.'

'Yeah, I get that.'

'Then what? What is it you blame me for?'

'Deceiving me,' he said quietly. 'Letting me live in a fool's paradise.' He gave a mirthless laugh. 'The operative word being fool. All this time-telling myself fairy tales about a second chance-you should have been honest with me.'