“Good God, what a household for my son to grow up in! All I can say is the sooner I remove him from your pernicious influence, the better.”
He stopped because he could see he’d lost her attention. Norah was staring over his shoulder at the doorway. Turning, Gavin saw Peter standing there in pajamas. His heart was suddenly full of joy and relief. What did anything else matter beside the reunion with his beloved son?
“Hallo, son,” he said gently, holding out his arms.
But Peter didn’t run into them as he should have done. Instead he stared at Gavin with wide, dismayed eyes, before rushing past him to Norah. Gavin watched, incredulous, as Peter flung himself into Norah’s arms and buried his face against her. He noticed how her arms closed protectively around the child. The two of them stayed locked together for several seconds.
“Your father came to see you, darling,” Norah whispered. “You should at least say hallo to him.”
But Peter refused to turn around, and Gavin thought he heard a muffled cry of, “No! No!”
“Everything’s happened a bit suddenly for him,” she explained apologetically to Gavin.
“Thank you, I don’t need my son explained to me,” he said coolly. “It’s quite clear what has happened. You mentioned a room. I’d be glad of the chance to settle in.”
“Of course.” Norah gave her attention back to Peter. “Darling, I want you to go outside and see if everything’s all right. Some of the animals are a bit unsettled. Calm them down, the way you do.”
“Do they know?” the boy choked.
“Yes,” she said quietly. “I think they know. I believe some of them may have known before we did. Go on, now.”
The boy scuttled out without looking at Gavin, who turned furious eyes on Norah. “It’s as well I came when I did-filling my son’s head up with that kind of tomfoolery. Knew before we did! I never heard anything like that.”
“Some of them got very agitated early yesterday evening,” Norah replied. “They started calling out in ways I’ve never heard before and tearing around their pens. We couldn’t understand it. But I know it was about the time of the crash.”
“Coincidence,” Gavin snapped.
“Perhaps. When someone discovers exactly how their senses work, maybe we’ll know. I’ll show you upstairs.”
He’d slept in the house for a week after he’d bought it, lying in the great master bedroom and reveling in making plans which had come to nothing. As they reached the top of the stairs he turned instinctively toward the door of that room, but Norah steered him away. “That’s where they slept,” she said. “It’s full of their things.”
“Of course,” he said curtly, and followed her down the corridor to a room at the end.
“This is always kept made up for guests,” she explained. “This door here is your bathroom. It’s been put in since you were last here.”
“Thank you.” It was hard not to resent her proprietory air. With an effort he stopped himself from pointing out that this was his house and she was the guest, and moreover a guest who would soon be departing. He was glad when she left him alone.
The room looked out over the grounds. Standing at the window he could see Peter moving among the animals, stroking them, resting his head against them. He feasted his eyes on his son. He loved him so much, and it was wonderful to have him back at last.
But did he have him back? He was suddenly dreadfully conscious of the distance between them. And his son hadn’t run to him, but to Norah. He’d stared at his father with the eyes of a stranger and almost seemed to shrink from him.
No! Gavin stopped himself on that thought. His son hadn’t shrunk from him. He’d merely been taken by surprise. But they would put it right, just as soon as he could remove Peter from this place and have him to himself. And that was going to be at the first possible moment.
He found that he was more tired than he’d expected. He showered, then lay down, meaning only to close his eyes for a few moments. But when he awoke five hours had passed and the sun was high in the sky.
He hurried downstairs and began to look for Norah. At last he heard the sound of her voice and followed it until he located the source behind a door that was slightly open. As he approached he could hear her saying, “I was pretty certain, but I wanted to be sure… Thank you, you’ve eased my mind… No, I don’t think it would be good for the poor child to be snatched away like a piece of recovered property… It’s nice to know I can prevent it… Don’t worry, I can take care of Gavin Hunter. Bye.” There was the sound of a receiver being replaced.
Gavin’s mouth tightened. So that was her game. He’d actually tried to be nice to her, respecting her grief. And her reply was to kick him in the teeth. Right!
He pushed open the door and stood looking at her without speaking. She was sitting in a large office whose clutter filled his orderly soul with dismay. How did these people ever get anything done? She looked up and started slightly at the sight of him.
“I’ll save time by admitting I heard the last part of your conversation,” Gavin said grimly. “Let me make it clear that nothing you can do can keep me from my son. And if you really think you can ‘take care of’ me you’ve made a big mistake. Older and wiser heads than yours have made the same mistake, and regretted it.”
“I’m sure you’re very fearsome and terrible,” she agreed, but without seeming overawed. “Peter certainly seemed to think so. Don’t you realize that he heard what you said about removing him from me? He heard you shouting it in anger and it upset him almost as much as what happened last night.”
“Nonsense. He’s my son.”
“Technically, but Tony was a father to him these past few years and he’s forgotten any other home but this. If he wanted to go with you it would be different, but he doesn’t, and so I won’t allow it.”
He almost smiled. “You won’t allow it?
“Yes, of course, he’s
“Not this one,” Gavin said firmly.
“I’ve just been talking to Angus Philbeam, our lawyer. I wanted to check a point in Liz’s will. Angus is a very thorough man. When he drew it up, he made Liz consider every possibility-even this one. Liz left the guardianship of Peter to Tony, and after him-me.”
Gavin was silent for a split second before exploding, “You must be out of your mind!”
“You can visit Angus and see the will-”
“To hell with the will! No power on earth could give Liz the right to will my son’s guardianship away from me. He’s
Norah regarded him bitterly. “I’m beginning to understand why Liz always referred to you as Hunter,” she said. “Not Gavin, but just ‘Hunter.’ She said you were so predatory that the name suited you perfectly.”
“It makes a change from ‘grating Gavin,’” he snapped.
“But she was right. You are predatory. Everything is prey to you-something to be fought for and snatched. And you win because you scare people. But I’m not scared. For one thing, even you wouldn’t be inhuman enough to try to drag that child away today.”
“I never said I was going to-”
“And for another you’ll have to go through the courts to get Peter back, and I think they’ll pay attention to that will. They’ll pay even more attention to the fact that this is Peter’s home, where he’s been happy. He’s just lost two parents-”
“
“And I don’t think they’ll let him be taken away from me by a father he hardly knows any more.” The phone rang and she answered it quickly. She barely said a word, but whatever she heard seemed to please her because her face brightened. Finally she said, “I’ll tell him at once. Thank you very much.” She hung up and faced Gavin. “That was the Social Services. Angus has been on to them. They’ll be sending someone to see you.”
“Need I ask what this ‘someone’ is going to say? You seem confident that you have it all stitched up.”
“They’ll oppose any attempt to remove Peter from me so soon after the accident. He needs security, not
