His Miracle Bride

career’s kaput.’

She sniffed.

‘Don’t you dare cry,’ she told herself. ‘Not’

‘Shanni?’

It was a child’s voice. Hauled out of the indulgence of a good sob, Shanni made do with a bigger sniff and sat up in bed. She reached for the bedside lamp. Or should she make that the bedside chandelier? There was more crystal here than in the royal Palace of Versailles. Imitation crystal, she told herself. Susie had given them a grand tour, giggling at the ostentatious furnishings. ‘Deidre thought it was a hoot, making this place as kitsch as she could. Don’t you just love Ernst and Eric?’

Ernst and Eric were the two suits of armour guarding the stairs. Made in Japan.

‘Ersnt and Eric are the Loganaich keepers of secrets,’ Susie had told them, deeply earnest as she introduced the children to the suits. ‘Anything you say to these guys, they’ll take it to the grave.’

But right now Wendy seemed to want a warmer audience than two tin warriors. ‘Shanni, are you asleep?’ Her voice was trembling.

‘Nope,’ Shanni said, sniffing again and trying to sound cheerful. ‘I’m sitting in my royal bed waiting for a few minions to cater to my every whim. And my whim is that you talk to me.’ As Wendy ventured tentatively into the room, Shanni tossed back her covers and moved to one side. ‘Come on in. It’s warm in here.’

Wendy didn’t need two invitations. She practically bolted over to the bed, dived in and pulled the covers to her chin.

‘Hey,’ Shanni said, startled. ‘You’re not scared of ghosts, are you?’

‘N…no.’

‘Well, what?’

‘I had…a dream. I thought it was real.’

She was trembling all over. Shanni’s self-absorption disappeared in an instant.

She should have slept with the girls tonight, she thought, but Wendy and Abby had chosen a room just above her head, a turret with two bower windows and a bed in each bower. The girls had taken one look and whooped with joy, and there was only room for two. The boys had a similar room on the other side of the turret. Shanni’s and Pierce’s bedrooms were right underneath, so they could hear anyone call. Pierce had Bessy in a crib in his room and Shanni was in solitary splendour.

But it had felt wrong, Shanni thought as she hugged the little girl close. Why? What was she thinking? That she ought to be closer to these kids?

‘Problem?’

She glanced up and Pierce was in the doorway. He was still in jeans and pullover.

What was he doing, wandering the castle at night, still dressed at this hour? He must be tuned to the kids with extrasensory perception, she thought, to have heard Wendy’s soft call.

‘Wendy’s here,’ she said.

‘Wendy…’

Wendy was about as close to Shanni as it was possible to get, huddled under the bedclothes, her whole body shaking.

‘Nightmares,’ Shanni said, and Pierce winced.

‘Again.’ He took a couple of steps into the room and Wendy shrank tighter against Shanni.

‘No…’

Pierce stopped as if struck. ‘Hell, Wendy.’

‘Don’t swear,’ Shanni said automatically. ‘Hey, Wendy it’s only Pierce.’

The child was shaking so much Shanni was starting to be seriously worried.

‘Go away,’ Wendy whispered. ‘I don’t need…’

‘She’s had these nightmares before,’ Pierce said, staying where he was. ‘They’re awful, but she never lets me near. I took her to a child psychologist but she won’t talk about them.’

‘Nightmares are ghastly,’ Shanni said.

‘I know.’ Pierce looked lost, Shanni thought. And suddenly, she thought, he did know. This man had had his nightmares, too. Was he still having them?

‘What was your nightmare about?’ she asked Wendy, hugging her close.

A fierce shake of her head was the only response.

‘I used to have nightmares about frogs.’ Shanni grimaced. ‘Great, big slimy frogs. Frogs taking over the world. Horrid.’

‘Frogs are cute,’ Wendy whispered.

‘Not my frogs.’

Silence.

‘And I bet you had nightmares too,’ she said to Pierce. ‘What were your nightmares about?’

The silence lengthened.

‘I don’t…’ he said at last, and Shanni sighed.

‘So if we sent you to a child psychologist you wouldn’t tell us yours either?’

‘This is Wendy we’re talking about.’

‘It is.’ She hugged the little girl so tight she felt their ribs collide. Wendy was too thin. A waif.

‘Wendy, we need to talk about this,’ Pierce said heavily. ‘I know you’re scared. I know the dark seems awfully lonely.’ He hesitated. ‘Once upon a time I felt like that.’

‘Maybe sometimes you still do,’ Shanni whispered. ‘Sometimes we all do.’

‘No.’

‘Grown ups are sometimes scared, too,’ she told Wendy. ‘The thing to do is to talk about it. Honest. I talked to my mum after my frog nightmares, and she took me to the zoo and we learned all about frogs. We learned that the world’s biggest frog is the Goliath, and it’s bigger than my dad’s foot. Which is pretty huge. But it still only eats insects. Mum took me to a pond on our friend’s farm and we collected frog eggs. Dad dug a pond in the garden and we filled it with all the things frogs love. The eggs hatched into tadpoles and the tadpoles turned into frogs. I called them names like Hoppit and Cassidy. So then I started dreaming about real frogs, and my nightmares just… stopped.’

‘Your parents loved you,’ Pierce said softly.

‘They abandoned Susie Belle,’ Shanni retorted. ‘My beautiful doll,’ she explained to Wendy. ‘Let’s not be too nice about my parents. Wendy, what are your nightmares about?’

‘I want…’

‘What do you want?’

‘Pierce to go away,’ Wendy whispered.

The words were so shocking that Shanni froze. She glanced up at Pierce, and she saw something on his face that shocked her further. Pain. Pure, unadulterated pain.

Whatever was happening here, it wasn’t Pierce Wendy was afraid of, she thought. That look…

‘Pierce is our friend,’ she whispered. ‘Pierce loves you.’

‘He’s…’

‘What are the nightmares?’ she pressed.

‘Dark,’ Wendy murmured.

But it was too much. Pierce was backing out the door. He looked stricken.

‘I’ll leave you,’ he said, woodenly, stiffly. ‘I’ll be up on the battlements. Too far away to hear.’

Shanni wanted to call him back, but she knew she mustn’t. Wendy was still pressed tight against her. Was she fully awake from the nightmare, or were traces of it still lingering?

Was Wendy afraid of Pierce?

This didn’t make sense. Wendy seemed desperate for this oddly constructed family to work. She must have had plenty of opportunities with the social welfare people to say Pierce wasn’t treating her well, that she wanted to leave.

Or…abuse? That didn’t bear thinking of, but Shanni took a deep breath, swallowed and decided she had to be an adult here. She needed to wipe any preconceived ideas out of her head and tackle this like she knew nothing. Which she did.