breath and a silent prayer-
The other claw slashed wildly downward-without the leather he’d be cut to bits-but now Luke was in resolution mode. This was a case of now or never, and it had to be now. Working like lightning, he tied the first claw with the rope and held on to it. He waited until the other claw came sweeping down again to slash-not more than two seconds-and somehow caught it and tied it together with the other leg.
Now he had two claws tied together with rope. Crossing his fingers, he released the trussed crow to thrash about in its chimney prison.
‘I need to go back on the roof again,’ he told his open-mouthed audience. ‘And cross your fingers for me.’
‘I’m even crossing my eyeballs,’ Wendy said, stunned to her socks. ‘You too, Gabbie. Cross everything.’
The little girl was too boggled to say a word.
Finally, up on the roof again, the whole process started to come together. Standing on his ladder against the chimney, carefully, inch by inch Luke manoeuvred the rope upward.
For the first few seconds he thought the crow would never come-it went wild as its feet were hauled slowly upward. But then, unbelievably, it seemed to relax a little. Its wings flapped but not with its previous power. Maybe it was starting to exhaust itself. Or maybe…maybe it sensed this was its only chance.
It rose and rose, and the whole world seemed to hold its breath. Luke pulled and pulled. He was standing alone, but strangely he didn’t feel alone. Wendy was with him every inch of the way, and so was Gabbie. Even Grace…
Two feet from the top came the tricky part. Sensing freedom, the crow surged upward, lunging joyously into daylight. But still it was tied, and it was all Luke could do to regain his hold on the ladder. Somehow, and he could never afterwards figure out how, he managed to climb down to the roof with the crow flapping like a crazy, living kite in his hands.
There, with his arms still in his leather coat, and propped against the chimney to balance himself, he reeled the bird in toward him. With a faster action than he believed possible, and maybe a bit of luck as well, he got the claws untied. The crow flapped backwards and fell awkwardly onto the roof.
Was it hurt?
Not too badly, Luke thought incredulously as he watched it. Not so you’d notice. With a final squawk of indignant freedom, the bird rose skyward. It soared, was welcomed into the circle of waiting birds-and together they surged away, croaking harsh cries of jubilation as they went.
Luke was left sitting on the roof, an empty rope and a ruined leather jacket in his hands. He had the biggest grin on his face!
And his audience had seen everything.
‘You’ve done it! Oh, come down, come down…’ Down below, Wendy was laughing and crying all at the same time. She’d picked up Gabbie and the two of them were doing a crazy dance of triumph on the grass. ‘Come on down, Luke Grey. You wonderful, wonderful man!’
He got down as fast as he could. Wendy and Gabbie were holding the ladder and, as he hit ground, he was enfolded in triumphant arms.
‘Oh, Luke, that was so good.’ Wendy was crying openly now, but laughing through her tears, and Gabbie couldn’t stop smiling. Wendy was holding the little girl in her arms but suddenly he was in there too, the little girl sandwiched between them.
He’d hardly grown accustomed to the fact that he was being hugged-hugged, for heaven’s sake!-when Wendy let him go, thrusting the little girl forward so he was holding Gabbie in his arms. But she’d only left to retrieve Grace from her blanket-and to envelop the baby in their sandwich squeeze as well. She was practically war- whooping.
‘Luke, that was the most marvellous…the most marvellous…’
It was too much. Through kids and laughter and tears she somehow reached forward and kissed him.
And in that kiss, something changed for ever.
To stand on the front lawn of a place he’d once loved, with his arms full of kids, with the squawking birds above them, and holding a woman who was weeping with joy…
Kissing a beautiful woman…
She started it, he would tell himself later, trying to figure out how it had happened. She kissed him, leaning forward so her lips touched his. But it suddenly wasn’t Wendy doing the kissing. His arms were full of a tangle of children, but he had long arms and he could enfold them all.
Gabbie and Baby Grace were somehow in the middle but his mouth was on Wendy’s, her lips were full and warm and loving-and she felt like no other woman he’d kissed in his life before. He felt his insides stir and shift, and his life somehow refocused, right at that point. Things became clear that had been clouded, and things that had been important suddenly took a step back.
Something huge was changing here. Why?
He didn’t know. All he understood was that-well, she tasted of soot, she smelt of baby powder and milk formula, and she felt like…
She felt like heaven!
His hold grew tighter. He didn’t understand what was happening to him-to them both!-but he wasn’t letting go for a minute. Wendy…
His need was growing more urgent by the minute, but it couldn’t last. Not like this.
‘Hey, I’m squashed.’ From somewhere below kiss level, Gabbie didn’t sound in the least distressed-she sounded as if she was giggling-but it was enough to haul him somehow to his senses. It allowed him space to back away and look down into Wendy’s emotion-filled face-and see the confusion he was feeling mirrored there threefold.
‘The birdy’s safe,’ Gabbie squeaked, in a squashed but awed and delighted voice. ‘We saved the birdy.’
‘Yes, Gabbie, we did just that.’ He was still watching Wendy, but with a wrench, it seemed, she’d hauled her attention to the children. She gave him one, single, startled glance and took Gabbie from him, handing him Grace. She then backed and stooped to set Gabbie on her feet. She turned her attention deliberately to the little girl, leaving him still holding Grace-but he was watching Wendy’s colour turn blush-pink under her tan.
And he still didn’t understand what was happening. All he knew was that something was-and it was something big. Huge!
‘It flew away with its mummy and daddy,’ Gabbie said proudly.
‘It did.’ Luke was finding it hard to make his voice work. What was going on here? He’d kissed other women- lots-and it had never felt like this.
‘And its brothers and sisters were waiting for it.’ Gabbie was practically glowing with pride. ‘We saved its life.’
‘And you held the ladder,’ Luke told her, somehow recovering. Or recovering a little. ‘I never could have managed if you hadn’t held the ladder.’
‘Really?’ The little girl was close to bursting with pleasure.
‘Really.’
‘Well…’ Gabbie sighed, then tucked her chin down into her chest with a look that Luke was starting to recognise. This was a child who internalised her pleasure-she wasn’t brave enough to share in case it was snatched from her. Then she seemed to gain courage. She looked up at Luke, and she giggled.
‘You look…
‘Gabbie!’ Wendy’s word was the start of a reproof but then Wendy dared herself to look at Luke, and somehow the tension dissipated and she couldn’t help from grinning. ‘Though, actually…’
What were they on about? ‘Actually, what?’ Luke asked direfully, expecting the worst. And he got it.
‘You look like a derelict chimneysweep after four weeks’ work with no baths in between,’ she said bluntly. ‘Plus… Oh, Luke, there’s a scratch on your cheek that’s been bleeding, and your poor leather jacket… It’s ripped to pieces.’
‘It’s nothing,’ he managed. He was so far off balance now he was practically falling over.
‘It’s something, Luke Grey,’ she said softly, tilting her chin and meeting his look head on. ‘It was absolutely something. It was the best something I’ve seen in a long, long while. Don’t you think so, our Gabbie?’
And Gabbie’s small, shy smile told them she agreed entirely.
‘You do need a wash, though,’ Wendy told him. ‘Maybe we all do-before the electricians and glaziers and the likes arrive. Gabbie, what do you think about a swim?’
