‘A swim?’ The child’s face filled with doubt.
‘A swim. Let’s take a bar of soap-or maybe six bars of soap-down to the sea. We can put Grace in her carry-cot while we take Uncle Luke into the surf and we’ll wash his soot off him until he looks respectable. Would you like to do that, Gabbie, love?’
‘Yes,’ said Gabbie definitely-and then, somehow, there was nothing left for Luke to do but follow.
Wherever they led…
CHAPTER FIVE
THE swim had been glorious, but it hadn’t stopped Luke from being confused. In fact, by the end of his time in the water he was feeling so confused he wasn’t sure whether he’d gone to sleep and woken in some other life.
He hadn’t swum in the sea for twenty years. And now… It hadn’t been a swim like he usually swam-steady laps of his local gymnasium pool designed to tone his body and make up for the days he sat at his computer, or in interminable meetings.
This had been something else. Something totally out of his ken.
They had all swum. Even Baby Grace hadn’t stayed in her carry-cot for long. She’d joined right in. Wendy and Gabbie had whooped down to the sea, with Luke following behind carrying Grace. By the time he’d topped the sandhills the pair were already in the water-fully dressed!
‘Because we’re filthy, too.’ Wendy had grinned as she’d beckoned him to join her. ‘The water’s warm and wonderful. Take off Grace’s clothes and bring her in.’
So two minutes later he’d been sitting in the shallows, holding a naked baby on his knee-a baby who’d thought this was the most wonderful sensation she’d ever felt and it was designed for her own personal enjoyment.
And ditto for Luke. He had let Wendy and her small foster-daughter rub bars of soap though his hair and tease the grime from his face and the aches from his various bruises, and he had experienced sensations he’d never felt in his life before.
Despite his protests, they’d removed his shirt-‘Because we can’t wash it while it’s on you!’-and it had only been by the resolute and determined tactic of refusing to stand up that he’d managed to keep his trousers on.
A man had some pride. Damn, he might have been waist-deep in water, and he might have been way out of depth emotionally, but if the electricians or glaziers had arrived and all he’d been wearing was boxer shorts with little red hearts on…
Good grief! The low waves broke over his legs, the girls soaped on, and he felt as if he’d been transported to another planet.
‘You need antiseptic on this.’ Wendy’s sympathetic words jerked him back to reality-almost. The bird’s claws had somehow made contact with his face. Wendy sat before him in the shallows, her skirt floating around her in the water in a soft blue swirl, and her blouse clinging much too closely.
Unaware of his reaction to her she ran a finger down the jagged scratch on his face. She’d brought a face cloth and she carefully soaped and cleaned the scratch-and the touch of her fingers on his face was enough to send him straight into orbit again. ‘The salt water will be great for it,’ she said softly. ‘It’s just what you need.’
It wasn’t the salt water that was just great. This was amazing! The shallow waves ran in and out on the golden sand. The morning sun was warm on his face and on his naked chest and his bare back. Gabbie giggled and splashed beside them, and Grace wiggled her toes in the water and chortled in glee every time a wave broke over her small person.
And Wendy smiled and smiled…
‘Enough!’ He rose too abruptly. Grace didn’t like being hauled from her wonderful playground and she puckered her face in distress-but he had to get out of here. Now!
‘There’s a truck coming,’ Luke said, gazing up at the house, and there was real relief in the way he said it. He might be only knee-deep in water but he was being drawn so far out of his depth that he was close to drowning. ‘It’ll be the electricians. I need to meet them.’
‘You do that.’ Wendy was watching his face from where she still sat, holding Gabbie in the water, and what she saw made her frown a little. She rose and took a step back, drawing imperceptibly away. The spell was broken. ‘I’ll take Grace while you go.’ She reached forward and took the baby into her arms, crooning gently as she hugged her close. ‘Hey, Grace, it’s okay. We’ll play some more.’ She didn’t look at Luke again. ‘Off you go and organise your minions,’ she told him. ‘I’ll come later with the children.’
‘I…yes. You’ll be all right?’
‘I can manage,’ she said softly-with dignity. ‘You’re the boss but we don’t need you, Luke.’
And he knew, instinctively, that he was being given a deeper message than the one on the surface. But…
‘I need to go.’ Damn, why did he feel as if he was apologising?
‘Of course you do.’ She smiled, but once again he had a feeling that the shutters were being pulled closed. He’d hardly noticed they were opening, but now there was pain behind her eyes, a pain he didn’t understand. She looked like a child who’d been slapped unexpectedly, and he didn’t know what he’d done.
He didn’t know what was causing her pain, and suddenly he wanted to. Badly.
‘Wendy-’
‘Go.’ Her voice turned bossy-organisational-and he knew also that this was her form of protecting herself. Why?
From emotional attachment? he wondered. Surely not. He’d kissed her once, for heaven’s sake, and surely it must count as a kiss of excitement and pleasure. Not of passion. It was no big deal.
Or was it?
Well, even if it was, then it was better to move fast and leave, he told himself. Get himself into organisational mode. Now!
‘I’ll meet you up at the house, then,’ he said neutrally. ‘Later.’
‘Of course.’ She hugged the now wailing Grace close to her. ‘Come on, Gabbie. Grace wants another swim. We’ll let her have what she wants, shall we?’
‘Doesn’t Luke want another swim?’ Gabbie asked curiously, kicking her toes out behind her in the shallows, and Wendy gave a tight little smile.
‘Uncle Luke has work to do. Very important work. It’s only us lucky ones who get to sit in the sea and play with our toes.’
Gabbie considered this, and slowly nodded. She turned her small face up to Luke’s, and her eyes were solemn.
‘I’m glad I’m not a daddy, then,’ she said. ‘If you can’t stay and play with us, then it’s sad.’
And suddenly that was exactly how Luke felt.
He was sad, and he was very, very sorry.
After that, the day passed in a blur of organisation. Luke went up to the house to meet the electrician. He showered the salt from himself and his clothes, and by the time he emerged, salt free, the glazier and the plumber had also arrived.
An hour later, when Wendy and Gabbie and Grace trudged happily up from the beach he was almost sun-dried. He was standing on the veranda discussing which of the windows were the most important to fix now, and as he saw the little procession head up from the beach he stopped mid-sentence to watch them come. The glazier turned to watch, too.
‘Is that your missus and kids?’ the man asked, and then, astonished, he recognised Wendy. ‘Hey! That’s never Wendy Maher from the kids’ home?’
‘Yes it is. She’s staying here to care for my half-sister and her own foster-daughter. That’s why I need the place to be fixed quickly.’
The man whistled. ‘Well, I’ll be blowed. I heard Wendy was leaving the kids’ home. She’s had it rough, that one, but she’s
