housekeeper nodded. ‘As Mr O’Reilly said, it’s a nice windy day for it.’
It certainly was—but what was Liam doing here at all? Hadn’t they decided last night that the less they saw of each other the better?
Not exactly, she realised slowly. She had told Liam she didn’t want to become personally involved with him again. A statement, she remembered thinking at the time, that he had seemed to accept too readily…A statement he had taken to its literal limit; she hadn’t included Bobby’s name!
She stood up hurriedly. ‘I think I’ll just go and check on the two of them.’
‘They were having a great time when I looked out at them a couple of minutes ago,’ Amy assured her. ‘Have a cup of coffee before you go out; you always say you need a couple of cups to be able to start the day properly.’
What Laura had actually said was that she needed a couple of cups of coffee in the morning to help her feel human!
She raised dark brows at Amy, her mouth quirking self-derisively. ‘You think I’m overreacting?’
The housekeeper hesitated. ‘That depends on what you’re reacting to…’
Laura swallowed hard, sitting down abruptly as Amy placed the cup of strong coffee on the table in front of her. ‘How long have you known?’
The housekeeper smiled. ‘I’m not sure that I do know. Not really. Of course I’ve always known that Mr Robert wasn’t Bobby’s father. We both know that was never even a possibility. But as to who Bobby’s biological father really is…’ She shrugged. ‘In every other sense of the word Mr Robert was his father.’
‘But…?’ Laura prompted warily.
‘I was struck by the resemblance between Bobby and Mr O’Reilly from the moment I first opened the door to Mr O’Reilly earlier in the week.’ Amy admitted gently. ‘That’s the reason I was unsure about whether or not to let him wait to see you.’
Laura had thought that unusual at the time…
‘What must you think of me, Amy?’ She buried her face in her hands.
The older woman’s arm came about her shoulders. ‘I think you, and Bobby, helped to make the last five years of Mr Robert’s life the happiest he had ever known,’ she told her emotionally.
Laura looked up through a haze of tears. ‘Did we? Did we really?’ She so much hoped so, after all that Robert had done for her.
‘Don’t ever doubt it,’ Amy said with certainty. ‘A family, a child of his own to love and care for, were things Mr Robert had long ago accepted he would never have. I know that he looked on both of you as a gift,’ she said. ‘A gift he wasn’t sure he deserved, but one that he cherished above everything else.’
Laura swallowed hard. ‘If anyone deserved a loving family, Robert did.’
‘And you gave him that, Laura; never doubt it for a moment,’ the housekeeper told her firmly. ‘As to Mr O’Reilly, I’m sure you had your own reasons for not marrying him eight years ago.’
Laura gave a humourless smile. ‘A very good reason, Amy. He never asked me!’
The older woman raised blonde brows. ‘Some men aren’t very good at responsibility—’
‘He never knew about Bobby, Amy.’ Laura felt compelled to defend him.
The other woman looked concerned. ‘That would no longer seem to be the case,’ she observed ruefully, looking in the direction of the garden, where Liam was now flying a kite with his son.
Laura looked up at her. ‘You think Liam knows?’ her voice was hushed.
‘Don’t you?’
‘I have no idea,’ she burst out. ‘If he does know, he hasn’t said anything. And it isn’t the sort of thing I can come straight out and ask him!’ Especially as she would prefer it if Liam didn’t know! ‘If Liam does know, Amy, then why hasn’t he said anything?’ she asked emotionally.
The housekeeper paused, straightened, and then replied, ‘I think you would have to ask him that.’
But she couldn’t, not without revealing the truth herself. And it was a truth she still wasn’t sure Liam knew…
Amy returned to peeling the potatoes. ‘Will there be two or three for lunch?’ she prompted lightly.
‘Two! No—three. I don’t know, Amy.’ She sighed wearily. ‘I’m not sure I know anything any more.’
Last night it had seemed so cut and dried: Liam was going to stay out of her personal life but continue to let Shipley publish his book. Liam turning up here this morning to play with Bobby made a nonsense of all that.
The housekeeper gave her a sympathetic smile. ‘I know this isn’t much comfort to you at the moment, but things do have a way of working themselves out.’
But not always as one would like them to!
Could Amy be right, that Liam did know Bobby was his son? And, if he did, why hadn’t he challenged her about it?
She was no nearer knowing the workings of Liam’s inner mind now than she had been eight years ago!
‘I think I’ll go out and say good morning,’ she decided firmly, draining her coffee cup before standing up. ‘That should be harmless enough.’
Amy nodded. ‘And I’ll prepare lunch for three. Just in case,’ she added with a glint in her eyes.
Laura watched the two males in the garden unobserved for several minutes. Bobby was wrapped up warm in his winter coat; Liam was looking lithely attractive in denims and a thick blue chunky sweater.
Both faces were lit up with boyish pleasure as they gazed up at the red kite high in the sky above them, dark hair ruffled, blue eyes glowing. Bobby was holding on to the string but Liam was standing behind him, helping to guide the kite away from entanglement with neighbouring trees.
Laura felt an emotional pain in her chest as she watched them. How different their lives could have been if Liam hadn’t walked out of her life eight years ago…
But by the same token, as Amy had already said this morning, if Liam hadn’t gone Robert would never have enjoyed five years of family life.
Besides, what was the point of regretting something that was already a fact? Liam had left, and Robert had become her husband and Bobby’s father. Nothing could ever change that.
‘That looks like fun,’ she called out to the two kite-flyers.
‘Mummy!’ Bobby cried excitedly, grinning from ear to ear as he looked at her. ‘Look, Liam bought me a kite.’
Liam glanced over his shoulder at her, his expression slightly wary. And with good reason, Laura thought crossly, all her old resentment resurfacing at sight of him! Bringing her son presents, stopping to play with him, had not been part of their agreement the evening before.
