Too Much At Stake. Caroline Anderson

       Chapter One

      THEY shook hands on the deal, agreed they could take possession of it as early as the next day and went back to the hospital, Nick still with that air of suppressed excitement about him, Kate assailed by doubts.

      Their track record wasn’t great. What if this was just another disaster in the making?

      Think positive! she told herself, and walked with him up to the ward.

      They found Lucy at her new-found brother’s bedside, Jem propped up a little, a games console in his hand and an intent expression on his face. Lucy looked up at them with a smile. ‘Hi.’

      ‘Hi. Everything all right?’

      ‘Fine.’

      ‘OK, I’ll see you in a few minutes, I’ve got some calls to make,’ Nick said, and headed for the door. ‘I won’t be long.’

      Kate perched on the chair by the bed and leant over towards Jem. ‘So what’s this?’

      He grinned at her. ‘Lucy’s lent it to me—it’s Ben’s, and it’s really cool. And I made her cry.’

      Lucy looked a little sheepish. ‘He was so sweet—he said he’d wanted one for ages, and it just got to me.’

      ‘Oh, Lucy.’

      She shrugged, smiled and carried on watching him as he got to grips with it, and moments later Nick came back in and sat on the chair beside her, perching on the arm with his hip against her side and the subtle scent of his cologne drifting over her, carried on the warmth of his body.

      She thought of sharing the barn with him, and a little shiver of anticipation swept over her skin.

      ‘So what’s that?’ he asked, and she looked up at him and smiled.

      ‘Lucy brought him in a games console,’ she said softly. ‘He was so thrilled, he made her cry. He’s wanted one for ages and we just haven’t been able to afford it.’

      Jem caught sight of Nick then and grinned excitedly. ‘Hey, look what Lucy’s lent me, Uncle Nick,’ he said.

      ‘I’m looking,’ he said, deeply touched that his son wanted to share his excitement, but—Uncle Nick? ‘That looks cool.’

      ‘It’s not just cool—it’s awesome,’ he said, stretching the word and making Nick’s lips twitch. ‘Absolutely epic! Lucy’s lent it to me. You can do all sorts of things with it.’

      ‘That’s kind of you, Lucy,’ Nick said, feeling a little choked and also inadequate because he’d been in such a hurry to get back yesterday he hadn’t brought him in anything, and today he’d been so preoccupied with the barn that a simple thing like a present for his child hadn’t even entered his head.

      Lucy tutted. ‘Don’t be silly, Dad—it was lying around at home and we hardly ever use it, but don’t imagine you’re keeping it, half-pint, because it won’t happen.’

      She ruffled his hair gently, and he grinned and ducked slightly out of her way as she bent to kiss him, but she followed him and blew a raspberry on his forehead and made him laugh and grimace.

      ‘You be good, and no giving the nurses trouble, or I’ll set Ben on you, OK?’

      ‘OK,’ he agreed, and smiled at her a little shyly. ‘Thank you for bringing it in. It’s really nice of you.’

      ‘My pleasure. You take care. I’ll see you soon.’ She hesitated by Nick, and then, going up on tiptoe, she kissed his cheek. ‘Bye, Dad. I’ll see you later. We need to talk,’ she added, and he gave a brief nod.

      ‘Yes, we do. Soon. Bye, Lucy. And thank you.’

      ‘I want to try the face thing later,’ Jem said as she went out. ‘It’s got a really cool thing where you can take pictures of people and it shows how they’re the same, like eyes and stuff. And Lucy says you look like Jack, so we’re going to try it when he comes to see me again.’

      Nick swallowed. It wasn’t only he and Jack that looked alike, he realised now that he was able to admit it, and Lucy had obviously thought of that, too. ‘That sounds really interesting, I’ll have to have a look at it some time. You seem much better,’ he added, quickly changing the subject and relieved that he was sounding so much perkier, even though he could see he was beginning to flag now Lucy had gone.

      ‘It doesn’t hurt so much any more. They gave me some stronger painkillers just before Lucy came. My leg still aches a lot, though.’

      ‘I’m not surprised. It got thumped pretty hard.’

      ‘Is the car completely trashed?’ he asked Nick.

      ‘I don’t know. I haven’t seen it.’

      Kate thought of the state it had been in by the time they’d cut the roof and the doors and the front wing off.

      ‘Completely,’ she said, shuddering inwardly. ‘The boot was full of stuff, and it all got wet when they cut the roof off.’ She laughed and felt herself colour. ‘The boot’s always full of stuff, but I’d sorted out all kinds of things for the charity shop, and I hadn’t got round to dropping them off. And it’ll be getting mouldy, it’s still in the back of your car in a bag, Nick. I ought to deal with it.’

      ‘Don’t worry,’ he told her, wondering how she could get worked up about something so incredibly trivial in the face of her son’s injuries. Or maybe it was because it was trivial that it was safe to worry about it. Safer than thinking about Jem? ‘We can sort it out tomorrow.’

      She smiled at him and agreed, and then looked at her watch.

      ‘Have you had lunch, Jem?’

      ‘Yes, there was shepherd’s pie and peas and jelly and ice cream, but I could only have toast and jelly and

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