They would have things to say to one another that needed to be said in private, without her.
She could hear the baby starting to cry and moved instinctively towards the stairs to go and comfort him.
When she went into the bedroom Tara had obviously just woken up.
‘Where’s my mommy?’ she asked Claire uncertainly.
‘She’s downstairs talking to your uncle Brad,’ Claire told her, and then asked, ‘Do you know where the spare nappies are? I think your brother needs changing.’
‘Nappies?’ The little girl’s face creased in confusion whilst Claire quickly tried to recall the American word for what she wanted.
‘Diapers,’ she remembered with relief, then gently but firmly involved Tara in the job of cleaning and changing her small brother, deliberately drawing it out as long as she could to give Mary-Beth a chance to talk to Brad. Claire suspected that she would not want Tara to overhear what she had to say to Brad about her husband’s infidelity. The little girl was obviously already distressed enough by what was happening.
As Claire picked up the now dry and cooing little boy to give him a cuddle she saw the way Tara kept glancing anxiously towards the door and guessed that she wouldn’t be able to keep her distracted for very much longer.
To her relief she heard the kitchen door opening and Mary-Beth’s and Brad’s voices on the stairs.
‘Mommy,’ Tara demanded as soon as her mother came into the bedroom, ‘when are we going home? I want my daddy…’
Mary-Beth had obviously been crying and Tara’s mouth started to tremble ominously as she looked at her mother. It was Brad who saved the situation, following his sister into the room and swinging the little girl up into his arms, saying cheerfully, ‘Hello, pumpkin…’
‘Uncle Brad… Uncle Brad…’ Tara squealed in obvious pleasure, hugging him tightly round the neck.
‘I’ll get on to the airport and see how quickly they can get you a return flight,’ Brad was saying to Mary-Beth over Tara’s head.
‘I’m not going back—not on my own, not without you,’ Mary-Beth insisted.
‘Mary-Beth, I’ve already explained why I can’t come with you,’ Brad told her firmly. ‘I have commitments here.’
‘Maybe, but they aren’t as important as your commitment to your family; they can’t be, Brad,’ Mary-Beth told him quickly. ‘You know the uncles will understand. I need you.’
Claire could see that Brad was frowning.
‘Mary-Beth, I can’t.’
‘Then I’m not going back,’ she told him determinedly. ‘Not on my own.’
‘Abe—’ Brad began, but Mary-Beth refused to listen.
‘I don’t want to talk about him, or to him.’
‘You have to talk,’ Brad told her quietly. ‘For the kids’ sake, if nothing else. He is still their father and he does have certain rights—’
‘He has no rights. He lost those the day he started fooling around with that—that…’ Mary-Beth had started to protest bitterly but Brad shook his head warningly as Tara looked at her mother in anxious concern. ‘If you want me to talk to him then you’re going to have to be there too,’ Mary-Beth insisted.
Claire could see that Brad wasn’t too pleased about his sister’s demands.
‘There’s no way I want to so much as see him again after what he’s done…’ she announced.
It was plain to Claire that Brad’s sister’s temperament was as tempestuous and fiery as her dark red hair suggested, and there was no doubt also that she was deeply hurt by her husband’s infidelity. Beneath her very obvious anger Claire could see the misery and pain in her eyes.
‘You said Abe denied being involved with anyone else,’ Brad was reminding her. ‘He said—’
‘He would say that, wouldn’t he?’ Mary-Beth derided bitterly. ‘He knows what he stands to lose. Oh, Brad, how could he… I thought he loved me… us…’
Tears welled up in her eyes and Tara, seeing her mother’s distress, started to cry noisily in sympathy.
‘Would you like me to take the children?’ Claire offered quickly. ‘You must both still have things you need to discuss…’
‘I’ve said everything I want to say,’ Mary-Beth said fiercely. ‘I don’t care what you say, Brad; there’s no way I’m going back to him and I didn’t come all the way over here to have you make me… or to listen to you defending what he’s done. I thought you’d be more understanding… more sympathetic…’
She was crying in earnest now. Quietly Claire held out her arms to Tara, trying not to let the revealing flush of pleasure she could feel heating the pit of her stomach flood betrayingly into her face when Brad smiled at her with appreciative relief as he handed his niece over to her.
‘I want to stay with my mommy…’ Tara started to protest as Claire took hold of her, but Claire had enough experience from her work at the school to know how to deal with her apprehensive need to remain with her mother.
‘Do you?’ she said calmly. ‘Oh, dear. I was hoping you’d come downstairs with me and help me make some special bis… er… cookies. I expect you’re very good at baking, aren’t you?’ she asked.
‘Yes. I’m very good,’ Tara agreed, and then asked, ‘What kind of cookies?’
‘What kind would you like to make?’ Claire asked her. The baby had gone peacefully back to sleep, she noticed as she gently shepherded Tara out of the room.
She and Tara had almost finished their cookie-baking exercise before Mary-Beth and Brad reappeared, and during the half-hour or so that they had been together Claire had learned a good deal about her Mommy and Daddy and how much she loved them both from Tara, who had chattered happily to her as they worked together.
‘It looks like I’m going to have to go back to the States with Mary-Beth. I’ve managed to get us seats on a flight this evening,’ Brad told Claire tersely as he obeyed Tara’s demand that he come and see what she had been making.
‘I’m sorry about all this…’ he added grimly, making a small gesture that included his sister and Tara.
‘It’s all right,’ Claire assured him. ‘I’m just glad that you were able to respond so quickly to my message. I hadn’t expected you to come straight back—’
‘What message?’ Brad asked her, frowning.
Claire stared at him.
‘I rang the office to tell you about Mary-Beth, and when you weren’t there I left a message with Tim for you to ring me.’
If he hadn’t got her message then how had he known to come back? Claire wondered. But before she could say anything Mary-Beth was demanding his attention, wanting to know exactly
