Friday's Child (27 page)

Patrick looked down at her. “Elle, love…” He slid out of his jacket and wrapped it around her. “Did he hurt you?”

“No, few bruises, that’s all.” She took a deep breath. “Did you just call me love?”

“I did.” His voice faltered for a second. “Is that all right?”

“It’s very much all right. I like it.”

“Then I shall keep doing it. So, this other man?”

“Didn’t you see him? He was stood right over me. There was a bright light around him and he had wings and—”

A smile crossed Patrick’s face and lit his eyes. “Wings? That sounds like the angel that Dad prayed for.” His gaze held hers.

“Angel? That’s what I thought, but doesn’t that make me crazy or something?”

Patrick kissed her cheek. “Not at all. Now let’s get you checked over and take you somewhere safe. “

“Take me where Abbie is.” She leaned against his chest. His strong heart beating in time with hers. Her skin warmed where his lips pressed against it.

“That, my love, goes without saying.”

He closed his eyes as he kissed her. His hands ran over her arms, goose bumps rising on her skin in response. Stars exploded around her. She never dreamed so many different feelings could come from such a small touch as this. What had once been between them was still there. Perhaps she could rekindle it, have him become part of hers and Abbie’s lives.

When he broke off, she leaned against him and watched the officers pull PJ to his feet. A tall man she didn’t recognize held PJ firmly.

“Nice to see you again, Foster.” An American? What was an American doing here? Was she in deeper than she realized and caught up in something international?

PJ snarled. “Nemec. So how are my niece and nephew doing?”

“Doing great and will be doing so much better now you’re back behind bars where you belong. You have the right to remain silent…”

Elle tuned them out.
Niece and nephew?
She didn’t understand. Did she have more family she hadn’t been aware of?

****

Patrick held Elle tightly in the car as they were driven back to his parent’s house. He thanked God over and over for delivering her. Apart from rope burns on her wrists and a small cut on her forehead and left arm, she was unharmed. She’d fallen asleep almost as soon as they’d left Wokingham, not that it was a restful sleep. She whimpered and tossed against him, repeating something about family over and over.

He kissed her forehead, determined not to lose her again. She was his new obsession. If she’d let him. He wanted to be part of her and Abbie’s lives. A big part if he had his way, although he’d settle for weekends and holidays if he had to.

Elle’s eyes flickered open. “Are we there yet?”

“Almost.” He smiled at the childish statement. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s all right.” She shifted in his arms, resting her head higher up his chest. “You make a really comfy pillow.”

“Thank you. I think.”

She ran her fingers down his shirt buttons. “Is Abbie really safe?”

“She’s fine. I’ve seen her. We’ll be with her soon.”

“Where is she?”

“She’s at my parent’s place. I have six agents staking out the house. We’re going there for the night. We have to be at the hospital at four tomorrow afternoon.” He glanced out at the rising sun and smiled. “OK, this afternoon. There’s not much left of tonight.” He stifled a yawn.

“You should sleep a little.”

“I’ll spend most of tomorrow and the following day asleep. Elle, you mentioned family in your sleep.”

A wry smile crossed her face. “Something PJ and that American officer said. About kids and a sister-in-law. It’s possible I have more family out there. That’s if they want anything to do with me.”

“Why wouldn’t they?”

“I don’t know. Let’s see I have a psychopathic brother named PJ and apparently another just as bad named RJ and my father “cooked the books” for drug dealers. How long will it be until RJ comes looking for me to pick up where PJ left off?”

“You don’t have to worry about RJ. He’s dead.” Then he paused. “Sorry, I guess.”

“Don’t be. I don’t want to talk about my family anymore.” She raised a hand and ran it slowly down his face. “You’re my hero. My tall, dark, handsome, stubbly hero.”

Patrick turned into her touch and kissed her fingers. “You leave my stubble out of it.” He hugged her as the car pulled up outside his parent’s house. “Knowing my mum she’ll have made up a bed for you. You should try to get some sleep.”

“I will, once I know Abbie’s all right.”

Patrick slid out of the car and ran around to open the door for Elle. He wrapped an arm around her as soon as she got out and then headed into the house with her.

The door opened as they got there. He smiled at his father. “Dad.”

Dad smiled. “Come in. Are you both all right?”

“I will be. Is Abbie OK?” Elle asked.

“She’s sleeping upstairs in Patrick’s old room. I’ll take you.”

“Thank you.” Patrick kept an arm around Elle as they followed Dad upstairs to the small back bedroom. He pushed open the door.

Elle left his side and hurried to the bed, curling up behind her daughter. Tears ran silently down her face as she held her.

Abbie opened her eyes. “Ellie?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

Abbie turned over and clung tightly to Elle, sobbing hard.

Patrick leaned against the doorframe, longing to hold them both, but having the sense to hold back for a few minutes.

His mother appeared at his side. “Here,” she said, holding out a glass and two pain meds. “You should take these. Shay said you refused anything at the hospital.”

“I needed to think. I still do.”

“Patrick, you’re exhausted and in pain. I can see that just by looking at you. Take them. They’re just aspirin.”

“Yes, Mum.” He swallowed the pills and then rubbed the back of his neck. “It was close,” he said quietly.

“But you got her back.”

He nodded. “Yeah.” Handing the glass back to her, he went into the bedroom and sat on the bed next to the two most important women in his life.

Abbie looked at him. “Thank you for bringing Ellie back,” she said, hugging him.

He hugged her back. “I promised, and I keep my promises.”

“Speaking of promises.” Abbie looked at Elle. “You said we needed to talk?”

26

The silence was deafening. It was as if the whole world held its breath waiting for her next move. Elle looked at Patrick, then at Abbie. “I—”

“Please, Ellie. You said you’d tell me what that man meant.”

She’d dreaded this moment. Yet, she was partly glad the time for secrecy was over. There would be no more secrets in this family.
Lord, give me the right words to explain this to her.
“All right.”

“I’ll leave you to talk.” Patrick started to get up.

“Stay, please.” She ran her tongue over her lips and took a deep breath. “Yeah, the man in the car was right. I’m your mother and not your sister.”

Abbie pulled away and sat bolt upright. “What? So you, Mum and Dad all lied to me?”

She shook her head. “There were a lot of other things going on, things that you were too young to understand. Some things I’ve only just found out about myself.”

“Don’t give me that ‘you were too young to understand’ codswallop. I am not too young,” Abbie yelled. “I’m almost fourteen. I’m not a kid anymore, Ellie. I have a right to know the truth, don’t I? You’ve just admitted I’ve been lied to all my life. Yet, you all told me never to lie. To always be honest even when telling the truth hurt and got me into trouble. What is this? One rule for me and another for the adults?”

Elle studied her hands for a moment. “Yes, I did lie. I’m not denying that. I wish I knew how make it better, but I don’t.”

Abby took a long breath. “You can’t make it better. But you can at least tell me the truth now. All of it.”

“There were a lot of things going on. Things aren’t always black and white.” She twisted the cross on her chain. “First, you are my daughter. I got pregnant when I was at university. I didn’t intend…it just happened. After you were born, Mum and Dad insisted that they brought you up as their child. It wasn’t what I wanted.”

Abbie face crumpled, tears fell from her eyes. “So I’m a mistake that wasn’t meant to happen. Oh, this just gets better and better, doesn’t it?”

Elle shook her head. She reached for Abbie, then dropped her hand as the child pulled away. “That’s not true. You were very much wanted. I wanted you. I loved you from the moment I knew about you. Getting rid of you was never an option. Ever.” She looked at Abbie. “I promise that I would never do that to you or any other child I may have in the future. Life comes from God. From the minute the baby is conceived, it’s alive and needs caring for. I just had no choice in who brought you up.”

“Course you did.”

“Abbie, you know what Mum was like. It’s ironic. Neither of us were hers and she loved us so much. I just never knew she had secrets, too.”

“What do you mean?”

“Dad had an affair. I was the result of that relationship. Mum adopted me when my birth mother was killed. I found the papers in her things the other night.”

Abbie pushed up off the bed and crossed the room. “But why did you do it? Why lie to me?”

“I didn’t think I had a choice.” Tears filled her eyes. “I was young and couldn’t see any other way. It was either give you up, which I wasn’t prepared to do under any circumstance, or agree to their plan.”

Abbie scowled. “So you agreed?”

“I worked every hour I could for you, held down two, sometimes three jobs at once. I gave up university, my degree and hope of a high powered career. Nothing mattered except you. Everything you have, every trip you went on, I paid for. It was all I could do, all I had to give. It hurt so much watching you grow up, hearing you call her Mum and knowing you had no idea who I was.”

Abbie folded her arms tightly. Her eyes narrowed and she looked so much like her father that Elle’s heart broke.
What have I done? I just made things ten times worse.

“Were you all ashamed of me? Is that why we kept moving?”

“No, Abbie, I could never be ashamed of you. Dad was an accountant for a drug dealer.” Tears fell slowly down Elle’s face. “Mum tried to protect us.” Until she knew the truth about her mother’s involvement she wasn’t going to say anymore.

“Why didn’t he marry you?”

“What do you mean?”

“The deadbeat who knocked you up. Or didn’t he want anything to do with you after you did it with him?” Abbie glared at her, using language designed to shock. “Did he leave you like Cori’s father did? Decided he didn’t want the responsibilities of being a father, so he left when things got tough?”

“Abbie.” This wasn’t how she’d imagined the conversation going. “Your father is a good man. I left him, OK? I didn’t see him again or contact him. I wasn’t allowed to. It’s something I have regretted every day since.”

“So who is he? Or don’t you know?”

“You shouldn’t speak to Elle like that,” Patrick said.

“This has nothing to do with you, Patrick.”

Elle sucked in what should be a deep calming breath, but wasn’t. “It has everything to do with him,” she sighed. “Abbie, this isn’t the way I wanted to do it, but Patrick is your dad.”

Abbie’s face became a snarl. She pushed to her feet, putting her good hand on her hip. “So where were you all my life, then?”

“I didn’t know about you.” Patrick’s face dropped. “If I had, I would have been there every step of the way.”

“Is that the reason you agreed to the transplant? To try to make up for not being there all my life?”

He shook his head. “No, far from it.”

Abbie took two steps backwards away from both of them.

Patrick held up his good hand. “It’s all right to feel the way you do now.”

Abbie glowered at him. “And how do I feel?” she spat. “You have no idea what I’m feeling, so don’t you start to patronize me.”

“I don’t intend to. Right now, you’re mad and that’s a perfectly natural reaction. You should be upset and angry.”

“I just found out my entire life is a lie. I’m an illegitimate waste of space neither of you wanted in the first place.”

“You are wanted. Very much so, which is why your mother had you. Just don’t let your anger blind you to that fact, and above all don’t let your pride get in the way here.”

Abbie rolled her eyes. “Get in the way of what?” she muttered.

Elle sagged onto the bed. This wasn’t how it was meant to go. Abbie’s anger was just escalating and there was nothing she could do. Perhaps Patrick could calm her—he did this for a living after all. Well, not deal with angry kids, but stand offs and negotiations.

“Your family.” Patrick looked at Elle and then back at their very angry daughter. “We all make mistakes and…”

Abbie exhaled sharply. “What family?” she interrupted. “I have a liar for a mother, who didn’t even want kids and a father who was never around and pretended I didn’t exist. I must be the biggest mistake you two ever made. You wouldn’t even acknowledge me. And to top it off the man who I thought was my father was a criminal—” She paused. “Is that why someone’s been trying to kill us?”

Patrick shook his head. “We are still working on the why someone tried to kill you. But I need you to listen to me very carefully for a couple of minutes now. OK?”

Abbie shrugged. “Why?”

“Because you’ve had your say and so’s Elle. And now it’s my turn. Some of what you said true, but not all. You are
not
a mistake. No child is a mistake. Children are important. Not only are they a gift from God, they are the legacy of the love between two people. Your mum and I were very much in love and you are the proof of that love.” He paused. “We aren’t perfect; no one is. Even though most people like to think they are.”

“She lied to me,” Abbie insisted. “She tells me never to lie no matter what and in the same breath lies to me. When did she tell you about me?”

Patrick’s face creased in pain and exhaustion. He rubbed the sling across his chest. “I didn’t know about you until you needed the transplant and Elle wasn’t a match. If I had known about you, things would have been different, I promise you that. I would have married her and fought tooth and nail for you.”