His Christmas Present (14 page)

He took the
lounger next to hers and stretched out his legs, and she settled back, trying
not to think of the time she’d kissed her way up his thighs.

“How are you
enjoying barbecue for Christmas Dinner?” she asked.

He laughed. “Yeah.
Weird. I’m used to the windows steaming up from the turkey dinner, you know?
But I prefer it this way.”

“Oh, I’m glad.”
She smiled. “I’m also glad Dad didn’t give you too hard a time.”

“Me too,” he said
wryly. “Although in actual fact I think he let me off pretty lightly.”

“You hadn’t done
anything wrong,” she pointed out.

He shrugged. “I
wouldn’t have been surprised if he thought I had. But then he’s never seen
things the same way I have.”

His phone sang in
his pocket, and he took it out and flipped it open. Megan watched him read a
text as she puzzled over his words.
He’s never seen things the same way I
have.
What did he mean by that?

She wondered who’d
sent the text. He’d told her he wasn’t seeing anyone. From one of his
half-brothers, maybe?

He frowned. “It’s
from Ben.”

She knew he was
one of the members of the board and his father’s oldest friend. “Oh?”

“He wants me to
ring him, now.”

That confused her.
She checked her watch. “It’s only five in the morning there, isn’t it?”

“Four
actually—they’re thirteen hours behind us because of daylight saving.”

“That’s odd.”

“Yeah.” He pushed
himself to his feet. “I’d better ring.”

“You can use the
phone in the living room.”

“Will your folks
mind an international call?”

“No, they have a
plan with Telecom because Mum calls her sister in the UK every week. Don’t
worry about it.”

He nodded and went
into the living room.

Almost immediately
he came out again. “Harry’s awake.”

“Oh, okay.” She
got up and followed him inside. The baby stirred, and the fullness of her
breasts suggested he was ready for his tea.

“I’d better feed
him,” she said, unclipping him and lifting him out. “I’ll go into the bedroom.”

“No, stay,” Dion
said, surprising her. He paused and met her gaze. “If you want.”

“Sure.” She sank
onto the sofa, cuddled Harry to her and put him to the breast. Then she watched
Dion make the call.

He walked up to
the sliding doors and looked down on the kids playing in the pool as he waited
for someone to answer. She laid her head on the back of the sofa and took the
opportunity to admire his broad back and long legs, the way the sun had brought
a flush to his skin, how his hair had remained ruffled after the swim in the
pool. He was a fine figure of a man. Had he really not been with anyone since
Prague?

“Ben?” Dion
cleared his throat. “It’s Dion. Yeah.” He moved away from the window and paced
slowly through the living room. “I know. What the hell are you texting me for
at this hour? Kids wake you up?” He stopped and glanced across at Megan. “Oh?”

Her heart began to
race. It wasn’t good news.

Dion nodded.
“Yeah. Last night? And how…” His voice tailed off. His face went pale.

Oh no.

He swallowed and
met her gaze as he lowered the phone. “My dad died at half past two this
morning.”

Dion went
completely numb, and for a moment it was as if his body had shut down and he
couldn’t speak or move or even think clearly. The shock on Megan’s face
reminded him he hadn’t yet hung up, and he turned away and raised the receiver
to his ear again, walking back to the sliding doors in the hope that the warm
sun slanting through them would warm his suddenly clammy skin.

“Dion?” Ben said.
“Are you still there?”

“I’m here,” Dion
said hoarsely. “Sorry.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. How’s
the family?” Dion spoke stonily. After his father and stepmother had divorced,
he’d hardly seen her at all, and he’d never had a lot of love for his
half-brothers. They were too like his father—cold and calculating, and now that
Jack had been made CEO, he felt even less love for him.

“They’re okay—they
were expecting it. He’s not been well the past week.”

“When’s the
funeral?” Dion asked, his head spinning.

“Not sure yet,
what with Christmas and everything. It’ll probably be a week at least.”

“I’ll come back,”
Dion said, not wanting to look at Megan.

“Of course,” Ben
said. “But…look, don’t hurry. Take your time. Things are okay here. Rebecca’s
organising everything.”

That didn’t
surprise Dion. His sister-in-law would be in her element at a moment like this.

Then shame flooded
him at thinking such a cruel thing. Although his father and stepmother were
divorced, it would still be difficult for her, and he was glad she had her
children there to support her. And he was glad Jack had a supportive wife. But
he felt as if he was standing outside a shop window in the cold, looking in at
them sitting together around a warm fire. He’d always been the outsider, even
though he’d tried his hardest for his father.

“…left a letter,”
Ben was saying now.

Dion shook himself
mentally. “Sorry, what?”

“Your father. He
dictated a letter to me for you before he died. He wanted me to read it to you.
It’s not long—he was very weak by this stage. Are you sitting down?”

Dion froze from
the inside out. He couldn’t have moved even if he’d wanted to. “Go on.”

“Okay.

‘Son. I know
you hate me for not appointing you CEO. And I know you won’t believe me. But I
did it for you. I didn’t want you to turn out like the others. Like me. Work
isn’t everything. And I want you to have what you deserve—a woman who loves you
and children who adore you. Things I didn’t have. I’m doing you a favour boy.
Follow your heart.’
”

Ben fell silent.

Emotion washed
over Dion. Fury and cold, hard anger. “That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“He decided not to
give me the job out of the goodness of his heart?”

“Dion—”

But he clipped his
phone shut, cutting the man off, unable to hear the platitudes he knew would
follow,
oh he meant well,
and
but he loved you really.

He turned, but to
his surprise Megan and Harry had gone. And suddenly his legs wouldn’t hold out
any longer. He sank onto the sofa, nausea rising inside him, and for a moment
he worried he’d throw up on the carpet.

He put his head in
his hands. He’d left love behind because he’d been young and he’d wanted the
things a great career could bring him—social standing, money, success and
stability. He hadn’t understood then what a lonely path it would be. But fate
had been kind and given him not only Lauren, who’d loved him, but also a second
chance at love with Megan in Prague, only once again for him to turn his back
on them both because he’d been too busy focussing on the job. And now he’d lost
what he’d sacrificed everything for, because his father had had the grand
notion that in denying him it, he’d force him to find happiness.

How fucking
ironic.

Megan. Oh God,
Megan, what have I done?

Megan worked
quickly as soon as she heard Dion’s news. First, with Harry still at the
breast, she told Sean and Gaby what had happened, and discussed with them what
to do. Then while Sean went to sit with Dion, she finished feeding Harry in the
spare room while expressing with the other breast. He’d taken a bottle several
times when Gaby had looked after him for her, so she knew it would give her a
few hours.

When Harry
finished his feed, she found Gaby and handed Harry over along with all the
paraphernalia that he came with.

Then she came back
to find Dion.

Sean hovered
anxiously while Dion stood by the living room windows, looking down at the pool
at the kids splashing around and yelling. She thought that maybe she had an
idea of how strange he felt—unused to the heat, still slightly jet lagged, his
world falling apart until it hung in shreds around him, and he couldn’t see how
to put it back together again.

She walked over to
him and touched him on the arm. “Dion?”

He turned blank,
emotionless eyes to her as if puzzled to see her there.

“Come on,” she
said. “I’m taking you back to Sean’s.”

“I’m okay,” he
said.

“I know.” She
tugged his arm gently. “Come on.”

He went with her
obediently. Her parents met them by the door, having been informed by Sean what
had happened. Her mother gave Dion a hug, and after a brief pause he returned
it, a glimmer of emotion crossing his face.

Richard shook his
hand. “I’m sorry, Dion,” he said. “Call us if you need anything.”

Dion nodded but
didn’t reply, and Megan took his hand and led him down the drive to her car. Sean
followed, hesitating as Dion went around the passenger side and got in.

“Are you sure
you’ll be okay?” Sean asked her quietly, frowning.

“We’ll be fine. He
just needs some space. Can you imagine how weird this is for him?” She gestured
to the pool and barbecue. “He might as well be on Mars. Give us a few hours if
you can. Harry should be all right until eight or nine.”

Sean nodded. “Give
me a ring if there’s anything we can do.”

“Sure.”

She got in the car
beside Dion, started the engine and drove away, giving Sean a final wave
goodbye.

The roads were
quiet, and she threaded through the town quickly, soon heading out on the
country road toward Opito Bay. Dion leaned his head back on the rest and looked
out of the window, still silent.

Megan bit her lip.
Should she try to get him to talk about it? She wasn’t sure what Ben had said
to him at the end to make him so mad, but it obviously had something to do with
the death of his father.

She left it for a
while to see whether he’d start the conversation, but when it became apparent
that he wasn’t going to, she took a breath and plunged in.

“You want to talk
about it?”

For a moment he
didn’t say anything. He sighed though, and her hand itched to reach out and
grab his in an attempt at reassurance, but she made herself sit still.

“Not much to say,”
he said eventually, his voice flat.

“You want to tell
me what Ben said at the end?”

He rolled his head
on the rest to look at her. She glanced across, not sure what emotion was in
his eyes.

He looked back out
of the window. “My dad dictated a letter to Ben before he died. Something along
the lines of ‘I gave the job to someone else because I love you so much.’” He
rubbed at a mark on the window with his thumb.

Clearly that
wasn’t the whole story, because it didn’t make sense.

She held her
tongue for the moment though as they were nearing the house. She signalled at
the turning for the marina, swept the car over the hill and down to the house
and parked out the front.

“Thanks,” Dion
said, his hand on the door handle. “I appreciate it.”

“I’m coming in,”
she said firmly. “Sean and Gaby are going to bring Harry home with them.”

“There’s no need
to stay.” His eyes were cool.

“I’m not leaving
you.” She didn’t wait for him to answer and got out of the car, went over to
the front door and unlocked it.

He followed her
inside and shut the door behind him. She walked across the wooden floor to the
large sliding doors to the deck and opened them, letting in some of the sea
breeze. The house was stifling, and a bead of sweat ran down between her
breasts.

Dion stood in the
centre of the floor, his hands in the pockets of his shorts, and she had a
sudden vision of him looking exactly the same nine years ago, on the day he’d
left for England. He’d looked lost then, and she yearned to go over and hug
him, but she wasn’t sure what his reaction would be.

Instead, she went
to the drinks cabinet and took out a bottle of Glenfiddich. Without asking, she
poured a generous measure, added some ice cubes and brought it over to him.
“You’ve had a huge shock. Come and sit down and have a drink.”

He took the glass.
“You’re not having one?”

“I can’t while I’m
breastfeeding or Harry will be comatose.” She tipped her head. “On second
thought, that sounds like good idea…”

He attempted a
smile, failed and walked across to the window. She went with him, watching as
he closed his eyes and let the breeze play across his face.

“What did Ben
actually say?” she pressed. “Why did your dad not give you the job? I assumed
one of his other sons was his favourite, but it doesn’t sound like that was the
reason.”