More Than Just One Night (The Selwood Sisters Novellas) (6 page)

Waking in her own bed with Alex was
nothing
like regaining consciousness in the hotel. She had no intention of escaping
this time, and he clearly had no intention of letting her get away either. One
arm clamped around her waist while he spooned her was evidence of that.

“Are you awake?” she asked, keeping her voice
low.

He nuzzled the place where her neck joined
her shoulder and a tremor coursed through her.

“I’ll take that as a yes, then,” she said.

He shifted slightly, allowing her to roll
onto her back, then he lifted himself up on one elbow. She loved how relaxed he
looked in her bed. His face was shadowed by the overnight growth of stubble and
he was too sexy for words. “Good morning,” he said, smiling down at her.

Yes, it
was
a good morning. Very, very
good. “Are you ready for breakfast?”

“Not yet.” He kissed her shoulder and said, “Do
you have anything urgent to get up for?”

“No. It’s not a work day. I don’t have to be
anywhere.” She shivered when he ran a line of kisses across her collar bone.

“Are you cold?” He tugged the covers over
both of them and pulled her into his arms.

She hadn’t known she was cold until she felt
the warmth of his skin on hers and she snuggled closer, wanting more, wondering
how she’d managed so long without the sensation of a man’s arms around her, keeping
her safe—

“Mum! Where are you?”

Cora froze.

“Aren’t you up yet?”

The bedroom door flew open before Cora had
had time to react. “Fern!”

“Mum!”

Cora lurched out of Alex’s arms and clasping
the bedclothes at her throat, said, “What are you doing here?”

Fern gave her a disgusted look. “What am
I
doing?”

“You’re not supposed to be here this
weekend.”

“Russell and I thought we’d surprise you, and
take you out for lunch.”

They’d definitely succeeded in surprising
her.

“Is this what you do all the time when I’m
not here?”

“Fern, don’t be ridiculous.” Cora spied Russell
smirking in the background, and snapped, “For goodness sake, close the door.
I’ll talk to you later.”

The door slammed and Cora let her head drop
back against the pillow. “Oh, no. Oh, no. This is terrible. I can’t believe
this has happened.”

Alex leaned on one elbow and looked down at
her. He brushed her hair tenderly from her face with his fingertips. “Don’t
worry. I know this isn’t the ideal way for her to find out, but now you don’t
have to stress over the best way to tell her.”

She narrowed her eyes. “I wasn’t
going
to tell her.”

“Maybe not so soon.”

“You don’t understand. This is the worst
thing that could have happened.”

“Now, you’re exaggerating.”

“I’m not.” Cora sat up, bunching the
bedclothes around her. “I need to talk to Fern. Will you get dressed and leave
while I’m trying to undo some of the damage we’ve done? Please?”

“We’ve done nothing wrong. We’re both adults.”

She gave her head an impatient shake. “That’s
not the point.”

“Let’s talk to her together—”

“No!
Please
…just leave us alone.”

With an exasperated sigh he swung his long
legs over the side of the bed and rose, dressing quickly. Only once he was
fully clothed did he turn and look at her again, his expression grim. “Shall I
call you before I leave town?”

She shook her head. With her heart jamming
her throat, speaking wasn’t an option.

“Fine. You want me to leave you alone? That’s
what I’ll do.” He headed for the door without another glance.

When the door closed behind Alex, a spear of
regret stabbed her stomach and she doubled over. What had she done?

After several moments of wallowing, she
slowly straightened. She knew what she was doing. Her children were her first
priority. They were the most important people in the world. They
were
her world.

That was how it worked as a parent, as a
mother especially; it was impossible not to put them first. And if Alex
couldn’t understand that, then she’d been right about a relationship between
them not working. She should never have caved in last night. She should have
been strong in the face of his logic. She should have resisted the look in his grey
eyes instead of letting it act on her like a drug.

She was ashamed of herself for letting desire
cloud her vision, but all she could do now was attempt to put things right with
Fern.

“It won’t take Becky long to settle in.” Cora
looked at Gwen over the rim of her coffee cup. “Once you get her into school
and she starts making friends.”

Gwen sighed. “I hope you’re right. I thought
I was doing the right thing moving her away from Stuart now that he’s engrossed
with his new family and ignoring her, but you’d think I was the worst mother in
the world the way she carries on.”

Cora laughed briefly and said,. “Join the
club. Fern hates me at the moment. I only hope it’s not permanent.”

“Oh, Cora,” Lily said. “She doesn’t hate you.”

 Gwen flicked her long dark hair over one
shoulder. “Is this about the man that Fern caught you in bed with?”

Cora shot a glare at Lily. “Thanks for
keeping that quiet.”

“I haven’t told anyone but Gwen and she
doesn’t count. She’s our sister.”

“What happened to him, anyway?” Gwen said.

“Cora sent him away.”

Cora shrugged. “Lily thinks I’m being
ridiculous.”

 “I wouldn’t go that far,” Lily said. “I
don’t think you’re ridiculous to care about Fern’s feelings, obviously. I
wouldn’t want anything to hurt Emma either. And I know you’re extra protective
of Fern because Paul’s death hit her so hard.” Lily added a low-calorie
sweetener to her own coffee and stirred.

“But?”

“But, you do have to think of yourself as
well.” Lily sipped her coffee then put the cup down again. “I mean, Fern is
already an adult. It probably won’t be long before she settles down and starts
her own family.”

Cora grimaced. “Don’t say that. Oh, god, I
hope she doesn’t think of settling down with Russell. I couldn’t bear it.”

“You would, though. You wouldn’t like it, for
sure, but you’d accept that he was her choice and get on with it.”

“I don’t know. I think you have far too much
faith in me, Lily. I’m not sweet and forgiving like you.” Cora scanned the coffee
shop, checking that no one could overhear their conversation.

“No, I haven’t. You love Fern, and it’s more
important to you to have her in your life than it is to see Russell out of it.”

“Now you’re giving me a headache.”

Gwen rolled her eyes. “Cora, all Lily is
trying to say is that Fern will get over seeing you and Alex together, and you
have a right not to be lonely.”

Cora tipped her cup and swallowed the last mouthful
of coffee. She pushed the cup and saucer away. “I’m worried that she’ll feel as
if both parents have abandoned her — her father, physically, and her mother,
emotionally.”

“I think she’ll come to realise that you
don’t love her any less just because you have a man in your life,” Lily said, “and
when she sees how happy he makes you, she’ll have to admit that he’s good for
you.”

“He does make you happy, doesn’t he?” Gwen
asked.

Cora felt her face heat up and covered it
with her hands, groaning softly. When she parted her fingers and looked at her
sisters, both of them were grinning.

Cora sat at the breakfast table. She was
going to be late for work, but for once she didn’t care. Well, she did, but she
was determined not to hurry. She was about to have a long overdue conversation
with Fern who was home for the holidays. She’d done a lot of thinking since her
coffee with Lily and Gwen the week before, and she’d made some decisions.

Fern breezed in. “Still here, Mum?” She
wrinkled her nose. “Coffee? Thought you only drank tea in the morning?”

“I do, normally.” Cora lowered her mug. “I fancied
a change.”

“Tea’s better for you.”

“I don’t care.”

Fern turned to stare. “What’s going on with
you this morning? You’re being weird.”

“Just because I don’t want a cup of tea?”

With narrowed eyes Fern said, “Is this
something to do with that man you were seeing? Because we talked about that,
remember? I don’t want him here.”

Cora sighed heavily. When had the balance of
power shifted between them? When had her daughter stopped asking her what she
should do, and started telling
her
what
she
should do? When had Fern
stopped being worried about her mother finding out what she was up to , and
started monitoring what Cora was doing? She couldn’t pinpoint when their roles
had reversed, but this was the day when she would put them back on the right
footing. She was not only Fern’s mother, she was an independent woman, and the
managing director of a business that kept nearly fifty people employed. She
loved Fern dearly, but she had to take back her power.

“Honey, can you come and sit down, please?”

“Why?”

“I want to talk to you.”

Fern took her time pouring a mug of coffee
from the pot Cora had made, before strolling to the table and plonking herself
down into a chair. She took her phone out of the pocket in her silk robe. Cora
reached over and snatched it out of her hand.

“Hey!”

“I don’t want to talk to you while you check
your emails, update your status, or whatever else is more important than
listening to me. I want to have a conversation, and above all, I want you to
hear me.”

“How can I not hear you when you’re barking
at me?”

Cora struggled not to react, or the
conversation would be sidetracked and end up as a row which she did
not
want. After a moment’s silence she said, “I’ve given this a lot of thought, and
I need you to know that I don’t like Russell.”

“What? This is about Russell? I thought it
was about your ex-
boy
friend. With the emphasis on
boy
.”

“It’s about both, actually. First, I want to
talk about Russell. He’s much older than you, Fern.”

“Oh, duh, I hadn’t noticed. Anyway, you’re
much older than thingo.”

“His name’s Alex.”

“So? I don’t need to know that, do I? Because
you’re not going to see him again.”

“I can’t stop you seeing Russell because
you’re supposedly an adult—”

“Supposedly? I
am
an adult.”

“Sometimes, Fern, you don’t behave like one,
to be honest. Maybe that’s my fault, maybe I’ve been too soft with you because
of your dad, but look, my point is that I can’t stop you seeing him, but I can
forbid you to bring him here. I don’t want him in my house ever again. And this
is
my
house.”

Indignant, Fern said, “I live here too.”

“Yes, but only if you follow my rules. If you
don’t like my rules, you can find somewhere else to live.” Her stomach felt
hollow. It wasn’t easy to lay down the law to her only daughter, but maybe some
new guidelines would be as good for Fern as they would be for herself. First,
though, she had to survive this conversation.

Gaping, Fern said, “You’d throw me out?”

“I’d rather not have to.”

“Oh my god.” Fern tossed her head. “Not that
I care; I can move in with Russell if I want. It’s not as if I need to live
here, but you’ll regret it if I do move out because you’ll be here all alone.”

Cora swallowed. The last thing she wanted to
do was push Fern more firmly into Russell’s arms. She didn’t want to lose her daughter
altogether, but she had to stand her ground, and hope that this relationship
between Fern and Russell couldn’t last.

“You can come home whenever you want, of
course. I’d love to see you as often as possible, but it has to be on my terms
from now on. The other thing I want to say is...” she hesitated, choosing her
words, “that if I decide to see Alex again, I will.”

Really, what she meant was,
if
he
forgave her for cutting him out of her life as if he meant nothing to her at
all — right after they’d spent a night making love. This time he’d taken her at
her word and hadn’t contacted her since the day she’d sent him away. She missed
his calls, but worse, she knew that his silence indicated that he’d had enough
and wasn’t going to try to talk her around again. He’d been the one making all
the effort, and as far as she could see, she’d done nothing to justify it. He
had every right to think she was too much trouble after all.

“He’s too young.”

“You can’t have it both ways, honey. If Russell’s
not too old for you, then Alex is not too young for me.”