The Marriage Merger (16 page)

Jenna smothered a laugh. She wouldn’t say
that if she’d seen her now, she thought.

“Ronica wanted Uncle Braden to send you away
and she’d look after me.”

“How do you know, Possum?”

“They were talking in Uncle Braden’s
study.”

“Caitlin!” Jenna admonished. “You were
spying.”

“No.” Caitlin drew back defensively. “I was
just listening. The door was open.”

Jenna knew she should not listen to any more,
that she should reprimand the girl for eavesdropping, but her
curiosity overwhelmed her.

“And what did Uncle Braden say to that?”

“He said lots of nice stuff about you and how
you are good for me.” Suddenly her defiant stance altered. “You
won’t go away, will you, Jinx? You’ll stay and look after me?
You’ll make me walk better?”

The frightened look in her eyes made Jenna
realize the fragility of Caitlin’s self-image. She dropped a kiss
on her upturned face.

“You're already walking so much better,
Possum. And remember me telling you about my job in Sydney? Other
children need my help too. But I'm so proud of you. You've worked
so hard. You made your mother very happy.”

A smile lit up Caitlin's face.

"Mummy was happy, wasn't she."

She hummed softly as she skipped out of the
kitchen. Jenna slipped dishes into the sink and gazed distractedly
out the window. Braden had said 'lots of nice stuff' about her, had
he? Was that only for Veronica's benefit to explain why he hadn't
replaced her with another housekeeper? Or was it a reflection of
his feelings for her?

At breakfast the next morning Caitlin leaned
across her cereal bowl and placed her small hand on Braden's
arm.

“Can we take Jinx to the beach today, Uncle
Braden?”

Braden’s cup clattered back into the saucer.
“You want to go to the beach? In the surf?”

Caitlin frowned. “You said we could. When I
got better. You said we could take Jinx. You want to go, don’t you,
Jinx?”

Jenna smiled, as much at the surprised but
delighted look on Braden’s face as at Caitlin’s worried query. “Of
course I want to go. I haven’t had a swim in Australian surf for
two years.”

“I bet it’s better than all the others in the
world,” Caitlin boasted.

"Well, we'll just have to go and make sure of
that, won't we, Jenna?" Braden smiled at her with twinkling eyes
that made Jenna's pulse beat a rapid dance in her heart.

Luckily there was only a small surf running.
Jenna had bought Caitlin a two piece swimsuit with “little boy”
legs that covered the tops of her thighs and kept the worst
scarring hidden. Her limp was less pronounced now, but Jenna was
relieved that no-one on the beach stared as they walked across the
white sand.

After some minutes playing with Caitlin in
the shallow water, Braden turned to Jenna.

“Why don’t you do some surfing. I’ll stay
with Caitlin.”

She wondered if he had seen her envious
glances at the body surfers as they rode the foaming crests of the
waves. After a northern hemisphere winter it was glorious to feel
the salt water on her sun-kissed body. She smiled her thanks,
pleased with his thoughtfulness, reassured Caitlin that she
wouldn’t be too long, then pushed her way through the breaking
surf, delighting in the way it bubbled and foamed around her.

She swam lazily through the rolling waves,
then turned to catch one as it peaked above her and surfed it in
almost to the beach. She laughed as she stood and tossed her head,
the sea-drenched curls flying out in a streaming arc. It was
exhilarating! She’d almost forgotten just how exhilarating it was,
the power of the wave propelling her forward in a rolling foaming
frenzy until it lost its power in the shallow water.

“What are you looking at, Uncle Braden?”

Braden brought his gaze back to Caitlin.
“Oh,” he said airily, “I’m just keeping an eye on Jenna.” He jumped
Caitlin over a wave.

“Don’t worry, Uncle Braden, Jenna can’t
drown. She’s an angel.”

Braden chuckled, “She sure is, honey.”

The trouble was, some of the other surfers
must have shared the same opinion. Braden watched as first one,
than another man attempted to engage her in conversation. One even
tried the old “Oops, sorry, the wave bumped me into you” trick,
crashing his body into Jenna’s and grabbing her to hold himself up.
Braden’s hands clenched into fists, then slowly released as he
watched Jenna quickly extricate herself from the surfer’s grasp and
swim away.

Jealousy was a new emotion for him, and he’d
certainly had an overload of it in the past few weeks. He tried to
concentrate on Caitlin, but his eyes kept straying seawards,
searching for a pale slim body. One particularly churning wave
crashed into her, and she surfaced spluttering, groping for her
bikini strap that had slipped off one shoulder. His breathing
stopped at the sight of one exposed breast, the colour of rich
creamy milk, before she pulled the strap back into place.

His resulting arousal had him cursing himself
for not wearing board shorts over his brief swimmers. He crouched
down in the water, hoping the coolness would do what his mind
seemed incapable of. He forced his thoughts away from the memory,
tried to quell his frustration, but his mood was far from pleasant
when Jenna returned and offered to look after Caitlin so he could
surf.

He watched her slight frown of hurt as he
muttered, “About time,” and threw himself into the waves. He swam
out, too far out for safety, and he guessed she would be worried,
but he ploughed on, only the ache in his shoulder muscles giving
him some relief from the ache lower down. Finally he turned and
swam back.

He saw the flare of annoyance in her green
eyes and knew that he would never again be able to look at that
same colour in the ocean without thinking of her. He wondered if a
day was ever going to pass again when he wouldn’t spend a fair
portion of it thinking about her. And the thought frightened him.
He had always been in control, always been the one to make the
decisions, and now it seemed his wayward mind and body were leading
him on their own merry dance.

He wanted her. Physically, emotionally,
mentally. And it scared him. Badly.

They didn’t speak to each other on the way
home, directing any conversation to Caitlin. She was the buffer
between them, her needs subjugating their emotions, allowing them
the excuse not to talk to each other.

That evening as Jenna phoned her parents from
the privacy of his study, Braden eased his long frame into a chair
next to Caitlin as she sat engrossed in a colouring-in book.

It had only occurred to him on the drive home
that he had interpreted flippantly what Caitlin had said in
earnest.

“Caitlin, honey, why did you say Jenna is an
angel?” he asked gently.

“Because God sent her to me,” Caitlin replied
patiently as though he was the child.

“What do you mean?”

She put her crayon down carefully and looked
at him as though she couldn’t understand why he was so dense.

“I asked God to bring back my Mummy and Daddy
and I dreamed he was sending me an angel. And when I woked up Jinx
was there.”

Braden thought back. Yes, in her flowing,
long-sleeved white blouse and in the half-dark Jenna could have
appeared to Caitlin to be an angel. It certainly explained why she
was so accepting of Jenna, so willing to trust her. He stroked the
child’s soft cheek.

“Well, sweetheart, Jenna isn’t an angel, but
maybe God did send her to you.” To us he mentally corrected as he
thought of the desperation he had felt before Jenna’s arrival.
Between Alicia’s slow progress and Caitlin’s passive withdrawal
into herself he hadn’t been able to see any solution to what had
appeared to be insurmountable problems.

And in just a few short weeks that had
changed completely. Thanks to Jenna. Thanks to one green-eyed
mermaid whose flaming hair belied the sweetness and generosity of
her nature. If Caitlin thought of her as an angel, then maybe
Caitlin knew something he didn’t, because she certainly appeared to
be able to work miracles.

But if the way she was screwing up his mind
and his emotions was any indication, she was a devil rather than an
angel. She certainly hadn’t brought him peace. Quite the
contrary!

He suddenly realised that in less than two
weeks Mrs Jenkins would return. Jenna would leave. The thought
almost panicked him, almost made him run to her and take her in his
arms and tell her how much he needed her. Sweat beaded his forehead
as he fought against the urge. No! He didn't need her!

All right, he cared about Jenna - but he
cared about other people too - like Mrs Jenkins - that didn't mean
he was in love with her. Did it?

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Jenna couldn’t believe her ears. The deep
voice on the other end of the intercom was explaining that he was
Caitlin’s grandfather and asking would she mind if he came up to
see his grand-daughter. Braden was working in Brisbane, but surely
he wouldn’t mind if Caitlin saw her grandfather. After all, hadn’t
Alicia said her father was always there for her?

“Please come right up, Mr Fleetwood,” she
answered.

When she opened the door she saw he had
Braden’s height and breadth of shoulder, but Alicia’s brown hair,
though streaked with grey, and pale blue eyes. His dark suit was
well-cut and expensive, but hung on him a little oddly, as though
he had lost weight recently. He took her outstretched hand in both
of his.

“I’m so pleased to meet you, Jenna my dear.
Alicia has been in seventh heaven since your visit with Caitlin.
She showed me the video. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for
what you’ve done for them both.”

The warmth in his voice brought a flush to
Jenna’s cheeks.

“Believe me, Mr Fleetwood, it’s been my
pleasure. Caitlin is a very lovable child.”

“Yes, she is that,” he agreed. “And please
call me Alastair.”

The voice was Braden’s, only quieter, lacking
Braden’s strength and firmness. She led him in to the loungeroom
and offered him a seat, explaining that Caitlin was having a nap.
She was just walking to the kitchen to put the kettle on when she
heard a sleepy voice.

“Grandpa?”

A little figure hurtled across the floor and
landed on Alastair Fleetwood in a tangle of arms and legs.

“Grandpa! Grandpa! You’ve come! Why didn’t
you come before?”

Jenna watched the pain in Alastair
Fleetwood’s eyes at Caitlin’s question. From the way he had kissed
the child’s cheek and the hug he had returned with fervour, it was
obvious that staying away had not been his choice.

“Sometimes things aren’t always easy,
Caitlin,” he said. “But now that I’m here you’ll have to tell me
all you’ve been doing.”

By the time Jenna returned with a tea tray
Caitlin had only filled her grandfather in on her activities up to
Jenna taking her to see The Lion King. She slowed down a little as
she ate one of the biscuits Jenna had brought in, proudly boasting
to her grandfather how she and Jenna had baked them. Then she
continued her narrative.

Finally she asked “Do you want to see what I
can do in the pool, Grandpa?” and looked beseechingly at Jenna.

“Get your swimmers on,” Jenna smiled, and
Caitlin raced off to her bedroom. Alastair turned to Jenna, a
wistful look on his face.

“I’d love to see her more often. I’m
sixty-eight this year, Jenna, and realizing more every day just how
much my children and Caitlin mean to me. Alicia and I have a good
bond, but I’ve lost Braden, and I couldn’t bear to lose Caitlin.
But it’s so awkward with her living here with Braden.”

“Surely he wouldn’t stop you seeing
Caitlin?”

“No, Braden isn’t a cruel man, but it’s just
so strained between us that it wouldn’t be pleasant, and I don’t
want Caitlin to feel torn. She loves Braden. I’ve seen them
together at Alicia’s and I sometimes think that Caitlin is the only
human being apart from Alicia that Braden loves. It gives me hope
that one day he’ll let himself love someone else.”

“Alastair, why don’t you tell Braden that you
love him?”

A great sadness seemed to settle on his
shoulders. He rubbed a finger slowly around the rim of his cup as
he gazed at its contents.

“Because I don’t think he’d believe me. I
really haven’t done anything to show that love to him. When his
mother left I was devastated. I knew what she was like, knew she’d
only married me for my money, but I was infatuated with her. And
those eyes of Braden’s, so piercing, so like hers. I used to read
the derision in them.”

He gave a low, self-deprecating laugh. “Or
thought I did. It was only years later that I realised Braden
didn’t blame me for his mother leaving, but rather for the
abandonment he felt from me. But by then it was too late - the
chasm between us was too big.”

Jenna frowned. One of them had to make a move
towards reconciliation. It was so futile for them to be cut off
from each other like this. But Alastair obviously thought it was
too late, and Braden was so stubborn she doubted anyone could
convince him his father had always loved him.

As she and Caitlin farewelled Alastair an
hour later, Jenna decided she would try to speak to Braden about
his father.

Jenna was cleaning the pool when Braden
returned home. She heard Caitlin’s excited voice telling him about
his father’s visit, but he didn't come out to the pool and ask her
about it. At dinner time she watched his face as Caitlin elaborated
on the exercises she had shown her grandfather in the pool. No
glimpse of betraying emotion gave her any indication to his
thoughts, and straight after dinner he went into his study.

Later that evening he came out into the
dining room as she was writing a letter to her ex-flatmate,
Samantha, in London. He asked if she would like a cup of coffee and
she watched as his long, strong fingers deftly prepared the
percolator. She liked watching him, liked the surety, the
confidence in his movements. She was fascinated by the texture of
his skin, the way his dark wavy hair curled around his ears, the
full, perfect outline of his lips, only too aware of the
devastation their power created.