The Rock'n'Roll Romance Box Set (Pam Howes Rock'n'Roll Romance Series) (124 page)

  
‘
What about Sammy
?’
  

  
‘
I
want you there. You’re
Harley’s mum.’

  
‘Okay. So long as it won’t cause
problems. I’ll call Tina. See if I can leave Courtney with her. I’ll meet you
at the hospital.’
 

 
 
Roy
said goodbye and sat on his mixing desk, smoking another cigarette and staring
out at the swimming pool, the landscaped gardens and the orchard beyond. The
rolling Cheshire countryside
stretched ahead for miles, with footballers’ favourite, Abbott’s Edge, to the
right. He’d swap it all tomorrow, for a tower-block council flat in Pickford,
if his daughter could be guaranteed her health.
  

***

‘Are you two ready yet?’ Roy
called up the stairs. Sammy and Harley had been getting dressed for ages.
Anyone would think they were going to a party, never mind Christie’s Hospital.
He returned to the kitchen and paced up and down, puffing agitatedly on yet
another cigarette. He’d smoked his full day’s quota already. Harley appeared
and slipped her slender arms around his waist, resting her head on his chest.
He held her tight, his heart contracting with love, and kissed the top of her
head. ‘You okay, Princess?’

  
She nodded. ‘Mum won’t be a minute. She’s nipped to the loo, again. Is
Livvy meeting us there, Dad?’

  
‘She is, after she’s taken Courtney to Tina’s.’

  
‘Can I meet Courtney later? Could they come back here and have tea with us?’

  
‘Maybe. I think we should ask Mum how she feels about that.’

  
‘How Mum feels about what?’ Sammy said, coming into the kitchen behind
them.
 

  
‘About Livvy and Courtney coming for tea,’ Harley said. ‘I’m dying to
meet my sister. Please say it’s okay, Mum.’

  
‘Of course they can, sweetheart. I’ve arranged to take Mum and Tom out
later with Pat. But you can invite them along and I’m sure you and Dad can
manage to prepare something between you. Actually, there’s a lasagne in the
freezer. Remember? From last week, or was it the week before? I’ll get it out
now will I? And then it won’t take too long to cook. You could even have
strawberries and ice-cream for dessert.’

  
Roy realised Sammy was
babbling with nerves and looked at her stricken face. ‘Are you sure, Sam? You
never said anything to me about going out later.’

  
‘Didn’t I? Must have slipped my mind. We arranged it a few days ago. Pop
upstairs and get my handbag, Harley. I’ve left it on the bed.’

  
Roy followed her into the
utility room, where she reached into the freezer for the lasagne. He pulled her
round to face him, took the dish from her and placed it on the worktop. ‘I’d
rather you were here with us,’ he said. ‘Can’t you cancel your mum and Tom and
take them another day?’

  
‘I’m doing you a favour by going out, Roy.
I won’t deny Harley getting to know her sister, but I don’t want to be a party
to you and Livvy playing happy families. There’s no trip out with Mum and Tom.
But I’ll eat with Pat and Tim and then come back here to say hi before Livvy
and Courtney go home.’

  
He nodded and kissed her long and hard, thinking back to the last time
they’d stood in the utility room. She was doing her best, which was more than
he
was doing, sleeping with Livvy last
night, and it must be killing her inside. ‘Come on. Let’s make a move.’
 

***

Livvy spotted Roy’s
BMW, with its unique number plate, ROYC1, as she searched for a parking space
in the overcrowded hospital car park. She squeezed the rented Renault Clio
in-between an old red van and a brick wall and climbed out. A hand fell on her
shoulder, startling her.

  
‘You okay?’ Roy handed her a
ticket. ‘Saw you searching for a space while I was at the ticket machine. It’s
pay and display.’

  
‘Oh, thank you.’ She placed the ticket on the dashboard and locked the
car. ‘Where are Harley and Sammy?’

  
‘Gone inside to use the loo. Come on.’
 
He took her arm and led her towards the main entrance.
  

  
Tears pricked the back of her eyes. ‘I feel sick,’ she muttered. ‘How’s
Harley today?’

  
‘Very nervous,’ he said. ‘But that’s to be expected. She wants you and
Courtney to come for tea tonight.’

  
‘We’d love to, but what about Sammy?’

  
‘She’s going out. She’ll pop back and see you before you leave.’

  
‘That’s very kind of her. It can’t be easy.’

 
 
Roy
raised an eyebrow. ‘Understatement. Ah, here they are.’ He raised his hand as
Sammy and Harley walked towards him. ‘Ready, Princess,’ he asked as Harley
smiled at Livvy, and Sammy nodded politely. Roy
took Harley’s hand and led the way.

***

The consulting room was large and
airy and smelt of fresh paint. Roy
gripped the edge of his chair as Mr Taylor, the silver-haired oncologist,
explained that the test results revealed that Harley was suffering from Acute
Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.

  
‘Her treatment will begin immediately with induction chemotherapy. This
should bring the ALL into remission. The treatment is very intense and lasts
about a month. I’m confident Harley will be cured in the course of time and the
success rate is very high. Once she’s in remission, the next stage will be a
bone-marrow transplant. In the meantime, we’ll start looking for a donor.’ He
looked at Roy and Sammy. ‘As her parents, Mr and Mrs Cantello, you will be
tested and also any siblings she has.’

  
Roy spoke up. ‘I’m Harley’s
father and err this lady is her mother, not my wife.’ He inclined his head
towards Livvy. ‘Harley has two half-siblings – my son and Olivia’s daughter.’

  
‘Right, well in that case we’ll arrange to take samples from the four of
you, see if any are a suitable match. Ideally, a full-blood sibling is often
our greatest chance.’

  
‘That’s not possible, I’m afraid,’ Roy
replied, glancing at Sammy whose face had blanched whiter than the
newly-painted walls. He squeezed her hand reassuringly. ‘But hopefully one of
us can be the donor.’

  
I’d like to admit Harley on Monday,’ Mr Taylor continued. ‘That will
give you time to get yourself organised over the weekend, young lady.’ He
smiled at Harley who was staring at him wide-eyed. ‘In the meantime, we’ll give
you some drugs to start the ball rolling. Bring in something to read. You’ll be
doing a lot of sitting around and a good book helps pass the time. I have it on
good authority that the latest Harry Potter is excellent.’
  

  
‘Will I be in for long?’ Harley asked, twiddling her hair around her
fingers.

  
‘Just for a day or two and then you’ll go home in-between the sessions
of chemotherapy. You’ll feel a bit queasy but it passes and we’ll give you
something to help with that.’

  
‘You won’t let me die, will you? Because my boyfriend Jack needs me and
I’ve only just met my real mum and I’m meeting my half-sister today for the
first time.’

  
Mr Taylor smiled and patted her hand. ‘Harley, my dear, I’m in this
business to make people well. I promise I’ll do everything possible to make you
fit and healthy again.’

  
Harley nodded and stood up. ‘Well - you’ll have my dad to answer to if
you don’t.’

  
Roy shook the consultant’s
hand. ‘Sorry about that.’

  
‘She’s got fighting spirit,’ Mr Taylor said. ‘It will help her through
the treatment.’

  
They left the hospital, Livvy promising to bring Courtney to Jasmine
House at six.
  

***

Livvy gripped the steering wheel
tight as the oncologist’s words tumbled around in her head -
Ideally, a full-blood sibling is often our
greatest chance
. And then Roy’s
dismissive -
That’s not possible, I’m
afraid.
Hadn’t he told her he would do anything to get Harley well again -
anything
? Well thank goodness she’d
taken matters into her own hands. Having another child with him was her dream,
her mission, but now it was beyond that. Another child, whether it was a good
idea or not, could save their daughter’s life. She pulled up on Tina’s drive
and composed herself.

  
In the comfortable living room, Livvy sat on the sofa in front of the
fire and told Tina and Courtney the outcome of the consultation. ‘When Harley’s
finished her chemotherapy, the leukaemia will hopefully go into remission. Then
she may need a bone-marrow transplant to make her completely well again.’ She
took a sip from the mug of tea Tina had handed her.

 
‘What does that mean?’ Courtney asked.

  
‘It’s a procedure to get rid of the bone-marrow that doesn’t work and
replace it with some that will. Roy, me, Jason and you, Courtney, are all to be
tested to see if we match Harley’s. If one of us does, then the hospital will
take enough to use.’

  
‘Can she have mine?’ Courtney said. ‘I’d really like her to have mine.’

  
‘That’s very generous of you, honey. But we’ll have to see if you match
up first. Right, I’ll pop to the bathroom and then we’re off to join Roy and
Harley for tea.’
  

  
‘Oh, cool,’ Courtney said. ‘I get to meet my sister at last. Where are
we meeting them?’
 

  
‘At their home,’ Livvy replied catching Tina’s raised eyebrow.

  
Tina followed her out of the room. ‘Is Sammy okay about you going to the
house?’
 

  
‘Apparently. Roy said she’s
going out. It’ll be just me, Roy and our daughters.’
 

  
‘Happy families then?’

  
‘Something along those lines. Under the circumstances, we all have to do
our best for the girls.’

  
‘You watch your step with Roy Cantello,’ Tina warned. ‘Remember what
happened last time you got up close and cosy.’

  
‘I know what I’m doing, Tina,’ Livvy replied. She was sure Tina’s eyes
were burning a hole in her back as she went upstairs. In the bathroom she leant
on the sink and stared at her reflection in the mirrored cabinet. The
oncologist’s words reverberated through her head again. If she’d conceived last
night, by the time Harley would be in need of a transplant, the baby would be
almost here. It would be perfect timing. She hardly dared let herself
hope…
 

***

CHAPTER
FOURTEEN

With a million knots tangling
themselves in her stomach, Sammy quietly let herself in and put her handbag and
keys on the hall table. She could hear girlish laughter echoing through the
open kitchen door. She walked slowly, pushed the door open further, and took in
the little tableau. A pale-faced Harley and a younger version of Livvy were
seated at the table in front of the patio doors, heads together, looking at
something in a magazine. Sammy’s eyes were drawn to her rival, who was leaning
against the sink, hands wrapped around a mug, her eyes shining with obvious
love for the man standing in front of her. And Roy
- well he was holding his usual cigarette in one hand and twiddling one of
Livvy’s curls around a finger with the other. He was talking animatedly and his
eyes never left her face. They looked totally relaxed and at ease and in that
instant, Sammy realised with certainty that her life was about to change. She
felt like a stranger in her own home. She cleared her throat and Roy
froze.

  
He untangled his fingers from Livvy’s hair at the same time as
she
slopped her drink onto the floor.
‘Sammy, hi, love. Didn’t hear you come in.’ He smiled and moved across to peck
her on the cheek. Livvy grabbed a cloth off the sink and mopped the tiles.
 

  
Harley called out, ‘Mum, come and meet my sister. This is Courtney. This
is my mum, Sammy.’

  
Courtney got to her feet and held out her hand. Sammy smiled and shook
it, telling herself that whatever was going on, it wasn’t the girl’s fault.
‘Nice to meet you, Courtney.’

  
‘We’ve got loads in common,’ Harley said. ‘You wouldn’t believe it. We
like the same clothes and music and things. You can tell we’re sisters, can’t
you?’ Harley’s excitement was infectious, and in spite of herself, made Sammy
smile.

  
‘Yes, there’s a definite likeness,’ she agreed. ‘Except for your
colouring, of course.’ She was fighting the urge to fly across the room scream
and rant at Roy and slap Livvy
across her smug little face.
   

  
‘Courtney wants to be my donor if she’s a match for me,’ Harley
announced. ‘We’re going up to my room for a while now. I’m going to have a
lie-down and Courtney can have a look at my birthday party photos.’

  
‘Courtney, we must be going soon,’ Livvy said. ‘We don’t want to tire
Harley too much.’

  
‘But there’s nothing to do at the hotel. It’s boring. I want to stay
here. I’ll just sit quietly with Harley.’

  
‘Ten minutes and then we have to leave. I have phone calls to make.’

  
‘Are you calling Dad?’

  
‘Yes, later.
You
can speak to
him, too.’

  
‘Cool. You’ll like my dad,’ Courtney told Harley as they were leaving
the kitchen. ‘He’s called Danny and he’s really nice.’

  
Sammy shook her head after them. ‘Well, looks like those two have hit it
off and no mistake.’

  
‘It was instant,’ Roy said.
‘And they haven’t stopped talking for a minute.’

  
‘And what about you two? You looked pretty chummy when I walked in,
gazing into one another’s eyes like a pair of lovesick parrots.’ It was hard to
keep the sarcasm out of her voice, but at the moment she was past caring.

  
Livvy blushed and looked down at the floor and Roy
frowned.

  
‘There’s no need for that, Sam. We were discussing Harley’s treatment,
that’s all.’

  
‘Yeah, it looked like it. Do you fiddle with the hair of every woman you
speak to, Roy?’

  
‘What?’

  
‘You didn’t even realise you were doing it. It just came so naturally to
you.’

  
‘Sammy, I refuse to get into an argument with you while we have guests.’

  
‘Fine. Come and look me up when they’ve gone.’ She stormed from the
room, grabbed her bag and keys and left the house. She sat in her car for a few
minutes, composing herself. ‘You bloody idiot,’ she muttered. Why the hell
hadn’t she just made a joke of things and tackled Roy
about the hair twiddling later? She should have hugged and kissed him and gone
into
Stand by Your Man
mode, instead
of the jealous harridan stunt she’d just pulled. Roy
wouldn’t be very pleased, and now Livvy would be looking for cracks and
wheedling her way into their lives even more. Well there was no way she was
going back inside to make an even bigger fool of herself.

  
She started up the Porsche, drove swiftly down the drive and onto

She gripped the steering wheel as
the oncologist’s words, about a full blood sibling being Harley’s best chance of
a match, came back to her. At the hospital Roy
had said that wasn’t possible and at that point Sammy had agreed. But seeing
Roy and Livvy back there had freaked her. She wondered if they’d been
discussing the possibility.

  
Wouldn’t they, as parents, do everything within their power to make
their daughter well again? She knew
she
would and Harley was
her
daughter
too. Well, there
was
something she
could do. If Livvy were to donate an egg, Sammy would be willing to try and get
pregnant. She was fit and well, apart from the hot flushes, and you often heard
of women in their late fifties giving birth to IVF babies. But would Roy
agree? It was certainly an option to discuss with him later and the lesser of
two evils.
    

***

‘Go after her, Roy.
She’s really upset,’ Livvy urged.

  
‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘She needs some space. She’ll be embarrassed to
come home while you’re still here. She’ll go back to Pat’s. I’ll catch up with
her later. I could use a single malt right now. Would you like a drink?’

  
‘I’ll just have a coke please.’ Livvy followed him into the lounge.
‘Sammy makes me nervous. My stomach’s jumping all over the place.’

  
‘Sit down and relax.’ He handed her a glass of coke and sat beside her
on the sofa.

  
‘She has every right not to trust us,’ Livvy said.

  
He raised an eyebrow. ‘I know.’ He took a large swig of his drink and
sighed. ‘I thought I’d successfully dealt with my feelings for you, Olivia. I
threw myself into the band, my song-writing; bringing up Harley and just
generally getting on with my life. I imagined that you were doing the same.
That you’d put us down to – well- one of those things - and moved on. But as
soon as I set eyes on you it all came flooding back. I never thought I’d want
to stray again, that loving Sammy was enough, I mean, it’s got to be, hasn’t
it? I can’t do anything about my feelings for you, but I can’t be in the same
room as you and not want you. What about you? How do
you
feel?’

  
Livvy ran her finger around the top of her glass and stared at the floor.
‘The same as you, I guess. Leaving Harley with you was agony. Marrying Danny on
the rebound wasn’t right, but it seemed the best idea at the time. Having
Courtney and joining
Juice
were
turning points, but everything else was wrong. I’ve felt like a square peg in a
round hole for years.’
  

  
He took the glass from her, pulled her into his arms and kissed her long
and hard. ‘If the kids weren’t in I’d take you here and now on the sofa.’

  
‘Then it’s a good job they are,’ she said, ’because I’d let you. I’d
better get back to the hotel before we get too carried away.’

  
‘Is there any chance of me seeing you alone again before Danny arrives?’

  
‘There might be,’ she replied. ‘Tina’s invited Courtney and Harley for
tea tomorrow. I can collect Harley at three, drop them at Tina’s and meet you
at the hotel at four. Danny won’t be there until after eight.’

  
‘Perfect. I need to take an amp into town for repair, so I’ll do it
tomorrow. I’ll make myself scarce before you collect Harley and I’ll tell Sam
I’m popping in to see Phil Jackson on my way back from Manchester.
Call my mobile if you’re going to be late.’

  
Livvy smiled and stood up. ‘I’ve so much to do; I don’t know where to
start. I suppose finding a house and getting Courtney into school is priority.
I also need to let my band know that I’ll be away for a few months.’
  

  
‘What about Danny?’

  
Livvy shrugged. ‘We need to talk and sort things out. Knowing Danny, he
won’t stay too long. He’ll be itching to get back to the business within the
week. What about you and Sammy?’
 

  
‘Oh - she’ll be okay. It’ll all blow over in a few days when she gets
her head around things.’

  
Livvy smiled and stroked his cheek. ‘For a man of the world, Roy, you
really have no idea about women, do you?’
 

***

‘Fancy a drink in The Royal Oak,
or do you want to go home?’ Roy
asked. He’d walked to Pat and Tim’s to catch up with Sammy and was driving them
in her car towards

  
‘Home please,’ she said, stroking his thigh. ‘There’s something I want
to discuss with you.’

  
‘What? There’s nothing going on, if that’s what you’re thinking.’ He
took a deep breath. Stop being defensive, he thought. It makes you look guilty.

  
‘I’m sure there isn’t,’ Sammy replied. ‘I just got a bit jealous, that’s
all. It’s my own fault for not staying around when you asked me to. I trust
you, Roy and I promise to always be there for you from now on.’

  
‘Good.’ He swallowed hard. Did she already
suspect and was she being sarcastic? You never knew with Sammy when she had one
of her heads on. But he was enjoying the thigh stroking. He groaned as her hand
crept further up. They were passing the car park entrance to Norman’s
Woods. He turned in and stopped the engine. ‘Shall we?’ The car park was
deserted, so chances are they’d have the clearing to themselves.

  
She nodded. ‘Just like old times.’

***

Roy
lay back in the bubbles and stared open-mouthed at Sammy, who was sitting at
the other end of the Jacuzzi. ‘So - let me get this right. You want me to ask
Livvy if she’ll donate an egg so that you can have an IVF baby to give Harley a
transplant. You’d really be willing to put yourself through all that?’

  
‘Yes. I’d do anything to save her life, Roy.
I thought you would, too.’

  
‘Well, yeah – but a baby – and at your time of life? Sam, I don’t know.’
He puffed out his cheeks. ‘It’s too much of a risk, love. What if something
happened to you? I’d never forgive myself. Let’s wait and see if any of us are
a suitable match before we start talking about bringing another life into the
world.’

  
‘You heard what the oncologist said. A full-blood sibling is the best
bet. And if
I
don’t have a child,
there’s only one other way, and I couldn’t bear it.’ Sammy’s eyes filled with
tears as she stared at him.
  

  
‘Well there’s no chance of that happening, is there?’ He sat up and
shuffled towards her. ‘Don’t cry. Things will be fine. If our samples don’t
match there’s a donor system and the hospital will try that.’

  
‘And what if there isn’t anyone suitable,’ Sammy sobbed against his
chest. ‘It may be too late by the time they’ve exhausted all their enquiries.
If I got pregnant right away, by the time Harley needs the transplant, the baby
will be here. Roy, it might be the
only way.’

  
‘I appreciate what you’re saying and I love you so much for wanting to
do it. But I can’t get my head around this at the moment. Let’s leave it for
tonight.
You’re
tired,
I’m
tired and I can’t think straight.
You’ve knocked me for six, sweetheart. Come on.’ He pulled her to her feet,
reached for a towel and wrapped it around her. ‘Let’s get you dry and into bed.
I think we’ve had enough for today.’

***

Livvy lay on her back, staring at
the ceiling. Her eyes filled with tears again as she went over the last two
hours. Roy had visited as promised,
but had been pre-occupied and didn’t want to make love. When pushed he’d taken
her hands and told her that Sammy had suggested she donate an egg so that he
and Sammy could have a baby to help save Harley’s life. Apparently they’d lain
awake most of the night, discussing the subject and although he admitted he was
very worried about her taking such risks, he’d finally agreed with Sammy that
it was the only way.

  
When she tentatively suggested that there
was
another way, he shook his head. ‘It can’t happen,’ he said. ‘It
would destroy Sammy and
you
need to
patch things up with Danny. Face it, Liv; he’s only guilty of the same crime as
you. I can’t rock the boat at home. Harley needs a peaceful haven not a war
zone. You saw the state Sammy was in yesterday and you and I were only standing
talking. She’d kill me if she knew I’d slept with you.’