A Family Forever (9 page)

Adam sighed as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. "I've cancelled our trip to Spain. We won't go if you don't want to. Come back to the pub with me. We need to let Victoria get going."

She wanted to say, "It's okay. Stay here as long as you like. Let me help." But she knew she mustn't interfere in Adam's relationship with his son.

"Soph said I could stay here," Harry replied.

Now Victoria did speak up. "She had no right to do that, Harry. She didn't ask me. If she had, you know I'd have told you to ask your dad for permission."

Harry kicked the leg of the desk.

Victoria expected Adam to demand Harry get up and leave, instead he turned to her. "Are you planning to go to work now?"

"No. It's too late."

"Do you mind if we stay awhile? I need someone to talk to."

"Of course. You're welcome." A warm sensation bubbled up inside. He needed her, even if just for a short while.

With a wince, Adam rubbed his neck and returned his attention to his son. "Have you had anything to eat, pal?"

Harry picked up a giant cookie wrapper. "Soph left me this."

"I'll make sandwiches," Victoria said, eager to do something useful, rather than stand there feeling helpless. She headed downstairs and busied herself buttering bread and slicing cheese.

Adam and Harry came into the kitchen and she pulled open the back door. "Might as well sit out in the sun while it's shining." Adam rested a hand on his son's shoulder and they went outside.

Victoria set the sandwiches on a tray with some cans of soda and a fresh pot of tea and followed. Adam was sitting in a lawn chair staring at his son, who wandered around snapping pictures with his camera.

"Back to normal, I see," she said, joining him.

"No." He turned his bleak gaze on her. "I don't think I'll ever get back to normal again."

***

As Harry wandered around the sunny garden, photographing spiders and insects, Adam could hardly take his eyes off him. He was so grateful to have his son back safely.

But his relief was tempered with a sense of confusion. How could Harry believe he would leave for Spain without knowing he was safe? This made Adam question their whole relationship and how he'd raised him. Somewhere along the line, he must have screwed up badly.

"You and Harry will sort this out," Victoria said softly, pressing her hand over his.

Logically he knew she was right, but inside his world had tilted on its axis. How could he have been so wrong about what was best for Harry? "I've obviously messed up."

"Being a parent is hard. We can't get everything right all the time. It seems to me like you've done a lot of things well. Harry's a great kid. He's bright and well balanced."

"And so happy with me that he's just run away."

Victoria ignored his comment, which was probably a good thing. He needed to pull himself together and work out what to do to make Harry happy, not wallow in self-pity.

"What about Harry's mum, does he ever see her?"

"Occasionally. We divorced when he was three. She's married to a Canadian guy now and lives in Vancouver with her two little girls." And Harry seeing more of his mother wasn't going to happen. Heather might have given birth to him but she'd left him behind when she walked out on Adam and moved across the Atlantic.

Adam flipped his hand and gripped Victoria's slim fingers. His normally quick brain finally recovered from the numb shock and started to process.

"Harry obviously thinks differently from me. For me, home is more about who you're with than where you are."

"That's why you take Harry with you when you travel. I understand."

But Adam could tell from her tone she didn't think he was right. "You disagree?"

She chewed her lip thoughtfully. "Children need a nest like a hedgehog."

Despite his melancholy mood, he couldn't help but laugh.

She smiled. "I guess I'm obsessed with hedgehogs. But you know what I mean. Kids need stability and a safe place where they have their own things."

"Harry's safe with me and he has plenty of gadgets he takes when we travel."

"I'm sure he does. But he needs a comfortable home as well."

"And to mix with other kids," Adam added. The fact Harry had no friends his own age and mainly socialized with adults had worried Adam for a while. He'd chosen to push it to the back of his mind rather than face the fact that Harry needed to go to school.

"I think that's a given, isn't it?" Victoria said.

Adam released her hand and massaged the tight, achy muscles in his neck. The worry of Harry disappearing on top of everything else had left him stressed out, and his painkillers were at the pub.

Victoria rose to her feet and moved behind him "I'm not surprised you're wound up after this morning. Let me." She kneaded the muscles in his shoulders and neck and he dropped his head forward with a groan.

"That's good. Don't stop."

"I wasn't going to."

"My doctor says I should slow down and take some time off, but it's difficult when I'm busy. I hate to miss a good opportunity."

"You need to make the time. Maybe it's not only Harry who needs some home comforts."

Adam's eyelids drifted down at the blissful sensation as her fingers worked his muscles. He could easily get used to this.

The tension and pain leaked away and he fell into a trance. An image of a country house with a pretty garden drifted into his mind, the smell of baking and freshly brewed coffee, the sound of Harry and Sophie laughing together as they played. And Victoria stepping into his arms, linking her hands behind his neck, kissing him. Yes, home comforts like that would work wonders.

If he could find a suitable house, somewhere not too far away, somewhere with enough land for Victoria to release her hedgehogs so she had a reason to visit him often. He could focus on development prospects in the UK, spend more time at home, and Harry could attend a normal school.

His phone chimed to indicate a text. While Victoria continued to massage his neck, he fished the phone from his pocket and glanced at the message from his research guy.
Andrews is up to his eyes in debt. Willowbrook Farm owned by the bank. Full report e-mailed.

"Willowbrook Farm," he murmured. Of course. It was the answer to all his problems.

Chapter Nine

A thread of excitement ran through Adam as he drove up the rough driveway to Willowbrook Farm. The eighteenth-century country house was exactly as he remembered. Restored sympathetically, the old farm would make a lovely family home for him and Harry. And maybe even Victoria and Sophie if he were lucky.

A week ago he'd have had no hesitation in buying the property out from under the miserable old farmer without caring if he had somewhere else to go. But in the last few days, he'd changed.

Harry running away had been a wake-up call—opened Adam's eyes to the fact that it was easy to make mistakes with family, even when you were certain you were doing the right thing.

Nothing could excuse the way Andrews had treated Victoria and Sophie, but in his own way, the man probably thought his feelings were justified. After all, Victoria's grandmother had interfered in his relationship with his daughter.

Anyway, Adam was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. It was easy to judge other people harshly without knowing exactly what had happened.

Instead of making this a tragedy for Andrews, he hoped he could give him the chance for a fresh start. So he'd brought the farmer's daughter along. Her husband was running the pub to give her the morning off. She sat beside him in the four-wheel drive, her hands knotted tightly in her lap.

"You okay?" he asked as they approached the house.

"I haven't been back here for ten years. It was such a lovely house, now it's falling down around him. How could my father let the place get into this state?" Tears glistened in her eyes and Adam prayed that suggesting she come along had been the right decision.

"I can take you home if you've changed your mind," he said.

"No. I want to see Dad. You're right. He might need me."

While Felicity mourned for the home she had once loved, Adam felt a tad guilty for the excitement buzzing inside him at the thought of renovating it for himself. At least the beautiful old place would become a family home again.

He prayed Andrews took the easy way out of his financial troubles and sold up without a fight. Adam could just as easily buy the property from the bank, but it would take longer and be more painful for Andrews if the bank repossessed the farm and tossed the old man out.

Adam parked beside the dented Land Rover and climbed out. "Best if you wait here until I've spoken to your father," he said to Felicity. "I'll call you over when the time is right."

She nodded, and chewed her fingernails nervously.

As he had last time, Adam approached the back door but halted at a distance, prepared when the barking dogs charged towards him dragging their chains.

"Mr. Andrews," Adam shouted. "I need to talk to you."

After a few minutes, the old man plodded out in dirty rubber boots, his usual scowl fixed on his face. "What d'you want this time?"

"To help you."

The farmer pulled up and narrowed his eyes, obviously wondering what Adam was up to. "I don't need no help from you, Cantrell."

"Actually, you do." Adam explained what he did for a living and how he bought distressed properties for renovation.

"Willowbrook ain't for sale," Andrews snapped and turned to go back inside.

"You need to face facts, Mr. Andrews. Small dairy farms are struggling. You're not going to turn this business around. Surely you'd rather sell to me and walk away of your own accord than wait for the bank to move in and repossess the place?"

The old man's footsteps halted. He pulled off his cap and scratched his head. "I can't leave. I ain't got nowhere else to go."

That was exactly what Adam had suspected. Despite the farmer's bad behavior, Adam's heart went out to the lonely old man. "You might be wrong there."

Adam beckoned Felicity. The car door opened and she climbed out and walked towards them.

Andrews stood still as a statue, his gaze fixed on his daughter, his expression unreadable. For long moments nobody said a word, then Felicity spoke up. "There's a place for you at the Plume of Feathers with us, Dad, if you want it. You have two grandchildren who would love to get to know you."

Andrews turned away. Adam's breath caught in sympathy for Felicity, who'd really put her feelings on the line for the ungrateful old man. But the farmer didn't go inside as Adam feared. He went to the wall and pulled the dogs back, hooking their chains up short.

"You'd best come inside if you want to look around the house, Mr. Cantrell," he said. "It needs a bit of work, but it's sound. You can make us a pot of tea, Felicity. Everything's in the same place as always."

Felicity hurried forward and took her father's arm, but he shook her off. "I ain't no invalid."

Adam smiled to himself as he followed them in, partly with relief that things had worked out, but also because he couldn't wait to look around the house he hoped he would soon call home.

***

Victoria missed Adam so much. The weeks dragged when he was away. Today was their three-month anniversary—three months from the first day she met him—and she couldn't wait for him and Harry to arrive to spend the weekend with her and Sophie.

At the sound of the door knocker, she rinsed flour off her hands in the kitchen sink and dashed for the front door. Sophie got there first. Squealing with excitement, her daughter threw open the door and leaped into Adam's arms for a hug.

Victoria smiled with pleasure at seeing her daughter so happy. Sophie wasn't used to her mum having a boyfriend. It had taken her a while to accept Adam. Now she treated him like a father.

"Hi, Victoria." Harry came inside and she put her arms around him, smiling against his hair as they hugged.

"You get taller every time I see you." Victoria had bonded with the boy right away and quickly grown close to him. She put that down to their shared love of nature and photography.

For all four of them, the last few months had been a gradual process of getting to know and trust one another, but now they were becoming a proper family, something she'd never dreamed she would have.

Once the children had said hello, they ran upstairs to Sophie's bedroom, chattering thirteen to the dozen.

"Hi there, beautiful." Adam gave Victoria a crooked smile.

She stepped into his arms, linked her hands behind his head, and kissed him, then pressed her face against his neck.

"Alone at last," he breathed in her ear, making her go all tingly.

"Missed you," she said.

His hand caressed circles on her back. "Missed you too. I've just about tied up the Florida project. I shouldn't have to go out there again." He raised his head and sniffed. "Is that dinner I smell?"