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Authors: Jill Mansell
Don't Want To Miss A Thing
Copyright © 2012 Jill Mansell
The right of Jill Mansell to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.
First published as an Ebook by Headline Publishing Group in 2012
All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library
eISBN : 978 0 7553 5598 3
HEADLINE PUBLISHING GROUP
An Hachette UK Company
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London NW1 3BH
www.headline.co.uk
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Contents
About the Book
Dexter Yates loves his fun, care-free London life; he has money, looks and girlfriends galore. But everything changes overnight when his sister dies, leaving him in charge of her eight-month-old daughter Delphi. How is he ever going to cope?
Comic-strip artist Molly Hayes lives in the beautiful Cotswold village of Briarwood. When it comes to relationships, she has a history of choosing all the wrong men. Leaving the city behind, Dex moves to Briarwood – a much better place to work on his parenting skills – and he and Molly become neighbours. There’s an undeniable connection between them. But if Dexter’s going to adapt, he first has a lot to learn about Molly, about other people’s secrets . . . and about himself.
About the Author
The author of many bestselling novels, most recently A WALK IN THE PARK, Jill Mansell is a full-time writer. She lives in Bristol with her family.
For Dad, Paul and Judi, with my love.
Massive thanks are due to Helen Roberts, a Twitter friend and brilliant social worker who generously volunteered to advise me on the subjects of guardianship and adoption for this book. The information she gave me was wonderfully helpful, and I’m so grateful for her expertise and enthusiasm. Needless to say, any errors are mine alone.
Chapter 1
It was almost midnight and Dexter Yates was in bed with his girlfriend when his phone burst into life. Possessed of lightning reflexes, she grabbed it off the bedside table before he could reach it himself.
Honestly, some people were
so
mistrustful.
‘It says Laura.’ Her eyes narrowed at the sight of the name flashing up on the screen. ‘Who’s Laura?’
Jealousy was never a good look. ‘Can I have my phone please?’
‘Who
is
she?’
Heroically, Dexter didn’t say, ‘Someone an awful lot nicer than you.’ He held out his hand and waited for her to pass the phone to him, which she did with the kind of huffy annoyance that meant he definitely wouldn’t be seeing her again after tonight.
‘Laura, hey.’
‘Oh Dex, I’m sorry, I know it’s late. Did I wake you up?’
He smiled; only Laura could think he might be asleep before midnight. ‘Of course not. How’s everything with you?’
‘Everything . . . is perfect.’ The joy was there in her voice, shimmering down the phone line, and in that moment he knew what had happened. ‘It’s a girl, Dex. She’s here! And so beautiful,
you won’t believe it. Seven pounds twelve ounces. It’s just the most amazing thing
ever
.’
His smile broadened. ‘A girl! Fantastic. And why wouldn’t she be beautiful? When can I come and see her?’
‘Well, not tonight, obviously. Visiting hours are ten till twelve in the morning or seven till nine in the evening. Will you be able to make it tomorrow, d’you think? After work?’
‘I’ll make sure I can,’ Dex promised. ‘I’ll be there. Does she look like me?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous, she’s only an hour old. You’re twenty-eight. You have stubble.’
‘You know, you should really think about becoming a stand-up comedian.’
‘After all the gas and air I’ve had tonight, I’m pretty sure I couldn’t be a stand-up anything. OK, I’m getting low on battery here. I’d better go. Do you want me to email a photo or would you rather wait until you see her tomorrow?’
‘Don’t worry, I’ll wait. And hey,’ Dex’s voice softened, ‘well done, you.’
He ended the call, then lay back against the pillows and gazed up at the ceiling.
Wow
.
‘At the risk of sounding repetitive, who’s Laura?’ The atmosphere in the bedroom had by this stage turned distinctly frosty. ‘And why would you want to know if her baby looks like you?’
‘Come on.’ Dexter swung his legs out of bed and reached for his jeans and T-shirt. ‘It’s getting late. I’ll give you a lift home.’
‘Dex—’
‘Seriously? OK,’ said Dexter. ‘Laura’s my sister. And she’s just given birth to my niece.’
Laura was dozing when the nurse tapped on the door and eased it open.
‘Hello? Are you awake?’
Laura opened her eyes; now that she was a mother, she was going to have to get used to having her sleep interrupted. ‘Kind of, yes. What is it?’
‘You’ve got a visitor,’ whispered the nurse.
‘What,
now
?’
‘I know, and it’s not really allowed but when he explained the situation . . . well, what else could I do? I couldn’t send him away.’
The way the girl’s eyes were sparkling and her tone of voice told Laura all she needed to know. She hauled herself into a sitting position –
ooch, pain
– as the door opened wider and the nurse led their nocturnal visitor into the side ward. ‘And the situation is?’
‘I have to be at Heathrow in three hours to catch my flight to New York.’ Dex turned to the nurse and said, ‘Darling, thank you so much. You’re an absolute star.’
Laura waited until the besotted girl had left the room before rolling her eyes. ‘And on a scale of one to ten, exactly how true is
that
story?’
‘Ah, but it got me in here, didn’t it?’ Dex’s legendary charm was a long-standing joke between them. ‘I couldn’t wait. Too excited to sleep. These are for you, by the way. Sorry they’re a bit crap.’
He’d dropped into the twenty-four-hour supermarket in West Kensington and bought up masses of luridly bright orange roses, a giant Toblerone, a toy octopus and many, many bags of jelly worms. As you do.
‘They’re lovely,’ said Laura as he dumped everything on to the bed.
‘Well, if you will go around having babies in the middle of the night, the choices are limited. Anyway, come here.’ He gave her a hug and a noisy kiss on the cheek. ‘You clever thing. Well done. So, where is it?’
‘
It?
’
‘Sorry,
she
.’ Dex shrugged unrepentantly. ‘But we’ve been calling it “it” for months. Where are you keeping her then? In a cage under the bed?’
‘If you’re going to be like this, I won’t show her to you.’ But Laura didn’t mean it; from where he was standing, the cot was out of his line of vision. Tilting her head to the left, she indicated that Dex should come round to the other side of the bed.
That was when she sat back and watched as Dex – possibly for the first time in his life – fell in love.
It was unbelievable. You could actually see it happening. One minute he was interested, the next he was completely and utterly entranced. Before long, as if the momentousness of the occasion had made its presence felt, the newest addition to the family stirred and opened her eyes.
‘Her name’s Delphi,’ said Laura.
‘Oh my God.’ Dex exhaled slowly. ‘
Look
at her.’
Laura smiled. ‘She’s looking at you.’
‘She’s beautiful. I mean,
really
beautiful.’ He was transfixed.
Was it possible to burst with pride? Laura said, ‘Told you she was.’
‘Can I pick her up?’
‘So long as you don’t drop her.’
Dex’s dark hair fell forward as he bent down and began to slide his hands beneath Delphi’s tiny shoulders. He stopped and looked over at Laura. ‘I don’t know how.’
Dex spent his life being laid-back and supremely confident; it
was endearing to see him admit to a weakness. Laura said encouragingly, ‘You can do it. Just remember to support her head. Like this.’ She demonstrated with her own hands and watched from the bed as Dex copied her. ‘There you go, that’s it.’
He lifted her up, exclaiming, ‘She’s like a sunflower with a wobbly neck. Oh wow, Delphi Yates, look at you. Look at your hands.’ He shook his head in wonder. ‘What about those fingernails? And the eyelashes! Look, she’s
blinking
. . .’
Laura’s smile broadened. He really was in love. She watched him take Delphi on a tour of the tiny side ward, finishing up in front of the mirror. Having carefully settled her into the crook of his arm, Dex studied the reflection of the two of them together. ‘Hello, Delphi. That’s you, that is! Go on, give us a little wave. Oh no, don’t pull that face, it’s your birthday, you’re not allowed to cry . . . nooo, look in the mirror, have a dance!’
‘She might be hungry,’ said Laura.
‘No problem, we’ll give her some Haribo. Hey, Delph, fancy a jelly worm? What’s your favourite colour?’
‘Dex, you can’t give her Haribo!’
He gave her a look and she realised he’d been joking. ‘No? Well, that’s good, more for us. There, she’s not going to cry now anyway. Relax,
Mum
.’
Mum. After all this time, against all the odds, it had finally happened. Just as she’d given up hope that it ever would. At the age of forty-one she had miraculously fallen pregnant and now Delphi was here.