Everything to Nothing (59 page)

He turned to
return to his bed, but as soon as Sophia could not see David she
started to cry again. With another curse he turned back and looked
down on her, staring into her green eyes. With a gurgle and another
kick, David was sure that she chuckled and smiled at him. Relieved
again that she had stopped crying, he returned to bed. As soon as
he had pulled the duvet back over him and closed his eyes the
crying started again.

Now continually
cursing David got up again and stormed over to the side of her cot.
‘What? What do you want?!’ Again, as soon as Sophia saw David she
stopped crying. ‘Right, what is wrong with you? I’m trying to
sleep!’

Gurgling and
kicking some more David looked down into those green eyes and his
heart skipped a beat. ‘Right, well, maybe you want some attention?
If I give you some attention will you let me go to sleep? You’re
going to be a right one in eighteen years. How the hell do you pick
up a baby?’

Placing a
tentative arm under her legs and one under her head, he carefully
lifted her up and placed her against his chest. Her big green eyes
looked into his blue and again he was sure she smiled at him.
Gently he rocked her in his arms and he walked over to the chair
carefully lowering himself into it, reclining backwards. David
rested her again against his chest, holding her firmly.

She was warm
and he studied her tiny fingers and toes. As he lifted her hand
with his index finger her own fingers wrapped round his finger with
surprising strength and her eyes met his again. ‘Has your mother
been training you to break my heart?’

Looking into
her emerald green eyes he saw them close briefly, and then with a
struggle she opened them again to look into his eyes. They closed
again, half opened and then closed as she fell quickly asleep.
Rocking gently in the chair, her warmth and the feel of her body
was comforting to David and it was not too long before his eyes
started to droop and soon he was asleep with Sophia wrapped
securely and firmly in his arms.

*

A ray of
sunshine through the thin curtains struck Sally’s face waking her
from her sleep. When she opened her emerald eyes she was surprised
to see David’s side of the bed was empty. Rolling over to get out
of bed her eyes saw David asleep in the chair with Sophia being
cradled in his arms also fast asleep.

Rays of early
morning sunshine were lighting them with an ethereal quality. As
soon as she saw this sight before her, tears welled up in her eyes
and she grabbed her cheap mobile phone off the bedside table. Even
though it was cheap, the phone still had a camera function and she
took a picture of David and Sophia, a picture that she would grow
to treasure.

For an hour she
lay in bed looking at the man she still loved with all her heart,
cradling her beloved daughter. She noted how David’s finger was
being grasped by one of Sophia’s hands and using the zoom function
she took a photograph of this image. Unfortunately the perfect
scene before her of father with child was broken shortly after by
Jacob waking and starting to cry. His cries woke Sophia straight
away and showing her indignation at being woken from such a deep
slumber, she also burst into tears.

This woke David
and his eyes met Sally’s. She smiled at him, and for the first time
in as long as Sally could remember, he smiled back at her. ‘I think
she got me at a moment of weakness.’

‘So she’s
already a minx who can manipulate men however she wants to?’

‘Looks like
it.’

‘Want to help
me feed them?’

‘I’ll feed…’
David stopped, unable to complete the sentence.

‘The name of
your daughter is Sophia. The name of your son is Jacob. Come
through to the kitchen and you can make Sophia’s bottle. You’re
holding her properly which is a good start I suppose.’

‘I
guessed.’

‘Come on.’

Sally got out
of bed and took the few steps to pick up Jacob who was now giving
full voice and taking David’s hand she led him through to the
kitchen. Giving him precise instructions she helped him make
Sophia’s bottle while she made Jacob’s and then they all returned
to the bedroom where David sat back in the chair to feed Sophia and
Sally perched on the bed feeding Jacob. All that day Sophia did not
leave David’s arms. He fed her again and changed her nappy a couple
of times, cuddling her in his arms and not even turning on the
television throughout the whole day.

At night, David
wanted to sleep with Sophia in his arms again but Sally did not let
him. ‘No, I’m sorry David; she needs to sleep in the cot. She can’t
sleep in your arms every night because she’ll get used to it and
never be able to sleep on her own. If she wakes in the night feel
free to tend to her and you can look after her tomorrow again.’

‘I’ll look
forward to it.’

With a care
that she had not seen in him for months, David lay his daughter in
the cot and tucked the blankets around her. Standing over her he
only left her side when she was sound asleep and then he got into
bed with Sally. He was surprised when Sally draped an arm over him.
It was the first show of affection either of them had shown to each
other for months and months. ‘Did you enjoy looking after your
daughter?’

‘She’s got your
eyes.’

‘And Jacob has
got your eyes.’

‘Has he?’

‘Yes. It would
be good if you spent some time with him too.’

‘I might.
Sophia has got me wrapped round her little finger at the
moment.’

‘I can’t tell
you how happy I am to see you as happy as you’ve been today.’

‘I’ve enjoyed
it. I’ll look forward to caring for her more.’

‘Good. Night
honey.’ Sally gave him a light kiss on his cheek and then rolled
over and switched off the bedside lamp.

David did not
sleep much that night. Instead he did a lot of thinking.

The first
subject he could not help thinking about as he saw the duvet
bulging over his belly was how much weight he had put on. Then his
thoughts turned to Sophia, and now also Jacob slipped into
them.

The last year
since the accident had been the hardest of his life. Knowing and
living with the fact that his driving had killed his best friend
and ruined Michelle’s and Sally’s lives had been eating him from
the inside. The only way he could cope was to ignore everyone and
drink until drunk every day, staring at the television. He had not
thought until now about how Sally had supported him, how much love
and effort she had given him in his time of need and how horribly
he had treated her. And now he had two children that needed caring
for.

Even now, even
though he had rejected the babies outright, Sally had still stood
by him. What kind of person did she have to be in order to do that?
How could she still love him so much despite the way he had been
acting? These thoughts raced and crashed through his head all
night, and even when he tended to Sophia when she woke he carried
on thinking about the mess he was in.

As he stood
over her cot, he glanced over at his son, and his heart missed a
beat as tears started to brim in his eyes. It was then that he made
his decision to straighten out his life and the lives of his family
once and for all.

*

When Sally woke
because the babies were crying she was again surprised to see that
David was not in bed. Glancing at the clock she saw it was eight in
the morning and she stood up out of bed to tend to the children.
When they had settled she quickly looked through the apartment for
David and was concerned when all the rooms were empty.

For the rest of
the morning she anxiously looked after the babies and it was only
in the early afternoon that she heard the door to the apartment
open and David walked into the lounge. He ignored Sally at first
and walked over to where Sophia was lying in her cot. He bent over
and kissed her forehead and then he touched Jacob’s cheek as he
turned to look at Sally.

‘Where have you
been? I’ve been worried.’

‘Sorry, but I
didn’t want to wake you when I left. I’ve been to the job centre
and then to a job interview.’

‘A job
interview?’ Sally’s surprise clearly showed on her face.

‘Yeah, a job
interview. I’m not completely useless you know.’

‘I didn’t say
you were. And?’

‘Well, I got
it!’

‘You got it?!
Wow! Fantastic!’ She ran across the room and threw her arms around
him, giving him a big hug.

‘Well don’t get
too excited. It’s only labouring on a site, minimum wage.’

‘I don’t care!
It’s a start! I’m so happy for you!’

‘I gave a
different name.’

‘Oh. Why?’

‘Your dad.
Hopefully he won’t find out about it.’

‘Yeah, of
course. Sorry you have to do that.’

‘It’s okay.
They pay cash so it’s not like I’m going to be getting cheques made
out in this other name.’

‘Sounds
perfect. I’m so happy for you!’ She hugged him tighter and Sophia
did not like this at all. While they were hugging she screwed up
her eyes and burst into tears, crying as loud as they had ever
heard her cry. ‘Oh my! She’s jealous of me!’

Quickly David
bent down and scooped her into his arms and almost instantly she
stopped crying and snuggled her head against his chest. ‘You know
something, I think she is!’

‘Looks like
I’ve got some pretty serious competition!’ Sally exclaimed.

‘Very
serious.’

Sally picked up
Jacob and cuddled him against her bosom and then she said, ‘You’ve
never held him before. Do you want to?’

‘Yeah, I
suppose, if our little princess will let me!’

‘Well, we’ll
try.’

Carefully they
exchanged children and David held his son for the first time. ‘He
has got my eyes.’

‘Told you.’

‘He’s got your
nose though, and Sophia has got your everything!’

Sally laughed
and they both sat down on the battered old sofa and cuddled the
children, swapping them occasionally. They stayed like this for
hours with David, after all his trauma and mental anguish, at last
getting to know his children. At last, they were a family.

Chapter 44

‘Why?! Why did
you do this?! Why can’t you just leave us alone and let us get on
with our lives in peace?!’

For the first
time in five years Sally was in her father’s office at the mansion.
The years had aged him greatly Sally noticed, and from the brief
word she had managed with James before she entered his office, he
mourned greatly for the daughter he had lost. James informed her
that he would do anything to have her back in his life, but he was
also stubborn, a stubborn bitter man who refused to back down on
the promise he had made to Sally.

For three years
since obtaining the labouring job David had worked solidly, never
taking a sick day off and only taking a day off when the sites he
worked on closed for bank holidays. His managers noticed his work
ethic and realised that he also had a good head on his shoulders.
It was not long before he was promoted to foreman and excelling in
this position he was moved up the ladder to become Site
Manager.

Even though Mr.
Gallagher did not want his daughter back in his life with David,
his network of informants made sure he was aware of every move
either of them made. After discovering that David was now Site
Manager, Mr. Gallagher made some phone calls despite the pleas of
James to stop him ruining his daughter’s life again.

Once the phone
calls had been made, he opened his safe in the office and took out
a file which had the name Simon scrawled across it. He opened the
file and removed two photographs from the stack of photographs
within it. One was a picture of the full crash site, and another
was a close-up of Simon’s severed arm lying in the grass.

On an envelope
he wrote David’s name and address and then placed the two
photographs in the envelope. His secretary was informed to post the
letter first class and David received the envelope containing the
pictures on the morning he returned home from work after finding
out he had lost his job.

‘I did this
because I want my daughter back.’

‘You could have
me back if you just accepted David’s mistake, forgave him and
welcomed us both back into your life!’

‘As I told you
those years ago, I do not want that man in my family and until you
see sense I will continue to make your lives a misery!’

‘You know
something daddy, I nearly called you a couple of months ago. Our
lives were going well. Our twins are now four and about to start
school…’

‘I know.’

‘Yeah, you
would. David had a good job. Thanks to you continually watching
over me with your spies I still couldn’t get a job but we were
getting by. And now I’m glad I didn’t call because you have just
become a bitter, evil, twisted old man!’

‘And it is your
fault that I have become this.’

‘No, it’s your
fault daddy. If you’d just forgiven him.’

‘Never.’

‘And why did
you wait so long before getting David sacked? Why not get him
sacked after his first day like you usually did? Did you want to
give him hope that you’d forgotten about us so you could bring our
lives crashing down again at your convenience?’

‘My
grandchildren.’

‘Your what?!’
Sally’s voice screeched. ‘Your WHAT?! Believe me when I say that
they will never, ever be your grandchildren!’

‘I did not want
my grandchildren to suffer during their critical early years. It is
still my hope that one day you will see sense and come back to me
and when you do I want my heirs to be fit and healthy.’

‘Now they are
your heirs?! Not only have you become a bitter, evil, twisted old
man you’ve also become delusional!’