The Corrigan legacy (22 page)

'Must have been hard for you.'

'Yes. I never thought something like ME would hit me, because I'd always been fairly healthy and energetic before. When you don't have much money, you're very limited in what you can do, as well as being limited by the fatigue.'

'I feel fairly optimistic that this specialist will help you get your zing back.'

Kate smiled. 'She's made a good start. But even if she does restore me to full health, I don't think I'll ever go back to working so frenetically. I had tunnel vision about my career, you know. I was far too ambitious.'

They sat chatting for over an hour before Mark went home. It had been so pleasant, Kate thought as she waved him goodbye. He was easy to talk to and there had been no awkward pauses, none at all. It was as if they were old friends.

In fact, she marvelled as she thought about how promising her life was now.

As Cal went back towards the shed the door opened and Lily asked anxiously, 'What did she say?'

'She said yes.'

She gave a huge sigh and put her arms round him. 'That's good. I like being with you, Dad. I feel safe.'

He put his arm round her and guided her back into the shed. 'There's something I have to tell you before we go into the house. Let's sit down.'

'A problem?'

The anxious, old-woman look reappeared on her face and he cursed Kerry mentally for putting it there. 'Not exactly.'

He paused, not sure how to continue, then took a deep breath and said it bluntly, 'It's about your biological father.'

She grew very still, staring at him wide-eyed.

'I've found out who he is.' Cal paused again, trying to gauge her reaction.

'I don't care who he is. He's never bothered to see me, so I don't want to see him.'

'You don't need to see him, but something's cropped up and you need to know about it. It involves Judith. In fact, her ex-husband is your father, but we didn't know until recently. And that means her son .. .'He watched comprehension dawn in her face.

'. . . is my half-brother,' she finished for him. 'I have a brother.'

They both knew she'd always regretted being an only child. 'Good news, eh?'

'Oh, yes, Dad! Very good news.'

'Well, here's some more. He's staying here at the moment with his mother.'

She clutched his arm. 'What if he doesn't like me?'

'Then he's a fool.'

'Or I don't like him.'

'If he's anything like his mother, he'll be OK.'

Silence, which he didn't dare interrupt, then she said gruffly, 'Let's get the introductions over with then.'

'All right. But one other thing ... I hope you like Judith, because I like her very much.'

She smiled, a shadow of her old self returning briefly. 'Well, duh! As if I hadn't worked that out already!'

Definitely twelve going on ninety, he thought as they walked towards the house.

Judith took a deep breath. 'Mitch, there's something I need to tell you before Cal brings his daughter in.'

'What?' He looked at her, his expression sunny and relaxed.

'Cal's daughter is called Lily - and - well, she's that Lily, your half-sister.'

' What?' There was a moment's silence, then, 'Did he bring her here specially to meet me?'

'No. She's running away from her mother.' Judith explained the situation.

'Poor kid. I'd hate to be taken completely away from you. It must be pretty bad for Cal, too.'

He said it so casually she didn't make a fuss, but his comment made her feel warm inside. 'You'll be nice to Lily?'

He grinned. 'I like my other sisters. Why wouldn't I like this one? It's you who has problems with them.'

She flushed. 'I didn't want to have anything to do with Liz, that's why I didn't encourage you to get together with Lacey and Emma. Liz can be a real bitch when she wants to, and from the way she still behaves towards me, you'd think I was the one who broke up her marriage.' She swung round as she heard footsteps outside.

Cal knocked and came in, his hand resting lightly on his daughter's shoulder. 'Lily, I'd like you to meet Mitch and Judith.'

Mitch gaped at his sister. 'Wow! You look just like my -I mean, our cousin Kate!'

Lily looked at his red hair and fingered her own. 'I guess redheads must run in my biological family. But I want it understood from the start that I consider Cal my father.' She looked at them all challengingly.

Mitch shrugged. 'It's fine by me. You're not missing much, anyway. Your biological father isn't exactly a family man. His main interests are business and having affairs with younger women.'

Judith glanced quickly in her son's direction, wondering about the bitter tone. She caught Cal's sympathetic gaze and knew he hadn't missed that, so gave him a quick smile. 'Cup of tea or coffee, anyone? Or a can of lemonade?'

'I'd love a lemonade.' Lily's voice was very polite.

'We're both hungry,' Cal said. 'How about I go into the village and pick up a few supplies?'

Judith took a quick decision. 'I'll come with you. The mini-mart stays open quite late.'

'We can go on the Hog, if you like.'

She stopped, smiling at him. 'I'd like that. I've never ridden a Harley-Davidson before.'

When they'd gone, Mitch found the biscuit tin and offered it to Lily. 'Weird, isn't it? Us being brother and sister, I mean.'

She took one. 'Very weird. I've only just found out you exist. Do you mind about me?'

He shook his head. 'Nah. I - or rather we have two other half-sisters, Lacey and Emma.'

'Two more?' She gaped at him. 'I can't get my head round this. I was just, like, an only child and now I've got three brothers and sisters.'

'You might get nieces and nephews soon as well, because Lacey's got married a week ago. You'll like her and Emma.'

She beamed at him. 'This is wicked. Tell me about them.'

'Let's go and sit down.' He led the way into the front room, bringing the tin of biscuits and absent-mindedly eating them as he sketched out a rough family tree for Lily on his mother's phone notepad.

'I'd like to meet your father one day,' she admitted. 'Out of sheer curiosity. But at the moment, Dad and I are in hiding from my mother and her new guy.'

'Tell me about it'

By the time Judith and Cal got back, the two younger folk were chatting comfortably, Lily sitting cross-legged on the sofa, Mitch sprawled on the floor, the biscuit tin between them, empty.

'I can't believe this,' Judith muttered as she glanced through the doorway and took in the cosy scene in the sitting room. 'What were we worrying about?' She waved a greeting and led the way back into the kitchen to put away the food.

Cal set down the bags he was carrying. 'I'd help you with that, but I don't know yet where things go.'

She smiled. 'I'm not used to a man who's domesticated. Des wasn't, not in the slightest.'

There was the sound of laughter from the sitting room and Cal looked in that direction with a smile. 'Lily usually gets on with people.'

'And Mitch is quite used to sisters.'

Cal's smile was replaced by a frown. 'I'm a bit worried about what Kerry will do next. I'm praying she won't set the police after us.'

'Is that likely?'

He considered this for a moment. 'Not sure. She's changed since she met Wayne. I think he's influencing her in this. Big macho fellow. I'd guess he hates to be bested by a child. He doesn't want to live with Lily. She says he was talking about putting her in a boarding school in the States. He was extremely uncivil to me the few times we met when I was picking Lily up.'

'Sounds a nasty type. I'll put some frozen chips in the oven, then I'd better go and make up the beds before I feed that every-hungry son of mine.'

'Do you mind if I ring Mrs Baxter first, then I'll help you. She'll be worrying about us.'

Later, when she and her dad were alone together, Lily whispered, 'I like your new woman. And it's great having a brother like Mitch. My friends would flip over him.'

Mitch stopped his mother in the kitchen as he got a final drink before bed. 'I like Lily. We must introduce her to Lacey and Emma.' He picked up a plum and took a bite out of it, saying indistinctly, 'It'd be funny if Tiffany had a daughter as well, wouldn't it? I'd have four half-sisters then.'

She ruffled his hair. 'Heaven help them all! Now, isn't it about time you went to bed? We have to get you back to London tomorrow.' 

'Do we? I want to get to know Lily a bit better. Surely, a new sister is more important than school? It's not as if I'm behind in my work or anything.'

She hesitated. 'I don't know. I'll think about it.'

But she was thrilled to see how well he and Lily got on.

When Judith went into the sitting room, Cal was standing by the bookcase. He turned, holding out his arms to her and she walked straight into them, feeling very much at home there. Strange how easy it was to love this man.

Love! She blinked and stilled against him, looking up at his face. And then said it without thinking twice. 'I think I'm in love with you, Cal Richmond.'

'Good, because I'm definitely in love with you, Judith Horrocks.'

'So quickly?'

'Yes.' He cocked one eyebrow at her then looked upwards. 'Do we sleep together tonight?'

She hesitated, tempted, but shook her head. 'Mitch won't be asleep for ages, and it doesn't set a good example, does it?'

'I think they're both more liberal about those things than you are.' He grinned. 'Good thing I'm tired or I'd have trouble sleeping.'

She wasn't tired and she had great trouble sleeping. She nearly went along to Cal's room, but the fear of waking up either of the children held her back. They were both old enough to be fully aware of what it would mean. And if they heard anything . . . She shuddered at the thought.

Kerry looked at Wayne. 'We can't leave for America without Lily.'

'I know how you feel, honey. I've already postponed our flight.' He slapped one hand down on his thigh. 'Damn! I hate being bested by a twelve-year-old girl!'

'Me too. But if she's so determined, perhaps we should consider letting her stay with Cal.'

He gave her one of his icy looks. 'I've never backed off from a fight and I don't intend to do so now.'

'But we've looked for her everywhere. She must be with Cal, the way he gave you the slip, only I can't think where he could have taken her.'

'We need to have a brainstorming session. I'll get some paper.'

She smiled as she waited for him. His masterful behaviour might be considered old-fashioned by some, but she enjoyed the way he looked after her and made her life easy. It was good to have someone to turn to again. She hadn't had anyone permanent in her life for a long time and would be glad to be settled. Maybe she was growing older, getting tired of chasing around.

He came back and sat down beside her, putting a cushion on his knee to hold the pad in place. 'Right, let's go through everything you know about your ex's past, where he grew up, who his friends are, what he likes to do in his spare time. I'm sure we'll find a clue somewhere in there.'

An hour later she felt wrung out and more like having a glass of wine than continuing to work on the puzzle of where Cal could have gone, but Wayne was still going strong. He was staring at the paper as if one of the neatly listed place or people names would leap off and declare itself to be sheltering Cal and Lily.

He tapped one name. 'I think this is the clue.'

She fought back a yawn and tried to concentrate. 'What is?'

'This. His childhood. The way he loves to go back to the north and walk on the moors.' He nodded slowly and emphatically. 'If you ask me, that's where he's gone. And the best of it is, with that big bike of his, he'll be far easier to track than he would in a car. How you came to choose a loser like him, I can't figure, Kerry. He doesn't even try to make real money and he could in the IT industry.' He tapped the paper again. 'If nothing's cropped up by tomorrow morning, we'll take a little run up north to the place where he was born and poke around.'

'But he has no family left there.' She hesitated. "Shouldn't we call the police now?"

'No. I'd rather settle things myself. We know she's safe with Cal.' Wayne tapped his nose. 'Anyway, I've got a feeling about this. We'll get up early and I'll see if it still seems a hot trail to me. I'm at my best after a good night's sleep. Now, that's enough of your daughter.' He swung her up into his arms. 'Let's go to bed. We have the place to ourselves tonight.'

Excitement ran through her and she put her arm round his neck as he carried her upstairs. His caveman approach was definitely a turn-on. She'd never met a man who gave her such pleasure in bed.

Dawn transforms a sepia landscape into full technicolour, invites birds to strut their stuff, sends insects into a whirring frenzy.

Kate woke with a feeling of happy expectation and a totally clear head for the first time in months. She went down for breakfast and found some special rice bread set out by the toaster and beyond it, gluten-free cereal in a labelled jar.

Lena peered through the door. 'Bacon and scrambled eggs?'

'Yes, please. Lovely.'

Andy came in as she was starting to eat. 'You look better today.'

'I feel better. I'm even hungry. I'm really looking forward to going out sightseeing with Mark. I'm even looking forward to getting the results of the tests and finding out what's wrong with my body's biochemistry.'

'Maeve will want to see you before you go out. She likes to keep tabs on us, even now.'

Kate stopped eating for a moment. 'How ill is she, Andy?'

'Very.'

'Terminally?' He nodded, looking so sad she could have wept for him.

'We think we've bought her a little extra time with this new treatment, though.'

She'd said it before she'd time to consider whether it was wise. 'You love her, don't you?'

He nodded. 'She's more like an aunt than an employer.'

'It shows in how you look at her and talk about her. And you just said, "we" when you talked about buying time.'

'You go straight to the point, don't you?'

She grinned. 'I'm an Aussie. We don't pussy-foot around. Besides, I like her too. She's such fun, so alive in the head.

I wish my Dad hadn't kept us apart.' She picked up her knife and fork again and picked up a piece of bacon. 'I haven't been so hungry for ages.'

'That's good.'

Kate went up to see her aunt just before she left. 'How are you?'

'Resting. It feels to be the right thing to do at the moment. I got angry the other day and that tired me out too much, made me feel—' She waved one hand about as if searching for the right word '—strange.'

'Aunt Maeve...'

'Yes?'

'I don't know how to thank you, but I just want you to know that I'm truly grateful for your help. I feel better already, just by giving up wheat. Why did no one even consider that before, when it's so simple?' Her voice came out a littlexhoked. 'I thought I was going to be an invalid all my life. I even wondered if I had Alzheimer's, my brain got so cloudy.'

Maeve smiled and held out her arms, hugging her niece, something which also felt very right to her. 'The only thing that's certain in this life is that things change, for better as well as for worse. And look - if you want to ring your parents, go ahead. Don't stay estranged from them.'

'I might ring at a time when Mum is on her own. I think it's too soon for Dad and he'd put the phone down. He's good at holding grudges.'

'Typical Corrigan stubbornness. My grandfather was famous for it.'

'What other traits do we Corrigans inherit? Dad's always refused to talk about his family.'

'Red hair, obviously. I had it too once. We're strong-willed, rather too fond of getting our own way, generous, lusty in bed,' she winked. 'Some of us are good at making money but not always as good at keeping it. I'm the exception there. My father made plenty of money and if he hadn't died young, would have lost every penny again, was well on the way to doing so. As it was, I inherited an ailing business, which he left mainly to me because he knew I might be able to pull it together again. I think Des takes after him where money is concerned. Your father's more like my mother, though - a plodder, not at all money hungry.'

'I think he's most upset about not getting this house. He loved it.'

'Is he still upset about that?'

'Yes. It all came out just before I left.'

'I hadn't realized he felt so bad about it. Not that it'd have made a difference. I love it too, you see, and was determined to get it.' She gave one of her wry smiles. 'I'm as selfish as the next person.'

'What about my grandparents? They both died young, didn't they? I hope that's not another Corrigan legacy.'

'Not unless you think car crashes can be inherited. My Corrigan grandparents lived well into their eighties. You could have met them when you were young if your father had kept in touch. They were always sad about that.' She sighed and got lost in her thoughts for a moment, then shook her head as if to banish the sad memories and smiled at Kate again. 'Well, we can't change the past, only the future. Today you should go out and enjoy yourself with Mark.'

'Do you mind?'

'What?'

'Me having a date with him?'

'No, of course not. Good luck to you both. It's about time he found himself a woman. Just don't rush into anything. You're fairly vulnerable at the moment.'

Kate found herself humming and walking in rhythm to the tune as she went downstairs. She felt as if a load of worry had been taken off her shoulders. Hope was very invigorating.

And this was all thanks to Maeve. If the worst happened and Maeve died, that gift of better health would be her aunt's best legacy to her.

Des got up to find his dirty clothes still scattered over the floor. Tiff wasn't around, so he stepped over them and went looking for her. She was in her office typing, didn't even hear him come up behind her and jumped like a startled rabbit when he asked the question nearest his heart, 'What's for breakfast?'

'Whatever you get for yourself She got up and pushed him gently out of the room. 'Des, morning is my best writing time, so please, just let me get on with it.'

'But you won't need to write once we're married. I'll have enough money for both of us.'

'That attitude is what I'm afraid of. Let's get this straight from the very start: whatever we decide to do, I'm not giving up writing. I love doing it. And I'm not turning into a glorified housekeeper and social secretary.'

Their eyes met in a challenge and it was he who looked away first.

She closed the door in his face and he stood for a moment scowling at it then tied his dressing gown more tightly at the waist and went into the kitchen. When he inspected the fridge he found nothing there except fruit and yoghurt and a loaf of heavy, dark bread. His eyes brightened when he saw a jar of honey in the cupboard and a few minutes later he sat down to enjoy six slices of the most delicious toast he'd ever eaten, licking the runny trails of honey off his fingers. He'd enjoyed it far more than his usual full cooked breakfast. There was, he decided, something to be said for getting your own food and choosing what to eat.

He was just about to go and get dressed whenHie noticed how untidy the kitchen now was. After hesitating for a moment, he cleared the mess up, muttering under his breath about paying for a woman then having to do things himself.

His thoughts now focused on what he had to do that day, he got ready, putting on the spare shirt he kept here. He'd have to bring some more clothes and get these dirty ones washed.

Surely Tiff could sling them in the washing machine with her own things?

He remembered how firmly she'd dismissed him this morning and grinned. She always had been decisive about what she wanted, both in their life together and in bed. She'd made him sign a legal contract before she'd agreed to live here as his permanent mistress, with specified redundancy payments in case he tired of her. Well, he hadn't tired of her because she wasn't at all like any of the other women he'd had.

And they were going to get married. He was quite determined about that.