A Marriage In The Making. Natalie Fox
only a slight softening of tone in the request.
Karis swept her wet hair from her brow to stop the drips of water from obscuring her view of him. ‘I care for your son and care for his future too, Mr Kennedy,’ she told him sincerely. ‘I want what is best for him and if you think I won’t give you my full co-operation then you are making a bad character judgement.’
His eyes darkened angrily for a fleeting second but then it was gone and he said coolly, ‘Good. So long as you are on my side all should be well.’
On his side? What was this—a war? Well, if sides were to be taken she would always lean Josh’s way. A child needed protecting. Josh was afraid of his father and there had to be good reason. Sure, she’d co-operate but Josh would always come first with her.
‘When do you intend taking him?’ Karis asked tentatively.
She wouldn’t be able to bear it but she had known it had to happen at some time in the child’s life. A year was too long to have cared for the boy, with no parental support. Every waking hour had been spent with him and Tara. She knew him as well as her own daughter.
‘Sooner rather than later. Simone isn’t fond of the Tropics.’
Had Karis just heard right? She stared at him in dismay. If this was cooperation she was out of it already. ‘I don’t think your wife is the first consideration here,’ she managed to get out. ‘I think—’
‘Simone is not my wife yet and you are not employed to think further than the care of my son,’ he retaliated quickly.
A mysterious surge of relief rushed at her at the news that Simone wasn’t Josh’s stepmother yet, not Daniel’s wife either. But anger was in hot pursuit, bringing a flush of defensive words from her mouth for what he had just said.
‘Just a minute, Mr Kennedy. That isn’t fair. Yes, I’m employed to care for Josh and, as you must know, it hasn’t been easy. You turn up here, out of the blue, expecting your son to run to you with open arms and then wanting to whisk him out of a settled life because your lady doesn’t like the Tropics. What about Josh’s feelings in all this?’
‘That’s enough!’ he ordered thickly.
‘Oh, no, it isn’t nearly enough!’ Karis went on determinedly. ‘Child psychology obviously isn’t your forte; as for being a father, you are even less qualified. None of this can be rushed. Josh’s feelings must always come first. I might not have any official qualifications to look after children, Mr Kennedy, but I sure as hell know how to love them.’
In a fury she crumpled Josh’s towel into her fist and stormed away from him, bare feet grinding so hard into the sand that they were hot and raw by the time she reached the gardens.
Regret for her outburst washed over her as soon as she stepped into the kitchen of the cottage to find a subdued Josh munching a biscuit at the kitchen table. She wanted to cover her face and wish it all away but couldn’t because Josh would know something was wrong.
She hadn’t any right to speak to Daniel Kennedy that way and she was deeply ashamed of her outburst now. After all, he was the boy’s father and nothing in the world could change that. She shouldn’t be fighting him, she thought remorsefully, she should be co-operating as he had suggested because little Josh’s welfare and future were all that mattered. Trouble was, he made her so mad, stepping back into his son’s life and expecting so much, so soon, and treating her with such disdain when he hadn’t even given her a chance to show him how good she had been for his son.
She took a deep breath of new resolve. This little boy mattered, not her feelings. ‘I’ve been talking to your father and he was thrilled with your dive, Josh. He said—’
A shadow darkened the doorway and Karis turned, expecting it to be Saffron with Tara, but it wasn’t; it was the devil himself and on sight of him her skin prickled warily.
He spoke and this time he didn’t shout or sound angry. He actually sounded quite pleasant. ‘I said I wished Karis would teach me to dive too because I’ve never quite been able to do it. She said she wasn’t sure so I thought I’d ask you. Do you think she should give me lessons, Josh?’
Josh stared hard at his biscuit, not able to raise his eyes to his father. Karis held her breath, watching the poor boy struggling with some sort of inner conflict he obviously couldn’t cope with.
Karis glanced back at Daniel leaning in the doorway. Their eyes met and locked in mutual understanding and Karis was pleasantly surprised that his had softened considerably, as if he was sorry for being so sharp and censorious with her. He was trying; that was something at least. For Josh’s sake of course she would meet him halfway, but only for Josh’s sake.
She broke the eye contact first and went to the fridge for drinks for everyone. ‘I’ve thought about it, Josh, and think it’s a good idea. We could teach him together because you are so good at it now.’ She laughed, trying to make fun of it all. ‘But I bet he’s rotten at it. Should be good for a laugh at least.’
Josh didn’t think the idea at all amusing. To Karis’s horror he flung the half-nibbled biscuit down and flew from the kitchen, out of the door opposite the one his father was leaning in. Karis closed her eyes in sufferance and said nothing till they heard the slam of a door on the other side of the cottage. His bedroom door, as Karis knew of old.
‘You’ll have to give him time,’ she murmured, fully expecting Daniel to fling some sort of accusation at her for Josh’s negative action. To her surprise he seemed to sag in defeat and sat down in the cane chair Josh had so rapidly vacated.
For a moment Karis felt a wave of sympathy for him. So far he had received one rejection after another from his son.
‘A drink?’ she offered, and started pouring juice from the fridge anyway when he didn’t reply. She wasn’t sure what to follow her query with. There was something so deep and emotional between these two that she wondered if they would ever come out of it father and son again.
‘Is he always like this?’ he asked at last. ‘Still so sullen, unresponsive and hating the world?’ He acknowledged the drink Karis put before him with a nod of his dark head.
Karis leaned on the fridge and sipped her drink, watching him from under her thick lashes. ‘With everyone but me. He warms to Saffron too but not to the degree he trusts me,’ she told him truthfully.
He looked up at her but Karis couldn’t read his expression. It was beyond her. She almost wished she hadn’t made the admission. If he had any feeling for Josh it must have hurt to hear that his son cared more for a stranger than himself, his own father.
‘I’m sorry if that sounded as if I’m the only one that matters to him but the truth is I fear I am,’ she told him. She let out a small sigh. ‘He’s difficult and it’s been a battle. I nearly didn’t stay when I first met him, but I think…’ Her voice cracked as she thought about all the traumas she and Josh had faced together and overcome and what state the boy would be in now if she had rejected him from the off as all the others had done.
‘Go on,’ Daniel urged abruptly.
His tone said he was hurt and she went on quickly, ‘I felt so sorry for him when I arrived. I had a child of my own and I wouldn’t want Tara pushed from pillar to post and that’s what has happened to him.’
His eyes narrowed painfully. ‘Do you think I wouldn’t have done it any other way if I thought it would have helped? I’ve paid for the best care for him,’ Daniel responded flintily.
‘I’m sure you have,’ Karis relented wearily. But the best care in terms of wages paid wasn’t nearly enough for Josh. She sighed and went to the table to sit across from him. ‘Mr Kennedy, I don’t know your circumstances and I don’t want to pry. I don’t know you and you don’t know me. I understand how you feel, finding someone with no qualifications caring for your son, but Fiesta was right. Everyone else gave him up as a bad job and—’
‘So why did you stay?’