The Perfect Father Read online

  They were sitting in Bobbie’s comfortable kitchen, James having just left, whilst Francesca played busily around them.

  ‘There isn’t that much to tell that you don’t already know,’ Samantha protested. ‘Mom and Dad can’t wait to get over here to see you all...’

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  ‘Mmm...I’m hoping to persuade them to spend more time over here when Dad retires. How’s Liam’s campaign going, by the way?’

  ‘Dad’s convinced he’ll walk it but there has been concern expressed over Liam not being married. He drove me to the airport. He was picking up a PR woman they’ve hired from Washington to project his image.’

  ‘Liam married, how will you feel about that?’ Bobbie teased her.

  Samantha shot her an indignant look.

  ‘Why should I care. Just because I once had a teenage crush on him...’

  ‘Okay, okay...I was just joking,’ Bobbie reassured her, but she still studied her twin a little thoughtfully.

  Samantha had lost some weight and she looked strained...stressed...

  ‘You know, Bobbie, I do envy you,’ Samantha admitted abruptly.

  Instinctively Bobbie looked to where Francesca was playing, knowing without it having to be put into words just what it was about her life that her twin envied.

  ‘You’re a born mother, Sam,’ she told her gently, her expression suddenly changing to one of acute alarm as she demanded, ‘You’re not thinking of going through with that fool idea you once had of becoming pregnant via a fertilization programme...’

  Samantha laughed.

  ‘No,’ she reassured her, her face sobering as she admitted, ‘I don’t want my kids growing up envying yours because yours have a real live daddy and mine don’t.’

  ‘So there isn’t a prospective daddy anywhere on the horizon?’ Bobbie probed.

  Samantha looked away from her.

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  ‘Samantha!’ Bobbie pounced excitedly. ‘There is someone...tell me... Who is it? Do I know him...? Sam...’

  ‘Oh, no... I’m not saying anything,’ Samantha told her, vehemently shaking her head.

  ‘I’m going to phone home,’ Bobbie threatened determinedly.

  ‘There isn’t any point, the folks don’t know any more than you do...’

  ‘So there is something to know then...’

  ‘No!’ Samantha denied.

  There was no way she intended to let Bobbie in on her plan to marry James until she was a lot more certain of her own ground. Sure she and James got on well together but... She could love him, Samantha was convinced of it, and he, she was equally sure, could love her.

  He would be a perfect father. She could see it all now.

  She closed her eyes blissfully, mentally imagining her own cosy homely kitchen and her own adorable children filling it. She wanted boys, she knew that already, boys with thick dark hair and solemn grey eyes... Grey eyes...

  Her own flew open. Now where, oh, where, had that idea come from? Firmly she recorrected her imagination. Her children, her twins, would have eyes the same colour as their father’s of course. They would have James’ brown eyes.

  Having finished her game, Francesca stood up and stalked imperiously towards her.

  ‘Did you bring me a present from my grandma in America?’ she asked her.

  ‘Francesca,’ Bobbie protested warningly.

  But Samantha only grinned and asked her twin dryly,

  ‘Wonder where she gets that from?’

  ‘Not from me,’ Bobbie denied, but her face was pink and she knew as clearly as though she had read 70

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  Samantha’s mind that her twin was remembering an incident from their own childhood when she, Bobbie, had shamingly asked much the same question of their own grandfather.

  ‘Poor Mom was so mortified,’ Samantha teased her.

  ‘Not half so mortified as I was when she banished me upstairs to my room and I haven’t forgotten that you were the one who told me to ask.’ Bobbie said with heartfelt ruefulness.

  After they had finished, still laughing, Samantha confided to her twin, ‘I’ve bought her the cutest outfits.’

  ‘Mmm... Well I may as well warn you that if it isn’t Barbie doll pink then Francesca won’t even look at it.’

  ‘No... How can you doubt me?’ Samantha responded, grinning at her. ‘She’ll love it.’

  ‘Samantha...’ Bobbie warned warily. ‘What...’

  ‘I’ve even got her the matching sparkling pink shoes and...strictly for dressing up, of course,’ she assured her stern-faced twin.

  ‘...and for you I made a special trip to Boston. I’ve got you the sexiest Donna Karan number you’ve ever seen. It dips right down at the back so that... Not that you’ll be able to wear it until after the new baby arrives—but still that won’t be long now!’

  ‘You have...where... show me... ’ Bobbie demanded excitedly.

  The pair of them were still giggling over the clothes-strewn spare room when Luke arrived home over an hour later.

  ‘Auntie Sam brought me pink shoes,’ Francesca informed him proudly.

  Laughing Samantha shook her head as she kissed her brother-in-law.

  ‘Guess what I’ve brought you...’

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  ‘I don’t think I dare,’ Luke drawled, looking past her to where his wife, all pink-cheeked and bright-eyed was holding up in front of her a dress that Luke could immediately see would cause a total uproar if she ever wore it in public. Bobbie looked like a little girl clutching on to a much-wanted toy and he already knew there was no way anyone was going to prise it away from her.

  ‘So what have you brought for Luke?’ Bobbie asked her twin absently an hour later as they all sat down together for their meal.

  Grinning at her brother-in-law, Samantha told him, ‘It’s a golf club, a new one, I don’t believe you can get it over here yet.’

  ‘Not an ‘‘iron overlord,’’’ Luke breathed hopefully.

  ‘The very same,’ Samantha confirmed, laughing as he got up and came round the table to hug her and then demand, ‘Where is it? I...’

  ‘Not until after you have finished your meal, Luke,’

  Bobbie mock frowned at him.

  By nine o’clock Samantha was ready to concede that her long flight had caught up with her.

  ‘If you’re really sure you don’t mind if I go to bed...?’

  ‘Of course we don’t mind,’ Bobbie reassured her.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Luke asked Bobbie an hour later as he handed her the mug of chocolate he had just made her.

  ‘I don’t know...it’s just...Sam’s up to something...’

  ‘Like what?’

  ‘I don’t know and there’s no point in my asking, she’d just clam up on me, but something’s going on...’

  ‘Twin telepathy?’ Luke teased.

  ‘Something’s bothering her, Luke, she’s put her guard up to prevent me finding out about it but I know it’s 72

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  there... I wish she could find her special someone... She so desperately wants children...’

  ‘Mmm...now that I did notice.’

  ‘Well, at least I’ve got lots of things planned to entertain her whilst she’s here...’

  ‘Mmm...I’m afraid there’s a slight problem on that score,’ Luke told his wife quietly.

  Bobbie looked questioningly at him.

  ‘Luke...’ she began.

  ‘Yes, I know we agreed that I would take time off to look after Francesca so that you would be free to spend time with Sam, but...’

  ‘But what... ’

  ‘The Dillinger case comes up for trial next week and I’m going to be in court.’

  ‘Oh, Luke, no...’ Bobbie wailed.

  ‘Bobbie, I’m sorry, but you know the way things are.’

  She did, of course she did, Luke was a barrister and if one of h
is cases came to court then he had to be there.

  ‘Sam’s here for several weeks and with any luck the case should be over in two,’ Luke comforted her.

  ‘Well, I just hope that Sam understands,’ Bobbie told him.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  ‘I REALLY am sorry, Sam,’ Bobbie apologised to her sister, ‘but there’s nothing that Luke can do.’

  They had just finished eating breakfast and Bobbie had explained to her twin that she wasn’t going to be as free to devote her time to her as she had hoped.

  To her relief Samantha seemed completely unfazed by her news.

  ‘Don’t worry about it,’ she told her sunnily. ‘Besides,’

  she added, her voice and eyes softening, ‘you and the coming baby mean far more to me than socialising and treats. As a matter of fact, James has actually offered his services as an escort should I need one.’

  With a shaky smile Bobbie reached out to cover her twin’s hand with her own. ‘I am feeling more tired with this baby, and both my doctor and Luke have insisted that I ought to rest,’ she admitted, her face brightening as she added, ‘But at least you’ll have James to take you about.’

  James and Samantha had always got on well together.

  ‘Well, hopefully Luke’s case should be over in a fortnight and...’

  ‘Mmm...well that should be long enough.’

  Samantha bit her lip as she realised she had spoken her thoughts out loud.

  ‘For what?’ Bobbie asked her curiously. ‘I...’

  ‘Oh, nothing... I just meant that a fortnight should be long enough for the case to be concluded,’ Samantha fibbed airily, quickly redirecting Bobbie’s attention by 73

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  asking her, ‘How’s Fran doing at school now? You were concerned that she wasn’t being stretched enough.’

  ‘Mmm... I was, but Luke says that she is only four and he doesn’t want her being pushed too hard and that he’d rather she exercised her own curiosity naturally.’

  ‘Well, he does have a point. Look at the way the pair of us ran wild whenever we went to Gramps, and it certainly didn’t do us any harm.’

  ‘No, I suppose not.’

  ‘Olivia’s invited us over for lunch today.’

  ‘Has she? How are she and Caspar?’ Samantha asked affectionately and within several minutes the sisters were deeply immersed in a detailed update of what was happening within the Haslewich and Chester branches of the Crighton family.

  ‘It’s a pity that Grandma Ruth can’t be here right now,’

  Bobbie commented.

  ‘Mmm... I was looking forward to seeing her and Gramps,’ Samantha admitted. ‘But I can understand why she felt she had to go to Pembrokeshire. How is Ann?’

  Ann Crighton, Hugh Crighton’s wife, had been involved in an accident which had resulted in her being hospitalised for several weeks.

  ‘Well, she’s at home now and the doctors have confirmed that she will make a full recovery, but Hugh’s ter-rified that she’s going to try to do too much. She’s been forbidden to climb any stairs or to do anything more than walk very slowly and gently until the damage to her back heals properly.’

  ‘It’s frightening to realise just how much damage even the slightest car accident can cause.’ Samantha gave a small shiver. ‘According to what Gran has told Mom, it was just a simple shunt and the car which hit Ann’s was hardly moving at all.’

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  ‘Yes, I know,’ Bobbie agreed soberly. ‘It certainly made me feel very wary about taking Francesca out anywhere in the car for weeks afterwards and I can understand, too, why Hugh asked Grandma Ruth for her help in keeping Ann occupied whilst she’s recovering.’

  ‘They’re such a lovely couple and although Gran never says so, I suspect that she secretly prefers Hugh to Ben, even though Ben’s her full blood brother and Hugh only a half.’

  ‘Mmm...but then just because there’s a full blood relationship between siblings, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are going to like one another.’

  This was said so gravely that Samantha gave her twin a quick look before teasing, ‘And what conclusions am I supposed to draw from that, sister dear?’

  Bobbie looked at her, her face relaxing into a smile.

  ‘Don’t worry, I’m not trying to say I don’t like you...hate you sometimes, maybe...’ she teased back and then, shaking her head, she confided, ‘No...it’s not us...but...’

  ‘But what?’ Samantha encouraged when she fell silent.

  ‘Well, you know how it can be with families sometimes...brothers and sisters, siblings...just don’t always get on...’

  ‘Sibling rivalry... Well, we’ve certainly had our fair share of that in the Crighton family. I mean, if you want a classic example just look at Jon and Jenny’s family.

  Louise and Katie positively loathed Max at one time, and...’

  ‘Yes, yes, I know what you’re saying but it isn’t...’

  Bobbie stopped again and then started to trace an abstract pattern on the wooden kitchen table with her fingertip.

  ‘It’s Fran and the new baby,’ she admitted huskily after 76

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  several seconds. ‘I think she’s starting to get a little bit jealous—even before he or she is born.’

  She looked so upset.

  ‘But surely, Bobbie, that’s only natural,’ Samantha defended her niece immediately. ‘She’s bound to feel a little bit jealous,’ Samantha told her twin robustly. ‘Everything will be all right, though.’

  ‘Yes, I know you’re right,’ she agreed, adding gently,

  ‘You will make such a wonderful mother, Sam.’

  Although Samantha laughed, a little later on whilst her twin was on the telephone to Olivia confirming the arrangements for their visit, she couldn’t help feeling a small stab of envy. Here was her sister, her twin, talking about having her second baby whilst she didn’t even have the means of having her first yet. But, with a bit of luck, she soon would have, she comforted herself.

  Everything she had heard and seen of James during the drive back from the airport yesterday had confirmed the decision she had already made. There was no doubt about it. He was perfect father material. Add to that the fact that she genuinely liked him and enjoyed his company, the way she could so easily see the two of them meshing together and becoming a very happy and contented couple, and suddenly Samantha was very impatient to see him again and to put her plan fully into motion. Okay, so she hadn’t fallen in love with him but love, after all, came in very many disguises.

  There was nothing morally wrong in what she was planning and if she had not been able to see in James’

  eyes how very easily he could be encouraged to fall in love with her she would not in any way have contemplated going ahead with her plans.

  She had made up her mind—it was time to put to one side her dreams of meeting her perfect other half. She PENNY JORDAN

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  might not be headily in love with James in the same way that her twin had been, still was, with his brother Luke, but she liked him and enjoyed his company, he was just so relaxing and pleasant to be with she just couldn’t imagine anyone not finding him so, other than Rosemary.

  Heavens, but she had never seen anyone cause such an intense and explosive reaction in him. He really did dislike the girl. Poor Rosemary.

  ‘We’d better make a move,’ Bobbie warned Samantha when she had finished her telephone call.

  ‘It’s gone ten now and we’ll have to be back by two so that I can pick Francesca up on time.’

  ‘Will Olivia and Caspar have any more children, do you think?’ Samantha asked Bobbie conversationally half an hour later as Bobbie drove towards Haslewich.

  ‘I don’t know. She works full-time now as you know and she and Uncle Jon keep on talking about taking on a new partner, but although neither of them will admit it, the main thing that’s holding them both back f
rom doing so is the fact that since its inception the partnership has always only been family members. There’s a good crop of young Crightons growing up now who might one day want to qualify as solicitors and join the business, but right now...Tullah, Saul’s wife works part-time with them two days.’

  ‘Can’t they take someone on as an assistant rather than a full partner?’ Samantha queried.

  ‘Well, they could and that’s exactly what Max has been urging his father to do. It’s looking increasingly as though Jack will opt to train as a solicitor and join the business but that’s still several years away and at the moment they are so busy that Jenny’s complaining that she hardly ever sees Jon.’

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  ‘What about Joss, has he any plans for his future?’

  Samantha asked her twin.

  Joss, Jon and Jenny’s younger son, was hotly tipped in the family to become their leading light in the legal world and Samantha knew that Bobbie had a very soft spot for the teenager who had been the first member of the Crighton family she had met on her first visit to Haslewich.

  ‘At least a dozen,’ Bobbie grinned. ‘He’s gorgeous, Sam...such a very special person, so special in fact that it’s hard sometimes to remember not to overlook Jack.’

  ‘Mmm... I wonder what happened to Jack’s father David. Does Jack ever talk about him?’

  David Crighton, Jon’s twin brother, was Jack and Olivia’s father and whilst recuperating from a heart attack he had simply walked out of the lives of his family and made little attempt to get in touch with them since.

  Olivia, Samantha knew, had no real wish for her father to make a reappearance in their lives. Before his disappearance she and Jon had discovered that he had been fraudulently helping himself to money from one of their client’s accounts. It was only thanks to Ruth’s interven-tion that the whole unpleasant matter had been resolved without a scandal and Samantha knew from Olivia’s own comments that she had never really forgiven her father for what he had done.

  Her mother, who had divorced David in his absence, was now remarried and living in the south of England.

  Olivia had never been close to either of her parents and Jack had, of his own free will, chosen to live with his aunt and uncle rather than with his mother.

  ‘So, you don’t think that Olivia will have any more children, then,’ Samantha repeated.