Cinderella and the Billionaire

by Marion Lennox

  He did want, but it was more than helping out financially. He wanted to be involved.

  But he wasn’t needed. There was no place for him in this scheme and why that made him feel bereft...

  It was too strong a word, he thought. He wasn’t bereft.

  Suddenly Meg’s words came back to him.

  I’ll get to come home after a day’s charter and the lights will be on. It’ll be home again.

  He found himself thinking... To come home from work late at night and find the lights on... To have this woman waiting for him...

  Fantasy.

  ‘Goodnight, Matt,’ Meg said firmly and rolled over on her springs and swore again. ‘I think we have things sorted. Sleep.’

  Right. How was a man to sleep after that?

  Things didn’t feel sorted at all.

  CHAPTER NINE

  TWO DAYS LATER they came, in a helicopter, with all the bells and whistles a small boy could possibly require. It said a lot for the security Henry was now feeling that he could hold Matt’s hand and watch the chopper land with fascination. And when the guy in charge, a yellow-jacketed member of the state’s emergency services, walked across to the chopper to meet them, smiling his relief, saying, ‘Well, are we pleased to see you! What happened to your boat?’ Matt was stunned to hear Henry answer.

  ‘It got burned,’ he said, almost proudly. ‘Meg tried to put it out but she coughed and coughed and then we had to get into the little boat and we were stuck on an island that was all rocks. Meg and me caught a fish and then Grandma came to find us. Only her radio’s busted and Meg says everyone will be worried but you don’t have to worry because Meg and Matt and Grandma and Stretchie and Boof looked after me.’

  It was the most words Matt had ever heard Henry say. He found himself grinning, and his grin was matched by the guy in the yellow jacket’s. Relief all round.

  They’d all come out of the house as they’d heard the chopper. They were grouped together. Mum and Dad and Grandma and kid? For some reason that was what it felt like. Family. His pride in Henry seemed almost as deep as if the kid were his own.

  He glanced at Meg and saw a shimmer of tears in her eyes. She was feeling the same?

  ‘Got it in one,’ the guy was saying in satisfaction and he went straight to Henry and gripped his hand. Henry shook it without blinking. ‘I wish all our rescues were as straightforward. Well, young man, how can we help? Was anyone burned? No one injured at all?’

  ‘Meg still coughs a bit,’ Henry volunteered.

  ‘She was in the cabin when the boat caught fire,’ Matt said. ‘She copped a fair dose of smoke inhalation.’

  ‘I’m better,’ Meg said and the guy nodded. He’d been joined by a couple of teammates now, all looking just as pleased. A boat missing at sea, especially with a child on board, was everyone’s nightmare.

  ‘We’ll get our doc to check you out as soon as we reach the mainland,’ the guy said. ‘How about the rest of you? You need evacuation?’

  And it was up to Peggy. She took a deep breath, took a firm hold of Henry’s hand and nodded.

  ‘Yes, young man, we do,’ she said. ‘I can’t... We can’t stay here any longer.’ She cast a quick, fearful look at the helicopter and then looked deliberately down at Henry. ‘How...how long does it take to get to Rowan Bay?’

  ‘Less than half an hour, ma’am,’ the guy said, gentling as if he sensed her fear. ‘You’ll be safe as houses.’

  Safe. It was a good word. No, it was a great word and Peggy responded. She exhaled, all her fear of flying, all her love for her grandson combined in one long sigh.

  ‘Then I can do it,’ she managed. ‘If Henry holds my hand all the way. Thank you, sir. Yes, please. Can you take all of us?’

  * * *

  What followed was a chopper ride that Peggy managed, eyes squeezed shut, Meg gripping one hand, Henry the other.

  Henry, though, enjoyed the flight immensely. Life was suddenly an adventure. He coped okay with the reception at the little Rowan Bay airport. He became quiet again—some things didn’t change—while official questions were asked, while the emergency services doctor took Meg into the office and did a fast examination, while the dogs checked out the little-used airstrip for rabbits. But he still seemed deeply contented.

  Finally, Meg emerged, smiling. ‘The doc says I need to take steroids for a few days until my lungs are clear,’ she told Matt and Peggy. ‘But I’m fine. The guys have organised taxis. Are we ready to go home?’

  Home. It was a strange concept.

  Matt had never felt less at ‘home’ in his life.

  They made a fast stop at the general store and the pharmacy on the way. Matt and Henry needed pretty much everything, but half an hour later, armed with packages of new clothes, they reached Meg’s place.

  The house looked almost as ramshackle as Peggy’s. Maybe not quite, Matt conceded. It was old and in need of paint. It definitely needed a new roof, but it wasn’t actively falling down. With ancient settees on the wide veranda, a decent veggie patch, even if the rest of the garden looked in serious need of attention, and a view right out over the bay, it looked warmly welcoming.

  A middle-aged woman, plump, aproned, beaming, came out of the front door to meet them.

  ‘Meg,’ she said in satisfaction. ‘I knew there was something wrong. You should have heard what I said to Charlie when I realised he hadn’t been in radio contact. I think the safety authorities will be having words. I was never more glad of anything when word came through you were safe. Your chooks are fine. You have a fridge full of eggs. I’ve just been in and put a casserole and apple pie in the oven. Now, who’s this?’

  Maureen was introduced to them all. She greeted Peggy and Henry with warmth but she eyed Matt with caution.

  As well she might, Matt thought. He hadn’t seen a razor for days and his new clothes were still in their wrapping. To say he was unkempt was an understatement. But with the way this woman looked at him came the odd, irrelevant thought. He was the one in this picture who didn’t belong.

  And maybe that was right. His job was done. He could organise a car to take him to Melbourne Airport, get on a plane and be back in the States tomorrow.

  But he’d asked to stay and Meg had agreed. Didn’t he have a responsibility to Henry?

  Henry no longer needed him.

  He couldn’t just land this all on Meg and walk away.

  But Meg was practically bouncing, showing them inside, opening bedroom doors, hauling open a linen cupboard and distributing sheets, filling water bowls for dogs, showing Henry where the dog toys were kept.

  Peggy and Henry were happily following. So was Matt, but as he followed his feeling of dislocation deepened—as well as thinking he’d landed Meg with a life-changing set of circumstances and she’d taken them on as if it were nothing.

  She was amazing.

  ‘Lunch first and then I bags first bath,’ she said. ‘Peggy, is everything fine?’

  ‘Everything’s great,’ Peggy said. ‘Oh, Meg, if you’re sure...’

  ‘I’m sure,’ Meg told her. ‘This’ll be fun.’

  Fun. Once again Matt felt...hornswoggled.

  And as if he had no place here and it mattered.

  * * *

  Back in the land of telecommunications, his phone was crammed with messages. Of course. He’d abandoned complex negotiations to bring Henry to Australia, and his world hadn’t stopped because of it.

  When he finally had time to check, it was four in the afternoon, which was midnight New York time. It was hardly the time to return business calls.

  There was, though, one caller whose need for a response seemed more urgent than the rest. Helen, his personal secretary for years, was intelligent, competent and unflappable. But now she sounded...flapped.

  She’d left ten different voicemail messages at various time
s over the last few days, each increasingly pressing.

  ‘Matt, you need to ring me. Please, Matt, this can’t wait. I need to speak to you, now.’

  If it was anyone but Helen, he wouldn’t ring at this hour but he could hear the increasing worry. For him to be out of range for this long was unthinkable. It was a wonder she hadn’t organised a search party herself.

  She answered on the second ring. He imagined her in her neat New York apartment, cool, collected, part of his ordered business world, but there was nothing ordered about the way she answered. ‘Where the hell have you been?’

  He explained but she hardly listened.

  ‘Well, thank heaven you’re okay,’ she said, interjecting over his last words. ‘But, Matt...something’s happened. We’ve located Henry’s father. Steven Walker. You know you asked me to keep looking? After you left I thought of searching through Amanda’s client files from eight years ago, just on a hunch. And there he was. Of course, I wasn’t sure—how many Steven Walkers do you think there are in the States? But on the off chance I took the liberty of ringing, ostensibly to let him know his lawyer had died and to check there was nothing outstanding we needed to cover. And at the end... I ventured. I sort of casually dropped that Amanda had a seven-year-old son. Matt, there was a silence on the end of the phone, almost like he expected what was coming. So I went for it. I said the father’s name on the birth certificate was Steven Walker and we hadn’t been able to find him. Could that possibly be him?’

  And then Helen hesitated, seeming to gather herself for what needed to be said next.

  ‘And then he said yes, it could. He was almost cool about it, maybe as if he’d suspected. He asked what was happening with Henry. I told him and he thanked me and disconnected. He went away and obviously did some investigation. A few hours later he phoned back. He has a family of his own—actually children from three marriages. He says he’ll want a DNA test but as long as that proves positive he’ll accept responsibility.’

  ‘That’s...good,’ Matt said cautiously.

  ‘Maybe,’ Helen told him. ‘But there’s more. He says it depends on the DNA result, but if it’s positive...he says he’s damned if he’s letting a son of his live on some forsaken island in the middle of nowhere. He’s wealthy. He sounds sensible but he also sounds tough. He says he’ll provide housing, a nanny, “anything the kid needs”, but he has to come home. Matt, I’ve done some preliminary investigation and checked with a couple of the other lawyers here. As the named father, he’ll have priority over Henry’s grandmother, even if there is a custody dispute. I don’t know where that leaves you, Matt, but the lawyers in the office say you’ll need to bring Henry back.’

  * * *

  Henry fell asleep before he finished his apple pie. He’d had a huge day. He had his grandma and his teddy, he had the dogs and he had Matt. Life was okay. Did Matt realise just how much Henry adored him? Meg wondered as Matt lifted the little boy and carried him to his bedroom.

  And did Matt know how much he’d become attached to Henry? She’d watched him watching the child and she thought, for all his talk of detachment, the bond tied both ways.

  And Peggy was bonded with Henry, too. She was exhausted, she’d coped with a helicopter flight that had clearly terrified her, but she’d spent the remainder of the afternoon making sure Henry was happy. She’d abandoned her beloved island for him. She was sitting cradling her mug of tea now, but the look on her face was almost peaceful. Her grandson was safe.

  There was no doubt Henry was loved.

  And then Matt returned and Meg glanced at his face and saw there was more to come. He’d seemed preoccupied since he’d made his phone calls. He’d asked to use her computer, the internet, and he’d locked himself in her messy excuse for a study until dinner time. She’d thought, of course, he’d have to catch up on business.

  Now, though...she turned from the sink and saw his face and knew it was more than business.

  ‘I need to talk to you both,’ he said, and she glanced at Peggy and saw the elderly woman brace. As if she, too, knew instinctively that something bad was coming.

  Meg poured more tea for them all, slowly, sensing somehow they needed space for what was coming. And then they all sat down at her battered wooden table and Matt told them what Helen had told him. And what he’d learned.

  He’d made the call to Steven Walker. Yes, he’d rung him at one in the morning but, dammit, this was his son.This was his kid’s life. So he’d rung and found Steven had been doing his own investigation. He’d researched where Henry had been taken and he’d been horrified. He’d faced the options, he’d accepted responsibility and he’d made a decision.

  ‘He doesn’t necessarily want custody,’ he told them. ‘Although he’ll accept it if necessary. He has kids from three relationships. He hardly wants more, but he sounds inherently decent. He had a relationship with Amanda that lasted for six months and then she broke it off and demanded he find himself another investment lawyer. He said she broke it off so abruptly he wondered why, and now he thinks maybe he was used. He’s pretty angry about it but if the DNA test proves positive he wants Henry back in the US.’

  ‘But—’ Peggy was staring at him, appalled ‘—Henry doesn’t even know him. He doesn’t even know he exists.’

  ‘That’s not Steven’s fault,’ Matt said gently. ‘Peggy, he sounds reasonable.’

  ‘It’s not reasonable to take him away from me.’

  ‘Henry’s an American citizen with an American father,’ Matt told her. ‘Steven says if he’d known about him he would have interjected well before this. I’m sorry, Peggy, but he says he’ll apply to the courts if necessary. If the DNA test proves positive—and he believes it will—then Henry has to come home.’

  ‘To live with him?’

  ‘He doesn’t necessarily want that, although he’ll provide it if necessary. He’ll provide accommodation, a nanny, boarding-school fees...’

  ‘No!’ Meg spoke before she could stop herself. ‘He’s better off here. With his gran. With me.’

  ‘I don’t think that can happen,’ Matt said, still gently. ‘Steven’s named on the birth certificate. Henry hasn’t been living with Peggy so there’s no established alternative. That Amanda didn’t tell him of Henry’s existence doesn’t make a difference to his rights now. We need to face it. I believe I’ll have to take him back. Peggy, you might be able to persuade him to let you keep custody, but that argument will have to happen over there.’

  Peggy’s face was ashen. ‘I won’t let Henry go. I can’t. And there’s nowhere in the States I can go.’

  ‘I’ve thought of that, too.’

  Meg stared at him. His voice was calm, controlled, the complete opposite to the panic both she and Peggy were feeling. He’d had hours to think this through, she thought. He’d come to terms with it, and Henry was a colleague’s child, nothing more. He was nothing to do with him.

  And then she thought of the look on his face when he’d lifted a sleepy Henry and carried him to his bed. She thought, No, Henry’s much more.

  And his next words confirmed it.

  ‘I have a plan,’ he said, and she saw Peggy’s look of despair take a tiny step back.

  ‘A plan... So I can keep him.’

  ‘I know you love him,’ Matt said. ‘And I also know you’re an American citizen, as well. Your marriage gave you that. Steven’s talking about setting up a home with a nanny, so why don’t we simply arrange that for him? Make it easy for him to agree? What I’m proposing is that you swap Meg’s beachside home for my beachside home.’

  Peggy stared at him, wildly. ‘What...? What...?’

  And Meg thought, What is he saying?

  ‘It’s not so different,’ Matt said, calmly now, as if he were talking about choices for what was for dinner. ‘Meg offered you a home with her, and you accepted.’

  ‘I want to live here,
’ Peggy said almost defiantly. ‘We could be happy here.’

  ‘And you could be happy at my house in the Hamptons. It’s big, it has a great garden and it’s right on the beach. There’s a community there Henry could be part of. You’ve been on an island for years so you’d be less isolated there than you have been, but you could still have your privacy. There’s fishing, boating, the ocean. I work in the city but I could come down at weekends to make sure things are okay, and yes, to see Henry because, to be honest, I’ve grown fond of him. His father could see him, too. And, Peggy, once you’re in the States...the custody thing... Henry’s kept all the letters you’ve ever sent him. He’ll tell any court that you’ve rung him, that you’ve written, that you’ve been in contact with him all his life. If he’s living safely in the States with his grandma, with me, I doubt Steven will even fight you for it. What he’s doing is what he thinks is the right thing for a child he feels responsible for. Let’s make it easy for him. Come and live with me.’

  ‘You won’t be there.’ She seemed...gobsmacked. Too much was happening, too fast.

  ‘I’ll be in Manhattan working but I can be there often at weekends. And I’ll always be in touch. I can be with you in a couple of hours if you need me.’

  ‘But I don’t know anything about you.’ Once more Peggy’s voice rose in a wail. ‘I know nothing about this place you say we could live in. How do I know...anything?’

  ‘Come and see.’

  ‘I won’t fly.’ The panic in her voice was real and dreadful. ‘Not again. Half an hour was awful. How can I do more? I can’t take him. I won’t.’

  ‘Peggy, slow down and think.’ Matt’s voice seemed like that of someone accustomed to providing reason in the midst of crisis. ‘My house can provide you with a wonderful beachside place to live, with as much privacy as you want, with the fishing and beachcombing you love and, most of all, with a solid, secure home for you and for Henry. Is there any reason why my home’s any less of an option than Meg’s?’