A Baby to Bind Them

by Susanne Hampton

  ‘Look over there at the pair of them. Isn’t he a natural father?’ Maureen proudly stated rather than asked.

  Jade raised her brow sceptically as she watched Mitchell and Amber splashing in the shallows. ‘They’re having fun,’ she conceded, but she wouldn’t commit to anything more. She wasn’t about to agree to his paternal potential. In her eyes, he was a rolling stone who didn’t show any interest in anyone but himself. Not even close to the criteria for the title of father.

  ‘So what about you? How have you been?’ Maureen asked with genuine concern and interest in her voice. ‘Everything has been about Amber but what’s happening in your world?’

  Jade appreciated the question. It was nice to be asked but not something she had expected. ‘I’m fine. Amber keeps me busy and I do part-time nursing in Neonatal ICU...I mean Intensive Care.’

  ‘I know the acronym. Arthur’s used the term enough. But it must be hard for you. Taking care of a little one and working.’

  ‘We get by. Amber is a joy and a blessing so you’ll not ever hear me complain.’

  ‘Well, we just want you to relax and enjoy your time here. You can do with a break. I’m more than happy to help with Amber. She’s so adorable and a credit to you, Jade. You’ve done a wonderful job, bringing her up.’

  ‘Thank you, but it hasn’t been too difficult. She’s her parents’ daughter and a sweetie, she rarely complains—well, except for her current dislike of broccoli and Brussels sprouts.’

  ‘I’ll remember no green vegetables when I put dinner on tonight.’

  Jade returned a distracted smile as she looked back at Mitchell and Amber, now lying on the sand and letting the water hit their feet. Amber was doing her best sand angel and Jade knew her niece’s toothy grin would be from ear to ear.

  ‘Arthur told me you’ve applied to do some agency work while you’re here. I’m more than happy, as he probably told you, to look after Amber any time. So if you want to do a shift, please, don’t hesitate, but...’ She paused for a moment and then her perfectly manicured hand patted Jade’s, whose hands hadn’t had a manicure in years. ‘I just think that you, with your role as a single parent for the last three years, could do with spending the summer on the beach with a good book.’

  Jade would love to do just that but she needed to work. A month without work could not be accommodated by her tight budget. While there was no mortgage, running the big house meant a lot of bills and Jade would never touch the money put away for Amber. Six months before the planned trip she had applied to the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Board for recognition of her qualification to ensure she met the criteria to allow her to work for a health professionals’ agency over the month’s holiday.

  ‘I appreciate you taking care of Amber but I will try to fit my work around you and Arthur, I don’t want to impose or overstep your kindness...’

  ‘Nonsense,’ Maureen countered. ‘It’s our pleasure and I insist that you spend the next four weeks doing whatever you want. Maybe even fit in a massage at my favourite spa. They have the most serene ambience with scented candles and soft music and I know Enrique’s hands could do wonders for you.’ Maureen’s eyes were closed as she described the sensation.

  Jade felt a tingle suddenly run down her spine. She wasn’t sure if Mitchell had awakened something in her but suddenly didn’t think it would be a good idea after three years of solitude to be in small softly lit room with Enrique, mood music and massage oil.

  She drew a deep breath and blinked away the images.

  ‘So...’ Maureen dropped her already soft voice and leant in towards Jade ‘...is there a special man in your life?’

  Jade was still pushing unsettling thoughts of the spa from her mind, and was about to answer the personal question diplomatically when she realised Amber was standing in front of her, dripping wet and smiling and looking a little like sand-crumbed chicken. And beside her was her very handsome beach chaperon.

  Jade was painfully aware that he might have heard the question his mother had dropped on her without warning. Quickly, he confirmed her suspicions.

  ‘Don’t be shy,’ Mitchell urged with a smile that showed his perfect white teeth. ‘My mother is quite a busybody and if you’re single she’ll try to matchmake you with an eligible neighbour. So if marriage is on the cards for you and you’d like her to fix you up with an Aussie husband, let her know. Personally I couldn’t think of anything worse than being trapped in that institution, but each to his, or her, own.’

  Jade wasn’t surprised by his views on marriage. To a man with wanderlust surging through his veins marriage would be like a prison. Ruby had been fortunate that she had met David. He had been the staying type and, no matter how short their lives had been cut by fate, they had loved each other completely. It had been a love and commitment that Jade had admired and respected but doubted she would ever find.

  ‘I’m happily single,’ she announced, not meeting Mitchell’s gaze. ‘And not looking for a husband here or in the US.’

  Mitchell thought her answer made sense. From the way she was dressed he thought she should be singing on a hilltop in Austria. It wasn’t the way a woman dressed to get a man’s attention, unless he was looking for a reliable nanny for his army of children.

  Jade was definitely not his type of woman. It wasn’t her appearance alone that was sending him running, it was her lack of interest in anything that even slightly resembled fun. She was more like a retired army colonel than a young woman. Strict and staid.

  ‘Well, now you know, you can leave the poor woman alone,’ he told his mother with a wink that didn’t go unnoticed by Jade. She wasn’t sure what to make of it. Was it a signal that she was indeed a lost cause and Maureen was off the hook in trying to matchmake?

  It didn’t matter. Mitchell was a confirmed bachelor and she was single by choice too.

  * * *

  Later that evening, Mitchell and Jade found themselves sitting together after dinner on the balcony of the house. Amber and her grandparents had gone to bed early but Jade wanted to stay up a little longer to unwind from the day. Knowing Amber was safely tucked into bed, she was able to relax for the first time in many years. Finally, she had the feeling of family support and reassurance that she and Amber were not alone in the world. She knew they would only be in Adelaide for a few weeks but the love Maureen and Arthur had shown in just one day was a gift she had never expected to receive and she felt in her heart that they were forming a bond that would last a lifetime.

  She didn’t expect or particularly want Mitchell to stay but he did of his own choice. Maureen and Arthur had appeared exhausted from the excitement of the arrival and, Jade suspected, from the preparations for the visit. Amber’s rag doll had been washed and hung in the sun to dry, so she and her favourite doll were clean between pretty pink sheets.

  Mitchell was relaxed as he swung away from the table, stretched out his tanned legs and placed them on the padded footstool. He thought the meeting with Jade and Amber had gone well. They were family and he felt good to have finally met them. Amber was a cutie and would without doubt be a heartbreaker in the future. Jade was not what he had expected but as a caregiver she fitted the bill.

  He had no clue that Jade didn’t feel the same way. She didn’t think he fitted any bill, and she was looking for answers. With the others asleep, she decided that it was as good a time as any to get some.

  She wanted Mitchell to explain his absence from Amber’s life, particularly if he wanted a place in her future. But she was also mindful that his generosity in forgoing his inheritance from his brother had provided a lovely home for them. It was a little like an emotional landmine, but one she wanted to navigate to a satisfactory conclusion for all of them.

  Biting the inside of her lip awkwardly, she tried to find a way to ask without the question escalating to something unpleasant, particularly in Maureen and Arthur’s home. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and drew a few short breaths. She felt a little torn about her lin
e of approach. Gratitude, confusion and anger were all vying to direct the opening line of the conversation.

  ‘What is it?’ Mitchell asked, a little confused by her demeanour as he watched her becoming increasingly agitated.

  ‘I just don’t...’ she stumbled, and paused and looked away from his intense stare. His deep blue eyes were drawing her in. The softness of his mouth was a stark contrast to the angular lines of his jaw. The same way her demure dress was a stark contrast to the desire he was unwittingly stirring deep inside her.

  The old Jade would not have hesitated to see where this infatuation might lead. To flirt a little and find out if it was a two-way street. To see if Mitchell’s strong, tanned arms would pull her close and hold her as his sensual mouth claimed hers. She hurriedly blinked away the mental images that were crippling her line of thought. It was crazy. Perhaps that was a side effect of jet-lag, her sensible side suggested. But she knew the change in hemisphere wasn’t bringing her to life. That it was Mitchell doing it all on his own. And she had to stop it.

  Reminding herself that she didn’t even like the man sitting opposite her, let alone desire him, she took a sip of her iced tea. It was old Jade’s healthy but unwanted libido rising to the surface again.

  ‘I just don’t understand why you never visited Amber. She’s your niece. The daughter of the brother you lost, and you didn’t want to meet her. I just don’t get it.’ She blurted the words out at lightning speed to block out everything else she was feeling.

  That was exactly the question that Mitchell had hoped to avoid. Not that it wasn’t warranted. It just wasn’t something he wanted to go into. He wasn’t ready to once again be responsible for others. He’d been there and done that. He had hoped his financial contribution would be far more valuable than anything he could offer emotionally.

  ‘I’m not a fan of LA,’ he offered up as a reply. It was a half-truth as he didn’t like big cities. ‘I’m more of an uncharted waters kind of a guy. Not into multi-lane freeways and high-rise apartments. Frankly, Hollywood just isn’t my scene.’

  Jade’s face contorted at his response, and harshness coloured in her voice. ‘She’s your niece. It wasn’t a sightseeing trip that I was suggesting.’

  ‘I’m here now,’ he retorted with no audible emotion. ‘Amber’s a sweet little girl and I just want us to enjoy the next few weeks.’

  ‘That still doesn’t answer my question. Didn’t you want to meet your brother’s daughter?’ Her brow was lined as she spoke. She was disappointed that he didn’t offer a better explanation. She had hoped there was something of substance. Something that could justify why Mitchell had ignored his own flesh and blood for so long. But there wasn’t. The long hair was gone, the beard too, but the disinterest in anything other than satisfying his wanderlust was still there. Jade realised that Amber would never be able to rely on her uncle and that made her sad.

  Mitchell ran his long fingers through his hair nervously. It was clear that Jade wanted more of an explanation than he’d planned on providing. She would only be in town for a month. He didn’t want to open up old wounds about his past and his reasons for not wanting to reach out. There was no point, he reasoned. No good would come of it. He’d been burnt, he knew his limits and that was why he steered his life away from anything that resembled long-term responsibility.

  ‘Jade,’ he began, ‘I’m sorry that I couldn’t be there for Amber but, in all honesty, I didn’t think it would have been fair to drop in and disrupt the life she had with you and then hoist sail and take off. You provided stability for Amber. I didn’t want to wreck that when I may not have been around for too long. Over the last decade, I’ve never stayed in one place for any length of time.’

  His words were honest but they were not the entire story. He would rather appear shallow and deflect people than try to be something he wasn’t and then hurt them in the long run. He just hoped that this explanation would suffice so he could leave that part of his life behind. And that part of his mother’s life too. It had been sad for everyone and they were all in a better place now.

  Jade wanted to hate him but the look in his eyes was somehow making that difficult. She sensed there was more to his behaviour than that, but taking a deep breath she decided that it was perhaps not the time to dig any deeper. It was late, she was tired and he had apologised. His reasons were flimsy at best but she also had to accept that losing his brother may have affected him differently. Everyone had their own way of dealing with grief. She had changed her life and settled down; Mitchell had done the opposite. Although his life on the run had started long before the accident, whatever affected Mitchell had happened well before he’d lost his brother. He clearly didn’t see the world the way she did. It was best, she thought, to let it go for the time being.

  Mitchell was nothing like David. And she and Amber both needed someone exactly like David. Dependable and giving with unbreakable ties to family. Mitchell didn’t tick even one of those boxes. He was just a handsome drifter, a man with a wandering spirit and more than likely a wandering heart.

  The night was warm and the ceiling fan was moving the air above them gently as Jade looked across the black ocean in silence. She had said enough. They both had.

  The moon lit the waves as they rolled in to shore and she closed her eyes for a moment. So much had happened over the past three years. So much had changed. Three years ago she would never have thought her life would play out the way it had.

  The old Jade’s focus had been on living for the moment and the new Jade’s was on responsibility. At times she wished her outlook on life wasn’t crippled by fear, but that came with the territory of losing Ruby and David. She refused to let anything happen to Amber, ever, even if it meant wrapping her in cotton wool sometimes. It was something that Mitchell would never understand. And something she would not bother even trying to explain.

  Mitchell lived in another world. And she remembered for a moment that she had once lived in a similar one. But she didn’t miss it. What she had was infinitely better. She had Amber and the little girl filled her life and her heart.

  As she slowly opened her eyes she felt her animosity start to lessen and looking across at Mitchell she felt it being replaced with sadness for what he had missed by not being a part of his niece’s life. And for what he would miss in the future. Living the life of a rolling stone, he would never experience the joy she had every day waking up to Amber’s precious face and the warmth of her cuddle.

  ‘You’ve done an amazing job raising Amber,’ Mitchell said, his voice husky and low and his eyes focused on hers.

  Jade was taken aback by his unexpected compliment. She lowered her gaze, a little from feeling self-conscious and a little tired from the toll of a long day of travel, and graciously accepted the olive branch. ‘Thank you, Mitchell.’

  He poured some more iced water into their glasses and took a sip as he watched Jade sitting in the light of the moon. Unexpectedly for Mitchell, the longer he looked, the more Jade’s prettiness became evident, no matter how she tried to hide it. She was cute. But not his type, he reminded himself. She was a little too serious for his liking. She was a combination of mother earth and elementary teacher with a hint of Sunday school thrown in for good measure. But he was still finding himself drawn to her and he had no idea why.

  They were opposites of each other on every level. They both wanted only the best for Amber but that connection was as far as it would go. An unspoken truce was created in the warm evening breeze. Jade decided to leave the past where it belonged. And she also made a promise to herself...to leave Mitchell where he also belonged, at arm’s length.

  CHAPTER THREE

  WITHIN MINUTES OF Jade’s head resting back into the softness of the pillow in the bed next to Amber’s she fell into a deep sleep. The past twenty-four hours had been a whirlwind. It had been happy, exhausting and a little confronting. The happiness exuded by Amber’s grandparents was contagious. It was evident to anyone within a mile that Maureen
and Arthur had fallen in love with Amber on sight.

  Amber seemed to be enjoying the attention and being spoilt by the very kind people she had learned were her grandma and grandpa. Jade had often spoken of them over the years, and the cards and presents had arrived in the mail, but to the three-year-old they hadn’t become a reality until they’d been in the same room.

  The long-haul flight had been the tiring element but to Amber’s credit she hadn’t complained, although flying first class had made it much more enjoyable, and Jade was extremely grateful for that.

  Then there was Mitchell. Meeting him had been surprisingly unsettling. She had expected so much less than the dangerously attractive windsurfer. Her mind’s image of Amber’s uncle had been of a scruffy, sunburnt wanderer, not unlike the survivor of a shipwreck, with hair and beard that resembled an unkempt hedge. The reality was so far removed from that. He was gorgeous and as far as she could see he was under Amber’s innocent spell. But how long would that last? she wondered. Would the novelty of a niece fade as he realised that it brought with it responsibility? Although her anger was fading, her defences were still high. She accepted that he was equally irresponsible and compassionate. A walking contradiction. But no matter what, his irresponsible side would guarantee that there would be no fun excursions without her consent.

  In the moments before sleep claimed her, she admitted to herself that she was suddenly experiencing emotions that she had long since packed away. Her head was spinning madly and she knew the old Jade would have stepped up and enjoyed life the way she’d known how—at full speed with no brakes and no questions. But she couldn’t. Not any more. She was Amber’s guardian and she knew that it required her to behave as a dependable and controlled adult, like her sister. Providing guidance and being a role model was the job description. The Jade of old had been neither. She would have been more of a warning than a role model to her niece.