Vengeance
Page 64
Laurence looked at Kirsten. ‘Are you sure you’re well enough?’
‘I’m well enough,’ she smiled. ‘In fact I’ve never felt better in my life.’
‘So,’ Kirsten said, looking up as Laurence came back into the bedroom after the third attempt at putting Tom to bed, ‘what happened with you and Pippa?’
‘With me and Pippa not very much,’ Laurence said, taking his brandy from her and putting it down. ‘With Pippa and Tom, plenty.’
‘Meaning?’
‘Meaning that they just couldn’t get along,’ he said, sitting down beside her and pulling her into his arms. ‘She never was cut out for motherhood, she’ll admit as much herself. Oh, she loves him all right, but she just doesn’t know how to handle him. In so many ways she’s like a child herself, she wants all the attention, all the praise . . . Not that she isn’t prepared to give it, she’s just better at taking it. She came back because she thought it was the right thing to do, and because she truly did want us to work as a family, but it didn’t take long for us to see that it was going nowhere. She’s still in love with Zaccheo and with him she can be a free spirit, never have to take on any responsibility she doesn’t want to and never have to play second fiddle to a child. She missed Zaccheo more than she’d admit . . . Then Tom started getting on her nerves because he was missing you. They started to fight, there were tears every night . . . It was pretty bad all round.’
‘Poor Tom,’ Kirsten smiled. ‘Anyway, he seems happy enough now and what I want to talk about is us . . .’
‘You want to set a date for the wedding?’
‘Get your divorce first,’ she laughed.
‘That’s not going to take too long,’ he said, lifting her chin and kissing her softly on the lips. ‘God, it’s been a rough road, Kirstie, but having you here at the end of it . . . Did you ever wonder, sometimes, if love was measured against pain?’
‘Yes, I’ve wondered. Maybe that’s why it’s been so hard for us.’
He smiled. ‘The deeper the pain, the harder the struggle, the greater the love?’
She nodded and her eyes closed as he leaned forward to kiss her.
‘OK,’ he said, before reaching her, ‘what was all that about a letter?’
‘It’s right here,’ Kirsten laughed, reaching across to the bedside table. But unable to contain her excitement she decided to tell him herself what was inside. ‘It’s an offer from Columbia to talk to us about Moyna O’Malley or any other ideas we might have for movies. They want us to go out there as soon as we can to meet with them.’
‘I don’t believe it,’ Laurence said, scanning the letter. ‘It’s what we always talked about.’
‘Well now you’ve got it.’
‘We’ve got it,’ he corrected her.
‘Uh, uh,’ she shook her head. ‘You’ll have to find someone else to boss around, I’m afraid. You see, I’m not going to be available.’
‘Well I’m sure as hell not going without you,’ he declared.
‘Too right you’re not. We’re all going.’ She grinned. ‘All four of us.’
Laurence’s smile started to fade as he looked from her eyes to her mouth and back again.
Kirsten nodded. ‘We’re going to have a baby.’
Still Laurence just looked at her. ‘Oh Christ, I don’t know what to say,’ he murmured. ‘Kirsten, oh God, Kirstie, are you sure?’
‘Of course I’m sure.’
‘Then just thank God it turned out this way. I’d never have been able to live with it, you having my baby and me not with you. But it would never have come to that, I’d have been there. I wouldn’t have let you down, not a second time.’
‘I know.’
Once again his eyes were studying hers and she could almost read his thoughts before he spoke them. ‘How long have you known?’ he whispered.
‘I just found out today,’ Kirsten lied, knowing that it would only hurt him to think she’d known all along and had tried to spare him. ‘So,’ she went on, ‘I thought I could write my book and look after Tom while you’re talking big ideas and big bucks with the big guys.’
He was still gazing at her, looking as though he wanted to say something but wasn’t too sure what. ‘I’m going to find a way of telling you how much I love you,’ he said hoarsely, ‘I just got to figure out the words without making you laugh.’
‘Who needs words?’ she smiled, ‘when we’ve got so many other ways.’
‘You sure you’re up to that?’ he said.
‘Oh, I’m sure,’ she said.
It was in the middle of the night, when they were making love for the second time, that the bedroom door opened and Tom walked sleepily into the room to find Kirsten sitting astride Laurence.
‘Can I play Humpty Dumpty too, Daddy?’ he said rubbing his eyes.
Kirsten looked down at Laurence who groaned when he saw the laughter spring to her eyes. And sure enough, wrapping a sheet around her, Kirsten rolled onto her back and swept Tom into the bed with them. Still, Laurence decided, he was man enough to concede defeat on this occasion, when there were going to be plenty of other chances for them to play their version of Humpty Dumpty. And, he guessed wrapping them both in his arms, tonight was a night when the three of them – four of them – really should be together.
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Epub ISBN 9781409008323
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Published by Arrow Books 2007
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Copyright © Susan Lewis 1994
Susan Lewis has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work
First published in Great Britain in 1994 by William Heinemann
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 9780099514725