‘Of course not. I’m only twenty, Jason. I’ve got my whole life ahead of me.’
‘Of course you have.’ Jason was quite happy to sound sympathetic again. ‘It’s far too young to be tied into parenthood.’
Shelley nodded. ‘It’s not that I don’t love Megan,’ she added.
‘She’s a lovable baby all right,’ Jason agreed.
‘So you want to keep her?’
‘Yes.’ A simple word. Why did it have the effect of making Jason’s heart skip and a prickle of perspiration break out down the length of his spine?
‘You can keep her,’ Shelley said softly. ‘She can be yours, Jason.’
‘In return for?’
‘Marrying me.’
‘What?’ Jason stared at Shelley. ‘Are you crazy?’
‘No.’ Shelley shook her hair back from her face and her expression hardened. ‘Look, you don’t have to sleep with me if you don’t want to. Though I’m sure that’s only a matter of time.’ Her gaze flicked up and down the length of Jason’s body. ‘I’ve no objections.’
Jason wished he was wearing more than his pyjama bottoms. He also vowed never to look at a woman again in a way that could be construed as sizing up their potential performance in bed. It didn’t feel like he was being appreciated. It was downright degrading, but he managed to keep the ‘in your dreams’ comment silent.
‘You’ll have to live with me, though,’ Shelley said calmly. ‘And make it look like more than a marriage in name only. And it’ll have to last long enough for me to get my permanent resident’s status. That will take a year or so after you agree to sponsor me and make an application to the immigration department.’
‘You’ve got it all worked out, haven’t you?’
‘I know what I want.’ Shelley stood up and walked towards the door. ‘And I intend to get it. I’m sure that fat girlfriend of yours will understand. She can live with us too, if she wants. We could use a nanny.’
She turned as she reached the door. ‘The alternative is that I take Megan back to England and you never see either of us ever again. I might have her adopted, and it will probably be at least twenty years before you manage to track her down. Your choice, Jason. Have a think about it. I’m going back to bed.’
‘I don’t know what to do.’
‘How about drinking that coffee before it’s stone cold?’
‘I mean, I’d love to just kick her out, but she says that if she goes then Megan goes with her.’ Jason picked up his coffee mug but then put it down without drinking from it. ‘She doesn’t give a damn about Megan. OK, she might have got up at five a.m. yesterday but helping to feed a baby wasn’t what she had in mind.’
‘Oh?’ Laura felt the cold, hard knot in her stomach grow a little heavier. ‘Did she try and seduce you, Jase?’
Jason shook his head but it was a movement of disgust rather than denial. ‘She’s making a big mistake if she thinks she can use sex to get what she wants.’
Laura stared into the remaining liquid at the bottom of her own coffee mug. Shelley was probably very successful in using sex to get exactly what she wanted. Just how far had the attempted seduction gone? Laura felt sick. It wasn’t as if she had any real claim on Jason. She was an aberration in his normal lifestyle as far as women were concerned, and she had won her place purely because of Megan’s presence. How long would it take for Jason to revert to type with that kind of temptation laid out on a plate?
‘What are you going to do, Jase?’
‘I don’t know,’ Jason said miserably. ‘It’s really doing my head in.’ He glanced at the baby sleeping peacefully in the car seat beside his chair, then his gaze took in the rest of the kitchen and the small adjoining living area. ‘This is a really nice little house, Laura. Could Megan and I stay here with you for a few days, maybe?’
‘What would that solve?’
‘It would get me away from Shelley. Give me some time to think of what to do. She’s so bloody determined to get what she wants and I can’t talk any sense into her.’
What Shelley wanted was Jason. And Jason clearly wasn’t prepared to risk losing his child if he could find a way to keep her.
‘Have you spoken to a solicitor? Asked about trying to get custody?’
‘No.’ Jason pushed his fingers through his hair in a frustrated gesture that created spikes in the blond-streaked waves. ‘That would antagonise her right now. I’ve made it bad enough by saying I’m not prepared to marry her.’
‘She wants you to marry her? Just like that?’
Jason nodded unhappily. ‘She’s been quite upfront about it. She wants to live in New Zealand and marriage is the easiest ticket to permanent residency. She says if I don’t marry her she’ll go back to England and I’ll never see Megan again. She’s threatened to have her adopted so I can’t even trace where she is. I don’t know what the adoption laws in England are like but I’m not going to find out by letting that happen.’
Laura could feel the tension in her jaw as she unconsciously gritted her teeth. Shelley was some kind of monster. How could anyone play with a child’s life like that? And this wasn’t just any baby. This was Megan they were talking about.
Jason caught Laura’s gaze. ‘She also says it doesn’t have to be a real marriage. As long as we live together and make it look real. She’s even got that planned out. She reckons that big old house on the corner of the street would be cheap and I could do it up on my days off. Then we could sell it for a great profit, get divorced and everyone would be happy.’
Laura held his gaze long enough to let him know just how happy such a plan would make her. Jason’s smile was grim.
‘She even said she doesn’t mind if you live with us.’
Laura snorted. ‘What as, the nanny?’
His embarrassment was a dead give-away. The fact that Jason was even considering Shelley’s proposition enough to repeat it let Laura know how right she had been in thinking she didn’t have a hope of winning this competition. She only had a small window of hope that she might be a lot more than a nanny as far as Jason was concerned. With her heart beating a tattoo, Laura tried to find a reason to hang onto that hope.
‘Keeping Megan is what matters most, isn’t it?’ Please, Laura thought desperately. Tell me that I’m just as important. That it wouldn’t be the complete end of the world if you didn’t get to keep your daughter.
‘I don’t think I could live with myself if I let Shelley take her. What if she just abandoned her again? Left her on the doorstep of some orphanage or something?’
Or, worse, kept her in a home where she was unloved and unwanted. Laura could feel the sharp need to take responsibility herself, and Megan wasn’t even her own child. She had to admire Jason for the depth of his caring, and she knew that what he said was right…but it wasn’t exactly reassuring her of any priority she herself might have in his life.
Jason seemed to take her silence as support. ‘You understand how I feel about this, don’t you, Laura? I mean, you love her too, don’t you?’
‘You know I do, Jase.’
‘And we love each other.’ The smile was a pale shadow of the usual winning variety but the clasp of Jason’s hand was warm and strong. ‘I do love you, Laura.’
‘I love you, too,’ she whispered.
‘And I need you.’ The squeeze on her hand was gently persuasive. ‘So does Megan. You, me and Megan. We could be a real family…for ever.’ Jason was still smiling. ‘So how ’bout it, babe? Would you marry me?’
It wasn’t really a proposal, was it? Jason was just testing a possible scenario, wasn’t he? His next words vaporised any thrill that Laura hadn’t been able to suppress.
‘I mean, if we were married, we’d have a great case for going for permanent custody of Megan.’ Jason looked around again. ‘And this is such a great house. You own it, don’t you?’
‘Yes.’ Laura swallowed hard. She had a lot going for her, didn’t she? ‘I’m sharing it with Charlie at the moment, though.’
‘Your best friend, right? The serious crash investigator?’
Laura pulled her hand away from Jason’s. It hadn’t been difficult to distract Jason from any thoughts of proposing marriage, had it? Laura couldn’t bear trying to analyse why that might be the case. Changing the subject was probably a wise move.
‘Did you hear about the mass casualty incident up north yesterday?’ Her voice sounded oddly high pitched so Laura cleared her throat and tried again. ‘The train v. bus?’
‘It was all over the news. Wish I’d been there. Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, working on a job that big.’
‘Huge,’ Laura agreed. ‘Charlie and her partner got sent up to help.’
‘So she’s away?’ Jason looked hopeful. ‘You do have room for a visitor or two, then?’
‘She’s back tonight. And you can’t just run away from this, Jason. It’s got to be sorted. Where is Shelley now?’
‘I dropped her off in town.’ Jason shook his head. ‘She didn’t get up until eleven and she didn’t bother even holding Megan before telling me she needed to go and meet her brother off the bus from Dunedin. They’re planning to check the availability of flights back to the UK. Apparently neither of them have enough money to stay much longer.’
‘She’s putting the pressure on, then, isn’t she?’
‘You’re not kidding.’ Jason checked his watch. ‘I’d better head off. With a bit of luck I’ll get some time to myself and a chance to try and get my head straight. My guess is that this brother of Shelley’s will be wanting a place to stay tonight as well. I’m going to have to try and talk sense into both of them so I need to figure out how I’m going to do it.’
‘Good luck.’
‘Are you sure you won’t come and stay? Help me convince them?’
Laura shook her head sadly. ‘It would only make things more difficult, Jase. Shelley’s after you, despite pretending she’d be happy with a “name only” marriage. If I’m around, she’s only going to be more determined to get exactly what she wants.’
Laura had to hold back tears as Jason kissed her goodbye. The kiss was tender but it eased the look of frustration and misery on Jason’s features only momentarily.
‘I miss having you around,’ he said sadly. ‘So does Megan.’
Laura looked away. She wanted so much to hold him, to tell him that she loved him and would be there for him no matter what, but she knew what was holding her back. She was desperate for any clue that what they had together was precious for its own sake and not just because it bonded them into a set of parents for Megan.
‘Are you managing OK…with Megan?’
‘Oh, sure.’ Jason’s smile was as tender as his kiss had been. ‘You’ve taught me a lot, Laura.’
The tears were much harder to control now. Impossible, in fact. Laura held the door open and her voice was muffled.
‘Are you coming into work tomorrow?’
‘Of course. I’m going to need a day away from my unwelcome visitors.’ Jason managed a lopsided grin. ‘Besides, Mackie would have my guts for garters if she missed out on a day with Peanut.’
Jean McKendry wasn’t thrilled with the offer of help to care for Megan the next day.
‘What does she think she’s doing? She made a right pig’s ear of changing the bairn’s nappy.’
‘I guess she’s out of practice.’
‘She’s never been in practice, if you ask me.’ The sniff was scathing. ‘Why doesn’t she just go back where she came from?’
Laura turned to look at Shelley, sitting in the far corner of the commonroom, flicking the pages of a magazine. She smiled as she caught an audible muttering from Mrs Mack concerning the desirable location of a great many Sassenachs.
‘The problem is that she wants to take Megan back with her.’ Laura kept her voice as low as the whole conversation had been. ‘And Jason isn’t prepared to let her.’
‘I should think not,’ Jean hissed. ‘She’s no fit mother for the likes of our wee bairn.’
Shelley must have been able to feel the heat of the glare she was receiving. She sent back an ‘oh, whatever!’ expression and returned to her magazine with an audible and very bored sigh.
‘She’ll get sick of sitting around here, pretending to be interested in being a mother.’
‘I hope so,’ Laura murmured. The novelty of having Shelley on station might wear off for the rest of Green Watch as well. Despite even more obvious support for Jason and Laura than Maxine’s visit had inspired, there was no getting away from the fact that the men found Shelley astonishingly attractive.
Stick had been seen to poke Jason hard in the ribs as they’d left for their first callout that morning. ‘Didn’t you say she had an identical twin sister? Bring it on, mate!’
‘You don’t want to go there,’ Jason responded.
‘Are you kidding?’
‘She’s dead, mate.’ Jason’s voice had faded as the door swung shut. ‘But you’re welcome to the one that’s left. She’s dead keen on finding a New Zealand husband. Be my guest.’
Jean McKendry’s attitude took a turn for the worse that afternoon. Waves of righteous indignation met both Jason and Laura when they arrived back from separate jobs at almost the same time.
‘She just left her lying on the couch and walked off.’
‘Where did she go?’
‘Last I saw was her getting on a bus at the stop across the road. That’s when I went to check on Megan and found the puir lassie just lying on the couch.’
Jason looked worried. ‘Thank goodness she didn’t take Megan with her. We’re going to have to keep a closer eye on her when she comes back.’
‘I hope she’s no’ coming back at all,’ Jean snapped. ‘That bairn could have rolled off that couch and done herself a right mischief.’
But Shelley did come back. Laura groaned inwardly when she arrived along with Jason, Megan and Oscar again early the following morning. Jason looked tired and his grim expression deepened as the day got busier for his crew. Shelley looked sullen but determined, and totally ignored both Laura and Jean, who were not about to leave her alone with Megan.
Thankfully, she also ignored the baby and, other than disappearing for several hours in the middle of the day, spent her time watching television and reading magazines.
Laura and Tim had an unusually quiet day. The call that came in at four p.m. was only the third one for the shift. An hour later, they had treated a child’s asthma attack, transported the young girl to hospital and were returning to the station, planning to give the ambulance a wash down and check equipment stores.
The sight of Mrs McKendry standing at the door of the garage and practically wringing her hands sent a chill snaking down Laura’s spine.
‘What’s wrong? It’s not Megan, is it?’ The difficulty with which Jean was struggling to find words was unusual enough to hit panic buttons. ‘What’s happened? Is she—is she all right?’
‘We don’t know. She’s…she’s gone!’
‘Gone where?’ Laura’s tone sounded curiously blank. Her brain felt foggy, the thought processes slowing enough to make her feel stupid.
‘We don’t know,’ Jean repeated. ‘She’s just…gone. That woman has taken her.’ A stifled sob broke through. ‘It’s all my fault but I had to go and see about the water, didn’t I?’
‘Where’s Jason?’
‘They arrived back just a few minutes after I found she’d gone. They’ve taken the fire engine and the whole crew has gone looking for her. She wouldn’t have got far on foot. But…but Jason doesn’t know about that man yet.’
‘What man?’
‘The one that left the puir wee bairn on the doorstep in the first place.’
Jason learned about the man soon enough, and Laura heard enough to piece the whole sorry story together as she sat on station in the company of two fire and ambulance crews at shift changeover time.
‘It has to be her brother.’
‘It was no brother that I
saw that morning. No’ the way they were kissing each other.’
‘Why didn’t you tell us that in the first place, Mackie?’
‘Because you wouldn’t have taken your wee girl home with you. That Shelley creature is no’ fit to be a mother.’
‘That was part of the reason I refused to leave Megan at home.’ Jason nodded. ‘She doesn’t know much about babies and she cares even less.’ He groaned. ‘I had a suspicion she might try and pull a stunt like this. We had an argument last night when her brother was backing her up and trying to intimidate me. They both went oddly quiet when I said we’d have to see what the courts had to say about custody.’
‘It’s my fault it happened.’ If Mrs Mack had been wearing an apron, it would have surprised no one if she’d thrown it over her head.
‘You were set up, Mackie. She must have plugged that basin and turned the taps on as soon as she saw Tim and Laura get called out. She had to know you’d go and see what was causing the flood. She was just waiting here long enough for us all to be out at the same time.’
‘What are we going to do?’ Laura said quietly.
‘We didn’t see any sign of them on the streets,’ Stick said unhappily.
‘What did your mate in the police force reckon, Jase?’ asked Bruce. ‘You did ring him, didn’t you?’
Jason nodded wearily. ‘He said that it would not be considered kidnapping and if there’s no evidence that she’s planning to harm the baby then there’s absolutely nothing they can do.’
‘She’s not going to leave town in a hurry.’ Stick gave Jason’s shoulder a comforting squeeze. ‘Let’s face it, mate. It’s you she wants, not the kid.’
‘But she can’t look after her. She only took her bottle and her blanket. She doesn’t even have any clean nappies.’
‘She’s a woman,’ Cliff said somewhat acidly. ‘She’ll find the shops.’
‘She must have looked after her for the first month of her life,’ someone from Red Watch added. ‘So she must have some idea what she’s doing.’
‘Ha!’ Both Jason and Mrs Mack made identical sounds of contempt.
‘She must be staying somewhere.’ Laura stood up. ‘Let’s get the phone book and start ringing motels.’
Feisty Firefighters Bundle Page 30
