'You're being ridiculous,' she told him crisply. 'I know you, of course I do, but she doesn't, and this is her baby we're talking about, don't forget. You'd make that much fuss about lending someone your car!'
'She's my baby, too,' he growled, but she shook her head.
'Oh, no, she isn't. You might have been there at her conception, but that doesn't make her your baby. Who gave birth to her? Who carried her for nine months? Who walks up and down the floor all night with her when she can't sleep, and plays with her when she's happy, and feeds her and cares for her? No, Max, I'm sorry, she's Annie's baby, and she was absolutely right to vet you before telling you, or at least to give herself time to decide how she wanted to play your relationship.'
'Oh, she did that, all right,' he said bitterly. 'She waited until I asked her to marry me.'
'So she could be sure you loved her for herself and weren't just doing the decent thing? Tell me, Max. Was she happy with her first husband?'
He shook his head. 'No.'
'So she wouldn't have wanted to make another mistake.'
He sighed harshly and shook his head again. Since when had his mother been so damned logical? 'No.'
'Well, then, I rest my case. Drink your coffee and take me to see this baby. I'd like to meet my first grandchild, and my future daughter-in-law.'
'I shouldn't hold your breath on that one,' he advised her bitterly. 'There won't be any wedding.'
'But...you said you'd asked her to marry you.'
'Before she told me.'
'Oh, what, and now she's been sensible and a caring mother and not put herself first, you've had a fit of masculine pride and dumped her? Max! How old are you? For heaven's sake, grow up!'
She snatched the coffee out of his hand and poured it down the sink. 'We're going now—and while I get to know Alice, you and Annie are going to have a serious heart-to-heart.'
'Mother, butt out—'
'No. You're a fool, Max, a bigger fool than even I would have given you credit for. Just answer me one thing. Do you love her?'
His heart felt as if a giant hand had crushed it. 'Oh, yes, I love her,' he said softly. 'She's my other half.'
'Then you need to tell her that, and stop flouncing around in a fit of pique before you've thrown it all away.'
Was that all it was? A fit of pique? Max was silent and thoughtful all the way back to Audley, and when they pulled up outside Annie's house his heart was pounding.
His mother was right. He'd been an idiot, and he'd probably ruined his only real chance of happiness in this lifetime. Please, God, don't let it be too late, he said silently as he helped his mother from the car and rang the doorbell.
They were expected—he'd phoned on his mobile and warned Annie when he would be there—and she came to the door with Alice propped on her hip, a cautious smile on that beautiful and generous mouth that he loved so much.
'Mum, this is Annie,' he said. 'Annie, my mother, Margaret. And this is Alice.'
His mother's eyes flooded with tears and she put her arms around both of them and hugged them gently. 'Oh, my dear girl, what a beautiful little baby,' she said unsteadily. 'Hello, Alice. I'm your grandma.'
'Would you like to hold her?' Annie asked, but Margaret shook her head.
'No. Well, I would, but...give her time. She doesn't know who I am, and she's not a toy. You're lovely, aren't you, sweetheart?'
And Alice, as if sensing the love emanating from her grandmother, launched herself at her with a gurgle of laughter.
'I think that's all the time she needs,' Annie said, and relinquished her hold on her daughter with a little flicker of pain that she couldn't quite hide.
Oh, Annie, how could I have got it so wrong? Max thought, his heart aching.. You did it for Alice, all of it. Oh, lord. What a fool I've been.
'Come on in,' Annie was Saying, ushering them into the hall. And then her parents were there to meet his mother, his father giving Max stony looks over everyone's heads.
'Come into the drawing room, I've made coffee,' Jill was saying, and they trailed after her, all of them equally uncomfortable and awkward. Max sat on the window-seat out of the way, and watched as his mother charmingly and expertly engineered the conversation onto neutral territory while Alice bounced happily on her lap.
Then she sat down suddenly and started to chew her fist and grizzle, and Annie took her back.
'Time for her lunch,' she said with a fleeting smile that didn't reach her eyes, and headed for the door.
Max got to his feet and followed her. His mother was well able to take care of herself, and he needed to talk to Annie.
'Excuse me, time for my next lesson,' he said with an equally fleeting smile, and grabbed the door just before Annie shut it in his face.
'I can manage,' she told him crisply, but he shook his head.
'I know you can. That's not what this is about.'
'What is it about? You want another fight? Want to pick holes in how I'm looking after her—or have you decided to tell me you're going for custody?'
He felt sick. He'd been through all of those things in his head, and rejected them. Now all he wanted to do was take her in his arms.
'I want to talk to you,' he said.
'So talk. You have a captive audience. I can't promise to listen, though.'
His heart sank. She wasn't going to make it easy for him, obviously, but, then, he probably didn't deserve that. He was finding it hard to think of anything she could give him that he'd deserve, apart from permanent marching orders, and that was probably about to come any second.
Annie was truly angry, hurt and disillusioned and not in the least inclined to cut Max any slack, but then she looked up at him and saw the misery on his face and the pain in those wonderful ice-blue eyes, and she relented.
'So, what did you want to say?' she asked with a weary sigh.
He shook his head. 'Not here. Can you feed Alice and leave her with all the grandparents? Please?'
It was the 'please' that did it. That and the look in his eyes, as if he'd been to hell and back.
She understood that. She'd spent the whole of the last week on that journey, except she'd had a one-way ticket.
'OK. I'll see if they mind.'
'I'll feed her if you like,' he offered, and she handed the grizzly baby to him while she heated the food and tested it on the inside of her wrist.
'OK, OK, it's coming,' she told Alice, and clipped her plastic bib on.
Max sat down and got the first spoonful in, and after that all was peace. Tense, strained, but relatively quiet at least.
Then finally Alice was finished, her nappy was changed and Annie took her through to the drawing room.
'Mum, would you mind watching her for me for a while? Max wants to talk.'
'Can't you do that here?' her father said, bristling a little, but she shook her head.
'No. I'm sorry. I don't know how long we'll be. She'll need a sleep soon, so she won't be much trouble.'
'Don't worry, darling, we'll be fine,' her mother said firmly, quelling her father with a look. 'You go.'
Max's mother gave Annie a reassuring smile, and she squared her shoulders and went back out to the hall. Max was standing by the front door, and she couldn't read the expression on his face because of the light behind him.
'OK?' he asked, and she nodded.
He opened the door, ushered her into the car and drove round to his house in silence. She could feel the tension coming off him in waves, and her heart was pounding so loudly she couldn't hear herself think.
He walked her to the door, opened it and ushered her inside, then the door closed with a decisive click.
'Do you want a drink?' he offered, but she shook her head. She thought if she ate or drank anything, she'd be sick. She hugged her arms around her waist to hold herself together.
'No. Just...say what you want to say, please, and get it over.'
Oh, lord, don't let it be custody, she begged silently. Not that. Anything but that
.
He sighed, a shaky, ragged sigh that seemed ripped out of him, and then he lifted his head and met her eyes.
'I don't know where to start, except to say I'm sorry,' he said gruffly. 'I've been a fool—a proud, stupid fool. I got you all mixed up with Fiona, and decided you were just holding out for a consultant husband, and I was so incensed about you vetting me I just lost touch with what we were talking about.
'I completely forgot how you must feel, how protective of Alice. I just assumed you'd realise I'd feel the same about her, but why should you? As you pointed out, you didn't know me from Adam. Why should you trust me?'
Annie felt her eyes fill at his confession. 'I should have trusted myself,' she told him honestly. 'I knew you were all right. I'd been thinking for days that I must tell you, but I didn't know how. I wasn't sure how you'd react, but I knew by then that you had a great sense of honour and you'd do the decent thing, but I didn't want you to do the decent thing. I wanted you to want me for myself, so I kept Alice from you, and I shouldn't have done. I'm sorry.'
'You're sorry?' Max said, sounding stunned. 'Annie, you have nothing to be sorry for. I was just an idiot—just a mass of outraged pride and blind stupidity, and now you hate me.'
'I don't hate you!' she exclaimed. 'I love you—I'll always love you. I was just so hurt when you threw me out—'
'Oh, Annie.'
Suddenly his arms were round her, holding her hard against his chest, and she could hear his heart pounding beneath her ear.
'Tell me it's not too late,' he begged. 'Tell me I haven't lost you.'
'You haven't lost me,' she said tearfully. 'No way. You can't lose me, Max. I won't be lost—not that easily.'
His arms tightened convulsively and he pressed his lips hard against her hair. 'Oh, my love,' he whispered tenderly. 'I thought—'
He broke off, lifting his head and threading his hands through her hair, staring down at her with his heart written in his eyes. 'I love you,' he said quietly. 'I'll always love you. My mother asked how I felt about you, and I told her you were my other half. It's true. I don't feel complete without you. I haven't, since the day I met you, and maybe even before that. There's always been something missing.'
'Until now.'
'Until now,' he echoed, and then he lowered his head and kissed her with tender reverence.
'Make love to me, Max,' she whispered. 'I've missed you.'
With a ragged groan he lifted his head and stared down into her eyes. 'I've missed you, too. I thought I'd lost you. I can't believe you're here with me.' He gave his hand a rueful grimace. 'Think you can manage to walk upstairs? I can't carry you, my hand isn't up to it.'
'It'd better mend soon,' she told him, her heart filled with happiness again. 'I'll expect you to carry me over the threshold when we're married, and I don't intend to wait for long.'
As she said it, she had an agonising second of doubt. They were still getting married, weren't they? But he hadn't said—
'I'll make an exception on our wedding day,' he said with a slow smile, and she relaxed again. 'After all, considering how nearly it didn't happen, I reckon it'll be worth the sacrifice.'
'You're such a hero,' she teased. 'A bit dense on occasions, though. I can see I'm going to have to be careful to make sure you've understood—'
'Get upstairs, woman,' he said, pretending to scowl at her. 'You've got such a sassy mouth on you. I shall have to find a way of silencing you.'
'I can think of a good one,' she said, and, reaching up, she pulled his head down and kissed him.
*
'About the wedding.'
'Mmm?' she mumbled sleepily. Her head was pillowed on Max's chest, her legs entwined with his, and she was almost asleep for the first time in six days.
'You said you didn't want to wait long. Does that mean you don't want a big church wedding?'
Annie lifted her head, propped herself up on her elbows and looked down into his eyes. They were clear of pain now, his expression tender and caring. Much better.
'I don't care, so long as it's quick and we get married. I just want to be with you.'
'And your job? Do you want to carry on working, or do you want to stay at home and look after Alice?'
She sighed and dropped her head onto his chest again. 'I don't know. Mum seems quite happy to have her, but it seems a bit much to make it a long-term thing. I only agreed because I was in such a state and she'd been so closely involved with Alice since her birth.'
'I still haven't seen the photos.'
'No. You must. I expect my parents are showing your mother at the moment—unless they're lined up on opposite sides of the drawing room, daggers drawn.'
His chest rumbled with laughter. 'I hardly think so. My mother's made of sterner stuff than that. I expect they're trading life stories.'
His hand smoothed over her back, his fingers trailing down her spine. 'So, back to the wedding—do you want to get married in church or a register office?'
'I don't know. Church would be nice—or the hospital chapel. That's small and quite pretty. What about you?'
She felt him shrug. 'I don't know. I don't have any particular religious beliefs. I don't know about you, but I think the fact that we're together after all we've been through is nothing short of a miracle, really, and maybe I just want it sanctified. Does that sound silly?'
It didn't. It sounded like an echo of her own thoughts, and she told him so.
'Well, we can sort it out.' He shifted slightly so he could see her face and gave her a rueful smile. 'I hate to break this up when you're so comfortable, but do you think we should go and put our respective parents out of their misery?'
Annie sighed and snuggled closer. 'Five more minutes,' she murmured, and went straight to sleep.
'Annie? Annie, wake up, we're here.'
She opened her eyes and looked around her. Trees, tall trees, and a white house, and between the two, in the distance across the. sweeping lawn, the dark blue water of Thirlmere.
Max was smiling at her, his eyes searching her face.
'OK?'
'Mmm. You?'
'Glad to be here. It's a long way.'
'But worth it?'
He smiled again. 'Oh, yes. Come on, let's go in. It'll be time for dinner soon.'
Her stomach rumbled, and he laughed. 'Come on, piglet. Let's be having you. I'll get the luggage in a minute.'
They went inside, and Hans greeted them with his usual cheer. 'Welcome, welcome,' he said, and moments later he'd shown them to their room.
'It's got a four-poster,' she said, laughing with delight. 'And a lake view.'
'Nothing but the best for my wife,' Max said, coming up behind her as she stood at the window and slipping his arms around her waist. His head rested against hers, and for a moment he was silent.
Then he said, very gently, 'Are you all right about this? I mean, with Peter and everything?'
She nodded. 'Yes. I've put Peter to rest. All my memories of this place are of you, but there is one thing I have to do.'
She turned to him and gave him a quiet smile. 'Can you give me a minute alone? I just want to go outside.'
'Of course.'
She squeezed his hand, then went out of the hotel and down to the water. She had a flower in her hand, a carnation that she'd pulled out of the arrangement in the entrance hall, and she stood at the water's edge in silence for a moment, thinking of Peter.
He was a distant memory now, but she owed him this.
'I'm sorry,' she said softly. 'Sorry for all of it. But I'm happy now, and I wanted to thank you for bringing me here so that I met Max. Goodbye, Peter.'
She threw the carnation out onto the water, and watched it float there for a moment. Then a little flurry of wind came out of nowhere and carried it out of sight, and she felt peace steal over her.
With a smile on her lips, she turned and walked back up the path to Max and the rest of her life...
roline Anderson, Accidental Seduction
Accidental Seduction Page 14
