Tall, Dark... Collection

She glared up at him with glittering eyes. ‘No, I don’t care either way,’ she confirmed, before turning to almost run from the room, her only thought now to get to Bobby as quickly as possible.

It had been the headmaster of Bobby’s school on the telephone. Her son had fallen down some stairs, seemed to be in considerable pain, and an ambulance had been called. Laura’s only concern was to get to the hospital as quickly as she could.

She arrived at the hospital at the same time as Bobby did, the teacher who had accompanied him in the ambulance at his side as he was wheeled into the Accident and Emergency Department on a trolley.

A trolley that was far too big for such a little boy, making him look younger and more defenceless than usual…

Tears filled Laura’s eyes as she hurried over to him, having to blink back those tears as she saw the look of relief on Bobby’s face as he saw her there, his own tears immediately starting to fall. Laura knew it wouldn’t help anyone to have the two of them in floods of tears!

‘I bumped my head and my knee hurts, Mommy,’ Bobby sobbed into her neck as she held him close to her.

‘Have you thought that there’s probably a dent or two in the stairs now, too?’ she attempted to tease, and was rewarded for her attempt at levity with a teary smile from her son.

‘I never thought of that,’ Bobby giggled, obviously less distressed now that his mummy was here.

She ruffled the dark silkiness of his hair as she smiled down at him. Bobby was so precious to her that from the time he was a baby what she had really wanted to do was gather him up in her arms, wrap him in cotton-wool and never let any harm come to him.

Robert had been the one to show her she couldn’t do that, that it wouldn’t be fair to Bobby to deny him all the fun and games that all little boys enjoyed.

Robert had also been the one to encourage her to go back to work once Bobby was old enough for kindergarten, and by the time Bobby had begun ‘big’ school, with Robert only recently dead, she had been more than grateful to have Shipley Publishing to occupy her time and thoughts.

But she did wish that Robert were at her side now, if only to help guide her through the pain of seeing their son hurt. It was at times like this that she missed Robert the most…

To Laura’s relief, an X-ray on Bobby’s knee showed that he hadn’t actually broken anything when he fell, just badly bruised it. Another X-ray showed that his skull had sustained no fracture either. Although the bump on the head necessitated him spending the night in hospital, just in case there were any signs of concussion.

‘You can stay with him, of course,’ the doctor told her smilingly.

She had never intended doing anything else. Bobby was seven years old, had never spent a night away from home in his life, let alone in the awesome surroundings of a hospital ward. Of course Laura would stay with him!

‘I’m just going to pop home and get us some night things,’ she explained to her son shortly after helping him to drink his tea.

Bobby was well settled into his private room on the children’s ward by now, the nurse having obligingly put his favourite video on the overhead television attached to the wall. It seemed as good a time as any for Laura to leave for a short time to collect the things they were going to need for their overnight stay.

‘And Teddy?’ he prompted, his face still pale from the shock of his fall.

The teddy bear, Bobby’s usual night companion, rather tattered now, had been a gift to Laura when Robert had first visited her in the hospital after Bobby was born. It had been in his cot as a baby and continued to share his bed now that he was growing up, had become even more precious to him since Robert’s death two years ago.

‘And Teddy, of course,’ Laura assured Bobby with a choke, once again having to blink back the tears.

Although he liked to think he was the man of the house now that his daddy was gone, Bobby was still such a baby, Laura acknowledged tearfully on her drive back to the house. Never more so that when he was hurt and helpless, as he was now. Oh, how she wished Robert were here!

But sitting in the back of a taxi, crying her eyes out because of her son’s pain and the loss of her husband, was not the Laura Shipley she thought she had become, she acknowledged sadly. In fact, these moments of weakness were not a good idea, she decided, even as the tears wouldn’t seem to stop flowing.

‘Here you are, love.’ The middle-aged taxi-driver stuck his hand through the open window between the front and back of the vehicle, holding out a tissue to her. ‘Have a good blow,’ he advised gently. ‘You’ll feel much better.’

Laura took the tissue, noisily following his advice. Goodness knew what the poor man was thinking, having just picked her up from outside the hospital!

‘Thank you,’ she told him gratefully, this stranger’s kindness making her feel tearful all over again.

Pull yourself together, Laura, she told herself firmly as she paid off the taxi-driver outside the house, having assured the poor man that everything was fine. Bobby had had an accident, yes, but he was going to be all right. A bit battered and bruised, perhaps, but all right.

‘Oh, Mrs Shipley—Laura.’ A rather breathless Amy came down the hallway to greet her as she let herself into the house. ‘How’s Master Bobby?’ She frowned her concern as she took in Laura’s tear-streaked face, Laura having telephoned her from the hospital earlier and explained the situation to her.

Laura smiled reassuringly. ‘Asking for Teddy.’

‘Thank goodness.’ Amy sighed her relief. ‘Er—there’s a man waiting in the sitting room to see you,’ she added anxiously, obviously extremely flustered by this strange turn of events. ‘I told him you were out, and that I had no idea when you would be back, but he insisted on waiting for your return. He simply wouldn’t leave.’ She frowned her consternation.

There was only one man that Laura knew who had that sort of arrogance—Liam O’Reilly!

‘You didn’t tell him where I was, did you?’ she prompted sharply. She didn’t want Liam even to know of Bobby’s existence, let alone have the chance to start adding two and two together and come up with the correct answer!

‘Certainly not,’ Amy assured her indignantly. ‘He says his name is Liam O’Reilly.’ She confirmed Laura’s suspicion. ‘I don’t care what his name is; the man is altogether too fond of having his own way, if you ask me.’

Even though she was less than pleased at this interruption, Laura couldn’t help but smile at her housekeeper’s unflattering first impression of Liam. As Laura knew only too well, Amy’s second impression of him was unlikely to be any more complimentary!

‘How long has he been here?’ Laura kept her voice deliberately low, not wanting to let Liam know she was home just yet; she needed to tidy herself and redo her make-up before she faced Liam.

‘An hour or so,’ Amy frowned. ‘I took him in a tray of tea about half an hour ago.’ She sniffed dismissively. ‘After all, he could be pocketing all the family silver in there, for all I know!’

‘Highly unlikely,’ Laura assured her with an affectionate smile. ‘I agree with you about his arrogance, but I don’t think he’s a thief! I’ll just go upstairs and—’

‘Laura…?’

She turned at the sound of Liam’s husky drawl, instantly irritated at his intrusion into the home she had shared with her husband and now shared with only Bobby, as well as at the fact that she hadn’t had time to tidy herself before confronting him.

‘Thanks, Amy.’ She gave the housekeeper’s arm a reassuring squeeze before turning back to Liam. ‘I believe you wanted to see me?’ she acknowledged coolly, dark brows raised.

He gave an arrogant inclination of his head, still dressed—as she was!—as he had been during their meeting this morning.

Goodness, that seemed a long time ago, Laura inwardly acknowledged. So much had happened since that time. She felt emotionally drained after the upset of Bobby’s accident and the time spent at the hospital with him, trying to be cheerful when she had really felt like crying. She couldn’t have felt less like talking to Liam!

‘Could you bring me some coffee?’ she prompted Amy gently, before preceding Liam into the sitting room.

The soft click of the latch told her he had closed the door firmly behind them.

‘You look terrible.’

Laura turned again at the harshly made criticism, glaring across at Liam as he stood beside the closed door. How dared he come here, invading her home, refusing to leave, and then insult her the moment he saw her?

If he wasn’t so selfish, if he hadn’t been eight years ago, then he would have been sharing her distress over their son today! Instead of that, all he could do was stand there and be rude and insulting!

‘Thank you for those few kind words,’ she returned caustically. ‘Now, what do you want?’ she demanded abruptly.

He didn’t answer, didn’t move, just stood there looking at her, his gaze narrowed, a contemptuous twist to his lips.

Laura, her nerves already frayed to breaking point, withstood his critical gaze as best she could, knowing that the tears were still dangerously close. The last thing she wanted was to cry in front of Liam. He had no right to be here, let alone—let alone—

‘He must be really something,’ Liam finally said.