Page 97 of The Winter Bride

The following afternoon, as Marie and Annie sat in the day room with Adam playing with his toy cars on the rug, the maid appeared to tell them that Mr Gordon and his daughter were there.

‘Show them in, thank you, Millie,’ Marie said. Turning to Annie, she told her, ‘I will leave you to it.’

Annie was sitting with her bandaged ankle on a stool, and she patted her hair to make sure it was in place. Not that it much mattered, she thought as her finger gingerly touched the scar on her cheek. She looked a fright anyway.

Soon Alex appeared holding the hand of a very pretty little girl. Her hair, which hung in ringlets tied up with a blue ribbon, was the exact same colour as Adam’s, as were her eyes, and Annie was shocked to see how alike they looked.

Alex nodded politely. ‘Good afternoon. Annie, this is my daughter, Lucy. Lucy this is my, er . . . friend Annie.’

Lucy gave Annie a beaming smile before turning her attention to Adam.

‘And this young man is Adam,’ Lucy’s father told her. ‘Perhaps you’d like to play with him for a while. Here, give me your coat, darling.’

The little girl shed her coat and within seconds was down on the floor playing with Adam as if they had known each other for years.

‘Well, they seem to be getting along,’ Alex commented after a time and Annie could only nod her agreement. She could hardly take her eyes off Lucy; she was a truly lovely child.

‘How old are you, Lucy?’ Annie asked.

The child looked up. ‘I’m nearly twelve now, aren’t I, Daddy? And on my birthday, I’m going to have a party. Perhaps you and Adam would like to come?’

‘Oh, I, er . . . well, we’d love to if we’re still here,’ Annie told her in a fluster. ‘But when my leg is better, we’re going to live back in Nuneaton.’

‘Oh, that’s a shame.’ Lucy had obviously taken a great shine to Adam. ‘And did you hurt your face too? How did it happen?’ she asked innocently.

Annie cringed. ‘Yes, I did. I had a nasty fall.’ She wasn’t prepared to tell the child what had really happened.

‘That’s a shame, you’re very pretty and I hope you get better soon.’

There was a tap on the door and Millie appeared pushing a tea trolley loaded with treats. ‘Cook thought you and the children might fancy a few cakes and scones. And there’s a jug of lemonade for the children.’

‘Oh, thank you, Millie.’ When she’d gone Annie asked Alex, ‘Would you mind being mother?’

‘Not at all.’ He served the children with glasses of Cook’s home-made lemonade and watched them happily eating cake and chattering away to each other.

As Alex poured himself and Annie a cup of tea, he chuckled. ‘Well, these two seem to be getting on like a house on fire, don’t they?’

She nodded in agreement. ‘They certainly do and Lucy is just lovely, Alex. A real credit to you.’ She could see from the way he looked at the child how much he adored her, and it was easy to see why. It would have been hard for anyone not to like her; she was such a sweet-natured child.

An hour later, Marie joined them and was pleased to see they all seemed to be getting along splendidly.

‘Well, I dare say we should be getting along now. I’m afraid we’ve taken up far too much of your time already,’ Alex said as he made to rise.

‘Oh, Daddy, do we have to go? Can’t we stay a little bit longer?’ Lucy pleaded.

Marie laughed. ‘You are both welcome to stay for as long as you like, ma belle,’ Marie told her. ‘Stay for dinner, if you wish.’

‘Unfortunately, my cook will already have prepared our dinner for us,’ Alex told her regretfully.

‘Then you must come again tomorrow and we shall all dine together,’ Marie told him as she tenderly stroked her stomach.

‘Oh, yes please! Can we, Daddy?’ Lucy cried, clapping her hands with delight.

‘It looks like I don’t have much of a say in it. Thank you, Marie, we’d be delighted to join you.’

Millie came back with Lucy’s coat and the little girl allowed Marie to put it on her and button it up. The child then threw her arms about her and gave her a smacking kiss on the cheek before racing over to Annie to do the same. Annie’s arms automatically went around her, and she felt a little shiver of pleasure as Alex said his goodbyes, ruffled Adam’s hair and they left.

‘That seems to have gone well?’ Marie raised an amused eyebrow.