‘Yes. I think so.’ Some of Heather’s tension melted away. ‘He might need a bit of reassurance that you aren’t going to disappear with Katherine in hospital.’
‘Disappear?’
‘As in hot foot it back to London the minute you have a quick word with the consultant.’
In truth, the reality of the situation was really only now beginning to sink in. His mother would be off her feet for some weeks. He would have to make suitable arrangements for Daniel. He could hardly be expected to abandon work for an indefinite period of time; it had been years since he had taken more than a few days off!
‘Right. Well, I’m going to head off to the hospital now. I take it you will be able to cover here until I return?’
The underlying assumption was that she would be. Here was a man who took it as a given that other people would have no problem in falling in with whatever plans he had for them, even if it meant disrupting their lives.
‘Yes, but then I’ll need to be away.’
‘Naturally. Art courses to attend, friends to visit.’
‘How did you know about the art course?’
Leo decided that it was definitely time to go. ‘My mother must have said something in passing.’ He began walking away. It was late, and it would probably have been more sensible to wait until morning before going to the hospital, but something had changed between his mother and him over the past weeks. Having been emotionally independent of her for more years than he cared to remember, Leo had recently made tentative steps to bridge the invisible gap that separated them. He had stepped out of his cocoon and begun to see the considerable sacrifices which she had made for him with Daniel. He had also been treated to one or two trips down memory lane, which was a place he had seldom visited, and had begun piecing together a past that might not have been quite as clear cut as he remembered.
Now, he was reluctant to jeopardise that fragile relationship by showing up in his own sweet time, allowing his mother to assume, with that resigned air of hers, that yet again the pressing demands of work took precedence over everything else.
‘What time do you think you’ll be back?’ Heather pressed him for an answer.
‘Couple of hours. Why?’
‘Look at me!’ She drew his attention to her dishevelled state and then instantly regretted it when he paused to look at her. It was a thorough inspection that took in the very worst of her stay-at-home gear, the sort of clothes which would have had her instantly hanged, drawn and quartered by the Fashion Police. She hadn’t glanced into a mirror recently, but she was willing to bet that her face was shiny and her hair was a mop. ‘I need a bath,’ she muttered.
‘I don’t remember telling you that you couldn’t have one.’ Leo shrugged, gritting his teeth as his imagination surged beyond her unsightly garb to the body underneath. ‘I have a wardrobe of spare clothes upstairs. Feel free to take what you need.’
Heather could think of nothing she would rather do less, but she nodded, willing him on his way so that she could take advantage of his absence to shower, change and scramble into one of the five spare bedrooms before he returned.
Thanks to an interruption by Daniel, who had woken and had needed comforting and then a rambling story before he fell back to sleep, it was nearly midnight by the time Heather had her much-longed-for bath. She found one of Leo’s pristine white work-shirts to use as a nightie. Although it was much shorter than anything she usually dared wear, at least it was clean.
Having had nothing to eat for the evening, she was aware of the growling pains in her stomach when she finally settled into bed and turned off the light. Her last meal had been hours previously, a snatched sandwich in between preparing some stuff for the art class which she did at the local school.
Now, with her stomach noisily reminding her of that fact, she tiptoed out of the bedroom, down the majestic winding staircase and into the kitchen.
The house was in darkness save for the light in the hall. Leo still hadn’t returned, or if he had he had managed to make absolutely no noise. Since he didn’t strike her as the kind of thoughtful guy who would tiptoe through the house in darkness rather than wake its sleeping occupants, Heather assumed that he had become caught up in the sluggish hospital system and was probably tearing his hair out while he waited for people to do his bidding.
She was inspecting the contents of the fridge, and indulging in a pleasant daydream of the great man undone by a hospital system which refused to do as it was told, when she was aware of a sound behind her.
She spun around, armed with nothing but a bar of chocolate, and her eyes widened at the sight of Leo lounging against the kitchen door, eyebrows raised in an amused question.
‘You’re back.’
‘So it would seem.’ His gaze was shuttered as he looked at her, standing in front of him like a rabbit caught in the headlights, and wearing one of his shirts, something which he found unaccountably appealing. It was buttoned tight across her fabulous body and her breasts spilled beyond the confines of the thin fabric, revealing a generous cleavage and an eyeful of her circular, pouting nipples pressed darkly against the cotton. He quickly refocused on her face, now tinged pink with embarrassment, although she seemed unaware that the nightdress left precious little to the imagination.
‘I…I was just getting myself something to eat…I haven’t had anything today, what with one thing and another…’
‘And all you’ve found is a bar of chocolate?’ Leo was finding it hard not to stare. The woman had the body of a sex siren, with the sort of generous curves that were the stuff of most teenage boys’ fantasies. He strode into the kitchen and watched out of the corner of his eye as she fell back onto one of the kitchen chairs, chocolate still in hand. ‘I’ll make you something to eat. Chocolate’s just going to send a sugar rush through you, and you’ll have to kiss sweet goodbye to getting any sleep.’ He pulled out some eggs and cracked them into a bowl.
‘There’s no need for you to do this.’ Heather was now painfully aware that she was being a chore on top of everything else. ‘I’ve lost my appetite anyway.’
‘No, you haven’t,’ Leo informed her. ‘You’re just embarrassed at being caught red-handed in the kitchen. At any rate, you need to keep your strength up.’
‘What are you talking about?’ When that failed to get a response, she added nastily, ‘I thought you didn’t do Mr Domestic.’
‘I think I’m on safe territory with you. Eggs—scrambled or fried?’
‘Scrambled would be fine. Thank you.’ Of course he was on safe territory! She was history, as far as he was concerned. There was now some other sucker in his life. No; Heather was definitely not going to think about that. ‘How is Katherine? Did you get to see her? Talk to her? Or was she asleep?’
‘Yes, to the first two. Surprisingly awake, considering the time, but she tells me that she has trouble falling asleep. First I knew of that.’ He began stirring the eggs in the frying pan, and put bread in the toaster.
‘She must have been really pleased to see you. And the doctor—did you manage to get hold of one?’ She could feel herself rambling and made an effort to stop, to act normally.
‘Of course I did,’ he said, sounding surprised that she had ever doubted that he would. ‘It’s all straightforward, but the healing time might run into weeks.’ He tipped the egg onto the slice of toast on a plate and placed it in front of her. And without missing a beat he added, ‘Which is where you come in.’
It took a few seconds for that postscript to sink in because she was busy losing herself in the fluffy perfection of the plate of food in front of her. She had never been heavily into meal-skipping.
‘What?’ She glanced across the table to where he had taken up position on the chair facing her.
‘How’s the egg?’
‘Delicious. What did you say just then?’
‘Finish eating and then we’ll discuss it.’ He noticed she didn’t fiddle with her food, shoving it around her plate as if trying to distance herself from what she was eating. She dug in. He found that he liked that, or at any rate it made a pleasant change. Even power babes, intelligent enough to know better, were usually trapped by their own vanity and desire not to put on weight. The slice of toast would have been avoided like the plague.
‘Discuss what?’ She could have eaten the lot all over again. She felt calmer now, protected by the comforting width of the kitchen table. Being surprised by him like that had threatened to turn her into a dithering wreck, but she had taken her cue from him. They were just a couple of people discussing an unexpected situation. The fact that his presence did something to her peace of mind was neither here nor there.
‘Ah…’ Leo stood up and cleared away the plate, now scraped clean. ‘My mother is going to need someone around while she’s in hospital, and quite possibly when she gets out.’
‘Yes. She will.’ Heather challenged him with her direct gaze. ‘And so will Daniel.’
‘And I will be here, as much as I can. But when I am not…’
‘You want me to cover for you.’ She bristled with anger and with a certain amount of weird disappointment. ‘Is that why you told me that I needed to keep my strength up? Why you decided to spend five minutes pretending to be thoughtful, whipping me up some scrambled eggs on toast?’ That hurt. ‘Katherine in hospital, and me bed ridden with flu because I haven’t eaten, just wouldn’t do, would it? Because nothing can be allowed to get in the way of work, can it?’ She stood up abruptly and began to walk towards the door, only to turn around and find him virtually on top of her.