By
Jan
Chapter 2
"I've asked Sister Stewart to come and work for
me," Emma announced as Nikki bent and kissed her cheek on her next visit.
Her granddaughter looked at her in amazement.
"You've what?" she exclaimed.
Emma looked at her proudly. "Helen Stewart is going
to be my nurse when I go home."
"What on earth possessed you to do such a
thing?" Nikki stormed. "She has kids."
"Yes, I know, three. That's why she needs a job
with proper hours. We've plenty of room for her and the children."
"What about her husband? Are we taking him in as well?" Nikki sneered.
"There isn't a husband. She's not married."
"Not married!" she echoed. Momentarily her
hopes soared then she realised the significance of her grandmother's words. She
wasn't married and she had three children. Did they all have the same father or
three different ones? She thought bitterly. Though maybe she was being
hard...she could be divorced.
"We could turn the old nursery into a playroom for
the children," Emma rambled on oblivious to the anger welling up inside
her granddaughter.
"You two seem to have got it all planned out very
nicely," Nikki retorted trying to keep her voice steady.
"Yes, we have. Helen was thrilled to bits when I
mentioned the idea to her."
"Oh, I bet she was but let me tell you now,
Gran," her voice rose, her control finally slipping. "That woman will
live in my house over my dead body and I'm going to tell her so!"
"Nikki, wait!" Emma called as her
granddaughter stormed from the room.
Nikki marched down the corridor and straight into the
office without knocking. "I want a word with you!" she snapped.
Helen looked up in surprise at the intrusion. "Miss
Wade! Is something wrong with your grandmother?"
"I think she's finally gone round the twist!"
Nikki sneered. "She tells me you're going to work for her. Well, if you
think I'm going to let a woman without morals care for my grandmother then you
are sadly mistaken."
Helen stared at her in stunned surprise. "I don't
know what you mean."
"Don't play the innocent with me. Three children,
and no father, or should that be three fathers? What does that make you?" she demanded cruelly.
"I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’ve got
it all wrong!”
Nikki ignored her protestations as she hissed through
clenched teeth, "Just stay away from my grandmother!"
Helen stared at the closed door, long after Nikki Wade
had crashed out. How could a woman like Emma Wade have such a bitch for a
granddaughter? She had obviously got hold of the wrong end of the stick
somewhere but that was her problem. If Emma still wanted her, it had nothing to
do with Nikki Wade.
After she'd left the office, Nikki made for the stairs
and pounded down almost to the ground floor before stopping. She smashed her
fist against the wall then winced as she rubbed her knuckles. Serves me right, she thought. But how could
fate have been so cruel? To make her fall for a woman who slept around and bore the fruit of her sins...three
times. She was tempted, however. Tempted to go back and tell her it didn't
matter. She wanted her, even if she had a dozen children.
She walked slowly down the rest of the stairs. In her
anger, she had totally forgotten about her grandmother. She would have to ring
her and apologise for her abrupt exit, but there was no way she was going back
up to the ward tonight!
When Helen entered Emma's room half an hour later, the
troubled look on the younger woman's face told Emma all she needed to know.
"Do I take it Nikki came to see you?"
"She did," Helen said frostily then, seeing
the hurt look on Emma's face, forced a smile. It wouldn't do to upset her
patient.
"What was
she ranting on about?" Emma demanded.
"Search me. Basically she thinks I haven't any
morals because I have three children but no husband."
"Surely she didn’t think the children were yours?
Didn't you explain to her?"
"She didn't give me a chance,” Helen replied
cynically. “Anyway, with all due respect, it's hardly any of her
business."
"Has she gone? She didn’t say ‘goodnight’,” Emma
said disappointedly.
Helen looked at her sympathetically. "I’m sorry. I
think she must have." Thank goodness, she added to herself.
"You will still come and stay with me, won't
you?" Emma asked anxiously. "Nikki's not a bad person really."
"I don't want to cause any trouble between the two
of you. I can withdraw my notice from the hospital," Helen offered but her
heart sank at the prospect.
"Don't be silly. Nikki is going back to America
soon and you can be all settled in before she returns." She smiled at
Helen mischievously. "It'll be a nice surprise for her."
Helen returned her smile. She really was a lovely lady.
It was a pity she had such an unpleasant granddaughter.
To avoid any more incidents, she made herself scarce
during the times she knew Nikki would be visiting and almost breathed a sigh of
relief when Emma told her she had gone back to America.
The next few days flew past. Helen gave the children a
box each and told them to pack away all their own toys, which were duly packed
in the morning and then unpacked in the evening so they could be played with.
In spite of their help the contents of the flat were soon stacked in a corner
and only necessities left out, so they could be packed at the last minute.
As arranged, Mrs Wade's handyman, Bob, along with his
son, arrived with a hire van on Saturday morning to move all their belongings
to their new home. The two men, assisted by the children, soon emptied the
flat. After checking to see that nothing, and no one, had been left behind,
Helen turned the key in the lock with just a hint of sadness. She had been
happy here but there wasn't really room for them all. She climbed into her car
– Tommy was sitting in the front seat and the twins were in the back – and gave
them all a smile. “Right, kids. Let’s go and see our new home!”
The first two weeks at Emma’s were the happiest they had
all been in months. Emma allowed Helen plenty of free time to spend with the
children. They still attended the same schools and Helen drove them there in
the morning and picked them up at teatime. However, she was beginning to feel a
fraud. Apart from needing help to wash Emma, Maddy would have been able to cope
quite well with her and she didn’t really need a full-time nurse. When she had
voiced her doubts to Emma, the old lady had silenced her by saying she felt
safer with a trained nurse in the house and since she could more than afford to
pay her salary she wasn’t to worry.
Apart from a regular phone call from Nikki, that she was
lucky enough never to answer, she hadn’t had any further contact with the
woman. She was due back, however, and Helen wasn’t looking forward to meeting
her again. Emma had told her she was some sort of high-flying computer whiz kid
but she didn’t really know what she did for a living. Not that she cared. Nikki
Wade was thoroughly unpleasant, so why did she find her creeping into her
thoughts at the most unlikely moment!
As it was, Nikki was showing a very different side to
her character. “To us,” she said softly, as she raised her glass to the
stunning brunette sitting opposite her, smiling at her over its rim.
“You know, Nikki, it’s a pity you don’t mean that,”
Marcia Taylor drawled, as her eyes almost devoured Nikki.
“Maybe if we weren’t surrounded by all these people,”
Nikki indicated the crowded restaurant. “I’d prove to you I did mean it.” She
had met Marcia, a corporate lawyer, on her first visit to the States when,
during a business meeting, her eyes had been drawn to the other woman only to
find her watching her. After the meeting, Marcia had suggested dinner but her
carefully chosen words hadn’t left Nikki in any doubt that she was also on the
menu.
Marcia laughed seductively. “What are we waiting for
then? Your place or mine?”
“Neither,” came the regretful sigh. “I’m flying home in
the morning and I’ve got an early start.”
“You can always sleep on the plane,” Marcia suggested.
“I have a report to write before I get to London. I
should have been doing it tonight,” she said wryly. “But I couldn’t resist your
tempting offer of dinner.”
“But you resisted my other tempting offer,” Marcia
replied suggestively.
“And I’ll probably live to regret it,” Nikki laughed
then her face became serious. “It’s been a great few weeks. Thanks, Marcia.”
“Are you saying it’s over between us?” she asked
regretfully.
Nikki shrugged. “As I said, I’m going home and at the
moment I don’t know when I’ll be coming back.”
“Then why don’t I come back with you. I’m on vacation
now. Where better to spend it than in London with you?”
“I don’t live in London. I live a very boring existence
in the sticks with my grandmother.”
“Then I’ll come there with you,” Marcia replied
persistently.
Nikki laughed and shook her head. “You’ll be bored out
of your skull.”
Marcia reached out and covered Nikki’s hand with her
own. “I’m sure you and I can find something to do to alleviate the boredom.”
Nikki took a sip from her glass then raised her eyebrows
and grinned. “I’m sure we can.”
“So that’s all settled then. I’ll see if I can get a
seat on the same flight, otherwise I’ll catch the first available one over and
meet up with you.” Marcia ran her fingertips across the back of Nikki’s hand.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t like to take me up on my offer?”
There was a moment’s silence then Nikki laughed softly
and turned her hand over to clasp Marcia’s. “Putting it like that, it would be
churlish of me to refuse!”
Helen groaned and thumped her pillow. She couldn’t get
to sleep and had been tossing and turning for the best part of two hours. She
flung back the bedcovers and swung her legs out of bed. Maybe if she read for a
bit it would tire her out. Mrs Wade had an extensive library, or at least Nikki
had, and she’d been told to use it whenever she wanted. She slipped on her
dressing gown and pushed her feet into her mules.
As she passed the children’s room she pushed the door
open to check up on them. The boys were sleeping in bunk beds with Jemma’s
single bed alongside.
When they had first come down from Scotland to live with
her after their parents’ death, Tommy used to have nightmares about the car
crash. Even on the journey down he’d sat in the front with her, his hands
tightly gripped to the sides of the seat. It was only after she’d suggested a
game of ‘I-Spy’ that he’d started to relax.
Satisfied they were safe she backed out of the room and
quietly closed the door behind her. As she reached the top of the stairs the
front door opened and she heard the muffled sound of a woman’s laughter then a
husky voice she recognised as Nikki Wade’s. A light suddenly illuminated the
stairs and she stepped back quickly.
Shit! She muttered softly under her breath. She quickly
retraced her steps and went and hid in the children’s room until she was sure
the coast was clear.
When she again emerged, the house was once more in
darkness. She sighed. She still didn’t feel sleepy and she knew reading for a
while was the only answer. Snapping on the light, she went downstairs and into
the library.
Nikki leant with her back against the bedroom door, arms
folded and looked on fondly as Marcia strolled around the room. It seemed
strange having her here. In fact, she rarely brought a woman back to the house,
preferring to spend the night in a hotel in town. She knew her grandmother
wouldn’t mind but she was loath to introduce her partners to the old lady. It
seemed to give permanence to something she wasn’t ready for yet. Anyway, with
her grandmother laid up in bed it was hardly likely she and Marcia would meet.
The American wasn’t the type to bother with the old and infirm.
Marcia turned and looked at her, a seductive smile upon her
lips. “So, this is Nikki Wade’s inner sanctum,” she drawled.
Nikki laughed softly. “I wouldn’t say that.”
“Oh, I would. Am I just one of a long line to be here or
one of the fortunate few?” Marcia demanded with raised eyebrows.
“One of the few but I don’t know about fortunate.”
Marcia sidled up to her and unfolded Nikki’s arms and
placed them around her own waist. “I would say very fortunate,” she murmured as
she pressed her mouth against Nikki’s. Her hands slid over Nikki’s breasts,
kneading and caressing. They drew apart and Marcia smiled at her seductively.
“I’m going to take a bath, do you want to join me?
Nikki’s eyes sparkled as she nodded and dropped a kiss
onto Marcia’s lips. “Back in a minute,” she said softly. “I’ll go and get us a
bottle of wine.” She ran downstairs humming to herself. As she passed the
library door it opened and to her astonishment Helen Stewart emerged.