Instant Family (20 page)

"Right." He snatched up Steffie's overnight bag. He didn't remember Lucy's saying anything about a party.

"It's dress-up," she added as she closed the door. "I haven't had
time to organize anything. Marky's been sick all week." Mark let fly
with an extra-loud puce-faced howl to underline her comment. The
door clunked shut.

"Dress-up?" He stared down at Steffie, who stood smiling up at
him.

She clutched his free hand. "Come on, Daddy. Marky's giving me
a headache. He's been crying for hours."

"Where's the party?" They began walking to the car.

"At Felicity's."

"What sort of dress-up?"

"Fairies."

"Fairies!!"

"Yes. Felicity loves fairies. She wants to be one when she grows
up"

"But I don't know anything about fairy suits." Lucy must have
known about this for weeks. "Do we have to buy a present too?"

"Yes"

"We'll have to go tomorrow." What did other people's six-year-olds
like? What did fairies wear? Chloe would know! He'd have to call
and cancel out on the picnic anyway.

He phoned as soon as Steffie disappeared into her room to unpack
her bag.

"That's a pity," Chloe said. "They've been looking forward to it."
She added in a softer voice, "So have I."

Alex smiled. Such a sweet admission of her disappointment. "Me
too. I haven't seen you for ages."

Chloe laughed, and he knew she was holding the phone tightly
against her ear by the way her breath feathered into the receiver.
"Five days." Her voice was husky.

"Yes, ages." Steffie emerged from her room and turned on the TV.
He raised his voice to normal. "I haven't a clue about the gift or the
fancy dress." He paused, grimaced. Was Chloe prepared to give up
her Saturday to assist a child she didn't like? How badly had Steffie's
behavior upset her? "I desperately need your help."

"Cripes. It's very short notice." She paused. An unenthusiastic
pause. "Katy and I could come shopping with you tomorrow. She's
an expert"

"That would be marvelous! Thank you." And Steffie liked Katy,
so there shouldn't be too much friction.

"Might be fun."

Fairy shopping? Doubtful. "Glad you think so. We'll pick you up
at ten. Thanks again."

"Who are we picking up?" Steffie demanded from the couch.

"Chloe and Katy are helping with your fairy stuff."

"Does pooey Chloe have to come?" The familiar whine and accompanying pout appeared.

Alex's heart sank. "Yes, she does, and I want you to be polite.
Chloe is doing us a big favor. I don't know anything about presents
and fairy outfits, and Mummy didn't organize anything for you."

"Marky was sick-she couldn't." Steffie glared at him. "Mummy
is overworked and very stressed out."

Didn't he know it. Lucy's stress levels were constantly broadcast
to anyone who'd listen. "The alternative is, you go to the party with no present and no costume because I have no idea what to do. Or
you don't go at all."

"I want to go." But the situation had clearly sunk in, because after a
moment's teary-eyed, silent fuming she said, "All right, we'll go with
Chloe," in a drawn-out tone of vast suffering and condescension.

"Good girl." He dropped a kiss onto the top of her head. "I made
macaroni and cheese for dinner."

"Yum. I love you, Daddy. I wish I could live with you and eat
macaroni cheese every night."

Chloe went to find Katy. With any luck they'd be able to do the
fairy thing quickly, and she could spend the afternoon practicing.
She'd picked up a gig for the following weekend with a cover band
and had tunes to learn. Kids! Now it was Alex's little monster. Why
on earth had she said yes? No brainer. Because he'd asked.

Katy sat with the cat cradled in her lap, watching TV.

"We're going shopping in the morning with Alex."

"Why?"

"We have to turn Stephanie into a fairy for a party on Sunday.
And find a present. It means we can't go on our picnic."

"Never mind." Katy rubbed her cheek against Simba's head. "We
can go to the Fairy Nook."

"Good idea! I'd forgotten about that place. I knew you'd be the
expert." Should take an hour, tops.

The girls sat in the back of the BMW discussing fairy outfits and
parties. Stephanie actually laughed once or twice and had greeted
Chloe with a polite hello. No overt hostility today, thank goodness.
Best behavior.

But when they arrived at their destination, the Fairy Nook was
gone, replaced by a fishing-tackle shop. Alex parked in the street
opposite.

"Are you sure this is the right address?" he asked.

"Daaaddee!" wailed Stephanie. "What are we going to do?"

"I'll go in and ask if they know where it moved to," Chloe said.
Best behavior obviously had a time limit.

The man behind the counter produced the phone book, but no Fairy Nook was listed. Chloe returned to the car, dreading the reaction to her news.

"I'm sorry," she said as she slid into the seat beside Alex. "It
doesn't exist anymore."

"Fairies must have gone out of style," he murmured, and he
winked but looked decidedly concerned.

Ridiculous! The kid was six years old! Chloe grimaced. She
turned to the sullen face in the backseat. "We can buy the present
though, can't we? While we think about the costume. Would she like
a fairy book or a poster?"

A glimmer of hope shone through the thunderclouds. She nodded.

"And we'll need wings and a wand," piped up Katy. "Plus some
glitter."

"Now we're in business!" cried Alex. Relief radiated in waves.
He eased the car away from the curb.

"But what can I wear?"

"You'll need a top and tights and a tulle skirt," pronounced Katy.

"Can we get all that?" asked Alex in a very bewildered voice.

Chloe sighed. Good-bye, practice. "If not, I could buy material
and make it. Won't take much time." Idiot! What was she saying?
Sewing was a tedious activity.

"That's no problem."

No problem for him, perhaps. She'd had other plans for the afternoon. Did he consider that? How to tell him tactfully that if they
couldn't buy a dress, she'd changed her mind about sewing, and it
was his problem?

"Can you really make a fairy dress?" asked a completely changed
voice from the backseat. This little girl had her own worries. None
of the Gardiner children ever doubted they were loved.

"I can." Chloe swiveled around to smile at Stephanie. "We'll turn
you into a fairy princess." And she was rewarded by a big, wide,
childish smile of delight, which warmed her heart with an unexpected rush of affection. She could do her guitar practice tonight
instead. Or tomorrow.

They returned home laden with fairy-creating equipment. Alex
was sent away to make lunch with the boys, who had just returned, ravenous, from cricket and orchestra. Chloe unearthed the
sewing machine. The girls carefully wrapped the poster and wrote the card while Chloe spread out pink taffeta and tulle on the dining
table.

"I need to measure you." She stretched the tape around the chubby
chest and tummy and wrote the figures down.

"Will I be too fat?" The question came completely out of the blue,
tentative and worried. Little fingers stroked the pretty, silky material
almost with reverence.

"No, sweetie! I'll make the dress to fit you."

"Some girls call me fatty-boom-boom," she said, gazing at Chloe
with a sheen of tears in the gray eyes.

"They're meanies," said Katy. "You're not fat at all."

"Daddy says I have to be thinner."

Shades of his own demanding father? Chloe bit her lip. "He just
wants you to be healthy."

"I wish I was thin like Katy."

"You needn't worry," said Chloe firmly. "If you eat lots of fruit
and veggies and run about and do your swimming, your body will
adjust itself, because you're growing." She kneeled to measure the
proposed skirt while Stephanie stood bright-eyed with delight and
smiled and said nothing. The Red Terror had faded to a rosy pink.
Maybe attention was all she needed. The right sort of attention.

Alex, slicing a tomato in the kitchen, heard the female voices in the
dining room. He'd been banished-not that he could offer any
assistance-but he couldn't help straining his ears for any signs of the
discord that had erupted the last time Steffie had visited. The memory
of those shrieks chilled him to the bone. He'd thought the expedition
had crashed and burned with the demise of the Fairy Nook, and
Steffie on the way to a tantrum in the backseat.

But Chloe had calmly changed course, and now Steffie was falling
under her spell. As he knew she must. For the first time parenting
didn't seem so bad. With Chloe as mother.

"My trial's the week after next," said Seb.

"I know, mate. I sent a statement to your lawyer."

"But aren't you coming?"

"Yes, but she wanted a statement. Are you worried?"

"A bit."

Alex rested a hand on Seb's thin shoulder. "Just be honest."

"Have you ever been in court?" asked Julian.

"No, never." Alex returned his attention to peeling a hard-boiled
egg. "I was in trouble, though, once. Big-time."

Both boys looked at him, alert and expectant, Julian ready to
laugh.

"I was ten, and I really, really wanted some toy, but my parents
wouldn't buy it for me." Alex laughed and raised his eyebrows at Seb.
"So I nicked it."

"Hah." Seb snorted, and Julian laughed outright. "Did you get
caught?"

"Yep. I wasn't very good at stealing. The shopkeeper called my
parents."

"Not the cops?"

Alex frowned. "No."

"You were lucky," said Seb.

"I didn't think so. I'd never seen Dad so angry. Mum was terribly
upset, and my brother and sister crept about not speaking to me,
as if I was a leper." Alex looked Seb in the eye. "I've never been so
ashamed in my life."

Julian punched Seb's arm. "If it all goes pear-shaped, I'll be visitin' you in jail," he said in a passable Irish accent.

"Me too." Alex placed the slippery egg into the bowl with the rest.
"We ready?"

"Yeah. Lunch!" called Julian in the direction of the dining room.

They ate outside on the verandah. Alex watched his daughter chattering and giggling with Katy. He'd never seen her so animated and
happy. Steffie was eating an egg sandwich-mashed with mayonnaise
the way Katy liked it-with lettuce. He could never in a million years
have persuaded her to eat one of those. He was better with the boys
than with his own daughter. He caught Chloe's eye once or twice, and
she smiled and looked away quickly. Was she thinking what he was
thinking? How like one family this was?

"Have a swim after lunch, Alex?" said Seb.

"I don't have my gear"

"Only take a minute to get it," said Julian. "Or you can go nude."

"Tempting, but I'd better not. I really should nip over to Gungahlin to check one of the building sites. We've had so many delays
lately." He shook his head and sighed.

"I want to swim, Daddy."

"Really?" He nearly choked on his sandwich. What had happened
to his daughter? Whatever it was, it was good, and somehow Chloe
was responsible.

Steffie nodded. "Katy's going to help me."

"That's great. I'll pick up your swimsuit. Chloe, would it be all
right to leave Steffie with you for an hour or so?"

"Can we come with you?" asked Seb.

"If you like. Sure." He glanced inquiringly at Chloe.

She held his gaze for a moment, then shrugged. "Fine."

Monday morning the phone rang. Chloe laid her guitar down
reluctantly. Practice time was precious. She needed at least an hour
every day but rarely managed to achieve it except on the weekends.
Saturday had been a write-off with all that sewing. How she hated
sewing!

A woman's voice said, "Is this Chloe Gardiner?"

"Yes." Another prospective guitar student? Better still would
be someone wanting her for a gig. Teaching was fine, but playing
was infinitely preferable.

"My name's Lucy Dwyer. I'm Stephanie's mother."

Stephanie? Do I have a student called Stephanie? Then it clicked.
Alex's Stephanie. Alex's ex.

"I wanted to thank you for making that wonderful fairy costume.
You must think I'm an awful mother. I had no idea Alex would
impose on you. He's-" She sucked in a breath, hissing through her
teeth. "Anyway, it was very kind of you. Steffie loves it. She wanted to
wear it to bed."

"Goodness." Chloe laughed. "It really wasn't that difficult."

"For you maybe! I'm hopeless with anything remotely creative.
Not that I have time, with the baby and work. I wish Alex would
take more interest in Steffie."

"He loves her"

"I don't doubt that, but it's a remote-control sort of love. She absolutely adores him. Maybe the connection with your family will
make a difference. Your Katy has inspired Steffie with her swimming."

"I'm glad. She didn't seem to be enjoying her lessons before."
Understatement of the year.