Tempting Taine (18 page)

She took a deep breath and then another one, until she was calm enough to speak without ranting at him in a fury.
 
"You can't waltz in to her life and disrupt everything, just because it suits you.
 
She needs stability and continuity, not to be made the subject of a tug of war."

"There would be no tug of war if you didn't fight me on this."

"What?
 
You expect me to hand my daughter over to you just like
that?
 
When you are a complete stranger to her, and when your family hates me and her both so much that they kept you away from her for the last ten years?"
 
She got up and walked away from him, turning her back towards him so he could not see the hurt and the fear in her eyes.
 
"You're dreaming."

"No, I expect you to see the justice of giving me some time with her.
 
And
if you can't see it, I'm sure a family court judge would look kindly on my case.
 
The courts have a reputation of making sure that fathers
are not marginalized
in the lives of their children.
 
I might even be awarded full custody."

She whirled on him with a sudden fury.
 
"Are you threatening me with legal action?
 
Even though your
family's
dirty linen will be exposed for everyone to see?
 
Your mother's lies?
 
Your father's affairs?
 
Do you want the whole town to know all your dirty secrets?
 
Because if it went to court, there would be no hiding anything any more."

Her outburst did not cow him.
 
He simply sat on the couch, crossed his arms and stared unblinkingly at her.
 
"I will do what I must to get to know my daughter.
 
If you are unreasonable about it, then yes, I will take it to court.
 
And I will fight to win."

"You are despicable.
 
You are using Aroha as a weapon to get back at me, to hurt me."

Verity did not even realize their voices
were raised
until a quiet voice broke in on them.

"Are you fighting about me?"
 
Aroha was standing in the doorway, her face creased with worry and the silver tracks of tears on her cheeks.

"Of course not," she said, to reassure her daughter.

"Yes," Taine said at the exact same time.

Aroha looked from one to the other.
 
"I thought you were," she said, here voice wobbling a bit.
 
"I could hear you shouting at each other from my bedroom.
 
I don't want you fighting over me."

She held out her arms to her daughter and Aroha came to her for a hug.
 
"We are not really fighting.
 
Just having a disagreement."

Aroha sniffed.
 
"A loud, angry disagreement with yelling.
 
Lots of yelling."

Taine's eyes softened as he looked at his daughter.
 
"We were working out what we should do.
 
I want you to come and live with me for a bit.
 
Your mother disagreed with me."

Aroha glared at him and stomped her foot.
 
"I don't want to live with you.
 
I want to live with Mom and Nana like I always have."

"That's a pity."
 
He examined his fingernails
like
they were the most fascinating things ever.
 
"I have lots of things at my place that a girl might like."

"Like what?"
 
Her voice was suspicious.
 
"I bet your place is really lame."

"I have three horses.
 
And a pony."

Verity shot daggers at him.
 
"Don't," she said in a warning tone, furious that he would try to bribe Aroha when cajoling her had failed.

Silence from Aroha.
 
And then
a muttered, "I don't like ponies.
 
They're dumb."

He ignored the evil looks from both of them.
 
"And it's coming up for spring and my sheep are all having lambs.
 
There's one baby lamb that I rescued when its mother didn't want it and I keep it inside where it's warm and feed it with a bottle."

Aroha wiggled out of her mother's arms and shuffled slightly closer to her father.
 
"Does it think you are its mother?"
 
Her face was alight with interest.

"I'm not sure about that.
 
But it wags its tail when I feed it, and when the milk runs out, it bumps its head into my legs for more."

Aroha came over and stood at his knee.
 
"Can anyone feed it?"

"Not anyone.
 
You have to be responsible enough to take care of it."

She put one hand on his knee in entreaty.
 
"Could I feed it if I come and visit you?"

"She needs her breakfast very early in the morning.
 
You'd have to stay overnight if you wanted to feed her."

That set her back for a moment.
 
"Oh."

"Do you want to come visit me?"

She shrugged.
 
"Only if I can feed the lamb."

"Yes, you can feed the lamb if you promise to be gentle."

Aroha
plonked
herself down on the couch beside him.
 
"Mum, mum, can we go visit tomorrow
?,
" she asked with great excitement.
 
"And stay overnight so I can feed the lamb in the morning?"

Verity looked daggers at Taine.
 
The smug look on his face made her want to smack him.
 
"That is blatant bribery."

"No, it's called getting to know my daughter."

She was not ready to hand her daughter over, even for an overnight stay.
 
Not just yet.
 
She down on the couch again and gathered Aroha into her arms for a hug.
 
"Are you sure you won't be homesick?"

Aroha suffered her embrace for a few moments before wriggling away.
 
"Of course not.
 
You'll be with me."

"No, poppet, I won't be.
 
It will be just you and Taine.
 
Your dad."

"And my dad, too," Taine added.
 
"Your grandfather.
 
He's looking forward to meeting you."

Aroha tugged on her mom's hand.
 
"You're not coming?"

"No."

"Then I won't go either."
 
Aroha's
bottom lip stuck out even further than ever.
 
"I don't want to go without you."

The triumphant look on Taine's face faded.
 
"Not even to feed the lamb in the morning."

Her lip wobbled.
 
"I hate lambs.
 
Lambs are dumb."

"Then I guess your Mom will have to come, too.
 
Would that make you happy?"

Hope lit up her eyes from within.
 
She hopped up off the couch and jumped up and down with excitement.
 
"Do you really mean it?
 
I want to go if Mom comes too.
 
She can help me feed the lamb."
 

Verity shook her head.
 
Her heart could not cope with playing happy families with Taine.
 
She was already far too vulnerable to him.
 
The episode by the hot spring had proven that to her.
 
"I don't think that's such a good idea."

Taine glared at her.
 
"You were the one who didn't want her ripped from everything that is familiar to her.
 
Come over to the farm for the weekend and see how it goes.
 
We can discuss what happens next after that."

"No lawyers?"

"Not if we can work things out ourselves."

"That's not much of a promise."

"It's all I'm prepared to give you."

Aroha, fizzing with excitement, took longer than usual to pack her overnight bag.
 
Every two seconds she ran out of her room and into her mother's with a new question.
 
"Is there a swimming pool?
 
Will I need my swimming togs?
 
Should I take my good shoes?
 
Or
my gumboots?
 
Or
both?
 
Will I need my coat?
 
Or just a sweater?"

"Oh, heavens, Aroha," Verity finally said, after the
twenty seventh
interruption to her own preparations.
 
"Just take whatever you'd take if you went to visit any other friend."

"But this isn't just a friend," she wailed.
 
"This is my
dad."

Verity picked up her own bag with a sigh and went off to deal with her daughter.

Verity's mother came back from the store just as they were finishing their preparations.
 

Verity tossed their bags outside the front door so Taine could put them into his Jeep.
 
"Aroha and I are going to stay at the Hunters for the weekend."

Jessie put her shopping bags down on the stoop and looked searching at her daughter.
 
What she saw made her shake her head.
 
"Is that wise?"

"Probably not."

"Look after yourself.
 
Don’t let that Hunter boy break your heart."

It's
too late for that
, Verity thought as she followed Taine out into the car.
 
Ten years too late for that.

Despite the lateness of the hour by the time Verity and Aroha settled into Taine's place, Aroha was too excited to sleep.
 
They had had a busy evening, picking up dinner in town and driving to the Hunter farmstead.
 
Old Mr. Hunter had greeted them gruffly enough, but without malice.
 
He must've come to terms with having a bastard grandchild
, Verity thought to herself.
 
Not something that his late wife would ever have done.
 
Maybe
it was a mercy that Taine had not found out before now
.
 
Aroha had grown up knowing only love - something Mrs. Hunter would never have given her.

Aroha was wary of Mr. Hunter, but had insisted on seeing all around the large house and extensive garden before she ate.
 
Taine showed her around while Verity prepared the food they had brought from town and set out the table.

Dinner might have been awkward except for
Aroha's
bright chatter.
 
The adults responded to her in kind, ignoring as best they could the undercurrents of emotion that lay just beneath the surface.

By the
time
dinner was over and the dishes tidied away,
Aroha's
eyes were drooping.
 
Verity refused her plea to stay up past her bedtime, and bundled her off to her room.
 
"You're about dead on your feet," she said, as she led a yawning girl by the hand off to bed.

Before leaving the dining room, Aroha stopped mid-yawn and fixed Taine with a hard stare.
 
"Promise you'll wake me in the morning so I can feed the lamb?
 
You won't forget about me?"

Taine nodded solemnly.
 
"I promise."

The evening routine seemed endless to a weary Verity.
 
Teeth, pajamas, story - they all seemed to take an age in the unfamiliar surroundings.

She had just kissed Aroha good night when there was a plaintive whisper from the bed.
 
"What if I wake up in the night?
 
I won't know where I am."