Merry Christmas (Mills & Boon Vintage 90s Modern) (11 page)

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Authors: Emma Darcy

BOOK: Merry Christmas (Mills & Boon Vintage 90s Modern)
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CHAPTER THIRTEEN
A
TAPPING on the door woke Meredith. She came alert with a jolt, her head whipping around to find Nick. He wasn’t with her. Then she realised this wasn’t the sleep-out on the veranda. She was back in her own bedroom. Alone.
“Are you awake, Merry?” Kimberly’s voice!
Awake and stark naked! If Kimberly took it in her head to come in... Meredith’s agitated gaze finally fell on the nightie and briefs lying across the foot of the bed. She snatched them up and quickly pulled the nightie over her head, struggling to get her arms into the holes. “Yes?” she called, shoving her briefs under the pillow.
“Uncle Nick said if we’re to buy a decent Christmas tree, we’d better get moving or the best ones will all be sold.”
Nick was up and about! What time was it? She checked her watch. Five to nine. Shock galvanised her into action. She threw off the bedclothes and raced to the wardrobe.
“Sorry I overslept, Kimberly. I’ll be right out. Is the bathroom free?”
“Yes. We’re all ready.”
Almost nine o’clock. Kimberly had probably been up since six. Or earlier. If they’d still been in the sleep-out... Thank heaven Nick had thought of what might happen in the morning. She must have been dead to the world when he’d carried her back here.
She shoved her arms into the silk wraparound that matched her nightie, then quickly grabbed fresh underclothes and the yellow shorts and top she’d planned to wear today. Flushed, her heart racing, she dashed to the door, wrenched it open, and almost ran straight into Kimberly who was still lingering there.
“Oh! I really am sorry, Kimberly. You should have woken me earlier,” she rattled out.
“It’s okay.” A happy grin flashed across her face. “Uncle Nick said you were up really late talking.” Her eyes danced with how pleased she was with such promising proceedings from her artful manipulation. “Did you have a good time, Merry?”
Meredith’s flush deepened, burning her cheeks. “Yes, I did. I’d better hurry.” She sidestepped and headed for the bathroom, acutely aware that the musky smell of their lovemaking was still clinging to her.
“Uncle Nick said it was the best time he’d ever had,” Kimberly crowed triumphantly.
Meredith paused with her hand on the knob, her heart leaping with joy. She smiled back at her daughter...his daughter. “That’s nice.”
“Yeah,” she drawled feelingly. Her eyes sparkled. “And he said he wasn’t going to marry Rachel Pearce, so things are going really good.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re relieved of that worry,” Meredith said lightly.
Kimberly surveyed the mussed state of her mother’s hair with a critical eye. “You can take your time, Merry,” she advised. “We’ll wait for you.”
Meredith sailed into the bathroom on a wave of pure happiness.
The best time he’d ever had.
Her, too. The very best. Better than before because there was nothing in the way now. Not her age. Not his career. No disapproving family from either side. And their daughter was only too eager for them to come together. It couldn’t be more perfect.
Mindful of not spending too long under the shower, Meredith, nevertheless, took a deep, sensual pleasure in soaping her body all over, remembering the magical feelings Nick had aroused in her last night. Sometimes, over the years, she had wondered if she was making the memories better than how it had really been. It wasn’t so. If anything, they had dulled. What she had experienced with Nick last night was everything she had remembered and more.
Having switched off the shower and towelled herself dry, Meredith wasted no time in dressing. It was a big bathroom with plenty of bench space and she’d stored her vanity bag in the cupboard under the washbasin. She quickly pulled it out and unzipped it, removing the items she needed.
Kimberly had been right about her hair. The salt air and the breeze had made a mess of it, forcing her to wash it. She wielded a hair dryer and brush to best effect as fast as she could. Lipstick and a touch of eyeliner was enough make-up for the beach.
Confident she was now presentable enough to satisfy her daughter’s need for her to look attractive, she raced back to her bedroom to dump her discarded clothes and pick up her camera. Buying their first Christmas tree together was too important an event not to capture on film. Meredith wanted to record everything about this Christmas.
As she crossed the hall she heard Kimberly and Nick bantering with each other in the kitchen. Meredith smiled over their easy give-and-take manner. Little storms might blow up now and then, as Nick said, but they shared a solid familiarity and an understanding that would not be shaken for long. She reminded herself to re-open the PLC issue with Kimberly, now that Rachel Pearce was no longer a factor in the equation.
When she stepped into the kitchen the conversation stopped, two pairs of eyes instantly swinging to her, making her pulse skip into a faster beat with the keen intensity of their interest.
“Oh!” Kimberly beamed approval at her. “You look lovely in yellow, Merry. Doesn’t she, Uncle Nick?” An arch look at him.
“Better than sunshine,” he obliged, smiling, but Meredith sensed an element of strain behind the smile, a volley of questions that couldn’t be asked in front of Kimberly.
“Thank you,” she said brightly to both of them, then directly to him, “And thank you for being so considerate of me.”
He relaxed a little, his eyes softening with a caring that curled around her heart. “You were obviously exhausted. I hope you slept well.”
“Too well. I wish I’d woken earlier.” With you, she telegraphed to him, flushing a little as she mentally stripped his navy shorts and white T-shirt, remembering the magnificent power of his body and how it had felt, joining with hers.
“We have many days ahead of us.” It was a blazing promise. “There’s coffee simmering on the hotplate. Would you like a cup?”
“We kept you some muffins, too,” Kimberly chimed in, rushing to set a plate for her.
“Is there time? I don’t want us to miss out on a good Christmas tree,” Meredith said quickly.
“Looking after you is more important,” Nick declared, and the determined look in his eyes brooked no argument.
He waved her to a chair at the kitchen table and Meredith took it, happy to be looked after. She had been looking after herself for so long, she revelled in the feeling of being part of a family—her very own family—who cared about her.
“Uncle Nick and I are going to make this Christmas really special for you, Merry,” Kimberly announced, giving her two muffins as Nick poured the coffee. “It’s to make up for the ones when you didn’t have anybody.”
A rush of emotion brought tears to her eyes. She hastily blinked them away and smiled at her daughter. “It’s already special.”
The best, the very best, she thought blissfully, lifting her gaze to Nick as he set her cup of coffee beside her plate. His eyes mirrored the memories of last night’s lovemaking, stirring an embarrassing but secretly exciting range of physical sensations.
The inner muscles that had held him so intimately spasmed in remembered delight and she barely stopped herself from squirming on her chair. She could only hope her bra hid the sudden hardening of her nipples. At least the quiver of her stomach was something that could be settled. She picked up a muffin and munched through it, sipping coffee to wash it down.
Nick engaged Kimberly in conversation while Meredith was busy breakfasting. Watching the two of them together, so alike in more ways than they realised, it occurred to her she should re-think her decision to leave the past in the past. It felt wrong for Nick not to know he was Kimberly’s father. She shouldn’t keep such a special, flesh and blood bond from him. From either of them. They both had a natural right to know.
Telling him was not going to be easy, particularly after she had skated over the facts of the adoption last night. Her reasoning for holding back had seemed right at the time, not wanting to burden him with a truth he’d find disturbing and painful, considering the part his sister had played in taking responsibility from him, the long-played deceit that had denied him his true relationship with his own child.
However, the circumstances were different now. Nick felt the same about her as he had all those years before. Rachel Pearce was out of the picture. Meredith decided she wouldn’t be putting any sense of obligation or guilt on him now they had come together again. No blame was attached to him for what had happened. He would surely understand that.
He would help her tell Kimberly. Doing it together—both of her real parents—would probably be the least traumatic way, with explanations smoothed by putting more emphasis on the future than the past. She would discuss it with Nick tonight. After they made love. Meredith smiled to herself. Nothing could go badly wrong when the feeling between them ran so strongly.
“Have you had all you want, Merry?” Kimberly asked eagerly.
Meredith promptly rose from her chair and picked up her camera. “Ready to go.”
“Great! Let’s move!” She took Meredith’s free hand and led her toward the door. “Come on, Uncle Nick! We can get a bigger tree this year because there’s three of us to carry it back.”
Meredith shot him a laughing glance and was surprised by the grim look on his face. His eyes caught hers. and he instantly lightened his expression, though not quite enough to completely erase the dark turbulence she saw in them. Something was troubling him. Something he didn’t like. She wondered about it as they left the house and took the walk through the nature reserve to the village.
By the time they reached the esplanade she’d dismissed any concern over it Kimberly was trying to tease out of Nick what he’d bought her for Christmas and he had them both laughing over his outlandish tales of shopping for the perfect gift.
He’d decided against the five thousand piece jigsaw because Kimberly was bound to lose some pieces in the jungle that was her bedroom. Since she had never shown an interest in stitching a fine seam, the super-duper sewing machine seemed bound to be wasted. And so on and so on.
A table-top truck, loaded with Christmas trees, was parked directly opposite the general store. A range of sizes had been propped against the vehicle and an enterprising salesman was doing a brisk trade. As soon as one tree was sold, a helpmate lifted another down to take its place. Meredith was reassured the choice had definitely not been left too late.
Kimberly and Nick strolled slowly down the row, assessing the merits of the trees on display, pausing here and there to stand trees upright, wanting to look at their overall shape. Meredith hung back and snapped photographs of them until Kimberly protested.
“Gosh, Merry! You’re as bad as Mum, taking millions of photos of everything. You’re missing the fun of choosing.”
The words rolled out naturally and Meredith thought nothing of them, content to put her camera away and join them. Nick, however, reacted strongly.
“Take as many photographs as you want, Meredith,” he commanded, the dark turbulence flaring into his eyes. He turned sharply to Kimberly. “You know about the packet of photographs Denise sent to Meredith.”
She nodded, disturbed by his abrupt change of mood.
“Denise sent them every year. So once a year, your real mother received an update of your life. Just once a year, Kimberly. And that’s all she knew of you.”
The emotional emphasis laced through the words struck Meredith dumb. She hadn’t realised he’d been so deeply affected by the arrangement she’d made with his sister.
“The walls of Meredith’s bedroom in her apartment are covered with those photographs,” he went on, relentlessly beating out the truth of what she’d missed in giving up her baby. “The best of them are enlarged to see you all the better, everything about you...”
“Nick...” It wasn’t necessary to tell Kimberly this, to make her feel guilty for something she wasn’t a party to.
An almost savage tension emanated from him as he threw her a fierce look. “She should know how it was for you.”
“It was my choice.”
“At sixteen?”
“Please...” Her hand fluttered an agitated appeal. “It’s over now.” She looked at her daughter and smiled to take away the distress Nick had stirred. “You’re right, Kimberly. It’s better being with you than having photographs.”
It was true. She didn’t need photographs anymore. She had the real-life experience to enjoy. She walked over to her daughter, put her arm around her shoulders and gave a gentle hug. “Which tree do you like?”
Soulful green eyes looked up at her. “I thought of you, too, Merry. All this year. Ever since I knew of you. I wished I had a photo to see what you looked like, but I didn’t have anything.”
“I know. It’s awful, not knowing, isn’t it?” Meredith said in soft sympathy.
She nodded. Her expression turned anxious. “Don’t be mad at Uncle Nick for telling me. I’m glad he did, Merry. Now I know you always cared about me.”
“I’m not mad at him, Kimberly. He was just showing he cared.” She held out her hand to him and willed him to take it. “Thank you, Nick.”

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