Read Online Twins for Christmas by Alison Roberts - Free Book Online Page A

attached to being a single mother. Some women actually choose to have a family that way.’
    ‘Is that what you’re doing?’
    ‘In a manner of speaking, I suppose it is.’
    Surely it wasn’t disappointment she could see in his eyes? No. More likely to be anger as he gave headroom to the notion that she might have actually   planned   this situation. She couldn’t leave him thinking along those lines.
    ‘There was a choice to be made early on,’ she said carefully. ‘And I made it. You had by popular vote been abducted by aliens, so I knew I was making that choice on my own. That whatever the future held I would be dealing with it. On my own.’
    His face was expression less now. ‘And is that how you   want   it to be?’
    Oh…God! Want had nothing to do with the way it had to be. For everyone’s sake.
    She was spared the agony of having to deny what she really wanted aloud. Lucy was beside the desk, a younger girl clinging to her hand.
    ‘Excuse me,’ she said, ‘but Eve’s knee is bleeding again. I think she might need a new plaster.’
    ‘Does she now?’ Rory dropped to a crouch so that he was at eye level with the girl, who had a pixie face and long dark braids. ‘Hello, Eve.’
    ‘She doesn’t talk,’ Lucy said. ‘Well, not to people she doesn’t know. Do you, Eve?’
    The braids wobbled as Eve shook her head.
    ‘But you hurt your knee?’ Rory spoke directly to Eve, and sounded as though it was no big deal that he wasn’t going to be answered.
    ‘She fell over when we were climbing out of the bus. The nurse said it was just a graze.’
    ‘ Just   a graze?’ Rory eyed the blood stained dressing on a small knee. ‘It’s sore, isn’t it, Eve?’
    He was rewarded with a tentative nod.
    ‘You know what I think?’ Rory lowered his voice, making his opinion a secret. ‘I think it needs a   real   bandage. One that’s guaranteed to make it feel better. Shall I find one for you?’ He held his hand out.
    Kate saw Lucy’s expression of astonishment when Eve’s hand crept into Rory’s. He stood up and led her to the end of the counter. Then he scooped her up and sat her on the top.
    ‘Bird’s-eye view,’ he said. ‘You get to be in charge while I find a bandage. Keep your eye out for anybody that’s being naughty. Especially that Santa over there. See?’ Rory jerked his head towards the cubicle where ‘Santa’ was sleeping off the effects of festive overindugence.
    A loud snore sounded faintly through the busy noise and Rory raised an eyebrow. ‘Strike one,’ he said sternly. ‘Snoring.’
    Eve’s lips twitched, and then she giggled.
    Lucy looked at Kate, who could only shake her head and smile. She couldn’t explain how Rory did things like that. He had the ability to win hearts effortlessly. He was more relaxed now, she realised. More like the way he used to be. She saw a nurse go past with a bedpan discreetly covered with a towel. Her face had been set, indicating her desire to complete a less than pleasant task as quickly as possible, but then she noticed Rory and Eve and her lips curved in a smile.
    He was good at that, too. Changing the atmosphere of the whole department by his presence. Making it feel happier. More alive. The same kind of effect he had on her.
    Kate tried to concentrate on sorting the paperwork as best she could as Eve sat on the counter and swung her legs, her gaze firmly on the misbehaving Santa. Twelve of the forms were from the mini-bus passengers, and many had only first names recorded.
    ‘How old is Eve?’ she asked Lucy.
    ‘Seven.’
    ‘And Rhys?’
    ‘Four. Nearly five, I think.’
    ‘Do you know his last name?’
    Lucy shook her head. ‘Aunty Mary knows.’
    ‘I’ll go and talk to her. You all right for a minute?’
    Lucy nodded. She was watching Rory returning, pushing a dressing trolley in front of him. Kate saw a young police officer catch his attention, and Rory indicated the resus area she was heading for herself. When she got