LITMIR.BIZ

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Andrea.’

      ‘What about your mother?’

      He pulled a face. ‘Yeah. Her, too. But mostly business.’

      ‘I’ll get your phone,’ she said, and ran upstairs to retrieve it from the safety of her bedroom. She went back down and handed it to him. ‘You seem to have a few missed calls that have got under Andrea’s radar,’ she said wryly, and he glanced at the screen and gave a frustrated sigh.

      ‘I have to deal with some of these.’

      ‘I don’t doubt it. You’ve got an hour,’ she told him, and, scooping up the babies, she took them upstairs and bathed and dressed them.

      ‘You’re going to meet your grandmother today,’ she told them with a smile. ‘She’s going to love you.’ But she might not be so warm with her daughter-in-law, Julia realised sadly, her smile fading. A whole year—more—of being out of contact while Max had searched for her might not have done anything to endear her to the woman, and she regretted that.

      But how could she have stayed in touch and yet not have kept Max informed? She couldn’t, but she felt another stab of guilt. Max might not have been the most reasonable of husbands, but he’d never kept anything from her, and she was beginning to realise just how much she’d done him wrong by not telling him she was pregnant.

      ‘Oh, Ava, no!’ she cried, reaching out and catching the baby before she toppled over backwards. ‘When did you learn to stand up?You’re going to be such a pixie, aren’t you?’

      Ava grinned and giggled, and, grabbing hold of the edge of the quilt in her fat little fists, she pulled herself up again.

      ‘You’re trouble,’ she said, and then realised Libby was crawling out of the door and heading for the top of the stairs. ‘Libby!’ she called, and ran after her, to find Max sitting on the top step with his daughter in his arms, rubbing noses and laughing.

      ‘I think you need a stairgate,’ he said, and she nodded.

      ‘I do. I bought one, but I can’t fit it. It’s not wide enough. I’ve been meaning to find another one.’

      ‘I’ll sort it,’ he said, and, getting to his feet, he hoisted Libby up in the air and blew a raspberry on her tummy.

      Heavens. Max, blowing raspberries? Maybe there was hope after all…

      Andrea was amazing.

      Crisp, efficient, much too old for Max—in case she’d been worried—and about as approachable as a pet piranha, but she took one look at them both that morning and smiled. ‘Good,’ she said to Max. ‘You’re looking like a human being at last. You needed a break.’

      ‘I’m going crazy,’ he said bluntly, but Andrea just smiled at him and then switched her attention to Julia.

      ‘So—is he behaving?’

      Julia rolled her eyes. ‘Sort of. He keeps trying to steal his phone from me.’

      ‘Well, he will. He plays hardball, you should know that.’

      ‘But it’s not a game.’

      ‘No. I think he realises. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be there with you. Now, if I might borrow him for a little while, there are several urgent things he needs to deal with and then you can have him back.’

      ‘You can come,’ he said to her. ‘See what we’re up to.’

      And be sucked in? ‘We’ll be fine,’ she said, deciding to trust him, and she settled on a chair in her old office with the babies at her feet and looked around.

      Odd, how alien it seemed, and yet how familiar. Nothing had really changed, only her—and she’d changed beyond recognition, apparently, if the blank look on the face of the man who stuck his head round the door was anything to go by.

      ‘Oh—sorry. I was looking for Andrea,’ he said.

      She smiled at the familiar face. ‘Hello, Stephen,’ she said, and he did a mild double-take and stared at her.

      ‘Julia?’

      ‘That’s me,’ she said lightly, wondering whether to be flattered or not, and Stephen gave a startled laugh.

      ‘Well—how are you? I thought—’ He broke off, clearly unsure quite what to say, and for the first time she wondered about the public rather than private impact that her disappearance had had on Max.

      ‘I’ve been busy,’ she said wryly, and he stared at the girls and gave a tiny, choked laugh.

      ‘I can see. Amazing. I had no idea.’

      Nor had Max, but she wasn’t going to discuss their private life with one of his employees, even if he had once been a friend of hers, and one of Max’s most reliable right-hand men.

      The most reliable. ‘So how’s Yashimoto?’

      ‘Stunned. You know Max is selling the company back to him?’

      It was her turn to stare. ‘He is?’

      ‘Yes, apparently. I couldn’t believe it. He’s fought so hard to turn it round, and now he’s just giving it away. Still, it’s in much better shape, and Yashimoto will make a better job of it now with the benefit of Max’s advice, so he’s happy. But it’s Max I can’t fathom. I thought you would have known all about it, since you were so involved with setting up the deal in the first place.’

      She shook her head. ‘Max and I don’t talk about business now.’

      ‘No. Good idea, not taking work home. Doesn’t sound like Max, but babies change you. Did you know we’ve had a little boy?’

      She smiled. ‘No, I didn’t. Congratulations—and make sure you see plenty of him.’

      ‘I will. In the meantime, I’d better go and join this meeting.’

      ‘I think they’re in Max’s office.’

      ‘Cheers. And it’s lovely to see you again.’

      He shut the door and left her there to contemplate the bombshell he’d dropped.

      When had Max decided to sell Yashimoto’s company back to him? Yesterday? Today? Or much earlier, and she just hadn’t known because they hadn’t discussed business at all, as she’d told Stephen?

      She had no idea, but she was puzzled, whatever. Did it mean he was taking her seriously and cutting back on his business interests? Or had it already been in the pipeline? She needed to know, because the difference was crucial. She didn’t want to go thinking that he was making sweeping changes when all the time he’d been following one of his incredible hunches.

      Oh, well. She’d find out later. In the meantime, she had bigger things to worry about, because shortly she was going to see her mother-in-law again, and she was feeling curiously apprehensive.

      She needn’t have worried.

      Linda Gallagher took one look at her with the girls, clapped a hand over her mouth and burst into tears.

      ‘Oh, Julia, my dear girl—oh, my dear, dear, girl!’ And, without another word, she threw her arms around her and hugged her hard.

      Julia blinked away her own tears and hugged her back, and then she was released, and Linda was exclaiming over the babies and crying on Max and hugging him until she thought his ribs would break.

      ‘Come in—come on in, all of you. Richard? Look, it’s Max, and he’s brought Julia and—’

      And she started to cry again.

      ‘Julia?’

      Richard, Linda’s partner, studied her for a moment and then gave a fleeting smile and kissed her cheek. ‘It’s good to see you again. And you’ve been busy.’

      ‘A little,’ she said wryly. ‘I’m

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