LITMIR.BIZ

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Aitken and the unconventional affair that had lasted for three years, and guessed that in that respect he had a different problem.

      How would Clare react to having a young child thrust into their lives? What difference was it going to make? He had no idea. And how did you ask your son if he’d like to live with you when you’d never been able to reach out to hug him? There were no rough and tumble games, no physical contact at all—David never even reached for his hand when they were out together. The years of partial separation had put a barrier between them and he didn’t know how to cross it. In the last few years, when fatherly feelings had finally come to the surface, he admitted to himself that he’d been afraid that his child would flinch away from him and had even felt jealous when he saw how easy the relationship was between David and Greg. Greg had been the natural father-figure and perhaps David had become confused by the two male adults in his life. Who could blame him?

      Gwen was grilling bacon. He could smell it as he went up the path of the house and the juices ran in his mouth.

      ‘I’ll have a quick shower,’ he said, popping his head around the kitchen door and she nodded. She knew where he’d been, and why.

      ‘You know, David has been asking questions lately,’ she said as they ate. ‘We’ve never made a secret of why he lives with us but he’s obviously been thinking about it. And little boys don’t miss much.’

      ‘Does he talk about Trish as well?’

      ‘Of course. He has photographs of her and I know he talks to his grandfather about her.’

      ‘Gumley won’t be able to tell him much,’ John said angrily. ‘He hardly saw anything of Trish after his wife walked out on him.’

      ‘Maybe the old man has forgotten those days. You only remember the bits you want to remember.’

      John pushed away his plate. Gwen didn’t know all of Albert Gumley’s background and she tended to see good in everyone. He changed the subject.

      ‘I’ll have a talk with David before I go—I had intended leaving right after lunch but we’ll see how it goes.’

      ‘I heard the forecast and it isn’t good. There’s snow sweeping down from the north,’ she said as she got up to clear the table and John went to look at the heavy sky.

      ‘How much film have you got left?’ he asked David later. It turned out that most of the spare spools that he’d bought to go with the camera had been used up, so they walked to the shops to buy more and to put the others in to be developed. And as they walked, David skipped ahead with the camera hanging from a strap around his wrist. His legs were long and out of proportion to the rest of his body, showing that he might one day match his father’s height, and he had John’s dark colouring.

      There was hardly any physical resemblance to his mother, but he had a lot of her mannerisms: her easy laughter, a way of tilting his head when he was thinking, and sudden spells of quietness when nothing could distract him from what he was doing. And he had Trish’s eye for detail and colour; John realized that it was only lately that he’d even noticed that his wife lived on in their son. And he’d felt cheated. They could have had a proper family life if a drunk hadn’t driven up on to the pavement …

      ‘David, Aunty Gwen and I were wondering if you’d like to go to school with your cousins,’ he said as they walked back to the house. David didn’t seem surprised by the question and he even paused to zip up his camera bag carefully.

      ‘Joseph asked me that in the summer holidays but I didn’t know if you’d let me,’ he said with a shrug.

      ‘What made you think that?’

      David looked up at him thoughtfully. ‘Because then you’d have no one to visit except Uncle Rees.’ He chewed the inside of his cheek before going on and his expression was quite serious. ‘But Joe thought you probably had lots of friends in Edinburgh.’

      The fact that his son had discussed it all with his cousin and considered he might be lonely made John feel guiltier than ever. He didn’t know his son at all.

      ‘I do have friends but I’d like to know how you feel about the school—whether you’d like to live in a house with me, or board with the boys.’

      ‘Would your house have a garden? Grandfather promised to buy me a puppy for Christmas.’

      Again Albert Gumley intruded on a conversation and John cursed the man. ‘Does he still phone you regularly?’ he asked and David nodded.

      ‘But he sounds awful sick. Will we be going to see him at Christmas?’

      ‘I expect so.’ The visiting days had been stipulated and agreed to when Gumley gave up his fight for custody of his grandson. Not that he’d had a chance in hell of winning, but the old man liked to make trouble and in the end John had agreed to take David on regular visits to keep the peace. Anyway, David seemed to like the old man. And in the future there would be the problem of David inheriting the old man’s wealth; when the time came it would be up to John to explain where Gumley’s money had come from.

      ‘Let’s go to the garage to look at some cars,’ David said suddenly. He’d never thought much of the ones from Kramer’s that John drove. And for the next half-hour they admired the selection that filled the large window space, with prices that would buy a small family home. David pressed his nose against the glass and pointed out details that showed he knew the various makes.

      For a while John forgot the problems of the future, of telling Clare that he was about to be a real father. In rare companionship he and David discussed the merits of each model until it came home to him that other fathers had moments like this every day. But they hadn’t abandoned their sons when they were only weeks old …

      A few snowflakes drifted down as they walked back towards the bungalow, with the matter of boarding-school apparently settled. And suddenly David pointed. ‘Those men are breaking into your car,’ he said, running ahead of John with his arms pumping like mad.

      ‘Wait, David!’ John shouted, but his son didn’t pause. He reached the men seconds before John and was brushed roughly aside by a man standing beside the open boot. The other man was looking back at John and at the same time edging towards another car parked in front of his own. John ignored both of them and reached instead for David who had fallen heavily to the pavement. He heard the sound of their running feet and the engine of their car start up, but was more concerned about the trickle of blood on David’s forehead. Only later did it occur to him that they were hardly the types to own a BMW.

      ‘They’re getting away,’ David said, his body stiff with the desire to get free to chase them again, but John held him tightly against his chest.

      ‘There’s nothing worth stealing, son,’ he said. His heart was thudding with the shock of how quickly it had all happened and the fact that David could have been seriously hurt instead of suffering only a graze.

      Gwen was equally shocked that it could happen in their quiet street and John knew what she meant. A strange car would stand out and the street was a dead end with only a row of bungalows on the edge of the village. There was no passing traffic, no temptation to attract car thieves. She reached up to inspect David’d injury but he drew back and put his free arm around his father’s neck.

      ‘We could have chased them in your car,’ he murmured, then he leaned back and grinned. ‘But I don’t suppose we’d have caught them.’

      ‘Neither do I,’ John agreed. ‘Let’s forget it. Kramer’s can afford a new lock for the boot.’ They went in to eat lunch with David still clasping John’s neck tightly, a new experience that John felt might be the turning-point for him and David, but Gwen was keen to phone the police.

      ‘These things happen,’ John told her. ‘I didn’t get a good look at them or think to note the number of their car.’ That was true, but not the real reason why he was not keen on calling the police.

      He was vaguely uneasy that this incident should come so soon after an intruder had

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