A Perfect Night by Unknown Read Free Book Online

adding by way of explanation, 'It's been such a frantic week, what with my own conveyance and then Olivia having to take extra time off.'
    'Mmm... Well at least the doctor has confirmed the fever and temperature is only a childhood upset and not meningitis as Olivia first feared. You will be joining us this evening though, won't you?'
    'Mmm... What time are you expecting people?'
    'In about an hour,' her mother told her.
    'Right, I'll go up and have a shower and get changed and then I'll come down and give you a hand. Is Dad back?' she asked as she helped herself to one of the too-tempting and still-warm fruit buns her mother had just put onto a wire rack to cool.
    'Yes...just... That will give you indigestion,' she warned Katie with a mock serious look as she tapped her hand.
    'Oh, and by the way, I rang Louise this morning...'
    Katie, who had been about to go upstairs, tensed, her heart starting to thud unevenly. Every mention of her twin reminded her of Gareth and brought home to her the emptiness of her own life in contrast to the love that filled Louise's.
    'You know we're having a special party for your grandfather soon,' her mother was continuing. 'Well, both Maddy and I think that we ought to have as many from the family there as possible. Having the family around him means so much to Ben and he's getting so frail...'
    Katie's eyebrows rose. \
    'The family means so much, does it? Well he certainly doesn't show it,' she told her mother dryly. 'With the exception of Max and of course uncle David, I get the impression that he doesn't care that much for anyone.'
    'Oh, that's just his way,' Jenny assured her sunnily.
    'You wouldn't believe how proud he is of all of you.'
    'No, I wouldn't,' Katie agreed wryly. 'He told me when he learned that Lou and I were going to study law that women and the law simply didn't mix, and that women were far too emotional to make good lawyers...'
    'He is a bit old-fashioned,' her mother acknowledged,
    'and since David left...' She paused and sighed.
    'Do you think Uncle David will ever come back?'
    Katie asked her mother curiously. 'I mean, to just disappear like that... I know that Olivia makes no real secret of the fact that she doesn't want him to come back, but Jack...'
    She paused and frowned as both she and her mother remembered how, when Louise had first moved to Brussels to work, Jack and their brother Joss had illicitly taken time off school to go and search for Jack's missing father. And then later, undeterred by Louise's fathers decision that his twin brother should be allowed to make his own decisions as to whether or not to be reunited with his family, Jack had secretly made arrangements to fly out to Jamaica on the same plane as Jon's eldest son*
    Max.
    Max had callously played on his grandfather's love for him and for his son, David, on what was to have been, for Max, an all-expenses-paid luxury holiday and an escape from his wife and a difficult situation professionally, all cloaked in the disguise of wanting to look for David at Ben's behest.
    The ensuing near tragedy had resulted, not just in Max's total transformation and metamorphosis, but also in a much deeper and adult understanding between Jack and his Uncle Jon, but all the family knew that a small part of Jack would also always be scarred by his father's disappearance and his apparent rejection of him, no matter how much love and reassurance he received from Jon and Jenny.
    'I don't know if David will ever come back,' her mother admitted now. 'We don't even know where he is. For Ben's sake...' She paused and bit her lip but Katie knew what she was thinking.
    'Grandfather is getting very frail,' she agreed quietly.
    'If Uncle David is going to come back I hope he doesn't leave it too long...or until it's too late...'
    'It wouldn't be easy for David to come back and I'm not sure he actually possesses the courage he would need to do so...' Jenny replied.
    'Mmm... He and Max were very alike, weren't they?'
    Katie