Divided Loyalties by Patricia Scanlan Read Free Book Online Page B

will—’
    ‘Hey, you guys?’ Greg walked in from the hall. Shauna hadn’t even heard his key in the lock.
    ‘Yo, bro!’ Della grinned at her brother. ‘Shauna and I were just making plans for Christmas. She tells me you’re having her gang, so how about we come too and all muck in
and have a real Christmas hooley, seeing as it might be your last one here for a while?’ she suggested enthusiastically.
    ‘Don’t worry about its being our last one. I’m hoping to get home for Christmases.’ Shauna shot a look of entreaty at her husband and tried to keep the panic out of her
voice.
    ‘Well we’ll hardly be home next year, seeing as we won’t even be a year there and you’ll be home for the whole summer,’ Greg pointed out unhelpfully. She could have
thumped him.
    ‘That’s settled then.’ Della rubbed her hands gleefully. ‘A big family get-together. It will be a blast.’
    ‘Sounds good to me.’ Greg grinned, planting a kiss on Shauna’s cheek. ‘Eddie, do you want to pop down to the pub for a beer and we’ll let the women make their
plans?’
    ‘You’re on.’ The other man unfurled himself from the sofa with alacrity and followed his brother-in-law into the hall.
    ‘What about your dinner?’ Shauna said tightly. Was she having a nightmare, she wondered distractedly, or had Della just inveigled an invite for the Keegan gang for Christmas, aided
and abetted by Greg? How could this be happening? She felt totally out of control. Greg was smiling at her as if everything was normal. Had he no idea of her dismay?
    ‘I’ll bung it in the microwave when I get home,’ he said offhandedly. ‘Right now a cool beer sounds good to me. Why don’t you call the babysitter and then you and
Della could come with us?’ he suggested, seeing that she wasn’t too impressed with him. ‘We could make a night out of it.’
    ‘Sounds like a terrific idea,’ Della approved. ‘I have pyjamas in the car for Kathryn, you could lend me a nightshirt tonight and we could stay and not worry about driving home
late.’
    ‘It’s a bit short notice for Gemma,’ Shauna protested, feeling totally manipulated by her sister-in-law. That fucking bitch Della had marched into her house, invited herself
and her family for Christmas, and was now all prepared for a sleepover. Shauna knew that she was in a really awkward position. And Della was playing on it.
    She had offered to do Christmas this year out of a sense of guilt because she wasn’t sure when she’d be home for Christmas again, and she wanted to give Carrie a break. Greg had been
fine with it and had made no protest; he was very good that way. She could hardly turn round and say that she didn’t want
his
family.
    It was just that Della was so slyly manipulative. She was
such
a cow. Shauna knew well that she’d sit on her ass like Lady Muck and expect to be waited on hand and foot. After
all, she was
pregnant
. Not that that made any difference: in all the time Shauna had known her, pregnant or not, she was a lazy wagon. It was going to be exhausting. Eight adults and four
children. Her heart sank at the prospect.
    ‘Give Gemma a call,’ Greg urged. ‘She could probably do with some extra spending money for Christmas.’
    ‘Look, it’s Friday night, it’s two weeks to Christmas, she’ll be out partying,’ Shauna retorted as she went to the phone to call her babysitter.
    Gemma’s mother answered the phone and informed Shauna that Gemma was indeed out at a college party.
    ‘I guessed that. It was very short notice.’ Shauna wasn’t in the slightest bit surprised. She wished the woman a Happy Christmas and hung up. ‘Out partying,’ she
informed her husband shortly.
    ‘Would Carrie babysit?’ Della suggested brightly.
    ‘I’m not dragging Carrie all the way in from Whiteshells Bay,’ Shauna retorted curtly, unable to conceal her annoyance.
    ‘I suppose not,’ Della said disappointedly.
    Shauna took a deep breath. It was obvious that