Who Do You Trust? (5 page)

Thank you,
he mouthed back.

“Sorry, kids. I couldn’t get away from work,” he answered Matt’s question. “The brass wouldn’t let me off until yesterday. I couldn’t even quit a day early.”

Luke’s mouth twisted. “Cityfellas.”

Mitch chuckled and ruffled his son’s tousled mop of curls. “I see Lissa’s been passing on some of her ideas about the city. She used to call me that, until I’d been here a year or two.” He grinned at her. As a kid, he’d loved the way she’d called him Cityfella, poking her tongue out, wrinkling her nose in cute teasing. There was never any malice intended, no offence taken. Being a cityfella had given him the sort of glamorous mystique he’d never had as a plain unwanted foster kid—and it gave him undivided attention from the girl whose angel-faerie face haunted his dreams, night and day.

Lissa’s smile was slow in coming, but when it did, her soft, dove-gray eyes twinkled. She bit her lip, then poked her tongue and wrinkled her nose. “You still stink with it—cityfella.” She snorted. “Buying a house at Bondi Beach. What a yuppie!”

Matt wriggled. “Wanna come see our room, Dad? It’s mega cool. It’s got pics of Mick Doohan and Wayne Gardner—”

Luke jumped off Mitch’s hip. “And Luke Longley, Andrew Gaze, Michael Jordan and the Shaq—”

He laughed. “I see you two are as alike as ever.”

The boys grinned. “Basketball. Kids’ stuff,” Matt snorted. “Who’d wanna waste time playin’ with balls, just runnin’ up and down and
dribbling,
when you can burn rubber at 220 an hour?”

“Bikes are all right, I s’pose,” Luke retorted with lofty condescension, “but I’d drink the grog if I won. Who wants the good stuff poured all over your head?”

“Hey, mithter, do you like Barbieth?”

Belatedly, Mitch noticed someone was tugging at his shirt. He looked down to the source of the little, lisping voice.

Oh, dear God. Living proof of Tim and Lissa’s love. A sweet sprite gazed hopefully at him, a child with Tim’s riotous blond curls and an angel’s face. Lissa’s face.

“You must be Jenny.”

Jenny rolled her eyes, reminiscent of her mother. “Mithter, I
thaid,
do you like Barbieth?”

Oh, yeah, this was Lissa’s daughter all right—with her one-track mind. The boys were sniggering already. “Watch out, or she’ll get you into the dollhouse.”

Jenny’s brow lifted; she stared Matt down, her childish lisp adorable and impatient. “
You
play with me all the time, so don’t you talk!” She turned back to Mitch. “You gonna play or not?”

“Jenny.”

The quiet word brooked no denial. Jenny sighed dramatically. “Sorry, Mummy. Sorry, Mister.
Please
are you gonna play with me?”

Lissa put a hand on Jenny’s pigtail. “Jenny, this is Mitch. He’s Matt and Luke’s daddy.”

“No!” Jenny’s sweet, flushed face drained white; those lovely china doll’s eyes filled right up with tears and spilled over. “Don’t take my bruvers. Don’t take Matt and Lukey away from me!”

“Jenny.”

The little girl’s tiny, flower-like face lifted, drenched with tears. “No, Mummy, no!” she sobbed. “Don’t let him take them, Mummy! Make him go away!”

Lissa squatted before the sobbing child as Matt and Luke stood either side of her, patting her in awkward affection. “Mitch is a friend of mine, and Matt and Luke’s father. Would you like it if Matt and Luke told your Daddy to go away?”

Jenny sniffed and gulped. “But he’s gonna take them away from us, Mummy! Stop him, stop him!”

, I’m not, Jenny,” Mitch cut in quietly, aching for the child’s pain. So much like her mother…

Jenny’s eyes grew round. “You’re goin’ away? Yay!”

But the twins gasped, forgetting Jenny’s grief in an instant. “Dad?” Matt’s voice quivered.

“D-don’t you want us?” Luke whispered.

Oh, damn. This was a delicate minefield he had to walk—especially with Luke—and he wasn’t any good at careful balance with words. Or with saving people’s feelings.

There was too much at stake here. Either way he could lose. How the hell could he explain the situation—what he wanted for them all—without either betraying Lissa’s trust, making the boys resent her, or looking like he wanted to dump Matt and Luke with the first available caregiver?

Just like Kerin—even after she went to the trouble of stealing them from me.

“Of course he wants to be with you both,” Lissa answered for him, caressing Luke’s curly mop of hair with exquisite tenderness. “He wouldn’t have come for you if he didn’t. He means that he’s moved here, to Breckerville, so he can be near us all. And you guys have the choice. You can go with your Dad, or keep living here if you want to, and he’ll be—”

Watching her founder, he supplied the first words that came to his mind: “Right next door.”

Lissa whirled to face him. “N-next door? You bought Old Man Taggart’s place?”

“All two hundred and fifteen acres of it, rotting fences and all.” Well, he would by tomorrow. He’d be the master of the place he’d once worked at for nothing. The For Sale sign he’d passed was so rusted and sagging he knew he’d get a bargain—and guaranteed a quick sale. Old Man Taggart must’ve died ages ago. The house and land were in such a state of disrepair—

He saw the flash of anger in Lissa’s gaze before she looked away. “You have it all worked out, don’t you?”

He shrugged, hiding the quick spurt of pain. Was she making it hard for him because she resented his manipulating the situation to his advantage, or because she didn’t want to know about marrying him? “It seemed like a good idea at the time. And it’s not as if I don’t know the land, is it? I know every inch of it. Seems fair to get something out of it this time, instead of Old Man Taggart getting it all.”

He was right. After all the years of thankless effort he’d put in, Old Man Taggart treating him like a slave instead of an honest worker, it was right he finally reap the rewards from the land he’d always loved to till. Still, Lissa shook with primitive anger at his blatant maneuvering of her life.

Join families. Join the land while we’re at it. The perfect solution for everyone…except me.

But the fury melted into heart-deep guilt when she saw the radiant joy in the boys’ faces.

“So you’re staying here forever, Dad?” Luke cried, his little face blazing with eagerness; “And we don’t hafta leave Mum

“I’ll be right here with you guys from now on, mate. Living and working in Breckerville.” Mitch grinned at his son. “I quit the Air Force to be with you—not just a desk job with the force like last time. I’m out for good.”

Matt’s face lit up and fell at the same time, giving his face a mercurial, humorous appearance. “Don’t you fly no more?”

He gave the rich chuckle that still did funny things to her insides. “Me? Not fly? Come on, Matt, can you see that?”

Luke snorted. “Yeah, right, Matt. What a geek. As if Dad could ever stop himself!” He grinned up at Mitch. “So whatcha gonna do now?”

Mitch told his sons his plans to start up a country-based air courier business, but as he did, she saw all the quick glances at her. Gauging her reaction.

Uh-huh. She might be just an ignorant country girl, but even she could read the writing on this wall—it was in dripping fluorescent letters, screaming like the neon sign over the local video arcade. Mitch had them already married in his mind—wedded to his “perfect solution” of making them one family.

One unit. A regiment like the one he’d just left. And she, no doubt, would be on permanent KP/cleaning/child-minding duty.

Sure as eggs, it wouldn’t be long before Matt and Luke started giving her the exact same glances Mitch did now. A mother struggling to make it alone; a man wanting a family; two boys needing stability, a full-time mother as well as a dad. Before a week passed the twins would cotton on to Mitch’s plan, falling over themselves trying to help. Hints and innuendoes. Getting Jenny out of the way. Plotting when and how to play Cupid.

Well, it wasn’t going to happen. No way, no how. Not now, not ever—no matter how Mitch still affected her senses or how many pretty words he used on her.

Tim had done that, too.

Words were a sweet deception, a manipulation, nothing more. She was tired of being neatly boxed into “perfect solutions” for everyone but her, sick of being used by men who wanted security, stability and a home from her, but didn’t want—

History won’t repeat—not for this little black duck!

She clapped her hands. “Right. Scoot, everyone. I need to start on dinner,” she announced.

Mitch was still watching her, unnerving her with his quiet perception. “I booked a table at Bob’s for us all.”

Before she could open her mouth, the kids started shrieking in joy. “Bob’s Pizza! Way cool!”

She met his gaze, hers challenging. “You booked it before you even got here? A table for six, was it?”

His mouth twitched; a rueful grin spread over his face. “All right, I lied—but just a little. I
plan
to book dinner at Bob’s. For five.” He lifted a hand as she started to speak. “It’s a celebration and a thank-you, Lissa. To celebrate being with the boys again and to thank you and Jenny for opening your home and family to my kids the past five months

He kept watching her. As if he knew her reluctance to go to Bob’s…or anywhere else. As if he knew the last place on earth she wanted to be was with him.

Three eager, pleading little faces turned to hers. “C’mon, Mum,
please
—we haven’t been to Bob’s since we first came here,” Luke begged.

“And it’s the
best
place,” Matt added.

Mitch grinned. “I loved the place when I was a kid,” he agreed. “I never had a better pizza since.”

“It’s still the best!” Matt and Luke yelled together.

“
Please,
Mummy?” Jenny’s big baby blues were full of wistful wishes. “And I’ll tell Daddy we only went with Matt and Lukey’s daddy—he isn’t gonna go kissin’ you or nothin’,” she added ingenuously with her sweet lisp. “Then Daddy won’t be sad.”

After a moment’s silence, Lissa felt Mitch’s gaze on her. On her eyes. On her mouth. Like he’d planned the exact act Jenny denied. To put his mouth on hers…his lips dancing with sensual care over her throat, her shoulders, and down…

Matt sniggered.

She felt the color rising up her throat and into her face until it scorched her from the inside.

“Jenny, you’re a loser,” Matt said, laughing, ruffling her golden curls and winking at Mitch, as if he was nineteen instead of nine. “C’mon, get into your togs, kid. I’ll play on the water slide with you.”

“Cool!” Jenny squealed, and ran to her room for her bathing suit.

“Wanna come, Dad?” Luke asked Mitch, his eyes bright. Bright with hope, and a fear that was too adult, too world-weary. Not wanting to let his dad out of his sight.

Lissa ached for the boy she loved so dearly. Luke still suffered nightmares, with both greater regularity and stronger intensity than the more resilient Matt. Most nights she’d find him sleeping with his twin or with Jenny.
She had a nightmare, Mum,
he’d mumble the next morning.
I was looking after her.

Sweet, vulnerable, innocent Luke, with a facade of strength to hide his terrified heart. Just like his father.

Lissa watched in hidden hunger as Mitch, his face filled with tender understanding, held his son close. “I’m not going anywhere, mate. Promise. I’m here for good.”

“You swear?” Luke whispered.

Mitch crouched down before his son. “Have I ever lied to you, Luke?” Eyes enormous, Luke slowly shook his head. “I promise I’ll stay right here. I’ll talk to Mum for a little while, and book a table at Bob’s. Then I’ll jump in the pool with you, all right?”

Even behind closed eyes, the vision remained to haunt her mind. A half-naked Mitch, strong, dark and muscular, playing in the cool, slippery blue depths of her pool…

Just like we used

Memories flooded her: the sweetest taboo, the forbidden too enticing to deny. Mitch would sneak out the window on hot summer nights, and she’d be waiting for him. And they’d swim and play in scared silence, in the exhilaration of a shared secret. Knowing that if her parents or Old Man Taggart saw them, they’d put a far less innocent connotation on their water frolics.

But it had all been innocent—just as she’d been back then, when she’d believed in love and happy-ever-after with a boy, a man who’d love her and her alone. Forever.

The dream of forever love had stumbled when Mitch left her, then died during her marriage to Tim.

“Yes, Dad,” Luke said softly.

Lissa’s eyes snapped open to see Mitch mock-slap Luke’s bottom. “Then off you go, matey, and have fun. Mum will make sure I don’t leave—won’t you, Mum?”

Neatly boxed into a corner, she could only nod; but she couldn’t hold on to the anger when she saw the soft light filling Luke’s dark eyes. The first sign of healing, with the security he so desperately needed. Someone to call his own. A family.

Like father like son.

Within a minute all three kids dashed past on their way to the pool. “Take clean towels,” she yelled, knowing that, as usual, she’d have to bring them out later.

Mitch stood watching her in silence.

She turned and washed the coffee cups, wishing Mitch’s plan wasn’t so damned perfect for everyone except her—or Jenny, who still dreamed of her daddy coming back to live with them forever.

Another dream she could never make come true.

You’re so perfect I feel like slime for even thinking about leaving you, Lissa, but I have to get away…

Would she always make everyone she cared for so unhappy? No matter how hard she tried, it wasn’t enough.
She
wasn’t enough—except for housecleaning or minding kids, that is.

Melissa the perfect daughter, giving up dreams of university to help her parents run the farm when her sister Alice took off for Sydney with Brad. Melissa the picture-perfect wife, allowing Tim to open his gym while she worked at the local store to pay the bills. Melissa the wonderful mother. Melissa, the woman everyone in town loved and admired, so loving and giving. Hiding secrets beneath. Pushing the darkness down deep inside.