For His Little Girl

Chapter Seven

Josie was a smash on the show. She had one moment of camera nerves, but her father's arm about her shoulders solved that. Luke introduced her proudly, and then they were off.

Each show was shot in over an hour, and then the best bits edited into half an hour. For the first forty minutes everything went swimmingly. They made the dips together, Luke the spicy one, Josie the bland one, but then disaster struck. Luke indicated to Josie to move both dips to another area. She lifted his first but her fingers were slippery. The next moment it had fallen to the floor with a crash. Luke surveyed the mess and a grin took over his face.

"Whoops!" he said.

"Sorry, Daddy!"

He tweaked her hair. "You will be. You're going to make the replacement. Come on, tiger, you can do it. Remember what I showed you."

She nodded and eagerly began assembling the ingredients, while the assistants scrabbled on the floor, cleaning up the mess. Everyone in the studio became intent on Josie, who frowned with concentration, hesitating until Luke said quietly, "That one," then going on confidently. He prompted her once more, and then she swept to the finish with an air of triumph, and her father led the applause. At the end of the show they took their bows together.

Ritchie was almost sobbing with delight. "Wonderful! Wonderful! We'll keep that bit in the show. They'll love it."

"You're singing a different tune," Luke observed wryly, but after that he let Ritchie off the hook.

Father and daughter were euphoric all the way home and for the rest of the evening. A stills photographer had taken shot after shot of them that morning and had a set ready before they left the studio. At soon as they reached home Luke got to work scanning the best pictures into his computer and using them to update the Web site. Supper was Pippa's task, and for once she was able to enjoy herself in Luke's kitchen without him hovering nervously over her, since he was totally absorbed in writing new text, advertising the next show as the best ever, with a new star.

Josie eagerly offered her help, and was thrilled at the result. But the day had tired her, and she made no protest when Pippa said it was bedtime. Luke came in with them and tucked her in.

"Did you have a good time today, honey?"

"Oh, Dad, it was the best! Do you think I could be a TV star?"

"My girl can be anything she wants to be. Just name it."

She considered. "I can't decide whether I want to be the greatest cook in the world, or the greatest TV star in the world, but maybe I'll be both-like you."

He grinned. "Keep going. I can take a lot of that."

He kissed her and joined Pippa in the doorway, slipping his arm about her before they left the room. She noticed that his smile faded at once.

"Is something the matter, Luke?"

He drew her away from Josie's door, and into the big room. "I'm thinking about a phone call I've got to make. My folks always watch the show, and if Josie's going to appear the day after tomorrow-" He floundered into silence, the picture of guilt.

A monstrous suspicion grew in Pippa. "Luke, does your family know you have a daughter?''

He shook his head. "Don't get mad at me. If I'd told Mom everything years ago, she'd have come down on me like a duck on a June bug."

"That's nothing to what she's going to do now."

"I know, I know. Look, I wish I'd done it but-"

"But you did what was easiest, as always."

"Lord, but you sound like her!"

"I'm a mother, too. It comes with the territory."

"Okay, so I've got to pick up the phone and explain before she sees the show."

"Phone, nothing. You get over there and tell her to her face."

He visibly paled. "You're crazy. You don't know my mom."

"Are you a man or a mouse?''

"A mouse! Definitely a mouse!"

"Do it!"

"Okay, okay!"

"Now!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

He vanished, and a few minutes later Pippa heard the car being driven away. She wandered out onto the balcony and sat watching the sea. She knew a little about Luke's family. In England he'd shown her photographs of his parents, his younger brother, Zak, seventeen in those days, and his sister, Becky, fourteen. She'd seen the family resemblance that had lain not so much in features as the anarchic grins and the looks of healthy animals that lived as they pleased.

She reckoned it would take Luke at least a couple of hours, but after only half an hour she saw his Porsche returning. Obviously nobody had been at home, she thought, and he'd come straight back. But then another car followed his into the drive, and an endless river of people streamed out. Aghast, Pippa realized that Luke had brought the family with him, and not willingly, either, if his helpless shrug up to her on the balcony was anything to go by.

The next moment they were all pouring through the back door, and Pippa was emerging nervously to meet them. Luke's plump little mother surveyed her fiercely. "Are you Pippa?'' she demanded.

"I…yes-" The rest was lost in a suffocating embrace. Pippa was half a head taller, but somehow Luke's mother still managed to engulf her.

Then her husband, so tall that it was clear where Luke's height came from, and with a face made for laughter. He, too, hugged her, with a great roar of delight. Zak was the same as in his picture, a younger version of Luke, not quite so tall, a little heavier, but with the same smile and the same air of knowing the world was his for the taking. Becky had gray eyes full of humor, and a no-nonsense manner than Pippa took to at once.

They were allowed only a moment before his mother shunted them aside and hugged Pippa again, saying, "We should have met long ago, but better late than never."

"Yes," Pippa agreed, liking her instinctively.

Luke made the mistake of putting himself forward. "Mom, why don't we-"

She rounded on him. "Did anyone speak to you?"

"No, Mom."

"You speak when you're spoken to, and be grateful you're being spoken to at all."

"Yes, Mom."

Becky and Zak exchanged grins. Luke glared at them, but otherwise subsided meekly. Suddenly a silence fell. All heads turned to the kitchen door where Josie stood rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Pippa was about to introduce her, but some instinct held her silent. She knew it had been a wise instinct, when Luke slipped his arm around his daughter's shoulders and said simply, "This is Josie. She's mine." He looked down at his daughter. "This is my family-your family now."

Everyone was waiting for his mother's reaction, and it came quickly. The short woman and the tall child were almost at eye level. They surveyed each other. Then Josie gave her slow, gorgeous smile, and Luke's mom gasped.

"Clarrie!" she cried. And burst into tears.

"Who's Clarrie?" Pippa asked under cover of the commotion.

"She was Mom's kid sister," Becky told her. "She died years ago. I've only seen pictures, but I guess there is a resemblance."

She, too, was swept up in the introductions, then Zak, then his mom again, then dad. Pippa feared that Josie might find this overwhelming, but not for long. As she'd already proved in the television studio, the child had inherited her father's natural self-possession when "on show." Josie sorted her thoughts out fast, said, "I'd better get dressed," and vanished.

Pippa followed her and took out some clean jeans and a T-shirt. "Are you all right, darling?''

"Mom," Josie said, awed, "I've got grandparents."

"Yes, you never had them before."

"Isn't it great?"

"Yes, darling, it's great."

Luke was waiting as they emerged from the bedroom. "I'm sorry about this," he muttered. "I barely got the words out when they pounced on me and dragged me out to the car. I didn't even get the chance to call you first."

"It's all right. I'm glad they've taken to her so well. And at least you're still in one piece."

"I am now. But boy, the earful I got from Mom!"

"And your father?"

"No, he lets her do it for him."

"It's nice that they're so pleased."

"Are you kidding? This is their first grandchild. They're over the moon. Zak and Becky are pretty thrilled, too, because it takes the pressure off them to settle down and start breeding."

Zak, who'd come out into the hall, grinned. "Trust my big brother to come to the rescue," he said. "Pippa, she's a great kid. We're all going to love her. And you."

He followed this up with a hug. Pippa was glad the hall lighting was low so that they shouldn't see the sudden tears in her eyes. All these years she'd thought she knew what she was missing, but there was so much more that she'd never dreamed of. She surreptitiously wiped her eyes and went back to the kitchen with the other two.

It seemed that Luke's dad would monopolize his new granddaughter. They were seated side by side at the bar, drinking milk shakes and talking nineteen to the dozen. Now and then one of the others would join in, only to be edged out by his dad. Luke's mother surveyed them with great satisfaction.

"He's found someone his own age at last," she confided to Josie.

Pippa soon saw that she was right. Between the man of sixty and the girl of ten there was a true meeting of minds. Pippa watched in fascination, beginning to understand Luke as never before.

At that moment his dad's voice rose in horror. "You mean you've never been to Disneyland?"

Wide-eyed, Josie shook her head. "Never," she said mournfully.

"Josie," Pippa said, scandalized, "you stop playing Orphan Annie right now."

"Don't spoil it for him," his wife said quickly. "He loves the place. Now he's got a cast-iron excuse. You wouldn't want to deprive him of it, would you?"

"I guess not," Pippa said, dazed.

In no time Disneyland became the agenda for next day. Zak and Becky had to work, but the other five would drive over to Anaheim. With that point settled the family departed, leaving Luke's house alarmingly quiet.

Next day she, Luke and Josie drove over to his parents' house. His mom greeted Pippa and Josie as if they'd parted a year ago instead of a few hours, and she took Pippa aside. "I wanted to show you this," she said, holding out a photograph. "It was Clarrie."

The picture was forty years old and taken by a very basic camera. Even so, Pippa was amazed at the likeness. She was used to thinking of Josie as resembling herself, but now she saw that the child's heart-shaped face was the same as the one in the picture. So, too, was the slight upward tilt of her nose.

"It broke my heart when I lost her," Luke's mom confided. "Well, I guess I've kind of got her back now.''

Pippa was shaken. She'd half suspected that the resemblance to Clarrie was an illusion, invented by Luke's mother. The discovery that it was real seemed to change everything in some subtle way. Josie really did belong in this family. She even looked different to Pippa's eyes.

"I'm glad," she said.

The older woman eyed her. "You look like a nice girl. How come you didn't want to marry my Luke?"

"I-what's he been saying?"

"He says he asked you to marry him and you said no. Isn't that true?"

Pippa's jaw dropped. "Well, he's got a nerve," she said wrathfully. "He-I-well, yes, technically I suppose it's true, in a sort of way. But I could hear it in his voice that he was only asking out of duty-''

"Duty? Luke?" echoed Luke's mother.

"Well, there certainly wasn't any other reason. You should have heard how relieved he was when I refused!"

His mother's eyes were kind and shrewd. "So, no meant yes, right?"

"Right! At least, it would have been if he'd really wanted me, but we sort of had a deal-no strings, and so I, well, you know-"

"Sure I know. He's my son. And his father's son, heaven help us all!"

Pippa was breathing hard. "So he played the injured innocent, did he?"

"And good!"

"I can just hear him. 'Mom, I wanted to marry her, but she brushed me off.' I'm going to make him sorry he was born."

"Hey, that's a mother's privilege. You wait in line."

"No, you wait in line," Pippa said firmly. "The first bite belongs to me."

His mother chuckled. "Be my guest."

"Maisie, are you coming?" Dad called.

"You hush up!" she told him. "I'm talking to my daughter-in-law."

"Mrs. Danton-" Pippa said hurriedly.

"Mom!"

"Mom, I'm not-"

"You are as far as I'm concerned," she declared, adding, with a belligerent eye on her son on the far side of the room, "and if some people had any sense, you would be."

It was wonderful to be so accepted, but Pippa had seen the sudden alert look that came into Josie's face, and she took the first chance to mutter in Luke's ear, "Please don't let her talk like that. It might give Josie the wrong idea."

"I can't help the way Mom talks."

"You've got to. I don't want Josie thinking we might get married. Please, Luke, this is very important."

"All right," he said, giving her a strange look.

They made the trip to Anaheim in his father's car, with his mother sitting up front with him and the other three in the back. His dad was describing Disneyland to Josie, who was listening wide-eyed. Pippa sat quietly, trying to talk herself into a reasonable frame of mind, but it was hard after what she'd just heard.

Oh, if she could only get Luke to herself for just five minutes! She would kick his shins, stamp on his toes, wring his neck and boil him in oil. And then she'd do something really painful. If she could only think of it. By the time they arrived, her temper had worked up a fine head of steam.

Josie was speechless with the wonder of her first sight of Disneyland. Her grandparents took charge of her, happy as kids themselves.

"Let me show you the shops," Luke said, taking Pippa's hand. To the others he called, "You go on. Don't wait for us."

"Should we do that?" Pippa asked.

"You think it takes more than two people to look after our daughter? Anyway, she's busy wrapping them both around her little finger. We'd only cramp her style."

"You're right," she said. "This is a good chance for a private talk."

"Why do I feel suddenly nervous?"

"Because you have every reason to."

"Pippa, do you know that your eyes are glittering? In the old days they only did that when you were good 'n' mad about something. Usually me."

"Well, ten out of ten for observation! How dare you tell your mother that you asked me to marry you!"

"But I did."

"In a pig's eye you did!"

"I asked you, and you said no," he protested.

"Luke, there are ways and ways of asking people. There's when you're desperate for them to say yes, and when you're desperate for them to say no. No prizes for guessing which one you chose."

"And you think you're a mind reader, huh?"

"I didn't have to read your mind. You told it to me right from the start. No marriage, no domesticity, no babies, no being tied down. You couldn't have been plainer. So I took the hint. When you raised the subject of marriage-at a safe distance of five thousand miles-I said what you wanted me to say, just as I always did."

"Well, I'll be-"

"And then you went and told your mother it was all my fault-"

"Pippa, she asked me why I didn't marry you, and I said that I asked you and you said no-which was true-"

"It was a half-truth at best."

"Okay, I'll talk to her, tell how exactly how it was."

"No, need. I already have."

"So that's what you were doing with your heads together, pulling me apart-"

"I'd like to pull you apart," she seethed.

"Gee, this is like the old days! You wouldn't listen to reason then, and you won't now."

"Reason? Hah! You talking reason? That I should like to hear!"

"Pippa, you wouldn't recognize reason if it hit you in the eye."

"You know the answer to that."

''If you aren't the most ornery woman-I'll swear I-oh, to hell with it!"

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Luke had grabbed her hand and was hauling her after him.

"This way," he called over his shoulder.

"Luke-"

"Hurry." The next moment he was climbing aboard a horse-drawn carriage, giving her no choice but to follow. His hands were warm and firm, pulling her aboard, then just holding her while he laughed into her eyes.

"No," she said, trying to be firm. "I will not let you shut me up like this. Do you understand?"

"There's Mom and Dad with Josie. Wave to them."

Josie was carrying a huge candy floss. She waved ecstatically, and Pippa could do nothing but wave back, smiling to cover the fact that she was fuming. "I'll get you for this," she muttered.

"Look happy, or she won't be happy."

"Considering I'd like to chuck you in the nearest fountain I'm looking amazingly happy," Pippa said through gritted teeth. "And just what do you think you're doing?"

"I'm sliding my hand around your shoulder, friendly fashion-even if you don't deserve it," he said through his smile.

"I feel as friendly as a python at the moment," she said through hers. "Remove your hand right now."

"Nah, they'd suspect something. It's more convincing if I just tighten it around your shoulder-''

"I'm warning you-"

"And then draw you closer to me-like this-''

"You let me go this instant-Luke!"

He mustn't kiss her, because if he did her heart would melt, and she would forget why she was mad at him. She wanted to stay mad. That was always safest with Luke.

But it was too late to tell him he mustn't, and he wasn't taking any notice, anyway. Out of the corner of her eye she could see his mom, dad and Josie, all laughing with delight. Then the carriage passed on and they were out of sight.

"They've gone now, you can let me go," she said.

"Nope."

"You can't kiss me in the middle of Disneyland."

"What does it feel like I'm doing?"

She gave up arguing. The feeling that was spreading through her was taking over, silencing thought. It wasn't desire, or any physical sensation. It was sheer happiness, of a kind she'd almost forgotten: the happiness of being with this one man, in his arms, with nothing else to worry about-at least for a brief time.

And she had almost wasted that time in squabbling. Was she mad?

She kissed him back, then settled blissfully in the crook of his arm, feeling the years and the worries and the weariness fall away. Surely she could allow herself this one day?

"You're a scoundrel," she said. "But I forgive you."

"You always did. Not mad at me anymore?"

"I expect I am, really-only I forget why."

"It doesn't matter. Let's have fun."

"Oh, yes, please."

When the carriage halted he gave her his hand, helping her down as gallantly as any squire with his lady, and steered her straight into a shop where a collection of cooks were making chocolates before an admiring crowd. Luke bought a bagful and they strolled out again, munching.

"When I was a kid I used to bring girls here," he mused. "We all did. There was a set routine. You started with Sleeping Beauty's Castle to put her in a romantic mood, then you progressed to Thunder Mountain because when the cars went up and down she'd let you hold her tight. The clincher was the Haunted Mansion, because with any luck she'd hold you tight!"

She chuckled. "You're evil!"

"I know. It's been very useful."

They laughed together, and she slipped her arm about his waist.

"Shall we start from the beginning?" he asked, "and see if my technique's improved over the years?"

"No need. Let's take the early stages as read, and just wander."

"That sounds good."

As they strolled along Main Street he said, "I suppose in a sense we really have just met." There was a question in his eyes.

"Yes," she said, understanding him.

It was the perfect way. To meet again, without memories or pain, nothing in fact but the charm they had always had for each other: to meet practically as children, in an enchanted world.

Since coming to Los Angeles, Pippa had had a sense of unreality, as though she'd strayed into a hologram, and if she turned the wrong knob everything would vanish. Now that sense was heightened. She'd been given the chance to find Luke again in a dream, and when that dream was over the wounds would have healed, leaving her strong enough to face whatever she had to.

They stopped in a gift shop and he gallantly presented her with a Mickey Mouse necklace and a pair of earrings to match, assuring her solemnly that this had always "paid great dividends." Whereupon she made a sound that he called a snigger. She denied it, he insisted, and they were still arguing as they climbed aboard the railway.

When they left it they were arguing about something else in a manner that might kindly be described as "Yah! Sucks! Boo!" Josie chanced to come across them, and declared, enchanted, that she'd heard her father say, "So there!" although he insisted he'd actually said, "Take care," as Pippa neared a step. Pippa was unable to settle the argument as she was laughing too much to have heard what he said.

The two parties had lunch together. Josie, sporting a necklace and earring set that exactly matched Pippa's, talked nonstop. She was totally happy, not only with Disneyland, but with her new family, and Pippa's heart eased.

Afterward they split up again, Josie and entourage heading for Thunder Mountain, and Luke and Pippa for the calmer delights of the steamboat.

As they leaned on the rail watching the water drift past, Luke said suddenly, "Pippa, can I ask you something?''

"Sure."

"If you could go back and wave a magic wand over the past few years-what would you change?"

Dangerous territory. The sun was so warm and the air so sweet that for a moment she almost admitted, "I would have liked to spend them with you." But to say that was to put emotional pressure on him, and risk everything she'd gained. Safer to pass it off lightly.

"I might not have wanted to run a guest house," she mused. "They're all lovely people, but it's the culinary equivalent of being exiled to Siberia. I created a new recipe once, a fruit dish with cherries and lemon and a mystery ingredient. I was feeling cross about being 'exiled' with all the stodge I had ft) cook, so I called it Siberian cherries. Josie loved it but everyone else thought I was mad."

"I wouldn't have," he said seriously.

"No, you'd have understood. I could always talk to you about things that meant a lot to me, and you picked it up at once. Other people just looked blank."

"It was like that for me," he said, much struck. "We talked the same kind of nonsense and understood the same kind of world, and we were almost telepathic. Do you remember how we used to finish off each other's sentences?"

"That's right." It was coming back to her. "I hated it if anyone else tried to do that, but I didn't mind with you, because you always got it right."

"So did you. Always." He straightened up, alert as though a momentous thought had come to him. "That's what we really had, wasn't it? The rest was…icing on the cake."

"Beautiful icing," she reminded him with a smile.

"The best. But underneath, we had a perfect cake, too." He took her hand and looked at it. "Wouldn't you change anything else?"

"No," she said after a moment.

"Nothing? Nothing at all?"

"What happened gave me Josie. And she's perfect. Thank you, Luke. Thank you for Josie. Thank you for everything. I've wanted to say that for a long time."

He was still tracing patterns on the back of her hand. "Nobody ever got to me the way you did."

"Nor me. We were very young and very intense about everything, weren't we? Too intense, maybe."

"I don't think so."

Something in his voice caught her, made her look up quickly, but he was still studying her hand, as though he feared to meet her eyes.

"Luke, I-"

There was a slight thump as the boat reached the landing stage. All around them people were getting to their feet, preparing to disembark. He raised her hand and kissed it and led her from the boat.

He kept hold of her hand until they met up again with the others, then let it discreetly fall. A riotous meal was followed by the fireworks display. Josie was openmouthed, staring up into the dark sky as it was flooded with brilliance. Luke's parents, too, seemed to be seeing it all for the first time.

Nobody was looking at Luke and Pippa. In the midst of that huge crowd they were invisible. Luke's hands were on either side of her face, his thumbs gently caressing her cheeks. His eyes were warm, and then his lips were on hers, as tenderly as a boy with his first kiss.

"Pippa," he whispered. "Pippa, my Pippa-"

He kissed her mouth softly, almost reverently. Her returning kiss was the same, loving rather than passionate. It was all part of the dream, and dream she would take it, not asking more, for that was when dreams died.

He seemed to understand that, too, for he drew back and rested his arms on her shoulders, his forehead against hers, his smiling eyes close to hers. Suddenly a tremor overtook him. In a shaking voice he said, "Oh, Pippa!" and pulled her close, not kissing her but burying his face against her neck in a bear hug. "Pippa, Pippa, Pippa!''

She hugged him back in the same way, her eyes closed as she guessed his were, so that the world contained nothing but their shared warmth and the tightness of their arms about each other. And neither of them saw the three interested pairs of eyes watching them.

It was midnight when they reached the home of Luke's parents, but they stayed for a quick snack. Pippa would have been glad to fade into the background and let Josie be the star, but Luke's mom had other ideas. She had called Pippa "my daughter-in-law," and it clearly hadn't been an idle remark. Now she treated her with conspicuous honor, and although she only repeated the dangerous words once, her feelings permeated the air. Pippa felt awkward, but Luke seemed surprisingly unfazed when she tackled him about it.

"She's a mother," he said. "It goes with the territory. She's been trying to settle me down with a good woman for years."

"Someone should tell her that good women give you a wide berth," Pippa replied crisply. "This is about Josie, not me."

"Well, she's not happy about the fact that her new granddaughter is going away in a few days," he retorted. "Maybe she's trying to tell you something."

"No, it's you she's trying to tell, and you ought to warn her off, Luke. It's not fair to anyone."

His mother called him at that point, so he didn't have to reply, but he gave her a strange look.

At last it was time to say goodbye, but only until the next night when the family was coming over to Luke's home to watch the show. His mother hugged Pippa fiercely. As they were in the front hall she seemed to remember something.

"Luke, before you go-"

"Yes, Mom?"

"Come here."

Obediently he went to stand in front of his mother, looking down at her, smiling. The next moment he was reeling back from the sharpest box on the ears she had ever given him.

"Hey, Mom!"

"That's for not telling us! Ten years of our grandchild we've missed. You should be ashamed."

"I am, Mom. Promise." He backed hastily from the martial light in his mother's eye.

He got hastily into the car, rubbing his ear. As they pulled away from the curb he complained to Pippa, "If I'm not being bullied by her, I'm being bullied by you. If I'm not being bullied by you, I'm being bullied by Claudia. If I'm not being bullied by Claudia, I'm being bullied by my daughter. That guy who talked about the monstrous regiment of women sure knew what he was talking about." There was a giggle from the back seat. "And you can hush up!"

Josie made no answer, but after a few minutes Luke became aware of a strange sound coming from the back seat.

"Josie? You're not crying, are you?''

"Not really, it's just-we came all this way, and we don't have much time together, and…and you had to get mad at me…and-" She choked into silence.

Luke slammed the car into the side of the road. He was out in a moment, pulling open the rear door, flinging himself inside, taking his daughter in his arms.

"Honey, I'm sorry, I'm not really mad at you. Please…please darling, don't cry. There baby… please…I can't stand it…just tell me what you want, Daddy will make it right."

"Luke," Pippa said patiently, "it's like taking candy from a baby. Mind you, I fell for it the first few times, too."

"She's upset-" Another suspicious sound made him look sharply at Josie. The tears had magically vanished, and the child was making unconvincing efforts to control her laughter. "Why you…!"

"Oh, Daddy, if you could see your face!"

"You…?"

"I learned how to do it in drama class at school."

"You little wretch-come here!" He swept her up into a hug so fierce that she gasped. She returned it plus interest, her arms tight about his neck until he almost choked. Pippa rested her arm on the back of her seat and her chin on her arm, watching them with deep satisfaction.

She had all she'd asked for when she came here, including a return of the dream, for just one day. And now that the day was over, she had no complaints. She was far richer than she had been this morning.