He might be the most bad-tempered and demanding of her three children, but she adored him just the same-how could she not when she only had to look into those dove-grey eyes and see Daniel looking back at her? He scowled at her and she sent him a teasing scowl back, her blue eyes alight with love and amusement. ‘Michael, please wait a little longer!’ she sighed at the small boy grappling with her blouse. That brought the frown back, a perplexed one this time, because she had caught herself doing that a lot recently. ‘Oh, hi, Mandy!’ Rachel watched pleased surprise ease the frown from her face, and only realised as she did so that she had been frowning. So distracted, in fact, that she missed the tense little pause before the person on the other end answered cautiously, ‘Rachel? It’s Amanda.’ ‘Hello?’ she murmured, sounding distracted-which she certainly was. ‘Wait.’ And she kissed the top of his downy head as she picked up the telephone receiver while still frowning at her own reflection. ‘No,’ she scolded, gently but firmly forestalling his forage by disentangling his fingers from her blouse.
A greedy child at the best of times, he was also tired and impatient now. And Michael was determinedly trying to wreak its final destruction by tugging at the buttons in an effort to expose her breast. Her cheeks were flushed, her light blue overshirt darkened in huge patches where bathtime for three small children had extended its wetness to her also. Half her pale blonde hair was hanging in damp twists around her neck and face while the rest of it spewed untidily from a lopsided knot to one side of the top of her head. God, you look a mess! she told herself in disgust. She muttered something not very complimentary, hitched six-monthold Michael further up her hip, and rushed the final few steps which brought her to the hall extension-then stopped dead with her hand hovering half an inch above the telephone receiver, her attention caught by the reflection in the mirror on the wall behind the telephone table.
THE telephone started ringing as Rachel was coming downstairs after putting the twins to bed.
0 kommentar(er)
