‘But if they really love one another like you told me, how come he married your mother?’
‘I don’t know. I suppose they must have fallen out. Just think, if I hadn’t found that photograph I’d never have discovered Dad and Verity knew each other before. I can’t wait for them to get married.’
‘Will you be a bridesmaid?’ Catherine asked her wistfully.
‘I’ll be the bridesmaid,’ Honor responded firmly, unaware of a touch of wistfulness in her voice too.
‘They’ll go away on one of those honeymoon things and leave you at home,’ Catherine warned her, retaliating for Honor’s comment about being ‘the’ bridesmaid and squashing her own hopes of wafting down the aisle alongside her friend in a cloud of pink tulle. Despite all Honor’s chivvying, Catherine still retained regrettable fondness for their shared Barbie days.
‘My uncle left Charlie at home when he remarried.’
‘No, they won’t,’ Honor said adding, ‘Verity would never let Dad leave me behind. She’s so exactly right.’ She smiled happily. ‘I could tell the moment I met her.’
Catherine knew from experience when her friend’s mind was on other things.
‘I’ve got a new video,’ she told her. ‘We could watch it together on Saturday…’
‘Maybe,’ Honor hedged. ‘I might not be very well…’
‘Not very well? What do you mean?’ Catherine demanded.
‘Wait and see,’ Honor responded mysteriously, before adding quickly, ‘Verity’s just driven up, I’ve got to go…’
‘Daddy said to say thank you very much for looking after me,’ Honor told Verity in a serious tone when she had opened the front door to her. ‘He said he was very, very grateful to you and he couldn’t think of anyone he could trust more to look after me.’
Verity blinked. To say she had been surprised to receive a telephone call from Honor asking if she could possibly spend the day with her because she was off school and Silas had to go out was something of an understatement. After what had happened between them last night she would have thought that she was the last person Silas would want around his daughter—and around himself.
What kind of a father was he exactly, if he could so easily entrust his only child to a woman he himself did not even pretend to like? she wondered critically as Honor skipped off to collect her coat.
Thoughtfully she waited for Honor to return.
‘Your father does know that you’re spending the day with me, doesn’t he?’ she questioned her dryly.
Honor gave her an injured look.
‘Of course he does. You can ring him on his mobile if you like…’
‘No. It’s all right,’ Verity assured her, adding palliatively, ‘I’m not used to looking after little…young women…What would you like to do?’
‘Could you take me shopping?’ Honor asked her. ‘I don’t have any nice clothes,’ she confided. ‘Dad isn’t very good at buying me the right kind of things. She looked down at her jeans and tee shirt and told Honor, ‘I think sometimes he forgets that I’m a girl.’
Honor couldn’t have said anything more guaranteed to touch her own heart, Verity acknowledged. She too had suffered from hopelessly inaccurate male assessment of what kind of clothes were suitable for a young girl.
Even so…
‘Your father…’ she began uncertainly, but Honor shook her head.
‘Dad won’t mind,’ she answered Verity excitedly. ‘He’ll be pleased. He hates taking me shopping. In fact…’ She paused and gave Verity an assessing look, wondering how far she should try her luck. Not too far if that unexpectedly shrewd question Verity had asked her earlier was anything to go by. ‘Well, he has been saying that he would have to try and find someone—a woman—to take me out shopping.’ Honor gazed up pleadingly at Verity.
‘Wouldn’t Myra…?’ Verity began cautiously.
But Honor immediately shook her head and pulled a face before informing Verity tremulously, ‘Myra doesn’t like me…I think she…if she ever married my father, she would try to send me away…’
The horrified look Verity gave her reassured Honor. Everything was going to work out. Verity was going to make the perfect mother for her.
Prior to receiving Honor’s telephone call Verity had planned to spend the day working, and a couple of hours after she had picked Honor up she was beginning to wonder if working might not have proved to be the easier option.
They were in the pre-teen department of a well-known chain of clothes shops, Verity waiting outside the cubicle area whilst Honor tried on the clothes she had chosen.