First Love, Last Love

Jane put up a hand to her tousled hair. ‘Laurence really wants to see me, after all this time?’

‘He’s never stopped loving you.’ Lauri pushed her in the direction of Laurence’s room. ‘Now go on—Mum. That might take a bit of time to get used to,’ she laughed, ‘but I’ll get the hang of it.’

Jane looked at her anxiously. ‘You don’t have to, you know. I don’t deserve—’

‘I want to,’ Lauri told her firmly. ‘Unless you would rather I didn’t?’

‘I’d like it,’ Jane admitted shyly. ‘All this time and I’ve had to pretend the casual relationship of an aunt, to actually have you as my daughter will be—breathtaking.’

‘Why did you—No,’ Lauri shook her head, ‘it doesn’t matter. We can talk later, when you’ve spoken to Lau—my father.’ She couldn’t quite bring herself to call him ‘Dad’, although she thought that too might come in time.

‘I know what you were going to ask,’ Jane said dully. ‘And I’d like to answer you now, before I speak to Laurence. I want you to try and understand, both of you, that I was very young, and—and pregnant by a man I felt had betrayed me in the worst way possible. My parents were wonderful, they stood by me all during my pregnancy, and when you were born they loved you as much as I did. But I’m jumping ahead slightly, missing out the most important part. When we realised Laurence wasn’t going to leave me alone I went to stay with my brother and his wife. Robert and Adele had been married for years, but they couldn’t have a family of their own.’

Lauri gasped. ‘Was that why—?’

‘No, I didn’t give you away to them,’ her mother told her firmly. ‘When I brought you home, to their home, I could see Adele was more interested in you than she should have been, but at the time I saw no harm in it. Then my parents were killed. It was as if my prop had been taken out from under me. I fell apart, completely. I had a nervous breakdown. The authorities agreed that Robert and Adele should look after you until I was well enough to. It was almost eighteen months later before I felt able to cope with being a mother without a supportive husband. By that time it was too late, you had already accepted Robert and Adele as your parents, you even called them Mummy and Daddy. They were wrong to let that happen, but I think they longed for a child of their own so much that they didn’t think they were doing any harm. I had no choice but to become your aunt, although I always intended you to know the truth one day.’

‘Why not when they died?’ Lauri asked huskily.

‘You’d idolised Robert as your father,’ Jane sighed. ‘I just couldn’t do that to you when you’d just lost him. After that there just never seemed to be a right time. Maybe I was being a coward again, I don’t know, but I kept to my role of loving aunt, longing to tell you the truth but knowing I’d left it much too late.’

‘You haven’t,’ Lauri squeezed her hand. ‘Not for Laurence or me. You do still love him, don’t you?’

‘I never stopped. But he was married, with no chance of a divorce, and I knew I had to give him up or feel guilty for the rest of my life. I never meant to hurt your sister, Alex.’ She looked at him pleadingly.

‘I know that,’ he said gently. ‘Now don’t you think you should go in and see Laurence? Unless you want him to suffer another heart attack …’

Jane frowned worriedly. ‘Is that why he’s here?’

‘Yes.’ Alex smiled. ‘So would I be if suddenly faced with a daughter of seventeen!’

‘Anything’s possible,’ Lauri put in bitterly.

He gave her an angry look. ‘Laurence is very eager to see you,’ he spoke to Jane. ‘Lauri and I will be in the visitors’ room when you’re ready to leave.’

‘Thank you,’ she gave a nervous smile before going into Laurence’s room.

‘I thought you handled that very well,’ Alex sat opposite Lauri, shielding her from the other people in the room.

‘Am I supposed to thank you for your praise?’ she asked sarcastically.

‘No,’ he sighed, ‘I don’t expect you to do anything.’

‘Good,’ her sparkling eyes glared her hatred of him. ‘Because accepting Laurence as my father, and Jane as my mother, doesn’t mean I go one step further and accept you as my lover.’

‘I didn’t ask,’ he said harshly. ‘Your attitude towards your parents may have been totally adult, but you’re still the child I don’t want in my life. So before refusing to share my bed, wait until you’re asked. Get it?’ he asked vehemently.

‘Yes,’ she acknowledged huskily.

The wedding took place three months later, a very quiet affair because of Laurence’s recent ill-health. Lauri had got to know her father well during the last few months, had come to like and respect him, although she still had a little trouble calling him ‘Dad’. That he and Jane adored each other there could be no doubt. It was as if their years apart had never been, and Lauri had never seen Jane so animated.

Steve still seemed to be rather dazed by the sudden turn of events, although being the one to tell Robin to get lost had more than made up for that. Not that he had been that blunt, but Robin and his parents had made a hasty retreat when informed of his fiancée’s other ‘family’.

Much to Lauri’s annoyance Alex Blair had been chosen as best man, and etiquette decreed that as the bridesmaid she be accompanied by him. Steve brought along his girl-friend of two months, and the six of them had dinner at one of the exclusive restaurants in town before splitting up into pairs and going their separate ways.

Not that Lauri wanted to be with Alex Blair, but in the circumstances she had little choice. Jane and Laurence had gone to a hotel for the night, Steve and Joanna had gone on to an all-night party, so she was left with no choice but to accept Alex’s offer of a lift home.

‘It seems strange to think I once said Jane had no hidden depths,’ he remarked with amusement, the windscreen wipers on as the rain pelted down on the car. ‘She certainly kept you hidden.’