Kids Included. Caroline Anderson

      He was disgustingly good at karting. She struggled to control the feisty little machine, but Jack didn’t seem to have any such problem. He whipped past her time and time again, his focus absolute, his concentration mind-boggling.

      When they stopped, he unravelled himself from the little rollerskate of a kart and stretched, grinning from ear to ear. ‘That was brilliant. I haven’t done that for ages.’

      ‘I haven’t done it ever,’ she said drily, ‘and it shows.’

      He chuckled. ‘You did fine.’

      ‘You didn’t even see me. You were going too fast to notice.’

      ‘Oh, I noticed.’ His mouth quirked and he searched her eyes. ‘We need to fetch the kids. I’d better go; I have to be in three places at once.’

      ‘Why don’t I get the boys? Then you can pick up the girls—the theatre workshop’s quite near the kindergarten, and the trail-bikes are right over on the other side. It would make sense.’

      He nodded thoughtfully. ‘You sure? That would be great.’

      He did have the most gorgeous eyes, she mused. ‘Absolutely sure. I’ll meet you back at the cabins in a bit.’

      He waved her off at the bike park, and she headed across the site, following the wiggly paths amongst the cabins until she reached the trail-bikes.

      The boys were just coming out, looking grubby and cheerful, and she waved to them.

      ‘Where’s Jack?’ Tom asked, peering round.

      ‘Picking up the girls. You’re both coming back with me and we’re meeting up at the cabin. Have a good time?’

      ‘Brilliant!’ Philip said. He could hardly keep his feet on the ground he was so high, and Tom was the same. They went ahead, chattering all the way back to the cabin while she struggled to keep them in sight, and threw their bikes down and rushed round the back to find the others. She propped the bikes up, locked them and followed more slowly.

      Jack was there with the girls, sprawled behind his cabin on a sun lounger, Nicky draped over his chest fast asleep while the boys blasted Seb with a loud and chaotic resumé of their trail-biking exploits.

      She sat on the grass beside Jack and tipped her head towards Nicky. ‘She looks bushed,’ she said quietly.

      ‘Busy day. She’s only two and a half; it’s all a bit much. I might take tomorrow morning off and do something quiet with her.’

      Molly grinned. ‘You’re just looking for a way out—too much activity for your old bones.’

      He gave her a wry grin. ‘You’d better believe it. I’m supposed to be doing a paintball game with Seb tomorrow—all that crashing about in the woods getting scratched to bits and dolloped with paint—I can hardly wait.’

      ‘You’ll love it.’

      He snorted, then looked down, his fingers playing idly with the baby’s blonde locks. ‘Maybe, but she’s tired. I don’t think she can cope with another busy day.’

      ‘I’ll have her if you like,’ she offered, before her brain took over.

      ‘You’re mad.’

      She smiled, covering up her regret at yet another impulse. ‘Probably. I like little children. We can feed the ducks and read a book and make biscuits, and she can have a nap if she needs it.’

      He looked thoughtful—because he didn’t trust her? Because she’d sounded forced and over-jolly? She must be nuts. If anyone needed a day off she did—and then she looked at the dark shadows under Jack’s eyes, and the lines of fatigue in his cheeks, and her soft heart melted all over again.

      ‘I am a trained nursery nurse,’ she reminded him gently, ‘and I’ve brought up two children alone for the past five years. I can cope.’

      He pursed his lips, then nodded, swallowing. ‘If you really don’t mind. I can’t be everywhere at once and I feel I ought to spend some time with Seb doing man stuff, you know?’

      She smiled softly. ‘Yes, I know. I have a friend I bribe occasionally to do “man stuff” with Philip. You go and have fun with Seb. It’s just too easy to forget how important these little things are.’

      He nodded. ‘Tell me about it. I spend my life juggling—and most of the time I drop all the balls.’

      ‘I’m sure you don’t. The kids all look well and happy.’

      ‘I try.’ He looked down at Nicky again, then at Molly. ‘I’d offer you a cup of tea, but she looks too comfy to move.’

      ‘I’ll get you one.’

      ‘Bless you.’ The smile crinkled his eyes, just a little, an almost imperceptible softening of his features. It made him devastatingly attractive—at least to Molly. She stood up hastily, brushed off her jeans and went into the kitchen. It was the same layout as hers, so finding things was easy, which was just as well because that tiny smile had utterly scrambled her brains…

      They met just after nine, when the five younger children were safely tucked up in bed and Seb was slouched in front of the television. Jack appeared at the patio doors at the back of her cabin, and together they strolled down to the lakeside.

      It was a beautiful evening, the sun’s last rays dying over the water and touching the trees with gold. Ducks and geese glided silently over the surface of the lake, rippling the still water and scattering the sunlight.

      It was peaceful and beautiful, and they sat down together on the edge of the water and just absorbed the stillness for a while.

      It was amazingly quiet. There was the occasional sound of laughter, a child crying in the distance, and here and there the odd call of a bird or scuttle of a vole.

      Beside her Molly could feel Jack thinking—could almost hear the cogs turn. Maybe he didn’t know where to start. Maybe he needed help.

      ‘Tell me about Jan,’ she prompted gently.

      Jack’s sigh was soft and full of regret. ‘Jan? She was stocky and feisty and loud, and Nick adored her. It was mutual—she thought the sun rose and set on him. They fell in love at sixteen, married at twenty, had Seb at twenty-three. His parents hated her—she was a little off the wall for their taste, and they never really trusted her. When Jan found out she was dying, they said they’d have the children. She couldn’t bear the idea, but she had no choice. Her own parents were dead; she couldn’t see another way.’

      ‘Until you suggested one.’

      He looked down at his hands. ‘Nick had asked me, years ago, if I’d have their kids if anything happened to them. I was married then, they’d only had only Seb and Amy, and I said yes. Nick had it put in his will, but Jan thought everything had changed so much I wouldn’t have them—not all four. As I saw it, they needed me even more. I suggested we got married, and I adopted the children. It was what Nick would have wanted, and it gave Jan the security she needed to die in peace.’

      ‘And the children?’

      ‘Amy and Tom were OK, and Nicky was too tiny to know what was going on.’

      ‘And Seb?’

      He sighed. ‘Seb thought it was awful. He couldn’t understand why they couldn’t go to his grandparents and he could look after them all there. He was twelve, too young to cope, too old to be told what to do without questioning it. And he didn’t like the thought of me touching his mother.’

      ‘And did you?’

      He shot her a searching look. ‘Hardly. She was my best friend’s wife, a real one-man woman. She was dying of cancer. Of course I didn’t touch her. I didn’t want to. That wasn’t what it was about.’

      Molly felt relief for a moment, but there was another question she and her foolish mouth just had to