Lucy Gordon - The Diamond Dad

As the first light came through the curtains Garth rose from Faye's bed. He stood looking down at her, sleeping as peacefully as a child, then turned away as though the sight smote him. He was hearing Cindy's voice the night before, knowing that her words were wise and generous yet not wanting to face it.

He bent and kissed his sleeping wife, softly, not to disturb her. His heart was heavy as he slipped quietly out of the room.

His children were up before him, standing watching the hall telephone.

'Can we ring the vet and ask now?' Adrian demanded.

'It's too early. They'll still be checking him. But if Barker- If anything had gone wrong in the night, they'd have called us by now.'

'Perhaps they haven't got our number?' Cindy suggested.

'They've got it, I promise.'

They drifted out into the garden. Cindy found the ball Barker had dropped, scrubbed it with her hanky and put it back in exactly the same place on the grass. Garth wondered if it would ever be needed again. He watched

Cindy with anxious eyes, struck by her strength and self- control; surely too much for a child?

Faye came down and he greeted her with a distant smile, but didn't go to her. The resolution he'd made in the early hours hung heavily on him and he was sorely tempted to abandon it. But he stopped himself. It had taken him too long to decide on the right thing. But he knew now what it was and there would be no weakening.

'Why don't you just call the vet?' Faye asked Garth softly.

'They'll call us when they're ready.'

She stared. Garth had never been afraid to barge in and demand answers. And then she understood. He was scared. Everything hung on what they would leam this morning. Tenderly she squeezed his hand.

The phone rang.

Everyone jumped. Nobody moved. Then Garth forced himself to answer. The silence seemed to last a long time, before he said, 'Thank you for telling me.'

He laid down the receiver very carefully, as though delaying the moment when he must speak. Then he grinned at his family and said, 'Barker's eating a hearty breakfast.'

Barker was home in a week. He still needed care, but nobody could have done the job more thoroughly than his family. Cindy appointed herself head nurse, with Adrian to assist her. Nancy deputized while they were at school, with Faye and Garth permitted to visit the invalid with appropriate gifts, all of which were consumed in seconds.

Cindy was fast growing up, becoming more firmly in charge and more like her father. When she decided the patient was gorging himself and not getting enough exercise, she read him a stern lecture and forbade all further titbits. Barker began to look harassed.

'Don't worry, old fellow,' Garth reassured him after three weeks of this. 'I've got a special present for you tomorrow; one you're going to love, and "Matron" won't be able to lock it away.'

He was home early the next evening, looking as though he was concealing a secret.

'Where are the kids?' he asked Faye quietly.

'Playing with Barker in the garden.'

'Good. I've brought someone home with me and I want you to be the first to meet her.'

'Her?'

'Wait here,' he said, with a touch of mischief.

When he returned a moment later, Faye's eyes widened at the sight of his companion.

'Her name is Peaches,' Garth said.

Peaches was a really lovely St Bernard with liquid eyes and a melting expression.

'She's a year old,' Garth explained, 'and her owner had to rehome her because she's a bit of a handful. But she's-er-' he paused, seeking for words '-just ready to become a bride,' he finished delicately. 'I thought Barker would like her.'

From outside came a squeal and the sound of thundering paws. Barker appeared, followed by the children, and stopped dead in the doorway, his gaze riveted by the vision of beauty before him. Peaches gazed back. Their eyes met across a crowded room. Cindy and Adrian regarded the scene with awe.

'He just suddenly dropped the ball and dashed inside,' Cindy said. 'It was like he knew…'

'I think he did,' Garth agreed. 'Meet Peaches. She's come to keep Barker company while you're at school.'

The children made a fuss of Peaches, who responded amiably, but her languishing gaze constantly travelled towards Barker, whose virile form had clearly made a deep impression.

'All they needed was a swelling orchestra,' Garth said with a grin when he was alone with Faye later.

'What made you do it?' she asked.

'Barker's still an old dog and he's getting older. We can't put the sad day off for ever. But this way, we'll never really lose him. Why are you surprised? I told you I'd do something.'

'But I thought you were simply going to get another dog.'

'And I have. But just any dog wouldn't do. It's Barker who matters. With Peaches's help, he'll leave something of himself behind.'

To the amusement of the whole family, Barker's passion for Peaches developed into slavish infatuation. She was a domestic tyrant, blowing hot and cold; one day allowing him to smooch her lovingly, the next, growling him away. But nothing could cool Barker's chivalrous devotion and in the presence of his beloved he was reduced to a state of doting idiocy.

'Poor Barker,' Cindy consoled him. 'You're a henpecked husband.'

'And when his pups are born he'll be a henpecked father,' Garth had observed, tweaking her hair. 'Like me.'

Four weeks after their first meeting, Miss McGeorge had confirmed that Peaches was pregnant. Barker strutted about, every inch the proud father, and Cindy and Adrian began to squabble about names for the pups.

The tenth anniversary was growing closer. Faye had relented about letting the children take part, because she was grateful to Garth for putting them before business, even at the cost of the Newcastle contract. He never complained, nor even mentioned the matter, and Faye only knew for sure that he'd lost it when Mary told her. It was like the old days, when he hadn't confided in her.

There was something else he'd kept to himself, which hurt far more. Kendall had telephoned to ask how she was and she'd told him about Barker's crisis. That was how she learned that Garth had sought his help in getting James Wakeham. At first she was delighted. This was exactly the kind of generous act she'd dreamed of seeing him make. But joy was succeeded by sadness at the way he'd excluded her. He'd done it for Cindy and although he could have won his wife's approval, it seemed that he hadn't bothered.

Then Kendall said something else that astonished her.

'It's nice that you're still speaking to me.'

'Why shouldn't I be?'

'I imagine Garth told you all about Jane.'

'She's your new secretary, isn't she? Why should Garth have mentioned her?'

'You mean he didn't? That's amazing. I thought he'd have made the most of it.'

'Kendall, I don't know what you're talking about.'

'Jane works late for me sometimes, and we have a meal together, and-and so on. She was here the night Garth came. Look, I was just a bit lonely for you. It doesn't have to mean anything if we don't let it.'

As Faye understood what he was really saying she waited for the surge of pain it should have brought her. But there was nothing. Kendall had found someone else to flatter his vanity. He was a kindly enough man in his way, but he liked being the centre of attention. What had followed was inevitable and perhaps she had always secretly guessed it.

'Tell me, Kendall,' she said, 'does Jane ever forget to watch you on television?'

'Well-no,' he admitted sheepishly.

'Then you should marry her without delay. And I'll dance at your wedding. Goodbye, my dear.'

She hung up, her thoughts in turmoil. It was ironic to remember now how she'd once said about Garth, 'I wouldn't put it past him to have my replacement lined up to massage his ego, just in case.' But it was Kendall who'd done exactly that and Garth who had remained true.