The small child giggled reaching out to him
“See my bunnie”
Kira moved her over to Craig, who gently lifted her as though she was made of china. As he took the small child she gave him the plastic bag which Bill had given to her.
“Here, you give her this”
He walked over to where she was pointing to and kneeling down with her looked at the picture book she held in her hand full of rabbit images. Looking in the bag he had grinned at Kira#p#分页标题#e#
“Thank you Bill” he said with a smile before pulling out the cuddly rabbit, which the little girl had embraced with a squeal of delight and a happy smile, laughing and kissing it.
Kira watched them together, knowing that she had done the right thing. She could see the love for the little girl pouring from him as he concentrated on her every word. Alex had loved the attention from the new stranger and was giggling at him as he lay on the floor allowing her to clamber all over him.
“Daddy silly” she had chuckled as he made things disappear from his hands and re-appear behind her. She had found this so funny that she had fallen over laughing. Craig who had leapt over to her in concern started laughing himself, seeing her lying on her back giggling uncontrollably. He looked over at Kira, silently watching the whole scene and smiled.
“She has your eyes” he said softly seeing the same expressive eyes on his daughter. Kira smiled
“Yes, but she has your nature” she replied chuckling “always gets what she wants and lord help us if she doesn’t”
He looked back down on the small bundle in her pyjamas
“And how could you not give her what she wants” he said with such love in his voice
Kira groaned “great like Bill and Marissa don’t spoil her enough” she laughed “now I’ll have to deal with you too”
“OK, young lady” Kira said before sweeping the child into her arms and blowing a raspberry into her stomach much to her delight
“Beddie byes”
Alex hugged her mother not arguing as she moved into a small bedroom which held a child size bed and an assortment of brightly coloured furniture all built for a child.
Craig watched as Kira put her into her bed, kissing her gently on the forehead.
“Say goodnight to daddy” she said watching her as her eyes slowly closed and her head turned to the side as sleep took the tired child
“Night daddy” she said sleepily before she fell fast asleep
Putting on a small night light Kira switched on a baby monitor before the two of them moved back out into the hall and closed the door.
As they returned to the living room, Craig dropped down into one of the couches.
“I have a daughter” he said looking at her still in shock
“Why didn’t you tell me” he asked a hurt tone in his voice.
Sitting beside him she softly replied “I tried”
An anguished groan escaped him as memories started to flood his bemused mind
“Oh God” he said in a pained voice
She covered his hand softly as he lifted it to his lips
“I’m so sorry” he muttered
“When you didn’t turn up that night I didn’t know I was pregnant. I waited for you to call and then I tried to call you. I was told that you weren’t taking any more calls from me” her voice was sad
“I was so upset….I couldn’t believe that you would cut me off that way…and I only had a week left before my visa expired and I just kept calling you”
Craig moaned at the thought of her desperately trying to contact him
“Kira, I was in a hell of a mess. I thought that you were working with your father, I couldn’t stand seeing you”
She smiled at him a sad pained smile.
“Eventually I went back home. That’s when I found out I was pregnant. “She paused for a second
“But I was lucky…. I had no where to live, I had no job, no money and there was no way I was turning to my father, but I met Bill and Marissa. They let me stay with them for a while, gave me a job and helped with Alex.” The memory of their kindness brought a small smile to her lips
“I tried calling you and then I tried writing to you…..but all my letters were sent back unopened.”
She stood up and reaching into the back of a drawer in a bureau she retrieved a small pile of letters. She looked for and found one in particular and handed it to him.
Slowly he opened it to stare at the small black and white pre-natal scan image of the little girl now sleeping next door. Once again she saw the tear in his eye, as he read the letter inside.
“I’m so sorry” he muttered “Wasn’t there some way you could have told me….some way of getting the message to me…… I would have been here straight away”