Jenna returned home that evening, already fretting about the Paris trip with Alex, but the letter waiting for her from her ex-husband’s solicitors banished everything from her mind. The letter briefly reminded her that under the terms of her divorce Lee had been granted access visits to his daughter every other weekend, and that if she continued to prevent him from seeing Maisie the matter would have to go back to court.
‘I’ve never tried to stop Lee. At first, when the divorce was finalised, I encouraged him to visit Maisie,’ she explained to Chris. ‘I wanted them to maintain a good relationship. But Lee was so unreliable, he either showed up late or not at all, and after a while I stopped phoning him to remind him that it was his weekend to visit. I don’t understand what this is all about,’ she muttered worriedly, waving the letter in the air. ‘Why didn’t he just ring me to say he wanted to renew contact with Maisie? Why involve the courts?’
‘He’s playing mind games with you,’ Chris told her sympathetically. ‘He always was a manipulative bastard, and behind his pretty-boy image he has a devious brain.’
‘But why?’ Jenna shook her head in frustration. ‘As far as I’m concerned there was never an argument over his access to Maisie, but he’s never taken much interest in her. All he ever wanted was money, which is why I extended the mortgage on the house and paid him his share. I can’t help thinking that he’s up to something.’
She tried to put the letter out of her mind, and an energetic trip to the park with Maisie on Saturday morning helped put her worries into perspective, but her reprieve was short-lived.
‘Hello, Jenna, you’re looking good.’ Lee was lounging against the bonnet of his car when she followed Maisie and her little tricycle up the hill.
‘Lee, this is a surprise.’ She was determined to keep calm, but already her hackles were rising under his cocky, faintly insulting appraisal. ‘I take it you’re here to see Maisie?’
‘Course I am.’ Lee hunkered down in front of the tricycle. ‘Hello, Maisie, you got a kiss for your daddy?’
The little girl blinked solemnly at him, and then at Jenna. ‘Daddy?’ she queried innocently, and Jenna dredged up an encouraging smile.
‘Daddy’s come to visit you, darling. Isn’t that nice?’ She glanced back at Lee, her expression cool. ‘You can hardly expect her to leap into your arms. It’s been so long since you bothered to visit she barely recognises you.’
‘Then it’s time I made it up to her,’ Lee replied, plainly unconcerned by her tangible antagonism. ‘From now on I’ll be visiting every other weekend—maybe more often, if the courts agree. And I’ll want to take her away with me. For the day at first, but as she gets older for the whole weekend.’
‘There was no need to involve your solicitor. I’ve never stopped you from seeing Maisie,’ Jenna pointed out, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice. ‘What are you up to, Lee? You haven’t bothered with Maisie since the day she was born. Why the sudden determination to be Super Dad?’
Lee ran a hand through his blond highlights, taking care not to ruffle the style, and gave a sly grin. ‘I’m getting married again, and I want Maisie to have a proper, stable home life—not be constantly dumped with babysitters while you screw your boyfriend on the front seat of his bloody car.’
Jenna stared at him with a mixture of horror and disbelief. ‘How on earth do you know—?’ she began, and stopped abruptly. She was damned if she would explain herself to Lee.
‘A little bird told me,’ he said, tapping the side of his nose, his smile telling her that he was aware of her discomfort. ‘There’s not a lot you get up to that I don’t know about, darling, and I’m not going to stand by and allow my little girl to be brought up by a succession of uncles—even ones who drive flash cars.’
Jenna was so shocked by Lee’s visit that she seriously contemplated phoning Alex to tell him she could not accompany him to Paris. But what excuse could she give? she fretted, during a long, sleepless night. Alex had employed her in the belief that she had few commitments and would be constantly at his beck and call. She could hardly reveal that her personal life was growing more complicated by the minute without running the risk of losing her job, and if she were unemployed it would only serve to increase Lee’s determination to win custody of Maisie. Common sense told her that Lee didn’t stand a realistic chance of taking Maisie away from her, but he was clever, in a crafty, manipulative way, and although she hated to admit it she had always been secretly afraid of him.