I’m so sorry I’m late. Something came up…’
Carson rose quickly. ‘I gather this is your date. I won’t keep you.’ He nodded politely at Dan and walked away.
‘Who was that?’ Dan asked, kissing her on the cheek.
‘Carson Page. I bashed his car.’
‘Good grief! The Carson Page? Darling, you shouldn’t have let him go so easily. He’s a big man.’
‘No, he isn’t,’ Gina said with a little sigh. ‘He’s just like all the rest.’
The next afternoon, the receptionist called to say that there had been a delivery for Gina. Dulcie was deep in correspondence, so Gina went out herself. And that was how she saw Carson Page arriving, accompanied by a little boy of about eight. The child had a pale, intelligent face, and he looked nervous.
Philip Hale arrived, full of an effusive greeting, which Carson returned politely, but with a cool restraint that would have warned a subtler man than Hale.
It was strange, Gina thought, how the child showed no awareness of the conversation going on over his head. Almost as if…
I’m imagining things, she thought, giving herself a little mental shake.
True to his word, Carson gave no sign of recognising Gina, but followed Philip Hale, his hand on the boy’s shoulder.
‘I wonder what’s the matter with that child?’ Gina said to the young woman receptionist.
‘Poor little kiddie. Tossed from pillar to post. Parents not speaking, using him as a weapon. Apparently, Mr Page is trying to stop his ex having any access to Joey at all.’
‘That’s wicked!’ Gina exclaimed.
Her view of Carson Page took another knock. Obviously his friendliness the day before had been an aberration, and there was something much more unpleasant beneath the surface.
She returned to her office and got down to business. She worked for half an hour, then she leaned back in her chair, yawned and stretched. It was late afternoon and the sun was hot.
‘Oh, heavens!’
She’d happened to glance out of her window, overlooking the main road, and something she saw there made her spring to her feet.
‘What’s that child doing there?’ she demanded, aghast.
It was Joey Page. He was wandering in the busy road, apparently oblivious to the furious honks from the motorists around him. As she watched, a car missed him by an inch. The motorist bawled at him, but the little boy merely looked bewildered, as though nothing that was happening to him was real.
‘Oh, my God,’ she whispered. ‘He doesn’t know—he can’t—’
The next moment, she’d dashed from her office, running across the reception area and out into the street, praying that she would be in time.
There was more honking as she raced into the road and grabbed Joey. He tried to throw her off, but she held on and guided him firmly back to the pavement.
‘What were you thinking of?’ she demanded breathlessly. ‘You could have been run over.’
‘Yaaa—yaaa—yaaaah!’ he shrieked, glaring at her and wrenching himself free. But behind the childish fierceness Gina glimpsed bewilderment, as though her words were meaningless, and now she was certain about something that had only been a suspicion before. She knelt so that he could see her lips.
‘You’re deaf, aren’t you?’ she said slowly.
‘Aaaah!’ he yelled.
His face was filled with sullen misery. She knew a flare of anger at the man who’d deprived this vulnerable child of his mother.
‘Don’t go into the road,’ she told him, speaking slowly and clearly. ‘It’s dangerous.’ She tried to put her hand on his shoulder.
‘Aaaa!’ he screamed, thrashing about so wildly that she was almost knocked off balance.
‘Joey!’ said a voice behind him. ‘Stop that!’
Gina looked up to see Carson, frowning. She rose to face him.
‘It’s no use shouting at him,’ she said. ‘He can’t hear you.’
‘Yes,’ he said heavily. ‘I know he can’t.’
He reached for the child’s arm. Instantly Joey swung around to face him and let out another yell. He sounded shocking, like a small demented animal, but Gina, standing close to him, could feel that he was trembling violently.
She could have wept for the child. She knew that bewildered frustration that could only find release in rage. Carson’s appalled expression now brought back a host of painful memories, and instinctively she put her arms about Joey.
‘I’m his father. I’ll take him.’
Gina gasped, trying to fight down the wild anger that surged up in her. She almost never lost her temper, but now it rushed away from her, leaving her shaking.
‘If you’re his father, what were you thinking of to let him wander away like that?’ she demanded. ‘Don’t you know that deaf children are vulnerable on the roads?’
‘I don’t need to be lectured about my own son,’ he snapped.
‘I think you do. A father worth his salt would protect this child properly.’
The look he flung her was so full of rage that anyone else might have been intimidated, but Gina was too cross to care. What did this man matter beside the hurt child?
‘He’s got problems,’ she cried. ‘He can’t hear. That means he needs more love and care, not less. He needs his mother.’
‘That’s enough!’ Carson’s face was frozen. ‘You know nothing about it. Perhaps you would be good enough to bring him inside.’
Gina grasped the child by the hand and led him back into the building. To her relief, there was nobody in Philip Hale’s office.
‘I’m grateful to you for rescuing him,’ Carson said, ‘and for the trouble you’ve taken—’
‘It’s no trouble,’ Gina told him firmly. ‘I’ll get him some—’ She stopped and put herself where Joey could see her. ‘Milk and chocolate biscuits,’ she said, speaking clearly. ‘Would you like that?’
He nodded. His expression was still belligerent but, when she tried to leave the office, Joey took a firm hold of her hand. It was as though he’d discovered safety at last, and he wasn’t going to risk losing it. Gina called Dulcie on the internal line and asked her to bring the refreshments.
‘They’ll soon be here,’ she told Joey. But he frowned. He hadn’t understood.
‘They will soon be here,’ she said, slowly and with emphasis. This time he nodded, and Gina gave him her most reassuring smile. After what seemed like an age, he managed a half-smile in return, but it was gone at once.
Just like his father, she thought.
He had a round face with well-defined features that were just beginning to reflect Carson’s. There was character beyond his years in that face, and mobile eyebrows that suggested a touch of humour. Behind the barrier of deafness a strong personality was developing, Gina thought.
Dulcie entered, and Joey’s eyes lit up at the sight of a plate of chocolate biscuits. But before he touched them he looked up at his father. Gina thought she saw apprehension in that glance, and her anger grew again.
‘He’s afraid of you,’ she accused.
‘He’s afraid of everything,’ Carson said wearily.
‘Of course he is. When you’re deaf, the world is a very scary place, but he should be able to rely on