miracle?’
Father Christmas appeared to have been struck dumb, so Lara stepped forward, blinking back the tears that had somehow sprung into her eyes.
‘The thing about life, Aggie,’ she said softly, trying to keep the choke out of her voice, ‘is that you never know where the next miracle is going to come from.’
‘Well, I don’t care where it comes from but I know it has to come soon. My friend Katherine at school—her mummy went to heaven and now she has a new mummy but I don’t know where she came from. I want to get Daddy a new wife. I want to do an advert like we do for the nannies, but he won’t do an advert.’
‘She needs to be gagged,’ Chloe muttered, shrinking against her father, her expression acutely embarrassed. ‘It’s the only way. I’m buying her a massive gag for Christmas. And it’s not coming off until she learns that silence is golden.’
Christian rubbed a hand over his face and gave a slow shake of his head, clearly struggling to calculate the best way of handling the situation.
‘What’s gagged?’Aggie looked puzzled, clearly oblivious to the tension that her innocent request had created. ‘I just want something nice for Daddy. What’s wrong with that?’
Expecting Christian to be furious by his daughter’s very frank and public admission, Lara stole a glance in his direction. But she didn’t see anger. Instead, she saw concern, gentleness and a touch of sadness. A lump settled in her throat as she watched him step forward and lift his little girl into his arms.
‘I don’t need a new wife. That isn’t the answer.’ His voice was soft and he stroked a hand over his little girl’s blonde curls. ‘And I don’t understand why you’d think that, Aggie. We’re doing fine, aren’t we? What’s wrong, sweetheart? What’s missing?’
‘It’s just that I don’t want you to be lonely. You need your own special friend,’Aggie whispered, sliding her arms round his neck. ‘Chloe has Anna and I have Katherine, but you don’t have anyone all for you. If you had a wife, then you’d have someone.’
Christian hesitated. ‘It isn’t that simple.’
‘You mean because of us? Mummy left because of us, didn’t she?’Aggie’s voice wobbled and she clung to her father like a monkey, her head on his shoulder. ‘It’s my fault because I talk so much. I do try not to talk but then I sort of want to burst.’
Lara blinked rapidly to try and clear the tears that threatened to obscure her vision. Should she leave the grotto? She knew that Christian Blake was a fiercely private man. He never, ever talked about anything personal. He must be horrified that his little daughter had made such a frank confession in front of a colleague.
But Christian wasn’t looking at her. In fact, he didn’t even seem aware of her presence. His only interest seemed to be in his little daughter and her feelings.
He hugged her tightly, holding her easily in his arms. ‘Aggie, sweetheart, that’s enough now. Father Christmas doesn’t need to know all the details of our life.’
‘Father Christmas doesn’t dish out wives and mothers.’ Chloe cast a worried glance towards her father and reached forward to grab Aggie. ‘I’ll take her. Come on, you. We’ve finished here. We need to go home because Daddy needs to go back to work.’
They posed for the obligatory photograph and then Chloe led Aggie outside.
Lara didn’t move.
She didn’t know what to do or what to say. She felt as if she’d been eavesdropping on a private conversation. As though she’d witnessed something that she shouldn’t have witnessed.
She’d assumed he was happily married. Everyone had assumed the same thing. There had been no hints that his private life was in turmoil.
Was he separated or divorced?
What had gone wrong?
‘Daddy!’ Chloe burst back into the grotto, her blonde hair flying around her face, her tone urgent. ‘You have to come now! There’s a sick girl out here. She was in the queue and then she sort of dropped to the floor and now she’s sort of shaking! You have to come!’
A SICK girl?
Lara glanced at Christian but he was already moving towards the grotto entrance, his response as swift and decisive as it would have been in the emergency department. ‘Lara. Come with me. Chloe? Keep an eye on your sister.’
He strode out of the grotto towards the little crowd that had gathered, his black coat swirling around his legs as he walked.
‘Someone, help us! Help us!’White with terror, the mother was on her knees by the little girl, trying to lift the child as her little body jerked. ‘Olivia? Olivia?’ The little girl’s body jerked and convulsed beneath her hands and the mother started to sob and scream. ‘She’s having some sort of fit.’
‘Don’t hold her. Don’t try and restrain her or you might hurt her. I’m a doctor.’ Christian dropped to his haunches and put a hand on the mother’s shoulder. ‘Lara, can you get these people away from here? We don’t need an audience.’ His voice was sharp and Lara immediately moved everyone back and then dropped to her knees next to him.
‘Someone is calling an ambulance.’
‘I need something to put underneath her. This floor is hard.’ Christian checked the child’s airway and swiftly they manoeuvred her into the recovery position.
The store manager hurried up, clutching a soft blanket. ‘Is this any use?’
‘Perfect.’ He slid it under the child’s body.
‘She’s very hot. It must be a febrile convulsion. Being wrapped up in warm layers in this store and standing in the queue, overheating,’ Lara murmured, touching the child’s forehead and glancing at the mother. ‘Has she been ill?’
‘She’s had a runny nose but nothing too bad, and she was desperate to see Father Christmas. I thought it would distract her.’
‘You’re right about the warm layers, Lara. We need to try and take some of them off, or at least open them up.’ Christian slid the coat from the little girl and opened her cardigan.
‘It’s freezing outside.’ The mother bit her lip. ‘I didn’t want her to get cold. She kept shivering.’
‘She has a temperature,’ Lara said gently, ‘and it’s important that we cool her down. Little children aren’t able to control their temperature in the way that adults do. How old is she?’
‘Eleven months. I forgot to give her Calpol in the rush to leave the house.’
‘Was she drowsy before the seizure?’
‘No. Just a bit cross. That’s why I thought it would cheer her up to come here. I did the wrong thing. I’m an awful mother.’ The mother’s face scrunched up and she started to cry. Chloe stepped forward and put a hand on her arm.
‘I think you’re a lovely mother. What a treat to bring her here. We’ve just been and it was brilliant. Try not to worry.’ Her voice was warm and confident. ‘My dad’s a doctor and he’ll fix it. He’s very clever and he always knows what to do when people are ill. Why don’t you write her name and age down on a piece of paper because the paramedics will need that when they arrive.’
Lara stared, taken aback by the girl’s poise and maturity, but Christian didn’t seem surprised. Instead, he glanced across at his elder daughter. ‘Chloe—go down to the main entrance and wait for the ambulance. You can tell the paramedics where to come to. It will save time. Tell Aggie to sit still and not run off anywhere.’
‘OK,