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  But the question of what would become of Jack and Mandy and their little family after the Christmas holidays were over was more pressing. During Boxing Day morning, Mr Overton took Jack into the manager’s office and they had quite a long conversation, by the end of which, Mr Overton had offered Jack a job.

  Gabriel had explained that the role of night guard for such a large hotel was perhaps too big a job for a single person. Well, now he had a deputy. And, what’s more, Mr Overton would arrange for Mandy and the baby to be accommodated on the site, in Clare’s old flat.

  ‘It’s not quite the Shergar Suite,’ said Mr Overton.

  ‘But it’s a damn sight better than the pavement outside Boots,’ Jack told his new boss.

  Chapter Eighteen

  On Boxing Day afternoon, Mr Overton said that he was enjoying himself so much, mucking in with the staff at The Stables, that he would like to take Kate’s place for a day.

  ‘Take tomorrow off, Kate. Surely you must want to see your family,’ he said. ‘I can hold the fort.’

  Kate shook her head. ‘No,’ she said. ‘I’m very happy to work.’

  ‘Nonsense. Go and see your people. Do they live far away?’

  It wasn’t a story that Kate particularly wanted to get into. Her mother was no longer alive. Her grandparents were long gone. She didn’t have any siblings. There was just her dad and he was… Well, he was…

  In prison. He had been there for the past three years. It wasn’t the first time. He had been in and out of custody since Kate was a small child. He just couldn’t seem to sort his life out. The offences for which he had been jailed ranged from burglary to drug dealing. He simply couldn’t keep out of trouble.

  That was what Kate had remembered when she first saw Jack and Mandy on the street. She had remembered the night she spent on the street with her dad many years before. He’d just come out of prison again and wanted to move back in with Kate and her mother. Kate’s mum wasn’t having it. She’d had enough. She wanted a divorce. So Kate’s dad said he would just take Kate for a walk before going off to find himself a place in a hostel. But rather than take Kate to the park and then bring her back home he had taken Kate on a bus to London. It all seemed like a big adventure except that what little money her father had soon ran out and they had no place to stay.

  The entrance to a tube station is no place for an eight-year-old girl to have to try to sleep. Especially in the winter.

  Kate’s mother was frantic, of course, and as soon as she reported her daughter missing, the police swung into action. An officer from the Met spotted Kate and her father at about three in the morning and Kate was back home by dawn.

  After that, Kate’s dad was only allowed to see her under supervision.

  She loved him. Of course she did. She loved the big-hearted generous guy he could be when things were going well. But for the past few years, things had not been going well for Craig Farley and Kate didn’t know if she could help him anymore. It seemed better to cut him out of her life altogether.

  Kate explained the situation to Mr Overton.

  Listening thoughtfully, Mr Overton then asked Kate to join him for a cup of tea while he told her his own story. It was momentarily quiet at the hotel, as the guests slept off another big lunch, so they had a few precious moments to themselves.

  ‘Do you want to know the reason why I’m here today? Why I didn’t bust a gut to get the first plane out to Geneva?’

  Kate nodded.

  ‘It’s because I’ve got no-one to go back to. Your father isn’t the only one who made mistakes with his children. I’ve got a daughter about your age and I failed her too. Just as your father wasn’t there for you because he was in prison, I was absent from my daughter’s life because I was always at work. It always seemed more important to visit a hotel I was thinking of buying than to be there for birthdays and school plays. I even missed her graduation.’

  Mr Overton sighed. ‘But I felt like I was doing the right thing at the time. The only thing I could do. I told myself that I was doing it all for her. Just as your father almost certainly believed he was doing his best for you when he stole stuff or sold drugs to put food on the table.’

  Kate began to shake her head.

  ‘Think of Jack and Mandy, begging and sleeping rough. They were just doing what they had to to survive.’

  Kate considered Mr Overton’s words. Had her father really made so many mistakes in a misguided attempt to be a good father? It wasn’t impossible. She felt her cheeks colour as she remembered Christmas Eve, when Dave walked in to find her taking money out of petty cash. What if Mr Overton hadn’t believed that Kate had honest intentions? She too would have been branded a thief. Just like her father.

  ‘There isn’t a day go by when I don’t pray I’ll hear from my daughter. I’m sure your father feels the same way. It would mean a great deal to me if you would think about at least being in touch with him. And the moment you decide you want to see him, I’ll make sure you can get the time off.’

  Kate nodded. ‘I’ll think about it.’

  ‘Forgiveness helps the forgiver as much as the forgiven,’ Mr Overton said.

  Kate went back on duty and spent the rest of the day making sure her guests were having fun. When she finally left her post, just before midnight, Kate was not ready to sleep. She went back to her room and sat in bed with her old teddy bear in her hands. Her dad had given her that bear. He’d told her it would always protect her if he couldn’t be around.

  Craig Farley had wanted to be a good dad. Kate understood that now.

  Chapter Nineteen

  So the next day, Kate set off for Birmingham. Kate didn’t even know if prisons allowed visitors over Christmas but she drove towards the place her father now called home. She took a box of chocolate truffles, just one of the many gifts she had received from her thankful guests. Perhaps she wouldn’t be allowed to take them in but perhaps she would. And she knew her father would like them if he could have them. He’d always had a sweet tooth.

  Kate got to the prison half an hour before visiting time started. People were already queuing but she stayed in her car in the car park, still wrestling with conflicting urges. Would seeing her father make her feel any happier? How would it be for him? What would this latest spell in prison have done to him? Could she face finding out?

  She continued to wrestle with her thoughts as all the other visitors piled in to the room where they would be searched for prohibited items. Finally, taking a deep breath, she headed for the same door.

  ‘You came!’ Kate’s father exclaimed as she walked into the visiting room and found him sitting in the far corner. ‘I couldn’t believe it when they told me I had a visitor. I didn’t think I would see you again.’

  It was more than three years since Kate had last seen her father, as the court officials led him away from the dock to custody.

  ‘You’re my dad,’ said Kate. ‘I had to come. I mean, I wanted to.’

  She wasn’t sure if she was allowed to actually touch her father. To hold his hand.

  ‘Oh Kate,’ said Craig. ‘I feel so ashamed for putting you through this. How can you ever forgive me? I can’t blame you for washing your hands of me. Why have you come here now?’

  ‘Because I think I understand a bit more than I did all of a sudden,’ she said.

  Kate told her dad about Jack and Mandy and the baby. She told him about Mr Overton too and the secret he had told her.

  ‘Life isn’t straightforward for anyone,’ Kate said. ‘People end up making mistakes for the best of reasons and the penalties that society put on them make it impossible for them to get back on the straight and narrow.’

  Kate’s dad nodded.

  ‘It’s really easy to slip off the rails. I get that now. And people can be so judgmental. But I know that you always loved me, Dad. And you always did your best.’

  ‘When me and your Mum had you we were just kids ourselves. We didn’t have enough support and ended up in a downward spir
al. I couldn’t find a job so I did that first burglary to feed us. To get us through. Then I was caught and there was no way back after that. But I could have done things differently. I should have,’ Craig protested.

  ‘But nobody was telling you how. They just decided you were a wrong ‘un.’

  ‘Maybe I was.’

  ‘No. You weren’t. I remember that night that we slept rough in London, Dad. I didn’t know it was supposed to be frightening until people told me it was. I remember watching fireworks over the river Thames. I remember the stories you told me until I went to sleep. It was one of the best nights of my life.’

  And then, whether she was supposed to or not, Kate reached across the table and took her father’s hand.

  An hour later, outside the prison again, feeling a strange mixture of regret and relief, Kate pulled her phone out of her handbag. Though Mr Overton had given her the day off and promised her that everything was under control, she couldn’t resist checking in. But she already had news from The Stables. A text from Gabriel waited in Kate’s in-box. She clicked it open and read.

  ‘They’ve called the baby Kate,’ was all it said.

  Kate grinned from ear to ear.

  Chapter Twenty

  On New Year’s Eve, Kate was back on duty. Until a new assistant manager was appointed, Kate would rarely have any time off. A whole new crowd of guests arrived for the New Year. Just as the Shepherds and the Kings always spent Christmas at The Stables, many of the New Year guests were regulars who came back time after time. And the New Year’s Eve dinner was the most important event in the hotel’s calendar. Not only was it open to guests staying overnight, another fifty diners would come just for that one event. It was not to be missed.

  Just before midnight, Kate snuck outside for a break. She would have to be back inside for midnight itself of course. It was usually up to the hotel manager to lead the guests in a rendition of ‘Auld Lang Syne’.

  Gabriel was also working that New Year’s Eve. He’d reasoned that if he wasn’t working, he would only be sitting in his room. He hadn’t had time to make any local friends who might have invited him to a party and though he now had a deputy in Jack, he’d decided the young father deserved to see in the New Year with his new family rather than take his turn stomping around the grounds with a flashlight.

  When Kate stepped out into the car park and took up her usual position, overlooking the Cotswold Ridge, dreaming of the people who lived there, Gabriel was just coming back from checking the barn. That night it was mercifully empty but for the mice and a solitary owl. Jack and Mandy and baby Kate didn’t have to worry about finding a place for the night anymore. They were safely tucked up in the staff block.

  ‘How’s it going in there?’ Gabriel asked.

  ‘I think people are enjoying themselves,’ said Kate. ‘In fact, I know they are. But so far, no-one’s thrown up. That usually happens after midnight. British tradition.’

  Gabriel laughed.

  ‘So, what do you think of your first cold New Year’s Eve?’ Kate asked him.

  ‘I can’t say it really compares with a New Year’s Eve party on the beach,’ Gabriel admitted. ‘But being here in the cold, working when everyone else is partying, does have some consolations.’

  ‘Such as?’ Kate asked.

  ‘Such as getting to hang out with you.’

  Kate was grateful for the darkness as a hot blush spread across her cheeks.

  ‘I think I’d rather be in the sun,’ Kate blustered. ‘Having a barbecue. Hanging out with the people who are most special to me.’

  ‘You are special to me. I really like you, Kate,’ said Gabriel.

  Kate’s cheeks were burning now.

  ‘I like you too,’ she said.

  ‘I hoped you’d say that.’

  Kate tried to keep breathing normally though her heart was racing. She continued to look out at the view. She didn’t dare look at Gabriel, in case she spoiled the moment. Eventually, Gabriel broke the impasse. He gently turned Kate’s face towards his, his fingers delightfully warm on her cheek.

  ‘I’m going to do something completely against hotel rules now but I think you and I are good at breaking rules.’

  Gabriel leaned in and kissed her.

  ‘Happy New Year,’ he said.

  ‘Happy New Year!’ Kate responded in delighted surprise.

  She had a feeling it was going to be a very Happy New Year indeed.

  THE END

  Acknowledgements

  With thanks to Harriet Bourton for her wonderful, spot-on editorial advice. And to Michele Gorman for unraveling the mystery of Gimp and showing me how to create my very first book cover. I’m also extremely grateful to the whole gang at Notting Hill Press for making this particular publishing adventure so much fun. You rock!

  About the Author

  Chrissie Manby is the Sunday Times best-selling author of Running Away From Richard, Seven Sunny Days and The Matchbreaker. She also writes upmarket commercial fiction as Olivia Darling and Stella Knightley and erotica as

  Stephanie Ash.

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  Ready Or Not

  The Matchbreaker

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  Crazy In Love

  Getting Over Mr Right

  Kate’s Wedding

  What I Did On My Holidays

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  A Proper Family Christmas

  E-Book Exclusives

  The Christmas List

  Just In Case

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