Free The Lost Wife by Maggie Cox Page B

able to travel home would that chasm have grown even wider? Swallowing down her concern that it might, and worrying about the implications for their daughter, she impatiently rose to her feet and headed for the kitchen. Somehow they had to make peace with each other—for Saskia’s sake if not their own.As she entered, the back door opened and Jake put his head round the door. ‘I’ve finished. Do you want to come outside and take a look?’
    As his wary glance scanned her, she was struck near-speechless by the dazzling glitter of his piercing blue eyes. It was so easy to fall into a trance looking into them sometimes.
    ‘Give me a minute. I’ll just get my coat.’
    At the front of the house sparkling white lights dropped in concentric arcs just like a stunning diamond necklace. Even though she was good at crafts and had an eye for design Ailsa knew she could never have come up with anything nearly as beautiful or exquisitely elegant. She was touched that Jake had taken so much time and trouble—and in weather that would have driven most people to hurry back indoors just as soon as they could.
    Turning round to study him, she saw how the icy wind had seared his cheeks red raw and felt a leap of concern. ‘You’ve done a wonderful job. Saskia will be over the moon when she sees it.’
    ‘They’ll look even better when we switch them on later.’
    ‘They will. But you should come inside now and get warm. You look half frozen. Are you hungry? I’ll make some sandwiches and coffee.’
    ‘That sounds great.’
    Shucking off his boots on the mat inside the door, Jake hung up his fur-lined jacket and made a cursory attempt to dislodge some of the ice and snow that clung to it. Shivering hard, he clapped his freezing hands together to try and restore his circulation. It was hard to remember when he had last felt so deathly cold. Fixing the lights had been intricate work, and gloves would have rendered the task impossible so he hadn’t bothered with them. But it had been worth enduring the stinging snow and icy wind to hear the pleasure in Ailsa’s voice at what he had done—to imagine his daughter’s delight when she saw the sparkling display.
    God, how he missed his little girl
… All he wanted to do at Christmas was watch her tear open her presents and then sit with her and hug her tight. Sadly, that wasn’t going to be possible, when she would be here in England with her mother and he would be back in Copenhagen. Jake had spent the last four Christmases alone. He’d even declined the usual loving invitations from his mother to spend the holiday with her and his father. The relationship between the two men had become more and more strained due to Jake’s desire to bring new innovation into the company—not just to stick to the traditional Larsen way of doing business. Instead of being pleased at his son’s ideas, his father had seen his efforts as a bid to somehow usurp him. It seemed that no matter what he’d done Jake had never managed to gain the older man’s approval. Spending Christmas with his family would only have exacerbated his unease and pain.
    He sighed. It had become a tradition for Ailsa to have Saskia with her over Christmas … especially on Christmas Day … and because of his guilt about past wrongs he’d simply allowed the tradition to continue. But the truth was he didn’t want to be with anyone else but his child at that time, and if he couldn’t be with her then he would rather be alone.
    As he stepped into the warm and cosy kitchen, to find Ailsa humming another familiar carol beneath her breath as she stood at the counter slicing bread, he suddenly knew that it wasn’t just his daughter that he wanted to spend that day with. Knowing the very
idea
would just exacerbate the heartache he already endured daily, he quickly jettisoned the thought to the furthermost corners of his mind.
    ‘I’ll make the coffee, shall I?’
    ‘Could you?’ She threw him an absent-minded smile that