Free All The King's Horses: A Tale Of Eternal Love by Alethea Downs

never forget it.”
    “Glad to hear that, Jack. Much more answering to these different names and I would’ve started forgetting what it was myself.”
    “No fear of that happening now,” Jack said confidently, “I won’t get it wrong again.” He turned his face towards the stairs. “Christy, Sweetheart…Trent’s here.”
    “It’s Kent, Daddy.” Her voice carried a strong note of disapproval.
    “Jack’s face fell. “Well if you hadn’t mentioned that Trent feller when you came in I wouldn’t have got confused,” he said to Kent in an accusing tone. “Now I’m going to have to learn your name all over again.”
    Kent couldn’t stop himself from grinning. “It’s alright, Jack,” he assured him, “you call me whatever comes to mind. We’ll both know who you mean.”
    Christy appeared on the landing, and as she slowly made her way down the stairs Kent took her in from top to toe. The strapless turquoise dress she had on highlighted her stunning eyes and the thick mane of auburn hair cascaded appealingly over her bare shoulders. If somebody had told him she was a movie star he wouldn’t have had any trouble believing it.
    “I hope I haven’t kept you waiting?”
    “No, I just got here. Anyway, Jack’s been keeping me entertained with his attempts at getting my name right.”
    Christy’s eyes sent her father a scathing rebuke. “We’ve been over this name business for the past few days, Daddy. I don’t know why you find it so hard.”
    “It was his fault.” Jack stabbed a finger in Kent’s direction, desperate to extricate himself from blame. “I had his name right when I opened the door, but then he started calling himself Trent, and I got confused again.”
    Christy looked enquiringly at Kent who shook his head. “Not quite. But I’ll tell you all about it on the way to the theatre.”
    “What’s the movie you two are off to see?” Jack asked, looking from one to the other.
    “Not the movie theatre, Daddy. Kent’s taking me to a stage production.”
    “I didn’t think this little town had stage productions,” Jack said innocently.
    “It’s not being staged here. We’re driving down to Whangarei to see a production of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
    “Ah, that’s nice. I remember seeing that one when I was a boy, couldn’t make head nor tail of it.”
    “We’d best get a move on,” Kent said, “or we’ll miss the start of it.”
    Christy gave her father a quick kiss on the cheek. “Now don’t wait up for me because we’re going to be back well after midnight.”
    “Alright, well off you two kids go then, and have fun,” Jack said, shooing them out the door.
    “Goodbye, Jack,” Kent said, hoping to catch the older man out on his name again.
    “Goodbye…ah…oh no you don’t you young scoundrel,” he retorted. “You’ve got a wicked sense of humour about you.”
    Kent was still grinning about it when they reached the car.
    “I don’t know why he has so much trouble with names,” Christy complained as she clicked her seatbelt in.
    Kent slipped the key into the ignition and started the car up. “I find it kind of amusing,” he admitted. “You can see the effort written all over his face when he’s trying to come up with the right name, but he never does.”
    Christy giggled. “He comes out with some real shockers sometimes. It’s times like that I wish I could just slip through a crack in the floor and disappear.”
    Kent looked at her mischievously. “I hope I’m around to witness a few of those, I can always do with a good laugh.”
    They drove on for a few minutes in silence, but Christy knew she owed him an explanation for yesterday. She wasn’t ready to tell him the truth and that made her feel like a fraud, but she just wasn’t ready to risk losing him yet.
    “I’m sorry about yesterday,” she said, carefully choosing her words, “I must have come across like a hysterical twit.”
    He reached over to turn the stereo down.