He closed his eyes wanting to hold her, just hold her. Was he in love? The thought made him throw his head back and laugh.
Yes, he thought wryly. Yes. He was.
He limped to the bar and poured himself a stiff drink.
He needed to go home.
*
But when he reached home, he found an anxious housekeeper and two restive children, waiting for Jan who had left to see the doctor that afternoon and had still not returned. Angry at first, the housekeeper’s silent condemnation of him incensed Gaston further.
Until his daughter came upto him and climbed onto his lap, resting her head on his chest, sucking her thumb. It was perhaps the first time that she had done it and Gaston was overcome with confusion and a feeling of affection for the little child.
A security guard hurried in, ”Sir, the car that Mrs. Gaston was traveling in- it’s been found off the highway, abandoned.”
After a hesitation he added, “The driver had been attacked.’
Gaston leapt up, fearing the worst. The phone began to ring.
“Hello, Gaston’ purred a voice in heavily accented English, a voice he would never forget,” did you think I would let you get away so easily?”
Gaston sat down heavily, indicating that his children should be taken out of the room.