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But her sister was in full throttle now as she enlarged on the harassments that Rachel had endured over the past few months and her recently expressed theory that they were part of a deliberate campaign.
Sensing the pressure of his interest, Rachel uttered an inner sigh of relief as the international terminal came into view and Bethany bobbed up out of the sunroof and began shrieking and waving to her friends as they pulled up in the drop-off zone.
The tedium of the check-in was considerably relieved when Robyn and Bethany were drawn aside from the queue by a uniformed representative from the airline to be told that they had been upgraded to First Class, and given access cards to the hospitality lounge where they could relax in luxury before their flight.
Robyn was the first to twig. ‘Matt, did you have anything to do with this?’
‘We do a considerable amount of corporate business with this airline,’ he admitted with a self-deprecating smile. ‘What’s the use of having influence if you can’t use it on behalf of your friends?’
‘First Class!’ Robyn hugged her ticket blissfully. ‘Now I’m really glad we didn’t wear jeans and T-shirts!’
Robyn and Bethany were so elated that they were eager to go through to the departure lounge, and after they had browsed through the duty-free shops Matthew sensitively excused himself to give the three females sufficient time for their private farewells.
Rachel bore up well until they reached the departure gate and exchanged final hugs.
Robyn held her snugly close and whispered teasingly in her ear, ‘He’s a gentleman, Rach, definitely a keeper—don’t let him slip through your fingers!’
Bethany exchanged last, tearful words with her excited school friends, and managed a wobbly smile with her hug.
‘Be happy,’ said Rachel simply, smoothing the blonde hair back from her daughter’s clear forehead. ‘And don’t let your mother drink too much free champagne on the flight.’
‘I won’t.’ Bethany sniffed and looked shyly at Matthew. ‘Thanks for the limo and—and…everything!’ She went on tiptoe and gave him a quick kiss on the jaw, which he returned with a continental salute on both her tear-stained cheeks that made her blush.
‘It was my pleasure,’ he said gravely. ‘You’re a delightful young woman, Beth…and a credit to all your family.’
His subtle phrasing caused her to give him a sudden look of mature comprehension. ‘I guess I’ll see you again some time, then…’ she said.
‘I guess you will.’
She glanced again at the woman at his side. ‘See you, Rachel…’
‘See you…’
‘You’re allowed to cry, you know,’ murmured Matthew, as Rachel turned her back on her last glimpse of the pair and walked stiffly away, shoulders squared and jaw clenched, her long legs eating up the broad expanse of terminal carpet. ‘It’s considered de rigueur at airports.’
‘I’m not going to cry,’ she denied.
She got into the back of the limo and slid across to the far window, leaving a wide expanse of leather seat between them. As the limo purred back into the flow of traffic she kept her head turned to stare with fierce concentration out of the tinted window. After a few kilometres of thick silence she heard a soft rustle, and a white handkerchief appeared on the edge of her blurry vision.
‘Thank you, but I have some tissues somewhere…’ Her sight almost totally obscured by her silent stream of tears, she wrestled with the catch on her bag until suddenly it was wrenched out of her hands and thrown onto the opposite seat.
‘Dammit, Rachel, just take it!’ He forced his handkerchief into her hand, and she startled them both by suddenly twisting her body around and throwing herself against his shoulder in a paroxysm of noisy sobs.
He had unclicked his seat belt to draw near, and now he undid hers so that he could wrap his arms around her trembling torso and hold her more tightly against his warm chest, uttering soothing reassurances as she wept into his jacket.
‘It’s OK, it’s OK,’ he murmured, patting her back, his chin resting on top of her ruffled head. ‘You have a right to cry…’
‘I’m always saying goodbye. Everyone always leaves…’
‘I’m not leaving. I’m right here. And your daughter is moving on to a new phase of her life, but she’ll still be your daughter wherever she is…’ She was shaken by a renewed storm of sobs. ‘That’s right, let it all out…’
She did, in a series of disjointed little rushes, punctuated with fresh tears.
‘It isn’t as if I haven’t already let go…I did that when she was born…before that, even. I—my parents didn’t want to know about the baby—they even tried to stop Robyn adopting her. But she knew I hated the idea of losing touch completely, and she so badly wanted a child herself…it seemed like fate. And then, just after Beth was born, Simon was posted to Hong Kong for six years.’
‘Oh, darling…’
She hastened to dismiss his shocked pity. ‘No, no—it was better that way; it was the exactly right thing to happen.’ She hiccuped between sobs. ‘It would have been too confusing otherwise. The clean break gave Robyn and Beth a chance to really bond as mother and child, and it gave me a chance to grow up. So by the time they came back to New Zealand to live Beth was just like a real niece to me—someone I loved, but more as an indivisible part of Simon and Robyn than as a part of me…you know what I mean…?’ She was aware of Matt nodding against the curve of her scalp. ‘It all seemed so natural, and Beth was so secure that she never had any problem knowing that I was the one who gave birth to her. I’ve never regretted it…not really—’ She choked. ‘Robyn is such a terrific mum.’
