18

The very next morning Grace was asleep, she was such a settled little thing, Katie was in the kitchen washing dishes from the previous evening. The small tinny sounding radio on the windowsill broadcast the news of the day in rapid almost indecipherable Spanish. Suddenly, Love Shack by the B-52's, came blasting out into the room. She loved this song, it brought back so many happy memories, laughing she started to dance as she stood at the sink. As the chorus came, she dropped the cloth into the water and spun around swaying her hips and waving her arms crazily. As the song ended, Walk like an Egyptian by the Bangles, came on, with a smile she kept dancing, wiggling her hips, spinning around, her arms wafting above her.

It was a warm morning, and the exertion made her hot, she was laughing almost hysterically when she froze. Stood in the doorway to the kitchen was Dan.

He was staring at her in wonder, he'd never seen her so relaxed, the flush to her cheeks, the glint in her eyes were all making him realise how much he cared for her.

"Don't stop because of me," he offered. "I did knock, but you obviously didn't hear me. You gave me a key....." he felt like he'd intruded on a really personal moment. Her face was still displaying shock.

She shook her head, "that's ok. It just took me by surprise."

"Well if it's any consolation, you make a very sexy vision!" He knew the remark was a little out of place given the uneven footing of their relationship, but he couldn't deny the fact that the sight had made him breathless, and he’d returned to Spain knowing that he didn’t just want to be a father, he wanted it all, Katie AND Grace.

"Dan..." she avoided his gaze not wanting to get into that sort of conversation, her emotions were fraught, she’d dealt with so much the last few months, she didn’t need him threatening her fragile equilibrium.

As she moved away from him, he touched her arm, restrained her. Both flinched at the jolt of electricity in the contact.

"I know 'I'm sorry' doesn't come close Katie, I have been an idiot on so many levels. But I do want to apologize. You and Grace mean everything to me. I can see things clearly now."

Her laugh was harsh, "You'll forgive me if I don't come running to your arms?"

Grinning he shrugged, "I expected a lot worse a response than that."

Katie tilted her head and looked at him coquettishly, "I want to hate you, but for some reason I can't."

That was music to his ears, "I'll settle for tolerance!"

She laughed, "I'm sure I can tolerate you."

            "Well I plan to build from tolerance to approval, and more," he picked up a tea towel and started to dry the dishes. "I'm hoping that you'll fall in love with me before I get on your nerves!"

She laughed out loud, bending over with the intensity of her response, "Daniel O'Hara, you are the strangest man I've ever met!"

Again this was the way he wanted the confrontation to play out, she wasn’t able to resent him as much as she wanted to, he’d take indifference, and he was nothing if not persistent...she had no idea how persistent! Grinning he offered, "Strange - good or strange - odd?"

Shaking her head she returned to washing the dishes.

Later as he cuddled Grace with the greediness of a man starved for a month, she sat opposite him. “I can't let anything more than this happen, you know that?"

He looked up at her, and she tried to fight the effect of the desire in his eyes, "like I say Katie, I intend on making myself indispensable! I want you and Grace in my life, I've been an idiot, but now I have a goal!"

"You will always be part of our lives Dan, you're her father."

He nodded, "so in your mind I head home pursue my life and become a holiday Dad, visiting on occasional weekends?"

She shrugged, "you're twenty two, just out of Uni, surely you want to get a career, get a life?"

"You sound like my mother now..." there was a sadness at that comment.

Katie's eyes widened in surprise, "Oh!"

He nodded, "I'm supposed to take a job in a big engineering company and forget about you both, there'll be, and I directly quote, 'better women and other children'!"

"Wow!" Even Katie, who thought the woman was devil incarnate was stunned at that analogy.

"Wow indeed.” Despite the nonchalance of the comment, she could see the pain and betrayal in his eyes. “So I left, walked out the door and told her that I'd made my choice. That being half a father to Grace would be a better job than she did as a mother."

"Not strictly true, she overprotected you, and lied and cheated to get the best for you."

He shook his head vehemently, "She lied to me about everything! You think she was just awful to you, but that’s only what you saw. Apparently it was my fault you ran away, my fault that Bill was ill, then Bill was my father...then he wasn’t. It goes on, and on...that's not good parenting, that's selfish control. You told me that and I failed to believe you, but I didn't see it, couldn’t see past my own pain. It took Grace to make me look at things. And I'm only sorry that I didn't make that decision based on doing right by you."

Katie gasped; this was such a frank admission of his failures, his regrets that she almost felt humbled. He smiled a soft smile and looked at her, "I'm not pressuring you Katie. But you know what I want. I've spoken to Pilar your colleague, she's found me a job in the bar, I'm awaiting an interview with the construction company that you're using for the big refurbishment. They deal with a lot of ex-pats so would love to have a fluent English speaker on their team apparently. I've also found a room in an apartment not far away, I can move in in a few days. Until then I've got a guest room in the hotel."

Her eyes widened, "you've been busy!"

Dan nodded, "where do you think I've been the last twenty four hours? I left my mother's an hour after you!"

"Are you sure about this?" She’d hate for him to grow to resent her for curbing his independence.

He shrugged, "it's not been a question of choice. I HAVE to be near Grace, even if you hate me!"

She smiled, "I don't hate you...."

"You should! I need to work hard to prove I'm serious. I know that. But I'm a determined guy Katie, you'll see!"

And so it started - the devotion of one man to his daughter and her mother. He worked hard, the other staff were amazed at his dedication, every penny he earned he spent on them, showering them both with gifts on a constant basis. Pilar was a dedicated fan, even Ramon was taking to Dan, and suddenly Katie found her defences against him were falling.

She was finding it hard having a young baby, but on really difficult days Dan would sleep on the sofa, feeding her at night to let Katie rest. The first few times Katie'd locked the bedroom door, deliberately barricading herself in from his potential advances, when they didn't come, she was almost disappointed. So now six weeks later she found that the roles had reversed, she was perpetually in a state of despair, her desire for Dan threatening to overtake her.

The mornings were warmer as they headed towards March, and she took to making breakfast in just her petite shorter pyjamas, hoping that Dan would notice. If he did he seemed to ignore the flashes of flesh that were on display and carry on with feeding Grace, getting coffee or whatever other chore had brought him to the kitchen in the first place.

Her feminine wiles were letting her down. She wanted more from Dan, but when Pilar questioned her, she didn't really know what she wanted, or how much. It was all very well to have hormonal surges, and want sex with Dan, but the relationship was precious if she over stepped the line they could never go back to this companionship, so she had to know that it was what she wanted more than anything. With the post baby hormones settling she realized that the desire for Dan was still there.

"I'm taking you out for dinner!" he announced one afternoon as he brought Grace back from a walk. "Pilar is going to babysit; me and you are going to go out for food, then maybe some dancing. So I recommend you get your glad rags out!"

She laughed, "dinner? Where?"

He shook his head, "I've told you all you need to know! Be ready at 8!"

That evening he waltzed into the house dressed in charcoal gray trousers and a pale blue shirt, he looked beautiful.

"Wow!" he said as he spotted her coming downstairs in a short black dress and high heels, "you definitely took my advice!"

She smiled, "this is the first time I've been able to get into my old clothes!" she rubbed her still curved stomach, "your daughter took her toll on my body!"

"She was worth it, and you're still perfect to me!"

She sighed; he always said the right things.

They ate at a seafront restaurant, Dan was trying to broaden his rather conservative eating habits, ordering various unusual fish dishes, Katie ordered plain fish and rice, she'd not really got her appetite back since the cravings of late pregnancy.

"Thanks Dan," she smiled as she finished her coffee. "I think I needed a night out!"

He nodded, "all work and no play makes Katie a dull girl!"

She chuckled, he was right; it had been so long since she’d relaxed like this, "so how did the interview go?"

He'd had the interview at a construction company the day before.

He nodded, "Good. They liked me I think, could just do with a crash course in Spanish. Think that'd help me."

"Well you've got no better opportunity than living and working here." He nodded. Then she added, "Ramon told me that the house was sold two days ago."

He looked at her for a moment, unsure how he felt, "she's on her own Katie; she wanted me to pick, her or my daughter, not going to happen. She deserves what she gets."

It should make Katie sing, but there were no winners here, "Don't you worry about where she'll live?"

"Please don't start feeling sorry for her, not after everything she's done to you of all people."

Katie squeezed his hand, "I just don't think that hatred and bitterness is something we should have in our lives. We all need to move on."

Gesturing his hands around him he grinned, "Look at what I’ve got! This is not an issue. I promise!"

They strolled home slowly calling in at a few bars, drinking sangria and chatting. Pilar was watching TV when they arrived home.

"I haven't heard from her since you left! She's an angel to care for."

Dan smiled, "I just want to give her a goodnight kiss." He disappeared up the stairs.

"How did it go?" Pilar asked in a whisper.

Katie couldn’t hide her smile, and despite the apprehension of being alone with him once Pilar left, she couldn’t deny that the evening had been amazing, "He's been a perfect gentleman, a lovely evening, but that's it!"

Pilar shook her head in wonder, "I think he's waiting for you to make a move, he needs you to strike first."

            "I don't know. I don't think I could handle him turning me down. Maybe we're deemed to be just friends." She really didn’t want to spoil the happy relationship they’d managed to salvage.

Pilar laughed, "no one gives up everything to relocate just to be friends."

"But you would, to be a father?" Katie insisted.

She'd made coffee by the time he emerged from the nursery. Handing him a mug she leaned against the work surface, smiling as he sat at the table, immediately reaching for the biscuit tin. “What happens now Dan?"

He raised an eyebrow and looked at her, "you mean for us?" He smiled; he had a beautiful natural smile. "I'm going to take you on another date, then another.......until you realize that I'm the answer to your dreams! I reckon I'm nowhere near proving that I've changed, but I will and then when I know that you know it, I'll sweep you off your feet!"

He drained his coffee and kissed her cheek, then disappeared out of the front door.