Donor, The Read Online Free

must sense the atmosphere ’s a bit strained.’ Linda sighed. ‘Counselling. Get everything out in the open. Is that really a good idea?’
    The conversation was interrupted by Bethanay and Kay racing out of school, Georgie skulking along behind with a wad of her latest drawings in hand.
    ‘Daddy!’ Kay said, wrapping herself around his legs.
    Without dislodging cling-on Kay, he leant down to hug Georgie. ‘You scrunched my artwork, you idiot,’ she said, elbowing a quick release and walking away.

4
     
     
    As months turned into years, yearnings for a remorseful Cynthia faded. Will focused all his attention on the girls, hoping they would be content and happy without their mother.
    Kay was happy. She was always happy. How could twins be so different? Both brown-eyed and blonde-haired , but on the inside, so very different. Kay came out of her mother’s body with a smile on her face and it never left. Whenever Will looked at her, his blood warmed. Whenever he thought about her, he smiled. She was endorphins to him: chocolate, exercise, all things good.
    On Christmas morning, Kay always ran downstairs at 6 a.m. – breathless – to shake, touch and then open her gifts. She’d jump up and down afterwards, hugging him, saying, ‘You are the best daddy in the whole entire world. Thank you! I love you!’ This reaction was despite the fact that Will was totally crap at gift buying (and wrapping), dilly-dallying around till the most-wanted toys were sold out and buying inappropriate alternatives instead (a basketball instead of a netball, Princess Diaries 1 instead of Princess Diaries 2). No matter what cock-up he’d made, Kay was happy. She’d laugh about it later, but never complain at the time.
    On her first day at school, Kay walked into the school building, her head held high. Will wept as she disappeared inside. From then on, as he waited in the playground for the bell to ring, he would keep his eyes on the school door, unable and unwilling to join in conversations about bathroom renovations, anticipating the smile that had always stopped him moping.
    ‘Daddy!’ she would say, running towards him and grasping his legs.
    ‘Hello, petal!’ Will would say. ‘How was your day?’
    She’d tell him all about it on the way home. Janey was being mean (asking for private talks with her other best friend Charlotte). Mrs Jones had given her team a gold star for keeping their table tidy. Archie was in trouble again. She got nine out of ten for a maths test. She had pizza for lunch.
    There was nothing complicated about her. Emotionally intelligent is what she was. She knew how she felt and why. She knew what she wanted and why. No second guessing. Even when she started her periods , she was matter of fact about it. I’m feeling hormonal , she told her dad. I’ve written what I need from the chemist on your shopping list. And that was the end of it.
    God forgive him, but Kay was the light of Will’s life. Nothing about her reminded him of Cynthia. Nothing about her upset him. She didn’t despise him. And he would have done anything, anything, for her.
    Kay wrote an essay in fourth year. Will found it in a pile of old papers on her desk. It was called ‘The Person I Admire Most’.
    The person I admire most is my Dad. He’s gorgeous. Obviously in a Dad-like way, but he’s slim, he’s still got all his thick blond hair, he wears the carefully selected clothes I buy for him, and wears them well. He doesn’t smile much, except at us, but he has a kind face, an approachable face, the kind of face that makes a stranger ask for directions, or the time.
     
He’s popular. He doesn’t admit it, but all the other mums fancy him. Maybe he doesn’t even know it. ‘Don’t be silly!’ he says when I tell him what my friends have overheard their mothers saying.
     
He’s never been on a date, not since the Mum left. I’ve tried to make him, but he won’t go.
     
He’s a terrible cook. He makes basic meals five times