The Last Dance Read Online Free

audible breath and shook her head. ‘It’s the logical question. My father was an accountant and money advisor – a good one; he really cared for the people who trusted him with their money. The financial crisis, cost of the war . . . it took it all, everything we had that he’d invested for our future and on behalf of other families.’
    He looked down and gave a muttering groan. ‘You don’t need to say more. She looked up at him from her hands. ‘The time we live in says enough. Did he really think his brutal actions would solve anything?’
    ‘I suppose it solved a problem for him in not having to face the failure and its repercussions. He’d survived the war, kept us safe from Spanish flu and other troubles, but he couldn’t protect us from the outside forces of the Depression. And Mum was a gentle soul. She’s French . . . was French,’ she corrected herself. ‘She adored my father and obviously preferred not to face life without him.’
    ‘So gentle that she’d leave her three children?’ He tried to cover his dismay but Stella heard it nonetheless echoing between them as he cleared his throat and looked down. ‘Forgive me, that’s none of my business.’
    ‘It’s not,’ she agreed, ‘but it’s also complicated to explain and I’d have to know you better to want to try. All I will say is my mother faced enough emotional challenge in her early life and as Dad was the rock she built her life upon, she chose the more permanent solution than feel that rock crumble away from her.’ He held her gaze for a fraction longer than she thought polite and his silence forced her into an uncharacteristic hurry to fill it. ‘Nevertheless, in their cowardice they left me with a raft of new problems that go beyond money.’
    ‘Such as your brother and sister?’
    ‘Rory and Carys . . .’ She shook her head. ‘They’re so young. I’m effectively their mother now and I don’t feel equipped.’
    ‘Then don’t try.’
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘I mean don’t try to be their mother. Remain authentic and do the very best you can as their big sister. Children are surprisingly perceptive. They’ll know how hard you’re trying.’ She nodded at sage words cutting through the blur of anxiety. ‘Control what you can, Stella. The rest, work it out as you go along. They’ll never lack for love, I suspect, and perhaps right now it’s your affection that counts more than anything.’
    ‘Oh, they’re very easy to love. They’re even easy to raise. They don’t complain, they don’t give me cheek, they’re doing their damndest to help. Dear little Rory puts on our father’s boots and clomps out to the coalscuttle, telling me he’s the man of the house now and has to think like Dad would.’ She forbade the tears that were threatening. ‘It breaks my heart that he’s already worked it out and the saddest part of all is that I’m relying on him to take out the rubbish, to take Carys to school when I can’t, to remember to tick off lots of little chores that a lad of his age probably shouldn’t be concerned with.’
    ‘He’ll be a better man for it.’
    ‘But I don’t want him to grow up too fast. I want him to have the childhood he deserves. I don’t want Carys crying herself to sleep because she wants our mother to sing the French lullaby that she sang to each of us at Carys’s age. I don’t have the French accent!’
    The corner of his eyes wrinkled again with amusement but one that told her it was filled with sympathy. ‘You can’t turn back time, Stella, but if you’re strong, make sound decisions for your family, you can navigate the path.’
    She gave a low sigh. ‘My life had . . .’
    ‘What?’ he asked tenderly.
    ‘Trajectory,’ she shrugged. ‘I knew what I wanted, I knew how to get there. I’ve been knocked off course.’
    ‘Get back on course,’ he replied rather obviously.
    Her eyes welled and she reached quickly into her bag for a handkerchief but he was