The Marriage Merger Read Online Free PDF Page B

interrupt the
routine to inject a little fun into the procedures. Caitlin was too
small to go into the deeper end of the pool so Jenna had her hold
on to her around her neck and swam the child around on her back,
blowing bubbles and making “fishy” noises. Although there was no
audible reaction from Caitlin, Jenna could feel her tense grip
relax as she let herself glide along easily on Jenna’s back.
     
    After dinner that evening, Jenna settled on
the lounge with Caitlin. In spite of Caitlin’s lack of speech they
seemed to have no trouble communicating. Rather than let the child
lose herself in front of the television set, Jenna read her story
books while Caitlin’s small finger traced the illustrations.
    At eight o’clock the phone rang. Braden's
husky tones had Jenna's heartbeat skittering out of kilter and she
barely registered his words.
    "I won't be able to get back tonight, Jenna.
The meeting has to be continued tomorrow morning." From the
vexation in his tone Jenna guessed today had not gone well. "How's
Caitlin?"
    "She's fine. We baked biscuits today and
she's made some special ones for you."
    There was a small silence. When Braden spoke
again Jenna thought she detected a wistful note in his voice. "She
used to help Alicia make gingerbread men."
    A sudden urge to reassure him, to soothe the
worry from his voice, swept Jenna, but she didn’t tell him about
the exercises in the pool. Caitlin was listening and she didn’t
want her to realise their importance.
    She wished Braden good luck with the meeting,
and wondered, as she hung up the phone, if he was alone. Then she
chided herself for her curiosity. It was none of her business,
really. But the thought still lingered.
    A suspicion was forming in Jenna’s mind. Her
years of working with children had taught her they didn’t always
react to trauma in the same way adults did. Often in the case of a
divorce children would blame themselves for the break-up of their
parents’ marriage, mistakenly believing their behaviour had caused
the rift.
    When it came to injury-related trauma
children could feel surprisingly guilty for causing their parents
anguish. Jenna was beginning to suspect Caitlin’s refusal to do the
exercises in hospital might stem from guilt feelings that she was
to blame for being injured and causing her mother to reject her. So
by not getting better she was subconsciously punishing herself.
    During discussions with the psychiatrist in
the clinic where she'd worked in Sydney Jenna had learned logic
didn’t always come into children’s assessment of situations.
    The relief she expected to feel at not having
to see Braden again so soon didn’t come. Instead she was irritated
to find herself disappointed. And her innate honesty made her admit
that another reason she hadn’t told him about Caitlin’s exercises
was she wanted to show him she wasn’t the inept, bumbling young
woman he so obviously thought she was.
    Why did she feel she had to prove herself to
him? His opinion didn’t matter! The important thing was getting
Caitlin as strong as possible. Jenna knew a lot could be achieved
if only Caitlin would co-operate.
    She had spoken for only a few minutes on the
phone to Jeff yesterday, but something he had said had lingered in
the back of Jenna’s mind. Reassuring herself that Caitlin had gone
into her bedroom, she dialled her parent’s home number. Jeff
answered on the second ring.
    After spending a few minutes catching him up
on her change of plans, Jenna challenged her brother. “Jeff, why
did you wait all day at Mascot Airport if you thought I was still
sticking to my original flight plans?”
    “Well, um, I wasn’t sure what they were.”
    “Mum would have told you.” Suspicion tinged
Jenna’s tone. “You did get my text message, and my email and fax,
didn’t you?”
    “What email? What fax?”
    “The ones I mentioned on the phone yesterday.
The ones letting you know I would be staying with you for a week
rather than a few