Life at the Top [antikvár]

Chapter i She woke me up by lifting my eyelids; then she süpped under the bedclothes beside me and lay there smiling, her arms around my neck. She had no business to be there, and she'd have to go before Susan awoke; but I could never regret her presence, no matter what Spock said. She was so small, so vulnerable, and at this moment so beautiful, her face pink and her fair hair tousled, that something dreadful was bound to happen to her; this is no world for children. I kissed her to get rid of the picture of her body broken by accident or illness, and held her tightly to me; here at least she was safe - as safe as houses, for what that was worth these days. She looked at me with large, brown eyes - Susan's eyes - and stroked my chin. 'You haven't shaved, Daddy.' 'Never mind that,' I said. 'You shouldn't be here, Barbara.' I said this to her every Sunday morning. You're lovely warm, Daddy. You're a giant warm.! She put her words in the wrong order sometimes - which was forgiveable at the age of four - but the right message always got through. I was security to her, whatever I might be to myself. The sun caught the silver backs of my hairbrushes on the dressing-table; suddenly I felt enormously happy. I lay back and closed my eyes. There wasn't any need to go anywhere and I was more tired than I had thought. Susan was still asleep; I could hear her even breathing beside me. I smiled to myself; after nine years of marriage, last night I had not known her. I had kept my eyes open so that I could find out who this naked stranger was, but