31 Days of Summer (31 Days #2) (37 page)

‘Does it have to begin with M?’ asked John.

‘Yes,’ she nodded looking at him as if he were
stupid. ‘She’s a Mazda, therefore it has to be an M. If she were a Beetle, then
she’d begin with a B.’

‘How about Mandy, as in
I’m Mandy, Fly Me
?’
offered Edward.

‘She’s a car not a plane,’ Brooke replied rolling
her eyes.

‘He’s,’ corrected Dan and John at the same time.

‘She’s,’ said all the women and Edward which made
us all laugh.

‘I’ve got it, Megan the Mazda,’ Brooke nodded
proudly.

‘I guess you’ve all got it covered,’ announced the
delivery man, with a strange look at us all as he said his goodbyes.

‘Let’s go for a spin,’ Brooke exclaimed as she
clapped her hands. I snatched the keys off her immediately.

‘No way, you’ve had at least a bottle of champagne
all on your own. You can take her out in the morning as you’re staying over.’

‘O, Mum,’ she moaned.

‘Ellie’s right, you’ve had far too much, babe,’
Molly told her with a kiss to her cheek.

‘Here,’ I offered, as I activated the doors. ‘Go
and sit in her and check out all the pretty dials, but you’re not having the
keys, I’m hiding them until the morning, possibly tomorrow night dependant on
how hung-over you are.’

‘Fine,’ she sulked, but soon brightened up as she
opened the driver’s door and sunk into it. John and Edward went to look as Dan
slipped his arm around my waist.

‘You’re naughty,’ I scolded, as I looked up at
him. ‘I was joking when I said she’d like a car.’

‘For God’s sake, Ellie. I told you it’s nothing, I
paid for it in the time we sat around the dining table. They don’t have a car,
she loves yours, so it was the obvious thank you gift.’

‘Most people send flowers or chocolate,’ I
retorted.

‘Are you mad because I didn’t get one for you?’

‘No, of course not. I don’t really need a car
living here, I’m so close to everything. It will be really helpful to the two
of them living further out.’

‘You’re not officially living here anymore, only
part time,’ he reminded me.

‘I know,’ I sighed. ‘I think what you’ve done is
amazing, but I don’t want you thinking I’m taking advantage of your generosity
and wealth.’

‘I know you’re not and you need to get used to me
buying the odd thing as a gift, or because it’s needed to keep my family safe
and happy.’

‘Your family,’ I smiled as I looked up at him. ‘I
like that.’

‘I love that,’ he whispered against my lips, as he
took my mouth in a possessive kiss. We were interrupted by the simultaneous
scream of Brooke as the roof went down and Oliver from his play mat in the
dining room, obviously upset to be missing out on all of the fun. Dan went and
got him and I couldn’t keep the smile off my face as I watched him throwing him
up in the air and catching him as he squealed with laughter. Dan was right, the
price of a car was nothing in comparison to having him in our lives. Everyone
eventually headed back in and I let them all say goodnight to Oliver.

‘Brooke, will you come and help me put him down
for the night?’ I asked.

‘What, you still haven’t learned how to do it on
your own?’ she laughed.

‘There’s something I’d like to discuss with you,
in private,’ I raised my eyebrows at her and flicked my head to the stairs.

‘If you think you’re swapping Maisie for Megan,
dream on.’

‘Will you just come upstairs?’ I ordered.

‘Ok, what’s going on?’ asked Molly.

‘That’s what I’d like to know,’ nodded Brooke.

‘Nothing, ok? Nothing’s going on. Forget it, why
don’t you all head to the lounge and make yourselves comfortable and I’ll be
down when he’s nodded off,’ I sighed as I headed up. I was in the middle of
changing his nappy when Dan appeared.

‘Is everything ok?’ he frowned.

‘It’s fine, it’s just ... close the door will
you,’ I asked and he did as he was told. ‘Brooke’s bought Molly an engagement
ring and was planning on booking a champagne ride on the London Eye to ask her
and I said I’d have a think about something more romantic than that. I want to
pay for them to go to Paris, as a thank you for helping me out and for bringing
you back into my life, but I need to discuss it with her first in secret.’

‘I’ll send her up.’

‘Yeah, like she’ll listen to you,’ I laughed, he
just gave me a look.

‘She’ll be up in a moment, I’ll make my plane at
your disposal for when you arrange it and let me foot the bill.’

‘No,’ I gasped, ‘this is my thank you, I can
afford it.’

‘As you wish,’ he replied and disappeared as I
flung a clean nappy at him. I still hated that phrase. I’d just finished
putting Oliver in his sleep suit when Brooke came bounding in.

‘So, what’s the dealio?’ she asked with her hands
on her hips.

‘Great, you ignore my request to come up and then rush
up the minute Dan asked you to?’

‘He’s scarier than you,’ she nodded.

‘Shut the door will you,’ I asked, as I kissed
Oliver and lay him down in his cot.

‘What’s going on? Are you really upset about
Megan?’

‘No,’ I laughed. ‘I love that he’s so generous and
you totally deserve her for what you did for us, but I have a gift for you as
well.’

‘You do? Wow, can this day get any better? I get a
spanky new car, to meet the infamous Dan at last, by the way LOVE him, can see
why you had it so bad, and now another gift?’

‘You really like him?’ I looked around at her as I
bit my lip. Her opinion was so important to me.

‘I do, besides I can see how in love you guys are,
as long as you’re happy, I’m happy. But money aside, he’s a great guy.’

‘Thanks.’ I let out a sigh of relief. Brooke was
pretty good at sussing people out and I’d have died if she had negative things
to say about him.

‘So, why was this gift something you needed to
drag me up here in private for?’

‘Because it’s to do with your engagement. I said
I’d think of something to do and I’ve come up with you taking her to Paris and
proposing there.’

‘Wow, I mean yes, who wouldn’t want to go to Paris
to do it there, but I don’t have the spare cash.’

‘And that’s where I come in. I’m going to pay for
you to take her for either a week, or a long weekend if you both can’t get the
time off work. So fix up the dates and I’ll choose you a nice hotel and sort it
all out ok?’

‘Ellie, seriously?’ She looked at me with tears in
her eyes. She’d always talked about going to Paris, but had never been.

‘Seriously. I owe you and Molly so much for what
you did for me. For me, Oliver and Dan. It’s the least I can do and you get to
propose somewhere seriously romantic and save your money towards a wedding.’

‘I don’t know what to say,’ she moaned.

‘How about, thanks Ellie, you absolutely rock?’ I
grinned. She ran over and grabbed me into a tight hug.

‘What you said, you do. I love you, Ellie Baxter.’

‘I love you too, Brooke Hanson,’ I confirmed as I
kissed her hair.

‘I’m going to miss you so much,’ she sighed.

‘It’s Scotland not Australia,’ I reminded her,
though at the moment it sort of felt that far.

‘It’s still miles.’

‘Dan’s offered to have his plane on standby
anytime you want to come to stay, so it’s less than an hour’s flight, with an
hour’s drive. See, not that far.’

‘I could drive in my new car,’ she nodded against
my shoulder, still holding me in her tight embrace.

‘That would take you about ten hours, each way.’

‘Ok, he can send the plane, as long as I get free
peanuts and a sick bag. A flight’s not a real flight without those.’

‘I’m sure it can be arranged. Just for you.’

‘Damn,’ she groaned.

‘What?’

‘I’m so excited I just peed myself again.’

‘Well I don’t think Oliver’s nappies will fit you,
but you really need to be doing more kegel exercises if you’re suffering from
bladder incontinence at your age. Anyway, we’ve agreed that we’ll come back to
London the last week of every month on a Wednesday night, so I can spend the
day in the office at the partners meeting, see clients if required on the
Friday and we’ll return on the Sunday night. So even if you can’t come up in
between I’ll be back.’

‘Like the Terdinator?’ she giggled as she let go
of me.

‘I’ll cross countries to find you, Brooke Hanson,’
I replied in my best Arnie voice.

‘“Talk to the hand,”’ she replied as she shoved
hers in my face, making me laugh.

‘If you really need me you call me, on the
landline, as the mobile signal’s crap. I’m sure Dan could get me back the same
day.’

‘He’d better,’ she moaned, as she looked up at me
and the smile left her face. ‘It’s the end of an era.’

‘Not quite, but I appreciate the sentiment,’ I
smiled. I opened my arms again as fat tears started to roll down her face,
which set me off and we held onto each other tightly as we cried together.

Monday 10
^th
August ~ Year Two

Ellie

‘I’ll stay here with
Luiza, you and Daniel go today,’ I smiled at Dan.

‘Are you sure?’ he asked.

‘I’m sure. I’ll cook for when you both get back,
ok?’ I gave him a kiss and Luiza and I waved them off from our seats on the
decking. His parents were staying in the boathouse, having come to visit us for
a long weekend on Friday, but they were heading home tonight. Dan and I seemed
to have settled into living together quite well, he wasn’t overly impressed
that I hadn’t been with him on Friday to visit Moira, but packing up Oliver and
all his things and the car journey every day was getting too much. Besides I
couldn’t afford the time out now I was back at work and call me insensitive,
but a daily visit to see his comatose wife wasn’t really in my list of
priorities every day for the rest of my life.

‘So, how are you really?’ Luiza asked as she
reached over and covered my hand with hers. ‘He’s not here now, you can be
honest with me. He can be very moody and bossy at times.’

‘Yes, he can,’ I laughed, as I gave her hand a
squeeze in return. ‘I’m great, really great. Oliver’s doing so well,’ I smiled
as I looked down at him on his teddy play mat with a shade to protect him from
the sun. He was spark out, letting out the cutest little snore every now and
again.

‘Well I can see that. He’s big, strong and happy.
I was asking about you.’

‘We’re doing really well, though I think he
expects me to go with him every day to see her and he’s still showing no signs
of being ready to let go, despite speaking to the therapist twice a week.’

‘How’s that going? He never talks to me about it.’

‘Me neither. I take Oliver out for a walk in the
harness when Dan’s on the phone, to give him some privacy. But he’s always very
quiet when we get back and it takes him a few hours to shake it off. I’ve
learned to just leave him in peace and busy myself with preparing dinner.’

‘You learn fast,’ Luiza laughed. ‘Even now I don’t
know when to let sleeping lions lie.’

‘It’s sleeping dogs,’ I smiled. She’d asked me to
correct her if ever she still said something wrong. She slapped her forehead
and groaned.

‘Thirty eight years I have lived here, you would
think I would know the language by now, even if I haven’t lost my accent.’

‘Please don’t ever lose your accent, it’s
wonderful,’ I reassured her. ‘So you were with Daniel for four years when you
got pregnant?’

‘Yes,’ she smiled. ‘I had a very difficult
pregnancy and birth, he was a bigger baby than Oliver. Sadly I had
complications and had to have a hysterectomy soon after, so I never got to have
any more children. I’d have loved a daughter.’ Her face took on a sad
expression as she let out a sigh.

‘Me too,’ I nodded, as I rubbed her back.

‘But you are still young and healthy, there is
plenty of time for you to have more babies.’

‘Try telling your son that,’ I replied with a wry
smile. ‘I mentioned the fact that I’d love another one someday and his exact
words were “over my dead body” and that was the end of all conversation for the
rest of that evening. He’s not going to be pressured on it and I’m not sure
he’ll ever change his mind,’ I advised. She threw her hands up in the air and
went off on a tirade of Portuguese before blowing out a calming breath and
grabbing my hand again.

‘He must see reason. You have had a beautiful boy
and you are both strong and healthy. There is no reason for you to not get
pregnant again.’

‘Except for your stubborn son refusing to allow it
to happen.’

‘I do not accept this’ she uttered with a mad
gesticulation in the air. ‘Oliver will need a sibling growing up, especially
living out here where he will not have so many friends. This is not London
where he will be in big school with friends down the road to come over for sleep
overs like we did with my Oliver. Leave this to me, I will find the appropriate
time to bring this up tonight.’

‘O Luiza, it’s early days, maybe in time he’ll
come around. He was adamant he wasn’t going to have a relationship while Moira
was still on life support and look at us, living together as a family. Let’s
not antagonise him on your last night.’

‘Sometimes he needs a clip around the ear and a
stern talking to.’

‘Well I won’t argue on that point,’ I laughed and
we both looked down towards the boathouse, as we heard the roar of the boat
engine start.

‘He is wasting four hours a day of his life on
someone who is dead, instead of spending it with the living,’ she said quietly.
‘Why can he not see that?’

‘He never will until he forgives himself, which,
even if only for his own sake, I hope happens sooner than later.’

‘You speak wise words, Ellie. I am so glad you
found each other, he is a much happier man since he met you.’

‘That goes both ways,’ I smiled as I kissed her
cheek and stood up. ‘Let me top up that wine of yours.’

Dan had relented and put the pool table in storage
until the extension was built, so we could have a proper dining table. It was a
twelve seater, with the option for another two seats at each end. He’d insisted
it was too large, I’d insisted it was too small as I wanted to invite Brooke,
Molly, John, Edward, Luiza, Daniel, Mr. and Mrs. McAdams, Magda, his best
friend Logan, and Pete and his wife over for Christmas, to thank them all for
helping us. I hadn’t met Logan yet, but by all accounts he’d kicked Dan’s arse
when he’d walked away from me, so I liked him already, in spite of his rather
colourful occupation as a male escort. Dan insisted that James wouldn’t want to
come, as he had a number of children and grandchildren that he was close to and
they always had large family Christmas’s themselves. We’d ended up buying a
study bed for the cinema room, so it could be used as an office and bedroom as
well. Dan had relocated down there, needing the peace and quiet when he was on
audio visual conferences, without Oliver crying in the background in his own
room, so I’d taken over his old office with the wonderful view and hoped I may
find the inspiration to write a second book.

I was off to New York next week with John, for my
meeting with the publisher to discuss the offer and contracts. Dan had insisted
I wasn’t going anywhere without him, so he’d chartered his larger plane for us
to go, with Oliver too and Magda as a built in nanny. She’d never been to New
York so was thrilled for the opportunity. For Christmas, she’d offered to sleep
on an inflatable bed in Oliver’s room, Luiza and Daniel in the cinema room,
Brooke and Molly in the boathouse with John, Edward and Logan getting free
rooms at the hotel. I couldn’t wait, Dan had rolled his eyes in despair when I
suggested it, remembering how excited I’d got that Christmas I was here with
him, but he assured me that he hadn’t thrown out the Christmas decorations,
even though he hadn’t been able to bring himself to put any up in the house
last year.

I set the table for the four of us while Luiza
entertained Oliver with a story. He seemed to love being read to, I’d got him
into a new routine every night with a bath, then a story and if he hadn’t
fallen asleep by then, he went into his cot and I’d sing to him. Dan had tried
the singing, but had been most insulted when I burst out laughing as Oliver
looked at him wide eyed with a look of shock on his face, then burst into
tears. I don’t think Dan’s deep baritone booming singing voice was ideal, but
his reading voice was another matter. Oliver loved listening to his dad talking
and often fell asleep faster if Dan put him to bed. I went to get on with my
preparation for dinner. I was doing scallops with bacon to start, then a
seafood pasta with the velvety lobster bisque as the main. One of the bonuses
of living up here was that we weren’t too far from a large town with fresh
fish, crabs, lobsters and scallops, which were a dream to cook with. Salmon
fillets were now a regular feature on my menus. Mrs. McAdams had taught me how
to make Clootie dumplings, but I wanted to save those for Christmas and instead
I’d done another Scottish traditional dessert of Cranachan, fresh raspberries,
cream, toasted oats, honey and a dash of whiskey, which I figured would be
lighter after pasta.

I’d never felt so happy, the Moira and second baby
issue aside. I’d always loved taking care of people and entertaining, so having
my own family and our extended family, just filled me with joy. I thought about
what my life might have been if I’d not gone home that afternoon and caught Zac
in bed with those prostitutes. I shivered and thanked my lucky stars it wasn’t
something I ever had to worry about anymore. I knew it was early days with Dan,
ironic given we had a baby, but I’d never felt more sure of anything, other
than my friendship with Brooke. I just felt deep down that he was my soul mate
and I was his, that no matter what the obstacle we’d overcome them together. I
heard the boat coming into moor and quickly lit the frying pan and got the
starter underway.

Oliver was fast asleep and I was sitting in the
lounge reading when I heard the noise of the boat heading back. Dan was back
from dropping his parents off at the airport. I smiled and quickly checked
under my shirt again. I’d dressed in a sexy green Basque, with ribbons and
lace, under my jeans and shirt, determined I was going to seduce him for once.
I’d toyed with the idea of lying waiting for him in just the Basque, given
green was his favourite colour on me, let alone sexy lingerie, but thought it
would be even more tantalising if I stripped off slowly, so I tried to position
myself sexily on the sofa and fluffed my hair out. My heart was beating fast at
the thought of it. We were having sex two or three times a day, but my desire
for him wasn’t lessening, the opposite in fact. I even craved him when we were
close but not physically touching each other. I heard his boots on the gravel,
then on the decking and saw him appear through the open door.

‘Hi, baby,’ I murmured in my sexiest tone.

‘Hi,’ he retorted in a none too pleasant tone, as
he strode straight past me into his new office and slammed the door behind him,
making me jump. I looked around surprised, headed over and knocked on the door.
‘What?’ he snapped. I stepped inside and saw him sitting at his desk with his
head in his hands.

‘Hey, what’s wrong? Did they get off ok?’

‘Fine,’ he responded without moving.

‘Then what is it?’ I asked as I walked over and
ran my hand up his spine. I heard him take a sharp breath and felt him stiffen
under my hand.

‘I’m all talked out for one night thanks,’ he bit.

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ I pulled my hand
away feeling hurt, he’d not had one of his proper moods since he’d come back to
London for me.

‘Exactly how it sounded. I have work to do,’ he
replied, as he straightened up and started flicking on his bank of wall mounted
monitors, without so much as a glance in my direction.

‘You don’t have five minutes to tell me what’s
wrong so I can try and help?’

‘No,’ he shot back as he fixed his ear piece.

‘Ok, well when Stan’s gone back into whatever hole
he just crawled out of, your girlfriend, the one you promised to share things
with, to not hide things from, will be patiently sitting in the lounge to
listen to whatever has got your knickers in such a twist,’ I huffed as I spun
on my heels and slammed the door myself. I ran upstairs as I heard a cry down
the baby monitor. Damn it, we’d probably woken him up with two sets of door slams.
I crept into his room and he was lying on his back looking up at me with sleepy
eyes. ‘Hey baby, I’m sorry, we didn’t mean to wake you up. Daddy’s not in the
best of moods, but it has nothing to do with you my angel.’ I reached down and
stroked his thick dark hair and he yawned but showed no signs of closing his
eyes again, so I picked him up and sat back in the nursery chair, holding him
to my chest as I gently rocked backwards and forwards trying to imagine what
had happened that could piss Dan off so much. Oliver let out a stream of
nonsense which made me smile.

‘I have no idea what you’re trying to tell me,
baby,’ I replied with a kiss to his head. ‘But don’t you worry about slamming
doors. Mummy and Daddy love you so much and no little argument is ever going to
stop that from happening. He’s very stubborn and doesn’t like to talk about his
feelings, which makes me infuriated, as I don’t know how to help him if he
won’t talk about it. I think it’s a man thing, but I’m going to teach you all
about women and how to handle them, so you don’t make the same mistakes. They
think it’s all about gifts and romantic surprises, when sometimes all a woman
wants is someone to hug her, kiss her, tell her she looks beautiful when she’s
made an effort and to share when they’re feeling up or down. Being fantastic
and selfless in bed goes unstated, women love a man who’s like that, just as
much as we love seeing them with babies like you. It melts our hearts to see a
strong man being all soft with a child and the thought of him with one in each
arm, boy that just slays us.’ I smiled to see he was nodding off again and
talked him through our upcoming flight to New York, until he let out a soft
snore. I carefully stood up and lay him down in the cot and tiptoed out,
closing the door behind me. I headed down the stairs to find Dan standing with
his hands on his hips and a thunderous look on his face. ‘What now?’ I sighed. He
grabbed my hand and hauled me outside, shutting the front door behind us and
forcing me down into one of the chairs as he remained towering above me.