31 Days of Summer (31 Days #2) (42 page)

‘Come on my boy, let’s go and make mummy some
breakfast. She’s been so busy looking after us, we need to make her feel
special today, ok?’

‘Mama,’ he sighed against my shoulder.

‘You’ll see her in a while, for now you have me.’

Ellie

I watched him head downstairs, and let out a sigh
of relief. Thank God he was better, I’d been so worried about him, and about
Oliver and myself catching this damn bug, but it seemed I didn’t have to worry
anymore. Not about that at least. I felt my stomach churn and ran to the
bathroom and threw up in the toilet, anchoring my long hair at the base of my
neck, then sat back on my heels and put a hand over my stomach. It was time. I
washed my face and swirled some icy cold tap water around my mouth to get rid
of the taste of bile, before opening my bathroom cabinet and pulling out the
pregnancy test kit I’d purchased yesterday. I didn’t really need confirmation.
I’d missed my period and had been tired, emotional and nauseous for the last
week or so, but I did it anyway and some tears of happiness rolled down my
cheeks when the word pregnant flashed up in pink. Part of me was over the moon,
then all of a sudden the happiness was replaced by absolute terror at how Dan
was going to react.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t finally relented and
realised that it would be good for Oliver to have a sibling, or that he hadn’t
agreed for me to come off the pill a few months ago, but we’d not been timing
my cycles, we were just going to see how it went. I hadn’t expected to get
caught so quickly, then again I got pregnant the first time while I was on the
pill, just through a bout of overnight sickness. I was obviously fertile and he
must have a seriously high sperm count. I was just worried whether the reality
of me being pregnant, and having to live through it with me, would be too
stressful on him. If it was, ultimately it was going to be stressful for me
too, having to endure his coping mechanism of shutting down. I put my hands
over my eyes and took some deep breaths. I knew I should tell him right away,
but part of me just wanted to revel in the excitement for a while, to not be
stressed over his potential reaction. I decided to leave it for a few days, to
let him get back his strength, as lack of food and sex had left him irritable
as it was. I shook myself down and had a quick shower before heading down to
the inviting smell of bacon wafting through from the kitchen, thankful it
wasn’t one of the smells that made me gag. I stood in the doorway and smiled as
I watched them both. Oliver was in his high chair banging his beaker up and
down, as he babbled away with the odd real word mixed up in his own little
language. Dan was sexily dressed in just his jeans, his upper torso looking so
inviting, chatting to Oliver as he cooked our breakfast and I felt my heart
swell. Was it possible that I’d have enough love in my heart for another
addition to my precious family?

‘It’s nearly ready, what are you waiting over
there for?’ called Dan with a dazzling smile, making me snap out of my daydream.

‘Just enjoying watching you both together again,’
I replied. Oliver looked round and dropped his beaker as he called for me and
held out his arms and I scooted over quickly to pick him up and give him a
loving cuddle as he chanted “Mamamamamam” against my neck. Today was going to
be a good day.

Friday 1
^st
July ~ Year Three

Ellie

‘You’ve got to be joking
right?’ I uttered, as Brooke circled me.

‘What’s wrong with it?’ she asked, looking
offended.

‘What’s right with it?’ I retorted, as I looked
down at the vivid purple bridesmaid dress she had me in. Not that I had
anything against the colour, but it was teamed with a hot pink sash around the
waist, tied in an oversized bow at the back, was so low cut my breasts were at
risk of springing free and my oversized nipples taking someone’s eye out, and it
had one of those black net petticoats underneath to puff it out. ‘I look like I’m
either in a teenage eighties themed prom dress or I should be on Strictly Come
Dancing doing the Jive or Lindy Hop. I thought you wanted to have a
sophisticated and glamourous day for Molly? What sort of things did you have in
your wedding scrapbook?’

‘Wedding scrapbook? What the hell’s one of those?’
she laughed. I looked at her in amazement. I’d had one since I was about seven.
Cutting out pictures in magazines of all the pretty things I’d seen, princess
tiaras, jewelled dresses, skyscraper heels, flower arrangements, top table lay
outs. It had changed over the years as I got older and my tastes had changed.
It had also been replaced now by a mood board on Pinterest. ‘Let me get this
off and we’re going to sit on that chaise longue and I’ll show you mine,’ I
sighed, shocked at her lack of pre-planning.

‘What would I do without you?’ she smiled. ‘I
can’t believe you and Dan, hooking us up with that venue at the hotel. It’s
just amazing.’

‘I’m so glad you love it and please don’t argue
with me again about the cost, Dan’s paying for that and the food and drink,
I’ll pay for all the decorative items. You only have to worry about your dress,
which by the way we really need to sort today. You’re getting married in five
weeks.’

‘Shit, don’t freak me out. I mean I knew we were
talking dates, but when you told me last night there’d been a cancellation and
we could have that date it sort of gave me a panic attack.’

‘Why?’ I asked, as she undid the zip and I pulled
off the monstrosity of a dress and handed it to Trish, the assistant looking
after me today. ‘I thought you wanted to get married?’

‘I did. I do. It’s just so fast and I have no idea
how to plan something like this, I want Molly to love it and she’s just told me
all she cares about is us saying our vows.’

I pulled on my white shirt and buttoned it up so I
was halfway decent and we sat down with my iPad, as I showed her my Pinterest
wedding board. Everything was in pastel shades of white, pink and green, with a
light fresh feel of summer or spring about it. I talked her through how the
doors could be thrown back if it was a hot day to let in a lovely breeze, and
how beautiful it would look at night with the sparkling lights on the ceiling
and loads of candles lit in pink and green votives.

‘See there’s a theme to it, you need a
co-ordinated theme.’

‘That’s all so pretty,’ she sighed. ‘I could never
come up with something like that, you’re the creative one.’

‘Then we’ll do this, a classic, elegant and
unstated white, pink and green theme.’

‘I can’t,’ she gasped, ‘It’s your dream wedding.’

‘A wedding I’ll never be having, Brooke,’ I sighed
sadly. ‘If you love it, I want you to have it, I’ll sort everything so you
don’t have to worry. So let’s focus on getting your dress and we can look for
either a pink or green dress for me, what do you think?’

‘I think I love you, Ellie Baxter,’ she beamed as
she hugged me tightly. ‘Molly’s going to
love
this, I just know it.’

‘Then that’s all that matters.’

‘Ok, I think you need to be in a green dress,
emerald green to go with your eyes and blonde hair, plus Dan loves you in
green.’

‘He does,’ I smiled. ‘So, I’m thinking you’d look
better in a short dress, it will make your legs look longer and with some heels
you’ll look even taller.’

We walked around the store, which we had to
ourselves, courtesy of Dan paying them to close for the day just for us, and we
were brought some glasses of mimosa and canapés. I discreetly asked for some
plain orange juice, as we scoured the vast designer store for her dress. She
found the perfect bridesmaid dress for me first. An elegant one that went in at
the waist and stopped just below the knee, so that was set aside as a maybe, we
had to get Molly’s approval too. Brooke squealed and pulled out a pale mint bridesmaid’s
one, with a sweetheart neckline, ribbon waist and flared out to the knee. It
was covered in tiny butterflies which stood out from the lace material.

‘What do you think?’ she asked, her eyes alive
with excitement.

‘It’s a bridesmaid’s dress, sweetie,’ I said
softly, not wanting to kill her buzz.

‘I don’t care, I love it. I mean it’s hardly going
to be a conventional wedding is it? Two brides walking up the aisle at the same
time? Dad was in bad enough denial I was an occasional muff diver, let alone
turning my back on cock and getting engaged to an all-out lesbian. Who says I
have to be traditional?’

‘I guess you have a point,’ I nodded with a giggle,
as Claire, Brooke’s assistant, tried to keep a distasteful look off her face.
‘It is really pretty and would go really well with your red hair. Go and try it
on.’ I laughed as she jumped up and down with delight.

‘I don’t know why you’re looking down your nose at
me,’ she scowled at Claire. ‘This is
Pretty Woman
all over again and
you’ll lose a shit load of commission if you piss us off. Her boyfriend’s like
only as big as Apple, the Apple who make iPads, not Gwyneth Paltrow’s Apple or
that would make him pretty small. Anyway the point being, he could buy this store
about a billion times over and still have change
and
she’s a PYT
bestselling author,’ she berated, with a so there nod.

‘NYT, New York Times,’ I whispered, wishing the
floor would swallow me up. I hated it when she told people about my books.

‘NYT? What’s a PYT then?’

‘
Pretty Young Thing
by Michael Jackson.’

‘O right,’ she giggled. ‘Still very valid. “Repeat
after me, sing na na-na na,”’ she sang at Claire, as she shook her dress in her
face and skipped off to the changing room. Claire followed with a seriously
pissed off look on her face, as I chuckled and looked longingly at the wedding
dresses. I didn’t mind Brooke having my planned out theme, better she enjoy it
than have it go to waste, but to think I’d never get to wear one of these
gorgeous dresses, made me feel all emotional. Damn pregnancy hormones. I
stopped in my tracks, as I came across a vintage A-line lace dress with a sweetheart
neckline and tiny jewels scattered across the lace. It had an ivory satin
ribbon around the waist with a beautiful art deco jewelled detail on the front.
I pulled it out and held it against me and sighed. It was stunning, just what I
would have chosen if we were here planning my day.

‘O my God, Ellie, you have to try that on, it’s so
you,’ came Brooke’s voice.

‘I’m not getting married, Brooke,’ I replied as I
looked up and gasped. ‘You look adorable.’

‘It’s so cute isn’t it?’ she giggled as she did a
spin, then lifted her hair up, holding it up on the top of her head as she
stood on her tiptoes. ‘So?’

‘I love it.’

‘You’re not just saying that are you? You seem
kind of out of it today.’

‘I do? I’m sorry, I’m tired but I’m so excited for
you. You need to get that one and you’ll have to disappear shortly, as Molly
will be here to look for hers.’

‘You can’t tell her what I got,’ she warned. ‘Or
about the theme, other than showing her your dress, but try and get her into
something that fits in with it all. I want her to be surprised on the day.’

‘My lips are sealed,’ I nodded, miming pulling a
zip across them.

‘Please go and try that dress on, it’s so you. To
please me, as it’s a really special day for me today,’ she added with a pout, giving
me her perfected doe eyed stare with her big green eyes.

‘You dare tell Dan,’ I warned with a pointed
finger. ‘He’d have a heart attack.’ She mimed locking her lips and threw away
the pretend key as my assistant, Trish, took the dress from me and asked me to
follow her. ‘Is this allowed when I have no intention of buying a wedding dress?’
I asked.

‘For what your boyfriend’s paying us for the day,
you could ruin it skateboarding and still have spare change to buy plenty more,’
she replied. ‘And that’s not a cheap dress.’ My heart started beating a little
faster as she slipped it over my head and I held my hair out of the way, as she
zipped up the back. I had to bite my lip to stop myself from crying, it was
stunning. It would have been too big around the bust for me not long ago, but
with these bad boys I filled it perfectly. ‘It’s gorgeous on you, why don’t you
go and show your friend before she scares Claire anymore than she already has,’
nodded Trish. ‘She has a fear of lesbians, let alone open and forward ones.’

‘O dear,’ I laughed and headed out to find Brooke
lounging in her dress on the chaise, as she supped on her drink with Claire at
a safe distance.

‘O babe,’ she sighed as she sat up. ‘You look
beautiful. Let me take a picture. It’s so you, classy and elegant. Dan would go
nuts to see you in this.’

‘You think?’ I smiled.

‘Hell yeah. If only he’d kill off his wife once
and for all, you could have your fairy tale happy ever after.’

‘She’s in a long-term coma,’ I announced quickly,
with a glare at Brooke as Claire and Trish looked at us in horror. ‘
Very
long term. I’m not a stealer of married men, I promise you.’

‘She totally didn’t know he was married when they
first had hot sex, after she nearly drowned in an icy Scottish loch,’ Brooke
nodded as she snapped me on her iPhone. ‘She has morals. She didn’t know he was
loaded and using a fake name at the time either. She left him when she found
out, even when she had his baby in secret she refused to run back to him, until
he came to claim her in some masculine “Me Tarzan, you my Ellie” way. It’s an
epic love story, they ought to make a Nicholas Sparks type film out of it.’

‘Thanks for sharing all of that with complete
strangers, Brooke,’ I sighed, thinking how my life sounded like a soap opera.

‘Hardly strangers. Claire here has seen my bare
tits and arse and don’t think I didn’t see you slyly checking them out, or trying
to cop a feel,’ she nodded at her, as she held out her empty glass. Claire went
bright red as she grabbed it off her and scuttled out of sight.

‘Don’t tease her, she has lesbian fear.’

‘O game on,’ giggled Brooke. ‘What’s that called
anyway? Lesobia? Lesanoia?’

‘Other than discrimination, I have no idea,’ I
laughed. ‘Look it up on my iPad, while I go and get changed.’

‘Your friend’s crazy,’ observed Trish, as she
undid my zip. ‘I bet she’s a hoot on a night out.’

‘You have
no
idea,’ I smiled. ‘She’s all
bark and no bite though, she has a heart of gold under there.’

‘I’ll leave you to get changed,’ she advised, as
she slipped out of the curtain. I reluctantly slid the dress off and carefully
hung it up, as I ran my eyes over it one last time. Mum would have loved it, it
looked so much like her vintage art deco style dress, the one I’d wanted to
keep, so I could have it altered to fit me for my wedding day to Zac. One of my
aunts had taken it though for my cousin. I didn’t have enough backbone then to
argue, I was too emotional having lost both parents at once, but I’d vowed then
I wasn’t ever going to let anyone else walk all over me again. I’d nearly let
Zac, but going through all of that with him and then Dan, had really toughened
me up. I pulled on my jeans and high heeled brown knee high boots and ran my
fingers through my hair, wondering if Dan was having fun out with Logan. Oliver
was spending his first full night away from me, having a sleep over at his
grandparents, which had me feeling extra on edge. I missed him already, but Dan
and I were overdue some quality alone time. I’d planned a romantic meal so I
could seduce him and have him all happy, before I hit him with my news. Much as
I’d miss my little boy, it would actually be nice to have sex without the baby
monitor interrupting us.

‘What’s with the plain orange juice?’ demanded
Brooke, as I stepped out to find her with her hands on her hips, back in her
shorts and blouse. ‘I downed your glass as you weren’t touching it and there
wasn’t a drop of alcohol in it.’

‘I’m … breastfeeding,’ I replied, feeling my
cheeks heat up. I didn’t like lying, but I felt Dan deserved to know first this
time, especially as he’d missed out on so much first time around.

‘Bullshit alert,’ she shot back, as she mimicked
the sound of a siren. ‘You promised we’d drink and have fun today, we’re going
out for a late lunch then to a cocktail bar to get bladdered, your suggestion.
Plus you don’t have Oliver tonight, it will be out of your system by the time
you see him.’