Infinite Love (13 page)

‘Yes, but I don’t want to take it off,’ she sighed with a frown.

‘So put it on your right hand, just until we’ve left. We’re going back to the boathouse in a few hours and won’t see you again until you’re next in the UK,’ I reminded her. She nodded and removed her other rings and slipped her engagement one onto her right hand.

‘How do I look?’

‘Glamorous as ever,’ I smiled and we headed back down to the lake house, Sofia laughing as I skidded in my heels. ‘How do you manage to stay walking so elegantly?’ I protested.

‘We get a lot of snow and ice in New York, you learn fast.’

‘Where is everyone?’ I exclaimed as we opened the door and found the place empty.

‘They’re all outside,’ Sofia pointed toward the balcony. ‘I wonder what’s going on out there.’ We headed over to see what they were all looking at.

‘Congratulations,’ everyone yelled making us jump seconds before fireworks lit up the sky. I looked over at Gabe, wondering if he’d organised this for us. As if he read my mind he shook his head as he stepped forward and took Sofia’s hand and kissed her.

‘Welcome to the family, Sofia. I’m really happy for you and Dad.’

‘He told you,’ she gasped.

‘Who do you think helped him plan these,’ he laughed as he pointed up at the spectacle above us.

‘I just thought … I didn’t think that you’d approve,’ she said quietly.

‘I never imagined I would when I first met you Sofia, but Mia has made my life so much better and I see how you and Dad are together, you deserve to be just as happy as we are.’

‘Sorry darling, I didn’t imagine you’d worry about how Gabriel would take it,’ said Robert as he slipped his arm around her waist.

‘I think sometimes Austin men can be clueless,’ I laughed with a shake of the head. ‘Congratulations Robert, I’m so pleased for you both.’ I gave him a hug and a kiss.

‘Thank you, Mia. A glass of champagne for you both?’

‘Please,’ Sofia and I nodded at the same time.

‘How about some nice caviar, Mia?’ Robert teased.

‘Ewwww, no thank you very much,’ I giggled as I screwed up my face and felt Gabe slip his hand into mine.

‘Darling, where’s your ring? Don’t tell me that you’ve lost it already?’ Robert asked as he lifted Sofia’s hand.

‘No, of course not, I put it on my other hand so as not to upset Gabe.’

‘God, am I really that moody and temperamental?’ Gabe asked.

‘Not anymore, no,’ I smiled as I rubbed his bicep reassuringly. ‘So is it just caviar or do we have more nibbles as I’m peckish.’

‘That’s my girl, come on let’s watch the fireworks first and then you can eat, they’ll be setting up some canapés and little desserts next door in a moment.’ He led me to the far corner of the balcony, away from everyone congratulating the happy couple and slipped his arms around my waist, resting his chin on my shoulder as we looked up at the colourful sky. I put my hands over his and squeezed them.

‘Are you really ok with this?’ I whispered.

‘I am,’ he replied with a kiss on my cheek. ‘Dad told me a few months ago to give me time to adjust.’

‘I’m so impressed how well you’re handling all these changes in your life, Gabe.’

‘Well Dr. Jarvis told me a quote, when I had that episode about my swimming earlier in the year, and it’s really stuck with me.’

‘What was it?’ I asked.

‘I think it’s something like “We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that’s waiting for us.” Looking back all the time is going to stop me moving forward.’

‘Wow,’ I nodded as I felt my eyes fill up. That phrase applied in equal measures to Lexi and my life as well. ‘That’s really poignant.’

‘Well, he should have a few good quotes up his sleeve with all those damn books in his office,’ Gabe laughed. I spun around in his arms and clasped his face and kissed him.

‘I’m so proud of you, you’ve come such a long way in a year.’

‘You too baby, it seems that Dr. Jarvis really is a miracle worker. Maybe we should send Doug and Lexi to him. Did you go and see her?’

‘No,’ I frowned and looked down as I played with his shirt buttons.

‘What’s happened with you both, baby?’

‘I told you we had a fight,’ I shrugged. ‘We just need time to cool down.’

‘About this stupid idea of a threesome with Sam and Doug?’

‘You knew?’ I looked up at him surprised.

‘Doug just told me when you disappeared. He’s feeling really embarrassed about it.’

‘O my God. Did he and Sam …
you know
?’ I gestured two penis’s getting it on with my fingers, which didn’t look half as effective as the usual male female copulation gesture.

‘No,’ Gabe laughed. ‘They were both with Lexi not each other. He’s just feeling ashamed and guilty this morning. He’s upset that he cheated on Sarah, especially to do it for Lexi, who he still wants, knowing he was only there for a sexual kick for her and Sam. He feels worse than he did before he let this happen.’

‘I warned Lexi this would happen. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I walked in on it.’

‘Why are the two of you not speaking over this? I mean it’s not like you’re a prude and she is an adult, free to make her own choices.’

‘I know that Gabe, the stupid threesome was just the catalyst. Can we not talk about it? Please? You’ll bring me down and I don’t want to be down. If I’m down, you’re down.’

‘Baby I’m feeling very up at the moment,’ he smirked as he flexed his pelvis against me and made me laugh.

‘Have you started taking Viagra without telling me?’

‘No, just seeing you and knowing your wearing my rings is a real turn on.’

‘Are you going to be buying me a collar next?’

‘Now that’s not a bad idea,’ he laughed. ‘Keep you in check with a sexy piece of jewellery around your neck to show everyone you’re mine?’

‘I think my engagement and wedding rings already show that Gabe, but if you like sexy jewellery you’re going to love the new piece I purchased for our honeymoon.’

‘O God, what did you do?’ he groaned.

‘I got a nipple necklace,’ I whispered in his ear before kissing it.

‘A what?’ he uttered.

‘Funnily enough it’s a silver and diamanté collar necklace with sections that hang down my cleavage, two of which clamp onto my nipples. It’s very pretty and makes them
very
pert.
’

‘That I can’t wait to see,’ he sighed. ‘I managed to pull myself one hot wife.’

‘My husband isn’t too bad either,’ I giggled as he squeezed my backside and kissed me again.

‘So you’re really ok?’

‘I am, these two days have been simply perfect, Gabe. Thank you so much.’

‘I’ve loved it too.’

‘Good, no regrets that there were no slow moving tortoises or dancing elephants?’

‘What?’ he laughed.

‘Nothing, just something Lexi said that made me laugh,’ I sighed, with a smile.

‘You know you can talk to me anytime, right?’ he asked with a concerned frown.

‘I do, for better or worse,’ I smiled and kissed him again. This time he kissed me back properly, tender yet possessive kisses as he hauled me against his chest.

‘Put her down for a second Gabriel and come and join the toast,’ laughed Robert.

‘Come on, we have all night to do that,’ I murmured against his lips.

‘Try a whole week from the minute we leave these guys,’ Gabe winked and led me back to join everyone else.

Gabe kissed me as he did up my seatbelt on the plane. We were both gutted our break was over and that we were heading home. We’d had the most idyllic six days in the new apartment in Paris. Other than leaving it to get the odd bit of food, and to purchase a new mattress, linens and some accessories to make it feel more like ours, we’d hardly left it. We’d spent most of the time naked, or just in our lounging clothes playing games by the fire and making love. Tim the air steward was back on duty and as Gabe chatted to him I checked my phone again, I was really disappointed to not have heard from Lexi since our bust up. I took a deep breath and sent her a text, breaking radio silence.

I miss you. I’m still really upset at what you said to me and don’t understand where that all came from, but I miss my best friend and hate that we’re not talking. I should be home in a couple of hours and I’d really like for us to get together and discuss whatever’s going on. Mia

‘Ok baby?’

‘Lexi,’ I sighed.

‘Has she contacted you?’

‘No. I sent her a text saying I’d like to meet.’

‘I don’t understand her reaction at all,’ he frowned. I’d finally told him about it when he realised we still hadn’t been in contact halfway through our break, even he knew that was a bad sign.

‘Me neither,’ I sighed.  ‘Well, the ball’s in her court now, don’t let it put a dampener on our last hour of honeymoon.’

‘Last hour?’

‘Until we touch down in England, we’re still on holiday. Any ideas on what we can do for a whole sixty minutes?’

‘O, I can think of a thing or two,’ he winked as his eyes flicked down to my breasts, making me smile again.

‘Are you going to carry me over every threshold for the rest of my life?’ I giggled as he dropped our cases outside our front door and swooped me up.

‘Just this door and the bedroom then that’s it. Hopefully you’ll be fat and pregnant and too heavy to lift soon.’

‘Fat?’ I uttered with a scowl. ‘Wow, you’ve just managed to insult womankind across the entire world.’

‘You know what I meant,’ he laughed. ‘Are you going to open this door? All those croissants, bread and cheese have added a few pounds on you.’

‘Ooooo, Austin you’re skating on thin ice. I may invoke that married people only have sex on special occasion’s clause if you carry on.’

‘Like that would ever happen with us,’ he winked as I opened the door. He carried me in and kissed me and gently set me down.

‘I’ve had the most amazing wedding and honeymoon, thank you.’

‘Me too, we have another honeymoon to look forward to in a couple of months and this time you’ll need some of that sexy swimwear you own.’

‘Excellent,’ I grinned. ‘The thought of lounging around in some heat is good enough, but seeing you in your tight little trunks as well. Phew,’ I pretended to fan myself with my hands making him laugh. ‘Well, I guess I’d better get on with the washing. Welcome back to reality, eh?’

‘O no, that can wait. You haven’t had your main wedding and birthday gift yet.’

‘I’d forgotten all about that, ok hand it over,’ I demanded excitedly. He’d been very mysterious about it.

‘You sort of have to trust me to blindfold you and take you somewhere.’

‘What are you up to?’ I eyed him suspiciously as he dragged the cases in then went to the bedroom and reappeared with the silk blindfold. He lead me downstairs and out onto the pavement, then made me turn around and tied the blindfold around my eyes then spun me around until I had no idea which direction I was facing. ‘Seriously, what are you up to?’ I uttered as he held my arm and started walking with me.

‘You’ll find out soon,’ he chuckled. He stopped and turned me with his hands on my shoulders. ‘Stay still and keep your eyes closed until I tell you.’

‘You’re not going to propose again are you?’ I laughed.

‘No, that was a one-time deal.’

‘Two time deal,’ I reminded him.

‘Yes, well I knew you were hard work from that first discussion we ever had in the Uni corridor,’ he laughed. ‘Right, just remember our agreement to accept gifts off each other graciously please,’ he advised as he undid the blindfold. ‘Ok, open your eyes.’

‘Gabe,’ I squealed in shock. I was in the car park and in front of me, with a huge red bow around it was a new VW soft top Beetle. Gabe grabbed my hand as I stared at it in awe, it even had personal plates saying 1994 MA.

‘Do you like him?’

‘Him?! She’s a her and I
love
her, but seriously? A car?’

‘I’m not having you taking taxi’s to and from the club, Mia. You’ll have your own private parking space in the underground parking lot, which is monitored by the security team on camera and by regular patrols. This way you can go to work without relying on me.’

‘Gabe, I don’t know what to say,’ I uttered.

‘Come and sit in … I’ll have to call the car an “
it
,” cars are male.’

‘Unless you’re female and it’s a she,’ I objected.

‘Well
it’s
a 2 litre TSI Sport Cabriolet, with 17” alloys, a turbo and supercharger petrol injection and …’

‘Gabe,’ I laughed, cutting him off mid-flow. ‘She’s black, shiny, pretty and convertible, I don’t need to know anything else. Can we look closer?’

‘Sure,’ he grinned as he saw the excitement on my face. I’d given up moaning about his spending, he was right, it was his money and I knew how happy it made him to buy me things. Besides, I had my own money now, it wasn’t like I couldn’t have got myself one so he knew it wasn’t why I was with him.

‘Gabe she’s … she’s
sparkly,
’ I gasped as I ran my hand over her bonnet.

‘I felt so manly asking for black glitter paint at the custom car shop,’ he laughed.

‘You pimped my ride?’ I giggled.

‘Other than the top of the range kit that came with it, the paint job was as pimped as it got. No fish tanks or popcorn machines inside, or DJ mixing booths in the back, sorry.’ He opened the door and sat me behind the wheel before heading around to the passenger side and getting in next to me. ‘Fancy taking it for a spin?’ He dangled the keys in front of me and I grabbed them off him.

‘Hell yeah. Wow, you’re so getting laid tonight for this.’

‘Then if the sex dries up I’ll have to keep buying you cars,’ he grinned. I leaned over and grasped his face and kissed him.

‘Thank you, you’re so sweet. I absolutely love her and she has that lovely new smell.’  I ran my hand over the steering wheel and giggled. ‘I’m going to call her Betty.’

‘Betty?’ He arched an eyebrow.

‘Black Betty. It’s one of Gerry’s favourite songs by Ram Jam.’

‘Never heard of it.’

‘Well no, it was hundreds of years before we were born,’ I laughed. I looked at the keys and let out a small sigh as I looked back up at him and he smiled at me. He’d put a silver key ring fob on it engraved with “Mrs. Mia Austin.” I clasped his face and kissed him. “I love you, Mr. Austin.’

‘Not as much as I love you, Mrs. Austin,’ he replied as he tugged on my lower lip with his finger and thumb. I did up my seat belt, started the powerful engine and clapped with delight.

‘I’ll order take out tonight and go shopping tomorrow to re-stock, ok?’ Gabe asked as I sat at the island with my glass of wine.

‘Yeah, sure,’ I nodded as I checked our landline for messages. ‘Is it really sad that we only have one message and it’s from Doug?’ I asked as I listened and frowned.

‘What’s the matter?’

‘I don’t know, he just said that you need to ring him urgently the minute that you get back, he sounds upset,’ I advised as I handed the phone over to him.

‘Really? Shit. I hope everything’s ok with his Mum and Dad.’ He grabbed the phone off me and rang him, as I sighed to see Lexi still hadn’t replied to my text. I went to the bathroom then sat at my dressing table in the bedroom as I sent Mum a picture of Betty and smiled. I absolutely loved her. I looked up as Gabe came into the bedroom, shut the door and leaned back on it before rubbing a hand over his mouth.

‘O God, what’s wrong? Are they ok?’

‘They’re fine, Doug’s fine as well. It’s Lexi.’

‘What?’ I stared at him horrified. ‘No, don’t tell me something’s happened to her, not Lexi as well?’

‘No, she’s fine. Well, she’s alive and physically unhurt as far as Doug’s aware. She’s been holed up in the apartment since she got back from Scotland and has refused to let him in.’

‘Why? What the hell’s going on?’ I asked as I quickly stood up.

‘I didn’t know Mia, I promise I didn’t know, or I’d have brought you straight back for her. Shit … it’s her Mum. She was found dead a couple of days before Christmas when a neighbour got worried she hadn’t seen her. Apparently she’d been lying there for days.’

‘No,’ I groaned as I covered my eyes. ‘When did Lexi find out?’ I don’t know why I was asking, I already knew the answer.
That
was why she’d been so mean to me, she was upset and I hadn’t even given her a chance to explain.

‘Our wedding night,’ he said quietly confirming my worst fears.

‘I need to go to her.’

‘I know. Doug said she told him when he tried to talk to her about their sex thing on the plane home, but she made him promise not to tell us. For once he kept his mouth shut because he didn’t want to ruin our break. She hasn’t answered any of his calls since and hangs up the intercom when she realises it’s him. Take your overnight kit, I’ll order you some pizza and ice cream.’

‘You’re sure?’ I looked at him and my heart swelled as he nodded, our first married night home and he was going to let me sleep over with her because he knew she’d need me. ‘I’ve just fallen in love with you a little bit more,’ I sighed and clasped his face and kissed him. ‘Thank you.’

‘Go on, go and see her. I’ll knock when the food arrives. Once I’ve eaten I’ll go and see Doug and we can check Greyson’s and preparations for tomorrow night. Call if you need me, ok?’

‘I will,’ I smiled. I packed a small bag and prayed that she hadn’t dead bolted the door as I tried my key in it, heaving a sigh of relief that she hadn’t. I didn’t even roll my eyes when I saw take out boxes and bottles littering the kitchen. I gently opened her bedroom door and found her curled up in a ball on the bed, fast asleep. I could tell she’d been crying, a lot, and I felt my heart breaking for her. I crept out to the kitchen and quietly cleared up, getting all the crap out of the lounge as well, where I found her phone and noticed lots of missed calls from Doug, as well as her dad. I rang him immediately.

‘Mr. Clarke?’

‘Lexi? Thank God, I’ve been really worried that I couldn’t get hold of you.’

‘It’s Mia, Mr. Clarke. You haven’t spoken to Lexi for a while?’

‘No, she was supposed to be contacting me to discuss coming down for New Year. Is everything ok?’

‘She’s fine, sort of … I don’t know how to tell you this but your wife … your ex-wife, well … I’m afraid to tell you that she passed away before Christmas. Lexi found out and has hidden herself away ever since. I’m so sorry, I didn’t know … I was on honeymoon or I’d have let you know sooner.’

‘I’m amazed that woman lasted as long as she did the amount she drank,’ he sighed. ‘What happened?’

‘I don’t know the details. I just got back and came to see her. She’s asleep but I thought I ought to let you know as I saw a load of missed calls from you.’

‘Do you think it would help if I came up?’

‘I’m sure it would. I’m staying with her tonight and you were coming up with your family for the party tomorrow night anyway weren’t you?’

‘Yes, I’ll organise myself now and we’ll come up first thing in the morning instead and I can come and take over from you. Thank you Mia, I really appreciate you letting me know. I don’t understand why Lexi didn’t call me? I should have come up to check on her when I didn’t hear from her.’

‘Please don’t blame yourself, she’s incredibly stubborn and rarely even asks me for help. I think it will do her good to see you tomorrow and I hope that you can tempt her to come out and have some fun, she copes best with bad news by letting her hair down. I’d better go and see her, I’ll look forward to seeing you again tomorrow.’

‘You too, thanks again and congratulations by the way.’

‘Thanks.’

‘See you tomorrow, bye Mia.’

I went into her room and sat on the edge of her bed and looked at her sadly. I knew she had all this bravado about not caring about her Mum, but to have lost her, without having any closure … I just had a feeling that it must have hit her really hard. I gently stroked her forehead and she jerked awake and looked shocked to see me.

‘Hey,’ I whispered.

‘Hey,’ she replied with a gulp.

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘And ruin your wedding day and honeymoon?’ She shook her head as she looked up at me and I sighed.

‘Well, thank you for thinking of me, but I’m here now. I have an overnight kit and pizza and ice cream are on their way, ok?’

‘You’re staying?’

‘I am. You need me.’

‘I
really
missed you,’ she whispered as she sniffed and wiped the tears that were forming in her eyes.

‘I missed you too.’

‘You did? Even after what I said? I was
so
mean to you. I’m really sorry.’

‘I know. You were hurting and you lashed out. Let’s forget it, ok? One week without seeing you or talking to you was bad enough, I don’t want us to argue again, ok?’

‘Really?’

‘Really. Need a hug?’

‘Yes, please,’ she nodded. I smiled, kicked off my shoes and lay down on the bed next to her and held my arms out. As soon as she nestled into my side she started sobbing. We lay there for ages until she got it out and then let out a big sigh.

‘Want to talk about it?’

‘Can we talk about you first? Will you tell me all about what a great time you’ve had?’

‘Are you sure?’ I asked tentatively, recalling her comment that she felt I was rubbing my happiness in her face.

‘I’m sure. Tell me what big cock’s been up to,’ she asked with a sniff as she wiped her eyes and I laughed.

‘O he’s been “up” a lot,’ I advised and started telling her all about our time in the boat house and Paris as I stroked her hair. Lexi often needed cheering up before we did deep discussions, like crying and talking was too much for her in one go, so I just went with it, hoping that she’d open up later. I went to get the door when I heard a knock and found Gabe with an armful of food.