Seasons of Fate (20 page)

  
‘I’ll print these off for you both, your tests will be sent off and unless we have any issues I will see you next month for a routine check up. It was nice to meet you both and congratulations again’ the doctor left, and we sat in silence for a minute before I jumped down to re dress.

  
‘I can’t believe it, we’re having a boy.’ Mase said it with such a sweet tone in his voice, I couldn’t help but giggle at him.

  
‘Your so cute, are you happy babe?’

  
‘Are you kidding love? I’m floating right now. Did you hear what he said about fate? I told you, we are meant to be together and our son was meant to be born. You know, he’s starting to show. We should think about announcing this soon, I need to contact my family.’

  
‘Why don’t you ask them to come over? Neutral ground and all that. Things must have calmed down by now, even if they think I’m a succubae just after your money.’ I smiled to ease his tension and he laughed back.

  
‘Your amazing, after everything that you’ve been through, everything they said you can still joke about it. I love you.’

  
‘I love you too. Your so beautiful right now, your kind of glowing. I thought that was supposed to be me. Oh well pregnant fathers can glow I suppose. I can’t wait to show Lily these new pictures, there so clear.’

  
‘Yea, come on, let’s get going. I’m taking you to lunch before we pick Lily up.’

We walked out hand in hand, I made my next appointment and we left. Luckily the car park was underground so we had no issues leaving the building.

   The next few days were made up of organising Lily
’s 5
th
Birthday, she didn’t want anything extravagant just family, but she did ask if Mel was coming, I left that question to Mason. He’d been trying to organise his family’s trip to the UK, but he had told them Lily had requested it for her birthday. They seemed to accept this but I wasn’t sure things were going to go smoothly once they found out about the baby, and judging by my bump, one look and they would know. Our son seemed to be thriving, Lily made sure to sing to him everyday. It was her way of taking part, I knew she would love him unconditionally, it was just who she was. We had arranged to pick up Mason’s parents from a private airport, his sister would arrive the day before Lily’s birthday giving him time to discuss everything that had happened with them. We did discuss whether I should go with him to pick them up but he decided against it.

  
‘I want to talk to them alone before we arrive home. I need to make sure they understand my position and what I will or will not accept ok. I don’t want you to get upset.’

  
‘I understand. I have to finish off lunch anyway. See you soon, love you.‘

  
‘Love you too. Lily, I won’t be long.’

  
‘Bye Daddy.’ We all froze until she walked out the room. It was so natural for her to say. John and Lys smiled at us before John spoke.

  
‘She’s been wanting to say that for a while. I guess she thought it was time.’

  
‘She’s talked to you about this? Mase are you ok with it?’

  
‘Are you kidding me? I’m speechless. I couldn’t be happier. When did you talk with her John?’

  
‘Oh back in the States mate, she was quite adamant that you were her new daddy and was unhappy that she didn’t get to say it sooner. Our little girl is growing up, it brings a tear to my eye.’

I smiled and giggled out loud. Mason smiled and just laughed, Lys pushed John smiling. It was a great start to our day, whether it stayed that way was another question.

   Mase left nearly two hours ago. I knew he was safe, because he
’d text me several times along the way so I assumed that things were not going well with his parents and he was trying to calm things down before bringing them here. Before I had time to contemplate things the front door opened and I heard voices in the hallway. I slowly walked out but hung back. Mase had brought in several bags and was just closing the door when Lily bound down the stairs screaming ‘daddy’ to say his parents looked shocked was an understatement but it gave me a sudden feeling on happiness to watch them take in the scene.

  
‘Hey princess where’s mom?’

  
‘In the kitchen. Daddy, what should I call them?’ She whispered in his ear although we could all hear her.

  
‘Umm,’ before he could respond Gaby snuck in with

  
‘Sweetie you can call us Gaby and Henry.’ Lily’s face dropped and Mase looked furious. I was just disappointed. What would they say when they found out I was pregnant.

  
‘Princess why don’t you go tell John and Lys that our guests have arrived and I’ll check on mom.’

  
‘Ok’ she jumped down and ran up the stairs before disappearing. I was about to walk back in the kitchen until I heard Mase raise his voice

  
‘Are you always going to be so selfish and unfeeling, that little girl was trying to make you feel like family and you basically told her not to bother. How dare you? We talked about this in the car.’

  
‘Sweetheart I didn’t mean anything by it, but she’s not our granddaughter, so why confuse her!’

  
‘I’m not confusing her, she feels like mine, and she called me daddy all by herself with no prompting. It was just natural for her, how do you not see that? Just out of curiosity, when we have children will you want to be grandparents or will you still treat them like outsiders?’

  
‘Son that’s enough. We haven’t been unreasonable. We’re here aren’t we because that little girl asked for us? You can’t expect us to suddenly become grandparents.’

  
‘Yes I can because…..’ Before he could announce the baby I called him into the kitchen pretending to need his help. I knew he would regret it if he told them in the midst of an argument.

  
‘Hey love, is everything ok?’

  
‘Babe, I’m glad your back, sorry but I couldn’t let you blurt out our news in the middle of all that. I think I’m going to change so we can hide my bump for a little bit longer. I don’t want to upset them any further and ruin Lily’s first real birthday party.’

  
‘I understand. I’m sorry you heard any of that shit.’

  
‘No it’s fine. Why don’t you show them to the spare bedroom so they can rest up before lunch.’

  
‘Wow, your really are too good to be true. Slip away up the back stair and I’ll bring them up in a few minutes that should give you time to change.’

I didn
’t blink twice before I quickly made my way up to our bedroom to change. Lys slipped in behind me so I told her what was going on and she helped me find the perfect top to hide everything. By the time I walked back downstairs, Gaby, Henry and Mason were talking with John. Lily stayed off to the side with a doll, Lys came in behind me and introduced herself before sitting next to Lily. I plastered a smile on my face before greeting them.

  
‘Hello, it’s nice to see you both again. Thanks for coming, Lily was excited to invite you. I hope you’re both settled in… I’m just going to make sure lunch in nearly ready.’

I walked out repeating my greeting in my head, even to me it sounded forced and wooden. Well who could blame me? I felt his arms circle my waist and then move to rub my belly.

   ‘You look great, good enough to eat.’ I giggled

  
’Thanks for your hospitality, I know this is hard for you.’

  
‘It’s only hard because of what they think of me, and now Lily, but I would do anything to make you happy babe. It won’t kill me for a few days, besides you can make it up to me later.’ I giggled again and he kissed my neck sending shivers up my spine, a throat clearing stopped anything before it could get too heated.

  
‘I wondered if you needed any help, Mason you’ve been gone a while.’

  
‘I was having some private time with Summer, is that ok with you!’

Oh God, I think I beamed beetroot at the suggestion but Mase didn
’t move from his position wrapped around me. Gaby just looked at us before walking away. This was going to be a very tense few days.

Chapter 18

Summer

   The next few days were spent at home or shuttling Mason’s parents around Brecon and the surrounding areas making sure they had the full experience even though we hadn’t even had the chance to explore yet. They didn’t really attempt to clear the air, so we just tolerated each other. Mase made sure nobody told them about the baby but I knew it wouldn’t take much for us to slip up, especially when Gaby seemed to watch me like a hawk. Before I knew it we were back at the airport picking up Mel. Mase was so quiet on the drive, I had no idea why or what he was thinking.

  
‘Baby…. What’s going on in that gorgeous head of yours?’

  
‘Huh….oh sorry love I was just wondering how bad tomorrow will be or whether they can hold it together for Lily’s birthday. I mean it, if they start anything I don’t know what I’ll do, what I mean is I’m already on a thin line where I feel like I want to snap.’

  
‘Hey, hey… its ok. I doubt they came all the way here to cause a problem. Overall they’ve been great with Lily. I don’t think they would upset her purposely, do you? I mean really.’

  
‘Well if you had asked me that 3 months ago I would have said no without question but now, I….I just don’t know.’

  
‘Its going to be fine, trust me.’

I can
’t believe I even said that out loud. I didn’t believe it, how the hell was I going to convince him to believe it. We arrived at the private airstrip about 10 minutes later, the plane had already landed and Mel was going through customs. When she eventually came out we stepped out of the car and waited. She slowed down before reaching us, and gave us an odd look before stopping in front of us.

  
‘Mason…it’s so good to see you, Summer. How’ve you been?’ Mason didn’t respond so I stepped in

  
‘Mel, it’s good to see you. Lily is looking forward to seeing you. Thank you for coming for her birthday.’

  
‘I was so happy when you called Mason, it’s a pleasure to be here for Lily,’ before I could utter another word Mase confronted his sister.

  
‘Ok…. lets cut the crap Mel, Mom and Dad are here but its not exactly pleasant, My only concern is making sure Lily gets the birthday she asked for so if you plan to fuck this up you may as well turn around and go home.’

Ok so he wasn
’t happy, tears seemed to pop into Mel’s eyes, before she could respond he turned and walked back to the car.

  
‘I’m sorry Mel, he’s been trying to keep everyone happy and I think he just needs some time.’

  
‘It doesn’t matter, our relationship will never be the same, and it’s your fault.’

Before I could respond she turned and walked toward the car. The drive home was so quiet, you could cut the tension with a knife. When we finally arrived home, I breathed a sigh of relief. I could escape to our room before anything else was said. Mel was met by Gaby and Henry. I decided now was a good time to disappear, Mase walked in behind everyone and didn
’t even glance their way. He walked up the stairs and slammed the bedroom door behind him. I didn’t need to turn around to know his family were burning a hole in the back of my head so I just carried on up the stairs toward our bedroom. I could hear his pacing before I even opened the door.

   ‘I’m so pissed off right now, I thought it was best to leave before I kicked off, sorry love.’

  
‘Stop apologising, I’m sure if you talked to them it would clear the air. Please babe, I can’t stand the way things are with your family. Please will you talk to them?’ He lifted his head and looked right into my eyes. I felt like he was searching for an answer.

  
‘Ok…I’ll talk to them. I’m doing this for you, and Lily.’

  
‘Thanks. I think I will see if anybody wants to pop into town for an hour.’

  
‘Nice. That’s probably best, at least if anything is said, Lily won’t be in ear shot.’

  
‘Yea, call if you need me, love you.’

  
‘Love you too, all of you,’ he snuck in before I walked out to find Lily and my friends. When I explained what had happened and what was happening with his family, John and Lys jumped at the chance to leave. Lily just thinks we are going out shopping, I didn’t contradict her. We did do a little last minute shopping, and had an ice cream before finally deciding to go home. Mase hadn’t called or text so I assumed all had gone well. Was I ever wrong.

   I could hear raised voices from the car, before we even got out. My friends gave me a discreet look, Lily on the other hand couldn’t hide her confusion.