Second Time Around (15 page)

“What? Wait. Hang on.” Halley held up her hand to stop him saying anything else as she tried to process what he had just said. After a few moments she dropped her hand and looked him in the eye. “You’re joking, right?”

“No, I’m serious,” Alec said earnestly as he took her by the hand. “Your mother, I mean Chantelle,” he corrected upon noticing a scowl appear on Halley’s forehead “has decided that she’s going to apply for custody of all the children. She won’t get it of course,” he added quickly upon seeing Halley’s expression morph into one of concern “But your case would be made stronger if you were married.”

Halley shook his hand off.

“So this proposal of yours is for a marriage of convenience?” she asked, trying not to examine why she felt disappointed at the thought.

Alec looked at her steadily.

“If that’s what you want,” he said.

Halley shifted Cassie to her other arm.

“But what about you? What do you want? What would you get out of it?” she asked. “This marriage you’re proposing can’t be all about me.”

“I would get a stay-at-home wife who would be there for Em,” Alec said. “That sounds wonderful to me.”

“What about sex?” Halley asked.

“I’m all for it,” Alec said with a grin.

Halley wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that.

“Seriously, don’t worry about it,” Alec said to break the silence when she didn’t reply. “It’s something we can talk about later.”

“I don’t think it is,” Halley replied.

Alec huffed out a breath.

“You want the truth?” he asked self-consciously and Halley nodded. “I’ve been celibate since I found out Miranda was having an affair. I’m not one for casual relationships and I hadn’t been looking for anyone to have anything meaningful with.”

He paused and Halley got the impression that what he was going to say next was going to be awkward. To his benefit he held her gaze when he spoke.

“I think you and I could have something special. If we gave it enough time perhaps we would want to take things further. I’d be more than willing to,” he added, just in case she had any doubt.

“But what if I didn’t want to?” Halley asked.

Alec shrugged and tried to hide the hurt he felt at hearing her words.

“Then we just marry in name only.”

As soon as Alec said it he knew it wasn’t true. If they married he would do everything he could to convince Halley to be his wife for real. But he wouldn’t tell her so. As far as he knew she had only had one sexual experience which she didn’t really remember. He didn’t want to say anything that had the potential to scare her off.

To his relief, Halley seemed to be giving his offer serious thought.

“If that’s the case then how long do you want to stay married?”

“We’ll stay married permanently,” he said firmly. If they married he fully intended for it to be for real and if they got that far he’d never let her go. But there was one exception. “The only reason I’d consider a divorce is if you had an affair.”

Halley didn’t know how to respond. He was offering her everything he thought she wanted.  The only thing holding her back was that he had seemed so indifferent as to whether they had a sexual relationship after they were married or not. In her current state she felt ungainly and unsexy and it would have been nice to have him want her as a woman more than as a housekeeper and child minder.

She told herself she was expecting too much. The day after their marriage Rob had told her during their argument that other than her money she didn’t have anything a real man would want.

Halley rubbed her belly and looked away.

“I’ll think about it,” she murmured.

Alec nodded. Inwardly her answer felt like a kick in the gut. But then what had he expected after such a lukewarm proposal, he silently chastised himself. Maybe he should have mentioned that he found her funny, caring and supportive and he loved her long legs, he thought acidly. Perhaps that would have got a more enthusiastic response.

Halley’s hand froze in place. Alec’s eyes dropped to her hand. “Is Junior kicking again?”

Halley didn’t even bother to wonder whether Alec was hinting at the baby’s gender because he used different names to refer to the baby every time.

“No. The skin just felt tight for a bit. I’m sure it’s nothing,” she said, sounding a little breathless. “It’s been happening now and then for the last few days. I doubt it’s anything to worry about.”

Alec took Cassie off her. Catching her eye to gain permission he slid his hand under the hem of her t-shirt. Her belly underneath his fingers felt taut and after several long seconds her skin relaxed.

“Come sit down,” he urged.

Halley waved him off.

“I’m fine. It’s probably just those Braxton-Hicks contractions,” she said.

“Do you want to phone the midwife?” Alec asked. He had already entered the midwife’s number into his phone weeks ago so that he would be ready for the occasion.

“Don’t waste her time. I’m fine,” Halley repeated.

Alec didn’t really believe her but did what he was told.

The next day Alec visited the jeweller’s shop that had advertised the ring that Halley had liked. The assistant had tried to talk him up to a flasher, more expensive version but he knew that it would be a challenge to meet the credit card payments on the one he had chosen so wasn’t interested despite the temptation.

On his way home, with the ring in his pocket he felt a lot more confident about bringing up his proposal again. Halley would see the ring and know he was sincere. He hoped that the ring would tell her what he wasn’t ready to put into words.

Feeling decidedly cheerful he let himself into her house. Through an open window somewhere he could hear the children playing with Buddy in the backyard and he hoped that they wore each other out.

“Halley?” he called softly as he made his way deeper into the house.

He heard a thump from upstairs and decided that she must be in the middle of cleaning up something. From the lounge he heard Cassie murmur so went in to check on her. At seven months she now slept through the night in her cot upstairs but during the day she sometimes napped in the playpen which had replaced the bassinette.

Alec strolled into the lounge. If Cassie started getting noisy the game outside would be abandoned because Casey would come inside to lift her out because Halley was now unable to bend far enough with her belly as big as it was. Alec didn’t want an audience for his proposal considering how well the last one went so was keen to settle Cassie down.

The mess in the lounge that greeted him was a shock. Boxes that had been set against the wall unopened for the entire time he had known Halley now had their contents spread across the floor. Clothing, knickknacks and paper were strewn in every direction and he found himself having to take care where he stepped so he didn’t accidentally break something.

Reaching Cassie, he was relieved to find her stroking the satin edging of her cuddly blanket in her sleep. One side of the playpen had a row of soft toys set up along it, probably Em’s handiwork, he thought.

From outside, a soccer ball came whizzing towards his head. Alec flinched as the ball thudded against the ranch slider and bounced away. Buddy barked in delight and took after it. As much as Alec was curious to see how the dog would deal with the ball when he reached it he had more pressing concerns.

Satisfied that the noise hadn’t disturbed Cassie he carefully made his way back through the lounge then up the stairs. At the top he heard Halley curse from a room on his right and found her in her bedroom.

Like downstairs the room looked like there had been a mini tornado inside it. Random items were spread in every direction and Halley was perched on the end of the bed trying to wedge a screwdriver between the base and lid of a jewellery box. Intent on her task, she didn’t notice him enter the room.

“Is everything all right?” Alec ventured when she dropped the screwdriver and swore.

Halley gave a start then looked up at him. Her eyes were red and puffy and there were smeared lines of mascara running down her cheeks. In the back of his mind he registered that she was wearing makeup, or Halley’s minimalist version of makeup which consisted of mascara and lipstick. In addition to that instead of her usual uniform of large t-shirt and drawstring pants she was wearing a maternity dress he hadn’t seen before. Knowing that she didn’t go to that effort when she expected to spend the day around the house, Alec wondered where she had been. He didn’t have to wonder for long.

“No nothing’s all right!” Halley wailed, tossing the screwdriver and jewellery box onto the bed in disgust.

Alec gingerly made his way through the pile of detritus on the floor and sat beside her.

“Do you want to tell me about it?” he offered, reaching into his pocket for his handkerchief. Halley accepted it, wiped her eyes then blew her nose in the hanky and handed it back. Trying to ignore the black smears on it, Alec stuffed it back into his pocket.

Halley dropped her head onto his shoulder and he found himself putting an arm around her. It felt good so he pulled her to him and wrapped her in his arms.

“The lawyer asked me to go and see him today,” she sniffled against his neck.

“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Alec murmured.

“Um, good and bad,” Halley prevaricated.

Alec tried to be patient as he waited for her to continue. It was difficult. Despite her huge belly pressed up against stomach he felt the stirrings of interest. It had been a long time since he had held a woman he desired and his body seemed to want to make up for lost time.

Reluctantly he set her back before she realised that her belly was also being poked from the outside.

“What’s the good news?” he asked to take his mind off the loss of contact.

Halley wiped at her eyes again.

“The insurance has come through so the mortgage on the house has been paid off. The lawyer’s going to arrange to have the payments I’ve made in the meanwhile repaid.”

“That’s good,” Alec agreed, thinking he wouldn’t mind being refunded several mortgage payments.

“That’s the only bit that’s good,” Halley said darkly. “The insurance came through a couple of months ago but because all of Paul and Krystal’s banking was online I never saw any statements so I’ve been making payments all this time. The lawyer said I was notified at the time the insurance settled the mortgage but I wasn’t.”

“But you just told me that the lawyer’s going to refund you so what’s the problem?” Alec asked.

“That’s when we get to the bad news,” Halley said shakily. She glanced at his face and Alec smiled gently, silently urging her to continue. “Chantelle’s applying for custody for all three children.”

“The lawyer told me that if she had just wanted one or two of the children he could have discouraged her but she seems to want all of them.” Halley let out a distressed breath as Alec’s smile froze. Unaware, Halley continued.

“Because she’s contesting the will the lawyer told me that he has to freeze all the assets until everything’s settled. That means I won’t get my money back until then.”

Alec swore under his breath.

“But that’s not all. Because the assets go with the children Chantelle claims that the ownership of the house is now in dispute. She maintains that unless she has equal access to the house and is able to stay here until things are settled I should move out.”

Halley took a deep breath.

“She’s only doing this because she wants to sift through this place at her leisure to find any items of value she can take with her whatever the outcome,” she said in disgust.

“I take it then that you won’t want her here even temporarily,” Alec said unnecessarily.

“No.” Halley gestured wildly at the huge mess she had made. “That’s why I’m searching for details of the bank account that Krystal set up in my name. I never told the lawyer about it because it is
my
money and I have signing rights despite Krystal’s name being on the account. I can use that money to rent elsewhere until Chantelle decides it’s too expensive to wait me out, gives up and goes home.”

“That sounds extreme,” Alec remarked mildly.

“Not when the alternative is to give Chantelle free reign of this house,” Halley growled. “If she comes across the bank account first she’ll claim it belonged to Krystal and the money involved will make it worth her while to see it out for as long as it takes,” she said in frustration. “She’ll suck me dry like she did last time then dump the children once there’s nothing in it for her. It’ll be history repeating itself.”

It was all his fault, Alec thought. If he had never put the idea into Chantelle’s head she would’ve only asked for custody of Corey and the lawyer would have sent her packing. He had to find some way to make everything right.

As he sat up straighter on the bed the side of his arm brushed an unfamiliar lump in his jacket pocket.
The ring
, he thought triumphantly. He would propose, they would marry and Halley and the children would move in with him and Em.