The Accidental Family (43 page)

“Quite right too,” Sophie said, and then, “Oh my god, I’m so happy.”

“I should have known it would be a fashion item that would make you happy,” Louis said, smiling.

“But what about invitations?” Sophie said suddenly. “We need to invite people in a couple of weeks, which means we need invites now.”

“I know,” Louis said. “And I’ve got the perfect idea for them. I’ll take a photo of all of us, the whole family. I’ll get my mate Steve down at the printer’s to print us up the invites with the photo on the front. We’ll be telling everyone that this is a new start, not just for you and for me, but for all of us. That we’re a family now and that’s the way it’s going to stay forever.”

“I love that idea,” Sophie said, reaching out to touch his face.

“I’m glad, because the girls and I have been talking. And there is one more person we’d like to ask to be in the photo.”

Sophie nodded. “Seth.”

Wendy’s house was remarkably unlike the bawdy bordello that Sophie had imagined. It was a modest duplex in a suburban part of Newquay, tastefully decorated in pastels and white. Her kitchen, where Sophie sat opposite Wendy as she sipped a cup of tea, was largely painted lemon yellow, with glittering white units. Wendy might be an evil old relationship wrecker, but it turned out that she liked to keep a clean home.

“Thanks for inviting me in,” Sophie said, keen to break the silence that hung in the air between them. “Louis would have come in too, but we thought that under the circumstances he and the girls had better stay in the car.”

Wendy nodded. “I can see why. I was going to call today anyway, to say thank you to you and Louis for helping sort things out with the police. When I got Seth home and he realized just exactly
what he’d done, all the thoughts that must have been going through your head and how frightened you must have been, he was gutted. He is gutted. He knows he’s blown it.”

“Blown it?” Sophie asked her. “What do you mean?”

“Blown getting to know Louis and his sisters; he knows that after yesterday there is no way you will want him anywhere near them.”

“But that’s not true,” Sophie said. “Yes it was stupid and frightening and if I’d had the chance to get my hands on him yesterday, then I probably would have killed him. But nothing has changed. He’s still Louis’s son, he’s still the girls’ brother. They—we—want him in our lives.”

“I see,” Wendy said, pursing her lips briefly. “Did Louis tell you?” she asked Sophie. “Only I think if we’re going to move on from this, then you should know.”

“Know what?” Sophie asked uneasily.

“In London, that second night, the night that he left you and came to help me. After the police had Seth, it was god knows what time, really late. Louis took me back to my B and B. I tried to get him to stay with me, tried to get him to come to bed with me. Threw myself at him really, made a right fool of myself. But he didn’t want anything to do with me, not even for a second. He told me he loved you, he told me he’d sleep in a chair downstairs, and he did, all night. I got into my bed and I thought about Seth in a police cell and Louis downstairs on the chair and it hit me, what a bloody stupid selfish cow I’d been, putting Seth and Louis and you through a lot of pain. I’m sorry, Sophie.”

Sophie sat back a little and glanced down at her lukewarm tea wondering if this was all some sort of evil mastermind confession and that in a second Wendy would announce she’d sweetened the tea with cyanide.

“You’re sorry?” Sophie felt it was best to check.

“I got angry and jealous and insecure. Angry that suddenly my nice stable little life was going to be turned on its head, jealous that you seemed to have everything I never had without even having to try, and furious that Louis was about to waltz into my son’s life, and get to be his dad without having to do any of the hard stuff, without having to go through the years and years of struggling that I did. It didn’t seem fair, and I blamed it all on you. It’s me Seth gets his rash and angry side from.”

“Oh, right,” Sophie said, cautiously. “I’m sorry, Wendy. I don’t know exactly what to say. I mean I know this must have been hard on you. But you’re the one who turned it into a fight over Louis; I still don’t really get that. Why?”

Wendy sighed. “Look, my life’s been what it’s been and I can live with that. It’s my choices that have brought me here. I chose not to tell Louis about Seth, although I think my dad probably had a lot to do with that. I chose to keep him when I could have had him adopted. And it’s been tough. Mum and Dad were there for me, but I never had those years of being young that everyone else had. No nights out down at the pub, no real boyfriends to speak of. It’s really hard to get a boyfriend when you’ve got a baby to look after. Never went to college. I loved Seth, with all of my heart. But I never felt like I lived my life. I didn’t realize it until I saw Louis again.”

“You’ve been through a lot,” Sophie agreed. “Seth told me how much he admires you, how much you’ve done for him. I don’t know if that quite gives you the right to try and steal my fiancé.”

“I know that now,” Wendy said and shrugged. “When I saw Louis that day, all of those carefree teenage feelings came back to me, the way I felt with him, how happy I was, and I suddenly realized that I had his son. I didn’t want those feelings coming up and dragging me down again. I’d gotten used to my life, I was content. But then you saw us at the fair and put two and two together and I
realized I didn’t have a choice anymore. I’d have to face the way I used to feel about him. And I thought I wanted those feelings back, I thought I wanted him back. I used this whole thing with Seth to try and get him back. I thought the more time he spent with me and worried about Seth, the more likely it was that he’d start to feel about me the way he used to. But that was never going to happen. He was never going to leave you. I’m sorry.”

Sophie nodded. “Well, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry too for turning your life upside down when you asked me not to.”

“I don’t suppose you had a choice,” Wendy said.

Sophie shrugged. “I probably didn’t have to do it quite so abruptly. I’m the one who started this whole roller coaster. I’m sorry for that.”

The two women sat in silence for a moment and Sophie looked toward the front door, thinking of Louis and the girls waiting in the car.

“What about Seth?” Sophie said. “Will he come down? I’d really like to talk to him.”

Wendy went to the foot of the stairs and called up them.

“Seth, come down and talk to Sophie, love. Come on, she’s not angry.”

Sophie waited for the heavy footfall on the stairs and finally Seth emerged into the bright kitchen, the sleeves of his sweater pulled down over his fingers. His eyes looked red rimmed and swollen; he looked pale, scared, and very, very young.

“Hello,” he said, unable to look Sophie in the eye as he sat down at the breakfast bar. Wendy put the kettle on.

“Are you okay?” Sophie asked him gently.

“I am,” he said. “I’m fine—are
you
okay? I’m so sorry about what happened. No one at the school said I couldn’t take the girls. I mean I thought if it was a problem, they would have stopped me. But no one did.”

“I know,” Sophie said. “Look, I’m not going to pretend that yesterday wasn’t the most horrible, stressful, and sickening two hours of my life ever, but I understand why you did it, I think. And Louis understands too. We just want to put it behind us all and move on.”

“I know,” Seth said. “And you don’t have to worry. I won’t be hanging around anymore. I’ll stay away, I promise.”

“No …we don’t want you to stay away. We want to get to know you …if that’s okay with you. I know it will be really strange to begin with, but Louis is a good man and a great dad and …” Sophie glanced at Wendy. “I’m going to marry him on New Year’s Eve.”

“That’s quick,” Wendy said. “You pregnant?”

“Yes I am, actually,” Sophie said, making Wendy spit out her tea. “But that’s not why we’re getting married. We’re getting married because we love each other.”

Seth grinned and then his face fell. “God, you’re pregnant and I put you through all that; I’m such a sod.”

“Well, it wasn’t your finest moment, but I’m fine and the baby’s fine and now we all want to move on. Focus on the wedding and the baby. Focus on this strange and wonderful new family that we’re creating and which will hopefully include you.” She looked at Wendy. “Both of you.”

Seth and Wendy exchanged glances, the meaning of which Sophie couldn’t quite determine.

“I came here to ask both of you to the wedding, and Seth— Louis and I would love it if you would be in our wedding-invitation photo along with me and Louis and his other children. Would you think about it at least?”

“Where is he?” Seth asked her.

“He’s in the car with the girls,” Sophie said. “We didn’t want to rush you or crowd you. I think you’ve had a bit much of that recently.”

“They can come in for a bit if you like, can’t they, Mum?” Seth asked Wendy. “Have a cup of tea?”

Wendy nodded. “Of course,” she said. “Of course they can.”

“I said I’d teach the girls to whistle,” Seth explained. “Got to start somewhere. It’s a complicated business, whistling.”

“I’ll go and get them,” Sophie said with a smile. Glancing at his mother, Seth followed her into the hallway and stopped her at the door.

“Listen, Sophie, this person you’ve seen, the person who kisses his dad’s fiancée, gets drunk, gets into brawls, and wanders off with his kid sisters, that’s not me. That’s not all of me, anyway. It is a part of me, but it’s a part I’m sorting out, you know, getting under control.”

“I know you are,” Sophie said.

“Being a big brother is going to be cool,” Seth told her. “Having little kid sisters to be there for and another one too, maybe it’ll be a boy and me and Louis will be able to take it fishing and stuff.”

“Do you like fishing?” Sophie asked him in surprise.

“Can’t stand it, but that’s big brother territory, isn’t it?” Seth replied with a smile.

“I don’t know,” Sophie said. “This is new for me too, you know. Brothers, fathers, being a mother. I think the best thing you and I can do is take one step at a time and see how we go.”

“I’m up for that,” Seth said as he opened the door and waved at Louis and the girls in the car. “I’m definitely up for that.”

Epilogue

I’ve seen worse, I suppose,” Cal said as Sophie stepped out from behind the screen in her wedding gown.

“What? Shut up,” Carmen cried, crossing the bridal suite to take Sophie’s hand in hers. “Oh, darling, you look beautiful. That dress is so perfect. You’d hardly know you were five months gone.”

“I don’t care if they do,” Sophie said, turning to look at herself in the mirror and smoothing the cream silk over her bump. “I want the whole world to know.”

“You look like a princess.” Izzy oohed as she ran into the room, followed closely by her sister, both of them wearing dresses made out of yards and yards of dusky rose net, each with a pair of specially made beaded wings attached to their backs.

“No, like a queen,” Bella said. “And we’re your princesses and we especially like the buttons.”

It had been Bella’s idea to sew some of the buttons from Mrs. Stiles’s box onto Sophie’s and her and Izzy’s dresses. She had come
to Sophie about a week earlier and opened her cupped hands to reveal a treasure trove of mismatched cream, ivory, silver, pink, and pale blue buttons that together looked like a Cornish sky at sunset.

“I had a thought,” Bella had said carefully. “These buttons used to be Mummy’s and now they are ours, and I thought if we put them on your dress, then it would be like Mummy was there with us too, wouldn’t it? And it would be something borrowed—like you’re supposed to have at a wedding. And some of the buttons are old and some of them are new and there are two blue ones, so it would be awfully lucky as well as nice. I could stick them on with glue if you like.”

Sophie had been so touched that she had called the dress designer immediately and taken the girls down there that afternoon. Although she’d drawn the line at letting the girls loose with glue anywhere near her cream silk, they had worked with the designer to adorn their dresses with the buttons, and the effect was a beautiful, original, and unique design.

As Sophie ran her hands over them, she felt for a second as if her old friend was in the room with her, holding her hand.

“And how do I look?” Cal asked, gesturing to his suit, which had been dyed to exactly match the bridesmaids’ dresses.

“You look nice too,” Bella told him. “Even if I’m not sure about a boy as a bridesmaid.”

Christina handed Sophie a glass of water. “I’d like to offer you champagne, but, well, what with the bump, water will have to do.”

There was a knock at the door, which Carmen went to answer.

She picked up Sophie’s bouquet of pink winter roses and handed it to her.

“They are all ready for you out there. Are you ready, darling?” she asked. “Ready for a new year, a new life, a new baby, a new husband?”

“I am,” Sophie said, looking at the door. “I am so very ready.”

•      •      •

The candlelight was reflected in the chandeliers, making the room glitter and sparkle as Sophie slowly walked down the aisle on her mother’s arm. Izzy and Bella walked in front of her, supposedly to scatter rose petals but actually waving at people, and in Izzy’s case stopping for a chat when she saw Grace Tregowan and holding everything up for a few seconds.

Then finally Sophie found herself standing opposite Louis, Bella and Izzy on either side of her, and a rather nervous Seth at Louis’s shoulder, clutching the rings.

“I didn’t think you could look more beautiful,” Louis said. “I was wrong.”

“We’re here,” Sophie whispered as the celebrant prepared to start the ceremony. “We’re doing this at last. You and I are getting married!”

And it seemed like a dream to Sophie as she stood in the candlelight with all her family and friends around her, Izzy’s hand tucked into hers as Louis made his wedding vows, Bella standing by her side, her arm around Sophie’s waist. She saw Grace Tregowan and Mrs. Alexander sitting in the front, Grace resplendent in red and Mrs. Alexander plowing her way through a box of tissues. She saw her mother standing behind her, determined not to cry, and Trevor waiting for her a few rows back with what Sophie happened to know was an engagement ring in a box in his pocket, because earlier that morning he’d come and asked her if she would mind if he proposed to her mother while they were down in Cornwall.