Designs on the Billionaire

by Meg MacRose

  “Mother, this is Nicholas Silverton. His Mother is Joanna, apparently.” Lacey almost spat out the words before she continued with more warmth. “Our daughter is outside playing.” Her Mother remained rigid and silent as her harsh eyes sent out daggers to her daughter. If looks could kill, Lacey knew that she would have been killed many times in the last five minutes.

  The mention of Therese brought a collection of discrete gasps from the attentive women rivetted at the back of the room. Not from the two grandmothers though. They both remained stoic and defiant.

  Right then, a peel of child’s laughter from outside rang and cut through the deafening silence in the room. Almost every head turned to the shrieks and shrills to see a very happy little girl playing horsey with her grandfather on the green manicured lawns.

  “Therese,” Nick sighed with a smile. His eyes were sincere and kind as he looked at Lacey. She smiled wryly back at him. She had been over the top with her mother, but she couldn’t help herself.

  Their mothers had epitomised exactly what she had argued all this time. They were women who would prefer to stand in ceremony and pomp than show any affection to their own family members.

  “Come on. This way.” Nicks warm strong hand grabbed her own. Without a word or a backward glance to the still silent group of women, Nick led her through a side door to join the squeaks and squeals outside.

  “Mummy. Daddy.” Their daughter’s delight at their return was as if they’d been away for weeks and not mere minutes.

  Lacey’s heart lifted as she regarded the scene in front of her.

  “Giddy up, Grandad.”

  The sight of Therese calmed the anger Lacey had felt inside. She watched as her daughter bounced up and down on her grandfather as he crawled on all fours along the grass.

  Nick’s hand was still clasped in her own, and at the sight of the horsey play, he pulled Lacey in closer, his arm wrapping around her shoulders, providing a protective barrier from the women in the room behind them.

  “I’m sorry Lacey. I’m not going to make any excuses for what just transpired in that room.”

  Lacey didn’t even bother to reply with an, “I told you so.” It wasn’t necessary. Besides, Nick was likely dealing with his genuine disappointment over his own mother’s attitude. Lacey’s expectations had been low to start with, so she hadn’t fallen as far as he had.

  She hadn’t expected to see her mother sitting in the room; though, she might have guessed she and Nick’s mother ran in similar social circles. She probably should have considered the possibility of them knowing each other. Lacey was nearly certain that if she hadn’t spotted her and called out to her, her mother would have stayed in the background, silent, quite comfortable with ignoring her presence and continuing with her mindless chatter.

  Nick’s father relieved himself of his horsey duties and walked over to where they stood. Therese, left to her own devices started to practice her attempt at cartwheels on the grass.

  After a quick glance at Nick’s still-thunderous expression, Andy said, “So it didn’t go well then, son? I’m sorry. I really am. I was convinced that she’d at least make an effort with young Therese here. You have a swell little girl there. I don’t think I’ve done so much exercise in a long time! And on the lawns too” He looked over to Lacey to quickly explain his comment. “These lawns have always been out of bounds to physical activity. They’re manicured which apparently makes them special. But I couldn’t say no to my little princess over there when she ran out onto them!”

  His eyes crinkled with joy as he watched granddaughter fall on her knees from her latest lopsided and floppy attempt to cartwheel.

  Lacey looked back over her shoulder. The bleak grim faces that remained on both older women were visible through the window. Their frowns at the free and playful antics on the lawn served as a reminder of Lacey’s childhood. She turned back away from them, the sting from her Mother’s stare burning her back. She much preferred to watch Therese play on the lawn, not the looks of dismay or sneers because once again she didn’t live up to social expectations or conform to her Mother’s view of the world.

  The stark contrast between Nick’s parents was blatant. Poor Nick. It must be a difficult job for a child to juggle the different demands. Although the question that stuck in Lacey’s head was why on earth Andy stayed with Joanna. He seemed to be a genuinely nice and warm-hearted person. It was important that both Andy and Nick knew that Lacey didn’t see Joanna’s cold stoniness as a reflection on them. Besides, her own mother was just as bad as Joanna.

  “Please, you must come out to our home for lunch one day. Therese would love to show you her toys.” Lacey was genuine as she proffered the invitation. Andy’s face lit up at the request, gratitude shining from his eyes.

  “I’d like that. Thanks.” Andy’s voice was gruff, and Lacey thought she heard a sob swallowed as he spoke.

  Nick squeezed her shoulder. She wasn’t sure if it was a squeeze of approval or one of thanks. Either way, it didn’t matter. It would be nice for Therese to build up a relationship with Andy.

  Therese’s typical kid ears that had perfect selective hearing, overheard the offer to Andy and raced up, all excited. “Hey Grandad, say yes, say yes. We can play with my ponies. And my Mum makes the best lasagne in the whole wide world.” Therese jumped up and down with the kind of enthusiasm that only kids could amass.

  “I’d love to, Sweetie. Would you mind if it was sooner than later? I’m rather keen to get to know you both much better.”

  “We’d love you to. We’ve not got anything planned for the school holidays, so it’s pretty much, pick a day!” Lacey said.

  She watched as a curious look passed from father to son. An unspoken question.

  “I was planning to reveal it on the drive home—something else to look forward to.” Nick’s response to his father was a puzzle to her.

  “Am I missing something here?” Lacey asked.

  Nick squeezed her shoulder and the tender look he gave her made her heart lurch. “I promise it’s nothing bad. Dad knew that I was making plans for doing something special for us in the holidays, that’s all. You can look over it first before we tell Therese if you want. But I can promise you, you’ll love it.”

  She hesitated and nibbled her lip.

  “I trust you, Nick. I don’t need to inspect anything. I’m sure whatever you have organised Therese will love.”

  Lacey looked up at him, swamped by emotion. He really had turned out to be a wonderful father for Therese.

  Chapter 16

  Therese waved frantically out the back window as the car snaked along the driveway.

  “My Grandad is really the nicest grandad in the whole wide world.” She declared with fervour.

  Lacey nodded. “I have to agree with you. He’s a pretty super person.”

  Nick beamed down at them with pleasure, his eyes glistening.

  “Daddy? What was the surprise that you were going to tell us in the car?” Therese demanded. Had she been standing, Lacey was sure her daughter would have had her hands on her hips to match the persistent look on her face.

  “I didn’t realise you heard that,” Nick replied with a humorous lilt to his voice.

  “Well … I have an envelope in that little alcove over there. And in that envelope are some tickets,” Nick continued, half teasing and half laughing.

  Even Lacey was intrigued. She had no idea what he had planned, though she loved the anticipation that he’d been building. Therese was in a frenzy of excitement.

  “Tickets? Can we pleeeease see the tickets?” Therese asked, sweetness dripping from her voice.

  Nick leaned over and retrieved the large dark green envelope from the alcove. With slow precision, Nick pretended to examine the envelope with dramatic flair, holding it up in the air.

  “Open it, open it!” the girls both squealed in unison.

  Lacey, energised and thrilled with the surprise, glanced up and connected with Nick’s shining eyes. The
smile he gave her electrified her, her heart soaring.

  With slow precision, Therese and Nick peeled open the envelope together. Nick shook out a variety of colourful shiny tickets onto a delighted Therese’s lap. Lacey didn’t recognise any of the tickets, but they didn’t look like airline tickets, which is what she had expected.

  Therese held up one set of tickets, a bundle of three orange, blue and yellow tickets stapled together. “What are these tickets for?”

  “These my lovely girl will allow you, your Mum and myself to go and watch a play in one of the coolest theatres in London, a play that I know you will enjoy because you have the book and have asked me many times to read it to you.”

  Nick passed over the theatre tickets to Lacey to inspect. An amateur production of The Unicorn’s Trumpet at one of the larger, though not touristy theatres, in London. The idea that Nick had chosen a show that he knew his daughter would enjoy, without it needing to be in a flashy or swanky theatre left Lacey feeling oddly breathless, the butterflies in her stomach returning full force. Lacey was very conscious that a lot of thought had gone into planning a special experience.

  “There’s more tickets. What’s this one?” Therese questioned as she unfolded a sheet of embossed paper.

  “That’s where we’ll be staying. It’s a pretty fun hotel designed so that kids can have fun. We have a family room, there’s a heated swimming pool, a kid’s beanbag café and lots of great activities.”

  “Oh wow. That’s amazing. I’ve never stayed at a hotel before. Adda has and said it was the best. Does it have an elevator? Adda said that hotels have elevators.” Therese’s eyes were as wide as saucers as she held the piece of paper as if it were the most special parchment ever made.

  “Indeed, there are glass elevators so that you can look around you.” Nick’s smile broadened as he looked back to Lacey. “We’re booked into the family suite for four nights but can amend it if you prefer more or less.”

  “I’m impressed. This is all perfect. Just perfect.” Lacey exhaled in one long slow breath. “Just perfect.”

  “Mummy, there’s some more tickets. Look at this one, what’s this for?”

  Lacey held out her hand. “This one is for the aquarium. See the fishies on the ticket? That will be exciting. I think they have sea cows at the aquarium, and they are the oddest creature that you’ll ever see!”

  Lacey put her hand out and tickled her daughter who squealed with delight.

  “And the last set of tickets is for a private night-time river cruise down the Thames with a really yummy meal and a magician. Actually, we’re spending our last night on the river.”

  “Thanks, Nick.” Lacey looked away, wanting to hide the gratitude that almost bordered on adoration she knew would be reflected in her eyes. She wasn’t sure. It wasn’t the fun adventures he’d organised. It was the rules and boundaries that she had set in place regarding their relationship that she wasn’t sure about. Not completely. Maybe keeping space between them was the right thing to do. Or maybe Nick meant more to her than simply being Therese’s father. Although the fact remained, they had just come from his parent’s house which oozed of the class and status that she wanted no part of. How much of that rigid judgemental system would rub off on Therese if she allowed Nick into her heart No, she’d made the right choice. She needed to keep her barriers up. She had to believe that.

  “Lacey?” Nick whispered, his eyes darting to the slumbering frame sitting between them. Therese had fallen fast asleep with the tickets clasped in her little closed fist.

  “She’s had a big day. Meeting her grandfather, who I must say is wonderful. And then the excitement of all these remarkable and wonderful tickets. Nick, what you have organised here is truly marvellous. Everything is totally appropriate for Therese. I am speechless. It’s just great. And I have to admit that I am also very much looking forward to our trip to London.”

  Nick’s chuffed look on his face pulled Lacey’s heart strings. He’d obviously gone to a lot of effort to arrange it all.

  “Hey, Lace. I have a question for you. I don’t mean to pry, but I really didn’t expect your Mother to be best buddies with my own. …”

  “Yeah. I was wondering when you’d ask about that. I always said that I don’t belong in your world of wealth and status and stuff. And believe me I don’t. It’s not though because I grew up in a different environment. It’s because I was part of that gentrified classist regime. I rebelled against it through most of my teenage and early adult years. I was much the disappointment to my Mother. When I found out I was pregnant, I knew I had to protect my unborn child from the ridiculousness of it all, the judgements, the arbitrary discriminations. I still believe that I don’t belong in that world.”

  She looked up at Nick, her mouth tightened, and her eyes flashed. “I still feel that way Nick. I don’t belong and neither does Therese.”

  The declaration in such clear and simple terms felt like a finality. Lacey’s chest was swamped with misery at what that prospect could mean. She didn’t want to insult Nick, and it was important that he understood her views.

  She was losing him, she was sure. Not that she had ever ‘had’ him. The thought terrified her.

  “Lacey …. Lacey.” Nick’s voice was soft and even. “I think you have looked at our situation with clouded judgement. You assume that I am your Mother, or that I am my own Mother. But at what point in the last few months did you have to pull me aside and say that’s not the way I do things? … May I refresh you? Perhaps never?”

  “Nick. I never meant … well maybe I did. I don’t know how to answer.”

  Lacey’s insides were churning with realisation. First, Nick wasn’t screaming at her. Also, what he said was true. He’d never acted like some superior being who needed his daughter to act in a certain way or befriend kids with status surnames.

  Little rays of hope glimmered as silent tears moistened her cheeks.

  “I’m not going to say that I’ll always do things right. But the very first time I came into your home, I was accepted for who I was – Therese’s father. There was no status, no class, no surname, no wealth. Therese has no interest in all of that. I have found something in your home that I didn’t know I was yearning for. My own family. I realised pretty quickly, that is what I want in my life. It wasn’t a rebound effect from breaking up with Diana. Believe me, nothing could be further from the truth.”

  Nick’s finger reached over their sleeping daughter and wiped away Lacey’s tears.

  “The thing is, I adore my daughter. She has very quickly become the centre of my universe. But I also adore her mother. She is beautiful inside and out. The fact that she rides a motorbike – and I haven’t told you yet, but so do I, only life got in the way, so it’s been a while since I rode one. “

  Her eyes sparkled, and she clung to his hand as he wiped the tears away.

  “Nick, I’m scared. I walked away from my parents when they disowned me. But I was always a disappointment. By walking away from that kind of life, I could be the person I wanted to be.”

  “You can still be that person. You can be that person with me. We can do it together. To be honest, I really like your approach. I assumed your simple lifestyle where you walk Therese to school, and you shop at markets was because you couldn’t afford otherwise, or you didn’t know anything else. But learning that you’ve had all the material wealth in your own childhood, and yet you’ve opted for creating a home for our daughter that is based on affection and quality time, has me yearning to be let into your world too. You wouldn’t believe how much I look forward to Friday nights. Playing boardgames and eating homemade lasagne—nothing makes me happier.”

  “I know your life in London is important to you. I don’t want the life I’ve chosen to live to restrict you. …”

  “And it won’t. I want part of your life. I want to change my working schedule so I’m in the city less and at home more. I want you to be happy, I want us, as a family, to be happy.”

 
Lacey held her breath as she tried to formulate an answer.

  “I want us to be happy too, Nick,” she admitted quietly.

  “Let me love you. Give me a chance to prove to you that we can do it together.”

  She bit her lip. “I’m afraid.” She gazed at him, her eyes still filled with tears, also glistened with a fragile hope. “But yes. Let’s try it. Let’s be a family.”

  Nick smiled broadly. “Oh Lacey. You won’t regret a single minute. I promise.” Nick leaned over and kissed her on the lips.

  “I just have one thing I need to say. I’ve been so afraid because my feelings for you terrified me. I’ve decided that you are very persistent and patient, and a wonderful father for our daughter, and that I love you.”

  The way that he gazed back at her, it was as if he could read her every thought. Not long ago that would have scared her witless, but now she found comfort.

  Nick wrapped his hand around hers and pressed his palm to her pounding chest. “Lacey. I love you and Therese with all my heart.”

  She could already envision their future, and it was going to be a happy one. They could be happy together. The empty place in her heart where she had never planned to get into a relationship had been submerged with love. She didn’t need any barriers or boundaries. She could trust her heart. She could trust Nick with all of her heart.

  THE END

  About the Author

  Meg MacRose writes her books from a room at the bottom of her garden. Meg can often be found talking out loud to herself as she discovers her characters and writes her books. Sometimes when the doors are open, the Australian native birds gather to listen.

  Well, actually, that last sentence may not be completely true.

  Here are some real facts about Meg:

  Lucky enough to be living in a quintessential Australian coastal town, Meg lives with her husband and three young children amongst an enviable garden filled with Australian wildlife.