When they arrived home, Max headed into the kitchen and put the kettle on. “Do you mind if I go for a walk?” she asked.
He looked at her quizzically, “Sure, that’s fine, I’ll come with you.”
“No,” she held her hand up to stop him “I just need to be alone for a few minutes. I won’t be long, I promise.” With that she headed out of the door. He called after her, “Are you okay, baby?” but she didn’t hear.
She contemplated walking to the beach, but instead she headed up the hill to the woods at the top. The cold wind cooled her thoughts. When she arrived at the woods it was even colder than she’d expected. The leaves crumbled beneath her feet. Autumn was knocking on the door. She took a seat on one of the picnic benches and looked out across to the sea in the distance. This place was home. The home where she would raise her own family with Max by her side.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket with a message from Polly. It was asking where she was. Apparently, she was round at her house and was worried. She quickly texted her back, telling her she’d be back in a few minutes.
“Where have you been? What have you been doing?” Polly demanded.
“Whoa there, Poll, I just needed a little fresh air,” Susan said, hanging her coat up. “You don’t need to worry, I'm fine – I’m more than fine.”
Max walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her. “Are you sure?
She smiled “Who wants a brew?”
Beth walked over and sat down at the table. “I’ll have one, please.” She winked at Susan conspiratorially. “I was thinking that as you’re further along than what we thought, we should maybe go and do some baby shopping. What do you think?”
“That would be lovely, Beth, thank you.” She kissed her on the cheek and whispered in her ear.
Beth gave her a smile. “You’re welcome.”
“Leave the coffee for me, I’ve got to go. I have a date!”
“What do you mean, a date? With who? Where are you going? And, why wasn’t I told?” Susan couldn’t get her questions out quick enough.
“Well you know Dillon at the garage?” Polly blushed. Susan nodded curiously. “I dropped my car off at the garage the other day and he quizzed Max for my number.
He rang me this morning.”
Susan giggled. “Polly, he is like thirteen!”
“Twenty-four actually, and age is just a number.” Polly tried to be serious, but her smile gave it away.
“Okay, okay you’re right! Just be safe and text me later with the details,” Susan ordered, sipping her coffee.
“Well don’t pass those details onto me, will you.” Max said laughing. “I still have to work with him – and she better not eat him alive, good mechanics are hard to find.”
Beth put her cup in the sink and walked over to Max hugging him tight. “I’m going to head back with Polly, I’m so pleased for you, son.”
She looked at Susan with a tearful smile on her face. “Your mum would have been so proud of you; through all the dark and dismal times, you still managed to shine through. I just know the future is going to be blessed.”
Beth kissed her on the cheek before following Polly out of the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Well, an evening alone, what do you want to do?”
“I’m going to run a bath. Pick a film for when I get back.”
On the way to the bathroom, she couldn’t resist taking a peep at the spare room that would soon become the nursery. She pictured where everything would go; the crib and the changing table, the rocking chair, she could even see the lemon color of the walls. Something still tugged at her fears, deep inside, but she had to push them aside, they couldn’t rule her anymore.
“Hey, are you asleep in there?” she had fallen so far into her thoughts she didn’t initially hear Max knocking on the door.
Lifting herself out of the bath, she called out to him. “I’ll be down in a minute.” Max was sat on the sofa with the laptop on his knee.
“Hey, what you are looking at?” she tucked herself up next to him.
Max shut the screen and pushed the computer under the table. “Nothing really, just browsing. I made you tea.”
Susan lifted her head up to look at him. “Max?”
“What, baby?” he stared at her waiting for her response.
Susan fidgeted with the hem of her satin nightdress. There was so much she wanted to tell him, so much to say, “It’s nothing. I love you.”
Max lent in a kissed her. “I love you too, baby, and I was thinking, why don’t we get away for a couple of days, wherever you want to go?”
Smiling up at him her replied. “Are you sure?”
“Of course, I’m sure, I think we deserve a break from everything; let’s just get away and be us for a few days. No worries or problems, just us.” He hugged her “Let’s scrap the film and go to bed – what do you say?”
“Mmm, sounds good to me.” Susan stood up holding her hand out for his. Max followed her lead, switching the lights off on his way out the room.
Susan woke early next morning. Creeping downstairs, she fired up the computer and went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast. After ten minutes of searching on the Internet she found the perfect weekend away for them. It was a quiet cabin for rent deep in the woods, by a lake. Pulling out her credit card, she booked the cabin and printed of the booking details off before heading upstairs to wake Max.
“Hey, sleepy, I brought you some breakfast,” she whispered into his ear.
Max opened his eyes and sat up. “You didn’t need to do this.”
Susan smiled at him. “Yes, I did.” She waved a piece of paper in front of him. “I have a surprise for you.”
“What’s this?” Max asked, taking the piece of paper from her.
“It’s a weekend away – this weekend; just you, me, bump and a cabin in the middle of nowhere.”
Max examined the paper. “That sounds perfect!”
“I have another surprise.” Susan couldn’t contain her excitement. “I have been doing some digging this morning and found out that we can get married at the beach at the pagoda!”
“What? That’s brilliant.”
Giggling, Susan continued, “We just need a registrar to come and perform the service and I was thinking maybe we’d keep it small, just your mum, Polly and maybe a few other people you’d like.
“How long have you been up this morning” Max laughed pulling her under the cover with him.
“Only about an hour, Anyway, I’m thinking we need to book for next month or around that time, before the weather starts turning?”
“You’re joking right? Next month? My mum and Polly are going to have a fit. This doesn’t give them time to plan!” Max took hold of her hands. “Is this what you want?” “Is this what you want, Max?” she longed to give him everything he deserved.
He flung his arms around her and pulled her into him. “Of course, this is what I want!”
She tried to wriggle out of his grip, but Max held on tight. “Max don’t you think we should go and make some phone calls?”
Max pulled the cover back over their heads. “Nope, I think we should spend the day in bed.” His finger traced her lips and down her neck onto her swelling breasts – she was helpless at his touch.
Trying to resist him she flung the covers back off them, giggling. “We can spend the whole weekend in bed, after we have made some calls – and after I have been baby shopping with Beth. I promised her.”
Max sat up with a childlike expression of disappointment on his face. “Spoil sport! Will Polly be going too?”
“Nope,” Susan shook her head. “I think young Dillon has stolen her heart – or something like that. I spoke to her this morning and she’s spending the day with him.
Your mum said she didn’t come home last night.”
Max covered his ears. “Whoa there, too much information!”
From the shower, Susan heard the phone ring. When she came into the bedroom, Max hung u
p.
“Who was that on the phone?” she asked, rubbing her hair with the towel.
He kissed her on the check. “Work. I need to go in. There’s a mix up with the suppliers. Sorry, baby but I’ve got to go and sort it out.”
“It’s okay, I’ll be out with your mum; you can meet up with us when you’re done.” Susan began to walk down stairs when he grabbed her hand, pulling her back to him.
His hands wrapped around her cheeks. “Are we okay now, baby?”
“Hey, we’re more than okay!”
Max gave her another kiss and skipped down the stairs. The doorbell rang and he opened it to see Beth, carrying a pile of letters.
“Hi, bye, gotta dash,” he said, dashing past her.
“Love you too, son,” she muttered.
“Go on in. Susan’s dressing but she’ll be down in a minute.” He ran back and kissed Beth on the cheek before heading to the car.
Susan came down with her hair still damp. “Is everything okay, love?” Beth asked sweetly.
“Yeah, I think it is, Beth. I think they are more than okay.” Susan took the cup Beth offered.
Susan looked at her and she was smiling.
“Drink up – we’ve got a lot of shopping to do!” Beth said.
Susan drank down, picked up her phone up and headed for the door.
Beth drove out to the next town, which had a large toy and baby shop. When the car pulled into the parking space, Susan realized Beth hadn’t been joking when she had said the place was huge. Beth beamed with excitement as she grabbed one of the big trolleys and went inside. Susan laughed and followed.
Beth wasted no time, heading straight for the baby clothes and picking up several packs of vests and baby grows all in cream and yellow colors,
“You need to be practical. You’ll be amazed how many you’ll get through.”
Then she led Susan to the bottles. “Have you given any thought to feeding? Are you breastfeeding? I mean it’s entirely up to you, but you’ll need some equipment whichever you choose.”
Susan’s face reddened a little as she shrugged her shoulders
“Well they say, ‘breast is best’, but in all honestly it’s all down to baby and mummy, so we can get some bottles and formula closer to the time when we’ve seen how it’s gone. “Beth took hold of the trolley, smiling. Susan had no idea about any of the things she needed.
Beth had almost filled the trolley with all the ‘essentials’ needed; there were blankets, towels, creams, nappies and clothes, along with a changing table and feeding chair and some cute decorating border with little teddy bears on for the nursery. Beth got a store helper to help transfer from the store to the car.
Susan’s phone went off in her handbag. It was Max. She smiled and answered it. After a brief chat, she relayed the situation to Beth, “Unfortunately Max can’t make it; he says he’ll meet us at home instead.”
“It’s okay, sweetie we’ll call it a day. You look tired and I think we’ve both had enough for today.
CHAPTER 13
Susan sat quietly on the way home; she had wanted Max to be there when they had picked the baby things, and she felt a little sad that he’d had to work. When they got back, his car was parked in the drive. Beth gave a little toot of the horn and Max came out waving. He was still in his overalls from the garage, his hair was scuffed up and grease marks were streaked across his forehead.
“Sorry I couldn’t make it, baby. I ended up having to sort a job out.” He fluttered his eyelashes and pouted his lips before pinching her bottom.
“Put her down,” Beth jested, passing him the bags. “She doesn’t want your greasy hands all over her.”
Little did Beth know that’s exactly were Susan wanted his hands – all over her body. Despite being a little bit mad that he’d not been there, she still couldn’t resist. She shook the thought out of her mind and headed inside the house to put the kettle on while Beth and Max continued carrying the many boxes and bags in from the car. Susan checked through the post. The bottom letter had been sent to Beth’s by mistake and she’d brought it with her, dumping it on the pile of post. Instinctively, Susan had a strange feeling about the letter. The envelope had a pastel blue tinge to it and the return address was to a woman called Isabelle Blake. It looked personal.
“Anything interesting?” Max’s arms wrapped around her waist.
Susan paused for a moment then held the letter out to him. “Just this one.” She tried to resist asking but couldn’t. “Who is Isabelle?” She tried to mask her curiosity by laughing a little, but Beth’s reaction only made her feel worse. The moment Susan had said the name, Beth’s face looked as though she had seen a ghost. “Max is there something you need to tell me?” she turned to him and stared at him seriously.
Quickly, he folded the letter and pushed it in to his back pocket. “It’s nothing, baby.” He shook his head but there was an uncomfortable look in his eye. “She’s just someone who used to live near us, that’s all.” He glanced at his mum.
Beth gave Susan a kiss on the cheek. “I’m going to get home. Thanks for today. I had a lovely time, sweetheart.”
Max followed Beth out to the car and Susan watched them from the window. Something felt wrong. Max and Beth appeared to be arguing. All at once, Beth threw her arm in the direction of the house and Susan.
‘Surely Beth must have recognized the name on the letter? Why did she bring it over? What was she trying to do?’ Susan pondered.
Max crossed his arms and headed back to the house looking subdued.
Susan could seem him pulling the letter out of his pocket; he ripped it open and looked at it for a second before throwing it into the bin. He looked back at the house and gave Susan a smile. But when he opened the door Susan stormed off into the kitchen, slamming the cups around.
“What’s going on, Max, I know you’re hiding something?”
Max sat at the table twiddling his fingers then took a breath. “Okay sit down before you break something, and I’ll tell you.”
Susan didn’t speak, she just sat at the opposite end of the table and glowered at him, waiting for his explanation.
“Okay – Isabelle is an ex-girlfriend who I dated when we finished school. We broke up and she moved away. I haven’t heard from her since she left.” Max brushed his fingers through his hair.
“Bull shit!” Susan shot up from her seat. “You’re not telling me everything. I saw the way Beth reacted, and the way you and she were outside. There is more to this than you’re telling me, Max so don’t fuck patronize me… tell me the truth now!”
“Susan, please just sit down. I haven’t heard from her since she left – not until now.” He held on to Susan’s hands across the table. “Listen, it’s complicated; we went out for over two years and we got engaged but then I found out she had been sleeping with someone else behind my back; next thing I called the whole thing off and the two of them left town together “
“That’s all?” Susan’s foot tapped against the table leg impatiently.
His head dropped a little. “No, about a year after she left, she got in touch saying she’d had a little boy and that I could be the father. My mum insisted we did a DNA test before I had any further communication with her. It was a good job too because it wasn’t mine. After that I didn’t hear anything from her, and I don’t want to.”
“This is a big thing, Max; how could you keep it from me after everything we went through? After everything we have said about honesty. Does that mean nothing to you? And what the hell does she want?” Susan stood up and walked over to the sink.
Max`s hands stroked down her arms. “Just let it go, baby, I don’t want to fight with you over this... I don’t want you upsetting yourself over this.”
Susan walked away from his touch. “No, Max I’m sorry but I need answers. Why did you hide this from me? You can’t really expect me to let this go?”
“The reason I didn’t tell you is because I didn’t think it mattered. Do you want to
know about all my ex-girlfriends? We went out. She cheated and left, what more is there to know?”
Susan slammed her cup onto the table. “Fuck you, Max! It’s more than that; you were fucking engaged to her. Why you would keep that from me? More to the point, what are you hiding now? What the fuck does the letter say?” What was he hiding from her; she thought she knew everything about him, but she didn’t like this side to him at all?
She stormed out of the door to the bin, pulled the letter out and stormed back inside, slamming it onto the table. Tears streamed down her face. She read the letter and she got angry. “Why the hell would she want to meet up with you?”
“Susan, please, just calm down. You’re not doing yourself any favors getting worked up over nothing. Please, I threw it away because I don’t want anything to do with her!”
“Really!”
Max slammed his hand onto the table with frustration. You know what, fuck it… if you can’t understand that... then I’m out of here. It’s never enough. I’m not enough.” He slammed the door behind him.
Susan stood at the window watching the rain. When she was sure that he was out of sight, she headed across the yard to the bin and pulled out the torn envelope, reading the number under the address. Before she knew what, she was doing, she punched the number into her phone and waited for the voice to answer. She needed to hear what this woman sounded like. The phone was answered with a weary “hello!” Susan hadn’t thought any of it through and was left gaping like a fish on the end. Eventually she croaked, “hello” and introduced herself as Max’s fiancée. The other person abruptly hung up. She curled up on the sofa and waited. It wasn’t long before she heard a tap at the door. It was Max and he was soaked through.
“Can I come in, please?”
Wiping the tears from her eyes she nodded.
“Listen, baby, I really don’t want to fight. The reason I didn’t tell you is because I was hurt by her and I didn’t want you to feel sorry for me – I wanted you to have confidence in me; to think that I was strong. And I threw the letter away because I don’t want to know what she has to say. Please, can we just forget about it?” he asked trying to get her to make eye contact with him.
Something Missing (The True Love Series Book 1) Page 10
