“Promises, promises.”
“You carry on like that and poor Rocky is going to be in his basket.” I passed her the cuppa from the coffee table.
“Thanks, Milo.”
“So how was it then? You look tired but not unduly upset, so did it go okay?”
“It was strange. I’m sitting here now and I can’t fully accept I’ve even been. Seems almost like I dreamed the whole thing. She looked old. I know it’s been four years, but she looked far older.”
I listened and nodded my head but I didn’t respond. I felt it was better to just allow her to talk.
“She maintains she can’t remember any of it. Was so drunk the whole thing’s a blur, so that’s something. It wasn’t specifically a lack of control over her temper. More that she was an angry drunk. She said sorry, that she was glad Dad had moved on, that I was moving on, and that she wouldn’t contact us again if that’s what I wanted.”
“And what do you want?”
“That. It saddens me that I’m ending all contact with my mother, but she just isn’t my mother anymore. It all ended the day she stabbed my father. It’s unearthed things for me. I feel like I’m in mourning or something for the mother I might have had, but in other ways I feel relieved. It’s done. I’ve seen her, spoken to her, and formally ended our relationship. It’s over.”
Joining her on the sofa, I pulled her into my arms. Rocky didn’t mind. He just stretched a little.
“What you did was so brave, going to face her like that. I’m glad you’ve gotten some closure from it, even if it means you’ll feel a bit off kilter for a while. I’m not sure I could face my own mother.”
Violet put the television on and we sat cuddled for a while until eventually she got up to call her father and update him on her visit.
We spent the rest of the weekend walking Rocky and having hot passionate sex, but something was still niggling at her. I could tell. She just needed time. For the memories from her meeting with her mother to fade.
Shit hit the fan Monday afternoon.
I walked into the office after a job and met Violet’s narrowed gaze.
“You okay there, Princess?” I said as Rocky jumped up my knees.
“Do not ‘Princess’ me, Milo Christian Waite.”
Oh shit. Full name alert. I’d obviously murdered someone without realising.
“Erm…”
“I’ve spent the morning stocktaking, Milo. And do you know what I’ve realised…?”
Oh fuck.
“That the warehouse is really freaking cold?” I smiled but it felt more of a hopeful grimace.
“That there is no fucking way that brand-new lino or paving slabs got left over on a job to be used for free.” She spat the word ‘free’ out. “Everything gets used again, accounted for, sold back out.” She held a hand up to stop me speaking. “Oh there are things you lot miss writing down, but it’s bits of plasterboard and nails, not floor coverings. And I hate liars, Milo. I had one of those in my life already, remember. So I’m going to ask you one time and one time only. Did you pay for the lino and the paving slabs?”
Bollocks.
“They were a housewarming gift.”
“Milo.” She shouted. “You had no right to do that. To pay for the things for my house and tell me they were free. You know I wouldn’t have accepted them. That I was perfectly willing to wait to get things for my home when I could afford it.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t want you to wait.” I put my hands on my hips. Might as well front it out.
“It’s. Not. Up. To. You. You fucking Neanderthal.” She carried on yelling, while she shook with rage.
I just shrugged and earned a container full of paperclips in my face. Luckily minus the actual container.
“They might hold paper together, but they can’t hold down Milo Waite, babe.”
“Aarrrggghhh.” She groaned in frustration.
I stalked towards her. “You have paid for nearly all of that house yourself, and you’ve worked miracles in it, and I’ve been proud to watch you do so.” I was now invading her personal space and she began to back up against the door through to the kitchen. “But that kitchen needed a floor. No way was the woman I love putting up with some manky old cigarette-burned carpet, and as for the garden, yep, I’ll take the title of Neanderthal, but when Quinn Hanson turns up with turf, which I may add he does get left over from jobs, I’m not looking like I can’t provide the rest.”
She was now within millimetres of the door, looking for an escape route. She wasn’t going to find one.
“So, Princess. This is where you have to make a choice. You take me and my caveman ways—and believe me when I tell you I wanted to do more than a poxy bit of lino. I wanted to fit a brand-new kitchen—or you tell me to go now. Because I am who I am, Violet. When it comes to you there’s nothing I wouldn’t do. I worship the ground you walk on, and I’ll continue to treat you like a princess until my last breath.”
She huffed. “Then it’s lucky I love you too, you annoying fucking bastard, or right now you’d be on your last breath.”
Her lips came up to meet mine and I crushed her to the wall, taking my fill of her mouth.
Her breasts were pushed up against my abdomen. I had to have her right now.
“Kitchen.” I growled.
Her eyes flashed with lust. I picked her up and she curled her legs around my thighs. “All that frustration you have against me, babe. I’m going to fuck it all out of you. All that anger you have towards me for my caveman ways. Fuck me with it. I kicked open the kitchen door and placed her arse on the countertop and then I claimed her mouth in a bruising kiss. “Frustrated. Pissed off. Angry. Hate sex.” I kissed her between each word. “Do your worst to me, Princess.”
I pushed up her skirt and pulled her pants down around her ankles, then freeing my own cock I slipped straight into her pussy. She was soaked.
“Hmm, not that pissed off with me, are you?”
“Shut up. I’m mad with you right now.”
She showed me how mad by grinding herself roughly against me. Using my cock to take what she needed. She grabbed my hand and shoved it downwards.
“Touch my clit while you fuck me.”
She demanded and I did everything she asked until we were both riding the wave of a crashing orgasm. Our breaths were harsh as we came down from our high.
“I cannot believe I have let you fuck me in the kitchen of my workplace. Where at any moment your family could walk in. You make me lose my mind, Milo Waite.”
At least I’d lost the middle name.
“I’ll tell you everything from now on.” I promised as I kissed her again. “No more lies.”
We cleaned up and she made me a drink.
“Milo, I know you’re going to get annoyed, but I want to pay you back.”
“It’s a housewarming gift and that’s the end of it.” I growled. “Or do you want me to take you on that desk right this minute bearing in mind my father’s just pulled into the yard.”
“Pfft.”
“Don’t bait me, Violet. You’ll get embarrassed before I do.”
“Oh for God’s sake. Fine. Thank you for the housewarming gifts. However, if you buy anything else like that without asking, I will…” Her voice trailed off.
“You don’t really need anything else right now, but good to see you got nothing. Just continue to keep giving me hate sex as punishment. That works for me. You need a new vacuum cleaner, an iron, new bedroom carpet? Only I’m up for some more action tonight.”
My father walked in stopping any further conversation or throwing of office supplies.
“Hey, you two. Hope you’re working hard and not skiving off discussing your next date night.”
I watched as Rocky once again got excited at seeing a new visitor.
“I’m here to get some supplies.” I informed him. “Boards, plaster, screws.” My eyes flickered over to Vi’s as I said that and I saw her jaw tighten. “Right, can I have the key,
Vi? I promise I’ll record everything for the stock take.”
“Come back in and let me know when you’ve got everything and I will note down what’s in your van.”
“Don’t you trust me?”
“Not with stocktaking no. You seem to have a habit of managing to use items that were never even listed in the first place.”
“Huh?” My dad said.
“It’s an in-joke, Dad. Right, I’m off. See you in a bit.” I blew a kiss at Violet and then walked off to the warehouse with the inner peace that came from being freshly fucked and in love.
Violet
Oh my fucking god.
My boss/boyfriend’s father was in the office. I prayed he didn’t go into the kitchen because if it smelled of sex I’d die.
The office smelled of coffee thanks to Milo’s drink.
“Can I get you a drink?” I offered.
“No thank you. I was just passing and so decided I’d just check in with you, see how you were doing, and if you needed anything.”
“I’m fine. Enjoying setting up new systems and finding my way around things.”
“I’ve noticed a huge difference already with the kids just getting on with their work. Far less phone calls to me asking where things are, asking me to order things, or saying bills need paying. Keep up the good work.”
“Thanks.” I smiled. Then I made a decision. To talk to Josh Waite before I spoke to his son.
“Do you have a minute, Josh?” I asked. “It’s not about work.”
“Oh?” He took the seat opposite me, frowning slightly.
“It’s about my family, so I understand if you don’t want to hear it.”
He pinched the skin at his throat. “Is it going to affect my children?”
I swallowed. “Yes.”
His chin lifted as he held his head up and stared directly at me. “Then you’d better tell me.”
His face wore the look of a man ready to face an army of enemies.
“I found out I have a cousin. He’s fourteen years old. His name is Elias. Elias…”
Josh sighed. “Let me guess. Dawson?”
I nodded.
“They had a kid?”
I nodded again.
“She left us and went and had another kid after everything she said. Unbelievable.”
“She didn’t stay. She abandoned Elias too. When he was born. Left him and Dan.”
“And you know this how?” Josh Waite’s frown lines deepened. “Have you known this all along, Violet?”
I shook my head. “The temptation to look up my uncle got the better of me a couple of weeks ago. He’s dead. Died of an overdose. I sent Eli a message. I’ve met him twice now. He’s a nice boy. Dan met a woman called Angela when Eli was a baby. It would appear she’s the one who took care of him because by all accounts Dan was a drug user and unreliable.”
“Excuse my language, Violet. But fuck, what am I supposed to do with this information?” He scrubbed a hand through his hair. “So you’re in touch with my ex-wife’s son, the half-brother of my children? Does Milo know this?”
“No, Milo certainly does not fucking know this.”
Milo pushed open the door, his face full of thunder. His posture stiff, mouth downturned, eyes blazing with fury. I’d been so wrapped up in talking to Josh, I’d not noticed him returning to the office.
There was a stiffness to his neck and jaw as he spoke. “Why would you do that Violet? You know I don’t want anything to do with my mother. Why would you look your uncle up? You said you didn’t know him so it’s not like it was for a family reunion. Now I have a half-brother? What if this brings her back? Did you think about the damage you can cause to a family who have suffered enough?” He clenched his fists.
“That’s enough, Milo. Go and calm yourself down.” Josh said calmly but firmly.
“You’re on her side? That’s fucking rich after how you kicked off at her when you found out who she was. I’ll go all right. Sorry, Violet, but I won’t be coming to see you tonight after all. Funny that you told me you didn’t like liars and yet, look, you’re one yourself.” Milo’s eyes were cold and dead as he looked at me and my heart sheared clean in two. “So that’s why you really went to see your mother. Unbelievable. I can’t look at you right now.”
He slammed the door behind him, and we watched as he stomped across the yard, fired up the engine of his van and screeched out, burning rubber as he went.
“He’ll come around. He’s just shocked, Violet. I am too. This boy, a relation of my own children has been out there for fourteen years. Shit.” Josh’s eyes filled with tears.
“I thought you’d be angry, like Milo.”
“No, Vi. I know what it was like for my children, living with the knowledge that their mother left them, but they had me. I can’t imagine what it was like for Elias to have neither. And then to lose his father too.”
“I don’t have much family, Josh. It’s why I contacted him myself. It was as much for me as for him. I thought he’d be a nightmare of a child, given the circumstances, but he’s not. I know I’ve only met him twice and he could be telling me what I want to hear, but he wants to make the best of it. I think this Angela has been a really good influence. I hope to meet her sometime. And I did go to see my mother this weekend to see if she knew anything, which she didn’t, but also to draw a line there because I was ready to move on with my life. Looks like that might have changed.”
“Milo has to go process what he’s just heard and calm down. He’ll come around. When are you seeing Elias again?”
“Tomorrow night. He wants to come to the house to see where his nan used to live.”
“Does this Angela know he’s in touch with you?”
I chewed on my lip. “I don’t think so.”
“Well, why don’t you try to persuade him to tell her and see if they’ll both come up tomorrow night? They can look around your house and then if he likes he can come and meet his brothers and sister. That’s if they want to meet him. I won’t force any of them who don’t.”
I tried to stop my hands from trembling and gave Josh a slow smile. “Wow. I wasn’t expecting you to say this. He’s going to be overwhelmed.”
“Is he not asking to meet his family?” Josh’s eyes widened as he realised the truth. “He doesn’t know does he? About the Waites. That you know us.”
I shook my head. “I only told him about my side of the family. I didn’t think it was my place to tell him about yours.”
“I think we need a number for Angela.” Josh stated. “One of us needs to talk to her.”
“I’ll do it.” I told him.
“Let me know the outcome. I’ll be telling the kids.”
“Thank you, Josh. For being understanding. For not bawling me out.”
“Elias Dawson exists whether or not you found him. At some point he’d have found out the truth. You say this Angela has been around since he was a baby. Maybe she knows everything? We definitely need to be having a conversation with her.”
“Well, I’m sorry anyway, Josh.”
“I’ve not faced up to Alice leaving since she went. I immersed myself in the lives of my children and blocked her out if I ever thought of her. Maybe it’s time for me to finally deal with everything that happened. Alice could be dead herself, or she could have several more abandoned children out there. I need to think about it all, but in the meantime, let’s meet Elias.” Josh stood up. “Right, I was going to go price up a job, but I think actually I’ll put that off until the morning and go have a pint before I face my brood. Ring me with any updates.”
“I will, and thanks again. I know it’s not easy.”
Josh’s voice dropped lower, thickened. “Life never is, Violet. I learned that a long time ago.”
As he left, my heart broke a little more, this time for the man whose wife abandoned him. A man who had done his best in life, but who continued to be battered by life’s icy storms. And then I broke down in tears wondering if I’d just destroy
ed my own relationship. It would seem Alice was still hurting the Waite family fifteen years after she left them.
The rest of the day dragged on as I went through the motions of doing my job while trying not to think of Milo and the current situation so that I wouldn’t cry again at my desk. Texts I sent to him went ignored. I sent a final one.
Violet: I’ll not text again. I’ll give you some time to process everything. You know where I am xo
He didn’t respond.
I was glad I had Rocky when I went home as he stopped me feeling so alone and he must have been able to detect I was upset as he was extra cuddly all night.
I knew when Josh had told his family as while standing in the kitchen I watched as a shell-shocked Juliet walked through the gate.
Opening the door, I asked, “Wine?”
“Wine? You got a bottle of fucking vodka? Oh my god, that was a shit show.”
“Oh dear.”
“Not your fault, Vi. Dearest mother’s. So I have a fourteen-year-old half-brother? You know what that means, don’t you?”
“Family arguments on a cataclysmic level?”
She smirked. “I’m not the youngest anymore! Still the only fucking girl as far as we know, but no longer the baby of the family. Praise the Lord.”
“I don’t have vodka. I’m cutting down on alcohol. There’s just the last of this bottle of white.” I poured it into a tumbler and passed it to her. “Shall we go in the room? Know that Rocky is behind that door waiting to pounce.”
“You hold my drink while I fuss the cuddle monster.”
After Rocky had calmed down, we took a seat on the sofa and I asked the question I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear the answer to. “How did everyone take the news?”
“Silas was quiet. I was shocked but then looked at the positives. Finn and Cal swore a lot and Milo refused to be present, saying he knew the news and wasn’t interested. That’s why I’m here really. I take it he found out earlier and you two have fallen out given he’s in his bedroom like a sulking teenager.”
“Yes.” I explained about Elias and how I was ready to tell Milo tonight, but I’d decided to run it past Josh first.
Waiting For Milo: THE WAITE FAMILY - BOOK ONE Page 17
