by Jo Briggs
Evan’s fingers remained laced around hers throughout their brief exchange. “You know I don't blame you,” he told her. “It was purely an accident. I regret that you didn't seem to think we were strong enough to get through it, and simply try for another child of our own.”
Since seeing Bennett earlier, Evan was curious as to whom the father might be as the child must have been conceived within a year of their relationship finishing. In New York, Layla had clearly found someone who could comfort her through her grief more adequately than he had done, but no man had been mentioned by Ava and Cameron Barker when she returned to London with a baby.
There had been newspaper rumours of it belonging to Dylan Matthews, her ex from before Evan, but Bennett was dark and looked nothing like the fair-haired musician. Even now the thought of someone else fathering a child with Layla made his temper flare with jealousy.
Layla let out a sigh. “It wasn’t as cut and dry as thinking that I didn't think we were strong enough to get through it. I was simply too immature to see the bigger picture. I just knew I couldn't stand dragging you down into my melancholy world, so I thought it best to leave, but as the saying goes, you don't know what you’ve got until you lose it. I was so wrapped up in the selfish bubble that I’d built up around myself that I didn’t stop to think what my actions might be doing to the people around me. It’s a lesson I’ve only recently come to terms with.”
Evan noticed they were down to the dregs of the wine as he went to pour himself another glass, the alcohol making him feel bolder with his questions. He attracted the attention of a waiter to order a second bottle, not wanting to stop as he was doing so well. Clearly, he was past the point of being fit to drive, so he planned to order a taxi to take them home, and get Edward to collect the car in the morning.
“As I explained before, I am done with pussyfooting around our past, but to begin with I would like to explain about Caggie; in particular, to clear up any misapprehensions she may have given you about my relationship with her.”
Layla paled and gave an apprehensive glance. “Okay,” she agreed in a small voice.
“She’s the only person I’ve been with since you. I know this will sound like a lame excuse, but I didn’t intend to get involved with her at all. Every few weeks she would pop up outside my office, conveniently when I was heading to lunch alone,” Evan explained. “It wasn’t until years later that I discovered a temp, working as an assistant to my PA, was a close friend of Caggie’s and used to pass on my schedule to her.
“Anyway, we ended up going to a bar a few times. At first, it was just an excuse to find out any news about you, since I knew she’d likely hear titbits from Cameron or Ava, which they seemed to avoid telling me themselves. Admittedly, it was pleasant to have a drinking partner, as I had been drinking myself into a stupor alone most nights before that.”
Layla
Mortified, Layla interrupted, “You were drinking because of me?”
“Shush, let me answer your questions afterwards,” Evan pleaded. “I need to get this all out there.”
“Okay, sorry.”
“Anyway, about four months after you headed off to New York, my PA suddenly upped and left, due to a family crisis on the other side of the world, leaving me with no assistant. I promoted the temp, Abigail, to the permanent position and naively agreed to her suggestion of hiring Caggie as her assistant. Caggie was between jobs at the time and had yet to show her blackmailing habits, so I didn’t see the harm.”
Layla’s brow shot up in reaction to the word blackmail.
“So, life went on,” Evan continued. “Caggie only stayed a couple of months, after which she became fed up with my policy of not fraternising with the staff. She seemed to think our lunches together would automatically start up again if she resigned, following a rather undignified argument about an event. She had known I was attending it alone and felt I should invite her to be my plus one.
“By that time I felt more composed about our break-up, so I was less easily influenced by her suggestions of us socialising together. From thereon she seemed to disappear off the face of the Earth. It was probably two and a half, or even three years later, that I met her again by chance. She seemed to always know when I was at my most vulnerable. I had received a specific piece of news that knocked me off my feet and I started drinking heavily again.”
Layla struggled to keep herself quiet. What news? That was around the time she moved back to London to launch her fashion label, she calculated. Six months before the christening.
“This news brought it home to me that I needed to move on and couldn’t keep mooning after you. One night after drinking with Caggie, we ended up in bed. When morning came, I regretted what I’d done straight away, but she already had her claws into me, and wouldn’t give up, despite my endeavours to rid her from my life. Soon after that I discovered she was pregnant. One error of judgement was leading me into a life entrapped with a connection to her.
“I could see no escape except to do the honourable thing and marry her, but seeing you again at the christening brought it home to me that I shouldn’t be with her when all I thought about was you. Noticing my reaction to seeing you there with a guy, Caggie realised I still wanted you, rather than her, which led to us having a tremendous argument that night.”
“I heard the argument,” Layla couldn’t help but admit.
The scene had replayed itself in her head ever since, as she wondered how things might have gone if she had stuck around and simply confronted Caggie over her lies, rather than running away.
Out in the deserted hallway, Layla could hear the angry voices of Evan and Caggie, drifting down through the open staircase.
“I can’t believe how irresponsible you’re being. Didn’t your doctor say it’s bad for the baby to drink this much alcohol?”
“I’m not drunk.”
“Then how do explain the fact that you can’t even stand up without my help, and you’ve behaved abominably in front of all those people?”
“You drove me to it!”
“How exactly am I to blame?”
“You went over to that bitch twice and tried to talk to her, after you promised you wouldn’t,” Caggie screamed, her voice sounding shrill as it echoed down the walls to where Layla stood open mouthed.
“I never promised you any of the sort! She’s a guest in my home. I was beginning polite by talking to her.”
“You told me you would be here for our child, yet at the first opportunity you go off and try to get in her pants.”
“What the hell are you talking about? I never went over to her with that intention. The drink is making you delusional. I said I’d be here for the child, and I will be. I’m marrying you, for goodness sake.”
“I told you, I’m not drunk! I simply took a pill to calm my nerves.”
“What pill?”
”Just an upper, it’s no biggie. I do it all the time.”
“No biggie? Your disgusting habit could be hurting my child.”
“I only take them because I’m so frightened that you’ll leave me for that bitch when you find out the–”
Layla’s heart began to race as she knew Caggie had slipped up.
“When I find out what?”
“You’re trying to confuse me. I don’t know what I’m saying.”
Layla could hear the sound of sobbing.
“Caggie, tell me, when I find out what?”
The sobs became louder. “Ouch, you’re hurting my arm!”
“Stop with the fake tears, Caggie. We will continue this discussion in the morning, and you may as well know now that I expect you to be packed to leave straight afterwards. I don’t want you to ruin this weekend’s celebrations with further scenes like this one.”
“You don’t want me to be there, so you can get back into her good books.”
“No, I don’t want you there in case your jealousy gets out of hand again, and I need time to think away from you.”
“If you l
eave me, I’ll abort our child.”
“You are, undoubtedly, a heartless bitch to threaten such a thing. I’ve already said I’ll do my duty and marry you for the sake of the child, but that doesn’t mean I’ve to like it. And it most certainly won’t stop me from spending time with whom I choose.”
The weeping continued for a few more moments and then there was silence.
Layla blew out the breath she had been holding in, amazed at everything happening overhead. So, Caggie had slipped up, but he was still marrying her, despite the abortion threat and the fact that he could clearly tell she was lying to him about something.
Despite an overwhelming need to tell Evan her suspicions, now that he was experiencing his own doubts about Caggie, Layla now knew about his sense of duty, so she hung back. He had promised to marry the woman and Layla assumed he would still honour it, even if she told him about their child. That was a situation in which she refused to entangle herself and her son.
Layla made a decision there and then to protect her child from being ensnared in the mess that Evan’s marriage would have surely become. Even if Caggie had deleted her messages and he hadn’t knowingly rejected their child, she refused to put Bennett through having such a dysfunctional stepmother. She would stay silent and avoid Evan as much as possible in the future. He had made his choice by getting involved with Caggie in the first place, and now she had made hers.
It seemed to take Evan a second to hear what Layla said as his phone began to vibrate. Glancing at the screen distractedly, he pressed ‘Ignore’, before replying, “You did?”
“Yes, I heard everything. I heard her slip up and almost tell you something she had done to keep me away from you.”
“Did you know what she did?”
“No, not until that night,” Layla admitted.
“So you know about the deleted messages?”
She nodded uneasily. “Up until that point I always presumed you simply ignored them, but Keely had started to suspect Caggie might have interfered, since she had a lot to gain by keeping us apart.”
Evan
“You spent all those years thinking I ignored your messages? No wonder you gave me the cold shoulder that night.” Evan’s face expressed a shared feeling of despair over all the wasted years, thanks to Caggie’s interference.
“I’m sorry about that. It was the only way I could cope with the rejection I felt, knowing you were with her, of all people. However, when I heard her gaffe, I realised I’d been wrong in that assumption.”
“So, why did you leave that night? Why didn’t you confront Caggie or warn me about what she’d done?” Evan was incredulous, thinking of all the heartache it would have saved.
“For one basic reason – even after realising she was taking drugs during her pregnancy and your suspicions over her slip-up, you still tried to placate her with reassurances that you would marry her,” Layla remarked. “I couldn’t stomach the thought of seeing you married to her, in spite of all the alarm bells that must have been going off in your head.”
“But I didn’t marry her in the end. Where were you when I became free again?” Evan asked. You were with another man, he thought bitterly, so you couldn’t have been that cut up.
“I didn’t hear about the non-marriage until months later, and by that time you were in Chile.”
“I came looking for you before that.” He was unsuccessful in keeping the bitter bite out of his tone. “Several times in fact.”
“Really, when?” Layla enquired. “Why did I never see you then?”
“Your office gave me the details of several fashion shows you were showing in Paris and Milan when I was in the same cities on business, but you always seemed preoccupied, so I never approached you.”
She frowned. “I would have made time for you.”
“I imagine the man you were with on each occasion might have objected to any interruptions.”
Layla gave him a strange look. “I haven't been with any other man. What did he look like?”
“Umm, I don’t honestly remember – my height, blond and model-like.” His body burning with irritation and jealousy,
Layla let out a sudden laugh. Evan threw back a sulking glare.
“Evan, there never was and never will be anything going on between me and that guy. You saw me with Luke. He’s my assistant designer and has been happily living with his male partner for many years.”
“Oh, I see.” Evan couldn’t quite bring himself to laugh, but he turned his mouth into an apologetic smile.
The conversation was interrupted by a waiter, coming to ask if they wanted to order any coffee. Evan started to order an espresso before gesturing to Layla. “Would you like one?”
Layla shook her head. “No thanks. It will have me buzzing all night otherwise.”
Layla
After a few moments of silence, Layla sipped the remnants of her wine as she considered whether she really wanted to know what Caggie could be bribing him about. “So what is all this about blackmail? What on earth is she trying to hold against you?”
“You mean apart from hanging the threat of aborting the child over my head in the early months, and then later, when she passed the deadline for a legal abortion, modifying the threat to ending both their lives? There is plenty more besides that, but I’ll save them for another time.”
Layla shook her head in disgust. “Clearly, drugs have made Caggie more unhinged than even I was aware of. Did you not talk to her doctor about getting her sectioned for the baby’s safety?”
“Yes, after the christening I convinced her to go into private rehab,” Evan replied. “I even tried to work things through with relationship counselling, but it didn’t get us anywhere. She stayed there for a few months after the baby was born. Even after her release, Caggie wasn’t capable of looking after anyone, so the child stays in my house in London, with a full-time nanny called Tatiana, under the watchful eye of Marion Button. Caggie gets supervised visits once a week and I doubt it will ever progress much further than that.” Marion Button, was the housekeeper of Evan’s London home. Loyal and efficient.
“So you’ve got full custody?” asked Layla, confused as to why the child was not here with him full-time.
“Yes, almost by default. Her social worker knew I would be able to provide a stable home environment.”
“But, you still went away and left? I’m sorry, but I don’t even know whether it was a boy or girl?”
“Her name is Lily and I didn’t exactly leave her,” Evan explained. “I came back often to visit her; it just wasn’t public knowledge. I wanted people to believe I remained in Chile, so I could get to know her with any distractions.”
“Not even Cameron?”
“He knew about several visits, but not all of them.”
Evan’s phone began to vibrate again. This time he looked at the screen and decided to answer it. “Hi, Amber.”
Layla stiffened, but tried to keep her expression unaffected. She did not want him to mention her presence. The last meeting she’d had with his sister, when they bumped into each other in New York, was far from pleasant. Amber had spouted all kinds of accusations at her.
Evan’s conversation with his sister was brief. After mentioning that Layla was with him, he handed the phone to her before she had a chance to protest. As he disappeared off to organise a taxi home, she didn’t have much choice but to talk to Amber. Neither of them bothered to hide their frostiness beyond false pleasantries before bringing the conversation to a swift conclusion.
Chapter Seven
Evan
After breakfast, Evan donned a pair of designer jeans and a sports top designed exclusively by Hugo Boss, who sponsored his favourite motor-racing team. Unlike the majority of British males, Evan had no interest in the typical Saturday football game, or soccer, as some might call it. He much preferred to chill on the sofa with a beer, watching a race involving strategy and skill. Surprisingly, Layla shared his interests in that type of sport. In the past, he h
ad flown them over to Monaco and Catalunya to watch the races in person.
They arrived in Ava’s room just as she was being served lunch. As a private hospital that paid extremely high wages to the top specialists within their employment, their customer service was second to none, even to the point of providing meals for visitors. Perhaps the meals were not quite Michelin-star quality, but they were far more palatable than most public health-run kitchens.
Cameron and his toddler, Jess, had been given the room next door to stay in, as part of the service. This particular hospital was more used to dealing with cancer patients and those affected by hereditary illnesses that involved lifelong treatment. Therefore, they aimed to make family visits as easy as possible.
Cameron decided to head off with Evan for a bite to eat at the restaurant downstairs. He was interested in pumping his friend for information on Layla and was also wise to the fact that Ava would be doing her own probing into her sister’s confidences.
As the men settled down at a free table, each armed with a sandwich made from crusty white bread, Cameron began his attack. “So, old man, what is this I hear about horse rides with your beautiful guest?”
Evan rolled his eyes and shrugged casually. “It was a sunny day and they needed the exercise.”
“Hmm, I bet it wasn't just the horse's exercise you were concerned about,” Cameron teased. “More like getting some of the two-person variety!”
“Cameron, don’t talk about her like that,” Evan snapped. He knew his friend was only trying to get a rise out of him, but he felt the need to defend Layla's honour.
“Oh, come on, I know you’ve been pining for her for years. Surely, you’re trying to show her you aren’t the man you once were?”
“Of course we’ve spoken about the past and we’re getting on adequately,” Evan replied as nonchalantly as he could manage. He knew his friend wouldn’t be fooled, but he was not ready to discuss his plans.
