“Speakerphone, I think. If you don’t mind?”
“Not at all.” He pulled the other chair over so he was sitting beside her at the desk.
There were so many things she wanted to say to him, but none of them would come out of her mouth. She looked at him as she sipped her drink and willed him to read her mind. To know without her saying how much she appreciated his being there. She wanted him to somehow translate her confused and chaotic thoughts, so she didn’t have to give them voice. How could she talk to him about things she didn’t have words for?
With a shaky hand, she placed the glass on the desk, the phone beside it. Lawrence nodded his encouragement as she dialled her mother. Victoria could actually feel the blood drain from her face as she listened to the ringing.
“It’s about time you rang.” Her mother’s voice flooded the room, turning the air to ice.
“Hello, Mother.” Victoria’s voice was devoid of emotion, as it usually was. It had been such a long time since she’d let any of her feelings surface. She wasn’t sure she knew how to let them out anymore. She felt like they were all stuck inside her, in one big ball in her chest. Taking up space and making her ache with each breath.
“Why haven’t you returned my calls? I left several messages. Honestly, Victoria, if this simple task is too much for you, I can easily send someone more capable to get the job done.”
“I—” Victoria started, but was cut off.
“I received a call today. I’m told Abigail is intimately involved with Mr Boyle. I was also informed that Mr Boyle’s last partner had appeared, demanding he claim his child. Why didn’t you tell me about any of this?”
“I didn’t tell you because those stories aren’t true. Who informed you they were?”
“Someone who’s obviously much more diligent in their tasks than you are. This is exactly what I thought was happening. The sooner the child is taken into my care, the better. The Montgomery-Clark legacy is at stake here. What must people think, knowing I have a grandchild who’s being reared in such a common environment?” Her mother’s voice was like an ice pick, chipping at Victoria’s soul. “I want you back here immediately. Tell Lawrence we’ll start proceedings for custody straight away.”
Victoria’s whole body was tight with tension, making her certain she’d snap if she moved. She felt the air shift and looked down to see Lawrence’s fingers curl around her hand. Her eyes snapped to his as he held her tight in his grip. He smiled his encouragement. Victoria stared at him. It was a gift. He was a gift. Such an unexpected one.
“Victoria.” Her mother’s voice demanded attention. As usual. “Are you listening to me?”
“Yes, Mother,” Victoria said, tangling her fingers with Lawrence’s as she stared at the phone. “I won’t tell Lawrence to file for custody.” Her mouth went dry. She actually felt the room shake and roll as more cracks appeared in her pristine life. “I think you’re wrong. I think this course of action is wrong. Katy should stay with her mother. Abigail is doing a fine job. There is no need to interfere with it.”
She was shaking by the time she finished talking, but she knew it wasn’t evident in her tone. Her voice was its robotic norm. She was vaguely aware of Lawrence shifting his chair; she felt his body heat as his arm went around her shoulders. She stayed stiff, unable to relax her guard.
“Have you lost your mind? Fetch Lawrence at once. I’ll tell him myself. You are obviously too weak to get the job done. You’ve let yourself get led astray by Abigail and the reprobate she’s entangled with. I should have known you weren’t able to get this done. I shouldn’t have trusted you with it. Honestly, Victoria, you are beyond useless.”
She felt Lawrence stiffen beside her. Her head snapped to face him when he cleared his throat.
“Mrs Montgomery-Clark, this is Lawrence. I’m sitting beside Victoria and I’ve heard the whole conversation. I have to say I agree completely with your daughter. You have no case here. No court in the land will take custody away from Abby. I strongly advise you give up on this plan.”
“And I strongly advise that you do the job I’m paying you for, sir. File the papers at once. I want my granddaughter in my custody as soon as possible.”
“No.” Lawrence stared at Victoria as he spoke. His eyes were steel. She shook beneath his touch, shocked at the strength she saw in him. “I’ve spoken with my partners and we agree your desires are not in the best interest of Maynard-Fraser-Grayson. Formal notice will arrive in the mail, but please be advised we are no longer willing to represent you, nor your family.”
There was an outraged gasp. “Do you have any idea who you’re dealing with, young man? I will ruin you and your firm. You have no right to withdraw representation. You should feel honoured I allowed you to act on my behalf in the first place. This is outrageous.”
“Take it up with your new solicitors,” Lawrence said. “If they have any sense at all, they’ll tell you the same thing we’re telling you. Drop this plan. Leave Abby and her daughter alone.”
Before her mother could say anything else, Lawrence let go of Victoria’s hand, reached over and broke the connection.
Victoria stared at the phone in shock. “You hung up on Mother.”
“Somebody should have hung up on her a long time ago.” Fury emanated from Lawrence, pulsing off him like a beacon to warn the wary away. It had the opposite effect on Victoria. It made her want to curl up against him. Of course she couldn’t. She didn’t know how.
Lawrence moved away from her, removing his arm from her shoulders to reach for her drink. He placed it in her hand. Victoria felt a little lost now he wasn’t touching her. She tried to hide her disappointment.
“What will she do now?” he said.
She stared at her drink. “I don’t know. Get another lawyer. Start again.” She looked up at him. “She might try suing you as well.”
He smiled, his eyes sparkling with the delight of a predator. “Now, that would be fun.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes.
“If I go back now, she’ll make me pay.” Victoria watched the ice melt in her glass.
“Then don’t go back.”
Her eyes snapped to his. Everything he was shone from him—strength, honour, courage, hope. He was hope.
“Is it really that simple?”
“It is if you want it to be.”
“I’m scared,” she confessed.
“Want to hear a secret?” He leaned over and took her glass from her, placing it back on the desk. He held both of her hands in his, resting them on her knees. “I’m scared too. Change is a scary thing.”
“And you’re going to do it anyway?”
He nodded, a knowing smile on his lips. “So are you, sweet Vicki, so are you.”
He closed the distance between them and captured her lips with his.
His kiss was a promise.
It tasted like freedom.
Flynn and Abby heard Katy calling for her mum as they walked up the stairs to Abby’s bedroom. There was no hysteria, no urgency present in the cry, so Abby knew she hadn’t been awake for long.
“There goes my shower time,” she grumbled.
Flynn tugged her close and pressed a kiss to her bruised lips. “Go shower. I’ll deal with the terrorist.”
“I don’t know. She probably got a fright. Or had a bad dream. She’ll want her mum.”
“Why don’t you stand in the door, and if it looks like I’ve got it under control, you can shower?”
“You’re humouring me, aren’t you?”
“Aye.” He grinned as he turned the handle on Katy’s door. “What’s up, terrorist? What’s with all the shouting?”
“There’s something under my bed.” There was a tremor in her voice. It took all of Abby’s self-control not to push Flynn out of the way and gather Katy to her.
“Do you need your mum?” Flynn asked.
“No. You can look under the bed and scare away anything there. You’re bigger than my Muma. You’d pr
obably be more scary to monsters.”
Flynn flicked on the light and Abby peeked inside as he knelt beside Katy’s bed. “I’d have nightmares too if I had to sleep in a room painted Pepto-Bismol pink.” He flicked the covers up and peeked under your bed.
“Is there a monster?” Katy clutched her favourite toy, her eyes wide.
“Aye, there’s a monster, all right. It’s Eric Cantona.” He sat up and cocked an eyebrow at Katy.
“Eric Cantona is not under my bed. You told me he spends all his time on trains, reading poetry. Plus he’s not a proper monster. He only kicked one man. Jonathan used to kick people all the time until he got in big trouble, and he isn’t a monster either.”
“I can’t believe you’re defending Cantona. Sure, he was a great forward, but he was also more than a little nuts. It’s a damn shame what happened to him.”
“Is he dead?”
“No, he’s an actor. But he might as well be dead. How can a man go from playing for the French team and leading Man U to victory, to prancing around in a bunch of arthouse movies? That’s no way to end a soccer career.”
Abby covered her mouth with a hand to stop from laughing. Katy just glared at Flynn, her arms folded over her princess pyjamas.
“There’s nothing wrong with acting. Jonathan’s mum said you could act in films. She said you’re pretty enough and you’re going to have to do something with your life now you can’t play football. She says you can’t sit around all day tanning your belly.”
“I really need to have a long talk with Jonathan and his mum.” Flynn tucked Katy in. “Everybody is an expert. Everybody thinks they know what I should do with my life. I’m supposed to have a plan, but what people don’t get is that I was going to plan in a few years’ time. This whole injury thing happened before I had time to get to it.”
“Don’t worry, Flynn. Jonathan’s mum said you can always get work being a giggler.”
“Giggler?”
“Yes.” Katy nodded solemnly. “We weren’t supposed to be listening, but we were. We heard her tell her friend a giggler makes ladies happy. Jonathan said you must know a lot of jokes.”
Abby snorted and Flynn’s eyes shot to hers. She made a point to Google gigolo options for him later. Flynn frowned at her in warning, but Abby just smothered a laugh. Gigolo. It was the perfect fit. He narrowed his eyes at her before turning back to Katy.
“How about we read a bit more, then you can go back to sleep?”
“Okay. Are you having a sleepover with Muma again?”
“Aye. Don’t go banging on the door in the morning. I thought the house was coming down around my ears this morning. I’m surprised there weren’t any dents in the door.”
“I’m strong. I have muscles. See?” She flexed her biceps.
“Impressive.” Flynn opened a book. “Right. Where were we? David Beckham.” He let out a long sigh. “Now before we go any further, I want to point out we’re talking about Beckham’s football career. I don’t want to hear any of Jonathan’s mum’s opinions on his modelling career, or how hunky she thinks he is, or anything else. This is a serious topic. We’re talking about one of the best midfielders England has ever produced. It isn’t about how he looks in his underwear.”
“Okay, Flynn.” Katy snuggled down under her duvet. “I’m listening.”
“Good.” Flynn cleared his throat and started to read. And Abby tiptoed to the shower with a silly smile on her face and a heart ready to burst.
34
“Football is a simple game made complicated by people who should know better.”
Bill Shankly, former Liverpool manager and Scottish national player
A storm broke over Abby’s house at eight thirty the following morning. It seemed fitting that the day brought thunder and rain. The heavy clouds over the hills were just one more ominous sign things were going to get bad. The rain fell heavily all morning, weighing her down with each drop.
At lunchtime, Victoria and Lawrence arrived and Abby was prepared to hear the worst.
“I won’t make you wait,” Victoria said as soon as she entered the house. “I spoke with Mother and told her not to file for custody.”
The air went out of Abby in one great whoosh. She had to place her hand on the wall beside her to stay upright. Lawrence smiled at her and squeezed her shoulder as he passed on his way to the kitchen, leaving the sisters alone in the hall.
“Thank you.” Abby felt tears prick at her eyes.
Victoria’s lips pinched, but her cheeks were flushed and her eyes seemed glassy with emotion.
“I won’t lie,” Victoria said. “Mother is beyond furious. She won’t let this matter drop. Lawrence and his firm have cut ties with her, but I expect she will hire another solicitor and carry on with her plans.”
Abby’s stomach lurched. “So, it isn’t over.”
“No.” Victoria hesitated. Her hand twitched towards Abby, as though she wanted to touch her, but didn’t quite know how. She cleared her throat and stood straighter. “Lawrence and I have agreed to support you. We will stand in your corner on this issue.”
She couldn’t stop it. A tear escaped and slid down Abby’s cheek.
“You won’t be able to go back if you do.” Abby, more than anyone, knew disobeying Mother meant cutting all ties with her.
“I know.” There was no emotion in Victoria’s answer, but Abby spotted the small tremor in her hands. Victoria’s eyes flicked back up to Abby’s, and she swallowed hard, as though steeling herself for something. “I have to speak with you about another matter.”
“Okay.” Abby drew out the word. From the look on her sister’s face, the other matter wouldn’t be good.
“After lunch, perhaps?” Victoria said. “We could take a moment in private to talk.”
“We can talk now.”
Her sister couldn’t meet her eyes. “No, later is fine.”
Abby desperately wanted to demand to know now. If the blade was going to fall on her neck, she didn’t want to wait to find out how. But the anxiety radiating from Victoria made her hesitate. What difference would another few minutes make? It was the least she could do, considering everything Victoria had sacrificed to help her.
“Okay,” Abby said. “Let’s go get some tea.”
Her sister was visibly relieved by the reprieve. “Tea would be lovely.”
They walked side by side into the kitchen only to find Lawrence, Flynn and Katy discussing football around the dining table.
“Everything okay?” Flynn said when he saw her.
“Yes. It’s all good.”
He gave her the sort of private smile that made her heart clench hard. Victoria sat at Lawrence’s side. Lawrence shocked Abby further by taking her sister’s hand. The way he smiled at Victoria made Abby ache with hope. He was a good man. And after a life living for their mother, Victoria deserved a good man to help her heal.
Abby served tomato soup with crusty bread, and the conversation flowed easily while they ate. As Abby cleared the table, the doorbell rang. As though he lived there, Flynn went to answer it, and Abby didn’t think twice about it. It felt like he belonged there.
Katy gestured widely while explaining why David Beckham was a great footballer to Lawrence, and her drink went flying. As Abby mopped up the mess with a cloth, Flynn came into the room. She stilled at the look on his face. It was a combination of anger, resolve and trepidation.
“Abby,” he said. “Your mother and brother are in the living room.”
It was Victoria’s turn to spill her drink.
“Calm down, Vicki.” Lawrence placed his hand on her shoulder. “It’s going to be okay.”
Abby didn’t move. “Mother?” It’d been eight years since she’d seen her last. “Charles?”
She couldn’t quite get her head around them actually being there.
“They have a new lawyer with them.” Flynn looked at Lawrence. “Merser and Bannister?”
Lawrence nodded sombrely. “They’re a good f
irm.”
“Mother is here?” Abby said.
She looked over to Victoria, whose face had drained of all colour. Their eyes met in a moment of brutal understanding.
“I thought she’d just call,” Victoria whispered.
“Yes,” Abby whispered back.
“She wants to talk to both of you.” Flynn’s lips thinned as though he were readying for an argument. “There’s no way you’re going in there without me.”
“Nor me.” Lawrence looked equally determined.
Abby’s eyes hit her daughter, who was sitting wide-eyed, soaking in every word. What about Katy? She couldn’t be anywhere near the toxic air her mother generated. Before she could formulate a plan, Flynn was talking into his phone. The call ended quickly.
“Matt and Jena will be here in a couple of minutes,” he said. “They’re going to take Katy to their house to play.”
“Can Jonathan come too?” Katy’s enthusiasm was at odds with the strain in the air.
“I’ll tell Matt to make sure he picks up Jonathan.” Flynn’s face softened as he spoke to Katy.
“Can I show him my new football book?”
“Course you can, monster. He might learn something. Go get it and I’ll keep an eye out for Jena. Hurry up; they’ll be here soon.”
Abby was happy to let Flynn talk. All of her words seemed to have dried up.
Katy whooped and ran at Flynn, her arms up wide. Without pausing, he lifted her to his chest. Katy put her arms around his neck and hugged him tight.
“You’re the best, Flynn,” she said.
“I know. Now don’t forget to tell everybody.” And to Abby’s shock, he kissed Katy on the cheek before putting her on the floor. “Get moving. Time’s running out if you want to take the book with you.”
“And the DVD too,” Katy shouted as she ran full speed from the room.
Without a word, Abby walked to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. She pressed her cheek to his chest and counted his heartbeats as she waited for her mind to restart. Flynn held her without comment, gently stroking his hand down her back. There was no censure. He didn’t try to take over. He was just offering his strength. And she was eager to take it.
Bad Boy (Invertary Book 5) Page 25
