by Louise Hall
“You’d better take that off so I can stitch it,” Cate said, pointing at Lola’s jumper.
As Lola took off her jumper, Cate noticed a nasty bruise on her arm. “Are you hurt anywhere else, sweetheart?”
Lola shook her head, “I managed to dodge most of them. Rocco taught me.”
Cate grimaced. “Why was your cousin teaching you how to fight?”
Lola shrugged, “he said girls should know how to defend themselves.”
When Kian came home, Cate asked “how was it?”
“Not too bad,” Kian said. He’d taken the long way home. “I lost them just after I came off the motorway.”
Cate turned to Lola, “let’s go and sit in the lounge, sweetheart.”
Lola sat between Cate and Kian on the sofa. Cate brushed her daughter’s fringe out of her eyes. “Why were you fighting with Josh?”
Lola shook her head, “not telling.”
“You can’t keep secrets from Mummy and Daddy,” Cate said softly. “Did he say something to you?”
Lola looked at Kian, “I don’t want to.”
Kian squeezed his daughter’s hand, “it’s OK, Lo. Whatever it is, you can tell us. I promise we won’t be cross.”
Lola started crying again, “he said…” She shook her head, “I can’t.”
“Would it help if Jimmy was here?” Cate asked. Lola shrugged her shoulders. Cate got up and brought Jimmy in from the kitchen. Lola knelt down on the floor and wrapped her arms around Jimmy’s neck. He was delighted with all the attention.
“He said Daddy didn’t love us anymore,” Lola hiccupped, “that he’s going to leave us again.”
“Lola,” Kian said hoarsely. “That’s not true. I love you and Mummy so much. You are the most important people in the world to me.”
“I don’t want you to go away again.”
Kian lifted Lola up off the floor and settled her on his lap. “I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart. I promise.”
Deprived of Lola’s attention, Jimmy put his paws on Cate’s knees. “We love you too,” she cooed, letting him lick her palm.
“Josh said his mummy and daddy read about it in the newspaper?” Lola asked, “Daddy, who’s Jenna?”
Kian realised he was in an impossible situation; he couldn’t explain this to Lola without risking hurting Cate again. “Do you remember a couple of years ago when I did a bad thing and you and Mummy went to live at Granny Reen’s?” Lola nodded. “I… kissed a woman that wasn’t Mummy.” Kian felt Cate flinch next to him.
Lola looked at Cate and then back at Kian, “but why did you do that, Daddy?”
“I made a mistake, a big one and it took Mummy a long time to forgive me.”
“But I did,” Cate said. “I forgave Daddy and we came home.”
“The lady I kissed, Jenna, she really wanted to be on TV and so she told lots of people that she’d kissed me.”
“I don’t understand,” Lola frowned, “you kiss Mummy all the time and she’s not on TV?”
Cate laughed, “I don’t want to be on TV, sweetheart. I’m quite happy being your mummy.”
“I don’t want you to ever worry about us, Lola.” Kian tried to think of how to explain it so Lola would understand. “I love you and Mummy even more than football.”
“More than football?” Lola’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“Yeah, so much more than football.” Kian turned serious. “You can’t get into fights with people just because they say mean things about Mummy and Daddy, OK?” He placed the palm of his hand on Cate’s bump. “You’re going to be a big sister soon. This baby is going to look up to you.”
“I know,” Lola nodded. “I’ll try not to get into any more fights, Daddy.”
CHAPTER 17
“I can look after myself,” Matteo grumbled as Cate pushed his wheelchair along the corridors of the hospital. He was being released today but because his family were all back at home in Italy, it had been agreed that he’d stay with Cate and Kian while he recovered.
“It’s just until we get to the car. I know you don’t like it but it’s hospital policy.”
“Hey,” Cate put a hand on his shoulder when he tried to stand up. “Don’t make me call Annabella.”
Matteo’s mum had flown over from Italy as soon as she’d heard about her son’s head injury. She’d wanted to stay with him in Manchester while he recovered but then she’d found out that her eldest daughter, Carina, who was pregnant with twins had been spotting and so she’d been put on bed rest for the rest of her pregnancy. Carina already had two young children to look after and her husband ran his own business so he couldn’t afford to take any time off. Cate had assured her that she and Kian would look after Matteo.
The hospital had arranged for them to leave by a quiet side entrance so they wouldn’t be hounded by press and fans. Cate helped Matteo into the front seat of the Range Rover; she’d borrowed Kian’s car as it had blacked-out windows.
As they drove away, Matteo switched on the radio. It was One Direction.
“You like this shit?” Matteo frowned. He suddenly realised that he’d cursed in front of a lady. If his mama was there, she definitely would have clipped him around the ear, reminding him that she’d brought him up to have better manners than that. “Sorry.”
Cate chuckled. “Have you heard my husband? I’ve heard much worse. Just try not to do it in front of Lo.”
When they got home, Lola was there. “Teo,” she yelped excitedly when she saw him. “What happened to your head?”
Matteo tried to answer diplomatically, “some… jerk banged into me with their elbow, that’s all.”
“Ouch,” Lola shuddered, “does it hurt a lot?”
“It looks worse than it is,” Matteo shrugged. Cate knew he wasn’t telling the truth, the doctors had prescribed him really strong painkillers.
As if she was spying on them, the house phone rang. Cate and Matteo exchanged glances.
Lola ran to answer it. “Mummy, it’s Bella.”
Giving Matteo privacy to talk to his mum, Cate and Lola took his bags upstairs to one of the guest bedrooms. “Mummy,” Lola frowned, “Teo can’t stay here.”
“Why not, sweetie?” Cate asked.
“This is Auntie Liv’s room,” Lola said. “Where’s she going to stay when she comes back from holiday?”
Although they had other guest rooms, this one had the best views of the countryside at the back of the house. Fortunately, Matteo saved Cate from the awkwardness of trying to explain to Lola that she didn’t think Auntie Liv was ever coming back.
Matteo knelt down so that he was at Lola’s level. “I’m only going to be staying here for a few days while my head gets better so I’ll be gone by the time your Auntie Liv comes back, I promise.”
Lola thought about it for a minute, “OK.” She took Matteo’s hand and led him across to one of the big windows, “look, it will make your head feel better.”
“I think you might be right,” Matteo nodded, looking out at the rolling, green hills. It was so different to the view from his starkly-decorated apartment in one of the high rise buildings in Manchester city centre.
When Kian got home that night, he was exhausted. After training, he’d had a meeting with his agent, Dave about “The Zak Situation.” Kian’s tackle had broken Zak’s leg in three places. When Kian had found out how badly injured Zak was, he’d tried several times to apologise. The FA had immediately banned him for five matches but that wasn’t his only punishment. Jenna had told the tabloids that he’d done it on purpose because he was jealous that she was dating Zak now.
“No,” Lola’s voice filtered through from the lounge. “It’s like this.”
When Kian walked into the lounge, he burst out laughing. Matteo with the bandage still wrapped around his head was stood next to his daughter in front of the TV, learning the dance moves to “Best Song Ever” by One Direction.
“On your knees,” Lola instructed.
Matteo reluctantly dropped
to his knees to do “The Stag”.
“Nice wiggle,” Kian whistled. Matteo glared at him, “if you tell anybody about this…”
“He wouldn’t dare,” Cate joined them. “Daddy’s good at “The Canoe”, isn’t he, Lo?”
“Don’t answer that, Lo,” Kian warned.
“OK, Daddy,” Lola grinned. She turned to Matteo and whispered, “he’s really good at it.”
“Such a little traitor,” Kian teased, scooping her up. “What’s for dinner, I’m hungry?”
“We’re just waiting for Ben and Erin,” Cate kissed his cheek. “Why don’t the three of you go upstairs and get washed?”
After dinner, Matteo helped Cate put the dishes away while Kian tucked Lola into bed. “Are you OK?” Cate asked gently. “Is your head hurting again?”
“No,” Matteo was grateful for her concern. “It’s just…” He couldn’t easily describe how he was feeling. “Being with your family tonight, it was…”
He put the towel down on the kitchen counter, “I think I made a mistake coming here.”
Cate looked horrified, “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have invited Ben and Erin tonight. It was too much for you.”
“No,” Matteo waved his hands, “I didn’t mean that. If anything, I enjoyed tonight too much. It reminded me of being back home in Italy with my own family. I miss them.”
”Could you not go back for a visit? You can’t play at the moment.”
Matteo shook his head sadly, “I can’t fly until this has healed and as soon as it has, they’ll want me back in training.”
“I’ve never had the chance to be homesick,” Cate confided. “I’ve never lived on my own. I went straight from my mum’s house to living here with Kian.”
Even though he was just a couple of years younger than Cate, in that moment he looked so much younger. “I know it’s not the same as being with your own family,” Cate hugged him, “but you’re always welcome here.”
“Thank you,” Matteo smiled a little. “That means a lot.”
Cate sensed she needed to lighten the mood, “besides, who else will do “The Stag” with Lo?”
“Your husband is never going to let me live that down, is he?”
“Probably not,” Cate giggled.
When Matteo went upstairs to bed, Cate retreated to the back porch. She opened the doors, letting in the cool, night air and sat on the steps.
“What are you doing out here?” Kian asked softly, sitting down beside his wife.
“I’m just thinking,” Cate rested her head on Kian’s shoulder.
“You want to run, don’t you?” Kian asked. This thing with Jenna must surely have reopened old wounds.
“No,” Cate turned to look at him, “what makes you think that?”
“You know what she’s saying isn’t true, don’t you?”
“I know. We were separated for nearly six months. If you’d wanted to be with her, you could have been.”
“I don’t,” Kian said darkly. “I never fucking did.”
Cate brushed her lips over his. She didn’t want to add to her husband’s guilt. “I don’t want to run, I promise.”
He lifted Cate up on to his lap, her bump rubbed against his stomach. “If it’s not that, why do you look so serious?”
“I was just thinking about what we’d do if you got transferred to another club.” She thought about Matteo, weighed down by homesickness.
“I don’t want to play for any other club, you know that.” His dream had only ever been to play for Manchester Rovers.
Cate twisted her fingers up in his hair, “it’s not always under your control though.” It was a rarity these days for a player to stay at just one club for the whole of his career.
She couldn’t imagine ever living anywhere else. “I want you to rent out the apartment again.”
“It’s close to the hospital.” He placed his hands on her bump.
“This is our home.” Ben and Erin were just across the courtyard. Lola’s godparents, Wilf and Thelma ran the Black Horse pub at the other end of Cooper Lane. Their mums, Irene and Jean, lived just a few miles away. “I want to raise our children here, not in some fancy-pants apartment.”
CHAPTER 18
Cate had offered to stay late at the office to catch up on the filing. Lola was having a sleepover with Noah at Sara and Yoakey’s. She’d almost finished for the night when she heard a rapping on the front door. She wondered if India had maybe forgotten something.
When she got to the door, Kian was stood there. He had that look in his eyes that always made her stomach flip.
“Is everything OK?” Cate asked, locking the door behind him.
“Everything’s fine,” Kian chuckled, wrapping his arms around his wife. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too,” Cate kissed him. “I’m almost done.”
Kian sat on one of the couches and pretended to flick through a magazine. He couldn’t take his eyes off his wife. She was wearing a loose black and white polka-dot blouse, which hid the swell of her stomach and a black pencil skirt. Her long legs were encased in black stockings and led down to her very sexy heels.
Cate could feel him watching her. She turned to look at him, biting her bottom lip. “What are you thinking about?”
“How soon I can fuck you?” He watched her big, black eyes get all smoky.
She still had work to do but she was too turned on to even pretend that she felt guilty leaving the office. She’d come in early on Monday morning instead.
When they got home, as soon as they’d closed the front door, Kian was on her, pushing her back against the door and kissing her. His lips were hot and demanding.
“I need to fuck you right now,” he grunted, reaching for the zip at the back of her pencil skirt. He was so fucking glad Matteo had gone home a couple of days ago and they had the house all to themselves.
“I just need to check the messages,” Cate said, reaching for their answer phone. Kian shimmied her skirt down her hips and she stepped out of it, kicking off her heels.
“You have six new messages,” The machine beeped.
Kian lifted Cate up and dropped her down on the couch. “Hey,” Cate swatted his chest. “I need to listen to these.”
“You listen, I’ll get you naked.”
The 1st message was a wrong number. Kian ripped at her blouse, cascading the buttons all over the carpet.
“That’s my favourite blouse,” Cate protested. She was quickly silenced by Kian’s mouth slanting over her own.
He pulled off her bra so she was naked apart from her panties and stockings. “Mm,” he wriggled down so his face was level with her chest and toyed with her aching nipples. Her breasts were so tender when she was pregnant.
“Stop teasing me,” Cate warned, her back arching up off the sofa.
“Are you horny, angel?” Kian chuckled, sliding a hand over her swollen belly to the lace of her panties.
“You know I am,” Cate huffed.
Kian eased her panties down her legs and tossed them on the floor. He trailed his hands up her slender calves before gently pushing apart her knees. Cate shifted her hips, burning under his intense gaze.
He was just about to touch her when his mum’s voice rang out from the answer machine. “Fuck,” Kian gritted his teeth.
Cate laughed, “I told you, you should have let me listen to them first.”
Kian got up from the sofa; he was still hard even with his mum wittering on in the background. He was just about to press the button to silence the damn machine when the next message started, it was Liv. “Cate?”
Cate quickly sat up, forgetting about her almost orgasm. She could hear the pain cracking her sister’s voice. She grabbed Kian’s t-shirt and pulled it on. “I need to call her back.”
She sat on the bottom step and pulled off her stockings as she listened to Liv’s phone ringing out.
“Darn it, Liv,” Cate cursed, “pick up your phone.”
“What do you need?” Kian
asked.
“I need to find her.”
He didn’t know where Liv was but he knew someone who might. “Fuck you,” Jax answered on the 1st ring.
“What the fuck?” Kian didn’t get why Jax sounded so pissed off.
“I’ve left you like 15 messages,” Jax grunted. “Answer your fucking phone next time.”
“Where is she?”
“The only reason I’m telling you this is because I’m on the other side of the Atlantic right now and I can’t get to her.”
Kian clenched his fists, “just tell me where she is, Jax.”
After he’d ended the call with Jax, he walked upstairs and into the bedroom where Cate was anxiously pacing back and forth.
“Does he know where she is?”
Kian nodded. She was in Calder Harbour, a small tourist village just along the coast from Brighton.
Cate struggled to reach the small suitcase at the top of the wardrobe. “What the fuck are you doing?” he asked.
She looked at him incredulously, “I need to find Liv.”
“You need to sit down for a second,” Kian grabbed her wrist and led her across to the bed. “There’s something else.”
“Kian, I need to go,” Cate said impatiently. “Liv’s in trouble.”
“You’re pregnant,” he gripped her upper arms. “Angel, Liv has found your dad.”
“What?” Cate’s eyes widened. “What are you talking about?”
She tried to get up but Kian held firm, he lifted his wife up on to his lap and gently stroked her back. “Talk to me.”
“No,” Cate struggled against him. “Let me go. She’s wrong. I don’t have a dad.”
“Cate.”
Kian easily manhandled his wife so she was lying on her back on the bed. He straddled her thighs and grabbed her wrists, pinning them to the mattress above her head. “You’re not going anywhere until you talk to me.”
“Screw you,” Cate struggled against his restraints. “I need to find my sister.”
“Not like this you don’t,” Kian warned. “You need to calm the fuck down.”
Cate closed her eyes, refusing to look at her stubborn husband.
