by Billy London
Niels nodded upstairs. “I’m going to deal with our eldest.”
Judith asked, “What were you doing to upset him?”
“We were asleep,” Stella said, as Niels took the stairs two at a time to the twins’ bedroom. “Listen, Mum, thank you for looking after them.”
Judith ruffled Will’s hair. “My pleasure. I’ll leave you to it, but call me,” she added pointedly. Stella nodded and kissed her mother’s cheek.
Niels appeared at the top of the stairs, Danny underneath his arm, as the boy struggled. “Don’t want to talk to you or you!” their eldest son pointed at Stella.
Will frowned. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Them!” Danny yelled. “They don’t know what they’re doing!”
“All right, that’s enough,” Niels’ stern tone made Danny close his mouth promptly. “You know you’re not allowed to talk to me or your mother that way.”
Without setting Danny down, he stalked into the living room. Stella and Will followed. Still small enough that being set on the sofa saw his feet swinging inches from the ground, Danny pouted and folded his arms. Stella asked Will to sit beside him, and deliberately, she sat on the floor in front of them. Niels joined her.
“I know it’s been difficult for you both,” Niels began. “Harder than it has been for your mother and I, to separate and form separate homes.”
“We’re sorry,” Stella added earnestly. “The first and hardest lesson you ever learn from your parents, is that they’re human. They make mistakes. Bad ones… And all we can do is try and make up for that.”
Will’s frown deepened. “Are you getting back together?”
Niels and Stella exchanged looks before Niels admitted, “We are. I’m moving back in.”
“Why did you do the divorce, then?” Danny demanded. “Why did you make us all upset? What for? What was the point?” His little voice broke on the last word and he burst into tears. Niels sat next to him, his arm curving the boy into his lap, the same way he had Stella a few hours ago.
“Your mother said it. We’re human. We made a mistake. But we love each other. We need each other, as much as we love and need you two.”
“But what if you don’t love each other again?” Will asked. Stella scooted forward and kissed his hands reassuringly.
“We never stopped. Ever. We were very angry and very upset with each other, but we didn’t stop being in love. William, I have loved your father for nearly fifteen years. I will love him for the next fifty. Fifty times fifty. Times infinity.”
Niels reached over Danny to touch Stella’s hand. Her smile to him wobbled with the force of her emotion. “Same. A thousand ways, the same.”
“But I asked you,” Danny cried. “To get back together. Ages ago. And you said you couldn’t.”
Stella raised an eyebrow. “Child, since when do you get your way?”
He sent her a look. “This isn’t the same as an XBox, Muma.”
“It is. The downside is, no more double presents.”
Will blinked. “I think that should carry on. Really. It’ll help.”
“No, it won’t,” his father refused the request immediately. “If you want to talk, or you’re confused, or you really need to know why your mother and I have to spend a lot of time talking about things together… Come and speak to us.”
Danny glared at his mother. “Are you sure? No more Rashes or Royces?”
“No more,” she promised. No one had or ever would compare to Niels. “Just me, your brother, your dad, and you. The four of us.”
Will grinned. “Told you, Dan.”
His brother wrinkled his nose and looked up to Niels. “Can we have Chinese, please?”
“Is that all you’re concerned about? Food?”
“Yeah. Can we?”
Niels shook his head. “Whatever you like. Go and get the leaflet from the kitchen.”
“K.”
He slid from the sofa and before he rushed to the kitchen, he flung himself into Stella’s arms and whispered, “Don’t leave Daddy again, okay?”
She tilted her head back to compose herself before she whispered back to her son, eldest by mere minutes. “I promise, darling. Never, ever.”
He kissed her on the cheek and disappeared. Will tapped his fingers together. “He owes me money. I told him this would happen.”
Overwhelmed by their children’s reactions, Niels and Stella looked for a distraction. “What do you want to watch on TV?” they asked.
***
A few days later, the last of Niels’ immediate possessions were delivered to their house. With their children at school, Stella had the time to make room for her husband once more. Not that the room didn’t exist. She simply had to contract her belongings, rather than spread them out.
Finishing her call, she waited for him to come to the conservatory and join her for a light lunch of soup.
“I purged a lot, and there are several bags for charity that I will deal with. Don’t touch them.”
She held up her hands in defence. Watching him pour her some lemon-infused water before he filled his glass, she felt a pang in her chest. Worry. Constant worry, but what she had done should, or had to make her feel better. It was for the both of them after all.
“I spoke to my accountant,” she said.
Niels looked up from his bowl. “Why?”
“To pay off the remortgage.”
He stared at her in horror. “Why?”
“Richer. Poorer. And I spoke to Eden. She’s going to arrange for this house to be in trust for the boys as well, but giving you the right of residence for life, or anywhere else we choose to live. I’ve asked her to change my will, so if anything happens to me, you don’t need to worry. We talked about what else I can do, and I can get some shares…”
“Stella, stop. You don’t need to do this.”
“I do. I need you to know that I am with you. I will stand by you through anything. It’s just money. I’d rather be poor and with you, than have everything and be without you. I’ve done that. It’s fucking miserable. And if doing this means you won’t walk away from me like you’re doing some selfless act of saving, I’ll do it. We can’t do without you.”
“I can’t accept this from you.”
The knot of worry tightened in her chest. He was going to say no. She couldn’t let him. This was their chance to start afresh. Even. On the same, financial, equal page. “Do you know how your parents got through their poverty? Together. Staying together. Working together. You’re not taking anything from me. I’m giving it to you. Like a hug. Or a blow job.”
Niels’ face contorted in a combination of disgust and admiration at her words. “You can’t compare hundreds of thousands of pounds to a blow job, Stella.”
“I can! You take those without question! What’s wrong with money? It’s money that we raised together. I didn’t do everything myself. If you hadn’t helped with the twins, do you think I’d have been able to open a second salon? If you hadn’t sat down and gone over business plans with me, do you think I’d have got the loan? You’ve helped me earn it. All I’m doing is giving you your share. Please. And then, if you ever, ever worry about money again, you tell me. Like you promised to.” She held him with her eyes, begging him to understand, to agree, to take the way out for them all to be together, safe and secure. Stella soon lost her patience. “Look, your pride does not have a tight vagina. I do.”
He moved the table out of the way, and pulled her into his arms. “Come here,” he said gruffly, one palm braced at the nape of her neck, the other cradling the base of her spine.
“I’ve got you, Niels. Let me do this, and you have me, too.” Her voice muffled against his chest, she held him as tightly. “Nothing, nothing is as important as us being together.”
“You crazy, stubborn woman.”
She held him even more tightly, pouring all her love and all her reassurance into her embrace. “We’re safe. We’re sorted, I promise you. I promise.”
“I wouldn’t ever risk our family again.”
“I know. But like I said. The house is safe. The boys won’t ever go hungry. My…industriousness for once, has helped. You know I didn’t do this without you. I couldn’t have.”
“I love you,” he breathed into her hair. “You nutty woman, I love you so much…” Relief made her eyes sting with tears. Oh thank God! Stronger together. He knew that. They knew that.
Niels lifted his head, his eyes gleaming with suggestion. “So if this is like a blow job, what do I give you in return?”
Oh, yeah… Good point…
***
One Year Reunited
Stella filtered through her wardrobe, desperate for something smart and maternal and non-frumpy to wear. Goodness sake, why was it that any time she needed clothing, she didn’t have any.
“We’ve got fifteen minutes,” Niels said from the bed, adjusting his digital camera. “It’s warm enough for you to get in the car in a bra and panties…”
“Got it, got it, got it. I’m not going to embarrass our kids.”
“Any more, you mean?”
She made a face. “They’ll get over it.”
“We really need to stop bribing them,” he suggested.
Really, they did. Danny had a way of making them feel guilty enough. Weekends away, new bicycles, new phones… It had to stop and her mother suggested it only really would if Stella and Niels remarried.
“Something nice for the whole family to celebrate.”
Fuck the whole family. Niels hadn’t mentioned remarriage since his vow in Mexico, and she didn’t have the right to press him. They were as faithful and true as if they hadn’t divorced at all. But the idea niggled away at her. Would Danny be reassured if they were married, rather than cohabiting? Her engagement ring still sat on her right hand. Niels wore his wedding ring without hesitation.
He came and stood behind her, his fingertips trailing over the seam of her knickers, just above her bottom. “I have something for you.”
“Please say it’s a dress and we can go to this end of term thingy and not again embarrass our children?”
“It’s a dress, but not one you can wear today.”
From beneath the bed, he produced a large white box, tied in a blue ribbon. “What’s this? Niels, we’re going to be late!”
“Open it. And you can wear the green dress you keep flicking past. You’ve got the shoes on already.”
And he was right. With a smile, she untied the ribbon and lifted the lid of the box. White. Lace. Hand. Stitched. A note sat on the top. To Stella, I hope the second dress brings you even more luck! Best wishes, Selene Reyce.
“What did you do?” she whispered, her heart racing away in her chest.
“I wrote to her. Told her I needed a dress to re-propose to my wife. And she told me that this is a dress she is proudest of. That she has never re-created because of how special it was. To have someone believe in her when she was just starting out in her business. How much she remembered you. And how in love with me you were. She had it made again.”
Stella couldn’t believe it. What a beautiful thing for him to do! To take them back to their beautiful beginning and lay out a glorious new future. “It must have cost a fortune.”
He lifted a shoulder, but his eyes gleamed. “She charged me the same you paid for it fourteen years ago. And then returned my cheque.”
“Oh, Niels.” Tears clogged her throat and she struggled to say anything more. It was all she wanted. All she’d ever wanted, symbolised by all that lace and a hand-written note by one hell of a romantic designer.
“It’s not too soon to ask you, is it? I can’t bear to see this,” he picked up her hand and rubbed her bare ring finger. “Marry me. Again. Just you, me and the boys. No one else.”
“You read my mind,” she said with a sigh, letting the dress drop back into the box. She wrapped her arms around his neck. Home. Comfort. Love. Niels. “I love you, Strøm.”
“Now you’re going to officially be my wife again, we need to talk obedience.” His eyebrows lifted suggestively. Naughty, terrible, bad man. They really didn’t have time for this if they really didn’t want to embarrass their children. Stella took one look at him and took a deep breath.
“What did you do with the nipple clamps?”
Billy’s Book List
Italian Knights Series
Windows
On Caristo’s Watch
A Life Sublime
The Claim
Best Laid Plans
Verde Bianco Rosso (coming soon)
Murano (coming soon)
Paranormal
Said the Demon to Little Miss Eva
Angel’s Baby (sequel to Said the Demon)
Put Out the Zombie
Shibah’s Monster
Nights of Roshan
Addicted To Witch
Contemporary
@Last (Young Adult)
Sympathy for the Devil (Young Adult)
An Old Cake Tale
Kissing the Canvas
The Baby Gift
Army of You and Me
Sweet Child of Mine
Coming Around Again
Flash Fiction
Christmas Connection
At Midnight
Starting Over
On Set Vintage Pleasures
Collections
Fairytales of Christmas
Season of Love, Vol One
About Billy London
Ah, poor Billy. The only girl between two boys who each have nearly a foot on her. Didn’t stop her from starting physical fights with them. She still thinks she can take them. So while she used to hide away in her wardrobe to read a book or four, she started to question why the heroines in those books would just lie there and take it. No, not just sex, but downright James-Bond-backhand-slapping, do-as-you’re-told-woman, inappropriate lie there and take it. She couldn’t understand it. These women were just playing that mental woman from Coming to America, Miss “Whatever You Like” who barked like a dog and hopped on one foot. Billy didn’t want to do that. Definitely not because one empty-headed fool with different anatomy told her to. So she started to create characters and worlds where the women could own their sexuality, their intelligence, their right to turn around and say “jog on, mate” without apology.
The small problem was that other people wanted to read what she was had written. “Er...why?” didn’t cut it as an answer. After years of prodding and pleading and come on and for goodness’ sake, what’s the point otherwise, she closed her eyes and pressed “submit.” Actually, she had Prosecco, limoncello and white wine, then pressed “submit.” Who would have thought people would actually enjoy reading about the crazy characters who live in her head? But they have done, and Billy feels rather proud of that connection with her fellow man.
Billy lives in London with the most patient family in the world and doesn’t forget for a minute how lucky she is. Well, she wouldn’t mind a BBC adaptation of one of her novels... Ooh, with Richard Armitage!
Table of Contents
Copyright © 2014 Billy London
Note about eBooks
CAVEAT
Playlist
The Break Up
Prologue
Chapter One
The Divorce
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
The Fight
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
The Struggle
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
The Turning Point
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
The Reunion
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
> Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
The End
Epilogue
Billy’s Book List
About Billy London
