‘I need to talk to you,’ she said.
‘Actually, I need to talk to you too,’ he replied.
Ashley paused, her mouth open, but the words that were meant to follow her first greeting now seemed forgotten. Perhaps his tone had seemed a little brusque but he needed to get this off his chest.
‘I wouldn’t mention it like this normally,’ he continued. ‘It’s just that Ella is really upset and I thought you might be able to have a quiet word with Molly about it.’
‘What’s it got to do with Molly?’
‘Everything really. It’s this business with Bastien. You see, Ella likes him…’
‘And?’
‘It can’t have escaped your attention that Molly does too. I think there’s something going on there actually—’
‘If there is that’s none of your business. Just what are you trying to say?’
Haydon’s eyes widened. ‘I’m not trying to tell you how to raise your daughter,’ he said. ‘I only wanted to request that she perhaps respect the feelings of mine. Ella’s younger and more impressionable and she’s very sensitive – easily upset. She thinks that… well, she’d hoped that Bastien would like her the way she likes him, and clearly that’s not the case. All I ask is that Molly and Bastien don’t rub her nose in it like they’re doing right now.’
‘What!’
‘I don’t think it’s an unreasonable thing to ask. They do seem to be flaunting it a bit and it’s making Ella miserable. Probably teenagers showing off – you know how they do with younger kids – but perhaps you could talk to them? This holiday is so important for me and Ella and—’
‘Why don’t you talk to them if it’s affecting your precious flower so much?’
‘Ashley, why are you being so awkward? I don’t understand—’
‘Don’t understand? Do you have any idea how patronising this sounds?’
‘I only wanted you to have a word where I can’t. I’m not trying to patronise anyone.’
‘You do it.’
‘She’s your daughter.’
To his amazement, Ashley started to laugh.
‘Oh, the sodding irony,’ she said.
‘Ashley?’
‘Forget it,’ she said. ‘I’ll talk to Molly later but don’t bother talking to me again tonight. It’s obvious that you and me moving forward was nothing but a silly dream. It was nice for a while, but it’s never going to work.’
‘What are you saying? That we can’t be together because of the kids? That’s crazy! It’ll take work but other families do it.’
‘Not these ones. Sorry.’
Ashley turned to walk away but he grabbed for her arm and spun her back to face him. ‘Please… don’t end things like this.’
‘You’re making a scene,’ she said, lowering her voice and glancing around the garden. ‘And I see now you’ve had too much to drink to talk any sense.’
‘I’m not drunk. You seem to be the drunk one to me. You’re really going to throw what we have away because of something I said about Molly? Which wasn’t even bad anyway?’
‘We don’t have anything. We tried to pick up where we left off in Ibiza and it was nice until reality bit. There’s no picking up from there, not ever, and we were both just fooling ourselves.’
‘Why not?’
‘You really want to know?’
‘Yes.’
Ashley stared at him. It was intense, like she was trying to see his soul. But then she just shook her head.
‘What’s the point? Why not let sleeping dogs lie?’
‘What the hell are you talking about? Ashley… there’s something about Molly—’
‘Go and find Ella,’ Ashley cut across him, turning to walk away again. ‘Go and make sure your daughter is OK.’
‘Ashley! What have I done?’
By now some of the party guests had noticed that all was not well with two of their number and Haydon was suddenly aware of curious eyes upon him. But if keeping the peace meant losing Ashley then he didn’t care too much for shutting up. Ditching his plate of food, he strode after her.
‘You don’t get to call this without an explanation,’ he said. ‘Don’t I at least deserve that?’
She spun to face him. ‘Maybe. But it’s too complicated and I’ve just realised that maybe it’s just too hard to deal with.’
‘What is? Whatever it is I can help you!’
She shook her head, her eyes awash with a sadness so vast and deep he almost felt it would swallow him too.
‘Please… just let me try,’ he said, his voice low and urgent. ‘I won’t lose you – not now.’
‘You say that but when you find out the woman I really am you might not be so keen.’
‘Nothing you can tell me will change the way I feel.’
‘You’re certain? You know your mind so well that you’re sure nothing could change it?’
‘At least try me.’
‘That’s not the answer I wanted. That means maybe you doubt yourself after all. You’re wondering whether there is something that would put you off, and you’re scared your feelings are not as strong as you thought they were.’
‘This is crazy.’ He lunged forward and pulled her into him, planting a kiss on her lips that she didn’t refuse but didn’t return.
‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered.
‘You have nothing to be sorry for.’
‘Haydon…’ She paused. ‘We really need to talk.’
His reply was cut short by the arrival of Maurice and Sue.
‘Is everything alright?’ Maurice asked. ‘We did not want to listen but…’
‘You weren’t exactly being discreet,’ Sue added, glaring at Haydon.
He stood for a moment, while a woman he barely knew seemed to scrutinise every little detail of his being. Was Ashley’s sudden change of heart something to do with her mother? Did Sue really have that much of an influence?
‘We’re trying to sort things out; that’s all,’ Ashley said.
‘So you’ve told him?’ Sue replied.
‘Told me?’ Haydon looked at Ashley and then back at her mother again. ‘Look… Mrs—’
‘Dupont,’ Sue cut in. ‘At least get my name right if you can’t get anything else right.’
‘Mrs Dupont,’ he replied, doing his best to rise above the jibe. ‘I know that you probably don’t think much of me and I can understand why, but what happened in Ibiza… it was a mistake. Nothing more and nothing less. A mistake that anyone could have made.’
‘What!’ Sue cried. ‘A mistake? Is that what you call it? I call it bloody irresponsible! I call it cowardly and low! Leaving a poor girl high and dry – what sort of a man does that?’
‘I’m not that sort of a man!’ Haydon said. ‘I really liked Ashley. I never would have left the wrong phone number on purpose!’
‘Phone number!’ Sue stared at Ashley, who gave her head a tiny shake.
‘What else are we talking about?’ Haydon asked, looking between the two women.
‘Hell’s bells!’ Sue cried, swinging her arms so wide that an arc of wine sloshed from the glass she was holding. ‘Molly’s an intelligent girl but she clearly doesn’t get it from her father!’
Haydon looked from her to Ashley, confusion written all over his features.
‘And yet he still doesn’t have a clue,’ Sue continued. ‘What does it take to get the penny to drop?’
‘Mum!’ Ashley warned, firing Sue a look that begged for her to stop before things went too far.
‘Come on, Einstein!’ Sue rolled her eyes at Haydon.
‘Mum,’ Ashley repeated. ‘Please, this is not the time—’
‘It’s the time, alright!’
‘But I…’ Haydon turned to Ashley now, his eyes wide. And then he seemed to stop breathing and he uttered a single word. ‘Molly…’
‘Finally,’ Sue said, turning to stagger away. She beckoned Maurice to follow, with a look that said her work was done. ‘Finally he gets it.’
/>
Ashley shook her head slowly, tears burning her eyes. ‘I’m so sorry you had to find out like this.’
He knew the truth now for sure, but it didn’t seem possible that the conclusion he’d slowly been coming to could be the right one. And even as he said it he couldn’t quite believe it.
‘Molly’s my daughter?’
Chapter 17
To humiliate Haydon like this in front of everyone wasn’t what Ashley had wanted at all. It wasn’t fair and nobody deserved that, not even the man her mother considered public enemy number one. Later, when the dust had settled, Ashley would have a stern word with Sue but for now she had more pressing things to deal with.
Staggering back, Haydon fell into a seat. ‘Why didn’t you say anything?’
‘Believe me, I’ve been trying to.’
He buried his face in his hands and doubled over in the chair. ‘Shit.’
‘Pretty much what I said when I saw the pregnancy test. I’m sorry, it wasn’t supposed to come out like this.’
He looked up. ‘You’re sure?’
Ashley’s expression hardened. ‘Do you think we’d be having this conversation now if I wasn’t? You think I don’t know who the father is because I slept with so many men in Ibiza that week?’
‘No, I… Oh God, Ashley. I feel like the biggest bastard on the planet.’ He got up from his seat and staggered across to the trees at the far side of the garden, by now deep in shade. ‘I need a minute… I wondered, but I never imagined… need to take this in…’
Ashley followed him across the lawns. As they reached the trees she tugged at his arm and pulled him to face her.
‘I’m sorry. I’ve honestly been trying to tell you all week.’
‘And you pick today? Here?’
‘My mother picked today. You sort of forced her hand too.’
‘She’s known all along? All those times we’ve spoken this week and she knew? What must she have thought of me? Who else knew? Does everyone here know about it? Does Molly know?’
‘Just my mum. I told her after I saw you down at the beach that first time. I never told a soul up until that point, not even Molly.’
‘Didn’t she ever ask about her dad?’
‘Sometimes. But we agreed that as I didn’t know where you were it would do no good to dwell on it. And we were happy, just me and her together.’
‘She’ll hate me,’ he said, his face sinking into his hands again.
‘She might not. She doesn’t hate you as a person so it’s only fair we give her a chance to get to know you as a dad.’
‘You thought I didn’t want to be with you. So did Molly think that too?’
‘I hadn’t really talked to her about it in that much detail.’
‘But she thought her dad was an uncaring git.’
‘She didn’t have an opinion either way. You just weren’t there and it’s all she’s ever known.’
‘She’ll never forgive me. How can you even forgive me?’
Ashley shook her head. ‘I already have. Surely what we’ve said and done this week tells you that much.’
‘So this is why you wanted to end it?’
‘Just then, when we’d had that conversation about how Molly and Ella weren’t getting on, it suddenly seemed hopeless.’
‘I never meant that they weren’t getting along.’
‘I know, but it just showed me what we were up against.’
‘Of course,’ he replied, looking up and taking a deep breath. ‘There’s no argument over that at all. You must have been going mad keeping it all in.’
‘A little. But I didn’t want to blurt it out. Turns out that’s exactly how it went.’
‘That’s my fault as much as yours – I should have figured it out myself. It’s not as if the clues weren’t there and I wondered so many times, but I just figured you’d have told me…’
‘I wish you had worked it out. Life would have been a lot easier for me.’
‘I’m an idiot. But now I know I’ll do anything you need… Maintenance payments and other stuff… I can check that with the solicitor who acted for me when Janine and I…’ He faltered. ‘What am I going to tell Ella?’
‘We’ll tell her together.’
‘Oh God, she’s going to hate me too.’
‘Don’t be daft, Haydon. How could you have known? We lost touch so there’s no way you could be responsible for any of this.’
‘I could have been responsible sixteen years ago.’
‘Don’t you dare! There’s Molly, our beautiful, talented, intelligent daughter, and I wouldn’t have her gone from my life, not for a second! Don’t you dare wish her away!’
‘I didn’t mean that… sorry. Forgive me; I don’t know what I’m saying.’
‘You’re in shock and I get that. But I don’t want you wishing the past to be different, not ever. Even if I’d known back then what would happen, I wouldn’t change a thing. I’d always choose Molly over any other future I could have had.’
‘I just need… I need time to wrap my head around this.’
‘I know.’
‘I mean, this is huge.’
‘I know that too.’
‘What the hell do we do?’
‘We just work it out, I suppose. I hadn’t really thought any further than actually telling you.’
‘I suppose you wouldn’t.’
They were silent for a moment. Then Ashley spoke again.
‘I know I said there was no reason to doubt Molly is yours. But do you believe me?’
‘You’ve said it.’
‘A lot of men wouldn’t trust my word alone. Is there a bit of you that wants to know for certain? A bit of doubt?’
‘If it had been anyone else I might have wondered. But it’s you.’
‘And that’s enough?’
‘Yes. And seeing Molly is enough. I can’t explain why I feel like this, but it makes sense. Seeing her now I just know it’s right. Other people might say I’m an idiot but I don’t care.’
‘You don’t feel like you want to do… you know… tests or anything?’
‘Put Molly and you through that?’ He shook his head forcefully. ‘No.’
‘Wow…’ Ashley let out a breath. ‘I almost wish you would. Just so we’d be straight about it all. As it is I feel as if some day later on, when you’ve got over the shock, you might look at Moll and wonder.’
‘I would never…’
‘But if you did you could talk to me about it, right? It’s better for you to feel sure.’
‘I already feel sure.’
‘I’m just saying. Promise you’ll tell me if it happens.’
‘OK.’
‘Promise!’
He gave an uncertain laugh that bordered on hysteria. ‘I’ve got another daughter. Bloody hell!’
‘You’ve always had another daughter,’ Ashley said, unable to hold back a small smile. ‘She hasn’t suddenly appeared.’
‘I know, but… Jesus, this is so weird. And Molly… Well, she’s incredible!’
‘She is that,’ Ashley said.
He looked up. ‘You’re incredible. Making her into the girl she is all by yourself.’
‘I was never by myself and I think Molly might have had a hand in that.’
Taking a seat on the lawn and leaning against the trunk of a tree, he was silent for a moment, gazing out at the party. It seemed their altercation had soon been forgotten and everyone was getting stuck into the revelling as if nothing had happened. Somewhere, Ashley supposed, her mother and Maurice were discussing the developments. She could only hope that Maurice would have enough sense to persuade Sue to stay out of Molly and Ella’s way until Ashley and Haydon had the chance to break the news to them both. She couldn’t be certain of that at all, but right now Haydon needed her and she couldn’t just leave him. She took a seat on the grass beside him.
‘What about us?’ he asked.
‘You still want there to be an us?’
He took her h
and and kissed it. ‘God, yes! Now more than ever! We can be a family, like we were always supposed to be.’
‘You have another family, don’t forget. I don’t think it’s going to be quite that simple.’
‘Janine will be on our side.’
‘What about Ella? Didn’t you just say she’s got issues with Molly?’
‘That’s not exactly what I was saying.’
‘Sounded that way to me.’
‘I’m sorry if it did. Even if there was a problem the girls will want to put differences behind them when we tell them – I’m sure of it.’
‘I wish I could feel as optimistic about it as you do.’
‘We can make this work – I know we can.’
Ashley wiped away a tear and sniffed hard. All that he promised was like a dream and yet it felt so unreachable right now, despite the fact he’d taken the news about Molly so well. Their families were going to be a bigger obstacle than he seemed to imagine and she couldn’t take any happy ending for granted. Perhaps she was so used to waiting for one that she didn’t know how to stop, even when it was there for the taking.
‘We also live about two hundred miles apart,’ she said.
‘I’ve got a car and endless patience.’
Ashley leaned into him and he folded an arm around her. ‘You might well need it,’ she said.
He was silent. The sweetness of freshly cut grass filled her nostrils while his heart beat steadily in the ear she had pressed against his chest. Everything was different, and yet it was still the same. He hadn’t disowned her and now, as she sat in his embrace, she wondered how she could have been so scared. She looked up to tell him so and saw that in the moments they’d sat quietly together he’d been crying.
‘Ignore me,’ he said, hastily wiping a hand across his eyes.
Taking his face in her hands she kissed him tenderly. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘It’s me who should be sorry.’
‘I don’t want you to think that. You have nothing to be sorry for.’
‘But this is all my fault. If I hadn’t been such an idiot that night in Ibiza and left you the wrong phone number—’
The Summer Getaway_A feel-good romance novel perfect for holiday reading Page 23
