‘Mama,’ Oliver yawned.
‘I know, I’m sorry, you love your naps in the car, but it’s time to be sociable, ok?’ I grabbed my baby bag from the foot well and locked up and knocked on the white front door.
‘Ellie, how lovely to see you,’ beamed Florie as she opened the door. ‘And you’ve brought Oliver too. Hello sweetheart,’ she cooed and he smiled and tried to grab her hair.
‘Sorry, he has a thing about hair at the moment,’ I advised as I kissed her cheek. ‘I try and keep mine in a ponytail now.’
‘That’s ok, he’s learning, the world’s all exciting to him. Come on, I’ll put the kettle on and we can catch up.’
‘Is Theo ok?’ I asked as I stepped in and she closed the door behind me. He was very chivalrous and it was always him that answered the door.
‘He’s fine, he had a last minute offer for a game of golf, so I told him to go when I realised it was just going to be you, I thought we’d spare him the girls talk. How’s Dan?’
‘He doesn’t like being ill that’s for sure,’ I laughed. ‘He improved a little last night, but he’s still being sick. I really hope we don’t pass it onto you, I’ve been disinfecting my hands like crazy and Oliver’s been getting a bit upset that he can hear Dan and can’t see him. I think he’s missing him.’
‘Of course he is, all children miss their parents when they’re not around. Black coffee?’
‘Please,’ I nodded and set Oliver down on the floor, but he immediately got up and went exploring. ‘I really hope you don’t have anything valuable at ground level.’
‘We’re not ones for nick knacks,’ she called. I stood at the kitchen door so I could talk to her, while keeping an eye on Oliver as he plonked himself on the floor in front of their electric flame effect fire. I wondered why people didn’t just have log burners or a living flame fire. Their house felt empty and bare, the only picture was Moira on the mantelpiece. It felt like a show home that they were in the middle of moving into, or moving out of. I wondered if it was because they saw the house as a stop gap, a means to an end, somewhere for their daughter to be looked after until Dan finally agreed to let her go? Their lives were on hold, waiting until they could move on and make a new life for themselves, without the reminder of that room next door and all those machines forcing air into her lungs and food into her stomach. ‘Here you are,’ she smiled as she handed me a mug of steaming coffee.
‘Thank you.’ I turned around to look at Oliver and gasped. In under twenty seconds he’d unleashed utter chaos. His hands, face, t-shirt and jeans were covered in black. Even worse, so was Florie’s pristine cream carpet where he was sitting. He giggled at the look on my face and opened his hand to show me a black lump. Florie surprised me by bursting out laughing as I put my coffee down and ran to take it off him, only to get black all over my hands too.
‘What is this? Where did you get it?’ I asked, as he looked up at me wide eyed as I crouched in front of him. I’d always thought how stupid people were talking to babies or pets like they could reply, and here I was doing it.
‘I always thought those real coals in the fake fire grate were a stupid idea,’ Florie chuckled.
‘Coal? No, that’s never going to come out of your carpet,’ I groaned.
‘Don’t worry about the carpet,’ she smiled as she grabbed the baby wipes from the top of my bag. ‘I think we might need to give him a bath though.’
‘God, I feel just awful,’ I exclaimed, as I wrapped the chunk of coal in a wipe and set it on the granite hearth and tried to wipe as much as I could off him.
‘I haven’t laughed properly in ages. Besides, we’ve had no mortgage since Dan got the house for us, we can afford a new carpet. I’ve always found it a bit bland in here, magnolia walls, cream carpet, I may go for some colour.’
‘Why haven’t you before?’ I asked, as I stopped Oliver from reaching into the fire grate for more, which he pulled an adorable sulky pout over.
‘Never thought we’d be here this long. I hoped with you and Oliver moving in he’d see sense.’
‘He’s slowly letting go I think, but I just don’t know what will make him take that final step. He was all for coming today, even with being ill. I’m so sorry I can’t be more of a help.’ I gave her a sympathetic smile.
‘It’s you I feel sorry for. While he’s still married he can’t make an honest woman out of you and it can’t be easy for you to have to lose him a few times a week while he comes here.’
‘That’s the trouble, I don’t think it’s easy on any of us,’ I sighed as I picked Oliver up and held him at arm’s length. Luckily I’d only got the black powder all over my hands and arms, not my clothes, unlike him. Thank God I always carried a spare set for him with me. I grimaced as I looked down at the marked carpet.
‘Honestly don’t worry. Let’s go take him upstairs for a bath.’
‘That would be great thanks, would you mind bringing the bag with you? When we’re done I’ll go and say hello, I promised Dan I’d sit with her for a while.’
‘Well why don’t I clean him up while you do that, you shouldn’t have to spend any more time with her than is necessary. It’s hardly a fun afternoon out and you look pale and tired.’
‘I’m fine, honestly. It’s just been a tough few days trying to watch over Dan and Oliver at the same time and not letting them mix. I’ll soon catch up on some sleep when he’s back on his feet.’
‘Make sure you do. Right hand him over and I’ll call for you when we come back down. You don’t have to go in there you know.’
‘I know, but I promised.’
‘Well Ruth’s on today, I’m sure she’ll be glad of some conversation.’
I knocked on the door and went in and felt my stomach knot as I saw her lying there, it didn’t get any easier each time I saw her, I wondered if it did for Dan.
‘Ellie, how are you?’ Ruth asked as she came in from her room.
‘Good thank you, you?’
‘Great,’ she nodded.
‘Any change?’ I asked.
‘No,’ she scoffed. ‘If there was I’d eat my shoes. How’s little Oliver?’
‘Causing chaos. He thinks he’s Picasso and just painted the cream carpet with a black lump of coal from the fire, Florie’s taken him up for a bath to try and get it all off him. It’s not funny,’ I objected as she started laughing.
‘It’s the most excitement this house has seen since I started working here,’ she advised. ‘No Dan today? Not like him.’
‘Gastroenteritis and confined to the bedroom.’
‘Lots of hydration,’ she advised and I nodded. ‘I’ll leave you alone for a while. Call me when you’re done.’
I sighed as I looked down at Moira in the bed, praying she really was brain dead, as hearing all these conversations and being trapped in a voiceless immobile shell would be hell. I picked up the pump dispenser hand cream and loaded my palms and sat on the edge of the bed and picked up her right hand and massaged it in. Her skin was really dry. When I picked up her left hand I realised she still had her wedding ring on, but no engagement ring. I decided there and then that if there was a form I could sign to say I didn’t want to be kept “alive” by machines after a certain amount of time, I was signing it. No way did I want Dan, or Oliver, visiting me every day for the rest of their lives. I talked her through Dan’s software success, figuring if she could hear anything she wouldn’t want to hear about my happy life with her husband. Maybe hearing how much extra money he’d earned in the years that she’d been gone would be enough to wake her up, after all she’d be entitled to half of it. If that wouldn’t wake her, then I doubted anything would.
‘You’re very good, I doubt many new partners would come and do this,’ came Ruth’s voice. I looked up to see her nursing a hot drink as she stood in the doorway connecting her suite to Moira’s room.
‘It’s important to Dan, so it’s important to me,’ I shrugged.
‘He’s a good man,’ she nodded.
‘He really is, I just wish I knew how to help him deal with this once and for all. Oliver’s growing up so fast, I’d hate for him to miss some of those firsts because he’s living with one foot in the past.’
‘Guilt’s a hard thing to shake, but I’d say he’s been more than fair paying for this house, all the specialists and equipment. His daily visits were a terrible burden, you could see it all over his face. He wanted to be anywhere but here. He’s different since he met you, happier and more relaxed.’
‘I hope so, he’s had his fair share of emotional trauma and I just want him to be happy.’
‘Well you’re doing something right and I think this little tyke has something to do with it,’ she smiled as the door behind us opened. I turned to see Oliver all rosy cheeked and fresh in his clean jeans and t-shirt. He burst into a smile and held his arms out for me to take him.
‘All the coal’s off his skin and out of his hair now and I’ve put his dirty clothes in a plastic bag so they don’t soil the rest of your things,’ Florie smiled.
‘Thank you, send me the bill for the carpet and I’ll take care of it, no arguments please,’ I warned when she went to object. ‘We’d better make a move, we have to stock up on food and supplies for me to make another batch of chicken soup.’
‘Send him our best will you and don’t come again this week if he’s not better, you both need a rest, you look tired too.’
‘I told her the same,’ nodded Ruth.
‘Ok, I know when I’m being ganged up on,’ I laughed and kissed Oliver, who lay his head on my shoulder. ‘Someone’s probably overdue a nap as well after all that excitement, he associates baths with bedtime.’
I called Mr. McAdams as I left the supermarket, so he could meet me at the shore with the boat.
‘My God, are you feeding an army with all this?’ he asked, as he helped me up to the house with all the groceries.’
‘Trust me, when Dan gets his appetite back there’ll be no stopping him, I’m worried I haven’t got enough.’
‘Well if you need us to pick anything extra up for you, let us know,’ he offered, as he put them down on the doorstep.
‘Thanks, we should be fine. Assuming he’s up to it we’re heading to London on Thursday morning anyway. Tell Mrs. McAdams not to worry coming down today, Oliver’s still sleeping so I can get on with things until he wakes up.’
‘Well you know where we are if you need us,’ he nodded and headed off up the hill. I opened the door and headed in, putting Oliver into his cot. I was busy unpacking the shopping when I felt a pair of hands on my hips and lips on my neck.
‘Thank God you’re back, I’m bored to tears. Come to bed,’ Dan murmured.
‘You lived alone for four years, how can you possibly be bored after a few hours?’ I laughed.
‘That was pre-Ellie, post-Ellie I’m bored in the house on my own and I have a sizeable surprise present for you,’ he advised, as he stepped closer to my body and rubbed his erection up and down my backside.
‘I think even Helen Keller would know what that was without even using her exceptional braille finger skills.’
‘How about it?’ he asked in a deep sexy tone as he worked on my weak spot.
‘How about it? You couldn’t come up with anything more sexy than that?’
‘It’s not as if I have to woo you, you know how good my cock feels inside you, asking you is just a formality, sex is inevitable.’
‘Wow, your cockiness is on fire today,’ I laughed as I spun around to face him and touched his forehead. ‘As are you, still. The only inevitable thing tonight is you back in bed with a bowl of chicken soup.’
‘Ellie,’ he groaned as he grasped at my backside.
‘Three years of no sex Dan, three whole years. You can last a few more days until you’re better. I’m not even kissing you, I can’t afford to get it and look after you and Oliver at the same time, I’m already exhausted.’
‘We don’t have to kiss,’ he prodded in a last ditch attempt to change my mind.
‘How about I give you a hand job instead? But it’s on the condition that you get that sexy hot body back into bed.’
‘Fine,’ he sighed. ‘Where’s my boy? It’s not normally this quiet at this time.’
‘Sleeping off his earlier antics. He’s going to be paying off the cost of Florie’s new carpet for a lot of years when he starts earning pocket money.’
‘O God he didn’t get a saucepan out of the cupboard to use as a potty and then drop it on his way back to you again, did he?’
‘No,’ I chuckled and filled him in on what had happened.
‘He didn’t eat any did he?’
‘I don’t think so, he was too busy getting it everywhere. He’s fine,’ I reassured Dan, touched he was so concerned. ‘We cleaned him up, he had a bath and was all giggly when he came down. That’s why he’s sleeping, his routine’s all messed up, so I may have to spend some extra time in his room tonight to get him back to sleep, sorry.’
‘You’re an amazing mother, I’m so in awe of how in control you are, working, looking after the two of us, cooking, cleaning. I wish you’d let Mrs. McAdams help more.’
‘She does, she does some cooking for us if I’m too busy, but she should be relaxing at her age, not cleaning a big house like this.’
‘Very well, I’ll get someone from the village to come and clean. Instead of being on your hands and knees scrubbing for all those hours, you can be on your hands and knees with me working hard behind you,’ he winked.
‘Did you think about sex this often that winter I stayed?’ I laughed with a shake of my head.
‘Yes, it feels like I’m back there. Wanting it and not getting it.’
‘Oooo you … I wanted it then, you were the one who held back, well now you get a taste of your own medicine. Get upstairs now, or I’ll put you on an even longer sex ban,’ I ordered, as I fixed him with my stern gaze, usually only reserved for Oliver when he was on the verge of a tantrum.
‘Wow, is there any look you can conjure that isn’t hot?’
‘Stop,’ I moaned as he eye fucked me. ‘You think it’s easy for me going this long without sex too? Feeling your hands and lips on my skin, working me into a frenzy?’
‘O God,’ he groaned. ‘Let’s just do it.’
‘No, you can’t cope with anything vigorous in your state.’
‘We could just have oral sex, that’s not too vigorous,’ he suggested looking at me hopefully.
‘Like I want you spewing up my vagina? Thanks but no. How would I explain carrot chunks in my lady parts at the hospital?’
‘When you’re as tight as you are baby, they’d think your hungry little piranha fanny had chowed down as you masturbated with a carrot,’ he grinned. ‘I’ve feared for my cock on more than one occasion.’
‘Stop with the sex talk and distracting me. I have soup to make before Oliver wakes up. Go and masturbate and I’ll see to you later.’
‘Sex bans aren’t supposed to start until we’re married,’ he replied with a heavy sigh and look of defeat. If he wasn’t so weak I knew I’d be face down over that kitchen island with him pounding into me right now.
‘Then it’s a good job we’ll never be getting married isn’t it,’ I teased, with a hint of sadness behind my jovial front.
‘What makes you think we’ll never get married?’ he asked, as he looked at me puzzled.
‘They tend to frown on bigamy in this county.’
‘Shit … sorry,’ he groaned as he covered his face with his hands. ‘Sometimes I’m so damn happy I forget that I’m still married.’
‘It is what it is,’ I shrugged and quickly turned my back on him as I finished unpacking the food, not sure what else to say.
‘I think … I’d better get back to bed, I don’t feel great.’
‘Well duh,’ I retorted. ‘Do you need any help?’
‘I’m … fine,’ he replied quietly. I looked around and he was standing, but bent over ha
nging onto one of the kitchen chairs.
‘What? What’s wrong?’ I asked, as I dropped the leeks on the worktop.
‘I’m fine, just a bit dizzy and nauseous.’
‘How many of your drinks did you have while I was out?’ I asked as I slipped my arm around his waist and helped support him, as I guided him through to the games room and our staircase.
‘I was busy.’
‘Busy doing what?’ I looked at him and saw a look of guilt on his face. ‘You’ve been working haven’t you? Did you even have one of them?’
‘Don’t start I feel like shit as it is.’
‘Oliver Daniel Davenport, you are the most stubborn man I’ve ever met,’ I scolded, as we slowly made our way up the stairs.
‘Don’t use my full name like that, it’s so hot.’
‘I give up,’ I sighed as his hand dropped from my shoulder to squeeze my breast.
Day Twenty Five
Wednesday 29th June ~ Year Three
Dan
I woke up feeling a lot better, Ellie had plied me with those rehydration sachets last night and I managed to keep down three bowls of her chicken soup. It was the first morning I hadn’t woken up clammy, but I desperately needed a shower. She was fast asleep next to me and I was worried about her. She was sick as well, even if she wouldn’t admit it, she’d tried to keep the noise down when she was throwing up, so I wouldn’t worry, but I’d heard, and she looked so tired. As ever though, she wouldn’t rest until she’d put Oliver and myself first. How the hell had I got so lucky? She wasn’t just beautiful, sexy, intelligent and quick witted, she was the most generous person I’d ever met, doing everything for everyone else and rarely asking for anything in return. I’d seen the look on her face last night when she’d said that we’d never get married, she’d tried to conceal how much that disappointed her, but I’d seen through her façade. I hated that the one thing she wanted most in the world I couldn’t give to her. I’d promised to take care of her, do whatever it took to make her happy, that was my biggest responsibility, to make sure everything she wanted she had and I couldn’t even do that. Money had always solved any obstacle I’d come across, not this one.
31 Days of Summer (31 Days #2) Page 35
