by Kate Hardy
‘You’re trying to save me again,’ Dolly yelled back.
‘No, I’m not. I’m...’ But Dolly had already reached the top of the stairs and disappeared into her new bedroom. Since she wasn’t allowed to help with any of the fetching and carrying, Luce decided to go and make tea instead. At least that was useful.
As she entered the kitchen her phone rang, as if it had known she was coming. Luce stared at it, sitting on the counter, with Ben’s name scrolling across the screen. Just the sight of those three letters made her heart clench. She’d need to talk to him eventually, she knew. Give him another chance for some sort of involvement—with the baby, not her. She was all set without him, thank you. She had her own not-a-plan and she was sticking to it. Just her, Dolly and the baby.
Ben had been right about one thing—even if he was wrong about almost everything else. She needed priorities and she needed to stick to them. And for the foreseeable future her priority was her child, and staying healthy and stress-free so she could look after them.
Neither Ben nor her brother were conducive to that.
The phone stopped ringing and Luce went to put the kettle on. She’d talk to him soon. Just not yet.
‘Anyone home?’
Luce’s shoulders tensed at the sound of Tom’s voice. She hadn’t heard his key in the lock, but maybe Dolly had left the door open while she was dragging in her assorted bags and boxes.
‘In the kitchen,’ she called back, and schooled her face, ready for the showdown.
‘Oh, good. I’d murder a cup of tea,’ said Tabitha.
Luce bit her lip. She hadn’t expected Mum, too. Oh, well, maybe it was best to get it all over with in one go, anyway.
‘I’ll make a pot,’ Luce said. Maybe she could busy herself with the teacups and cake until Dolly came down. Moral support was always appreciated.
‘I think that’s the last of it,’ Dolly said as she entered the kitchen. ‘And just in time, too. Hi, Mum. Tom.’
Luce placed the tea tray on the kitchen table. ‘Help yourselves,’ she said, and settled into the chair at the head of the table.
‘Now, Lucinda,’ Tabitha said, taking a tiny sliver of cake. ‘We wanted to talk to you about Tom’s idea. He says you dismissed it rather out of hand, but I don’t think you can have listened to all the details. He’s put a lot of thought into this, you know.’
‘He wants to live in my house with his new girlfriend and her children,’ Luce summarised.
‘Well, yes. But we thought that you could have Tom’s flat in exchange! Wouldn’t that be nice? This house is far too big with just you rattling around in it, anyway.’
‘Tom’s flat is rented,’ Luce pointed out. Best to address all the problems with Tabitha’s statement in turn, she decided.
‘Well, yes, but the rent’s very affordable for you on your salary. And, after all, you’ve been able to live here rent-free for the last few years. Isn’t it time Tom had the same opportunity?’
Luce blinked and looked over at Dolly, who appeared equally baffled by their mother’s attempt at reasonable argument.
‘She’s lived here rent-free because it’s her house,’ Dolly said.
‘Only because Grandad left it to her,’ Tom put in. ‘But it’s always been the family house, hasn’t it? Luce always says it belongs to all of us, really.’
‘Except for the part where it’s her house. Grandad left you other stuff. And me.’
Dolly’s voice grew louder. Her grasp on staying restrained and reasonable wasn’t going to last long, Luce suspected.
‘Not a house, though,’ Tom said, his tone perfectly reasonable.
Luce frowned. ‘Is that what this is really about? You’re jealous because Grandad left me more valuable property than you?’
Tom straightened his back and stared at her. ‘It’s not about jealousy. It’s about fairness. I need the house more than you, that’s all. We’re a family. We share.’
The really scary part, Luce thought, was that he truly believed this was a reasonable demand. She’d spent her entire life giving and giving to these people, and now they couldn’t imagine that there might be something she wasn’t willing to hand over to them.
But Dolly had grown up, grown out of that dependence. She’d changed when Luce had never really believed it was possible.
And that meant Tom could, too.
‘Do you know why he left it to me?’ Luce asked, mildly.
Tom shook his head.
‘He left me a note in the will explaining. He said, “You’re going to spend the rest of your life looking after the lot of them, because God knows they can’t do it themselves. Think of this as your salary.” And I think I’ve more than earned it over the last few years.’
Tom stared at her, his eyes wide and disbelieving, and Luce squashed down a pang of guilt. She needed to do this. For all their sakes.
‘Sounds fair to me,’ Dolly said gleefully. ‘And that’s another reason I have no problem paying you rent.’
‘Rent?’ Tabitha said, faintly.
‘Yep. I’m moving in with Luce. Figure that the rent I pay can help her fix up this place. Trust me, Tom, you wouldn’t want the house if you’d seen the damp in the attic.’
Tom finally found his voice. ‘But I told Vanessa we could—’
‘Well, you shouldn’t have,’ Luce interjected. ‘This is my place, Tom. And while you, and Mum—and Vanessa, if she sticks around—are always welcome here, this is my house, my home. And I’m afraid all of you are going to have to get better at looking after yourselves. I’m going to have bigger concerns for the next decade or two.’
‘Like what?’ Tom asked.
‘Like my own family. I’m pregnant.’
‘You’re...? Well... That’s lovely, darling, I’m sure.’ Tabitha’s brows were furrowed, as if she were missing some vital part of the conversation.
Luce wondered if hearing what Grandad had really thought of her had sent Tabitha even further into her own world, reliving past events with new eyes. She was sure her mother would catch up later and demand answers and information. But for now Luce was glad of the respite.
Tom, however, had no such reserve.
‘Pregnant! You can’t be. Who’s the father? Or is this some desperate attempt to find love from a child instead of actually falling in love? Some “must start a family by the age of thirty” plan?’
Anger bubbled in Luce’s stomach, acid and biting. She’d known Tom wouldn’t take the change in the status quo well, but to hear such words from her own brother—the brother she’d tried so hard to look after and protect—it made her heart ache. And told her it was past time to cut him off. Fighting to keep her voice even she said, ‘That’s none of your business. Now, get out of my house.’
‘I thought we were always welcome here?’ Tom said, sneering.
‘Not when you talk to her like that, you’re not,’ Dolly said, grabbing his arm. ‘Come on—time to go. Mum, I think you might be better off at home this afternoon, too. We’ll see you soon.’
Luce collapsed back in her chair as she heard Dolly bundle their relatives out of the house. Reaching for a piece of ginger cake, she said, ‘I can’t believe I just kicked them out.’
‘I can’t believe it took you this long,’ Dolly said cheerfully as she sat down and helped herself to her own slice. ‘Buck up, sis. You know they’ll be back. Tom will calm down and beg for forgiveness, then pretend he never said that stuff. But they need to stand on their own four feet for a while. You did the right thing. And besides, you still have me!’
‘Yes, I do,’ Luce said. ‘And everyone needs an adoring sister to run them a bubble bath from time to time...’
Dolly rolled her eyes. ‘Another bath? Really? Okay. But only because you’re pregnant. This stuff stops once the baby’s here.’
/>
‘That’s okay. You can bath the baby then, instead.’
Dolly laughed as she headed off to the bathroom, and Luce thought that maybe, just maybe, things would be okay after all. Not great, perhaps. They couldn’t be—not without Ben. But she’d be okay. And that was enough for now.
* * *
Just one more try. Ben stared at the phone in his hand for a minute before taking a deep breath and pressing ‘call’. Just because she’d ignored his last four phone calls, that didn’t mean she’d definitely ignore this one, did it?
Still, as the phone rang and rang, Ben started to have his doubts.
‘Hello?’
‘Luce?’ The voice didn’t sound quite right, but international phone lines did that sometimes.
‘No, it’s Dolly.’ The sister. Great. ‘You must be the “old university friend”.’
‘Ben Hampton. Is Luce there?’
‘She’s in the bath. In there all the time now she’s pregnant.’
‘She was bad enough before.’ Ben took a breath, and took a chance. ‘Look, I know she’s avoiding my calls. I was...’
‘An idiot?’
‘Last time we spoke. Yes. But I was jet-lagged and exhausted—and stupid, mostly. I’ve had a chance to let the news sink in, and I’m ready to make it up to her.’ Ready to make her the centre of his world if she’d let him.
‘Convince me,’ Dolly said, her voice firm.
Ben blinked at the phone. ‘What?’
‘Convince me you’re worthy of my sister. Make me want to help you.’
Dolly spoke slowly, as if she thought he was an idiot. Which, actually, she probably did.
‘I don’t know how.’
‘Then try. Or you’re on your own.’
Ben stared out across the gardens of the château and thought. He needed this. Needed Dolly’s help if he was ever going to get Luce out here and convince her that they could be a real family. But convince her he was worthy of Luce? Impossible.
‘I’m not,’ he said, finally. ‘I’m not worthy of her. Nobody could be.’
‘Right answer,’ Dolly said. ‘Now, tell me your plans and I’ll see what I can do. Because, I’m telling you, she’s absolutely miserable without you.’
Ben smiled for the first time in a week and told Dolly his plan.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
‘AT LEAST TELL me where I’m going,’ Luce said as Dolly threw more clothes into her suitcase. ‘And how long I’ll be gone. I need to call work...’ Which would be fun. Dennis was still speechless over the pregnancy thing.
‘Already done,’ Dolly said. ‘I told them you’d be back next week. If you decide not to... Well, call them once you’re there.’
‘Where, exactly?’ Luce asked, frustrated. ‘And if I’m there longer than a few days that skirt won’t fit me any more. Three months and I’m already starting to show.’
‘You’re glowing,’ Dolly said. Then she stopped and looked at her. ‘Well, sort of. Right now you just look stressed.’
‘I can’t imagine why.’
Dolly slammed the lid of the suitcase shut and fastened it, leaning hard on it with her elbow to keep it closed. ‘Look, just trust me on this one. It’s for the best, and everything’s going to work out fine. You need a break. You need looking after. And, most importantly, you need to not be in the house while they’re fixing the attic. God only knows what they’re going to find up there, and all that dust would be bad for the baby. Even the builder’s told you to get out for a few days.’
‘I could have just booked into a hotel round the corner for the weekend,’ Luce pointed out.
‘Except I know you.’ Dolly gave her a look. ‘You’d be back here every five minutes, wanting to check on things. No. This is my first chance to be the grown-up and in-charge sister, and I’m taking it. I have booked you a long weekend and you are going. End of story. I’ll take care of everything here, so you don’t need to worry at all.’
Luce opened her mouth to speak, and then closed it again. Telling Dolly she couldn’t go, that she’d worry too much, was tantamount to telling her she didn’t trust her to look after things. How could she do that when Dolly was trying so hard?
‘And, look,’ Dolly said, pointing to the carry-on bag next to the suitcase. ‘I’m letting you take your research notes and your laptop, aren’t I? I know how close you are to finishing the revisions on your book. So it can be a working holiday. Perfect.’
Luce bit her lip at the memory of her last accidental, snowy working holiday. ‘Thanks, Doll. I just...’
‘You just need to relax. Come on—let’s get you to the airport.’
In the end Luce decided it was easier just to cave in to Dolly’s boundless enthusiasm and go. A weekend away did sound wonderful, and it was nice to have someone else take care of the planning for a change.
Or so she thought until her plane landed in Nice and there was no one there to meet her.
This was why she took care of things herself. As hard as Dolly was trying, organisation and responsibility still didn’t come naturally to her. And now Luce was stuck in an airport with no idea where she was supposed to be going.
Fishing her phone out of her bag, she called Dolly. ‘I thought you said there’d be a car here to meet me? With, you know, a driver? To take me to the hotel?’
‘He’s not there?’ Dolly’s incredulous voice screeched down the line. ‘Hang on. I’ll call you back.’
Luce took her bags and sat down on a nearby bench to wait. The Arrivals lounge began to empty out a bit, waiting for the next influx of passengers from the following flight, and she glanced around her, trying to see if she’d missed a sign with her name on it or something. Dolly had been so sure it was all arranged...
The doors in front of her opened with a bang, and Luce looked up to see Ben Hampton—paint on his face, jeans, shirt and in his hair—running towards her just as her phone rang.
‘Dolly.’
‘He’s on his way,’ Dolly said quickly. ‘There was a mix-up—’
‘He’s already here.’
‘Oh.’ Dolly paused. ‘Are you cross?’
‘Possibly. I’ll let you know later.’
‘Okay.’
Luce hung up. ‘You and Dolly came up with a plan. You and Dolly. Together.’ The two people least likely to work together or to come up with a coherent, responsible plan.
Wincing, Ben said, ‘Yeah. Guess it’s no surprise it didn’t quite work. I thought you weren’t due in for another hour.’
‘And you still dressed for the occasion?’
Ben glanced down at his paint-splattered clothes. ‘I lost track of time. Come on—let me take your bags.’
‘Where are we going?’ Luce asked as she followed him out to where his car was parked at a wildly illegal angle on the kerb. ‘Another hotel?’
Ben shook his head. ‘We’re going home.’
* * *
She looked incredible. Three months pregnant, straight off an aeroplane, annoyed with him—and she was still, by far, the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
‘Where is home, exactly?’ Luce asked as they pulled out of the airport.
‘I told you about my grandmother’s château?’
‘That’s where we’re going? So—what? You’re moving to France?’
Ben sighed. ‘If you just wait—just a little bit—I promise I can do grand apologies and romantic gestures in style once we get there. And maybe once I’ve changed clothes.’
‘It’s not your clothes I’m worried about you changing. And I’m not interested in romantic gestures.’
She had her arms crossed over her chest, her creamy breasts pushing against the silk of her top. Were they bigger? Not the time, Hampton.
‘Just the apology, th
en?’
Luce nodded. ‘And I’d rather have that sooner than later.’
Ben smiled despite himself. ‘No patience at all, have you?’
‘Oh, I don’t know. I think I’ve waited quite long enough.’
She had a point. ‘I made a plan and everything, you know. There was a list.’
‘Dolly’s been telling me for weeks that plans need to be flexible. That’s why we’re painting the nursery yellow.’
‘You and Dolly?’
‘She’s moved in. She’s paying rent so we can fix up the house and make it baby-safe. And it means I won’t have to be alone when the baby comes.’
Ben clenched his jaw. She wouldn’t be alone. She shouldn’t ever have thought she had to be alone. Never mind the plan.
‘I’m sorry, Luce. For reacting the way I did.’ Ben glanced across at her. She stared out of the window, intently focusing on something in the distance, or maybe on nothing at all. Either way, she wasn’t looking at him, which was all Ben cared about. ‘I was an idiot. I know that. Seb told me, and Dolly told me.’
‘She wrote a song about how much of an idiot you are, you know.’
Ben laughed. He was starting to actually like Dolly, against the odds.
‘The thing is, I knew I was wrong. I knew losing you, and our baby, would be the worst decision I ever made. I just couldn’t see any way out of it.’
Now Luce looked at him, eyebrows raised, and Ben looked away and concentrated on the road again, just to avoid the anger in her gaze.
‘You couldn’t just say, We’ll figure it out together?’
Ben winced. ‘Apparently not. I was jet-lagged, tired, not thinking straight. But mostly I just didn’t want to turn into my father.’
‘You can’t let your parents’ marriage define your life.’
‘I know. But Seb wanted me to take on this new work, travelling all the time, and I couldn’t drag you and a kid around with me—hell, you’d never let me. And even if you did you’d hate it so much you’d leave me eventually. But I couldn’t see myself staying in one place either. And I don’t want to be one of those dads who’s never around and then shows up for a couple of days in a whirlwind before disappearing again.’
