by Sienna Grant
“What makes you ask that?”
“Nothing…” the shrug of his shoulder and no eye contact tells me that this isn’t a question just from an observation.
I’ll play along for now then have a word with Cass later.
“Erm, well, she just never thought I was good enough for your Mum.”
“Oh, but why?” He turns his head to look me in the eye.
Twisting him on my knee to face me, I give him a tight mouthed grin.
“Dude, your Mum and I need to talk to you, is that okay?” He nods smiling. Cassidy sits on the chair next to us wringing her hands on the table top. Placing my hand over hers I try to calm her.
“I wasn’t just here for breakfast this morning.”
“Oh, you had a sleepover?”
“I did.”
I survey the emotional ground I’m walking on, he seems okay.
“How would you feel if me and your Mum wanted to get back together?”
He frowns as a confused expression takes over. “You mean, you’ll live here?”
“Not straight away, but me and your Mum, we love each other a lot.”
“So, if you love her why did you break up?” He asks with a thoughtful look before speaking again, “adults are stupid. That’s what Mum says anyway.”
I burst into a laugh on a shake of my head.
“They are.” I ruffle his hair up. “So how do you feel about us being a family?”
“Hmm… I’d love it! Can I go play on FIFA now?”
“Go on then,” Cass sighs.
He gets up from my knee, turns and flings his arms around my neck, his cheek against mine then walks to the door. Before walking through it he turns back to me.
“You playing Dad?”
“Maybe in a little while... I’ll let you go and practise first.” I wink smirking.
“You’re just scared. If you play, I’ll let you beat me?”
Cass laughs at his cheekiness while I sit with my mouth hanging open and he runs off up the stairs.
“You okay here while I show our son what I’m made of?” I ask her as I stand from the chair.
“Of course.”
Fisting my shirt, she pulls me down towards her kissing me square on the lips. “Go.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Cassidy
Elliott walks from the room while I’m grinning like a Cheshire Cat. I love how they have their own little ways with each other. I was a little worried there’d be some teething problems between them, but they are so alike in so many ways - I should have known better but you can never be sure really.
Upstairs I can hear the boys shouting at the game they’re playing, it’s more Elliott, Cam is obviously beating him again... Cameron’s questions confused me, and I know Elliott clicked on to what he was asking, hmm. I think it’s time me and my delightful mother got this out in the open once and for all.
Slipping my shoes on and jogging up the stairs, I stand in the doorway of Cameron’s room. Elliott’s eyes raise up to look at me but not fully.
“You alright, babe?”
Shaking my head at them amused.
“I'm just popping out, I won’t be long. Are you two okay?”
“Yeah of course we are. Are you?” He frowns.
“Yep, just something that needs to be done.”
Elliott glances at me again, knowingly. He nods, and I smile.
“I won’t be long. Cam, go easy on your dad please.”
“Can’t make any promises, Mum. Sorry.”
Elliott looks at Cam with wide eyes and a slight crease to his brow, then at me, making me smile.
“Right, I won’t be long.”
“Bye!” They shout in unison.
‘Son me and you need to talk about this’. I hear Elliott say as I head back down the stairs. Smiling at them for a second, I grab my car keys and leave.
Mum’s car is on the drive when I get there, so either she was lying when she said she had to go shopping or she got it done in record time….
I’m sick of this bullshit!
Opening the door, I walk in. She always keeps the door unlocked even though I tell her not to.
“Mum, it’s only me.”
Walking further into the house I can’t find her downstairs, so I head upstairs. Finding her in her bedroom sitting on her bed I lightly tap the door and wait. She turns to look over her shoulder.
“Come in.”
“I think we need to talk. Have you got a few minutes?”
She nods. She doesn’t seem herself. Walking around the bed and sitting down, I notice some letters in her hands.
“What have you got there?”
She hands them over but still hasn’t spoken. Taking the letter from her I see my name at the top. I recognise the writing straight away, they’re my letters. The letters Elliott wrote to me; the ones I never received…
“Are you kidding right now?”
Glancing down and reading the last line creates a lump in my throat which I can’t swallow down.
“Just know Cass, you’ll always have my heart, I’ll always love you for as long as I live.”
“Elliott told me he’d sent me more letters and I didn’t believe him I thought he was making it up - I thought he was just trying to make it my fault.”
I can feel my temper beginning to boil, taking a deep breath I calm myself and ask her the question I’ve wanted to know for the last few months.
“How could you?”
Turning my head to the side I look at my Mother, the person who is supposed to be on my side no matter what, the person who is supposed to love you no matter what choices you make.
“I thought I was doing you a favour.”
“No one would have been good enough for me in your eyes, but that doesn’t give you the right to take my choices away from me.”
“You weren’t old enough to be in that kind of relationship you didn’t know what love was?”
“No? But I was old enough to have a baby and look after that baby? I was broken Mum. He was everything to me. Yes, it hurt me when he went, but I told him to go - I couldn’t be selfish, unlike you of course?”
My hand covers my heart as I tell her, the pain coming back to me like it was yesterday.
“I’d known I was pregnant for a month before I told you, I wanted to tell Elliott first when he came home but that’s something else you’d taken away from me, us.”
“If you hadn’t been as far gone at the time and it was my decision, I’d have sent you for an abortion.”
I try to process what she’s just said to me, “here you may as well have all of these.”
She passes the four maybe five letters over and places them in my palm. The lump that was in my throat comes back with a vengeance as tears prick at my eyes making a lone tear fall. Quickly swiping it away I turn back to look at her.
“How could you say that to me? That’s your grandson! I don’t think I’ve ever disliked anyone as much as I dislike you right now mother. What did I ever do to you?”
It suddenly comes back to me what Cam said to us this morning.
“What did you say to Cam?
“What about?” She rolls her eyes at my question.
“About Elliott. Cam asked Elliott this morning why you don’t like him very much. So, what did you say?”
“I just told him that we didn’t get along and I don’t like him.”
“He’s done nothing to you! So not only did you use me as your poison you’re now using your grandson?”
Nodding I stand abruptly, she looks up at me.
“Well, I have news for you. Elliott and I are getting back together, we love each other, and he loves his son. I don’t give a shit what you think or say, I am an adult and I can make my own decisions. As for Cameron you can see him but until you have an apology for me and Elliott I suggest you stay away and don’t speak to us. I want nothing more to do with you. I can’
t even look at you.”
“Don’t do this? Please Cassidy?”
“You should have thought of that before your twisted and bitter mind took over your sanity.”
She doesn’t say anything. Taking one last look at the woman who gave birth to me I turn away disgusted and walk to the door before she speaks, stopping me.
“I’m sorry, Cassidy. I really am.”
“It’s too little too late.” I tell her with my back still facing her, without another word I walk away from her. I don’t stop until I reach my car. Sitting inside, the breath I was holding puffs out, sobs wracking my body. Opening my palm there are the letters I’d tightly fisted, creased. Smoothing them out on my leg, I quickly leaf through them, every one of them signing off with ‘Always yours’.
Wiping the tracks of my tears from my cheeks I start the engine and head home to my family. God that sounds good! My family.
As I walk through the front door, Elliott is in the kitchen, he turns, I give the door a push as I walk through it and let it shut behind me. Standing in the hallway, my head dips as my hands cover my face, his strong arms wrapping around me while I cry.
“Hey, shhh. Let it go. I’m here.”
He guides us into the living room and sits us down on the couch, cradling my head against him and he lets me cry. The letters are again clutched inside my hand. Elliott, prises my hand open taking them from me, recognition filling his eyes. He keeps his one arm around me and holds the letters with the other hand, his eyes questioning.
“Are these what I think they are?” I nod in answer, hiding my face in his chest.
“Your mother had them?”
“All along.” I nod sobbing. Laying them down on the couch, his other arm goes around me, squeezing me as he kisses the top of my head.
“I’m done Elliott. She’s vindictive. She kept us apart for no purpose whatsoever, just her own selfish needs.”
Lifting my head, I look at him before going on, “you know what the worst part was? She wanted me to have an abortion!” I whisper, well, try to for my sons sake - I don’t need Cam hearing that. “I’m so angry. I want nothing more to do with her.”
His hands cup my face lifting it, so he can look directly into my eyes.
“Don’t say that. I know she’s done wrong but she’s your mother. When she’s gone, she’s gone, there’s no coming back from that. Even though we’ll probably never see eye to eye, she’s still your mum and you only ever have one., no matter what they’ve done wrong. Don’t let what happened in the past come between you, if we can get past it then I’m sure you two can. There’s a little boy up there that needs his grandmother, she’s the only one he has.”
He leans in and kisses the tip of my nose tenderly then places his forehead to mine and smiles softly.
“You’re such a good man Elliott Chase. I love you with every piece of my soul, you know that? We have so much time to catch up on and I don’t want to miss a minute of it.” I gently rub my nose against his.
“We have the rest of our lives baby. I ain’t going anywhere, unless you and my boy are with me.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Elliott
A stunning smile lights up her face, her eyes are still glassy from crying giving them a glaze but still beautiful. Picking her up into my arms, she wraps her legs around my waist and hugs me, flinging her arms around my neck and kissing my cheek, then my lips.
“I love you too, Cass, always have, always will.” I shrug before spinning us around while she laughs. Once I stop I sit us down before I fall down.
“So how was your mum?” Her mouth twists to the side as she thinks of what to tell me.
“Hmm, subdued. Like she knew I was coming or was going to give her a bollocking. I don’t know, she was weird. She didn’t shout she just took it on the chin but was truthful at the same time. I can’t ask for more than that can I?”
I let her talk while she feels like it, I don’t want her to bottle shit up anymore there’s no need to.
“She said sorry as I was leaving but I told her I didn’t care. Is that bad?!”
“After what she put you through, no, but then maybe you could have offered her the olive branch.”
“But this is not down to me.”
“No, but you could be the bigger person and offer to begin to put it right.”
“Ugh, when did you become such a forgiving soul?”
“When I lost you, when I lost my Mother and lost any way of putting things right with her. To say sorry for not coming back when she asked. Cass, I have a list of regrets as long as my arm. Some of those regrets I can’t change but the others I can and I’m going to do my absolute best to change them, starting with you, Cameron and Dale. I want her to look down on me and be proud of what I’ve become, not the selfish git she remembers.” Her tiny hands clasp either side of my face.
“Listen to me. Your mum was never anything less than proud of you. She’d tell everyone about you playing with bands and touring, even though I know it killed her not to see you, she was still as proud as punch of you - of you both. You’re a credit to her. I know she’s not here now but if it means anything, I have regrets too and you’re right, I don’t want another one lingering over me. I’ll give her a couple of days to stew on it and I’ll call her.”
“Okay. Don’t leave it too long.”
“Yes sir!” Her hand against her forehead salutes me.
“Like that is it?”
I smile happily as my hands that are holding her hips move up until they’re against her ribs and gently digging the tips of my fingers into them, making her squirm around on my legs as she straddles me, screaming.
“Elliott, stop.” I do as she asks and stop tickling her, crooking my finger at her in a request to come forward.
“You have something there?” Looking at her lips I smirk.
“Where?” she brushes over her face with her fingers. “I haven’t had anything.”
“You’ve missed it…” My head shakes on a frown. Gripping her shoulders lightly I pull her forward. “There.” Before she can ask again, my lips are touching hers in a soft and delicate caress kissing her lovingly.
She pulls away a little. “Did you get it?”
“Oh yeah.”
Pulling back to my lips I kiss her again.
Ignoring the banging of the footsteps coming down the stairs we stay locked together until we hear our son.
“Ewww. Is that all you’re gonna do. That’s disgusting.”
Reluctantly breaking our kiss, I look around Cass at Cameron.
“You won’t say that when you meet a girl.”
Frowning, he screws his nose up. “Girls are horrible.” He spins away from us and leaves the room, heading for the kitchen. Cass buries her face into my chest sniggering.
“He’ll soon change his mind, give him a few years, the girls will be beating down the door for him.”
“Ha, you wouldn’t be that easy going if he was a girl.”
“If I had a girl no boy would get near her, let me set that straight right now.”
A thought passes through my mind and my eyes narrow at her.
“Are you trying to tell me something?”
“Oh no... I was just stating a fact.”
She gets up from my lap and walks out of the room smirking, leaving me more confused than before.
After going home for a shower and change I’m back at Cass’s to pick her up for work. Instead of asking her Mum to babysit she asked Dale as she didn’t want to talk to her yet. She didn’t want to make it look like she was building bridges because she needed a babysitter, which is fair enough.
Dale runs into the house and I wait for Cass to come out. After only waiting a few minutes, she’s joining me. Leaning across and giving me a kiss, she fastens her seatbelt across her and sits up straight.
“I’ve decided, I’m going to talk to Carson about changing my shifts.”
“Why
?”
“Well as much as I love to be there to beat the women off with a stick it’s not fair on Cam for me to keep doing evenings.”
“I like having you there though, but I can see what you mean. He needs his Mum at home and I’m around too. Maybe you can drop weekends and work in the week instead. That way one of us will always be here for him.”
“Hmm, that’s a good idea.”
“Let’s go to work so I can shout from the rooftops that I’ve got my girl back.”
My palm stroking her thigh as I gently pull away from the kerb. She smiles proudly back at me.
“You always had me you just didn’t realise it.”
I bring her hand to my lips and kiss her knuckles tenderly.
“And I’m never letting you go again.”
Parking at the back of the pub on the car park we get out. I meet Cass on her side of the car, throwing my arm around her shoulders pulling her into my side - where she belongs.
“Today my angel, is the first day of the rest of our lives together.”
Meeting her lips with mine I press a hard kiss to them. Walking through the door I land another one on her lips for good measure, so everyone knows she’s my girl and head to the back room to drop my guitar. By the time I go back out to the bar, her coats off and she’s at the back of it talking to Carson.
Sitting on a stool I watch her work, she has a natural ease with the customers, everyone likes her.
She’s mine and one day soon I’ll show the world she’s mine and put a ring on her finger.
Epilogue
Elliott
One Year Later
There’s been so many times I’ve looked out over at a crowd, but no crowd as ever been as special as this one. I may not have much family as in immediate family, but the family I do have I hold very close to my heart.
