“Do you think that Lorna did this on purpose Chris?”
“No Bella, Lorna hates Catherine, I mean really hates her, she hates Roger too. They stopped Dad paying her trust money, just because she was friends with me and Chris, so she had nowhere to go when Dad stopped paying her rent and came to me. I have set her up in an apartment and she has a really great allowance from Chris and I. No, she hasn’t got anything to do with this.” Chris agreed she was too sweet and nice.
“Sorry to interrupt, but there’s another chain of hotels too, when Luis’s father died he left him his shares, in the Dodecanese Hotel Chain, and they all over Greece and Cyprus, Luis here is the sole heir to that chain too and there’s a lot, but as you said, his Grandad is still very much alive and kicking. Oh and that means your baby girl is part Greek too Mel.” She smiled. Chris was livid as it started to make sense of some of his father insane ramblings.
“I bet he is behind this, and those two are the only ones who would do his bidding. His idol is the late Howard Hughes. They share a love of owning hotels and investing in films. He always said his hotels would be the biggest, the best and be everywhere, but this is way more than madness this bordering on something from the fucking x-files, he’s done it this time though. Mel, can we get him declared insane? What do we do?” She looked lost and Chris was fuming, what have I got involved in?
“I don’t know what our father is capable of, and I don’t care not really, but I do know I wasn’t meant to meet the bloody sperm donor on an airstrip in Spain, this sucks all the times we did the bedsheet tumble and protected ourselves from being parents, and I pay for this to happen with you, I swear if our father did this and got our little sister to do it, I will kill the old, deluded, insane, mad, old fucker.” Luis gave her a smile, as if to say sorry.
“Tell me about it. You got both of my deposits, right? I only have to deal with this shit once?”
“Once and just me, and it’s my shit not yours. This is my daughter.”
“I think you will find Smelly Mel, that she’s mine too! Let’s not argue about this right now. Perhaps that’s what they want for me to find out and sue you for custody, joint or otherwise and then shit knows what else? My biggest concern is Mum, I can’t hide anything from her, and she will get it out of you too.” Mel’s jovial side was back and she was laughing.
“Well let’s start again then hello, I’m Melissa Yeller and I’m having your babies, we met at Harvard Law do you not remember me? Then we had a chance meeting six months ago in Providence, does that lie sound better?”
“Your Yeller the yeller, pleased to meet you, you have a killer mean cross examination voice, and wow I have watched video footage of you and you’d make a grown man wet himself, welcome to my home.”
“Why thank you it was too brief our last meeting, ten minutes from start to finish. That is all it took for your to knock me up lover, quick little bugger ain’t ya?” Luis laughed and shook her hand.
“Hello, my baby’s Mama, pleased to meet you. I’m sorry I don’t think I have been anywhere near the business end of your pregnancy in a while, six years ago to be precise, but there is plenty of time to get to know you better. Really we met at Harvard?”
“Yes you were the idiot who sent me flying down the stairs, and blamed that weedy little dick Nordstrom. You were too drunk then to remember my welcome to Harvard bunk up then?”
“Argh Noisy Norseman, the Norwegian legal beagle, he was an ass, he’s some sort of big name in parliament over there. As to remember it, it was great, but I called over and your roommate said you were in bed with a fellow, so I went to bed with another woman and then you avoided me like I had a disease again.”
“I was in a metaphorical bed, with a research fellow, you dick I was researching for a case, me and three other girls were on my bed with an old guy. Not having sex you dick.”
“Oh I thought, I well, I guess I didn’t think.” I oh-ed these two had been doing it off and on for fifteen years sheisk they have history.
“When you two have finally stopped this legal flirting and ass kissing, can I go see my boy please?”
“Hold it right there brother, ass kissing or kicking you choose, I’m hormonal and need to lose it with someone, you’re the chosen recipient of my thumps.” Luis looked shocked as Mel yelled and thumped Chris’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry they do this all the time, Luis they give you a headache, right what cars?”
“I will take my babies Mama in this one, and talk strategies, you two are with Bedford, he is eager to meet the man who gave them the slip and managed to knock up his boss’s daughter.”
“I swear the next one that says I knocked her up is going down, I didn’t do it on purpose and that’s the end of it.”
“Sure, are you sure this wasn’t your daddies plan too? What did he do poke a hole in all your condoms and make you sleep with my baby sister?”
“No stranger than knocking up my sister with thousands of miles between you, besides Ethan was a planned baby, we planned to get knocked up and we managed it, didn’t we Bella?” I shook my head in disbelief, were they really having a pissing contest about their swimmers?
“Super swimmers boy I have super swimmers, mine swam continents to impregnate your sister.” I swear they are going to be the death of me.
“Right first one back gets to tell Dad you’re about to be a Dad too, so come on Bedford I want to win.”
“Miss Humphries, how old are you?”
“That’s Mrs Holland, Bedford and come on you know you want me to tell Dad first.” He opened the door and was about to help me in when Chris stepped forward.
“I’ve got my wife covered thanks Bedford, my team will need to liaise with your team, I want as little fuss and change around Ethan as possible, my team have been with me years.”
“Sir, I’m sure that won’t be a problem, Ethan had three PO’s Mrs Holland had three also, who worked varying shifts, it was cut down to three shared here, as she has very rarely left the ranch, and she hasn’t needed more, if we go into town I go with them all.”
“Thank you, the one in Vegas slipped up.”
“He was dismissed the same day. Oh Mrs Holland, a Miss Molly King phoned the ranch, and said and I quote Mrs Holland, ‘you have to be shitting me, she fucking forgot me?’” I am aghast, I forgot her, bloody hell she will kill me.
“Have her pack her things, have her picked up and taken to the airport, and then flown here today, also can you get Kendal’s old rooms packed and sent to her mother’s home?”
“Yes, when the sun is up Ma’am, it’s already done and new things are in place for Miss King.” I may think he’s a stuffed shirt, jobs worth, but he knows his stuff, and he is loyal to daddy.
“Are you happy to be home Bella?”
“I am, I may even risk waking Ethan up for a cuddle, a squish and a whole heap of kisses, and I’ve been away twelve days and its twelve days I missed things he did, I will never get back, the stupid thing is that if I hadn’t gone, I wouldn’t have found you.”
“I would never have found you here this isn’t on the list of properties your father owns?”
“Actually Ethan Holdings own it, Dad put it in his father’s name and there is no paper trail to it leading to us or any other company. Normally we fly to Madrid, Barcelona or Bilbao airports, and helicopter or drive into the ranch from there, there’s a helipad on top of most of the hotels, all cloak and dagger stuff isn’t it Bedford?”
“Yes ma’am, we are changing protocol too, Luis says he was followed in from Madrid Airport, so he booked in the hotel there and gave them the slip and drove a hire car here earlier, we are looking into it.”
“Good, how’s Dad been really, he always says fine, but you know Dad is he getting better?”
“His doctor is hopeful that the last lot of chemo has done the job, but he is weak and that’s despite your mother cutting down on the time he spends with Ethan. That though has been a fruitless exercise every time we turn ar
ound, he’s on his Papa’s knee. The puppy has tired Ethan out too, but the little thing is a chewer and he’s a shoe chewer too.”
“It needs training, and I ain’t doing it, Luis can do it, it’s his damned dog.”
“Ma’am Rochelle is an ex-police dog handler from Scotland Yard we don’t need to send it far. Perhaps she and Ethan could learn together?”
“What, my son is too young to train a puppy? Can he even walk that far?” I laughed he talks and walks way above what he should be doing for his age and both are non-stop, from walking, talking to sleeping.
“He needs it Chris, he will wear you out I swear, that boy is actually as bad as you, he’s got three things on the go at once, he likes to be busy and he likes to be up all night too and walk that far? Turn your head on him and he’s off, he’s been walking since he was ten months old Chris, hasn’t he Bedford?”
“Yes Ma’am, and might I say my proudest moment to date, working for your father, being the only one to witness his first steps, and having the foresight to record it, I just knew he was going to do it.”
“Bedford was on Ethan duty, and we were at the hospital with Dad and Mum.” There are then sad sighs from both Chris and I, he’s missed so much of his life and I am going to make my sister pay for that. Chris held my had tightly, it’s a reassuring it’s alright, I know it wasn’t your fault type of squeeze, then he smiled and told me why he was up the night before, and for most of the night it was spent on his phone, giving orders and doing a deal.
“I never sleep all night, somewhere there is a deal going down and it can happen day or night. I swim in the pool and run on the ranch every day, I do ten kilometres a morning and fifty laps of the pool. I have, or had a lot of excess energy to burn off.” I know he did that on purpose, to make me blush, he actually used a lot of energy on the plane.
“Believe me Chris, you will spend a morning with your son, and you will feel like you have done a marathon. Chris, today has been surreal and kind of crazy, perhaps we should have taken this a little slower, because I don’t want you to feel trapped into this?”
“Trapped is that what you think you have done to me? Well I guess you did in a way, I’ve had you on my mind for years Bella and those were the years I felt trapped. Yes, it’s been rushed, yes, it’s freakishly surreal, but I am where I am because it’s what I want, it’s what I have wanted and for quite a while.”
“Can it be so simple? Have you ever lived with a woman before?”
“Umm, yes and definitely no, I will make mistakes and mess up, but believe me you were all I thought of, so simple it is, and it won’t be easy but it will be fun trying, because we are going to have to learn to get it right together, and the first lesson is I like a little starch in my shirts dear wife.”
“Oh, is that how you want to play it? Well when you do my laundry all my underwear goes on a moderate wash with extra softener.”
“Easy I can do that, where is the nearest store for new ones, in case I don’t do it right?” We both laugh but he shrugs his shoulders, I doubt he even knows how a washing machine works.
“It’s fine Anna, the housekeeper is pretty damn good at laundry, and I will inform her of your starch requirements, tighty whities starched too?”
“Nope, I like extra fabric softener in those, I like that area nice and comfortable dear wife. So, are we going to be alright?”
“I guess we are about to find out, we are here, well this is the property boundary. It’s a good five minutes up this drive way. Welcome to my humble abode.”
“Wow, it really is a castle. Aww shucks my wife is a Princess in a castle.”
“Yes with a miniature pig, that’s the size of a horse, four llamas, three sheep, two goats, numerous ostriches and all my actual horses.”
“A miniature pig, and horse size?”
“Yes, Mum fell in love with one of those micro pigs, only now it’s a hefty half a ton sow, the llamas, they were bought for their wool or something, she was spinning her own stuff, and the wheel thing has cobwebs and sits in the store room and the llamas spit and are nasty. The sheep and goats were for her cheese making courses, which she took for like three weeks, and they are now pets, the goat’s milk Ethan drinks, and one of the men takes the milk home and his wife makes cheese for Ethan, from the goats and the sheep’s milk too! Oh, and we have an ostrich or two too, because Mum wanted to go start designing her own Faberge style egg things? She took a jewellery class, and the next thing we have half a dozen small birds, that over three years have turned into two dozen nightmares. Dad really has to stop her hair brained schemes.
They were all at some point her daft hobbies and now they are her daft pets. Her hobbies last five minutes at best. She was a high powered attorney when she met Dad, and when she had me then I was her life, Luis too of course, but he was more independent than me and he had time away with his grandfather in Greece. Then she forever badgered Luis for a grandchild, she however got the surprise of Ethan’s arrival, so now she’s just glad to be filling her time with Ethan, Dad and her damn Noah’s Ark thing, or as Ethan calls it Nana’s Zoo, he asked her for a tiger cub, and would you believe it, she found one?”
“He has a tiger cub too, shit will it eat me?”
“Nope, I stopped her just in time, so she bought him the monster life sized one in his room, that’s called Tigger, and he loves it.” He sighs I realise and I know, just how hard is this going to be, because he’s missed out on so much, that I cannot give him back.
“So Luis gets that from her then, an impulsive lawyer with the attention span of a gnat?”
“Pretty much she is a little scatty at times, but the law thing is a family tradition, her father was an attorney and she followed suit, but it skipped over me, though I do have it in my blood and would be a natural, but I still like to design buildings, I’m not a cut throat sort of person, or I wasn’t until I started doing Dad’s job. I have Ethan and my small projects on the boil, so I’m happy and that won’t change just because I’m married to you, with technology I can work anywhere in the world.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to drop everything for me, but I would like some us time and family time thrown in there please, for a few years anyhow. I’d like more family time than work time if truth be told?”
“I always can find time for those things too, though there’s going to be a damn sight more Ethan time for the foreseeable future, I missed him. Here we are and the party’s all here.” We both see the blond toddler, who’s busy jumping up and down and getting over excited.
“I’m just a little bit afraid right now, what if…”
“...Shush, Chris he will love you, there’s your son.” He looked over and smiled, I looked at them both again and my heart is fit to bursting, with so much pride, they are like peas in a pod. Take it easy Isabella, breathe deep and relax, this is going to be fine, really fine and if it isn’t throw Luis to the lions hahaha.
“Mummmmmmyyy, you here… Mummy, Mummy…” One very clingy little boy sticking to my leg is raised up and I go straight in for the biggest of cuddles and squishes. Lord I missed my little man.
“Mummy missed you baby boy, I have brought someone to see you.”
“You bringed me a Daddy, you bringed him home?”
“I did, and he’s waiting to see you.” Chris stepped nervously from the car and Ethan wriggled to get a look see, and was demanding to be freed from my arms and demanded to go to a very pale Chris.
“Hello, I’m Ethan, you look funny. You not give cuddles and squishy kisses?”
“Oh I can do those things, you’re a big boy, have you been good for Papa and Nana?”
“Always good, I like your hat.”
“That’s a Stetson and thank you, here wear it if you like?”
“Yesss pleazzzze, come on see my Mojo, he asleep in my bed. He poopied on my floor and Nana said rude word, and Unkie Lou gonna get it for bringing mutt to house, it a crappy machine and Mojo eated her shoe too.”
“Shall we cle
an the poop up, when you show me your puppy then, and it’s best we hide your shoes too?”
“No poop, Nana moved it, ‘cos it smell funny and awful in my room, in house come see, this way Daddy, you smell of wood, soap and stuff, Mummy smells like you too, good you smell the same.” With a shrug of his shoulders and carrying Ethan, whose head was drowning in his daddy’s hat, Chris smiled back at me mouthing thank you, as they disappeared into the house.
“Mum, Dad what do you think, am I mad doing it all again?”
“No, we have always liked Christopher and he was always a part of this family, now you’ve come to your senses, and he is going to be good for you, and be good for Ethan. They really do look alike. I always said so, and Chris was about Ethan’s age, when old Hoyt started to parade the lad out. Whose Luis got with him?” They had pulled up and had exited their car, looking really relaxed together. Luis stood with his arm protectively around Mel’s waist. Umm, I wonder what they discussed in the car to get them this close, and they are both smiling?
“That’s Chris’s younger sister Mel. She’s nice but really loud and Canadian, she’s so funny, and they get on as well as me and Luis do. She was the reason he had to leave me, the limp she has, is the only physical scar she has now. She’s tired and grumpy though, because she’s six months pregnant and can’t wait to see her new nephew.”
“Well, you look happy Bella, we just have to get through the next few days and sort things out. Rachel will be here in the morning, and knows what it is all about. If she wants her trust money, she has to be here, she has to know the pain she has caused you and Chris, and what the time away from his son has done to him, to them both. She says it was only done to protect you, and that’s the only reason she didn’t tell you of the letters or the messages he sent you. She thought he was too old for you and had a reputation as a womaniser. I know the last part used to be true, he and Luis were wild young men, but the Chris we knew later was very much changed, anyway, we will have the answers tomorrow.”
Soul Mates. The Beginning. Page 36
