by S M Mala
‘Cole,’ she said, clearing her throat. ‘You need to speak to your eldest child about picking on Kayden. It’s not right.’
‘What’s it got to do with you?’ he barked back.
‘Nothing and everything.’
She watched him march towards the car.
Jacob stood there shaking his head before turning to look at her and mumbling,
‘God, that man has a shitty attitude.’
‘Don’t I know it? I’m pleased to meet you, at long last.’
‘His mother was right, you are a beauty and what a mess you’ve walked into.’ He laughed before taking her hand and kissing it. ‘What a pleasure to meet you too.’
‘Where’s your partner? Is she coming?’
‘You see that ex-wife of mine, she has persuaded her to go shopping. Prudence couldn’t resist. I don’t mind as it gets rid of two wives with one stone.’ He laughed, very much like Mylo. ‘And I wanted to speak to my son on his own. His brother is arriving in a few hours and expects me to pick him up from the airport.’
Mylo walked back to the house as Kayden was kicking a ball about on the grass.
‘I don’t know what’s up with Cole!’ Mylo furiously said. ‘What’s the point of coming over if he’s going to bitch about everything!’
‘You have the best lawyer money can buy!’ said his father, letting out a loud laugh. ‘Your debt is mounting up.’ Then he turned to Bea. ‘I’m his lawyer as well but he’s no good at paying the bill.’
Mylo then smiled as the men embraced for what seemed like forever.
‘I’m so pleased you’re here,’ Mylo said and she could see that he was in need of a fatherly hug. ‘Cole is being an arse and he’s not co-operating. Kayden is getting upset and I’m not playing these mind games, not anymore.’
‘One thing at a time,’ Jacob replied, stepping back and looking at his boy. ‘How the hell are you?’
‘Wonderful,’ Mylo replied glancing at Bea. ‘Everything is amazing other than Cole.’
‘Son, you have week before the wedding. I guarantee he’s going to get a lot worse. And your choice of bride? Don’t you think that’s going to wind him up knowing he wanted you to wear the dress?’ The man let out a large chuckle as Mylo rolled his eyes. ‘But you’re a pretty thing and it might have just suited you.’
‘Very funny,’ replied Mylo, looking unamused. ‘I’m all man.’
‘When it suits,’ his father whispered then glanced at Bea. ‘I bet you didn’t know what hit you when he eventually confessed. I would have run a mile if I were you.’
‘She thought about it,’ frowned Mylo in response. ‘But I’m glad she didn’t.’
‘Why the rush to get married? You could have waited.’
‘I’m in love,’ Mylo replied, looking at his dad as if he said something silly. ‘And I want to be with Bea. That’s why we’re getting married.’
The older man looked at Bea and smiled before whispering,
‘And what a week it’s going be before he gets that. I guarantee!’
And she didn’t doubt that one bit.
‘I’m dreading this!’
Bea was standing, waiting for a cab, talking to Mylo the following afternoon. ‘I sense trouble.’
‘It’ll be fine.’
‘Why couldn’t we have waited until the wedding day to do the family meet up?’
‘Because I want you to meet all my lot at once.’ He laughed. ‘We’re going to be a new family.’
‘And you’ve got the address? You know where to go?’ He asked for the umpteenth time.
‘Yes I do.’
‘That’s what you’ll be saying soon.’ Mylo let out a little sigh, which made her smile. ‘I can’t wait. See you later.’
‘I think I can,’ she grumbled, fearful about the evening.
Her father had been invited and he point blank refused for his sisters to come as well. Bea wanted them there for moral support but Bernie said he would prefer it if he was alone to meet the new family.
Again, she wasn’t quite sure what he was up to.
When she arrived at the smart hotel, Bea was then escorted to a room and stopped when she saw the circle of white balloons and fairy lights.
Then, as if by magic, she saw him.
Mylo was stood by the table, grinning from ear to ear.
The man looked edible.
Then she heard Kayden laughing. He was in his grandfather’s arms and Prudence was standing by his side. She resembled Jessica but Bea didn’t want to point that out.
‘I thought we should keep it small and intimate, just how you want your day to be,’ Mylo said, walking up to her. ‘Bea, you look beautiful.’
‘Where’s daddy?’ she hurriedly asked, hoping he hadn’t turned up unexpectedly early.
‘I don’t know,’ Mylo replied, shaking his head. ‘Is he usually late?’
‘Never.’ Taking out her phone she rang him and it went to voice mail. ‘He better not be trying to make an entrance.’
‘Drink champagne and chill out,’ he replied, kissing her neck while handing her a glass. ‘All is good and Kayden is staying the night at ours again.’
‘How did you manage that?’
‘Ask the lawyer.’ Mylo shot his father a glance. ‘My dad was very persuasive earlier on and Cole isn’t happy. You don’t mind?’
‘Of course I don’t. I can see you’re happy.’ She kissed him and smiled. ‘I just hope the weirdo is. And you briefed your mum and dad about keeping my daddy in the dark?’
‘Mum’s fine about it and my dad thinks it’s quite amusing but totally understands where you’re coming from. And Kayden?’ That’s when he grimaced. ‘How can I stop a five year old from saying anything? I don’t want him to think I think that having two dads is wrong.’
‘If daddy catches on, we’ll never get to the wedding at this rate,’ she said, unable to think of little else.
‘You think he’ll stop it.’
‘I think he might just kidnap me or you or both.’
‘Bea, Bea!’ shouted out Kayden, running up to her. He looked dapper in a suit. ‘I can have as much ice-cream as I like and daddy Cole won’t be able to stop me!’
‘Daddy Cole?’ she heard her father say, turning to look at him.
Now she knew he was trying to make a point.
Her father was wearing a dark blue Nero suit, and to all intent and purpose, trying to look like he was Indian. He just looked like a pretty man dressed up. In all her life, she had never seen him wear something like it. The only ethnic thing she had seen him in was when he was wearing the sheet and dancing down the road.
That was enough.
‘Bernie, how lovely you made it,’ Mylo said, giving her father a hug.
‘Hello, my name is Kayden,’ he said, putting his hand out to shake Bernie’s. ‘And Bea is going to be my mummy.’ Her father darted her a glance. ‘So you will be my new grandad.’
‘What a truly handsome boy you are!’ he said, bending down to shake his hand. ‘I need to get to know you better, don’t I?’
‘Oh God,’ she mumbled so only Mylo could hear. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. ‘Daddy, be nice to Mylo’s family, okay?’
‘Hello there! Sorry I’m late.’ A man with blond hair came rushing in. ‘Bro, you know what it’s like.’
Matty looked like their mother, even down to the eye colouring.
And he was handsome.
‘Hi, you must be Bea,’ he said, leaning down and giving her a big kiss. ‘I’m so pleased to meet you. And who is this young man? Is that you?’
‘Uncle Matty, it’s me! It’s Kayden!’ he said excitedly. Matty picked him up. ‘Hello!’
‘Boy, you’ve grown!’
The little boy hugged the man fiercely as Matty walked away towards his mother.
‘You have a beautiful family,’ sighed her father looking over at Jessica. ‘I know you wished for the aunts to come but I wanted to make a good impression. Bertha would probably get drunk
and start dancing topless on the table.’
‘Really?’ asked Mylo, starting to smile.
‘Not to mention my nieces Denise and Debs, who you’ve not met yet, have you?’ Her father looked at her. ‘And then we have Eunice!’ He shook his head in dismay. ‘That child is really troubled.’
‘Why?’ asked Bea, as she sipped her drink.
‘Seems Eunice is now a lesbian. I would have never have guessed.’
Bea choked on her champagne as Mylo looked aghast and handed her a napkin.
‘Yes, I spluttered on my mint tea when I found out,’ Bernie said, looking up at the ceiling. ‘And here was I thinking she could find someone at the wedding but you’re not going to have any gay friends there, are you? Of course not! You don’t know any gay people other than Erio and all he needs to do is find a good woman to sort him out.’
Right then, Bea knew the evening wasn’t going to go as smoothly as she had hoped.
Mylo’s expression said it all.
‘A Kearney sandwich.’
Bea woke up to find Mylo was attached to her back and Kayden was cuddling her front on Sunday morning. ‘The best you can get.’
‘Do you want some sausage with that?’ Mylo mumbled in her ear, sticking his hard on against her spine. ‘It’s hot and ready to go.’
‘Behave,’ she whispered, stroking Kayden’s hair. ‘He looks like an angel, don’t you think?’
‘I’m a horny little devil,’ Mylo groaned and tried to grope her boob.
‘Not with a baby in the bed!’
‘But I want to make babies.’
‘Wait until our wedding night.’
She laughed quietly and hugged the child in her arms while nudging the bigger kid away with her elbow.
‘It went okay last night, don’t you think?’ she asked, knowing her father was a little drunk as she nervously sat through the evening. ‘And daddy wasn’t that bad but he was chatting up your mother.’
She felt Mylo pull away and get up, walking to the bathroom. Bea let out a little sigh remembering Kayden making out he wasn’t sleeping while drooling down the sleeve of Mylo’s suit. And the plan to go to bed early was scuppered by everyone coming to the house. It was Bea who was the first to throw in the towel, as the whole evening wiped her energy supply.
Then she noticed the gorgeous specimen walking back with tight fitting underpants to disguise his excitement. He got into bed on the other side of Kayden, kissing his head before looking at Bea.
‘You were brilliant last night and I could see you were stressed. No-one mentioned a thing and your father isn’t any the wiser,’ he whispered, touching her face. ‘We have less than a week to go and everything is going to be good.’
Staring into his eyes, she believed him but then looked at Kayden.
‘When’s Cole coming to pick him up?’ she asked, nuzzling in his hair.
‘I’m dropping off Kayden before going to the clinic.’ Then he glanced at the sleeping child. ‘I need to keep Cole sweet so he doesn’t suddenly become obstinate.’
‘Much like my dad.’
‘The wedding is going to be fine. The venue, as you have seen, is beautiful. And I managed to talk your father out of making us do a rehearsal, though I think he wants it to end very much like ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ when we all do a collective Indian dance routine.’ Mylo started to laugh. ‘Got to give him credit for that.’
‘I’m dancing,’ mumbled Kayden, rubbing his eyes before looking at Mylo. ‘I like Indian food.’
‘Morning,’ he replied, his eyes lighting up when looking at the child. ‘Did you sleep okay considering Bea has decorated a room for you, and you ended up in our bed?’
‘Yes but I wanted to stay up and you wouldn’t let me.’
‘You fell asleep in the cab.’
‘But I was awake and wanted to play with Uncle Matty.’
Then he turned and smiled at Bea, making her heart melt at the little grin.
‘I like sleeping next to mummy.’
And that was it.
She swallowed and swallowed as hard as she could but the emotion was stuck in her throat, as were the tears tickling the back of her eyeballs.
‘That’s a lovely thing to say,’ Bea eventually replied, seeing Mylo bite his bottom lip very hard, trying not to get emotional. She sat up and looked down at Kayden. ‘What would you like for breakfast?’
‘Curry,’ he said, shooting up from the bed and landing on her lap before wrapping his arms and legs around her, placing his head on her chest. ‘And lots of it. Are you staying home to play today?’
‘I have a few errands to do,’ she replied, kissing his forehead and smelt the scent of Mylo on him. ‘We’ll have plenty of time to play. Daddy promised to take you to your other daddy as you’re meeting up with friends and staying the night there.’
‘I don’t want to go. I want to stay here,’ he said, looking miserable. ‘Please? I’m scared.’
‘Of what?’
‘People being mean to me because I want to be with my daddy.’
‘You know that after we get married, we are taking you away for a few days before we go on honeymoon.’ Mylo stroked his son’s hair before discreetly rubbing Bea’s back. She knew he was up to no good when she felt his hand squeeze her backside. ‘We’ll have a lot of fun.’
‘Can’t I come on honeymoon?’ Kayden asked sweetly. ‘I don’t mind missing school, I really don’t.’
‘I’m sure you don’t,’ he replied, starting to laugh. ‘But you need to go back home, eventually.’
‘I want to stay here. I don’t like it at home. It makes me sad and I don’t want to be sad,’ the whimpering voice said. ‘I don’t want to go back to America. I’m Irish.’
‘Have you been speaking to my dad again?’ sighed Mylo.
‘And my new grandpa says he’s Indian though not really as he was born here so I’m Indian too.’
‘He is not Indian!’ sniffed Bea, knowing her father was talking utter bollocks again. ‘We are of Asian descent except he’s not particularly decent about his choice of Indian activity. He can only speak English, you know.’
‘I like him,’ Kayden replied, looking into her eyes. ‘He’s very funny. He asked me about my mummy.’
‘What?’
‘He asked where my mummy was and I said over there.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I pointed to you and said you were my mummy.’ Then he grinned. ‘He said I was a good little boy and he was going to introduce me to some of his friends who like to play.’
‘Really?’ She glanced at Mylo grinning to himself. Now she realised what they had been talking about. ‘Well, they are like children considering what they wear.’
‘My new grandpa is very funny. He said he doesn’t eat meat and is a vegetable.’
‘That’s right,’ Bea mischievously replied. ‘He is a vegetable.’ Kissing his head, she held him by the shoulders. ‘Now go wash your face and brush your teeth. Daddy will make us breakfast.’
He jumped off the bed and ran down the corridor towards the bathroom.
‘Don’t run!’ shouted out Mylo who within seconds rolled on top of Bea. ‘We need to make love.’
‘If you can do it in fifteen seconds, then I will be impressed.’ She kissed his nose.
‘He likes sleeping with his mummy.’ Mylo stroked her face. ‘Bea, what am I going to do if he tells Cole that?’
‘I think something’s up with Kayden,’ she said, watching his eyes widen. ‘He really doesn’t want to go back home. He told me that someone stopped being mean to him because he was coming here.’
‘I know,’ he said, letting out a long sigh. ‘The kid’s not happy and I want to do something about it. I’m going to speak to dad about it. And he wants you to be his mummy.’
‘We haven’t asked him to call me that and if Cole doesn’t understand, then what can you do? Kayden wants to be loved by everyone. He’s five, of course that’s the most important thing.’
/> ‘I love you, Beatrice,’ he whispered. ‘I truly do.’
‘I love mummy too!’ shouted out Kayden, jumping onto the bed and landing on Mylo’s back, as he peeped over his shoulder. ‘Are you wrestling?’
‘No, we’re not,’ Bea replied and felt Mylo rub his hips into her. ‘Daddy’s just telling me he is going to make pancakes while I take a shower and get changed.’
She pushed the pair off who rolled on the bed and started to laugh.
Right then, looking at them, she realised in all the mess that was happening around her, they were the key to her happiness.
Mylo and son.
‘What the f-!’
Bea nearly fell into a bush when Henry jumped out from behind it. ‘You nearly scared the living shit out of me!’
‘Sorry!’ he said, starting to laugh while trying to steady her. ‘I need to talk to you.’
‘How do you know where I live?’ she replied, composing her breathing as her heart felt like it was going to punch through her chest.
‘I asked Erio, saying I wanted to send you a wedding present.’
‘Why can’t you call or email like a normal person?’
‘I didn’t want to,’ he said, looking around and acting suspiciously. ‘I don’t know who to talk to and I thought because you knew her, you could help.’
‘You mean Rachel?’
Bea dragged him down the road and sat him in her usual café, towards the back, where they couldn’t be spotted.
‘Can’t we have pleasantries before you go off into one? I was shocked to see you the other day,’ he laughed out.
‘And why did you say we met through Erio? Why didn’t you tell her it was Ibiza?’
‘She found out I had fun,’ he guiltily replied.
‘You had more than a good time. And she’s your mentor?’ Bea couldn’t hold it in. ‘She’s a bitch!’
‘Bea! Rachel is lovely though a bit hot headed.’
‘You’re so you.’ She couldn’t describe him for a moment. ‘Laid back and knowledgeable in things beyond your years. And she’s just so.’ Bea didn’t know what to say without being rude. ‘Her!’
Henry started to laugh and gave Bea a massive hug.
