Page 54 of Unwanted
“Fucking auntie,” Sophie repeated into the shocked silence, cutting through the tension as everyone laughed.
“You might want to start with toning the language down, V,” Max said in a dry tone. “This one muttered ‘fuck’s sake’ under her breath when they told her at nursery the bubble machine was out of order, and that was after you’d spent the day babysitting her.” Verity smiled, gave Yaz another hug and then moved to Max and Sophie. Sophie reached out for her, and she plucked her off Max’s knee and held her on her hip.
“What’s he saying about you, gorgeous?” Verity muttered, her hand that wasn’t under Sophie’s legs moving to stroke her darks curls back from her forehead. “I don’t believe a word of it.”
“Daddy’s silly,” Sophie said, nodding solemnly and drawing a few more laughs.
“Yes, he is, darling,” Verity said briskly. “And anyway, the nursery should have a working bubble machine – what kind of operation are they running there?”
“Jeepers,” muttered Mia. “At least there’ll be a few more babies to dilute this one. She’s getting way too much attention from way too many grown-ups at the moment.”
Verity snorted. “Nonsense.” She moved away with Sophie then who’d settled into her neck and then went to her bag which she’d left on the countertop. “I nearly forgot, darling.” She muttered as she dug through her bag, after a moment producing a new Barbie.
“Hurrah!” Sophie shrieked, clutching the Barbie to her chest and pumping her little legs. “Thank ew Verry-li!” she shouted.
“Yes, totally not being spoilt,” Mia said, shaking her head.
“Listen I had to get it,” Verity explained. “She didnothave Architect Barbie – it was actually criminal.” Sophie flung her arms around Verity’s neck then and Verity gave her a hug in return, her eyes closing as if it meant the world to her to be this close to Max and Mia’s child.
The lunch then bled into late afternoon and evening, morphing into a celebration. More food was produced by Mia and Fern. Champagne was drunk by everyone not incubating a human, and Verity looked happier than I think I’d ever seen her.
On the way back to her cottage that evening she held my hand so tightly it was as if she was worried I’d float away, and when we arrived she basically attacked me as soon as we made it in the door.
“Baby,” I muttered against her lips as she pulled my shirt out of my jeans. “Are you okay?” She paused for a moment and looked up at me, her expression so heartbreakingly vulnerable that my breath caught in my throat.
“I just want to make the most of tonight,” she said before going back to kissing my neck and running her hands up my abs onto my chest. “Before you leave,” she said against my skin. With Verity pressed against me, and her hands on my skin, reasoned thought was rapidly becoming a thing of the past, but I did manage to speak.
“You know I’m coming back, right? It’s only for a week.” I had client meetings that I’d been putting off for way to long. After nagging me for years to work less, even Toby was getting a little twitchy about my now extended absence. I was the stats guy, the balance of probabilities guy for the investors after all. He had the chat, but I had the figures. There was only so long he could jog along without me. Plus, since everything had come out about Lanie’s bullying there had been meetings with the school and he’d needed to spend more time with her, not to mention the situation with Noo.
“Of, course I know that,” she muttered, now intent on getting my belt undone and I gave up trying to talk it out as my body took control of the situation. She clawed my shirt off and her hands went into my hair as I threw her blouse away, then with one hand around her back and one supporting her leg I picked her up to straddle me and strode to the stairs, taking them two at a time and narrowly avoiding slamming my head against the low ceiling. Once we were in bed and my body was pressing hers down into the soft sheets, her need seemed to escalate. She only calmed once her eyes rolled back into her head when I finally thrust inside. We’d made love plenty of times that week, but none had been as frenzied. Once we’d fallen off the edge together and our faces were a hair’s breadth apart, she searched mine for a long moment, her hand coming up to the side of my jaw as if memorising every detail then a tear slid from the corner of one of her eyes into her hairline.
“Hey,” I said, gently as I wiped the wet away from her temple. “Verity, baby. Come back to me.”
“I’m sorry,” she said in a choked voice. “It’s just–”
“I’m not so bad in bed that I make you cry now, am I? I’ve never had quite such a bad review before.”
That pulled a small smile from her and a brief eye roll, but it also had the desired effect of damming the tears. “Don’t fish for compliments, you arrogant sod,” she said, her voice back to her normal crisp tone. I smiled at her for a moment before I moved to kiss her mouth, then both eyes and rub my nose against hers.
We slept tangled together that night with her head resting on my chest and her arm around my torso, even in sleep she held on tight. I blinked up at the dark ceiling, wishing I didn’t have to go back to London the next day, wishing there was more I could do to reassure Verity, wishing I could take her past away so she never had to feel this level of insecurity. But most of all I wished that I’d been less of a blind arsehole. Maybe then she’d trust me, trustus.I pulled her further into my side and she burrowed against me in her sleep. The feel of her soft body against mine and her breath against my neck helped me let go of my regrets. I was there with her now and I wasn’t going to let her go. At least that’s what I thought.
Chapter27
If you want us to leave then we’ll all just go
Verity
“Mum, listen it’s not a great time for–”
Harry sighed and looked up at the ceiling, his free hand going to the back of his neck. I was perched on one of his kitchen stools drinking a cup of tea in my silk pyjamas and Harry’s massive dressing gown, feeling more relaxed than I had in long while. The plus side of overseeing the site in London this week was staying with Harry. The only slight downside was Barbara attempting to smother me in my sleep on the reg. She was sitting directly in front of me now, her flat poofy face inches from mine with a grumpy expression as her tail twitched from side to side. Somebody did not like to share their daddy.
Despite Barbara’s terrifying ways, I was slowly, very very slowly, starting to relax into this new reality. A reality where I’d stay at Harry’s house when I was in London because he was, in fact, my boyfriend. A reality where said boyfriend had done exactly what he said he’d do in terms of my mother – that situation hadn’t touched me in the three weeks since we’d left France. Mr Crawley was now talking directly to Harry and his company’s law firm. Control freak that I was, I found it a little hard to let go of the stress, and definitely still found it hard not to feel like my mother was my responsibility to sort out. The only information Harry had really let me in on was that they still hadn’t located her for the authorities but that they were “close” and “it was only a matter of time”.
“No, Mum, you’re not coming over here,” Harry ground out. My gaze snapped back to him and my hand froze in mid-air before the tea could reach my mouth. All the relaxed energy of the morning was sucked out of the room. Harry’s eyes shot to me as my mug clattered down onto the granite worktop and tea split over the side. I jumped up from the stool and grabbed a cloth to start wiping it. Harry was still on the phone to his mum, still affectionally annoyed with her for wanting to invade his Sunday without warning. I wasnotready to see Harry’s mother. He sighed again and I could tell that he was losing this argument. I threw the cloth back into the sink and rounded the kitchen island, gathering my stuff as I went. “Fine, okay but only for a bit, alright?” he said. I caught his eye and he frowned at me and my handbag which I was stuffing with my belongings that were strewn across the granite. “Listen, Mum. I’ve got to go. Yes, yes okay, see you in a bit. Love you too.” He took the phone away from his ear and tapped to disconnect, then tucked it in his back pocket whilst keeping his gaze focused on me. “What are you doing?”
I gave him a brief, harried smile. “I’ll just get out of your hair if you’ve family coming over. You probably want to spend some time with them, and I’d just be in the way. It’s probably too soon anyway so–”
“Verity,” he snapped, his arms crossing over his chest as he frowned across at me. “If anything, it’s twenty years too late. You’re not going anywhere. Mum will only be doing this because she’s got wind of me having someone here. It’s about time she knew we’re back together. She’ll want to see you.”
