Page 30 of Meeting the Billionaire Boss

Ava

When I got home yesterday, I went for a walk around the grounds. Mum Facetimed me so I showed her where I was, and she got emotional. She said it was because she was glad that I’m staying in such a beautiful location, but I suspect part of it was also her worrying about me having to leave here after the nannying contract ends. It added to my thoughts that marrying Edward could be a good thing for us all. The damp in the flat doesn’t help with her health struggles and I’m sure it’s affecting Daniel. I know that I’ll have enough money from this job to buy a new place, but I also know that money doesn’t go far these days. Without doing more qualifications, I’ll never be able to get a better paid job and to be honest, I’ll never get one that will make the kind of difference that marrying Edward could make. Also, if I marry Edward I could afford to do more qualifications, perhaps start a business of my own. There will, for the first time in my life, be options open for me.

Being on the land here, breathing the fresh air and being close to Edward and Joe, it’s starting to feel normal, like this is my life. Would being his wife really be that different to how things are now? Yes, I know, there would be some differences, but I’d be able to stay here, close to them both. The thought of leaving them is starting to make me anxious and I know I’d miss them, as well as Polly and Jeff.

After my walk, I went inside, and Edward and Joe were there. Joe hugged me and asked me to go and play with his Lego. I was about to follow him when Edward asked me for a quick chat. He said that he’d agreed to go to a pumpkin carving competition at the village hall this evening and asked if I’d go too. He’s sponsoring the event and the money will go to a local charity that helps out elderly people in need, the ones who don’t have family around. It organises meals at the village hall for them as well as social gatherings. It made me think about how many people ask him for his time and money and about how I’ve never heard him complain about it. He was born into money but he also works hard for it and yet I’ve never seen him begrudge anyone a penny or some of his time and that endears him to me even more. He has a good heart, and it makes me want to spend more time with him.

And so I agreed to go this evening but I warned him that I am pretty ace at carving pumpkins. He laughed but he’s got no idea what’s coming…

Chapter30

Edward

Iend the business call then go to the kitchen to grab a coffee. Just outside the door, I hear giggling, so I pause and listen. It’s Ava and Joe.

‘Let me try, Ava!’ Joe says.

‘OK but be caref— Ah! Joe! Look what you’ve done!’

More giggling. What on earth are they doing in there?

I walk into the kitchen and the sight that greet me stops me in my tracks. They are at the kitchen table, Joe standing on a chair, Ava next to him and they’re both covered in flour. They’re wearing aprons but even so, Joe has flour in his hair, on his face and up his arms. Ava has flour in her hair and on her face too. They look up and grin at me.

‘What’s going on in here?’ I ask. ‘You look like ghosts.’

‘Ha ha! Daddy said we’re ghosts, Ava.’ Joe grins at her. ‘Daddy, Ava said we could do baking to take to the party,’ Joe says, rubbing a hand over his forehead and leaving a smear of what looks like orange icing there.

‘We’re making some Halloween muffins to take, with us,’ Ava explains. ‘And we’retryingto decorate them.’ She nods at Joe and smiles.

‘We used punkin puree, Daddy.’ Joe blinks at me.

‘Punkin eh?’ I nod and go to have a closer look. ‘They smell great.’

Peering at them, I have to admit that they look pretty good too. They’ve decorated the muffins with different coloured icing and added what look like pumpkin faces to some, spider legs to others and the rest have white ghost shapes on them with hollow black eyes.

‘Wow! You have been busy.’ I smile at Ava and she blushes through the flour. Whenever she does that, I find it so cute. It makes me want to grab hold of her and hug her. Especially now that she’s all covered in flour and looking more adorable than ever.

‘Would you like one?’ Ava asks.

‘Yes please. Which one can I have?’

Joe peruses the muffins then selects one and holds it out. ‘Have this one, Daddy.’

It’s a ghost muffin. I peel back the orange paper case and take a bite. ‘Mmmm.’ I’m not exaggerating; it’s good. Really good. ‘Delicious!’

‘Daddy likes them!’ Joe’s smile makes my heart leap. I try not to dwell on it but I do worry about him since we lost Lucille. He’s so young to be without his mum and although he’s had Cynthia around, and she’s amazing, she’s more like a grandmother than a mother figure. But Ava, well, she’s young and energetic and she’s a natural with Joe. The thought of losing her from our lives now is getting tough to deal with and I hope she’s going to accept my proposal and stay.

‘I’m glad Daddy likes them.’ Ava is smiling at Joe, but as she finishes speaking, she looks at me and something in her eyes makes my heart hammer.

Once I’ve finished the muffin, I wash my hands, dry them then return to the table. ‘Right you two, I don’t want to spoil the fun but we’ve got to go in a hour and you need to… uh… get cleaned up.’

Ava looks down at herself and seems surprised at the state of her apron then she raises a hand to her face and looks at her palm. ‘Oh dear!’

‘Yeah… you’ve got some flour there.’ I point at her hair and she raises her hand covering it with even more flour and grimaces. ‘Oops! Your Daddy is right, Joe, we should go and get showered.’

‘I’ll sort Joe out while you sort yourself.’

‘Are you sure?’

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