Page 72 of Abigail's King

She finally released me from her grasp and placed her hands on my shoulders. She was a beautiful woman, and you would never have guessed that she was as old as she was. I could tell that Madeiran life had treated her well.

“I am sorry, Abigail. You will have to forgive me. I get rather excited, especially meeting my beautiful daughter-in-law. It’s just a shame…”

“Mum, you promised.”

“Sei, sei, Mateus. I know. Please call me Maria, Abigail. Come in. I will introduce you to everyone else.”

I followed Maria into the house, my nerves slightly eased by her welcome. Mateus had warned me what she could be like, but I wasn’t expecting her to be quite so welcoming. I walked into the kitchen behind Maria to find a woman around my age, who I assumed to be Sofia, and an older gentleman, who must have been their dad.

“Eduardo, Sofia, please meet Abigail.”

Eduardo got up from his seat and came over to kiss me on both cheeks. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Abigail. Mateus has told us a lot about you.”

Sofia came and gave me a hug too. “It’s wonderful to finally meet you, Abigail. Please sit down and take the weight off your feet. I know how tiring it is at this time of the pregnancy.”

I sat down at the table next to Sofia.

“Would you like something to drink?” Maria asked.

“Just some hot water please, Maria. I brought some ginger tea with me. It’s about the only hot drink I can have without feeling sick.”

Maria passed me a mug of hot water and sat down with the rest of her family. I was starting to know how Kye had felt when he went to meet my sister and Lucas. Even though I had received a warm welcome, I could feel the butterflies churning around in my stomach and my heartrate starting to increase. The longer the silence continued, the more I thought this was a bad idea, that perhaps I shouldn’t have come. After what seemed like an eternity, I felt a hand come over mine and give it a squeeze. As I looked over, I saw Sofia smiling at me.

“Abigail, please don’t be worried. If I’m honest, when Mateus told me that Ricardo had fallen in love with the world-famous model Lila Goddard and that you were coming to meet us…well, let’s just say I have been sick with nerves a couple of times this morning, and that is after I have spoken to you. We all understand how difficult it is, but we just want to welcome you into our family, with or without Ricardo. After all, you are bringing a grandchild and niece or nephew into our family. That is important to us.”

“Ricardo é um tolo,” Eduardo said.

I looked over at Eduardo and smiled. “He may be a fool, Eduardo. But I can’t help that I love him. Just as he cannot help the demons he is fighting. I just hope he realises he needs help before it’s too late. Whatever it is, and I am certain it is more than what happened between him and Sofia, has taken him to a very dark place. He told me I was his light, but I wasn’t enough to save him. I just hope what I have here is enough to pull him from the darkness.”

I placed my hand on my stomach and gently rubbed it, knowing that I had two lives growing inside me. It brought me comfort that even if I never got back with him, I would always have a part of him in my life.

“This is meant to be a happy meeting,” Maria said. “Let’s not get dragged down into unhappy thoughts. Tell us how you are getting on, Abigail. How is baby doing?”

I smiled at Maria. The perfect mother. Knowing when a subject was too raw to speak about. I wondered how she would feel in a few moments when I broke the news.

“Doing absolutely fine, Maria. I have a scan photo if you would like to see it?”

Seeing her face light up made me realise that this was exactly the right thing for me to have done. To come here and meet all of Kye’s family and involve them in my life. I reached down into my bag and pulled out one of the copies of the scan photo. I had paid for extra copies so they could all keep one. I even had one for Kye, just in case anyone spoke to him. I passed it over to Maria and watched to see the realisation come over her face.

“Gémeos? Há dois bebés, Eduardo.”

I made sure I learned the Portuguese word for twins.

“Yes, Maria. I am expecting twins. That was probably the reason why I suffered so badly from morning sickness so early on. I haven’t found out what we are having yet, and I do not want to. I want it to be a surprise.”

The excitement around me was wonderful to see. Everyone congratulated me on the fact that I was bringing not one, but two miracles into their family. As the excitement was going around the room, I noticed two figures walking into the kitchen. One woman and a child, who I assumed to be Aliciana and Joaquim. Almost immediately, they were pulled into the enthusiasm of the family as they were brought up to speed with everything.

The afternoon proceeded from there. Me explaining how I became a model, which I noticed Aliciana took great interest in. She was insanely beautiful and would do well in the industry. I made a note to speak to her privately at some point during this break to see if that would be something she would want to explore. I spent time getting to know Joaquim and all that he was interested in. Which, of course, mainly meant following in Cristiano Ronaldo’s footsteps and becoming a famous footballer. The day had been a momentous success, and by the end of the day, I was shattered. As I sat in Mateus’s car, heading back to my hotel – after many arguments from Maria that I should be staying with them, I might add – I was just about ready to collapse.

“Thank you for today, Abigail,” Mateus told me. “It meant a lot to my mum and dad to meet you. You could have warned me about the twins, though. That came as a bit of a shock.”

I laughed. I had done that on purpose. I wanted him to be just as surprised when I told the family.

“I’m sorry, Mateus. I know that was slightly mean of me. But I have been living with that shock for the past month. I wanted someone else to feel the way I had. But thank you. You have made me feel welcome and part of your family, even though me and Kye…”

I had to pause for a second as the pain of knowing that Kye hadn’t been there today and to see how excited his family was came over me. It would have been so wonderful if I could have brought them back together. I felt Mateus’ hand squeeze mine.

“Don’t give up yet, Abigail. If anyone can save him, it’s you. You did it once, and I am sure you can do it again.”

As we drove along the coastal roads, I sat there wishing I had Mateus’s confidence. I wasn’t so sure that Kye could be saved. And if he could, did he want to be?

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