Authors: Bella Osborne
A Family Holiday (33 page)
One of the rowing boats started to rock in the water and Ted hitched himself up onto one elbow. ‘Trying to get some sleep here,’ he said, before doing a double take at Blue, who threw up his arms theatrically in relief. ‘What are you doing here?’ asked Ted.
‘Looking for you, you goon,’ said Blue.
‘I’m not coming back,’ said Ted, his voice calm and reasoned. ‘I’m sorry, Charlie. I’ve changed and I can’t let this happen to me. I have to do something.’ He shot Blue an accusatory glance.
‘Ted, I think it’s going to be okay.’ Charlie’s voice was hesitant and she looked at Blue for reassurance.
‘It is. I’ve sold my share of the business to Tigi, Berta has promised to keep him in check and I’m here on a one-way ticket,’ said Blue and Charlie turned to stare at him, her eyebrows high.
After a moment, she turned back to Ted. ‘It’ll be okay,’ said Charlie and this time she was starting to believe it herself.
‘Are you saying all that just to get me out of the boat?’ asked Ted.
‘No, don’t be an arse. There’s a meeting at eleven, isn’t there?’ said Charlie, wiping away a stray tear of relief.
Ted grinned and started to climb out of his boat and across three others, which all rocked precariously until he made it onto the decking. Charlie forgot herself and hugged him tight and he let her. She had suddenly gone from despair to the happiest person on the planet and it was exhausting.
‘You know I hate hide and seek,’ said Charlie, and Ted put his arm around her and gave her a squeeze.
‘Sorry.’
‘Wah gwan,’ said Blue as he fist-bumped Ted and they embraced each other, which was followed by the now-traditional backslapping.
Ted looked quizzical as he eyed Blue. ‘When you got on a flight I would have still been at home. So what made you leave Antigua?’ he asked. Both he and Charlie had their eyes fixed on Blue.
‘Because I want to be your guardian,’ he said, pointing at Ted.
‘Just like that?’
‘Yep… well, with the proviso that all family holidays are spent in Antigua,’ said Blue, giving Ted another friendly slap on the back. ‘Come on, let’s get back for this meeting. I can’t wait to see Ruth again!’
Charlie telephoned ahead to update Fleur, who sounded thrilled to be able to relay the information to the others, who had already arrived – especially Ruth.
They turned the corner into their road with moments to spare.
‘You go ahead,’ said Charlie to Ted, ‘we’ll be there in a minute. He smiled back his reply and strode off with his head held high.
‘I want to be sure I’ve got this right,’ said Charlie, the breeziness in her voice disappearing in an instant, ‘you are giving up everything to be their guardian?’
‘No, I’m being totally selfish – so I can be with the people I love.’
‘Love,’ repeated Charlie, looking stunned.
‘Turns out I had a vacancy here,’ he thumped his chest, ‘and now you, all of you, have barrelled into my life and occupied it and you are bloody impossible to evict.’ He gave her his best cheeky grin.
Charlie’s forehead was creased and she was looking stern. ‘Let’s say you go ahead with this. You can’t run away at the first sign of trouble. I don’t give a stuff about me, but you can’t screw up the children; they deserve better!’ Charlie’s breathing was coming in gasps and she was fighting hard to keep calm.
‘Charlie, you’re talking as if it’s going to happen and it’s not. Trust me.’
There was an excruciatingly long pause, in which Charlie’s eyes darted about Blue’s face. ‘I’ll try. But if you do anything to hurt those children I swear I will hunt you down and beat you to a pulp. And you know I mean it.’
He held her shoulders and looked her square in the eyes. ‘Charlie, calm down. I promise you, I’m going nowhere.’
‘So, are you moving to London?’
‘Yes, I’m moving in here,’ he said, pointing at the house.
‘Oh, you think so?’ said Charlie, her breathing starting to return to normal.
‘Yes, because I am never letting you out of my sight again. Assuming that you still fancy me, that is.’
The first real smile appeared on Charlie’s face.
‘As it turns out I quite fancy you fully clothed. Obviously I’m a woman of integrity and it’s what’s inside that’s most important… but that shirt definitely helps.’
He lifted her up and spun her around before letting her slide back into his arms and they connected with a soft kiss. Their lips moulded together and they kissed a slow, passionate kiss, lost for a moment.
They were disturbed by a large round of applause and unseemly whistling, which came from the now-assembled family on the steps of the house, accompanied by barking from Wriggly.
‘Charlie kissed the pirate!’ yelled Millie, as her hands covered her face in glee.
Eighteen months later
Charlie shivered. The windowless room made her more than uneasy and she took in a deep breath to try to steady herself. Another shiver made her jolt nervously. The courtroom was a little cool due to the air conditioning, but that wasn’t what was making her tremble. Charlie closed her eyes for a moment and tried to gather her thoughts, but there was nothing but blankness edged with blind panic. She rested her hands in her lap and studied her new black skirt. It wasn’t the sort of thing she usually bought, but it seemed appropriate.
The far end of the courtroom was all wood-panelled with an oversized version of the Queen’s coat of arms in the centre. Charlie stared at it and tried hard to focus. This was serious and she needed to stay calm. The door to the right of the coat of arms opened and the judge emerged. He was in full robes and wig and Charlie felt herself break out in a sweat despite the air conditioning, which was humming loudly above her. A court assistant, wearing a black suit, followed him out. She nodded at Charlie and started to talk to the judge and shuffle papers in front of him.
Charlie felt sick and her palms were ridiculously sweaty. She wiped them down her black skirt and rested them on her thighs, both of which were jiggling nervously up and down. At almost the same time a large hand engulfed hers on her left side and a small, equally sweaty, hand entwined itself with her right. Charlie breathed out slowly and looked to her right.
‘You okay, sweetie?’ asked Charlie.
‘I’m not laughing at the silly wig,’ stated Millie loudly, her face deadly serious. Charlie glanced at the judge, who was smiling but pretending not to notice. Charlie looked to her left. Blue squeezed her hand.
‘You’re doing really well, you haven’t run out yet,’ he said, his eyes full of love.
‘Doesn’t mean I don’t want to.’ The thought of having to go to court had had Charlie in a panic for the last few weeks.
‘Is this going to take long? I don’t want to be late picking up Esther,’ came Ted’s voice.
‘Ted, mate, we have loads of time. She doesn’t land for another three hours,’ said Blue to the disembodied head that had appeared from the other side of Millie.
The judge cleared his throat.
‘SHHHH!’ said Millie loudly.
‘Thank you, young lady,’ said the judge.
‘You’re welcome,’ said Millie, with a confident nod.
‘My name is Judge Lombardi…’
‘That’s a mafia name,’ whispered George to Eleanor and she giggled.
‘… and I am here today to conduct the adoption hearing for,’ he consulted his papers, ‘Edward, George, Eleanor and Amelia Cobley. Is that correct?’
‘Yes, it is,’ said Millie, before anyone else had a chance.
‘Well, young lady, would you like to introduce everyone?’
Millie nodded. She let go of Charlie’s hand and went to the end of the row.
‘This is Granddad Roger,’ she said, pointing to the old man in a wheelchair with a tartan rug neatly wrapped around his legs and then looked at the judge, who nodded, and she moved on to the next seat. ‘Auntie Ruth,’ who smiled briefly and glanced at her watch. ‘Camille,’ who exchanged smiles with the courtroom assistant, ‘Jonathan, Fleur and her mummy and daddy,’ said Millie. Mrs Van Benton gave a little wave and her husband rolled his eyes.
‘…and George, Eleanor and Ted.’ She reached her own seat and picked up two photographs, ‘This is our first mummy and daddy, they couldn’t come because they died,’ said Millie, holding the photo at arms-length towards the judge, who very helpfully nodded, although it was doubtful that he could see from that distance. Millie showed him the other photograph. ‘This is Wriggly, he wanted to come but he wasn’t allowed because he does wee-wees when he gets too excited.’ She put down the photos and continued to the last two people. ‘And this is Mummy Charlie and Daddy Blue.’
THE END
Let’s start the Thank yous off with my terrific technical experts: thank you to Louise and Diana for checking my Social Services interactions. Thank you to Christine Thorley for airline procedures and to Carol Lewington for Private Schools policies.
Special Antigua thank yous: Thank you to Henson Martin, our fabulous tour guide, for his extensive knowledge of Antigua and taking us on an unforgettable island tour and putting up with all my questions and constant scribbling in the back! Thanks too to the wonderfully friendly people of Antigua for their hospitality.
Thank you to my early beta readers: Beryl Taylor, Pat Mahon, Louise Reid, Zoe Baldwin, Karen Key, Charlotte Bennett, Bev Ball, Polly Fishwick, Lesley Elder (excellent life coach type person – look her up), Mick Arnold and Julie Smith. Special thanks to my amazing grammar guru Chris Goodwin.
Special thanks to Laura Parish and all at Novel Kicks for giving me the opportunity to write a regular column and share my writing journey and other witterings!
Thank you to those that unwittingly supplied a couple of comedy moments that spawned scenes in this novel in particular Cherie Niles, Caroline East and Caroline Russell – it’s all right they’ll never know which ones were yours!
Thank you to my wonderful crew of generally supportive folk that supply cake, wine and laughter in varying quantities depending on my needs: my writing friends from the Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) and in particular the Birmingham Chapter, Gill Vickery and the folks that attend her Writing Fiction class (special mention to the naughty table) and my most excellent friends the members of the boozy book club.
My wonderful editor, and most possibly the nicest person on the planet, Charlotte Ledger has worked her socks off along with the fabulous team at HarperCollins to get this looking like an actual proper book – I am forever in your debt. Thank you to Alex Allden for my beautiful cover.
Thanks to my agent, Kate Nash, who is always on hand to provide guidance and steer me through the wonderful world of publishing. I’m so lucky to have you in my corner.
A massive thank you to my writing fairy godmother, Katie Fforde, for the in-depth discussions, valuable advice and giggles. I am so very grateful.
Thank yous and hugs all round to the amazingly supportive blogging community, the unsung heroes of the book world – you are all amazing!
Much love to my husband, daughter, family and friends who have supplied tea, love and support when the going got tough.
Anyone who is reading this and thinking she’s not mentioned me yet, I’m mentioning you now – thank you!
Lastly thank YOU for buying and reading my book.
Bella has been jotting down stories as far back as she can remember but decided that 2013 would be the year that she finished a full length novel.
In 2016, her debut novel,
It Started At Sunset Cottage
, was shortlisted for the RNA’s Contemporary Romantic Novel of the Year and the Joan Hessayon New Writers’ Award.
Bella’s stories are about friendship, love and coping with what life throws at you. She likes to find the humour in the darker moments of life and weaves these into her stories. Bella believes that writing your own story really is the best fun ever, closely followed by talking, eating chocolate, drinking fizz and planning holidays.
She lives in The Midlands, UK, with her lovely husband and wonderful daughter, who thankfully, both accept her as she is (with mad morning hair and a penchant for skipping).
For more about Bella, visit her website at
www.bellaosborne.com
or follow her on Twitter
@osborne_bella
.