Love or Money? (13 page)

“
Well, that’s I want to ask you and part of the reason for celebrating” Bill said eagerly. “Obviously, I want you to come with me.”  He looked at her expectantly.

Glenda shifted in her seat, not quite following the drift of the conversation.
What exactly was he trying to say?

“I don’t understand?”
she began, as Bill laughed at her confused expression. 

“
You dozy mare. I’m asking you to move with me to Cambridgeshire. It’s not forever, just whilst I get this new office set up; then of course we can come back to London and, depending on what you’d prefer, we can talk about living together in either of our flats or buying something totally new.”

Glenda gasped. Bill wanted her to go to with him?! By the sounds of it he had alre
ady formulated their short term plans for the future.

“
Bill, are you sure? I mean, of course I’d love to consider accompanying you, but it’s a big decision moving in together.” Her nerves returned, this time for entirely unexpected reasons.

“
Don’t be daft. You’re the best thing that’s happened in my life lately and I wouldn’t even be considering the work contract if I knew it wouldn’t be right for you too.” He looked her squarely in the eyes. “But I know it will be right for you. It’s time you lived life for you, Glenda and made yourself happy. There’s even a famous pottery workshop close to the office.” He smiled and gave her a small wink.

Glenda didn’t know how to react. Her heart was pounding so fast it felt like it was going to burst from her chest. It had been her lifelong dream to pursue her love of pottery
-making.  Ever since Felicity had been small she’d made clay ornaments, but as the years passed and times got harder, she didn’t have the time or finances to continue her hobby. It thrilled her that Bill had thought of her in that respect. 

“
Oh, I don’t know what to say” Glenda said honestly, her hands trembling with nerves.

The waiter approached with the wine and gently filled each of their glasses.

“You do know what to say, but you’re too scared. I bet in that head of yours you are thinking about Felicity and how she’ll react.” 

Glenda shifted her focus onto the road beyond the window. He was right. Felicity didn’t even know Bill existed, let alone that her mother had just been asked to live in Cambridgeshire with him for eighteen months. How could she abandon her daughter, especially at such a crucial time. Felicity needed her, didn’t she?

“Ok. I’ll go.” 

Bill looked at her wide-
eyed in surprise. “Really? You’ll come with me?” 

Glenda giggled nervously. She couldn’t believe she was agreeing to move with him, bu
t he was correct. She was fifty-three years old, if she didn’t grab her chance of happiness now, how many more chances would she get? Felicity was a grown woman with her own life. Besides, Cambridgeshire wasn’t too far on the train. She could be back in London within a few hours.

She picked up
her wine glass and held it up. “Yes, really. I’m coming with you. So let’s toast our move.” Bill picked up his glass and gently clinked it against hers.

 
“To us. And to our future together.” They both took a sip of the silky wine, before breaking into infectious nervous laughter.

It was only then that Glenda realised she hadn’t asked when his contract was effective from. Would there be enough time for Felicity to absorb the news?

Chapter Seventeen

Felicity sat next to Owen on the small bench outside the Queensland Art Gallery, her feet pulsing with heat from the two hours spent walking alongside him around the huge exhibition center.

 
If truth be told she’d never appreciated fine art, or any art for that matter; her knowledge was limited solely to renowned paintings that were universally known. However, the experience had proved invaluable; she’d been especially drawn to the Indigenous Australian art collection for the use of natural earthly colours and symbology. Owen had proved to be a fountain of knowledge when it came to understanding the basics of Indigenous heritage and culture. All things considered, it had been a truly beautiful and unexpected surprise. By no means was she disappointed that it wasn’t the wine tasting day trip she’d hoped for. 

“
So now you’re a master of knowledge on Aboriginal customs, why don’t you come to Cairns too? There’s a large Aboriginal cultural park there that you’d enjoy.”

Felicity put down the plastic fork she was using to eat her fruit salad and stared at Owen, bemused.

“So whilst you help out at the rainforest butterfly sanctuary, I spend my days visiting the cultural park and familiarising myself with the didgeridoo. Is that what you’re suggesting?” she teased.

Owen laughed and stabbed his f
ork into a mammoth strawberry. “Stop being a smartarse.” He directed his fork towards Felicity’s mouth.  “This will shut you up.”

Felicity laughed and shrieked as he held her head and tried to force feed her the strawberry. Finally succumbin
g, she took a bite and smiled. “Stop being horrid. You’re supposed to be my friend!”

Her smile
faded as she looked into Owen’s eyes. She couldn’t be certain but she felt that there were definite feelings of more than friendship on both sides but neither had taken the initiative to make those feelings known. It had been over a week since their dinner and she’d spent every available moment with him. Yet not once had he tried to kiss her. It was confusing. Despite her intuition telling her one thing, his actions were saying something completely different.

Owen caught her expression and returned to eating his fruit salad. She sat next to him in awkward silence.

“Did you renew your room at Darlene’s yet?” he asked, breaking the uncomfortable moment.

“
No. After our chat the other day, I realised you’re right. Brisbane doesn’t hold anything for me but it’s not time to go home yet. I told Darlene I’d be leaving in a few days.”

“
I’m serious, you know. Come to Cairns. You will love it. There’s so much to see and do there.” He popped a piece of Kiwi fruit into his mouth, a small trickle of juice running down his chin.

Without thinking, Felicity leaned across and wiped it away with her finger. She considered his words about Cairns carefully. There wasn’t any place more appealing that she could hope to base herself for the final part of her trip, but she didn’t want to put Owen in a compromising situation. Was he simply being nice and inviting her out of kindness? She really wanted to believe that he wanted her with him but she couldn’t be sure.
 

“
I’ve been contemplating going to Melbourne but I don’t know…” She trailed off, letting the words hang between them for a few moments, hoping to gauge his reaction.

He continued eating and shrugged his shoulders.

“You’d probably enjoy Melbourne. It’s more you, I guess.” 

“What do you mean, more me?”
 

Owen tilt
ed the plastic container and poured the remaining juice directly into his mouth. Felicity shook her head disapprovingly. Didn’t he care that he was behaving like an ill-mannered child in public?

Owen grinned. “
That is what I mean by ‘more you’. That look you just gave me, the snotty, stuck up, critical one. Melbourne will suit you perfectly. It’s more cultured, refined, classy. As a city, it has an air of European about it. You probably won’t find people sitting on benches there and drinking the juice of their fruit salad from the carton.” 

Although he tried to sound amusing, she caught a trace of sarcasm in his voice.
 

“
Ouch” she joked in an equally light and sarcastic tone. “Nice to know that’s how you view me. And there I was thinking you were a really lovely, decent guy.”

She crumpled her empty fruit container and snatched his from his hands, excusing herself to go to the nearby bin. Her eyes flittered ever so briefly across his face and she was pleased to see she’d hit a nerve. He looked taken aback.

Furious with herself for thinking that their friendship could possibly be more, she walked across to the bin and deposited the cartons inside. Taking a moment to calm herself, she turned and strolled back to the bench where Owen was now sitting with his sleeves rolled up and arms outstretched across the back ledge.

“
I thought you’d gone off in a strop” he said with a grin, refusing to move his arms as she sat her back down next to him.

“Of course not.”

“
So does that mean you’ll be coming to Cairns with me or not?  Only I’d like to know either way so I can finalise accommodation.” He looked sideways at her, his expression serious.

Her stomach did a flip. He wanted her with him. Accommodation? Did that mean he was inviting her to stay with him? She suppressed a nervous giggle.

“Ok, I’ll come to Cairns. Where do you suggest I stay?” she asked pointedly, feeling daring now that the subject had been raised.

Owen smirked and she knew full well that he’d immediately cottoned on to her intentions.
  She felt her face burn with embarrassment. He had a way of making her feel vulnerable and exposed. It wasn’t a welcome feeling. She was used to being the one in control with most of the men that she came across.

“
Well, I have found a small one bedroom apartment for myself. It’s pretty basic but suits me. You’re welcome to the sofa until you find something. If you want to stay longer term, I’m sure we can come to some arrangement.”

Felicity squirmed, noting Owen’s satisfied expression. She knew he was enjoying her agonizing dilemma. Tempted to refuse his offer outright, she forcibly stopped herself. Although he wasn’t opening up to her with his true intentions, he had ever so gently steered the conversation to her accompanying him to Cairns more than once. He wouldn’t have done that if he didn’t want her with him, would he? She would be cutting off her own nose to spite her face by refusing him. Ultimately, he was part of the reason she was looking forward to staying in Australia.

“Fine” she replied, casually picking at a non-existent crumb on her shorts. “I’ll take you up on that. Just until I find something suitable of my own.”

Owen
smiled and raised his eyebrow. “Looks like that is settled then. We had better get your flight ticket booked to coincide with mine. I’m assuming you’ll need someone to help you with your bags.” 

Felicity grinned and hit him playful
ly on the head with her purse. “Of course. You can be my Sherpa.” 

Both laughing, they stood up. Felicity tried not to act surprised when Owen slipped his hand into hers. Instead, she carried on acting natural and suppressed the strong urge to lean in and kiss him. It seemed her intuition hadn’t been wrong after all.

The sonographer generously applied gel to Zara’s bump and moved the monitor closer to the bed. Steve squeezed Zara’s hand tightly as she tried to calm her nerves. She’d been through enough ultrasounds to know what to expect, but she couldn’t help feeling anxious. Her baby’s wellbeing was her priority.

“Ok, so let’s see how the baby is doing today.” The sonographer gently placed the probe against the lower part of Zara’s abdomen and the screen was filled with a distinguishable image of a baby. 

“Here we can see the head”
he said pointing to the screen. “And the arms and legs can clearly be made out here.” He gestured to the baby’s limbs moving slowly on the screen.

Moving the probe around, the sonographer flicked a switch on the keyboard and the sound of a loud heart beating immediately filled the room.

“As you can hear, a good healthy heartbeat.” He flicked the switch off again and continued with his assessment. After a few more explanations he concluded the examination. “The baby looks a good size and all appears to be as it should.”

“
Can we find out the sex today?” Zara asked eagerly, avoiding Steve’s glare.

“
Zara, I thought we agreed at the previous scan not to find out?” 

Ignoring him, Zara kept her focus on the sonographer who looked a little uncomfor
table given the circumstances. “It does say on your notes here that you didn’t want to know the sex of the baby, which is why I didn’t reference it. However the sex is evident from the scan, if you would like to know.”

“
No, we wouldn’t.” 

“
Yes, we would” Zara cut in sharply, silencing her husband. Steve shook his head in disgust and excusing himself, left the room, slamming the door behind him. Zara tried not to let it affect her.

“
Please just tell me what I’m having?” 

The sonographer smiled kindly. Undoubtedly he often found himself in the exact
same situation with other parents-to-be. 

“
It’s a boy.” 

Getting herself off the bed and re-arranging her top, Zara dreaded facing her husband. She hadn’t planned on finding out the sex of the baby but given the circumstances, she felt it necessary.
  She looked down at the profile picture the sonographer had printed her and felt her heart swell. A little boy.

Steve was waiting in the hospital corridor and she could see the fury etched across his face before he’d even noticed her. Bracing herself for yet another argument she put her hand protectively against her bump.

He spotted her and walked off ahead. She felt relieved. It was unusual for him to be confrontational and if he’d chosen to walk ahead, it meant he was taking yet another stand of silence against her.  She waddled along slowly, purposely giving him time to cool down.

She had felt better since her discussion with Glenda the previous week. It had helped to get her fears and worries off her chest. Hearing Glenda’s reasoning had made her wonder if her suspicions had been unfounded. She’d decided to give her marriage and Steve the benefit of
the doubt. The ‘Catherine’ mystery had been locked safely away in the back of her mind. It wasn’t something she had the energy or strength to deal with, at least until after the baby was born if the situation hadn’t changed.

 
Coincidentally, Steve had returned home from work that same evening with a large bunch of flowers and an apology. After a long and honest discussion they had concluded that they were both partly at fault for being negligent of one another’s needs. The way her husband had held her that night had reaffirmed every reason she’d thought of for saving her marriage. He was the only man she’d ever wanted. The only man who knew her inside and out. He wouldn’t let her down again.

That was until she’d found the train ticket in his trouser pocket that morning.
  Trying not to let her imagination run wild again, she took a deep breath and thought instead of her baby boy. She’d always liked the name Christian. Perhaps that would be a good option.

“
I’ll drop you home and then I’m going straight back to work.” Steve said, voice calm but cool. Zara had finally reached the car and he unlocked the doors enabling them to get in. Avoiding looking at him, she got into the front passenger seat.

“
Ok.” 

Putting the car into reverse gear, Zara noted his knuckles whitening as he very tightly gripped the gear stick.

“So are you going to tell me what we are having? Or are you going to continue behaving selfishly.”

Fighting an urge to scre
am at him, Zara kept her cool. “It’s a boy.”

She noticed Ste
ve’s grip loosen on the stick. “A boy.” His voice sounded soft. Emotional even.

“Yes, we’re having a little boy.”

Without speaking, he found her hand in her lap and squeezed it.
“I’m sorry for going off in there at you Zara. It’s just the stress of everything. Let’s go home and tell the girls they’ve got a brother to look forward to.”

Zara put her other hand over his and squeezed tightly. She was so tired of the uncertainty and the stress. She just wanted her Steve back. There was most likely a reasonable explanation for the train ticket.
She was just over-reacting. It was to be expected, she was seven months pregnant and her hormones were making her unbalanced and emotional. But she had to get a grip. 

She needn’t have worried about finding out the sex of the baby because she wasn’t going to be a single mother. It wasn’t imperative that she pre-bought the correct gender baby bit
s because she had a husband who would help provide for her financially. She needed to believe in her marriage. She needed to start trusting Steve again.