Chapter 15 Rosie #2
“Let’s go together—” Rosie held out her hand. “I’ll introduce you to my twin. She’s not at all scary and also she would never ask if you were pregnant. So there’s that.”
Hayley laughed and stood up.
On impulse, Rosie took her hand and gave it a squeeze.
“I’m so pleased you’ve joined our family. I’m happy for you and Jamie.”
At least someone’s relationship was working out , she thought as she and Hayley headed outside.
Rosie saw Becky laughing with Will as they unloaded luggage and parcels from the car.
Jamie was saying something to both of them and then Becky glanced up and saw Rosie.
Without hesitating, Rosie sprinted across to wrap her in a big hug.
“I missed you.”
“Yeah—missed you too—” Becky hugged her back, but Rosie sensed a certain reserve that wasn’t normally there.
Maybe it was because she was in a sensitive mood. Or maybe it was because they were all gathered outside in the freezing cold.
“You had an interesting journey.” She let go of her sister and gave Will a hug. “Good to see you.”
“You too. You and Declan did better than we did with all that snow.”
“We were ahead of you. We missed the accident.”
Rosie introduced her to Hayley, and while they were talking she tugged her brother to one side.
“You know something, Jamie? If you want to be in her corner then you need to be there in her corner—it’s easy to say and not so easy to do! She needs to feel as if you’ve got her back.”
He hauled another bag out of the car. “What are you talking about?”
“Hayley.” She spoke in a whisper. “You keep abandoning her.”
“Abandoning?”
“Yes! Like now. You shot out to see Becky and Will without giving a second thought as to whether meeting yet another person might be stressful for her. She didn’t know whether she was supposed to follow you or hang back.”
He looked stunned. “I was going to welcome them. I intended to introduce them to Hayley, obviously.”
“But this is awkward for her. Difficult. All these new people. Even you have to see that, surely.”
He raised an eyebrow. “ Even me? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well, you’re sometimes a bit clueless. But fortunately, you have me.” She patted her brother’s arm. “You’re welcome.”
“I—”
Rosie scooped up a piece of luggage and headed back to the house without giving Jamie time to think of a suitable brotherly retort. Her own relationship might be under pressure, but at least she could help Hayley and Jamie.
Soon everyone was back inside, along with Becky’s luggage.
Her father and grandfather had emerged from the study, and everyone seemed to be talking at once.
Rosie felt a moment of satisfaction as she saw Jamie put his arm round Hayley and introduce her to Becky.
“Hey there.” Becky was about to shake hands but Hayley stepped forward and hugged her.
Rosie grinned. Obviously, their family had already had an impact on Hayley.
“Good to meet you.” Becky smiled awkwardly. “And this is Will, er—family friend.”
Their mother hugged Will. “It’s good to see you. Thank you for driving Becky.”
“Hey, I drove us half the way.” Becky bent to make a fuss of Percy. “I’m in love with Will’s car. It’s the same one that Finn bought, Declan. Remember?”
Declan smiled. “Yes. As I recall, he was too afraid to drive it so it spent most of his life in the garage.”
“And someone bumped into it when they were parking.” Becky winced at the memory. “Remember when he came into work with red eyes and you thought someone in the family must have died?”
“Yes.” Declan was laughing too. “We couldn’t stand his misery, so we all clubbed together to get the paintwork fixed.”
“And he chose a bright yellow, so that everyone would see the car.”
“It looked like a psychedelic banana.”
They were both laughing so hard they could hardly stand up.
Watching them, Rosie was again reminded of how much history they shared. Far more than she and Declan shared.
Jamie clearly noticed too. “I forget that you and Declan know each other really well, Becks.”
“Yeah.” Becky made a fuss of Percy. “We worked together for five years. I was the one who introduced him to Rosie, remember? I was his work wife.”
Work wife.
Rosie looked at her sister, her attention caught by her tone and facial expression. And suddenly she knew. It all fell into place.
It wasn’t only Declan she needed to worry about. It was Becky.
Becky had feelings for Declan. Strong feelings.
The ground shifted beneath her feet and she reached out to grab the back of the nearest chair for support.
Her sister hadn’t stayed away from them because she wanted to give them space—she’d stayed away because she found it difficult being around them.
Why hadn’t it occurred to her before? This was what Becky did. When she found something difficult, she avoided it. As a child she would hide behind the sofa rather than talk about what was bothering her. She shut everyone out, including Rosie.
The last few months had been the equivalent of Becky hiding behind the sofa. Not because she was giving her sister space, but because she was hurt.
Rosie had fallen crazily in love with Declan and she hadn’t even paused to wonder if her sister might have feelings for him too. To be fair, she’d been given no reason to suspect it.
But in the end it didn’t matter that it hadn’t been intentional. It had happened. She’d married the man Becky was in love with.
This was why Becky had changed jobs. Not because she wanted more money or a bigger challenge. But to put distance between herself and Declan. It was the reason she’d refused to share their apartment and had instead chosen to live with a stranger.
“You’re in love with him.” The words spilled out of her with no filter.
The room fell silent. Her grandmother’s teacup rattled as she turned to put it on the table.
Jamie stopped stroking Percy.
Her father frowned.
Her mother cleared her throat. “Rosie, dear—”
Becky was staring at her, her expression pinched and shocked. “What did you say?”
“You’re in love with Declan.” She knew instinctively that it was true, and her heart ached. What a mess. What a total mess. “You’ve been in love with him this whole time. It didn’t occur to me before now, but it should have done. I should have recognised the signs.”
“What signs?” Becky’s hands were clenched into fists by her side. “What are you talking about?”
“You’ve been avoiding me. Us.” It might as well have been just the two of them. All her focus was on her sister.
And her sister looked panicked.
“Yeah, because you two were slobbering all over each other.”
“And that must have been difficult for you.” Rosie swallowed.
She felt terrible. She shouldn’t have blurted it out, but it was too late to change that so she carried on.
“Why didn’t you tell me? And why didn’t I see it?
That night you introduced us—I thought then how comfortable you were with him, how you chatted and laughed and didn’t squirm or look at the door or want to be somewhere else. ”
“Of course I was comfortable with him. We were work colleagues forever.” Becky turned to look at Declan, her expression fierce. “Say something.”
He’d been frozen to the spot but now he stepped forward. “Rosie—”
She ignored him, her gaze still fixed on her sister.
“You talked about him as a colleague, but you never said you had deeper feelings—Becky, why ?” What had she done?
What had she done to her sister? “I didn’t see it.
And then you were weird at the wedding, and I knew something was wrong but I couldn’t work out what—how could I not have known? ”
Becky glanced at the door, as if she was judging the distance. “I was not weird at the wedding.”
“You rushed out of the room and spent an hour in the toilet.”
“I ate shellfish.”
“We all ate shellfish.”
“You didn’t all eat the shellfish I ate. One bad prawn is all it takes. I was unlucky. And you are wrong.” Becky’s voice was shaking. “You couldn’t be more wrong.”
“Becky—”
“Stop! We weren’t going to do this now but I see we have no choice.
We were going to keep it a secret,” she stumbled slightly, “because of Jamie and Hayley and this being their special moment, and because of Christmas and everything else that is going on, but given what you’re saying, and what you’re thinking, which by the way is totally wrong, you need to know that—well—” she sucked in a shaky breath “—I’m in love with Will. ”
Rosie heard their mother gasp.
“ Will? You mean—our Will?”
Thrown by that totally unexpected announcement, Rosie dragged her gaze from her sister to Will.
He was looking directly at Becky and his expression gave nothing away.
How did people do that? she wondered. How did people manage to keep their feelings inside?
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t manage it.
Their mother put her hand to her chest, her eyes shiny.
“Oh Becky! Will!” There was surprise and delight in her voice. “Is this true?”
“Of course it isn’t true.” Rosie wasn’t buying it. She knew her sister. She knew her. “Will? Seriously? You expect us to believe you’re in love with Will?”
“Yes.” Becky stepped closer to Will and slid her hand into his. “And he’s in love with me. Why do you think we spent last night at a hotel?”
Jamie cleared his throat. “Er—because it was snowing and there was a ten-car pileup and you always get impatient if you’re forced to sit still in traffic for more than three minutes?”
“That was just the excuse we used, but what we really wanted was a romantic night together before having to be apart for Christmas. We had this gorgeous room right up in the eaves of the hotel over snowy fields. We woke to the sound of church bells.”
Rosie heard her dad mutter there seem to be a lot of those ringing around here at the moment and her grandmother say surely one of them is going to be pregnant soon , and then her mother hurried forward and hugged Becky and then Will.
“Audrey was hoping you’d end up in one room. I don’t believe this!”
Rosie didn’t believe it either. Will? It didn’t make sense to her. Will was gorgeous of course, but he and Becky had been friends forever. If something was going to happen, it would have happened long ago.
“The one thing you’ll learn about being part of a family,” Jamie muttered to Hayley, “is that there is no end to the drama.”
Will finally reacted. “You talked to my mother?”
“We were exchanging messages because we were worried about the two of you being snowbound. You told her you had separate rooms, Will. You were obviously being discreet, which was very thoughtful of you. It’s selfless of you both to keep your happy news to yourselves, but I’m sure Jamie and Hayley won’t mind sharing the attention, will you? ”
Jamie shook his head and then stepped forward and gave Will a brotherly hug.
“Took you long enough.” He gave Will a slap on the back. “You’re a brave man, taking on my sister. But at least she’ll be able to solve all your tech issues.”
Rosie’s head was spinning. This didn’t feel right. Why was everyone just accepting this?
“Wait!” She blurted the word out and everyone looked at her. “Will? You haven’t said anything at all.” She saw Becky glance up at him.
She’s nervous , Rosie thought, her suspicions solidifying. She’s afraid he’s going to say the wrong thing.
The two of them shared a long look, loaded with unspoken communication.
And then Will curved his arm around Becky and pulled her close. There was something unmistakably protective about the gesture, and Rosie felt the first flickers of doubt.
She wouldn’t put it past Becky to lie if it meant disguising her emotions, but Will? Will wouldn’t do that. And there was something in his eyes when he looked at her sister that made her breath catch. Will had feelings for Becky. Strong feelings. You couldn’t fake that.
Maybe they were together. She really wanted to believe it. Not that it changed the fact that Declan seemed to be regretting marrying her, but at least she wouldn’t have her sister’s broken heart on her conscience.
“As Becky said, we didn’t intend to go public with our news yet. It didn’t feel like the right time.” Will’s voice was steady, his arm firm around Becky’s shoulders. “But maybe it is the right time.” He smiled down at her and something in that smile killed the last of Rosie’s doubts.
He loved her, she could see it. He really did love her. Warmth flooded through her, followed by relief and also hurt.
Why hadn’t her sister told her? True, Becky kept her feelings to herself, but there was no way she wouldn’t have shared something this big with Rosie when they’d been living together. Before Declan. Before marriage had changed everything.
For the whole of their lives she’d known what Becky was thinking before anyone else did, and now she was standing here feeling the same surprise and shock as everyone else.
Becky still looked a little unsettled but that wasn’t surprising. Rosie knew her sister would hate all this attention. That was probably another reason that she hadn’t announced it sooner.
“Oh this is wonderful!” Their mother couldn’t contain herself a moment longer. “We couldn’t be happier, isn’t that right, Martin? This is going to be the perfect Christmas.”
Rosie didn’t share her mother’s optimism.
She’d obviously been wrong about Becky’s feelings for Declan, but what about Declan’s feelings for Becky?
All it took was a quick glance at Declan to know that her own relationship issues were far from solved.
Her family may have decided to ignore her outburst, but not Declan.
She could feel him looking at her and knew they had a difficult conversation coming. She could see he had questions. And why wouldn’t he? She’d just thrown a hand grenade into her marriage, and it hadn’t been in great shape before that.
She wondered if it was too early to ask for a strong Christmas drink.