Chapter 41
‘So how would you feel if Daisy and the kids came over for the barn dance?’ Seth looked a bit sheepish, as if he didn’t know how I would respond.
‘Before you say no, let me speak on their behalf. I know you’ve only met Ava and Mia over a screen but they are absolutely dying to meet you properly.
And I know you only met Daisy a couple of times before we moved to Canada, but she’d really love to get to know you better too.
We can try to find a hotel, because I can’t imagine you’d want us all stopping with you, but I just wanted to sound you out.
The girls have broken up from school now for the holidays and as you know, Daisy doesn’t work. ’
‘But how can you take this amount of time off work?’
His face dropped.
‘It doesn’t matter, Chelle. It was just an idea. A crap one, obviously.’
I couldn’t stop my face bursting into a huge smile.
‘Seth. It’s one of the best ideas I’ve ever heard. I was only wondering how you could take the time off. Will your company be OK without you? You’ve already been here a week.’
‘There’s something I haven’t told you yet.’
Oh, please, I thought to myself. Not more lies. I must have rolled my eyes as he seemed to pick up on my concern.
‘Don’t worry, it’s not a lie, I think you’ve had enough of those in your life recently. This time it’s just a slight omission. Bear with me though and you’ll hopefully understand why. What I didn’t tell you is that I sold my company.’
‘You did what?’
‘I sold the company. I was spending too much time at work and realised that I was missing out on so much of life. Daisy and I had a chat after someone approached me and asked if they could buy it. I didn’t mention it before because I knew you were going through what you were going through and it didn’t seem right to gloat about what was happening with us. ’
‘Seth, you big eejit. I don’t want you to ever think you can’t tell me something. I hope they paid you enough for your company though. Sometimes these big conglomerates come along and sell you short.’
He held up his phone to me and showed me a photograph of a bank deposit.
My eyes widened.
‘Fuck!’
He grinned broadly.
‘Not too shabby for your little bro, eh?’
‘Let me look at that again. How many zeros are on that? I’ve never actually seen a number that big before.’
Obviously, the company who had bought him out didn’t skimp on their payments. My daft, goofy little brother was clearly a millionaire a good few times over. Again, I flung my arms around him.
‘Seth, I’m the proudest sister in the world. This is honestly amazing.’
He still looked a little nervous. ‘Are you sure?’ he asked quietly. ‘It seems totally inappropriate after everything you’ve gone through.’
‘I’m a million per cent sure. Also, it doesn’t make me feel quite so bad about you giving me Mum and Dad’s money now.’ I grinned.
Seth’s hearty laugh was music to my ears.
‘Well, you can have that and I have more if you need it.’
‘Thank you. I’ll pay you back, every single penny.’
‘We can talk about that another time. I’ll log on later and hopefully you can soon be back in the same position as you were before that Greek bastard scammed you. And you’d better hope that I don’t ever meet him because I’ll kick his ass from here to kingdom come – he won’t know what’s hit him.’
My little brother defending me was one of the nicest moments I’d ever experienced in my life. My only regret right now was that Demetri wasn’t here to see it.
‘So, any hotel recommendations then? I know you said that everywhere was booked up, but there must be somewhere we could stay.’
‘You’ll stay with me of course. There’s the bed settee in the lounge that the kids can sleep on and you and Daisy can have the guest room. I couldn’t think of a more amazing way to get to know each other better.’
‘I can tell you’ve never lived with teenagers, sis.
You’ll soon be changing your mind when you’ve spent a week in their company.
They’ll leave their stuff lying around all over the place, eat you out of house and home and probably just grunt at you rather than talking to you.
It’ll be complete and under pandemonium. ’
‘Honestly, Seth, there is nothing I would enjoy more. I cannot wait and I promise to embrace the chaos. Ring Daisy right now and get those flights booked. The sooner they get here, the more hands we’ll have to help us get ready for the dance.’
‘Ha. Always a bright side. But seriously. You must be 100 per cent sure, Chelle.’
‘I’ve never been surer of anything in my life, kiddo. Never!’
Seth coming over to the UK was exactly the tonic I needed to get me through these recent rollercoaster weeks.
It had been tough and I knew that Jo and Emma – as well as Seamus and Tom – had done their best to keep me occupied.
But having my little brother here really was the best thing that had happened to me for years.
When Seth phoned home there were screams on the call and lots of jumping up and down from the kids.
Daisy was her usual calm self. When I’d first met her, I hadn’t really taken to her, but in hindsight, that was probably because I knew that she was taking Seth away from me.
Now I’d seen for myself how much in love they still were after over twenty years of marriage, I couldn’t wait to spend time with her and get to know her more.
She was such a calming influence on Seth and I could see that they were absolutely perfect for each other.
Ava and Mia were so excited. They’d never been to the UK and were already writing a list of places they wanted to see.
It made me laugh to think they thought that Scotland wasn’t that far from Cornwall.
We ended the call with them promising to email me details of their must-visit places and me agreeing to put a schedule together for an initial four-week stay.
It would be bizarre having a whole family that I didn’t know well living with me in my house, but I was looking forward to it very much. I just wished that Demetri was by my side. But that situation was well and truly ballsed up!