CHAPTER 30
“Yes, it bugs me, but what can I do about it?”
We were in Matt’s Bentley on our way to Hannah’s and Stuart’s for the weekend.
They were having a family get together and there was no way Matt would let me miss it.
Portia had called me no less than five times during the past week to confirm I would be accompanying her youngest son.
Matt was sedately changing lanes while I spoke with Dante on my phone.
“No, I’m not going to cry.” I grumbled.
Dante and I were discussing Sinners and Saints.
The Hippodrome was offering us a three weeks performance slot.
They had been blown away by our performance and the public’s reaction to The Ice Queen and Princess in January.
Not wanting to dwell on the negative reviews of Sinners and Saints, Dante and I had showcased the choreography to their Artistic Director on a whim.
He didn’t love it, but he understood what we were trying to convey with our fusion of techniques.
He didn’t love it, but he still saw its merit.
He didn’t love it, until he suddenly did.
It grew on him like moss and I couldn’t be happier.
And extremely envious.
Dante’s laughter down the line was so loud it could clearly be heard by Matt who looked away from the road for a second and gave me a sympathetic smile.
“Ok,” I confessed bad-temperedly.
“I cried a little yesterday because it’s not fair. Why didn’t they offer us a slot earlier on in the year when I could have performed? I’m bigger than a whale now!”
Matt patted my knee and murmured, “No you’re not, sweetheart.”
I flicked his hand away and continued my mini-rant with Dante.
“And Bri is so happy because she’s in lead. She’s planning on usurping me, D. Her and Lisa. Shannon hasn’t shown her hand as yet but we’ll see. I’m watching them all.”
Dante laughed even louder.
Bastard.
His place was secure on stage, he didn’t have a sticky out tummy and what was now near-constant heartburn.
He didn’t have to watch someone else performing his moves.
It was a terrible thing to think, but during my secret cry in the office yesterday I had wished broken bones on quite a few of my dancers.
Dante’s amusement over my situation meant he was now the main recipient of my bad ju-ju thoughts.
Heck, I told him outright a few seconds later.
“I would hate for you to hurt your knee,” I drawled.
“And by hate, I really mean, when I see you on Monday I’m going to break your knees.”
“Madison.” Matt was quick to reprimand me as he changed gears and increased his speed to keep up with the traffic.
“That’s a horrid thing to say. You should apologize at once.”
I flipped him the bird then grimaced in pain.
The backache had been horrendous since yesterday, I believed my body was rebelling, acting out because it knew I had been screwed out of a chance to perform under the big lights.
At almost 34 weeks I had hit a place that was long past uncomfortable and completely fed up of the annoying constipation, the inability to get a proper night’s rest, the constant urge to pee…
yes, it was bad and I had suffered a little accident one night last week when Matt had again stayed over.
He made me laugh, my bladder decided to not play ball, then hey presto…
a sizeable trickle of pee escaped which left a wet spot on my jeans.
He was never to speak of the incident again under penalty of death.
“I’ll call you later,” came my grumble.
“Remember our Bumble Fairies and Street Kids classes are 30 minutes later tomorrow. Gloria sent out the notification last week.”
Dante got in a speedy goodbye before I ended the call.
“Sometimes I wonder about you,” Matt mused as I slipped my cell back into my bag.
“And what is with your constant grumpiness of late?”
“Uh, why do you get grumpy?” I retorted and wriggled in the seat.
My back was killing me.
Matt chuckled.
“Touché, poppet.”
“Yeah, touché my foot.” I grunted.
Although, if I were completely honest, the thought of anything related to sex now made me feel sick.
All that moving about and sweating, a whole lot of bother for a measly orgasm, no thank you.
If it wasn’t dancing then I wasn’t interested.
I was past the overly-horny stage of my pregnancy.
The only thing capable of making my heart race right now was the prospect of lounging in a tepid bath with some spicy prawns, extra spicy prawns, maybe battered, oh wait, spicy garlic prawns…
chilli prawns with monk fish and asparagus.
Mmm.
“Spicy prawns.” My taste buds were crying out for the dish.
“Chilli prawns with monk fish and asparagus.”
Matt gave me a sidelong glance.
“White or green?”
“White.” I was licking my lips, smacking them together actually.
“That doesn’t sound palatable. The chilli will obliterate the mild taste of the asparagus and the monk-”
“Don’t care,” I interrupted his chatter.
“I want hot prawns with monk fish and white asparagus.”
Matt pursed his lips then commanded his phone to call Hannah.
I softly clapped my hands in eager delight as he relayed my wish.
“That sounds ghastly, Matty.” Hannah’s voice came through the speaker.
“I can hear you, Hannah. I’m right here.” I said.
“Oh, hello dear, we’re so looking forward to seeing you this weekend. I’ve made plans.” Hannah’s recovery was smooth.
“You can tell her when we get there,” Matt grimaced over the prospect of Hannah divulging her plans, perhaps he thought I would make him turn the car around if they didn’t meet my approval.
“Make sure the food isn’t too spicy,”
“Matt,”
“In fact,” he spoke over me.
“No spices at all. Bye. End call.”
I frowned at the side of his head while he studiously ignored me.
Then a wave of exhaustion swamped me and it took too much effort to keep up the scowl.
With my lower back throbbing, I charged Matt with waking me before we arrived at his sister’s and decided to take a little catnap.
He did wake me on arrival and he did kindly help me out of his car, what he didn’t do was save me from six back-to-back hours of his sister and mother monopolizing my time.
Natty and Nicki loved it and were of no help, they loved it because neither their mother nor their grandmother batted an eyelid as they cheerfully imbibed spirits.
They all did while I was stuck with still water and serious alcohol envy.
It was good whiskey, the fumes were heavenly while I rubbed my tummy and visualized a future time when I could once again down a pint.
Grumps had made an attempt to extricate me from their female clutches, for his own purposes, mind you; but I did appreciate the attempt.
Matt hadn’t even tried, he was busy shooting the breeze with his dad, brother and brother-in-law.
After lunch he had made Hannah promise to take care of me then shooed me away, laughing along with Adam as Stuart commented on the barely there sway/waddle I had when moving from one place to the other.
They all found that hilarious until Portia made a waspish retort that I wasn’t there for anyone’s amusement and if Stuart didn’t apologize she would personally deal with him.
He made the dutiful apology, kissed Portia’s cheek in penance and promptly directed her anger towards her sons for laughing at his teasing words.
I continued to harbour ill feelings towards Adam, and Matt had made me promise to be nice to him this weekend.
His laughter at my allegedly changed gait decreased my promised niceness by a large dollop.
“New gen,” Nicki’s condescending sneer brought me back to present time and she showed Natty something on her phone.
They were in the room I was staying in, keeping me company while we awaited our call to dinner.
Natty scoffed and they exchanged identical smirks as she drawled.
“And they think this sort of behaviour will endear them to our group.”
“What?” I tried to crane my neck over Natty’s shoulder to see.
“What’s a new gen? Is it something cool? I’m losing my edge girls. Just last week some of my students were having a chat and I didn’t understand half the things they were talking about.”
Nicki stretched her hand out and showed me the Instagram page.
“New gens.”
I took the offered phone and scanned the page.
It featured some rich kids and what they spent their parent’s money on.
Yuck.
Spoilt brats.
“Pathetic isn’t it?” Natty said with a shake of head.
“You can spot a new gen from countries away.”
“Explain what a new gen is. Is it a new party term?” If I sounded desperate it was because I felt desperate.
I was no longer hip, at least I felt that way.
Ok, no one wanted to be that person…
the one acting as if they were still a teenager when they were damned near seventy, but I didn’t want to lose my coolness.
It had steadily been leached from my frame as I got larger.
I wasn’t a rocking black ballerina chick anymore, I was a pregnant lady.
I overheard one of my intermediate students gossiping about the fact I was up the duff.
Liam reminded me it meant ‘knocked up’ when I asked for a definition, there was a reason I had blanked it out of my memory.
Now there were babies inside me, I had crossed some invisible line which meant a portion of my coolness had suddenly been stolen from me.
What the hell was that all about?
I was still me, just slightly larger…
and carrying life…
I was still freaking cool.
“A new gen is someone born into high wealth for the first time in their family’s generational history. Yes they may have all the same trappings and whatnot as we do, but their parents weren’t born into extreme wealth, they had to work for it. You know Uncle Matt’s best friend, Nathan. His wife is a new gen.”
“Wait,” Nicki puckered her mouth into a pensive frown.
“I’m sure her grandfather was related to one of the landed gentry.”
“Barely,” Natty scoffed.
“If that. Her parents were from middle class stock though, so they at least had some semblance of merit.”
“You snob.” I frowned at Natty then transferred the frown to Nicki.
“Both of you are snobs.”
Natty waved a dismissive hand in the air.
“Honestly we’re not, Madi. It’s people like these we can’t stand.” She shoved the phone under my face.
“They have no idea what it means to be wealthy. There are certain responsibilities that people ignore,”
“Because they haven’t got the right background,” Nicki added while giving me an eager sort of innocent look.
I continued to frown at the twins.
“Perhaps,” Natty quipped.
“But even some 2 nd gens are behaving appallingly now.”
I blinked.
Natty was suddenly sounding more and more like her mother, wait, more like her grandmother I should say.
“It’s gauche,” Nicki said.
“Flaunting your wealth like that. Wealth does not make you better than anyone, it affords you an easier life,”
“Gives you opportunities,” Natty explained.
“Being wealthy does not equate with being a tosser and rubbing people’s noses in your riches.” Nicki sounded annoyed.
“Yes, it’s great having it all,”
“But it’s not everything,” Natty said.
“It’s not what’s truly important. Families like ours understand this,”
“Families like yours?” I needed clarification.
“You’re what? 3 rd gen? Did I say it right? That’s the correct context, yes?”
Nicki giggled and took her cell back as she smiled with Natty.
“Madi is so sweet.”
“So cute.” Natty agreed.
“Uh, patronizing,” I pointed out.
“Just because you’re both nineteen now and I’ve got a big belly, don’t think I won’t school you.”
They laughed some more then Natty said very blandly.
“Our generational wealth goes back quite further than three generations on all sides, Madi. You should really get Uncle Matt to show you the family’s history.”
Nicki tentatively touched my tummy.
“They will be taught like we were, don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried.” I practically shouted.
I was very worried now.
I already had concerns about my kids growing up with Affluenza, now the girls were talking about responsibilities and crap.
I didn’t want my kids being gauche!
What if all the other rich kids laughed at them?
I’d be thumping rich kids, yeah, thumping them good.
“Good.” Natty pronounced with a cheeriness I’m sure had something to do with the spirits she’d been drinking with the others earlier.
“Tomorrow is going to be great for you. Mum and Nana always plan the best spa days for us. We’ll do a spot of shopping after the spa, oh, you should get something nice. Nana will be footing the bill. Isn’t it funny how she’s trying to become your new best friend?”
I blinked again.
Wasn’t she just decrying those other kids for spending money or something like that?
I guess it was ok once not done in a gauche manner.
Crazy ass.
“She thinks Madi is going to cut her out from the babies’ and Uncle Matt’s lives,” Nicki divulged.
“I overheard her and Mum chatting. Nana knows Uncle Matt is unwilling to upset you,”
“Ugh, I bloody hope so,” Natty huffed.
“I love Uncle Matt but you must have the heart of a saint, Madi. I would’ve never forgiven him if he had treated me in the same way.”
I blinked really fast now.
“Excuse me? You guys know…what exactly do you know?”
They exchanged their stupid twin look.
Aww, would my babies have a stupid twin look also?
How sweet.
“Well,” Nicki looked embarrassed.
“We may have overheard Uncle Adam and Dad talking about Uncle Matt months ago, but we would never speak of it.”
I narrowed my eyes at the blushing young woman.
“You seem to overhear a lot of things, if you don’t mind my saying.”
Natty shushed me with a fond, “We’re all family, so as long as it’s discussed amongst us it’s fine. It was quite sordid though. That scheming bitch Louisa. I never liked her for Uncle Matt. Do you know what he did to her and her family? It’s delightfully evil-”
“You sound like Portia.” I blurted out.
“Except for the ‘bitch’ thing.”
Natty glared at me before mouthing something unflattering about me.
I rolled my eyes and let it slide.
These girls were all up in my business.
“I’m not talking about it and you girls shouldn’t say anything in front your Uncle-”
“God, no,” Nicki exclaimed.
“Uncle Matt would lose his rag if anyone mentioned her name. If he knew Uncle Adam told Dad, well, it just isn’t worth thinking about. He’s very private, our Uncle Matt, and very proud.”
“Yes,” came my dry mutter.
“I’d have never guessed that. Look, you two busted in here, stinking of booze, which I can’t have, and promised to help me respond to some of these vile comments on this forum. Now I need you to be my keyboard warrior squad and help me take down this idiot poster.” They turned their attention to my forgotten tablet which laid next to me on the bed.
“And let’s not mention this to Matt either,” I warned.
“Jeez, you two would make good spies, always in people’s business.”
The girls grinned.
“It’s nothing to be proud about.” I retorted and their grins widened.
Crazy ass.
“Let’s just get it done before dinner. This dude is going to wish he never called my kids those names. Uneducated, knuckle-dragging moron.”
“Put it in,” Natty’s encouragement earned her one of my smiles.
“If you feel as if you have to do this, you might as well be viciously insulting.”
I loved bonding with Matt’s nieces.
The glow from the bedside alarm clock faded and plunged the room into darkness once more.
It was three am and my mind remained undecided between delicious sleep and fitful awareness.
The air-con in the room meant my face and right shoulder were cold but the rest of my body, which laid under the duvet, was sweltering.
Matt’s body heat was an uncomfortable addition and his arm was in position over my side as he cradled my tummy while he slept.
The lower backache hadn’t subsided and I was starting to hate the frigging bed.
Shimmying away from the press of Matt’s chest against my back, I gently lifted his hand off my tummy.
“Wha -what is it?” Matt’s muffled question came with immediate semi-wakefulness.
He was never such a light sleeper before, or was my memory failing me?
“Nothing, go back to sleep.” I mumbled.
Hannah hadn’t made any assumptions, she had politely given Matt and I separate rooms for the weekend.
Yet he had entered the room sometime after midnight and climbed into the bed with me, not saying a word but kissing me lightly on the lips before arranging his body around mine and promptly falling asleep.
I hadn’t appreciated his warm body then, and I felt even less fond of it now.
The slow strokes of his hand around my tummy only made me more irritable as my sleeping top was now bunched up under my boobs, and he had just brushed my belly button with his fingers.
Damn it.
He knew that freaked me out.
The books said it would go back in after delivery, I bloody hoped so.
“I need to pee,” I murmured and he released me from his much too warm embrace.
Before I managed to get off the bed, Matt had already reached over to nab the room’s control remote for the lights.
Seconds later a dim glow illuminated the room.
“Maybe I should set up a system like this in my house.” I gestured to the sleek remote tablet.
“Mhmm.” Matt yawned then stuck his face back into the pillows.
“Nah, what’s the point? My rooms aren’t this big anyway. The light switches are close enough to get to.”
Matt shrugged and lifted his head.
“Do you need help getting out of bed, poppet?”
I shook my head and finally edged myself off the bed.
“I’m fine.”
Feeling his eyes on me, I headed for the large en-suite.
The pristine white tub called to me.
A nice, long soak would be the best thing for the aches in my back.
Decision made, I relieved my bladder then went about preparing a bath.
Within a minute of me turning on the taps, Matt appeared by the doorway, bare-chested and sexy as hell in those pyjama bottoms.
“A bath?” He cocked one eyebrow at me and rubbed one side of his face.
“At this time in the morning?”
“It’s hot under the duvet and my back hurts.”
Matt sauntered over, concern replacing the tiredness on his features.
“Is there anything I can do? Do you want me to run the bath?”
“No,” I rolled my eyes and smiled at him while sitting on the edge of the tub.
He drew to a stop next to me and placed his hand over my shoulder.
Matt begun gently massaging the tight muscles under his fingertips.
“Should I join you?”
I tilted my head to meet his unflinching stare.
“Is that a good idea?”
He grinned, then yawned, and I smiled some more.
“Go to bed,” I waved him away as the tub filled with water.
“I won’t stay too long.”
He hesitated for a few moments then yawned again.