Chapter 19
19
OWEN
Looking down the lens of the camera on my phone, I’m bursting with giddiness when I say, “I’ve met someone.” An involuntary smile shapes my lips. I can’t help it. I’m so fucking happy because Jade is the only good thing in my life right now. And Poppy.
I hear running footsteps behind Lincoln and right on cue, Violet appears. “You met someone?” she gasps, nudging Lincoln’s side to take a seat next to him.
“It’s only taken you a few weeks to meet someone?” Lincoln announces.
“Not just anyone, Linc. She’s the one.” I sigh blissfully.
“What’s she like?” Violet’s dark eyes light up.
I chuckle at her enthusiasm before I say, “She’s…” I stop, unable to find the right word. “Sensational.” Peace settles in my chest.
Violet repeats my words. “She’s sensational,” she gasps. “And what is the name of this sensational woman?”
“Jade.” I feel as smug as hell.
“Is she vacationing in Cyprus?” Lincoln presses me .
“She’s a member of the Royal Air Force. She works with Gregor.”
“What does she do?” Violet leans forward.
“She’s a pilot,” I say proudly.
“A pilot?” Lincoln’s mouth drops open in shock.
“She’s a world record holder. The first and only woman to have ever flown with the aerobatic team. She’s a fucking knockout and amazing at what she does.”
Lincoln shakes his head in disbelief. “Only you could fall in a dumpster and come out smelling like a perfumery.”
Violet grabs her phone, no doubt to scour the internet and find a picture of Jade.
“She has a daughter called Poppy. She’s amazing too.”
“You bagged a woman and a child. You’re an instant family.” Lincoln fights hard to keep the surprise out of his voice. “You’ve changed, man.”
“I have,” I agree.
Violet flips her phone around to show me something on her screen. “She’s their team leader?” Violet sounds stunned. “Is this her?”
I look at the image on the screen and nod. “Yeah.”
“Holy fucking shit, she is stunning.” Lincoln grabs the phone from Violet. “How the fuck did your ugly ass get her?”
“Fuck if I know.” My smile is goofy.
“Hey, I am right here.” Violet jabs Lincoln in the ribs with her elbow, causing him to let out an oft noise.
“I only have eyes for you, Petal. You know that.” He throws his arm around her shoulder and hugs her in tight to his side. “Plus, you give the best blo?—”
Violet slaps her hand over his mouth to shut him up, his eyes dancing with humor.
The baby monitor makes a few shuffling noises before Poppy chatters away, indicating nap time is over. She never cries when she wakes up; instead, she sings little tunes. Although I think it’s the feeling of her tongue against her gums she likes when she sings leedle, leedle repeatedly.
“Give me a second. I’ll be right back.” I run up the stairs to fetch Poppy to be greeted by her holding on to the side of her crib, jumping up and down excitedly, wearing a big smile.
With sleepy eyes and wild bedhead hair, she’s so adorable I could eat her.
“Hey, Popcorn.” I push my hands under her armpits, lift her out of the bed, and smack a kiss on her cheek. “Did the sandman send you lovely dreams, huh?” I bounce back down the stairs, grab her sippy cup from the refrigerator that I filled up earlier with water, and give it to her.
Poppy grabs the cup by the handles and then snuggles into me. It’s the best feeling.
“Come and meet my friends,” I say to her. “They’re gonna love you.”
As I sit back down in front of the phone, Violet gasps. “Hey, beautiful,” then waves at her.
Poppy sleepily smiles, with the spout of her sippy cup still in her mouth, showing off her two bottom teeth.
I situate Poppy on my lap so we’re both facing the front, wrapping my hands around her chubby thighs to keep her safe.
“She’s adorable, Owen,” Violet coos.
“She is.” I lower my chin to sit on top of Poppy’s head and enjoy her fresh baby smell. That smell is addictive, and I wish I could bottle it so I could wear it every day.
With hearts in her eyes, Violet swoons, her gaze firmly focused on Poppy. “I think I’m ovulating, Lincoln. Can we have one? ”
“Let’s do the marriage thing first, yeah?” He brushes her off. “So, are you babysitting today?” Lincoln asks.
“Yes, and no.” I explain what happened and how I offered to take care of Poppy temporarily. Although, on reflection, I don’t want this to be a temporary thing. I want to look after Poppy permanently. I don’t want Jade to find a nanny, as I wouldn’t trust anyone with her except me.
It’s not something we’ve talked about. I’m pretty certain it’s what she wants too, but I wonder if she thinks that if she asks me, it would be putting my life plans on hold. However, right now, I don’t have any apart from being with her. Me becoming the full-time nanny would be the perfect solution.
I just have to work out a way to broach the subject with her.
Both Lincoln and Violet stare at me in surprise, then Lincoln chuckles. “You’re a manny.”
“That I am.” I’m not ashamed. It’s an epic job and super rewarding. I’ve even taught Poppy how to say bye-bye this week. It’s a crude attempt and sounds more like ba-ba , but she’s almost there. I’m going to teach her how to say my name next; that’s our top priority for this week. Well, that, jungle gym, musical tots, and there’s swimming lessons for infants on base, which I thought we could sign up for.
“What the fu—” Lincoln pauses, amending his cursing in front of Poppy. “I mean, what the heck happened since we spoke to you three weeks ago?” Lincoln sounds astonished.
“I had a meeting with the Greek gods and I met a goddess.” I’m abstract with my reply.
Right on cue, Poppy says, “Mamma.”
“Spot on, Popple.” I give her little leg a squeeze.
“Aphrodite?” Lincoln knows his ancestral gods. His Greek grandmother drummed it into him. “My yaya would have a field day with this. She always said she was the most powerful of all the deities.”
Poppy places her sippy cup haphazardly onto the table, then claps her hands as if she agrees with Lincoln’s yaya.
“I could eat her.” Violet turns to Lincoln and says excitedly, “Let’s have an army of them.”
Lincoln drags his hands down his dark beard. “No way. We’ll leave that to Skye and Jacob, my dad and Eva, and her sisters. That lot can make up for us.” Lincoln looks pale at the thought of having an army of kids running around.
Never finding pregnancy or babies appealing previously, I time travel into the future, an image of Jade pregnant, her swollen tummy full with my baby, coming into view. My desire to make that happen makes me feel like a fucking caveman.
Over the next twenty minutes, Violet and Lincoln share their news about the hotel they run.
I shared my empty bank account update with my two friends, filling them in on my having-seven-figures-lifestyle-to-losing-it-all situation.
Lincoln offered to help me out, pulling his phone out to transfer me some money, which I graciously turned down, informing him that Gregor has loaned me some and I am now living on a tight budget until I find a job. I’ve worked out I have eight weeks to find one.
“We’re looking for a new finance director.” Violet looks excited at the prospect of me joining the team.
“I’m not coming back to Castleview Cove.” I grab Poppy’s soft sensory book full of bright images off the table and hand it to her to play with. “Thank you, though,” I add with a nod of appreciation.
“The offer won’t expire, Owen. Peter isn’t due to retire for another six months, so it’s yours if you want it,” Lincoln adds .
In every way, I can count on Jacob and Lincoln. Even if they didn’t have a role for me in their businesses, they would make one. “I need to speak to Jacob about something. Could you get him to call me?”
“Can I not help?” Lincoln questions.
“Maybe.” I retrieve Poppy’s soft book off the floor she threw away. She grabs it and sticks it in her mouth as soon as I hand it back to her. “Remember that private investigator Jacob hired to find Skye?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you reckon he could rush through a DBS form for me?”
Lincoln blinks in confusion. “What the hell is that for?”
“It’s a check to ensure I’m suitable to work with children. Jade and I…” I stall. “Well, she doesn’t know me very well.”
“Carnally though, right?” Lincoln winks cheekily.
I shake my head with a smile. “Never change,” I order.
“Never.” He smirks.
I continue. “So this DBS thing, it’s a way to check if you have a criminal record and whether you are suitable to work around children, too. I want to run the check to show Jade that she can trust me with Poppy and that I’m a good guy with no convictions.” I’ve been reading up about it, but it can sometimes take up to ten days. However, Walter is well connected, and I think he can help me get it quicker.
Violet eyes me curiously. “You really like her.”
“I think I’m in love,” I say without hesitation.
Although I haven’t told her how I feel.
Both Lincoln and Violet sit silently, as if they can’t quite comprehend my confession.
“This is big,” Violet whispers. “For you, this is huge , Owen.” She pushes her hands out to the sides as if she’s holding the biggest fish as the catch of the day .
“This is real,” I firmly state, brimming with confidence, but also nerves. Can you fall in love this quickly?
Lincoln pipes up. “This is crazy.” Then he adds, “Leave the DBS form with me. I’ll sort it all and I want to pay. However much it costs, I’ll cover it. I’m sure he’ll email you with instructions; just do whatever he asks, and fingers crossed, you’ll get it done pretty quickly.”
I nod, my chest full of gratefulness. “Thank you,” I breathe. I’ve not always been the best or most supportive friend in the past. However, knowing both Lincoln and Jacob would do anything for me, regardless of my circumstances, and have forgiven me for being a shitty friend, is causing me to fight to swallow down the emotion brewing within me.
“And what then? What’s the plan, Owen?” Lincoln asks, part concerned, part curious.
“I’m going to move in with Gregor back in England. He’s offered me a room as he’s renting off camp, and then…” I shrug. “I’ll get a job, I suppose.” That’s as far as I’ve gotten with my life plan. Voice unsteady, I say, “If only I could work out my big ‘why’, then I wouldn’t still feel that niggle of discomfort.”
“Do whatever makes you happy,” Violet’s cheerful American accent sings merrily.
Then Lincoln says, “When Dad made me leave Scotland to travel to America and ‘find myself’”—he holds his fingers up, wrapping air quotes around his words—“I was already certain I still wanted to work at the hotel. I never wavered. Meeting Violet, though, she’s the reason I went to California. Not to find myself like my dad thought I would, or soul search, or anything like that. It confirmed to me how I already felt, but my reason for being there was to find Violet. To find my soulmate.”
And find lost family members. I don’t mention that. It’s an open wound that I don’t want to rub salt into .
Violet hums with delight. “You’re too cute for your own good sometimes, Linc.” Then she kisses him on the cheek.
“I know, I’m adorable.” He rolls his eyes, wearing a cheeky grin, and I smile at how perfect those two are for each other. Lincoln’s right. I think meeting Jade is why I am here, too.
Finishing what he was saying, Lincoln continues. “Take the pressure off. Don’t go on a treasure hunt. Just let whatever is meant for you come your way.”
“Like kismet?” I ask, using Jade’s words the night we swam around Aphrodite’s Rock.
“Exactly like that.” He nods. “If you push too hard, you’ll end up back here. See what happens and let nature do its thing.”
“Okay.” I raise my chin, feeling more confident and not worried that I’m still piss-farting around. Although… I look down at the adorable girl who’s covered her cloth book in slavers and is dribbling all over her hands… I love taking care of Poppy. I’ve been enjoying every minute of every day with her. The last few weeks haven’t felt wasted in the slightest. It’s felt meaningful, and I seem to be a natural at this nannying malarkey. Although I have had to speak to Mari twice over video call to check if I have Poppy in the right outfit and make sure if she likes certain foods. Cheese and ham are her favorites; she’s a girl after my own heart.
Another call comes through on my phone and I eye it suspiciously as I lean forward to check the displayed number I don’t recognize.
“I think that’s my bank calling. Can I call you later?” I ask Violet and Lincoln as I reach for the phone to answer the incoming call.
“Of course, go and I’ll sort out the DBS form,” Lincoln reassures me .
“Thanks.” I wave them off and hang up, then hit accept on the other call and place the phone against my ear cautiously to greet the unknown caller. “Hello?”
“Well, it’s good to know you’re still alive, son.” My father’s callous voice sends chills down my spine, and I freeze, not knowing what to do. Do I hang up, stay on the line, speak?
I’m at a loss.
I squeeze my phone between my shoulder and ear and lift Poppy off my lap.
“Still can’t find the balls to speak to me?” His tone has its own brand of liquid sarcasm, making my heart thump in my chest.
I carefully sit Poppy down on her circular playmat covered in a zany robot print, then run my hands through my hair as I figure out what to say.
I’m not prepared, nor do I have a clue how to reply. I hit the speaker phone icon on my screen and stare at it.
“I thought you’d be home by now, Owen, begging me for your money to be returned. You’ve surprised me, and I can’t deny, I’m almost proud of you.” Almost. It’s the only time he’s ever been proud of me, and even then, it’s “almost”.
I listen to him while watching Poppy stack her fabric cubes one on top of the other.
And then he says, “You’ve broken your mother’s heart.”
“She doesn’t have one.” I snap back faster than a lizard catching flies.
“Oh, so he speaks.”
“I’m not coming home.”
“Interesting.” I picture him lounging on his black leather desk chair while rolling his cigar between his fingers. He confirms my suspicions when I hear the sizzle as he pulls a drag from it; he’s exactly where I thought he would be: at work, at his desk. He spends more time there than at home.
Although why would you want to go home to the woman who gives a whole new meaning to Arctic?
“You know you can’t stay wherever you are forever.” He drawls as if bored with our conversation.
“Of course I can. I’ll start over. I’m smart, not that you would know, since you’ve never taken the time to get to know me. I’m also incredibly resilient.” If anything, my mother’s love, or lack of it, made me grow a skin so thick it’s almost impenetrable.
Until Jade broke through it.
“That’s not true, son. I know more about you than you think. I know that last year you were just a couple of nights away from pickling your liver to death at that dive bar in town.”
He’s right, I was, but it’s not a dive bar. The Vault is an upmarket nightclub run by respectable members of the town. My father is a presumptuous cunt.
And it was because of him I was there. As soon as I discovered I was to marry someone my parents chose for me it was all downhill from that moment. Drinking away my problems wasn’t the answer, although neither was running away, it seems.
“I know you spent a hideous amount of money on expenses when you were out wining and dining to secure the many contracts we tendered for.”
On his instruction, and it’s what won us those contracts. I search my memory, trying to recall if he’s won any in the last year, and come up short. Why hasn’t he been tendering for more work?
He keeps listing shit I don’t agree with. “You didn’t even give Evangeline a shot; your heart wasn’t in it from the start.”
“That’s a lie.” I shake my head, my pulse quickening at his dishonesty. “And you know that, Dad. I stopped drinking. I did everything you asked of me. I tried, my God, did I try with her, but nothing I did would have ever been good enough, and let’s not forget that she was far too young for me. Your ideas about love are archaic and, frankly, disgusting.”
He chuckles, fucking chuckles, at my outburst. “You didn’t moan about it when you asked to borrow my yacht to woo her, or when you used company expenses to entertain her for an evening at the opera.”
“See, I tried, and you told me to do put it through expenses,” I admonish. He’s got a knack for twisting the truth.
Exhaling a breath, he says, “Yeah, I suppose I did. Oh well, never mind. So, when will you be over this little tantrum of yours and come back? Can you give me a date?” He flippantly moves on as if everything is kosher between us.
“Are you for real? I am not coming back.”
Ignoring me, he railroads me with more words. “So, you fancied a little vacation? Great, get that out of your system, and then set a date to come home.”
I’m frustrated by his tone, and my heart thuds against my ribcage, my pulse quickening at sonic speed, thumping so hard I can hear it in my ears.
“I’m not having this conversation with you. I can’t keep going over the same things. I’m done, I’m out.” Even though he can’t see me, I slice through the air with my flat hand. If I could divorce my parents, I would. They should make that a thing.
He growls, making my speaker rattle in the phone casing. “Now you listen here, son, and listen good.” He starts slow and steady. “You will come home. It’s not a fucking option. You were born into a family where loyalty and honor count for more than love.” Then he roars down the phone so loud I have to remove it from my ear. “So get your head out of your ass and fucking grow a pair. You will come back and save this business right now or I will…”
Save the business? What does he mean?
“Or you’ll what?” I ask petulantly. “And what do you mean, save the business? Our business is rock solid.” I go through those accounts with a fine-tooth comb, scrutinizing our finance reports. I know every overhead, day-to-day cost, ways to make us more efficient, ensure we get the right funding for our machinery, and meet every tax deadline, so what the hell happened in three weeks?
Or what am I missing?
“Located him.” I hear an unfamiliar voice down the other end of the phone.
“Who the fuck is that?” I snap, panicking now.
“We’ll see you soon, Owen.” Out of breath at his outburst, he pants, then laughs loudly.
I cut the call and throw the phone onto the sofa as if it burned the skin off the palm of my hand.
He traced the call.
“Fuck,” I yell, louder than expected, making it reverberate through the stark marble villa.
Hands on my waist, I look up at the ceiling and expel a long-weighted breath before roaring into the space again as anguish and hate for my father heightens my anger.
I drop my head and look around to find Poppy’s bottom lip quivering.
Oh my God, I spooked her, and she looks petrified.
Feeling terrible, I run to her, crouching down, to reassure her that everything is okay, but it’s too late; tears gloss her eyes and as if it was a delayed reaction, she cries as though I had blown out the candles on her own birthday cake.
Lifting her into my arms, I cradle her tight, rubbing her little back to comfort her, but my rocking her back and forth skills have no impact as her little chest moves in and out while her sobs continue.
And as if I’m covered in a blanket of calm, a warm set of arms joins us from behind, wrapping themselves around my waist.
Jade.
She moves around to the front to face me, then embraces us both. I pull her under my other arm and press her head into my shoulder, while Poppy rests on the other. We have a three-way hug; Poppy settles almost instantly, her little sobs dying down.
“I upset her.” I feel terrible. “I’m so sorry, Jade, I didn’t mean to. I would never?—”
“It’s okay,” Jade consoles me. “I know you wouldn’t. Hey, baby.” Jade swipes the tears off Poppy’s reddened cheeks as she sucks in two quick breaths. “You’re okay, aren’t you? It was just a minor blip. No harm done.” Jade’s voice settles Poppy in an instant.
It’s like watching witchcraft. However, Poppy wouldn’t have been crying in the first place had it not been for me. “I’m angry with myself. I can’t believe I made her cry.” I hate myself.
“Stop stressing. You had a good reason to be upset. I heard everything,” Jade confesses against my pec.
“Everything? With my dad?” My mouth twitches. I didn’t want her to hear that conversation.
“And with your friends,” she confirms.
How long was she listening for? “Oh, yeah?” I ask with a hint of wonder in my voice, then add, “What did you hear?”
“That you’re a stellar guy, like I’ve always believed, because you want to have a DBS check done, even though it’s unnecessary.” She nuzzles into my chest, giving my waist a squeeze. “We trust him, eh, Pops?” I look down. Jade’s eyes are sparkling as she nods her head, smiling at Poppy.
“When did you get home?”
“From when you sat down in front of the camera with your friends. I was here when Poppy woke up.” I stop the gentle rocking motion I’ve been doing. “I couldn’t resist listening in.”
Sneaky eavesdropper.
I try to recall our conversation, and then the penny drops.
Oh, my G ? —
“So, you love me?”