Chapter 23
Lydia
“You’re here!” I yell at James, Ruby, Ember, and Lin the moment I open the door. I grab James’s arm and drag him into the house; the others follow behind.
“That’s a nice way to say hello,” he replies, putting his arm around me. He gives me a quick squeeze, then his eyes wander down the hallway. He raises an eyebrow.
“Is that a…?”
“An oversize heart made of bright-colored roses? Yes, it is.” I turn to Ember, Lin, and Ruby and give them each a hug in turn.
“You look amazing, Lydia,” says Ember.
I stroke both hands over the soft fabric of my green shift dress that’s cut to really show off my bump, which in my opinion, really can’t possibly get any bigger now.
“I entirely agree with you,” says Graham’s voice as he comes to stand behind me.
I turn and smile at him. Then I reach for his hand and let my fingers intertwine with his.
I can’t describe how good it feels to be able to do that now—wherever we are and whoever can see us.
We talked yesterday evening about whether it might be weird for my friends to see us like this, considering that he used to teach a lot of them, but we decided not to let it worry us.
Graham is my boyfriend, the father of my children.
I want to be able to touch him whenever and wherever I like.
As I turn back to the others and look into their faces, all I see is happiness and acceptance. None of them gives the impression that they’re fazed by seeing us holding hands.
“You all look great too,” I say, looking at their summery outfits.
I normally love warm weather, and summer has always been my favorite season, but given the bump and the painful water retention in my legs, I’d much rather it was autumn. Or winter. Ideally, winter in the Antarctic.
Although I guess a baby shower in the Antarctic wouldn’t be much fun.
“Sounds like you started without us,” Ruby says with a smile. She must mean the music in the garden, which we can hear from here.
“Ophelia was dancing around the garden first thing. She wanted me to join in, but I was exhausted after a couple of minutes,” I say. “So I said I’d rather supervise them setting up the buffet—there’s a three-layer cake and about a million cake pops.”
“I love cake pops!” says Ember happily. She holds up an enormous parcel, wrapped in polka-dot paper, and looks inquiringly at me. “Where do you want the presents?”
“Follow me,” I say. I’m about to lead her through to the garden when James grabs my arm to hold me back. I let go of Graham’s hand and look at him in confusion.
“We brought a surprise guest with us,” he says.
The first thing that comes into my head is: Please, not Dad.
My next thought is that James knows me better than anyone and he wouldn’t do that to me.
He takes a step toward the door and opens it again. Someone walks toward the house. Someone that I’ve never seen in jeans and a casual shirt before in my life.
“Percy!” I exclaim, stepping closer to my ex-chauffeur.
“It’s good to see you looking so well, Miss Beaufort,” he replies formally. But he hugs me back, and I realize how familiar his smell is to me. It’s the scent of leather seats and the same aftershave he’s worn all my life. After a moment, we move apart.
“Your brother invited me,” Percy explains. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“Mind?” I ask incredulously. “This is such a lovely surprise!”
I usher him into the house. “Percy, this is my boyfriend, Graham. Graham, this is Percy.” As I introduce them, they shake hands.
“Ophelia will flip when she sees you,” I say in excitement, gesturing over my shoulder. “Shall we go outside?”
The others nod, so I link hands with Graham again. We walk down the hall to the conservatory and step through its wide-open doors into the garden.
“Oh, wow,” I hear Lin murmur behind me.
“Now you really see what I meant about the colors,” I say over my shoulder, watching the others as they look around.
There’s a long garden table in the middle of the lawn, with a green runner down the middle of it.
Clustered above it are loads of pastel helium balloons, anchored to cheerful little lanterns to stop them flying away.
The buffet has been set up at the side of the house.
There are mini terra-cotta flowerpots filled with flowers or cactuses, and in between them are drinks and a whole array of starters that have been making my mouth water for hours.
The whole garden is bedecked with lanterns, balloons, and streamers.
Ophelia spots us from the other end of the garden and immediately runs over. She’s wearing a floral summer dress, and her red hair is up in a loose knot. “Hi, everyone!”
Her eyes widen as they rest on Percy. She seems to hesitate for a moment, but then she goes to give him a hug. “This is a surprise.”
“Hello, Ophelia,” says Percy quietly, adding something in an even lower voice that I don’t catch because just then the doorbell rings again.
“Will you come?” I ask Graham, and he nods. “Help yourselves to stuff from the buffet,” I tell the others. “We’ll be right back.”
Graham and I walk through the conservatory and back down the hall to the door.
Before I can press down on the handle, Graham takes my wrist. I look questioningly up at him, and before I know what’s happening, he bends down and kisses me gently.
Automatically, I close my eyes and lean into him, my body practically melting into him.
After a moment, he pulls away and looks me in the eyes, a slight smile on his lips.
“What was that for?” I ask hoarsely.
He shakes his head. “Just because.”
They’re such simple words, yet they make my heart skip a beat. It never used to be possible for us to be able to do things just because.
But now the world’s at our feet.
I stand on tiptoe to kiss him back, but then the doorbell echoes through the house again. Graham laughs softly, while I narrow my eyes guiltily and finally turn to the door.
When I open it, at first all I can see is an enormous present that, on closer inspection, looks suspiciously like a gigantic teddy bear.
There’s a bow around it, and I bet the ribbon would wrap three times round my head.
It moves a fraction left, and Alistair’s face appears.
He grins at me. “Delivery for Lydia Beaufort.”
Kesh is standing next to Alistair, and he giggles. I look down and see that they’re holding hands. My stomach skips in surprise. The question must be written right across my face, but he just smiles and steps through the door. Then he hugs me tight.
“Thanks for the invitation, Lydia,” he says in his deep voice.
“It’s lovely to see you,” I reply, beaming at him.
He moves away to shake hands with Graham.
Meanwhile, Alistair is trying to fit through the door with the massive parcel, and once he’s finally managed it, he lets it sink to the floor and wipes his brow with the back of his hand as if he’s just finished a hardcore training session.
Then he takes me in his arms and hugs me even harder than Kesh did.
He holds out his hand to Graham. “Hi, Mr. Sutton.”
“Graham, please,” Graham replies at once.
Alistair nods. “Sure.” He looks curiously around Ophelia’s front hall. “I’m dying to know what this is going to be like. I’ve never been to a baby shower before. Are you going to unwrap your presents right away, or…?”
“If only.” I snort.
“Ophelia has a jam-packed schedule for us,” Graham says with a chuckle.
“Presents don’t come until after we’ve eaten.
If it were me, I’d dive into them right away.
That looks intriguing,” he adds, nodding toward Alistair’s gift.
I’m about to pick it up for a closer look, but Alistair snatches it away.
“No way, José,” he says, his voice somewhat muffled.
“I think Wren and Cy just arrived,” Kesh remarks. He looks over his shoulder to where a bashed-up car is coming down the drive.
“Why didn’t you all come together?” I ask.
“Wren said his car could do with a proper run. But we couldn’t all fit in it,” says Keshav.
“Especially not with that,” Graham quips, pointing to the present.
“Do I, by any chance, smell cake? I think I can smell cake,” says Alistair out of nowhere, trying to peek at me around the cuddly toy.
I fight back a smile. “Why don’t you all just go through? You remember the way, right?”
Alistair murmurs his agreement. He and Kesh walk down the hall, and my heart leaps for joy as I see Kesh rest his hand on Alistair’s lower back and stroke it for a moment.
I knew they were close, but I was never expecting them to get together—which it certainly looks like they have.
I look up at Graham as he watches them walk away too, then he smiles at me.
“We hear there’s a party going on somewhere around here?” says Wren’s voice, and I turn just in time to see him and Cyril on the steps up to the front door. Like Kesh and Alistair, they’re wearing button-up shirts, and I’m wondering if they planned their outfits together.
My heart is pounding in my throat as I look at Cyril. The first time you see someone face-to-face after a big argument is always weird. I haven’t been in touch with him since that phone call, and I don’t know how to act around him.
“Wow,” says Wren. He pushes his sunglasses up into his hair and eyes my bump. “I didn’t realize it was that long since we last saw each other.”
“I got good at hiding it,” I say.
“So I see,” he replies. Then he looks past me down the hall. “Are the others already here?”
“Yeah, in the garden.”
He nods and walks past us, down the hall.
So now it’s just Cyril, Graham, and me. An awkward silence fills the air between us.
“Hello,” Cyril croaks in the end. Like Wren, he’s wearing sunglasses, so I can’t see his eyes.
“Hi,” I say. “I’m glad you came.”
Cyril gulps hard and forces himself to smile. “Thanks for inviting me.” At last, he takes off the shades, folds them, and slips them in his shirt pocket.
Cyril and Graham face each other in silence, both with tense shoulders and clenched teeth. The mood is so tense that I can’t help holding my breath.
In the end, it’s Cyril who clears his throat. “Mr. Sutton, I…”
More silence.
Beside me, I hear Graham exhale softly. “You can call me Graham, Cyril,” he says.
One second passes, then another. Then Cyril nods.
“OK,” he says. “Graham.”
I step forward to hug Cyril just like I did with the others.
He seems so taken by surprise that, for a second, he doesn’t react at all.
A few heartbeats later, he raises his arm and puts it around me, rests his hand on my back—cautious and tentative, like he’s afraid of scaring me if he presses too hard.
I notice how familiar he feels. At this moment, he’s just the boy I’ve known all my life, and who was always there for me when I needed him.
“Everything OK?” he asks, moving away slightly. He stares hard at me, and his eyes are filled with the same uncertainty and turmoil that I’m feeling too.
“Not yet,” I say honestly. Something dark flickers in Cyril’s eyes. He opens his mouth to say something, probably that he can leave if I’d prefer, but I speak first. “But it’s getting there. Definitely.”
After that, I shut the door behind him, and Graham and I lead him to join the others in the garden.