Chapter 15 #2
Once the adults had raised their wine or beer glasses and the kids had raised their tumblers of milk or fruit squash, Tommy asked everyone to toast Kate and thank her for the meal she’d prepared.
At the chorus of ‘thank yous’ and ‘dinner looks delicious’, Kate did an amusing little head bob and wave, like a queen acknowledging her subjects.
The gesture took Gaby back fifteen years to the many meals she’d eaten here that summer and how she’d always laughed when Kate had performed that same funny gesture.
The years folded in, one upon the other, and Gaby saw in her head an image of those Bailey family dinners from the past overlaid on the one now taking place around her.
The same wonderful people, plus a handful of amazing children marking the next generation. The same humour and warmth and welcome.
The same as before—only bigger and better.
As Gaby fought against an unexpected wave of emotion as the past and the present collided around the Bailey dining table, Tommy raised his glass again and welcomed Gaby to their family gathering, his eyes on her as he said how happy they were to have her there and how wonderful it was to see her again after so many years.
Around the table, everyone tipped their glasses towards Gaby and echoed Tommy’s words of welcome. Amid the smiling faces and comforting warmth, Gaby couldn’t help but feel very special.
And when she caught Peter’s smile beside her as he too toasted her, she felt completely cocooned in his gaze.
Everyone dived into their food and complimented the chef. Conversation flowed. Laughter and chatter and good-natured bickering punctuated the meal from beginning to end.
Once the beef wellington was demolished, Gaby insisted on helping to clear the table, working companionably with Peter and his brothers to carrying plates through to the kitchen while his parents dealt with dessert.
The hot chocolate fudge cake that followed was greeted with barely contained excitement from the children and plenty of appreciative sighs from the adults.
Another round of plate-clearing and tidying up followed dessert, and then they had coffee in the living room while the kids worked off their sugar intake with an endless stream of chatter and acrobatics.
Gaby listened to the non-stop talk, amused and charmed in equal measure.
Brad’s boys regaled their grandfather with a story about the new gaming station their dad and Uncle Peter had built for them as a surprise and demanded to know when he’d come round to their house to see it and play a new racing game on their console.
Amber talked about her plans to redesign the nursery at their home before her new baby arrived while Mikey adopted a mock long-suffering expression as he listened to the decorating work his wife had in mind for him.
Brad and Shaun discussed a football match they wanted to take their kids to.
Lauren and Kate swapped notes on a recipe they’d both recently tried.
Donna and Peter peered over Tommy’s shoulder as he showed them something on his phone which had them both laughing.
Peter’s nieces played in front of the fireplace while the dogs snored beside them. The two older girls indulged little Alicia as they worked on a chunky jigsaw puzzle together and applauded when the youngster fitted the final piece into place with a delighted screech of triumph.
Gaby savoured every minute spent in the company of the Bailey clan.
Even though she hadn’t seen them for years, they made her feel completely welcome and she in turn felt entirely at home.
Every good thing she remembered about these people was still on display all these years later—their warmth, their love, their togetherness.
She remembered how, as a seventeen-year-old who’d recently fled her own parents’ home for the sanctuary of her aunt’s house, the strong bonds and fierce loyalty of the Baileys had made such a big impact on her.
As the only child of parents who could hardly stand each other and who’d turned their home into a war zone, the time she’d spent with Peter’s family had felt like a healing balm.
Her parents’ relationship had turned cold and loveless long before it had descended into the poisonous arguments and epic battles from which Gaby had run all those years ago, and it had made for a refreshing change to spend time with a family who actually seemed to enjoy being together.
Now, as she watched Peter’s parents interacting with each other and with their children and grandchildren, she felt an ache that her own parents had no interest in interacting with her in the same way.
After their separation and divorce, her mother and father had both gone off to start new lives and with Gaby away at university she’d formed no meaningful part of those lives.
She exchanged polite and civil conversation with them and kept in touch reasonably regularly, but it all felt perfunctory and very much like the bare minimum they could get away with and still claim to be family.
While Gaby was working and enjoying her life spent travelling around the world, she never gave much thought to her mother or father or the forever strained relationship she had with them.
Now though, as she sat in Peter’s parents’ house surrounded by his family and by the effortless warmth they created together, she realised just how much she’d missed out on.
Realised, with some considerable surprise, how much she wanted exactly this sort of life filled with a big family and happy chaos and unbreakable bonds.
And was stunned to discover herself imagining having all those things with Peter.
The thought was so shocking and disturbing she almost spilled her coffee as she jolted on the sofa.
But the alluring image that she’d conjured in her mind only crystallised the desire further. A desire to one day have a family and children of her own. A husband of her own. A good man with whom she could build a wonderful life.
A good man like Peter.
It was impossible not to be flustered by these thoughts and Gaby’s agitation must have been obvious because Kate, sitting beside her on the sofa, asked if she was okay.
Gaby forced a bright smile and joked that the combination of hot chocolate fudge cake and strong coffee had left her jittery.
The quip seemed to satisfy Kate but Gaby still had to work hard to keep the crazy thoughts she’d conjured from occupying her mind entirely.
And so it was a relief when Peter’s siblings told their kids it was time to go home and the party began to break up.
Gaby realised if she sat there on that sofa in that living room any longer, surrounded by the Bailey family, her outrageous daydream would only have grown wilder.
It was impossible not to watch Peter laughing with his father and his brothers and playing with his nieces and nephews and teasing his sister and chatting with his mother and not wish desperately to be part of the life he lived.
It was time to go before her daydream got totally out of control.
In a flurry of coats being pulled on and goodbyes being called out, everyone was soon making their way out of the house and into their cars.
Gaby accepted warm hugs from Peter’s brothers and sister, his brother-in-law and sisters-in-law, his little nieces and nephews.
His parents pulled her into their embrace on the doorstep and told her how much they’d loved seeing her and made her promise to drop by again whenever she was back in Hamblehurst.
Kate gave Gaby a gift bag for her Aunt Jill with good wishes for the rest of her recovery before squeezing her again into a fierce hug and brushing a kiss against her cheek and whispering in her ear that she was thrilled, so very, very thrilled, to see her again.
Kate’s heartfelt farewell and kind words blew a hole through Gaby’s emotions and sent her walking to Peter’s car with tears in her eyes.
And when Peter opened the passenger door for her and smiled, the gallant gesture forced her to blink furiously to stop those tears breaking free.
She was grateful the drive home was a short one.
As Peter navigated the dark residential roads, they made small talk, which was about all Gaby could manage.
She thanked him for a wonderful evening, complimented the delicious meal his parents had cooked, exclaimed about his gorgeous nieces and nephews and how amazing it had been to see Amber and Shaun again and to meet Brad for the first time and to meet their spouses, and by the time she’d said all this and was close to running out of breath, they’d arrived back on Foxglove Street and Peter was bringing the car to a stop outside her aunt’s house.
Gaby turned in the passenger seat towards Peter. “Thanks for the lift.”
“No problem. I’ll walk to the door.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that.”
“I want to.”
His eyes flicked towards her, his gaze intense, and Gaby couldn’t tell if what she saw there was just simple good manners from a man who’d been brought up properly, or if it was something much more.
She climbed out of the car and Peter held open the front gate. When she reached the doorstep, she searched around in her bag for her key, her hands shaking because she knew the moment had come to say goodbye to Peter for the last time.
“Thanks again for a lovely night,” she said when the goodbye she reached for refused to come.
“Thanks for coming along,” he said. “My parents really loved seeing you again.”
“Well, I loved seeing them. They looked great. Everyone looked great.”
Stalling. She was stalling.
“Peter, it’s been great seeing you again.”
“It’s been great seeing you too, Gaby.”
Say goodbye. You have to say goodbye now.
“So, I guess this is—”
“Do you have any plans tomorrow night, Gaby?”
His interruption and his question caught her short. For a fleeting moment, she wondered how to answer the question. Tell a lie and protect her heart? Or tell the truth and risk breaking it?
Honesty won out.
“Uh, no, I don’t have plans,” she said. “Why?”