Chapter 43
Chapter Forty-Three
Maurizio
After Flora and the children had left for their picnic, my mother spent a few minutes with Sophie and then she left, but not before telling me to be careful and to do what was right for me as well as everyone else.
Sophie was making calls, so I returned to my office and wondered what the hell I was going to do.
I wasn’t sure how any of this was going to pan out but what I did know was that however this went, the things I truly wanted was to be the best father I could be to my children and for my relationship with Flora to continue, to work out and to be permanent and out in the open.
The difficulty was that I had no clue how I might secure that.
How long could I continue to live in the same house as Sophie whilst keeping things from Flora, but perhaps the bigger question was how long would Flora allow me to do those things?
My mother was on board more than she had been when she had turned up here, and although I hadn’t told her everything, I’d told her something of the situation, enough to stop her blowing this whole thing out of the water.
The sound of familiar voices pulled my focus from my mother and the potential minefield I found myself standing in the middle of.
The voices got louder, closer. Sophie, and Nico.
Clearly my mother had sent in reinforcements that would either get more information than she currently held or someone who would stop me from falling for Sophie all over again which I knew was my mother’s greatest fear.
An unwarranted fear, but a fear nevertheless.
Moving into the hallway, I found my brother striding towards me and calling back a refusal of coffee from Sophie. He looked at me, shook his head, and pushed me back into my office before closing the door.
“What the fuck is going on here? Mama is losing her mind and has no idea how the hell this is going to end well for you or the children.”
“Well, that answers my question of what brings you here.”
“Cut the crap and spill because last thing I knew, you were hot for the nanny and you and Sophie were very old news, so what has changed?”
Pacing to the console table that sat near the window, I grabbed a bottle of scotch and two glasses that I half-filled and took my seat, sliding one glass to my brother.
“That bad?” His question coincided with him eyeing three fingers of whiskey on a Monday lunchtime.
“Worse if you really want to know.”
“I want to know everything.”
“You could live to regret that,” I told him, but was relieved to be able to unload everything to the one person I knew I could truly trust with every fucked up detail of what was currently my life.
“So what are you going to do?” Nico asked almost an hour later.
“For starters, I am going to stop drinking this.” I pushed my empty tumbler away and scowled in the direction of the half empty whiskey bottle. “And make some coffee.” I was up on my feet and already heading for the kitchen, followed by my brother.
Sophie appeared before us in the hallway. “I’m heading to the shop, do you need anything?”
I shook my head.
“I thought I might cook something for dinner . . . for the children . . . and you . . . you’d be welcome to stay, Nico, oh and maybe Flora would like to join us.”
Sophie’s offer sounded sincere and her words were kind and genuine, but I could think of nothing worse than Flora being subjected to what would undoubtedly appear to be a family dinner, I mean it would be because as soon as the children were factored in, we were a family, weren’t we, as their parents?
This situation was already turning messy and was beginning to fuck with my life, the new life I was forging before Sophie returned.
“Dinner?” Sophie asked, attempting to prompt some kind of response from me.
“Erm, no, thanks. I have work to do, and it might be a bit soon for Flora, but you should eat with the children and spend some time with them. I am sure after a picnic with the other children and their nannies they’ll have plenty to say.”
With a nod and an expression I didn’t recognise, Sophie turned to Nico again. “I am guessing dinner with chatty three-year-olds and your brother’s ex isn’t on your bingo card for tonight.”
Nico chucked but shook his head. “Not really, but thanks for the offer.”
A shrug was her only response before she turned on her heels and headed for the front door leaving me and my brother to travel the short distance to the kettle and coffee that was more necessary than I’d thought it was if the hammering of my head was anything to go by.
Sitting in the kitchen a few minutes later with a cup of black coffee in my hand, Nico asked the question I had no answer for. “What are you going to do?”
A very loud sigh was my initial response. “I don’t know. I need to make the children the priority and then Flora, but then Sophie is going to impact on all of it.”
“You should tell Flora everything.”
“I can’t, I promised Sophie.”
Nico shook his head. “Then you are running the risk of a pissed off Flora, misunderstandings, and her believing that Sophie means more to you than she does.”
“You think I don’t know that? This has the potential to blow up in my face and for me to betray somebody whichever way I turn.”
The sound of a car door closing drew both mine and Nico’s attention to the front of the house.
I stood, my attention rapt at the sight of Flora getting out of her car, laughing and carefree apparently, and then my children appeared, happy and innocent.
The smile spreading across my face was inevitable, as it always was at the sight and sound of any of them, but together, it was on a whole new level.
I wasn’t even aware of my brother joining me in the window until he spoke. “Who the fuck is that and can I get one of those under the Christmas tree because I have been a really good boy!”
Spinning to face him with a glare, I moved closer until we were toe to toe. “Never, ever speak about Flora that way! Show some respect.”
He looked confused. “What the fuck is the matter with you? I assume Flora is the one who was driving the nice new car you bought for her and is being flanked by the children. I meant the other hot blonde, not yours.”
Looking back at the people on the drive, I realised for the first time that Flora and the
children weren’t alone. I didn’t know who the other woman was initially and then I recognised her, having seen images of her in Flora’s home.
That was Maddie, Flora’s sister. I could see a resemblance between the sisters and as such got where my brother was coming from, although, I clearly only had eyes for Flora.
I hadn’t even noticed the other woman until Nico pointed her out.
“Come on, come to Daddy,” my brother said beside me and as I glanced across at him, he appeared to be pretending to reel her in with an invisible fishing rod.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You need to never ever refer to yourself as daddy whilst in my company, and I am pretty sure that she is Flora’s sister, so please, a little respect.”
“I think I preferred you before the coffee kicked in.”
We both laughed and prepared for the women and children to enter the house.