Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
‘Hey sweetheart,’ Logan said, gently, crouching down so he was at the same level as Etta. He held his hand out to her and she came over and took it. ‘I thought you were downstairs with Max.’
Xander shook his head with frustration. Logan adored Etta, all his brothers did. So Logan making such a fuss about how Xander had been duped before so could be again just didn’t make sense when the outcome of that dupe was this little girl they all loved.
‘I just came up to get my coat, Max is taking me down the beach. I heard you shouting.’
‘We weren’t really shouting, just having a bit of a disagreement.’
‘About the baby,’ Etta said.
Xander cursed under his breath. After assuring Etta that the baby was definitely his the day before, he really didn’t need this to add to her confusion.
‘Sort of,’ Logan said, awkwardly.
‘Max will be waiting for you,’ Xander said. ‘Shall we get that coat and take you back down to him.’
But Etta was clearly not to be deterred.
‘Are you not happy about the baby, Uncle Logan?’
‘I’m…’ he paused, clearly deciding how to answer that question. Part of Xander was enjoying watching him squirm in a mess of his own making, but it was his daughter who would be left upset and confused.
‘A new baby is always very exciting,’ Logan tried.
‘I’m excited,’ Etta said. ‘And a bit worried.’
‘What are you worried about?’ Xander said, crouching down next to her.
‘That you won’t have time to play with me anymore,’ Etta said.
‘I will always have time to play with you,’ Xander said.
‘And that you might love the baby more than me,’ Etta said, quietly.
His heart broke. ‘That’s impossible. I love you so much, to the moon and back again. I couldn’t love anyone any more than that.’
Etta didn’t look convinced. ‘If you and Immy decide you do love each other, then you might love her more than you love me.’
‘That’s a very different kind of love. But my heart is big enough to love you, Immy and the new baby. Loving them doesn’t mean I love you any less.’
Etta scrunched her nose as she thought about that. ‘What’s a paternity test?’
Xander sighed, hoping she’d forgotten about that. ‘It’s a test to find out if I’m the father of Immy’s baby.’
‘But you said that you gave her the seed.’
‘I did.’
‘Then why do you need a test?’
‘We don’t.’ Xander glared at Logan who looked suitably embarrassed.
‘But Logan said he would pay for the paternity test. Why are you paying for a test you don’t need? That sounds like a waste of money to me. You could spend that on ice cream instead.’
‘That’s a good idea,’ Immy said, clearly trying to divert the question. ‘We could all go for ice cream right now.’
‘Why are you doing it?’ Etta asked.
Logan cleared his throat. ‘Because sometimes people can make mistakes.’
Etta frowned. ‘You think Daddy didn’t give Immy the seed?’
‘I think we need to be sure,’ Logan said.
Etta looked confused. ‘Do you think someone else gave Immy the seed?’ She looked at Immy. ‘Did someone else give you the seed?’
‘No, they didn’t,’ Immy said, firmly. ‘The baby is your daddy’s baby. But Logan wants to double check.’
‘Why?’ Etta asked Logan. ‘If the baby isn’t Daddy’s, does that mean you won’t love it anymore?’
Everyone in the room knew she was really asking about herself and Xander wanted to pick her up and hold her tight until every single doubt and fear faded away.
‘No, absolutely not,’ Logan said. ‘I will love the baby very very much and it doesn’t matter if your daddy is the baby’s daddy or not.’
‘Then why do you need to know?’
Etta really wasn’t letting it go and Xander almost admired the tenacity, but he knew this was more about finding out where she stood in all of this.
‘I just thought your daddy would be happier if he knew for sure,’ Logan said. ‘But if he’s happy with the way things are then I absolutely shouldn’t interfere with that.’ He looked up at Immy. ‘I’m sorry.’
Etta looked at Xander. ‘Would you be happier if you knew for sure if the baby is yours?’
‘I do know the baby is mine,’ Xander said.
She chewed her lip. ‘Would you be happier if you knew if I was yours?’
That took the wind out of him. The truth was he’d prefer to never know, to bury his head in the sand and pretend Brook had never said those words.
Not because it would ever affect how he felt for Etta, but he knew he would feel crushed if he had it confirmed.
And that was what Logan wanted to avoid with all this.
‘No, I don’t need to know, I’m happy with the way things are.’ He paused. ‘Would you be happier if you knew?’
She shook her head. ‘Maybe. Sometimes I wonder if I should still call you Daddy.’
‘I’ll always be your daddy. If it turns out that you aren’t mine, that it wasn’t my seed that made you, then I’ll be your stepdaddy.
Do you remember that book I gave you about different family relationships?
A stepdaddy is someone who marries your mum and brings you up like a real dad does.
Nothing will change our relationship. Nothing will change my love for you.
That’s why I don’t need to know because it won’t change anything.
But if you would feel happier knowing then we can do the test. I think it would be better if we waited until you were older but it’s up to you. ’
Etta clearly thought about it. ‘I think I’d like to wait until I’m older.’
‘I agree,’ Xander said. ‘I love you so much.’
‘I love you too, Daddy.’
‘And I love you too,’ Logan said. ‘Always will. I’m sorry if what I said upset you. You’re right, I think it’s better to spend my money on ice cream. Shall we all go and do that?’
Etta nodded.
‘Go and get your coat then, honey,’ Xander said and Etta ran from the room.
Logan stood up. ‘I am so sorry. To both of you. It wasn’t my intention to hurt anyone, least of all you, Immy, or Etta. I didn’t mean to insinuate that you were lying about the baby. I just…’ he trailed off.
‘You saw how devastated I was after Brook had dealt her final blow and you didn’t want me to go through that again,’ Xander said.
‘I totally get you’re being protective but I need you to butt out.
This is my life, my decisions, and I won’t have you barging in here, making accusations and hurting the people I care about. ’
Logan held his hands up. ‘That’s the very last thing I want to do. Consider me butted out. Immy, I am sorry.’
She nodded and Xander could see, although she was still hurt, that she had calmed down significantly from when she first came in here.
‘It’s OK. I don’t want to see Xander get hurt either, that’s why I could never do that to him.’
‘I know, I see that now. I’m sure Xander has told you about his childhood. Growing up without anyone to love us, I swore I would always look out for my brothers because no one else would. It’s a hard thing to change. But I’m going to try really hard to mind my own business from here on in.’
‘Thank you,’ Xander said.
‘I’ll wait for you all downstairs and I’ll take you all out for ice cream,’ Logan said.
He walked out.
Immy turned to Xander. ‘If there is even a fraction of doubt or worry in your mind, I will gladly still do the test. But hand on heart, I could never have slept with another man after you. You meant too much to me. You ruined me for all other men. I didn’t want another man to touch me that wasn’t you, so I certainly didn’t sleep with anyone. And if I had I would tell you.’
‘I know, I trust you completely.’
‘OK. If you’re sure?’
‘One hundred percent.’ He wrapped his arms around her and she held him tight. ‘I’m so sorry about all of this. From ex-in-laws to my crazy family, it feels like you’ve had a baptism of fire.’
‘Well, I don’t think Alex is going to make it easy for you when she comes back either.’
‘Let’s just elope. You, me, Etta and Jacob. We’ll find a little island somewhere for the four of us. Well, five in a few months.’
‘Very tempting.’
‘I’m ready,’ Etta announced as she marched into the lounge struggling to get her coat on.
Immy crouched down and helped her put it on.
‘Thanks, Immy.’
‘No problem. And you know I love you too. And when the baby comes he or she will love you as well. So while your daddy has more people to love, that also means more people will love you.’
A huge smile spread across her face. ‘I hadn’t thought of that.’
‘I think you’ll love being a big sister. You know, Alex is my younger sister and I loved being her big sister. We played together, we talked about everything and we always looked after each other. She is my best friend and I think you and the baby will be best friends too.’
‘I hope so,’ Etta said.
‘Right, shall we go and get that ice cream?’
‘Can Jacob come?’
‘Dogs aren’t allowed in the ice cream café but they do sell doggy ice cream that we can bring back once we’re done,’ Immy said, standing up and taking Etta’s hand.
Xander smiled. Seeing the two of them together made his heart ache. ‘I think they even have stinky sock flavour.’
Etta laughed. ‘I think I’ll stick to chocolate.’
By the end of the day, the sweet shop was empty.
All of the shelves, display cases, boxes, cupboards, sweet dispensers, the dreaded till, everything from the storage room had been dumped unceremoniously in the skip.
Even all the wooden flooring had been ripped up and disposed of.
There was nothing left now except the four walls and a very soot-blackened ceiling.
So many people had turned up to help, including Logan, Archer and Max.
Xander had come over for a few hours after the ice cream but Immy had felt too guilty that his shop was closed at one of the busiest times of the year so she’d sent him back to do a few more hours in the chocolate shop before the end of the day.
At least they now had a good starting point for the redecoration and renovation. Belinda had even arranged for someone to come round and fix the front door, so at least Immy could lock the shop again. Not that there was currently anything in there to steal.