Chapter Thirty
The door slammed open and Paddy, Leo and William ran into the kitchen and hugged Dickie. Both boys were shouting, claiming victory whilst Paddy exclaimed she had given them a head start. Amongst all the noise, Dickie pointed out that a race into the kitchen was not the safest of ideas. This earnt an apologetic glance and a worried look from the boys; Dickie had lots of weird strict rules, plus she might not give them any biscuits now.
‘Why don’t the three of you go and put a film on and I’ll dig out some biscuits.’ The boys cheered and Paddy shooed them out of the kitchen.
‘On you go, boys, pick out something with lots of dinosaurs or monsters in it and I’ll tell you which ones you smell like!’
The boys laughed and shouted, running off towards the playroom.
Dickie smiled at Paddy. She had been with them almost two months now and was positively blooming. It was lovely when the sisters came to stay, each of them was another slice of their mother, but she felt Paddy was the most like Lily. Kind, romantic and full of self-doubts.
‘Go on, go and join them, I’ll bring it all through. Nice to see some colour in your cheeks at last.’ Everyone now knew Paddy was pregnant and had gone out of their way to ensure she had everything she needed. Even if she was still barely showing, the constant vomiting was a clear sign. The fact that Ari was also pregnant and already far larger than Paddy had irked her no end. She had grumbled to Dickie about it who promptly asked if she would swap that for all of Paddy’s vomiting and she laughed and shook her head. Plus, as Dickie pointed out sharply to Ari, Ari was one month further along and this wasn’t her first pregnancy. Now she smiled at Paddy. ‘Oh and your sister was looking for you; she’s probably back in her study. And try to look fat, cheer her up.’
Laughing, she stuck her head into the playroom Paddy told the boys she would be with them shortly. Any disappointment was quickly lost when she told them Dickie was on her way with popcorn. ‘And make sure you save me some!’
Paddy headed off in search of Ari, grinning to herself. Life was good. She loved her nephews and was so excited about being able to introduce them to their new little cousin. She could now feel Baby moving around on a regular basis and the moments when she felt that little quiver inside her were the highlights of her day. At six months she was still barely showing and was still able to go running and swimming. She hadn’t even had to go up a dress size yet. That had alarmed her but she had started to read loads about it and it turned out to be nothing to worry about. So long as she could feel the little one moving around, things were fine. And she had never felt happier. Her hands constantly strayed down to her tummy and she would often find herself talking out loud to her baby. Ari was right, this was going to be a huge adventure. When she pictured the future, Hal always featured until Paddy banished him from the image. She felt she was getting better at it but it was so hard; every time she thought of the baby she thought of Hal.
She couldn’t help but think who Baby would look like. Would they have red hair like her or Hal’s wavy blond hair? She had green eyes, Hal’s were a stunning bright blue with flecks in them that… Enough! Sighing, she reminded herself to dismiss her daydreams and focus on the things that were, not the things that she wanted. As she got to Ari’s office, she knocked on the door and entered.
Ari looked at her puzzled. ‘Why did you knock?’
‘The door was closed?’
‘Fair enough.’ Ari put her pen down. ‘It’s weird, isn’t it. I still can’t get used to the fact I have a room where people knock before entering. How mad is that?’
‘It’s all been a bit mad. Like having a title. I can barely bring myself to use it.’
‘In the beginning, Dickie made we wear mine every time I went out.’ Paddy laughed remembering. ‘Any public occasion, she would make all the staff address me formally until no one, and most importantly me, could possibly forget. Surprisingly, it did help. Although thankfully everyone now seems to know who I am, even if I sometimes forget. Anyway, I was trying to find you. You and Nick are doing your twin thing again. She phoned earlier; she knows of a fledgling charity that is looking for somewhere to offer short holidays to homeless young people. What do you think? Would Kensey House be suitable?’
Paddy thought it would be excellent. Given the recent financial turmoil Ari had been looking at the books and felt now was the time to strengthen their assets. The Cornish venture was the most profitable strand of all the estate holdings and the one that was easiest to ramp up as well.
‘I also want to green light the holiday cottage renovations. I’ve been going through the figures and that seems like a smart investment.’
The two sisters started talking it through, until they were interrupted by a knock on the door. A sad looking William stood beside his brother. ‘The dinosaurs ate all the popcorn!’
‘Not the monsters?’ queried their mother.
‘Them too,’ nodded Leo solemnly.
Paddy turned to Ari. ‘Join us? If I’m away tomorrow, let’s spend some time together. We have movies, hot chocolate and popcorn lined up although we might need to rustle up some more of the latter.’
Ari laughed, paperwork be blowed, there was always paperwork.
***
Waving goodbye to Seb at Newquay airport, Paddy thought how lovely it was of him to share the drive home with her. She had arrived in Norfolk two months earlier, exhausted and upset and whilst she was feeling a lot better, she hadn’t been looking forward to the return drive. She was six months pregnant now and still seemed to be constantly tired. Everyone she asked had a different opinion on when it would pass.
When Seb had insisted he drove down to Cornwall with her and catch a flight home, she hadn’t even debated it with him. It had also been decided that if she was going to have the baby in Norfolk, that Seb would fly down and then drive her back up to Norfolk. They had decided she would come up by week thirty-six. If she decided to stay in Cornwall one of the others was going to come and stay with her until it was all done and dusted. Paddy suspected that all done and dusted wasn’t a very cosy maternal term but at the moment she had no idea what motherhood was going to be like. Especially on her own. Well, not on her own, she apologised to Baby, but on her own in terms of someone else being able to help. Sighing, Paddy reversed the car and then headed back home.
Seb had loved the cottage and asked her if she swam much. She told him about the seal around the corner, and he regretted not packing any swimming trunks. As much as he loved swimming in Norfolk he had to guiltily agree that the coastal waters of Cornwall were exceptional. Those blue green waters glistened like beautiful jewels and he knew that he and his family would probably be spending a week or two here every year for the rest of the children’s childhood. Paddy had also shown him around Kensey House and he agreed it would work perfectly as a holiday retreat for various charities, as well as a family bolthole. If only a few of the family came to stay, the beach cottage was perfect; if everyone descended then they could all pile into the big house.
He admired his sister-in-law’s confidence; she seemed so optimistic but she seemed awfully under prepared for the reality of motherhood. Her heart had already been broken by one romantic misadventure. He wondered how she would cope when she was exhausted and lonely and the romantic glow of motherhood had been washed away by the tiredness. He agreed with the sisters’ assessment that no husband was better than a bad husband, but he was worried for Paddy. It seemed wrong to leave her in a county where she knew no one and was pregnant and all alone. Paddy had laughed and told him it was going to be a great big adventure and he wasn’t to be such a worry wart.
His lips twitched remembering that, and yet parenthood was like being hit by a tsunami. He loved Leo and Will and was increasingly thinking of them as his own flesh and blood. But they were draining at times. He wondered if it would be easier if they were his. Then he would look at Ari, the most patient and loving mother in the world, storm out of the room in a fit of temper and he saw that children were simply exhausting. But at least he and Ari had each other, they also had staff that helped with the load and his folk were only a few miles away. The boys sat in the middle of an entire network of love and support. Down here, Paddy’s baby would have a network of one. Paddy would be completely on her own.
Sitting waiting for his plane to taxi he sent out a few texts to friends in Cornwall suggesting they may want to extend a few invitations out. He didn’t think Paddy would mind and would be likely to say yes to anything that interested her.
***
Pulling back into the drive, having dropped Seb off, Paddy looked around her with a huge smile on her face, she loved it here. The warm July air smelt of the sea and she thought she could detect the hint of a barbeque drifting across from the village. There were some boats out in the bay and Paddy watched as teenagers dived off the sides, shrieking with laughter as they did so. Walking back into the cottage, she picked up the small pile of mail that Michelle had popped through her letterbox. Nick had hired Michelle Fawkes to run the house admin and enterprise and Paddy had seen immediately how good a fit she was. Paddy wasn’t sure how she would manage an assistant but she saw the sense of it especially with her pregnancy. Michelle had previous experience in running country house hotels and this was the same sort of feel Paddy wanted for Kensey House.
Looking at the mail, Paddy could see it was mostly invitations and postcards but a heavy white envelope stood out. She turned it over and saw the return address was from the production company. Tears prickled her eyes. She couldn’t bring herself to open it. What was the point? Instead she placed it on the mantlepiece and decided to try and shake off the sudden sense of total despair. Placing some Sibelius on her record player she flung open the windows and headed down to the beach.
Following the swim Paddy felt re-invigorated. Yes, her life wasn’t going according to plan but so what? She had money, she had family, she had a home and best of all she was pregnant. She and Baby were going to have a wonderful time of it. Flicking on her laptop, she noticed several of her new e-mails were invitations. Typical Seb. How nice to have someone thinking of her and looking out for her. Ari had a good one there. She was worried that accepting these invitations would mean bumping into Hal, but she was going to have to cross that bridge sooner or later. Maybe he was still on honeymoon. Maybe their boat would just sail away and never come back. She was miserable just thinking how much she wanted to see him and also, never see him again.
Damn it. Sink or swim, she had to get on with it. Before she RSVP’d them, she would run them past Jemima. If Jemima still wanted to have anything to do with her. She sent her a quick text saying she was back in Cornwall and did she want to meet up? Now she would discover whether that awful scene at the charity function had sunk her boat. Relieved, the phoned pinged straight back with Jem suggesting a horse ride.
Paddy texted back saying she’d love to but she was a bit pregnant and then laughed when Jem sent a picture of a watermelon and they arranged for Paddy to head over the following day on the single condition that Hal or Bianca were not to be mentioned once. Life was going to be good. She had a new business venture, she had a friend in Jemima and she was pregnant. A whole new life lay before her and she was looking forward to it. Baby gave her a little kick in agreement and Paddy found herself laughing out loud.