Chapter 25 #2
‘Because you’re her big sister and that’s what you do,’ Leo said. More things fell into place. The look on her face when she’d seen that child, for example. ‘That’s why you were asking Caleb questions all the time.’
She nodded again. ‘Not because I fancied him. I was just gathering information.’
‘And why are you telling me now?’
She twisted her fingers together. ‘Partly because I owed you a proper explanation. But mainly because you had shitty, absent parents. If we didn’t tell you, we’d have made you into a shitty, absent parent too, through no fault of your own.
If you ever found out, which, let’s face it, we work in the same building, you might have found out.
You would have been furious and so upset.
I … I couldn’t do that to you.’ Vidya looked up at him when she said it and he felt like she’d scooped something out of his chest.
‘But it’s not me, it’s Caleb,’ Leo said. ‘Does that change things for you? Or for your sister?’
Vidya thought for a moment before she answered. ‘I think Caleb would feel the same way as you would … if he was forced to be an absent dad.’
This was true. In fact, it would be worse for Caleb, who carried around a seething hatred of his absent father. Leo was annoyed by his parents, but he didn’t hate them. He and his sisters kept them at a distance out of necessity, but they still cared.
‘I’ll have to talk to Udeni,’ Vidya said.
‘Tell her that things have changed. Or rather, my conclusion was wrong.’ She gave him an apologetic look, her brows knitted, her expressive eyes sad.
‘I’m so sorry. That must have been such a shock.
I was so sure … It never occurred to me that two people could have the same tattoo in the same place. I’m so sorry.’
‘Understandable.’ He really did understand. He had a more immediate issue though. ‘Caleb will be here soon. Do you want me to tell him?’
She stared at the floor and was quiet for a moment. The only sound in the little office was of them breathing.
‘I think … I think I should tell him,’ said Vidya. ‘My sister is going to meet me in a coffee shop near here later this afternoon. Could he come and meet her then?’
Almost without thinking Leo reached for his computer.
‘You have an hour between your lunch meeting and your meeting with Somersby.’ She sounded weary. ‘I’ve sent you a meeting request already. It should say Waterloo on it. I thought that once you knew, you’d probably want to meet her to talk to her.’
He moved his hand slowly back. ‘You’ve thought of everything,’ he said. Despite the appearance of barely holding it together, Vidya was still organised. He admired that.
She raised her eyes to his and he felt a pang of longing.
All this time he’d been hurt and angry at what he’d thought was her rejection of him.
Now he understood why she had reacted the way she did, but he couldn’t unsee the look of horror on her face.
The awfulness of that moment was etched so clearly into his mind that he wasn’t sure he could ever go back to the way things had been before. No matter how much he wanted to.
‘I guess I should tell him today, then,’ Vidya said. ‘There’s never going to be a good time to tell him, is there? It’s pretty earth shattering.’
‘I’ve always thought that becoming a parent was a binary thing. One minute you’re not and then you are and you’ll never be the same again.’ Then Leo thought of his parents and added, bitterly, ‘At least that’s how it should be.’
‘I think it’s a lot of work.’ She sighed.
‘Yes.’
They sat together in silence for a moment, separated by a few feet of carpet and a whole gulf of misaligned emotions. The door opened and into this awkward silence came Caleb.
He stopped, door still open, when he saw Vidya.
‘Oh,’ he said. ‘Should I leave?’
Leo shook his head. ‘No. No. Come in. Close the door.’
Caleb did as Leo asked. As he approached Vidya, he said, ‘What’s going on? Has Charlie been shit-stirring again?’
She looked at Leo, the message in her eyes was clear, as if she’d spoken out loud, ‘What do I do?’
She herself had said, there was no good time.
Leo stood up. ‘Vidya has something to tell you, Caleb. I think you should sit down.’
***
Vidya quickly repeated what she’d told Leo about the events of the party. She was more coherent than she had been before. Probably because it was the second time she was saying it. Or maybe because telling Caleb wasn’t nearly as stressful as when she’d thought Leo was the baby’s father.
‘Elsa!’ Caleb looked delighted. ‘I thought there was someone you reminded me of. I just thought you were familiar from seeing you around the office.’ He clasped his hands together. ‘So, her real name’s Udeni?’
‘You thought her name was really Elsa,’ Leo said. It wasn’t a question. It was too silly.
‘That’s what she said it was at the party,’ Caleb said. ‘When I tried to ask again, she sang “Let It Go” at me.’
Yes, well, that tracked. That was the sort of thing Udeni would do. Should she tell him about the pregnancy? She glanced at Leo, who was leaning against his desk, next to where Caleb was sitting with his arms crossed. He looked unfairly handsome. He gave her an encouraging nod.
‘Um. Caleb,’ she said. ‘The thing is … Udeni is pregnant. We’re pretty sure it’s from that night.’
Caleb stopped. His mouth was frozen in a silent ‘oh’. He looked back at Leo, who put a gentle hand on his shoulder.
‘I’m sorry to spring this on you,’ Vidya said. ‘You’re going to be a father.’
Caleb still wasn’t saying anything.
‘Uh. Udeni didn’t want to tell you at first. She doesn’t want you to think there’s any pressure. She doesn’t need you to be involved. It just seemed like the ri—’
‘How can I not be involved?’ Caleb said, loudly enough that Leo glanced outside the office. Responding to Leo’s pressure on his shoulder, Caleb dropped his voice and said, ‘If it’s my baby, I want to be involved. I’m not going to be some sort of arsehole dad who isn’t there for his kid.’
Which was exactly what she’d thought he’d say.
‘I know,’ she said. ‘I thought you’d see it that way.
My sister … she can be very stubborn, but I think she understands what this would mean to you now.
’ She really hoped this was true. Udeni was probably going to be furious that she’d told two people instead of one.
It didn’t matter. Caleb was her friend and this meant a lot to him.
So, she would deal with whatever Udeni threw at her.
Besides, the baby would miss out on an adoring father, which seemed unfair.
She explained about the meeting. ‘I’ll change the meeting request to Caleb,’ she said to Leo.
Caleb looked from one to the other. ‘Wait a minute. What does Leo have to do with any of this?’
Vidya groaned and dropped her face into her hands. Ugh. As if she hadn’t been embarrassed enough already.
Thankfully, Leo came to her rescue. ‘It’s a long story,’ he said. ‘I’ll fill you in later. Can we focus on the important part – about you meeting with Udeni?’
Caleb nodded. ‘Right. Right. Yes. Er … I’ll be there.’ He looked back at Vidya and suddenly seemed scared and young.
She patted his hand, which was gripping the arm rest. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘It’ll be fine. She’s not expecting anything of you. So don’t stress.’
‘Easy for you to say,’ said Caleb. ‘A girl I met once, who didn’t even get around to telling me her real name, is going to have my baby. That’s the definition of stress, surely.’
She smiled. ‘I suppose it is.’ It was time to go. Her own feelings were in turmoil right now. She needed some time to sort those out. Besides, she had actual work to do. She stood up. ‘I’ll see you later.’
Vidya glanced at Leo, whose face was giving nothing away.
He was clearly focusing on Caleb right now.
That was probably a good thing. She said her goodbyes and left, trying not to cringe.
How on earth was she going to get over the embarrassment of her actions?
She had jumped to a conclusion, blown her chance with Leo, then told him he’d got someone pregnant, only to find out that she’d got the wrong guy. He must think she was a lunatic.