Chapter Forty-Six Lee
Chapter Forty-Six
Lee
‘Who is it?’ I ask, having hastily pulled one of Nico’s jumpers on over my pyjamas. ‘Is everything okay?’
‘Um,’ Nico steps back so that I can see the person standing in the doorway.
‘Gran!’ I gasp, my brain unable to make sense of the sight of my grandmother standing on the doorstep, immaculately elegant in a long camel-coloured coat and a vintage Hermès scarf.
‘Hello, Ophelia,’ she says. ‘Are you going to invite me in?’
‘I… of course, come in.’
She steps inside, looking around with interest, stripping off her soft, leather gloves, and I’m certain her keen eyes miss nothing.
Her posture is relaxed, but there’s thick tension in the air. Nico blinks at me, looking dazed. To be fair, a couple of minutes ago he was naked with my tongue in his mouth so it’s quite the turnaround.
Gran turns to him. ‘Perhaps you’d like to put on a shirt?’ There’s a glint of mischief in her eyes, even as her voice remains placid.
Nico looks down at his naked torso like he’d forgotten his body even existed. ‘Shit,’ he mutters, running a hand through his already tousled hair. ‘Sorry, yes, I’ll just…’ He gestures to the bedroom, casting me an apologetic look.
‘Would you like a cup of tea?’ I ask, taking charge of the situation while he disappears. We’re all British here so there’s not a single awkward situation that cannot be smoothed over with a cup of tea.
‘That would be lovely,’ Gran says, moving around and taking everything in. As I fuss around making three cups of tea I try to see it through her eyes, the way I saw it only a couple of weeks ago. With a start, I realise how comfortable I am here now, how at home.
I also notice that things have changed in the last three weeks.
It’s tidier for a start, and there are several pairs of perilously high heels lined up next to the door alongside Phoebe and Nico’s shoes.
There’s a romance novel from the library on the coffee table.
The calendar on the fridge has my name on it, noting when I’ll pick Phoebe up from school.
There’s a shopping list in my handwriting consisting almost entirely of green vegetables.
Underneath, in Phoebe’s round hand are the additions: ‘Marshmallows, candy bars, cereal (the GOOD kind!!!!)’.
Nico has tried to add ‘flax seed’ multiple times and it has been viciously crossed out.
I place the cups of tea on the table, gesturing for Gran to take a seat. Nico hasn’t reappeared, and I guess he’s giving us a minute on our own.
‘Are you feeling okay?’ I ask anxiously. ‘After the journey and everything?’
‘I had several glasses of champagne and slept like a baby,’ Gran says coolly. ‘The journey was no trouble.’
Okay then, I probably shouldn’t have immediately questioned her health when she looks absolutely fine, but I couldn’t help myself. I take a deep breath.
‘Can I say I’m sorry first?’ I blurt. ‘I hate that we fought. It’s not like us.’
Gran’s shoulders come down. ‘I know. I’m sorry as well. I said some things I shouldn’t have because I was frustrated and it was wrong of me.’
I look down at my mug. ‘I needed to hear it.’
Gran tilts her head, studying me. ‘Maybe, but I could have worded it differently. I hurt your feelings and that’s the last thing I’d ever want to do.’
I shrug, fighting the urge to smooth things over without acknowledging just how hurt I’ve been.
Nico walks out, dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt that I think he’s used my travel steamer on, and I bite back a smile.
‘Everything okay out here?’ he asks.
‘I was just apologising,’ Gran says.
‘Good.’ Nico takes the seat next to mine, cups his warm hand at the back of my neck before stroking my back. It’s a casual touch of reassurance, and a claiming, and Gran’s brows lift.
‘I see,’ she says archly, and Nico just sips his tea.
Now Gran really does smile. ‘Well, it’s about time.’
‘So everyone keeps telling me,’ Nico smiles back at her, and the easy affection that has always existed between them is obvious.
‘I can’t believe you’re here,’ I say, shaking my head.
‘I can’t believe you thought I’d miss the fun,’ Gran looks miffed. ‘After that officious little lawyer called me, I booked myself on the first flight. Even your brother’s in on the game before me. You can imagine how surprised he was when I turned up at the inn this morning.’
‘You’re staying at the inn as well?’ Nico asks.
‘I am, Magda arranged it.’
‘Is Magda in touch with my entire family?’ I ask. ‘Next thing you know Mum and Dad will be turning up.’
‘God, I hope not.’ Gran wrinkles her nose.
‘I don’t know,’ Nico says thoughtfully, ‘I have one or two things I’d like to say to them.’
Gran’s eyes gleam with something like approval, and then she delicately clears her throat. ‘It’s beautiful work you’ve done at the inn, Nicolas. My room is delightful and Magda’s thrilled. I want you to give me the full tour later.’
He ducks his chin, obviously pleased.
‘Anyway,’ Gran sets her mug down, ‘are the two of you going to fill me in on the whole story now?’
So the two of us take it in turns, and as expected, Gran enjoys the whole saga a lot, only expressing disappointment that she wasn’t here to take part in the ruse.
‘The lawyer would have believed it if I’d been around,’ she says. ‘The occasion called for a level of gravitas you were clearly missing.’
‘You do have a lot of gravitas,’ Nico agrees.
‘I think we had more than enough enthusiastic participants, actually,’ I say.
Gran’s glossy red lips form a pout. ‘Amateurs at deception from the sounds of it.’
‘God, you and Phoebe are going to love each other,’ Nico sighs.
Gran’s eyes light. ‘My first great-granddaughter. I can’t wait to finally meet her.’
I know that Gran would consider Nico’s daughter part of her family regardless of our relationship, but the words still give me a thrill. We’re really doing it, blending our worlds, our lives together. My family is Phoebe’s family in an even more real and tangible way.
‘How long are you planning to stay?’ I ask.
‘Now that you’re here I guess I should change my flight…
I was going to go back to London on Saturday.
’ I’m smiling wide as I look at Nico. It feels like a reprieve, a few more days together, and his eyes hold the same mix of relief and happiness that I’m experiencing, but when I look back at Gran her own face has frozen in a mask of disapproval.
‘I don’t understand,’ Gran says, her voice clipped.
‘If you and Nico are in love and if, as it’s perfectly obvious is the case, you’re so happy here, why were you planning your return to London so soon?
’ The sharp look in her eyes makes it pretty clear that she knows why and she’s not happy about it.
I need to handle this carefully, but it’s hard to find the right words. I take a deep breath. ‘I understand why you were angry and frustrated before. I’m sorry if I was hovering or being too pushy, but I’m not going to apologise for caring about you or for worrying about your health.’
Her mouth flattens. ‘This isn’t about me. I don’t want you to stop living your life because of me. I won’t be the reason you’re somewhere you don’t want to be.’
‘I’m not.’ I glance at Nico and his hand squeezes my knee under the table. ‘Nico and I have talked about it, and we’re working it out.’
If anything, Gran looks more upset. ‘You don’t need to work it out,’ she bursts out. ‘I am perfectly capable of looking after myself, and I’m sick of being made to feel like a frail old lady.’
My adrenaline spikes at the anger in her voice.
‘Hold up.’ Nico’s voice is low and firm. ‘No one thinks of you that way, but last year you had a heart attack and from what I gather you’ve not been doing much to take care of yourself since.’
‘I don’t think that’s any of your business,’ Gran says petulantly.
‘It is my business because I love you, and so does Lee.’ His tone brooks no disagreement. ‘Maybe you don’t want to think about how scary last year was, but we were all there, too. No one wants that again.’
‘So I’m the villain because I want to live my life to the fullest?’ Gran looks between the two of us. ‘Because I want that for you as well? I want your life to be your own, not one that revolves around me while I become some sort of burden.’
‘Stop!’ I’m surprised by the sharpness in my voice, and by the looks of it so are Nico and Gran.
‘This is what it all comes down to, and I don’t know how to make you understand.
I love you. You’re not a burden and you never could be.
Can you really not see that I would want to be with you, to spend time with you, yes, to take care of you if and when you need it?
Are you telling me you wouldn’t do the same for me? You already did. Was I a burden?’
‘Of course not,’ she huffs, but I’m on a roll now.
‘I’m not just making this choice for you,’ I say.
‘It’s not selfless and it’s not only about your health.
You’re one of the most important people in the world to me.
I don’t want us to live on the other side of the world from each other.
Nico gets that, he understands that we have to find a way to make this work for all of us, because our family isn’t just me and Nico, it’s you and Magda.
It’s Jack and Cynthie. It’s Phoebe most of all.
We’re going to have to figure this out together.
You get to live where you want and how you want, but you don’t get to tell me how to feel about any of it.
You don’t get to tell me that you shouldn’t matter or be taken into consideration. ’
Gran is quiet for a long moment.
‘And,’ I add finally, ‘I do want you to take your health more seriously, not because I want to make your life smaller, but because I want there to be as much of it as possible. I want you here for all the milestones. I want you to know Phoebe, I want you to know Jack and Cynthie’s kids, I want Christmases and birthdays and I want Nico to take pictures of all of it.
I want an album full of photographs. I want a family, and how can I have that without you? ’
Nico has gone very still beside me.
Silence pours through the room, broken only by the ticking of the clock on the wall.
Gran blinks. ‘All right, Ophelia,’ she says at last. ‘Perhaps it’s not as straightforward as I thought, and it’s possible that my pride has been getting in the way a little bit…’
Her gaze moves from Nico to me and back again, her expression troubled. ‘I’ll have to think about it.’
‘Sure,’ I shrug. ‘We all will. It’s not a problem that needs an immediate solution. We have time to work this out.’
‘For now, perhaps you can show me around this town of yours?’ Gran suggests.
I smile. ‘I’d love to.’
‘I’ll come too,’ Nico says. ‘I can give you a tour of the inn afterwards.’
There’s a knock at the door.
Nico sighs. ‘I swear we never used to have unannounced visitors before you turned up, Daisy.’
I hold up my hands. ‘I don’t see how it can possibly be my fault when I’m the most anti-social person on the planet.’
‘Who could it be this time?’ Nico mutters as he pushes his chair back. ‘Your ex-boyfriend, perhaps? My high school nemesis? My father back from the dead?’
To our surprise, it’s Frankie, looking extraordinary in a teal satin suit.
‘If you’ve come by to threaten to feed me to the pigs, now is not the time,’ Nico grumbles. ‘We’ve got a guest.’
Frankie gives one of his booming laughs. ‘Sure, pigs are efficient but there’s the smell to consider. What you want to do is dump a body in the desert and let the vultures have at it.’
‘Good to know.’
‘Who,’ Gran perks up, her eyes glued to Frankie as he sweeps inside, ‘is that?’
I watch as his gaze lands on my grandmother and a wide smile breaks over his face.
Oh god, I think hopelessly.
‘Yeah,’ Nico mutters, clearly reading my mind and imagining the havoc these two combined could wreak. ‘We should have seen that one coming.’
‘Are we interrupting?’ a voice asks, and Cynthie stands in the doorway, hand in hand with Jack.
‘Of course we’re not interrupting,’ Jack jumps in before Nico can come back with a scathing response. ‘We’re their cherished visitors. My best friend, and my little sister.’ The smile he gives Nico implies that he’s still not sure if he should be making outdated threats to protect my honour.
I try not to roll my eyes. ‘We’re about to give Gran and Frankie a tour of Roseport. Why don’t you join us?’
‘We’d love that!’ Cynthie’s face lights up. ‘I’m so into this place.’
‘Cynthie made friends with half the town in Darlene’s bar last night,’ Jack says. ‘Apparently they’re having a bonus Dollyoke night before we go so we don’t miss out.’
Nico groans. ‘There’s no possible way this ends without me having to sing “Jolene” in a bar full of camera phones, is there?’
‘Shouldn’t think so,’ my brother the West End star grins, any animosity forgotten. ‘This place is amazing. Think we’ll be able to fit in a trip to Acadia? We haven’t hiked together for ages.’
Nico perks up at the mention of the nearby National Park. ‘Yeah, could do.’ He’s got that dreamy look in his eye that means he’s thinking about taking photographs.
‘Magda also sent us with some news.’ Cynthie is practically dancing from foot to foot. ‘She’s throwing a party at the inn on Saturday night to celebrate the reopening!’
‘A party?’ Nico looks panicked. ‘I haven’t finished the place yet.’
‘Don’t be silly, Nico,’ Gran chides. ‘It all looks wonderful.’
‘And Jack and I can only stay a couple more days,’ Cynthie looks genuinely sad about it. ‘We want to make sure we meet everyone.’
Nico has no defence against Cynthie’s pleading gaze. It’s literally Oscar worthy.
‘Fine,’ he sighs. ‘I suppose it won’t hurt. I can probably get to most things over the next couple of days anyway.’
‘I can help you,’ my brother who doesn’t know one end of a screwdriver from the other pipes up.
‘No, thanks,’ Nico snorts. ‘Remember when you asked me to help you put up those shelves at your place?’
Jack huffs. ‘In fairness, I had no idea that pipe was there.’
‘I told you to use the wall scanner beforehand,’ Nico grumbles. ‘And you didn’t even know a stopcock was a thing, let alone where it was.’
‘I thought you were joking,’ Jack appeals to the room. ‘I mean, come on… stopcock?’
‘As I was being sprayed in the face by a metric ton of water, I wasn’t really in the mood for cracking wise. I’ll get the jobs done myself, thanks,’ Nico says firmly.
‘Perfect,’ Cynthie claps her hands together, ‘that’s settled then. Saturday night.’ She exchanges a sly look with Gran that definitely makes me nervous. ‘And don’t worry, Nico. It’ll just be a nice, simple affair.’