Chapter 82
Chapter Eighty-Two
E vie moved in with Chris the following week. It hadn’t taken her long to settle into the expansive house, and Chris was relieved when she took over watering the pot plants and feeding the hens he kept in his backyard. She rekindled a vegetable patch that had been overgrown for years, and threw away some old curtains in one of the bedrooms.
Apart from that, she loved everything the way it was. She bought a pair of old picture frames at the market that were perfect for displaying the black and white photos when they were young. The images hung next to the penny keyring, so that she could look at them every day when she made her breakfast.
Chris reorganised his work so that he wasn’t away so often, and most days when they weren’t at work, they spent at the beach, fishing or walking.
They had been living together for six months when her mother, Chris’s father, and her father, came to visit. There was plenty of room for everyone to stay, and the house was filled with laughter and chatter.
Thank goodness she hadn’t seen her parents directly after she left Bob. It would have killed her father to see her looking the way she did back then.
The night before their visitors were due to leave, they sat on the veranda eating a spread of seafood that Chris had organised. Succulent crayfish and mud crabs were displayed on a white plate, their shells still intact with the meat removed and just resting on them, waiting to be eaten. Bowls of prawns sat next to other dishes of oysters, and a large tray of crumbed fish and a large bowl of salad from the garden, added to the banquet.
As they ate, they shared stories, some sad but mostly happy ones. Evie’s dad clinked his glass with a spoon and when everyone stopped talking, he made a toast to ‘their family’. His eyes grew moist, and he wrapped his arm around Evie’s shoulders as he spoke. He talked about the years of pain they had put behind them, and how now was the time to look forward, especially for Chris and Evie as they started their new life together.
Evie’s mind hummed with contentment, and she had never felt surrounded by so much love. To be reunited properly with her mum and dad after all the tumultuous years she hadn’t seen them, and to see them looking so happy, was the best thing she could have wished for. And then there was Chris, who leaned over and to everyone’s delight, kissed her tenderly .
Evie’s father kept looking at her with so much love in his eyes that she nearly burst into tears. He kissed the top of her head, mumbling his words with that distinctive Italian accent that warmed her heart. ‘It means everything to all of us to be together. May there be many more celebrations to come.’ He winked at her and asked, ‘And when is the baby due?’
Evie’s mother gasped. ‘I thought of posing that question, but I wasn’t game to ask.’
Chris placed his arm around Evie’s shoulders. ‘We weren’t going to announce it until Evie was a bit further along.’
‘How could you tell?’ Evie said, a quizzical look on her face.
‘You have a glow about you. A motherly glow,’ her father replied.