Chapter 37
Thirty-Seven
ANDRE
“Anything else you need help with while I’m here?” I ask Wendy as she hands me a hot cup of tea. I glance around the café kitchen, not seeing any other issues now that I’ve fixed her dishwasher.
“No, hunny, but do give these to Ellie for the baby,” she says, handing me a bag. I finish my cup of tea and walk out of the café kitchen after saying goodbye. I wave at the young girl that Wendy has hired to help her, and stop when I see Ellie’s parents sitting at a table. Her dad sees me first and stands up, I watch as her mum nods her head, inviting me over.
“Hello,” I say, holding out my hand to Ellie’s dad, and to my surprise, he accepts it. It’s been a month since they turned up at our house, and Ellie hasn’t talked about them much.
“Please sit down. We all need to talk,” Ellie’s dad says. I nod and slide into the seat he offers next to Ellie’s mum.
“First off, I’m John, and this is my wife, Mary,” he introduces her, and I nod.
“Do you love our daughter?” Mary asks me gently. I’m surprised it’s her that asked.
“Yes, and so do my friends. I have known them all for years, and they are like brothers to me. I know it must be a shock, but we will all spend the rest of our lives loving Ellie,” I say and mean every word. I keep eye contact with Mary until she nods.
“We love our daughter, and we know we haven’t been as supportive as we should have. I can’t say we are okay with this lifestyle you have all chosen, but we want to see our daughter happy. We want to see our grandchild happy,” John says, and I nod with a smile. Ellie is going to be happy that they are going to be in her life. I want my child to have her grandparents around.
“They will be,” I say.
“Please don’t tell Ellie about our conversation. I will call her now and set up a dinner with us all. I want to meet the men my daughter loves and see some baby scans,” Mary says. She looks a little like Ellie when she smiles at me, but she is far sterner than Ellie is. Ellie’s personality seems to be more on her dad’s side.
“Ok,” I say, not wanting to upset them. Ellie needs her parents to accept her life, she doesn’t need all the stress with the baby only weeks away now.
“Another thing,” John says, and I meet his eyes with a question.
“When Drew called us, and told us about your job and the pregnancy, he sounded,” John paused, “well, not right.”
“He threatened Ellie before you showed up. We aren’t letting him anywhere near her again,” I tell them firmly. Ellie may not realise it, but we are making sure someone is always with her. Even if it’s Todd’s sisters or us, we don’t want her alone when we know he isn’t going to give up on her.
“We liked Drew. He makes people like him and can trick people easily. Just be careful. He was obsessed with Ellie and wanted children. He won’t let it go that Ellie is having a baby with you and not him,” he warns me.
“He won’t touch Ellie,” I say. I don’t need to say more when he nods in understanding.
“We will see you soon, Andre,” John says as he gets up at the same time as Mary.
“Nice to meet you both,” I say, and they walk out together. That went a lot better than expected.