Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
Flora
Having never told anyone in such detail the events of that night that haunted me in my waking hours as well as my sleeping ones, not even Maddie, I felt both unburdened and troubled; having shared the events of my parents death with Maurizio and him showing no negative response to my confessions had made me feel lighter, but the heaviness of reliving that night weighed down on my shoulders as I got ready for Bea’s baby shower.
After my meltdown that morning, I had lost an amount of time.
I was unsure if I had fallen asleep or just blocked out the time that was missing from my memory.
One minute I was being held by Maurizio and the next thing I knew, I was waking up on my bed with a note at my side telling me that he would see me later, that he needed to get the children’s breakfast and that he was honoured for me to have shared something so personal.
This afternoon was a happy occasion. Bea and Seb were revealing the gender of their baby.
Celebrating their move into parenthood in a matter of a couple of months and they were allowing me to share that with them so I would focus on the good in my life, the present and the future, whatever that held rather than the pain of my past.
Casually dressed in a summer, floral tea dress and wedged sandals, I skipped down to my car, leaving the house via the separate entrance my home benefited from.
I allowed myself a small smirk at the familiar sight of mine and Maurizio’s cars parked side by side.
Was it because of our recent closeness, and I didn’t mean sex, that gave me an intensified rush at the image of anything that linked us as if we were an actual couple.
My head told me that this thing between us, whilst intense and special to each of us, it was earlier than early days and it could fizzle out as easy as it had fizzled in.
My heart on the other hand was heading for a place with picket fences and happily ever afters.
The sound of a car unlocking startled me, especially as my keys were still in my handbag.
“Flora!” Rosie’s cry coincided with the appearance of Craig running towards me.
“We’re going to have cake and play with Charlotte and meet Bea’s baby,” Craig told me excitedly as I became aware of Maurizio’s approach.
“We won’t be meeting the baby just yet, sweetheart, but we will have cake and Charlotte will be there to play with.”
“The baby isn’t cooked yet, is it?” Rosie took my hand in hers and gave it a squeeze as she looked up at me, her big brown eyes smiling as much as her mouth.
“Cooked?” Maurizio looked between us.
“That’s what Flora said about Bea’s baby, and Carrie’s, they’re not cooked.”
Maurizio’s smile and quirk of his eyebrow warmed me far more than I was sure it should have.
“Ah, cooked, I see.” Dropping to his haunches until he was eye to eye with Craig, Maurizio explained to him, “What Rosie and Flora mean is that the baby isn’t ready to born yet.
He, or she, needs to stay in Bea’s tummy for a while longer and then when they’ve got bigger and stronger, you can meet them. ”
Craig nodded while Rosie watched on with a warm and loving smile for her brother and her father, but why wouldn’t she?
Her brother was literally her other half and her father, well, could this man be any more perfect in his little girl’s eyes?
Or attractive, I added for myself? I didn’t think so, but then every time I pondered that question, he disproved that he couldn’t be.
“Let’s get you two strapped in and then we’ll be on our way.”
The children climbed into the car while Maurizio held the door open for them.
“I’ll be off too,” I told them all, a small wave confirming my intention to get into my own car.
“You’re coming to Bea’s party too? You can sit next to Daddy,” Rosie told me rather than asking.
“I am, but I’m going in my car.”
“Why?” Craig asked. “There’s lots of room for you, isn’t there, Daddy?”
“It does seem foolish to take two cars rather than one.”
“I don’t want people to get the wrong idea.”
Maurizio, having strapped the children in and closed the door, turned to face me. “What would that be then, the wrong idea?”
What did he want me to say to that? I wasn’t even sure what the right idea was never mind the wrong one. Was he playing with me, teasing me or provoking a reaction from his question? His next words suggested my face showed the confusion I felt.
“Sorry. I’m not being an arsehole, but us arriving separately when we’re travelling from the same starting point and heading for the same destination might be more likely to trigger the wrong idea, or more likely the right idea.”
He made perfect sense as did the three-year-olds who were staring at me until I followed their father to the passenger door where he paused before opening the door for me.
“Are you okay? Shit…no…that was a stupid question . . . I meant after this morning rather than what happened with your parents—”
I cut him off. He was usually so confident and articulate but my revelations from that morning had rendered him a babbling mess. Trying not to overthink the impact of him knowing about my parents, I replied. “I know what you mean, and I am, thank you.”
“Good, and if I didn’t say this earlier, whether you believe it or not, it wasn’t your fault. Now, we need to go or we’ll be so late the baby might just be cooked!”
Bea’s baby shower was intimate and when we arrived there were a few people already there; Carrie, Gabe, Gabe’s parents, some of the other nannies we knew including Ash and several other people I didn’t recognise.
Gabe and Carrie, perhaps Carrie more than Gabe were leading the celebrations so that at one point Maurizio and I ended up manning the barbecue which was fun.
Okay, fun might not be the first adjective you might think of when barbecuing but it was, although that might have had more to do with the fact that it allowed us to spend time together, talking and laughing.
Our plan for discretion might have been hampered slightly if the knowing glances exchanged between Bea and Carrie were noticed by anyone other than us, whereas Ash made very immature gestures to me when nobody was looking.
It was after one such incident that I decided to introduce them.
“Ash, this is my boss, Maurizio . . .” I stammered slightly at my use of his first name rather than using a more formal term or at least the name most others used, Maurice.
The flush spread across my face from my neck and despite the sunny day, the warmth I felt radiating from me was nothing to do with the heat of the weather and everything to do with the fact that I may have intentionally made a faux pas with my indiscretion.
“Ash.” Maurizio extended a hand, ignoring my use of his name and my awkwardness.
Ash gave me a sideways smirk while the two men still shook hands. “Maurizio.”
“Ash is a manny,” I announced, causing both men to face me as Bea and Carrie came to stop alongside us accompanied by Seb and Gabe. I continued, “Because he is a man and a nanny, a manny.”
Ash shook his head, but had released Maurizio’s hand, Maurizio who was looking at me with genuine amusement and something that looked similar to endearment.
“A manny?” Maurizio asked.
Ash replied. “Yeah, don’t judge her too harshly because these two . . .” he pointed between Carrie and Bea, “. . . they think they’re funnier than they are and it’s rubbing off on your gir—” he cut himself off while I stared in disbelief that he had slipped up in that way.
I could have sworn that my other friends choked while Seb openly sniggered and Gabe muttered something about, I told you, Mo, fucked.
“Nanny, your nanny!” Ash shouted, drawing more attention from the people around us, including the children who were playing nearby.
“Ash, Flora is our nanny, not Daddy’s,” Rosie told him.
“Daddy is a grown up so he doesn’t have a nanny,” Craig added.
“Yeah, you’d think so,” chipped in Seb with a single laugh that was cut off by Bea smacking his arm while Gabe chuckled, possibly more at his friend’s chastisement than the comment itself.
If I had thought Carrie and Bea were a tag team, they had nothing on their men who were like a comedy double act. Charlotte moved closer and as she spoke I thought that the children might be more of a tag team than any adults I’d previously labelled that way.
“Sometimes daddies do have a nanny because that’s what my daddy used to say about Mummy before she was my mummy, he called her my nanny.
” She giggled while her father stared wildly and Carrie blushed.
Seb laughed, earning himself another smack from Bea.
“And Uncle Seb called her nanny too, he still does sometimes and Daddy says bad words when he does but Uncle Seb laughs.”
Uncle Seb was still laughing and as it became clear that he was about to get another smack, from Bea, Charlotte intervened.
“Bea, we don’t hit people, it’s not nice, is it, Mummy?”
Carrie looked conflicted. She had clearly told the little girl that hitting people was wrong but knew that Bea wasn’t really hitting Seb. “No, we don’t, or we shouldn’t hit people, but Bea was—”
This kid was ballsy beyond belief and had a confidence most grown women would be in awe of. I certainly was and whilst I loved that about her, I was glad I didn’t have to deal with it on a daily basis.
Having cut her mother off, she turned to her beloved Uncle Seb. “Are you okay, Uncle Seb?”
Maurizio wore a huge grin as he watched the little girl stretch up and rub her uncle’s arm.
“Do you want to play with me and Rosie and Craig, we have kind hands, don’t we?”
Both Rosie and Craig nodded, the latter offering Seb a hand, an offer he accepted and was dutifully led away by Craig and Charlotte leaving Rosie to disapprovingly shake her head at Bea whilst standing with one hand on her hip.
“Bea, you can’t hurt people. Kind hands,” she said, repeating Charlotte’s earlier words and then with a final shake of her head, she followed the other children.
Bea looked shell shocked and as she rubbed a hand across her swollen belly, I thought she might cry.
“Sorry,” began Gabe. “You know how she is with Seb.”
“She hates me, and I swear she is bringing in reinforcements with Rosie and Craig.”
“I’m sure she doesn’t hate you,” I offered, hoping to reassure her but she looked doubtful.
“She doesn’t,” Carrie said with certainty. “But she loves Uncle Seb beyond words and although you were giving him a dig for being a smart arse, she doesn’t understand that.”
Bea nodded.
“So, you’ll need to find alternative ways to punish him if you can’t use kind hands,” Ash said, making the rest of us laugh at his impersonation of the children with the last two words.
Maurizio spoke in what felt like forever, addressing the whirlwind nature of Charlotte, directing his words to Gabe.
“I like your kid, I mean she’s scary but likeable, but honestly, I’m kind of glad that if she chooses to go into law that I’ll be retired before there’s a possibility of being pitted against her in a courtroom. ”
Gabe’s mum suddenly appeared and linked her arm through Bea’s. “Right then, Mummy, are you ready to tell the world if we are backing team blue or team pink?”
With a smile splitting her face, Bea happily allowed Christine to lead her away.