Chapter 44
Chapter Forty-Four
Flora
Nerves were swirling low down in my tummy as we got closer to the house.
Somehow, I hadn’t considered Maddie’s presence with my friends beyond being pleased to see her and realising how much I missed her.
Ash had explained that he had contacted her through social media to ask if she had heard from me since the night of the baby shower when I had spoken to him.
They had shared their concerns for me and the journey here was sealed.
Once the pleasure at seeing her and filling all of my friends in on the current state of my life had been dealt with, I had truly thought about my sister being away from home.
It wasn’t that far, a couple of hours, but it quickly transpired that she had planned on staying for a while.
Staying with me. That fact along with uncertainty as to who would be waiting in the house, and by who, I meant Sophie, who was the cause of those pesky nerves.
Should I have asked Maurizio’s permission to have a guest. Casting my mind back, I remembered when I had moved here and he had passed a comment about having my own entrance to my part of the house and boyfriends coming by, so, presumably that meant that house guests were acceptable, not of the boyfriend variety, but still.
As the children let go of my hands and ran towards the house, I noticed that alongside my car was Maurizio’s and one I didn’t recognise, but Sophie’s had gone.
Initially, that filled me with relief that there wouldn’t be an awkward interaction waiting for me when I got indoors, but that was short lived as I seriously overthought the possible reasons for her absence.
Ahead of me the front door opened, revealing Maurizio and another man, presumably the owner of the unknown car.
He was tall like Maurizio and of a similar build with the same dark hair and eyes, perhaps a little older, but not much.
As they moved closer, the resemblance was unmistakable.
The children squealed and were now barrelling in the men’s direction.
“Daddy, Uncle Nico,” they both called in unison.
Well, that answered the question of this man’s identity. Maurizio’s brother. I became aware of Maddie’s voice and a tug on my arm.
“Which one is Daddy and is the other one up for grabs?”
I burst out laughing, not only at her use of Daddy, which was bloody weird, but her immediate bounce back of checking the status of the other one. Maurizio was smiling at me while Nico had scooped the children up so that one sat on each of his hips.
“Hey,” Maurizio said as we stopped before them. “This is my brother, Nico.” He looked at Maddie and offered an outstretched hand. “Maddie?”
My sister scowled.
“I recognise you from Flora’s photos.”
“Ah, then you must be Da–”
I cut her off. The last thing I needed was for her to call him Daddy to his face. My cutting off wasn’t quite quick enough though judging by the matching smirks each of the men wore.
“Maddie, this is Maurizio, my, erm, Maurizio.” Why wouldn’t the earth just open up and swallow me and put me out of my misery?
“Pleasure to meet you,” Maurizio said, politeness personified.
“Hmm, jury’s still out for me.” There was no mistaking her warning tone or the undercurrent of the inference that he needed to prove himself to her.
Nico had put the children down and was extending his own hand, to me first. “Flora, so pleased to meet you at last. Between Mama and Maurizio, I feel I already know you.” He raised my hand and lowered his lips to it and landed a kiss to the back of it, startling me.
“Will you knock it off!” Maurizio said, more of a threatening statement than question as he hit his brother’s shoulder.
Nico laughed but did release my hand and quickly turned to Maddie, taking hers now. “Absolutely thrilled to make your acquaintance, Maddie.”
My sister giggled and as Nico’s lips gently kissed her knuckles I swore I heard her draw in a breath before saying, “Not as thrilled as me.”
Maurizio looked as though he had been hit over the head with his wide eyes and stunned expression before muttering something involving unbelievable and of course he did.
“Shall we go in?” I asked the children, already ushering them through the door.
Nico and Maddie were chatting with the children at the table as Maurizio and I moved around the kitchen making drinks, my focus on the children and trying to think of the best way to broach the subject of my sister staying with me for however long that might be, although I reasoned we were talking a few days, no more.
“This is a surprise, Maddie.”
At least I didn’t have to worry about raising the subject of my house guest. “For me too. Ash contacted her.”
“I see, or at least I think I do. Me, because of me, you and Sophie?”
I nodded. “The girls didn’t know about Sophie until I told them. Bea seems hurt by hearing it from me.”
“I bet, but Maddie . . . she doesn’t like me, does she?”
I laughed, relieved that his concern was not about my sister being here just about her possible dislike of him. “She told you, jury’s out. I’ve invited her to stay, with me.”
“That will be nice for you.” He sounded entirely genuine.
Nico’s laughter sounded behind us and turning we both saw him and my sister getting along famously. “Not as nice as for Nico.” Our laughter stopped theirs but at least Maddie was being made to feel welcome.
“Mummy’s home,” cried Sophie, stemming all the laughter.
“What the fuck! I don’t even know where to start, Flo!
Daddy is hot, but his brother . . .” Maddie released a long, low exhale.
“Marks out of two, I’d give him one!” She cackled at her own quip I hadn’t heard for a while as she followed me through my front door.
“This is nice and your video calls didn’t do it justice.
But back to this fucked up situation. Daddy – gorgeous. ”
I rolled my eyes. “Are you going to persist with the daddy thing? Of course you are,” I responded for myself.
“So, Daddy, dreamy, but could be a twat. Then we have the wife! Friendly, attractive, kids love her, but her and daddy, no chemistry. Kids are a bloody delight but the real jewel in the crown is big brother, Nico, he is seriously hot to trot!”
“Maddie!”
“What? I don’t know that you can judge me when you and Maurizio have been getting down and dirty.” She paused as she went to sit down on the sofa. “Is this spot safe?”
“You are bloody disgusting.” My laughter sounded around us as I joined her on the sofa. “I am really glad you’re here, Mads. I’ve missed you.”
“Me too,” she told me as she pulled me into a hug and kissed the top of my head. “Now tell me everything you know about Naughty Nico.”
The next couple of days were strange; not awkward strange, but just a little odd.
Maurizio and I hadn’t seen much of each other.
Maddie was staying with me so late night rendezvous weren’t possible, and I hadn’t been to his bed or in the main house outside of working hours since Sophie had returned.
That sudden realisation bothered me now, even with my sister’s observation of there being no chemistry between Maurizio and her.
However, I now felt like the side chick, the one the wife knew about but turned a blind eye to for the sake of respectability and the family unit.
This whole situation was messing with my head and the banging down of cups and bowls on the breakfast table confirmed it.
“I don’t know what the cereal has done to you but I think it’s learned its lesson now.” Maurizio laughed as I eyed the cereal that had escaped the confines of the box as I had thumped it on the table.
Turning, it had been my intention to snap or to point out that the cereal was the least of my problems, but seeing a freshly showered Maurizio smiling at me with nothing but consideration and care, and perhaps a little desire too, I did no more than smile and more gently add the cutlery to the table.
“That’s better. I like to see you smile.”
“This is hard, us.”
Pulling me around to face him, he nodded. “And for me, too. I miss you.”
What did any of that even mean?
With his fingers settling beneath my chin, he tilted my face to look up at his where his eyes filled with sincerity and warmth. “It’s true. How long does Maddie intend to stay with you?”
For a few seconds, maybe longer, I was speechless.
While I was talking about spending time with him, feeling relatively free to act and interact naturally with him, to spend brief moments together when the children were not around, like now, setting up for breakfast or stolen kisses while they napped or hidden in quiet corners or under the cover of night, but what he heard and what he missed was the sex.
The sex that had only occurred in my bed since Sophie had returned. Was that a red flag?
Staring up at him, he seemed to realise what he had said, the meaning of it or at least what he could now see I had heard.
“No, not what I meant. I miss you, not sex.” He hesitated.
“That’s a lie, I do miss sex.” Again, he hesitated, his look of horror intensifying.
“With you, I miss sex with you, but I miss being with you, spending time together, but it’s awkward right now with us both having house guests.
Is that really what Sophie was, a house guest?
I really hoped so. “How long is it going to be like this, Maurizio? I know we were trying to be discreet, and particularly with the children I think it would still be wise, but everyone we know already knows about us. I am tired of sneaking around and to the outside world you and your wife are together, in this house with your children.”
“Other people don’t matter and you know that we are not together.”
“Other people do matter. They matter to me and I will not become the village scandal or subject of gossip because I am seen to be shagging my boss behind his wife’s back.”
“What do you want me to say? I have told you that Sophie and I have things to sort out and that she needs my support with the children.” He sounded terse, that made two of us.
“You have told me that, more than once, and guess what? I am no further forward in knowing what that means today than I was the very first time you said it. What is the great mystery here? Why has Sophie returned and precisely what is it that you need to sort out and why does that need to be done with her living here?”
“You have no need to be jealous.”
My jaw dropped and my eyes widened until they dried.
Was he for real? I had no need to be jealous.
Is that what he thought my confusion, concern and unhappiness about this situation came down to, jealousy?
I mean, I was jealous and that was mainly due to Sophie’s presence, but even with my sister’s words about there being no chemistry between the man before me and his wife, it was more.
I felt uneasy and nervous, as though I was going to end up being on the receiving end of the fallout from this.
“Apparently not if you’re to be believed in your account of what is going on here.”
“If I am to be believed?” He sounded furious that I might be suggesting that he was being dishonest in what he told me.
“Yes, and at this precise moment, I’m not convinced.”
“Morning!”
We both spun to see Sophie enter the room and then under the weight of our stares, she stopped dead. “Sorry, I’m interrupting, I, erm, I’ll go and wake the children.” She all but ran to escape the two of us and the atmosphere we’d created.
“This conversation is not over,” Maurizio told me, slamming a cup down on the kitchen counter beside me.
“Fine!” I snapped back. “And perhaps the next time we have it, you might have some actual answers.”