35. Elias
Elias stared at the paused image on the screen. He couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing.
Catherine Beckingsale.
His mother.
On the television.
It was an ad for an upcoming episode of InFocus, a national current affairs program. Someone actually wanted to interview his mother and hear her side of the story. It was due to air in a week.
‘This is bullshit,’ he muttered.
‘Hmm?’ Kate was flipping through a magazine and looked up. ‘Is that…’
‘Yes.’
He felt sick. Literally. He actually wanted to vomit.
The last week had probably been the best of his life. He and Kate had moved to the next stage of their relationship. They shared a bed every night, and her home had become his. Or, more to the point, she had become his home.
They hadn’t visited her parents again, but Kate kept in contact with them. Despite their initial objection, it looked as though Kate wouldn’t let Doug and April come between them as Elias had feared. She had staunchly defended him, and it went a long way to easing his anxiety.
‘Does Levi know?’
Kate had barely finished her question when Elias’ phone rang.
‘I just saw it,’ he said when he answered.
‘I swear I didn’t know anything about it,’ Levi said.
‘No one asked for an interview?’
‘No. You?’
Elias shook his head, even though he knew Levi couldn’t see him. ‘No. Nothing. Although…’
‘What?’
‘Justin has been bugging me about interview requests ever since my exhibition. I’ve ignored them all.’
‘Shit.’
‘What do we do?’ Elias asked, looking at Kate.
‘I’ll contact Valentina,’ Levi said.
‘Yeah. Okay. I’ll get Justin to send me a list of all the interview requests.’
‘I can’t believe she’s doing this.’
Elias grimaced. ‘Really? This is right up her alley.’
‘Has she tried to contact you again?’
‘No. But then, she might have tried to get hold of me through the gallery. By the way, did you send me and Kate a gift basket?’
‘Uh… no. Why?’
‘Oh, nothing. We got a delivery a week or so ago. It didn’t have any sender’s details, and it was just weird because not many people know.’
‘You don’t think…?’
‘How would Catherine even know? How would she know where Kate lives?’
Levi made a noise in his throat. ‘I wouldn’t put anything past her.’
Kate nudged him and mouthed something about Alexis.
‘Hang on a minute, I think Kate wants to talk to you.’
‘Not Levi, Alexis. Is she there?’
‘Is Alexis there? Kate needs a word.’
‘I’ll put her on.’
Elias handed the phone over to Kate and stared at the frozen image of Catherine on the screen. Apparently she was doing a ‘tell-all’. There were even plans for a book. Catherine wanted to ‘set the record straight’, whatever the hell that meant. And she was going to ‘expose the truth’ about the seedy underbelly of the cosmetic surgery industry.
She was just out there making enemies left, right, and centre.
What concerned him most was the potential blowback on him. He hoped he had successfully hidden his ties to the Beckingsale family, but with Catherine doing an interview, it meant she could expose him as well, potentially harming his image and his income. Not to mention the possibility of damaging Kate’s reputation as well. And Levi, who had just managed to rebuild his image after the smear campaign that followed Catherine and Jonah’s arrests.
Kate handed Elias’ phone back to him.
‘What was all that about?’ he asked. He hadn’t listened to Kate’s side of the conversation. He’d been too wrapped up in his own thoughts.
Kate hesitated before answering. ‘Just…baby shower plans. Alexis and Sarah are helping Georgia throw us a baby shower.’
‘Us? Aren’t baby showers women only events?’
‘Not anymore.’ She looked at her watch. ‘Hey. We need to get going.’
‘Did you drink all the water?’
‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘And I really need to pee, so be careful with the bumps.’
‘I’ll do my best,’ he said.
* * *
All thoughtsof Catherine disappeared when Elias heard the galloping sound of their baby’s heartbeat. He couldn’t make anything out on the fuzzy picture on the screen, but he heard the heartbeat loud and clear.
‘That’s your baby,’ the technician said.
He and Kate looked at each other and then back at the screen. Their hands were clasped, and his eyes felt suspiciously wet.
‘That’s our baby,’ Kate whispered.
He looked at her and couldn’t tear his eyes away. She was beautiful. Her expression was rapturous, and tears streamed from her eyes. He couldn’t believe he was lucky enough to have this woman in his life. He couldn’t believe they had made another life together.
‘The measurements all look good,’ the technician said. ‘I’m just going to take some pictures for the radiologist to have a look at. Take a breath and hold it.’
They went through several rounds of that before Kate was finally allowed to get up and empty her bladder. While she was in the bathroom, the technician handed him a printout of one of the photos. The baby looked like a white bean in a black soup, and he thought it was the most perfect thing he had ever seen.
‘I suppose it’s too early to tell whether it’s a boy or a girl?’
The technician smiled. ‘It will be a few more weeks until then.’
Elias nodded. He actually didn’t care if the baby was a boy or a girl. It was more about the practical side of things like clothes and nursery décor—although he assumed there were lots of neutral options as well. As long as the baby was healthy, that was the most important thing.
Kate came out of the bathroom, and he handed her the picture. She smiled down at it adoringly.
‘Look what we made,’ she whispered.
‘I’ll send these pictures off to the radiologist, and they’ll send a report to your doctor. You have another appointment soon?’
‘Yeah. Next week,’ Kate said.
Elias raised his eyebrows. ‘That’s not on my calendar.’
‘It’s just a check-up.’
‘I want to be there.’
Kate smiled. ‘Okay.’
They were quiet on the drive home, each lost in their own thoughts. A parcel was waiting for them on the front step when they arrived.
‘Did you order something?’ Elias asked.
‘No,’ Kate replied, shaking her head.
It was another large box, and when Elias got it inside, it proved to be full of practical things like disposable nappies, bibs, baby powder, baby wipes, nappy rash cream, nipple cream and a myriad of other things Elias couldn’t identify. There was no card.
‘Is it from your parents?’ Elias asked. ‘Or maybe Georgia?’
Kate shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. Mum would be more likely to send some hand-knitted stuff, and Georgia doesn’t have time to put something like this together.’
‘Your work, maybe?’
‘Maybe,’ Kate said, but she sounded doubtful.
He didn’t want to say it, but he wondered if Hugo had sent it. Maybe Hugo had sent the other one too, although it had specified the Beckingsale baby… did Hugo even know Elias’ last name? It would be more Hugo’s style to say the ‘Croft baby’.
‘It’s a mystery but not one I’m going to turn down,’ Kate said.
She was right, but it still bothered Elias. After Sarah’s stalker incident and now his mother stirring up trouble, it set his teeth on edge to have a package delivered without knowing who it was from.
Kate stepped away from the box and pulled out the photo from the ultrasound. ‘What are we going to do with our baby’s first picture?’
Elias blushed. ‘Um, actually…’
‘What?’
‘Wait here for a minute.’
Elias strode to his room and dug through his stuff until he found what he was looking for. He brought it back out to Kate and handed it to her.
‘What’s this?’
‘Open it.’
She unwrapped the package and stared at the photo frame.
‘I… I made it for you. For us. I was going to give it to you after the baby was born and maybe put our first family photo in it, but…’
‘Elias… it’s beautiful.’
The frame was made of delicate metal lacework. It had been a challenge for him to keep it fine and not too chunky, but the result was worth the time it had taken. He’d also made tiny little woodland creatures that poked their heads out of the lacework randomly, and he grinned when Kate discovered the extra detail.
‘It’s perfect,’ she said, sniffing. ‘I can’t believe I’m crying again.’
Elias pulled her into his arms and just held her. Whatever else happened, they had this. They had each other, and it was enough.