Until I Met You

by Jaimie Roberts

  I nodded my head and he kissed me tenderly causing me to sigh contentedly.

  “Hey, nephew, stop sucking on that poor girls lip, and get inside!”

  Jumping out of my skin, I looked towards Paul coming down the stairs. “Sorry,” he said laughing. “I didn’t mean to make you jump.”

  “That’s fine, how are you Paul? It’s good to see you.” I smiled at him as he pushed Seth out of the way, almost causing him to fall over—all because he wanted to give me a hug.

  “You might be my uncle, you little jumpstart, but you ain’t family enough for a good knuckle sandwich.”

  They started pushing each other around a little until a big female voice filled the air. “You two, cut it out this instant!”

  Looking up to find the voice, my eyes nearly fell out of my head. She caught my gaze, stopped momentarily, smiled the same cheeky Seth smile, and carried on her journey.

  I was shocked beyond words who it was. For a moment I forgot where I was and whispered, “It’s Cruella Di Vil.” It was only when Seth said, “Who?” that I remembered there were ears around me that could hear. I whispered very briefly who she was and he started laughing.

  “She likes to do that a lot,” he explained.

  “You mean she’s not really gay?”

  “No,” he said, laughing harder. “She likes to play games with the estate agents. She says it releases some of the boredom of buying houses.”

  I rolled my eyes, but then had this sudden unwelcome thought. She’s not Seth’s mum is she? Surely not, she’s way too young.

  Seth soon put my mind at ease when he introduced us. “Angelina, I would like to introduce you to my aunt, Belinda. But then I believe you two have already met.”

  “Angelina, darling. So nice to see you again,” she purred.

  She kissed me on both cheeks and stood looking at Seth and I. “Okay, Miss Charmers. You can stop the act now.”

  Everyone laughed and Seth politely told her I called her Cruela Di Vil, which earned an arm slap from me. Belinda thought it was hilariously funny. Considering she liked practical jokes, then my joke shouldn’t faze her one little bit.

  “I can also do cock-a-ney,” she said with an impish grin.

  “Cock-a-ney?” I asked, smiling.

  “Yea, I wanna buy a Mickey Mouse. Preferably one with apples and pears ya know? And a dining room big enuff to put me Cane and Abel. It’s got to ave an hanger, once I gets in, so I know where to put me Weasel and Stoat, and the tables got to be big enuff for me Ruby Murray of a night time—Innit?”

  The laughter came spilling out of me as I looked towards Seth, who was now rolling his eyes at her. He must have heard this a thousand times.

  “Well, Cruella, you have to have something big enough to house all your Dalmatians.”

  She laughed and stopped abruptly. “That’s true. I like her.” She pointed at Seth and smiled.

  Seth beamed back towards me and some of the nerves I felt were gradually fading away. That is, until I hear and see what must be Seth’s mum. She walked down the stairs elegantly with her blonde hair flowing behind her. She looked a lot like Belinda, who I can see now looked a lot like Seth. I didn’t know why I never saw that before. She was very pretty—I knew that much—but I think I was too busy trying to avoid any kind of contact with her. Funny thinking about it now. All along she was just joking around with me. I should have felt like a sucker, but instead I was quite charmed by the lovely Miss Charmers—and I never thought I’d say that in a million years.

  “Darling, it’s been ages. Where have you been?” she asked, racing in for a hug.

  She seemed to completely ignore me, as she belted towards her son. Once the distinct impression that she was going to be difficult surfaced in my mind, the nerves kicked up a notch. Unfortunately, I quickly realised that my instincts were bang on.

  “Mum, I’d like you to meet someone very special to me. Her name’s Angelina Bradshaw, and she recently moved from Cornwall up to London. She works for Jonathan.” He then turned to me and said, “Angelina, this is my mum, Melissa.”

  I distinctly thought I saw her stiffen when he mentioned my name. I thought there was going to be trouble, but she politely offered me her hand, smiled—somewhat falsely—and ushered us to come inside.

  I looked over at Seth nervously and he tightened his grip on my hand. He was trying to offer reassurance, but I didn’t think any amount of that could help the fact that his mother had taken an instant disliking to me. I wondered if she felt that way before we met, or whether it was just on first impressions. I could debate that over and over until my head was sore, but it still wouldn’t change the fact.

  We walked up the many stairs to the most audacious entrance I had ever seen in my life. I did notice, however, that there was a lovely long winding slope coming from the door that led from both the left side and the right. I quickly remembered that this must be for Seth’s sister, Carla.

  When I walked in I was greeted by one of the biggest halls I had ever seen in my career of selling houses. There was a grand winding staircase to the right that must have led up to God knows how many bedrooms and bathrooms. The scene all reminded me of the house the Grayson’s lived in from the TV show called Revenge. It certainly seemed they had the money to live in the Hamptons.

  We were led from there into the vast kitchen area, and out towards the back garden. It certainly didn’t look like a back garden; it was more like a Botanical garden. There was a huge terrace which followed the most obscene amount of stairs leading down towards the grass. There were tiers of the most beautiful flowers leading all the way down towards a massive, elegant marquee. Inside, tables were carefully laid out with mint precision. But what really shocked me was the people. There were hundreds of them. I thought it was just going to be a small gathering of family. I didn’t realise it was going to be a full on house party.

  I spotted Carla from a distance, and when she saw Seth, her smile lighted up my heart a little. You could tell how much she loved him. There was no denying that from his big sister.

  Melissa excused herself for a moment to tend to some guests, which I was happy about. This left me trying to impress the other lady in Seth’s life—and I really hoped she liked me.

  “Seth,” she cried opening her arms out for a big hug.

  “Hey, Pumpkin, how are you?” He bent down to give her a great big hug, and when he managed to tear himself away, he looked over at me.

  Carla spied me and gave me the most welcoming smile. “So this must be the famous Angelina. Your ears must have been burning for weeks. You’ve certainly been the topic of conversation many a time in our house.”

  My eyes bulged out of my head as she laughed. “Don’t worry,” she said. “It’s all good. We’re just so glad he’s finally met someone that can calm him down a bit. There’s certainly been a big change in my little brother lately—and it’s a good thing.” She smiled at him adoringly and it instantly relaxed me again.

  “Angel, can I get you drink of champagne?”

  “Oh yes please,” I answered.

  He ventured off, leaving Carla and I alone. I took some time looking around and found that Paul and Belinda had also disappeared suddenly. With this amount of people, it was hard to keep count.

  “It really is nice to meet you,” I said, offering my hand.

  Carla smiled and shook my hand. “Us, too. As I say, you’ve been quite the topic of conversation. I think I love you already.”

  I giggled a little. “That’s good to know—although I’m not sure everyone feels the same.” I glanced over to Melissa, who was talking to a couple of middle-aged men. They all laughed at something she said, and it made me shudder a little. I think I called the wrong sister the Dalmatian lady.

  Carla gazed over to where I was looking and shook her head. “I wouldn’t worry too much about my mum. She’s not used to Seth having someone important other than his family in his life. It will take some adjusting, but she’ll get used to the idea ev
entually. I told her not to come down hard on you. I hope she hasn’t got her claws out.”

  She started laughing, but the whole thing made me nervous. She saw how serious I was looking so offered me her hand. “Come on, Angelina. You’ll be fine. Enjoy the day, drink champagne and eat all you can. You’ll never leave hungry after one of our feasts.”

  Seth came over with my champagne and I felt more at ease. We found a table where we sat and chatted for a while. Carla told me all about her fantastic job at Little Stars. I told her how much I admired the work she does, and she just shrugged her shoulders, modestly. We then ventured onto the subject about me, telling her the story about how Seth and I met. I was so engrossed, I didn’t realise we had been gathering a little audience around our table until people started laughing at my cookie jokes.

  “So, that’s where you got the number plate from,” Paul laughed and patted Seth’s shoulder. “He wouldn’t tell me when I asked,” he whispered in my direction.

  Carla wanted to know a little bit about my job. She said she was always hearing stories about her family buying and selling houses, but never from the estate agents point of view. I told her some stories and she was enthralled by them. Especially when I told her about a guy with a wig on his head that kept falling down little by little as I was showing him around the house. It was hilariously funny, but hugely distracting when you’re trying to keep a serious face on. By the time it was over, it was practically hanging over his eyes.

  I also told her about Belinda, and how much she had put a number over me. Belinda was there by this time and received a numbers of tuts from people—most of whom, I didn’t have a clue who they were. It was then that Belinda looked at me with a frown.

  “Hold on a sec, didn’t you say at the viewing that you had a boyfriend?” My eyes bulged as she carried on. “Yes, that’s right. What was his name? Jacob, wasn’t it?”

  I started laughing nervously and looked at Seth. “Jacob?” he asked, with one eyebrow raised.

  I was feeling a little hot all of a sudden as the nerves kicked in. I knew I had to be honest about it. There was just no escape. “Belinda put me on the spot you see. Of course I didn’t have a boyfriend at the time and I couldn’t think of a name. I was due to have a viewing with you later and your surname popped into my head. It was just the first name I came up with.”

  I played with my fingers a little as Belinda and Seth started laughing.

  “Isn’t that strange?” Belinda asked. “Who would have known that you were closer to the mark then you thought. Don’t worry, darling, I’m not going to pounce on you anymore now you have Jacob as your boyfriend.”

  Seth gripped my hand and smiled. Leaning forward, he breathed in my ear. “You look so sexy when you’re nervous, Angel.”

  “That’s not helping, Seth,” I said, gritting my teeth.

  “Sorry, babes,” he whispered. “I just can’t help myself around you.”

  A little while later, we were in the middle of discussing Seth’s car when I noticed Melissa walk across the lawn towards a very handsome man. He looked to be in his late forties, early fifties, with black swept back hair and nice, clean-shaven skin. He was very tall, just like Seth, and looked like he kept in great shape. I saw Melissa lean in and kiss him softly. It was the only tenderness I saw from her—other than with Seth of course.

  I saw her walk towards our table and my stomach immediately began to churn. I could just about handle Melissa not liking me for whatever reason, but I’m not sure how I would take it if Seth’s dad didn’t like me either.

  All that seemed to fade though when he came towards me. I stood up, as it was the polite thing to do, and he gave me a fantastic, beaming smile.

  “You must be, Angelina. It’s so nice to meet you finally.”

  I offered my hand and he took it, kissing me lightly. I stared into his eyes and immediately felt a familiarity about him. It was almost like being at home. His smile made me calm as he pried his eyes away from me to look at Seth.

  “Son, you told me this lady was beautiful, but you never said how stunningly so.”

  I blushed a little and Melissa drew daggers into me. I was starting to really dislike her, myself.

  “Dad, don’t. You’re embarrassing the poor girl!”

  The voice from behind Seth’s dad made me jump. I looked over his shoulder and saw a very young looking version of Seth.

  “How ya doing, buddy?” he asked Seth, as he pulled him in for a hug.

  After their pleasantries, Seth turned back to me apologising. “Angelina,” he began. “This is my father, Thomas, and this here is my brother, Joey.”

  “Nice to meet you,” I smiled, holding out my hand. He surprised me by coming in for a big bear hug. This boy only looked to be about eighteen, nineteen, but he was surprisingly big and strong. My eyes bulged for the millionth time today as I sought Seth for refuge.

  “Joey, cut it out, you’re crushing her with your big self,” Seth said laughing. “Sorry, Angel. He can get a bit carried away at times.”

  “That’s okay. I want to thank you all for inviting me. It’s really nice to meet you all.”

  “You’re more than welcome,” Thomas said, squeezing my hand. “It’s nice to meet the girl that’s finally stolen my boy’s heart—and the way I see you look at Seth—it would seem the feeling is mutual.”

  I smiled over at Seth, but I could still feel the daggers from Melissa’s stare. Seth smiled back, lovingly, and right then I just didn’t care. She could throw them at me if she wants to. It was me and him. No one else—just us.

  “Come, come!” Thomas shouted. “Let’s all eat.”

  Looking at the end of the marquee, I could see a huge row of tables. The tables were already filled with food, and were quickly being added to by what looked like staff. My goodness, they hired their own staff to do a barbecue!

  Seth took my hand and led the way. I welcomed it as I thought I would get lost otherwise. Having Seth near had a calming influence over me, so the more he held my hand, the better.

  The food was just endless. There was barbecue chicken and ribs. There were burgers and hot dogs—salads and pastas. The list just went on. I could see why Carla said that people never leave hungry after one of their feasts—and boy it was just that.

  After an immense amount of food, and a couple of glasses of champagne later, I desperately needed the loo. I asked Seth, and he wanted to come with me, but I told him I could find my way. He gave me directions and I gladly took off to find my relief. I needed it, the more I thought about it now.

  I went through the kitchen and into the hallway as Seth directed, and noticed a big wooden door to my left under the stairs. I pulled it nervously, wondering if I got the directions right and to my delight, it was.

  Once I was finished, I felt instantly relieved and happy to be making my way back to Seth. I closed the bathroom door behind me and was turning to make my way back out, when I noticed Melissa standing there. To my horror it looked as though she had purposely followed me and waited outside until I had finished.

  “Oh, my apologies. I didn’t see you standing there.” I tried to move a little, but she wasn’t budging. She had me right where she wanted.

  “You’re not getting his money you know, so you can get that out of your pretty little head. You may have fooled Seth, and even my entire family, but you’re not fooling me.”

  My instincts were obviously bang on with her, and I knew I couldn’t let her get away with it. “Excuse me?”

  She folded her arms. “You heard me. How much?”

  “What?” I was anxious for her to get to the point already.

  “How much will it take to get rid of you? Walk out of my son’s life before it’s too late. I’m not having you hurt my boy. Girls like you are a dime a dozen. I’m sure you have a price. Name it.”

  I was livid. I couldn’t believe the gall of this woman. “How dare you accuse me of only going after your son for money.” She flicked her hair in disgust, like
she didn’t believe me. I knew I wouldn’t be able to convince her otherwise, but I’d be damned if I was going to just stand there and take abuse from her.

  “I don’t want anything from your son other than the love he gives me. He’s the most kindest, caring, loving man I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and I love him more than words can say—no matter what you think. I don’t know why you have this inept notion that I’m only after him for his money, but I really don’t give two hoots. He loves me and I love him. Deal with it.”

  For good measure I pointed my finger in her direction, and then walked away. I wasn’t going to stand her much longer. If she opened her mouth I think I would be afraid of what came out next. Always best to walk away from a situation you think might escalate.

  I walked back through the kitchen and jumped at what I found in the corner of my eye. It was Joey, hiding behind the door. Now I just felt ten times worse. How much of that had he heard?

  “I’m sorry you had to deal with that,” he said, looking sympathetic.

  It would seem he heard everything.

  “Please don’t tell Seth about this, Joey. I don’t want to upset him with any of this.”

  His face was a picture of confusion. “Why not? He deserves to know that our mum venomously spat at you like that. I knew she could be cruel at times, but that was harsh. I just want you to know that none of the others feel that way about you. Seth made his choice and he made it for a reason. Everyone needs to trust that reason and let him be happy. Lord knows he deserves that.”

  Placing my hand on Joey’s shoulder, I looked up into his big brown eyes. “I know he does, Joey. That’s why I don’t want to tell him. It would upset him and that would upset me. Hopefully your mum will come to like me soon and all will be forgotten, but for now, let’s just say that conversation never took place. Please.” I looked into his eyes, searching for some hint of surrender. He smiled and placed his bear arms around me, squashing me again.