Believe Series box set

by L Chapman

  “It’s stunning,” I say as I place Lucy down onto the floor and watch her crawl into the room.

  “I’ll be back in a minute.”

  “Wow!” Mark say. I turn back around to face him.

  “What?”

  “You look stunning.”

  “Thank you,” I say blushing. “I’ll be right back.”

  I walk out of the front door and to the car. Opening the boot of the car, I pull out another big box and return inside the house.

  "For you, Mark," I say, passing him the box.

  "What’s this?" he questions. "You have already spoilt me."

  "What do you think it is?"

  "I have no idea," he says, opening the box. "Things for puppy?" he asks, smiling like a little kid in a candy shop.

  I giggle to myself, thinking about Jenny’s reaction when I told her I was contemplating buying Mark a puppy.

  “You’re crazy, Megan. What if he doesn’t like it? What if you split? Who gets the dog?” Jenny asked me, waving her hands around.

  “Calm down, Jenny. Mark loves dogs; he even bought Annabella one. I think it’s the perfect gift. He has so much money, and whatever I buy he could buy himself. If we split, we split. The dog is Mark’s. Come with me. I’m off to see some dogs now.” I tilted my head and smiled sweetly.

  “Okay, fine,” she said.

  The place was only five minutes away from my house. We walked up the path to a large house that no one would think there were dogs around. It was all posh, at least three stories high with an attic. It looked like one of those houses that could be seen on an American program. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

  “Hi, you must be Megan. Come on in,” this tall, blonde lady said.

  We followed her inside and through a hallway into a large room. “Here they are. These are four-week-old Yorkshire Terriers.”

  I knelt down beside the playpen, looking at them.

  “Do it,” Jenny whispered into my ear.

  The lady stood there and told me all about them, even introducing me to their parents. I couldn’t keep my eyes off them, but the black girl really caught my eye. The rest of them were all black and white.

  It’s the black girl that I chose for Mark. Seeing her with him now makes me happy. "Yes, I can’t just give you a puppy with no dishes and stuff. Her food is in the bottom cupboard near the fridge."

  “Check you out,” he says, pulling out dishes and a mat for them to sit on. I did spoil the little pup with some toys, yes, but I fell in love with her the moment I saw her. I just hope Mark does, too.

  “What’s this?” he says, pulling out a small box. I stand there smiling. “A collar for her? It’s perfect.” I found a ruby red one that I thought would work well with her fur, and ruby was also his grandad’s birthstone.

  Mark continues looking through the box, finding a lead blanket and even more toys, her medical records and insurance code, everything the puppy would ever need.

  “Her bed is in the boot of my car. I couldn’t carry it with everything else,” I sate.

  “I’ll go and get it,” he replies, walking towards me. “Thank you.” He places his lips on mine.

  “Does she have a name?” I ask.

  “No, not yet,” he says, walking out the door after taking the car keys from my hand.

  “I think she should be called Ella,” Kate says.

  “No, Max,” Warren adds.

  “It’s a girl, Warren,” Jenny points out. “I think she should be called Bella.”

  “Max can be short for Maxine,” Warren says, picking up Lucy from the floor and lifting her above his head and making her laugh. “Airplane Lucy coming in for landing,” he says as he takes her down to the floor, making plane noises as he goes.

  “Well, I think Elle,” Connor adds.

  “Ella, Elle, Bella or Max?” Jenny asks Mark as he walks back into the room.

  “None of them. I think I know what her name is,” he says.

  “Tell me,” Kate says, jumping up and down.

  “Daisy.”

  “It’s perfect,” I add.

  As Mark gives out a big smile, I think I can happily say that he does love this gift. He sets down the small dog bed onto the floor near the Christmas tree and pulls out a few toys from the box and places them onto the floor near the bed.

  “I can help,” Kate says.

  “Let’s go and set up her food in the kitchen,” he says. “Is that okay?” he asks me.

  “Yes, go,” I say.

  “What type of puppy is Daisy?” Kate asks.

  “A Yorkshire Terrier,” Mark says, placing his hand onto the back of her head and guiding her out of the room first.

  Reaching under the tree, I pull out a box and pass it to Jenny.

  “What’s this?”

  “If I tell you, it takes away the surprise.”

  Jenny opens the box slowly while Warren sits on the floor, playing with Lucy. I love how he is with her. It helps me know that he will be okay when Jenny has her baby.

  “OMG! I love it!” she squeals, pulling out a camera from the box.

  “I knew you would.”

  Jenny runs up to me and gives me a massive hug. “Thank you, I mean it. You knew how much I wanted one.”

  “I know. Let’s go and sort out these bags, then we can get the rest of the pans on,” I say.

  “Oh, yes, I can’t wait to see them all done,” she says, wiggling around. “Going to have to pee first.”

  “Warren and Connor, you need to pop something else on over your shirts. We are off outside, and I don’t want you getting cold.” I head into the hallway, grapping Mark and Kate’s jackets.

  “Pop these on, you two,” I say, setting them onto the kitchen bar.

  I leave the bags on the side and place mine on and then grab Lucy’s jacket. I turn to see Warren holding her.

  “Let’s get your jacket on,” I state.

  “Can I do it?” Warren asks. “I want to get some experience before the baby comes. I have never done anything like this. Will you show me?” I nod.

  “Thank you, Megan.”

  Chapter Twenty

  I see Jenny standing out in the garden next to the fence with a large smile spread across her face. Taking a deep breath, I slowly open the bags and pass out six balloons, three ice blue ones and three yellow ones. The last bag contains a big silver star. Jenny takes hold of them all.

  “Right, you wonder what we are all up to. These are special balloons to remember the ones we have lost and can’t be here with us today. Megan has done it every year, and this year we are all doing it.”

  “Are those people’s names on the star?” Connor asks.

  “Yes.” Jenny pauses. “The ones we have lost.”

  “That’s a great idea,” Warren says.

  “Kate, would you like the special star?” I ask.

  “Yes.” She takes the star from Jenny and holds it tightly.

  We hand out the rest of the balloons, giving the blue ones to the men and the yellow ones to the girls, including Lucy.

  “Shall we let go on three?” Mark asks.

  “Yes.” I pause. “Are you ready? Do you want to count for us, Kate?”

  “One…Two…Three,” she says as she releases the star, and the rest of us follow.

  Jenny steps back to take more photos with her new flashy silver camera. She had taken a couple while we were passing out the balloons. Kate informs us when the balloons go out of sight, and she makes sure that she mentions that the silver star takes the longest.

  “Let’s go back in before we get cold,” Connor says.

  “I guess you’re cold,” I say as we head inside.

  “I’m freezing. I’ve always been a cold-natured person,” he says, gesturing for me to head into the house before him.

  “Thank you.” I slip off my coat and hang it up. I leave Warren with Lucy because I know he can manage her and wants to learn how to take care of her.

  “I love you, Miss Madden,�
� Mark says, placing a kiss on my neck.

  “Aw…thank you, baby. I love you, too.”

  “Come sit with us.”

  “Baby, I need to finish cooking first. Then, I will come and sit on your knee.”

  “Oh, will you, sexy?” he asks, tapping my bum.

  “You’re a monkey.”

  I finish moving everything around and getting ready. Well, things are nearly ready.

  “Megan, can we talk?” Connor enquires, standing in the doorway and looking down to the floor.

  “Of course, is everything okay?” I ask because I can tell that something isn’t right.

  “Please don’t feel like you have to say yes.” He looks down and pauses. “Will you be Kate’s godmother?”

  “Yes, I will. I would be honored to be her godmother. I’ll admit that you had me worried a little,” I state.

  I turn around and open a packet and fling the contents into a glass bowl. “Add kettle water to that. Will you, Connor? Mix with this. Thank you.”

  “Of course, anything to help.” He does what I ask. The concentration on his face is amazing. “Would you be able to help me organise it?”

  “The christening?” I question.

  “Yes, Kate sees you as a mother figure, and I want her to have someone she can turn to. I thought that if you two planned some bits together, it might help her learn everything about it.”

  “Great idea, I would be honored to.”

  “You do know that you’re dress shopping. Right?”

  “Yes, I wouldn’t trust you to do it.” I laugh. “Do you wanna make them into balls?” I point to the mixture in the bowl.

  “Balls?”

  “Yes, stuffing balls.”

  “Oh, that’s what this is,” he says.

  Finally, everything is done, and I don’t think I have ever used so many pots and pans. I have dishes in all kinds of different pots. For the dining room, I bought a cream tablecloth and added a purple table runner with snowflakes all over it. I add the crackers alongside all the dishes.

  “Dinner’s ready!” I shout.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Wow! Megan, it smells wonderful,” Warren says as he walks into the dining room with Lucy on his hip.

  “You’re getting the hang of this,” I say, raising my eyebrows at him.

  “Thank you. There are still bits that I need to learn though. I have never done a nappy before,” he admits.

  “I’ll teach you. Let’s eat first. Do you want to pop Lucy in her high chair?”

  I watch as Warren lowers her into her chair. He really has gotten the hang of it.

  “What a surprise! I love the name place cards,” Jenny says, lifting up her card.

  They are white with a silver border and a little silver star to the bottom right-hand corner. I made them all myself. Each card has a Christmas joke written on the inside. I found them online the other night. Yes, they are the traditional bad Christmas jokes. You can’t have a Christmas without bad jokes and silly paper hats. Everyone starts pulling their candy-striped crackers and getting an array of different coloured hats. Warren has a lime green one, Connor takes an orange one, Jenny grabs a yellow one, Mark puts on a blue one, and mine is purple.

  “What colour is your hat, Kate?” Warren asks.

  “Pink.” She smiles brightly.

  She finally places it on her head and then turns for everyone to see. We all dive in, doing the full family thing and passing the dishes to the next person. Both Warren and Connor help Kate, who decides she only wants mashed potatoes, pigs in blankets, and turkey with gravy. I cut up a few bites and place them onto Lucy’s plastic Christmas plate. Jenny found it the other day; it’s a white plate with red border that matches the rest of the collection, but Lucy’s also has a green tree in the middle of it. It came with a matching bib, plastic cup and cutlery. Warren placed her bib on her when he put her into her chair.

  I sit there and watch everyone eat. Some go for seconds, thirds, and Kate even has four helpings. I feel so lucky. I’m sure that I’m going to be happy for life because I have such supportive friends and family members. I love everyone.

  “Megan, you take the kids and get a film on, and we will clear up,” Warren says.

  “No, Jenny can. I’ll help you out.”

  “No!” he says, shaking his finger.

  “Okay, can you place the spare vegetables into a box? The meat goes into silver foil in the fridge and a few things go into the oven.”

  “Yes, Megan, show me the bits that go into the oven and then piss off.”

  “As if you just told me to piss off,” I say, pushing Warren.

  Opening the freezer, I take out all the bags of sausage rolls, mini sausages, and vol au vent cases and give him the rest of the instructions before exiting.

  “I hope they can manage,” I say to Jenny as I take a seat on the sofa.

  “They will be fine.”

  “Shall we pop a film on?” I ask.

  “Yes, you pick.”

  Lucy is sitting on the floor with Kate, playing with her dolly. I love watching them together, and they interact so well. Kate is trying to teach Lucy things. They are helping each other develop so much. I remember reading an article about that, but I never knew it was true. Scanning through the television guide, I find lots of Christmas films. I love the true ones.

  “Jenny, have you ever noticed that in every Christmas film there is a man named Nick?”

  “No, I haven’t, but come to think of it, yes, I see what you’re talking about. Why is that?”

  “I have no idea, but it could have something to do with Saint Nicholas,” I say, trying not to laugh.

  “Oh yes,” Jenny says, shaking her hair.

  “That was a full-on blonde moment there, hun.”

  “When can we open more presents?” Kate asks.

  “You can open one now and the rest when your daddy has finished washing the dishes,” I state. I’m sure he will be fine with missing one.

  “This one,” she says, pulling out a big box that’s covered in sparkly princess paper.

  “Go on,” I say, watching her rip open the paper.

  “ARGH!” she says animatedly.

  “What is it?”

  “A cot.”

  “Shall I build it up for you?” I ask.

  “YES! YES! YES!” She agrees, pushing the box over to me.

  I quickly build up the cot. It’s a simple pink travel cot for Dolly that matches her pram. Kate always tells me that you can only have girl dollies, not boy ones. I pull out the rest of the box, showing her a cover for Dolly and a mobile with different animals to hang over the top.

  “I’ll take that,” Warren says, coming into the room and taking away the empty box.

  “Thank you.”

  Kate puts down Dolly for her nap. “Night night, Dolly.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Here’s one for Lucy,” Warren says, handing me yet another present as I sit on the floor with my back leaning against the sofa and Mark’s legs on either side of me.

  “Lucy, what’s this?” I ask as she crawls towards me.

  I lift up the label. “To MY LUCY, Merry Christmas, Love! From Daddy.”

  “What?” I pause. “This is from John. How the hell did it get here?”

  “A man gave it to me yesterday and said it was for Lucy, but he was in a rush,” Warren says.

  “Why? What’s wrong?” Jenny asks.

  “It’s from John,” Mark says as he takes it from me.

  “I’m sorry,” Warren says.

  “It’s not your fault,” I reply.

  “Are you going to open it?” Jenny enquires.

  “I don’t know. I think I need to, just to see what it is.”

  I take it back from Mark and open it. It’s a pink teddy with a zip back. I unzip it and notice a letter inside that reads “For Lucy’s eyes only” on the outside.

  “I don’t think so,” I say, opening the letter. I immediately start reading it to m
yself.

  To Lucy,

  Hi, I’m your dad, John. Your mum chose for us not to be together. If I had known you were mine, I would have married your mum and given you everything you wanted and needed in life. I hope your mum has done that. Just be careful. She chose for me not to have any access to you. She placed things in the way that means I can’t even talk to you. She is a very nasty woman. Contact me, please. I will look after you. We can be a family.

  Love, Dad

  XXX

  “What?” I sit there crying.

  “What does it say?” Jenny asks.

  I drop the paper to the floor, pick up my daughter from my side, and pull her close. “I’m never letting you go,” I whisper into her ear.

  “Kate, can you pass me that paper?” Mark asks.

  Kate runs over and passes it to him. He reads it aloud to everyone.

  “You’re a great mummy,” Kate says, giving me an enormous hug.

  “I’m going to fucking kill him,” Jenny says.

  “Watch the language,” I state as I try to calm down.

  “Sorry.”

  “Kate, are you going to help me make a snowman?” Warren asks.

  “YEAH! You come too,” she says, pulling at my arm.

  “I’ll be out soon. You go and get started. Make sure you wrap up well.” I smile, letting Lucy down onto the floor.

  “What should I do?” I question, letting Mark’s arms wrap around me.

  “Nothing,” Mark says. “Don’t rise to him.”

  I reach under the sofa and pull out my phone to quickly text my mum; instead, I find a message from John.

  Merry Christmas, Lucy! I hope you got everything you wanted. When we are finally together, I will give you everything and more. Love, your ONLY daddy XXX

  “What the hell is he playing at?” I am so mad and confused.

  "Baby, don't worry. I will sort it out. I'm not letting him do anything to you," Mark says assertively.

  "Mate, shall we pay him a visit tomorrow?" Warren asks.

  "Yeah, sounds like a fucking idea," Connor says.

  "No, leave it," I say, running out of the room with tears streaming down my face. Mark is not far behind me.