“Kerry, no, we are getting a cab back to mine and behaving ourselves for once.”
“Spoilsport.”
Alex was as good as her promise over the next few weeks, working hard to make up for how she had been neglecting the company and burdening Kerry with its day-to-day running. When he was in London, she spent the evenings with Nick at his apartment.
She finally told Adrian and Suzanne of her big news and organised an “office party” for just the four of them, bringing in beers for Adrian and champagne for the rest of them and having a gourmet buffet delivered to the office. It was just three days before she and Nick were leaving on the way to endorse their relationship.
“The weird thing is we are having the honeymoon before the wedding,” she told Adrian and Suzanne.
“Yep,” said Kerry, laughing, “That's how desperate she is to get into his pants.”
“I'd have just the honeymoon and forget the wedding,” Adrian said. “And I can't believe she is marrying a good-looking half-billionaire when she could have me.”
“You're taken!” the three women shouted together, Adrian having once again repaired his on-off relationship with his girlfriend.
Before Italy, Nick and Alex holidayed in French Polynesia where they swam in the lagoon of Bora Bora and scuba dived to view the sea life of the barrier reef. One day they made the three-hour trek to the top of Mount Pahia to marvel at the beauty of the Pacific Island and its blue waters.
Back in Europe, they stopped in Greece where Christos showed them Crete, including the stunning Samariá Gorge. But the highlight was the gathering of his family and friends at his large, rustic home so they could enjoy a meal in the sun, “like in the Godfather.”
Alex loved watching the kids play around the tables. They were as happy as anything kicking a ball and chasing after each other. If only Megan could be with them, she thought.
The adults ate, drank wine and talked enthusiastically among themselves, looking equally as contented with life.
“Who needs money when you have this,” Nick remarked.
“CG is a lucky man,” she replied.
“Me too,” he said, playing footsie with her under the table.
Christos himself was bursting with pride to have them as his guests and he fussed about to make sure they were having as good a time as everyone else. They told him that they were enjoying it more than anyone because they'd never experienced such an event before.
“I told you you'd like it,” Christos told her as he pecked her on the cheek. “My favourite ever passenger,” he then said to Nick, pointing his finger at the top of her head.
“Better than me?”
“Damn right, boss.”
Christos did not yet know of the wedding. Nick deciding to keep it quiet as he didn't want him and Alex to become the centre of attention. “Let's ensure they do what they always do at family gatherings,” he'd suggested to her before they arrived, and she fully agreed.
It was two days later, on the morning they were due to leave for Italy, that they broke the news.
“I always knew,” he said, beaming. “From the first moment I saw Alex...I think this is your future wife. Even you, boss, are not mad enough to pass on this fine lady.”
“CG, you are right but I'm still mad enough to employ you.”
“Only bad thing, not big wedding,” Christos replied, ignoring his remark.
He was right, the wedding wasn't big at all. On a terrace in Manarola, overlooking the sea, they were joined by the registrar, an interpreter and two witnesses – one the receptionist from the hotel, the other an old lady who lived locally and whose hobby was to witness weddings and who wept throughout the short service.
The ceremony, by law, was held in Italian, and would have been shorter still had the words not needed translation.
A simple wedding held against the most most stunning backdrop the two of them could imagine, And they knew that the vows were barely needed, so sure – now - were they in each other.
It was just what Alex wanted. She only wished Megan could have been with them. How excited her little girl would have been.
After the ceremony they went back to the hotel and sat on the same terrace as they had when he had first shown her the town.
“Seems like we are married,” Nick said.
“Seems like we are,” she replied.
“Weird, isn't it?”
“Weird, and totally wonderful,” she said, sitting on his lap.
Chapter thirty-six: Love Don't Cry.
Ella Megan Hensen, named after the two people she had lost with the surname of the one she had found, played happily on the beach at Sandbanks. It was three days before her third birthday and Alex watched her giggle as she tried to scoop sand into a bucket only to succeed in covering herself.
Getting up and toddling awkwardly to her mother, she held out her small arms. “Hug, mummy,” she said in a little voice that Alex found so endearing. She pulled her up and kissed her rosy cheeks.
“How are you, darling?”
Ella grinned and pulled her mother's hair with surprising force.
“Ouch, that hurt, Ella.”
The toddler just giggled some more.
“Look, here's daddy,” her mother said as Nick came back from the house with drinks for the three of them. He laid the tray down, tickled his daughter and kissed Alex gently on the lips.
He handed Ella her apple juice, or “joose” as she still pronounced it, and poured some wine for his wife.
“Don't want to go back to the smoke tomorrow,” he lamented.
“Mmm...pity,” she replied before asking if they could take the long route and visit Megan's grave on the way back.
“Of course,” he replied before looking at Ella, wondering how she and Megan would have got on as sisters. On Alex's suggestion, and because he felt as close to a girl he had never met to the two that were with him at that time, he had given up using the term 'half-sister' when he tried to explain to Ella about Megan. They were sisters.
After they had played with their daughter for half an hour, Nick suggested it was getting a bit cold for the beach. “And bath time for the little 'un,” he added, tickling Ella's tiny feet.
“You coming?”
“Give me ten minutes more,” Alex replied.
When they had gone back to the house, she put on her earphones and listened to her favourite band play Skeletons, a haunting ballad that had tortured her ever since Megan's death.
As she listened to the song she heard Megan's message. It was a plea from someone who had died not to forget them but still to carry on with their own life.
The lyrics included three simple words, “Love don't cry.” This time, Alex didn't.
From the author
I hope you enjoyed reading my debut novel as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Please consider writing a review of Special Relationship on the Kindle store and if you enjoyed it look out for my second book which I am working on currently.
Alessandra Fox
Special Relationship Page 29