by Lexie James
“She’s been asleep ever since you’ve been here? I’m very sure that there is nothing to worry about; she’s still in shock and just trying to cope. I guarantee you she will be regularly monitored and if there is the least cause for alarm I shall be informed immediately, and in turn I will inform you both.”
Mark began to examine her again, to ascertain why she was lying so still and so quiet in case he had missed something, when he suddenly saw her eyelids fluttering. Whatever had been going on between the two adults in the room, he was reasonably convinced that Chrissie was pretending to be asleep so that she could listen to what they were saying.
He smiled to himself; she was as mischievous as her mother had been as a child.
“Chrissie! Chrissie! It’s time to wake up now, otherwise I will choose what colour plaster you are given, and you know what terrible fashion sense I have.”
Chrissie’s eyes flew open and she grumbled. “You wouldn’t dare do that.”
Satisfied Mark turned to Christos.
“X-rays? Who needs them to tell us what is going on, psychology, that was all that was needed to wake her up.” He told him smugly. “Tell a girl you’ll choose the colour of their plaster cast and they’ll always come round.”
He grinned at them all and walked out.
Emme’s eyes had flown to Christos’s, her heart sinking, as she tried to review the conversation she had had with Christos and which she now realised, her devious daughter had been listening to. She should have known better, she thought bitterly, I can always trust them to listen in on any conversation that they are not supposed to.
Somehow she was going to have to put a brave front on it and hope that they had kept their voices low enough so that Chrissie had not heard too much of the content.
A nurse came through the curtain. “Hello I’m just going to take Chrissie for her plaster, and then I’ll move her up to the children’s ward. Chrissie, if you’ll open your eyes now I just want to check your observations.”
Ignoring the nurse Chrissie turned her face to Emme.
“Mum, Christos helped me when I fell out the tree and then he told me he’s my father; is that true? Why didn’t you tell us who he was as soon as he arrived?”
Emme felt as if she’d just been punched in the stomach. She had had no idea that he’d told Chrissie without speaking to her first and she was so shocked that she found she was unable to speak.
It was left to Christos to answer. Moving to the side of the trolley, so he could look down into her face, he smiled contritely and spoke to Chrissie.
“It’s probably my fault she didn’t get round to telling you, it’s been a bit of a shock for both of us meeting up like this, in fact, now I think about it, most of this mess is probably my fault. However at this moment in time you’ve got a bump on your head the size of an easter egg and a leg that needs plastering. Can we deal with the practical problems first, and leave the explanations to when Michael is here too? Do you think that’s a good idea?”
Ignoring Christos, Chrissie glared at Emme. “I don’t understand any of this.”
Still shocked at what Christos had done and annoyed because she knew Chrissie was being deliberately difficult Emme replied shortly.
“Really Chrissie? And there was I, believing that you’d been lying there listening to our conversation and pretending to be asleep. So I think you understand exactly what is going on.”
Chrissie’s face flushed with embarrassment.
The nurse smiled sympathetically at them, annoying Emme even more, before she wheeled Chrissie out, leaving them alone.
Totally unnerved by the silence and angry at the ease at which he had jumped in to speak to Chrissie while she had still been trying to muster her thoughts, she turned to him fiercely.
“Don’t you dare do that again, just what makes you think you’ve got the right to ride rough shot over me? I’ll explain to them in my own time in my own way, do you understand me? I don’t want you saying anything to them that I haven’t agreed to first. And just what did you mean by that comment it’s been ‘a bit of a shock’? More like a bloody............”
She desperately searched for a word that could adequately describe the tumultuous rush of emotions his arrival had unleashed. “Tsunami.”
For a second her analogy amused him, but, as he registered the gist of the rest her conversation, he turned and answered her just as fiercely.
“Well I am involved, and I have every intention of being thoroughly involved with you all from now on. Now we can either have a blazing row here right now, or you can curb your comments until we are outside the hospital and alone so we can resolve our issues. After that, and only after that, will we present a united front to our children.”
He watched as she straightened, stiffening her back. His words had obviously hit a chord, but what he didn’t realise was that her mind was in a total jumble and she didn’t dare to reply for she wasn’t sure if she wanted to hit him, or if she wanted to cry.
Chrissie returned to them with an enormous smile on her face and a shocking pink case to her plaster.
Silently Emme and Christos followed on behind as she was taken to the children’s ward. They were both lost in their thoughts, searching for the ways to find the most satisfactory outcome to their difficult situation.
Within moments of settling her in her room, Michael pushed open the door and marched inside followed more sedately by Maria and Sophia.
“Hi Mum, hi Dad.” He nodded to them both as he pulled a chair up beside Chrissie. “Hi scruffy, like the pink cast, can I write you wally on it?” He grinned at her and continued, before she had time to answer.
“Did you know that we’ve got a grandma now? Except she wants to be called Nonna, I know you got to spend time with her yesterday, but you didn’t know who she was then. And I got time to spend time with our dad, even though I didn’t know who he was then. We need to do swopsies now. Do you know what? Our Nonna insisted on packing your bag because she said she knew what little girls would need, and I obviously didn’t.”
Maria smiled fondly at him before cuffing him gently on the shoulder as she went to stand by Chrissie. Settling herself down in the chair beside her she looked at her to ascertain the extent of her injuries, once she was satisfied that she was in no danger she spoke to Chrissie with a grin on her face.
“I did not call you a little girl; those are your brother’s words, he is trying, very mischievously, to pretend that I said them. I believe he feels that he can be cheeky, because you can’t retaliate at the moment.”
She winked as she continued. “What he obviously hasn’t realised yet, is how long we girls can hold grudges. I’m afraid I had to take over the packing of your bag, once I realised that Michael attributed no importance whatsoever to a wash bag and a change of clothes.”
Chrissie grinned back at her. “Don’t you know why? Boys don’t wash unless they get moaned at, nor do they change their clothes. That is until their clothes are so stiff with dirt that they are able to walk themselves into the clothes basket.”
Michael stood and glared at her aggressively, his hands on his hips. “That’s not true, Chrissie, You know I shower whenever I’ve been out running.”
Chrissie was about to reply but Maria forestalled her. “Remember what we talked about? When we were in the kitchen? Well you wait until he has a girlfriend, then see how hard it is to get him out of the bathroom.”
Michael looked indignant and Chrissie giggled, Christos was amazed at his mother’s ability to infuse normality into a situation that had all the trapping of the worst kind of novel. It began to dawn on him that some of his concerns were unfounded. He had been convinced that the children would reject him outright because they both seemed so close to their mother. Yet they seemed to be taking the news of their relationship in their stride and were even beginning to forge a relationship with his mother, their grandmother.
However, as he glanced at Emme, he realised that their knowing he was their fath
er, was causing her considerable distress.
“Michael who told you that Christos is your father?” She demanded which Christos thought was rather stupid, who did it matter who had told him, and the truth would have come out straight away anyway because he had already told Chrissie.
“She told me, our Nonna.” He gestured towards Maria, and then turned with excitement to Chrissie.
“So she says that when we go to stay with her, she’s got a swimming pool and a gym in her house.”
Christos could see from Emme’s face that her distress was gradually turning to the more familiar anger, Michael seemed oblivious to it.
He leant towards Chrissie and told her conspiratorially. “She says she doesn’t know how to use half the equipment because it used to be our dad’s, but I told her we’d show her how to use it. And guess what? This is even better, oh yes you are just going to love this. Our Dad says he will teach us how to climb properly and safely just as soon as you are out of that pink blob.”
He glanced at Christos for confirmation who nodded curtly his eyes still warily watching the play of emotions racing across Emme’s face.
Michael grinned at him then settled onto Chrissie’s bed beside her so he could show here what he had brought. “Here we go, my newest sonic game; I thought we could both play so that you won’t get too bored in here.”
“Cool, thanks Michael.”
Chrissie’s eyes shone as the two of them settled down to play.
It was totally obvious, to all the adults in the room that the new play station and game were far and away more important to them, than the revelations concerning their changed family dynamics.
CHAPTER TWENTYFIVE
By now Emme was looking totally miserable, deflated and exhausted and Christos felt it was about time to remove her from the situation and find somewhere private where they could talk in peace. With that in mind, he turned to Maria and Sophia, asking them to stay with the children, and then before Emme could find the right words to put him in his place, he cupped his hand under her elbow and walked her out of the ward and towards the lift.
All before she had had time to find her tongue and formulate a comment upon his dictatorial behaviour.
However by the time she was alone in the lift with him she had found her voice. She rounded on him, a mutinous expression on her face.
“Just what the hell do you think you are playing at?” She spat at him.
“Shush.” Quietly he laid a finger against her mouth trying to sooth away the temper he knew was bubbling just about to explode, but she slapped his hand away, her eyes spitting fire.
“Don’t you dare touch me.” She warned him ominously.
The lift opened and politely he waited for her to walk out first, she glared at him and stood her ground finally, exasperated, he hauled her out into the main foyer of the hospital right next to the coffee shop.
“We could argue here if you like in front of an audience, but I am sure you would prefer that we said the things we needed to say to each other in private.”
Without giving her a chance to reply he led her outside to his car; opening the car door he patiently waited for her to get in. Again she stood her ground and continued to glare at him.
“Oh for goodness sake will you get in! You’re being totally childish, and you know it. We need to talk, without shouting at each other.” He told her irritably.
Disdainfully she climbed in and pointedly looked out of the window, ignoring him. He sighed philosophically; well at least she’s in the car even if she’s ignoring me, I am one small step closer to resolving our problems. He drove in silence, contemplating what his next step should be; up ahead at a junction in the road he saw a signpost for a picnic spot and made an immediate decision. Swinging the wheel to the right, he followed the signpost.
“What the hell do you think you are you doing?” She turned to him in horror. “I want to go home, now!”
“And I want an explanation for your actions. So I wonder which of us will get their wish first.” He answered her as calmly as he could.
“Obviously not me,” She muttered. “I’m not the bloody driver.”
He stifled a laugh at her comment.
The picnic spot was happily empty of any other cars and he turned off the engine and waited patiently for her to speak first.
Finally the silence goaded her into speech. “Well you’ve got me here, you’ve turned my life upside down, yet again, and to add insult to injury, you’ve told my children who you are without discussing it with me first.”
Unmoved by the anger he could hear in her voice he corrected her. “Our children, they are our children, not just yours, and they owe their existence to both of us.”
“The amount of time you were around do you really think that counts? Why you were no more than just a sperm donor!” She retorted.
Exasperated he tried to reason with her. “Emme please don’t be like this, it was more than that you know it was, you even said so in the hospital, I heard it in the tone of your voice. You’re only cross now because they know who I am and you feel like you’ve lost control. I told you I loved you then and you told me you loved me to; don’t you remember any of that?” He challenged her.
“I really can’t remember what I said to you and I know you didn’t mean anything you said to me. Susie told me the next morning why you did it, and I saw the evidence in the money in your hand. I saw them put it there, did you really not know that?”
All the while she was talking she kept her head forward so he couldn’t see her face, but he was sure from the tone of her voice that she was struggling not to cry. He longed to enfold her in his arms, but he knew there were facts that he had to get her to understand, before he risked her rebuffing him.
Concisely he tried to give them to her in one speech, as quickly as possible, before she side tracked him.
“Those boys were idiots, their bet was idiotic, and if you had waited just two more minutes, you’d have seen me throw their money into their faces. It was never anything to do with me, it was their stupid bet, but they seemed to think I deserved some money to. God, Emme, I raced after you and I couldn’t find you anywhere. Your flatmates wouldn’t talk to me; they slammed the door in my face. I tried and tried to find you, so that I could tell you.”
She raised her head slightly searching his eyes for the truth, as she asked him.
“Tell me what?”
She saw enough of naked longing in his face to make her drop her eyes again in confusion. She was beginning to doubt everything she had believed, and she began to panic that she was in danger of totally losing control of the situation.
Trying hard to catch her eye he told her huskily.
“I wanted to tell you that you were my whole life that I wanted to spend my days with you forever, I wanted to give you children to fill your days with joy and finally, I wanted to grow old and content beside you. Emme, will you please look at me? It’s very difficult talking to a head of hair, please, please look at me; I’m telling you the truth.”
Emme’s tired eyes finally lifted to search his face for some sign that it was all a lie, but all that she could see were his eyes, shining full of love and longing. Her face crumpled and tears stung her eyes, as she fought to control them. She had spent so long hating him and believing that he had deserted her that she found herself unable to totally let go of her anger. In one fluid movement she yanked on the door handle and sprang out of the car, trying to put some distance between his eyes and her treacherous emotions.
Christos watched her pacing away from him with a sinking heart. When he had told her the truth it was as if she didn’t want to accept it, stifling a groan he wondered what more he could do. Idly he noted that she had stopped pacing but her whole demeanour was one of such abject despair that, without any sure idea of what he was going to do, he opened his door and slowly walked towards her.
Emme had been thinking deeply in those moments when there was some distance between them. She knew t
hat she had loved him once upon a time, she could not deny that and she had lost count of the sleepless nights she had spent, dreaming that one day she would see him and hold him again.
Now here he was, and whatever decisions she made in the next few seconds would affect her life, his life and the lives of their children for ever more.
She lifted her head slightly, and through the curtain of her curls she could see him approaching her uncertainly, with a look of concern on his face. As she lifted her eyes higher she saw both fear and longing in his eyes. By the time he stood before her she had gained some control over her emotions, and she managed to raise her eyes fully to his, controlling the tears that had threatened to appear at his words.
“You can’t just march in here and think you can wheedle yourself into our lives. It doesn’t work like that, the children may appear to be accepting of you at the moment, but I can tell you that the moment you cross them, or tell them no, their tempers will flame and it will all blow up in your face.”
He reached out his hands to her very slowly. “I would expect nothing less; after all they are my children.”
She hesitated then continued. “And we need to think very carefully exactly how we explain to them what happened between us.”
She saw a muscle tighten in his cheek. “I totally agree with you there, that conversation has to be planned very carefully.”
She reasoned. “And as they have just settled into their senior school and are already doing well, I have no intention of interrupting that, nor will I take them away from their friends they have had since they were in primary school.”
He had finally captured both her hands while she had been talking, and now he was gently rubbing his fingers on her palms. As he did so, he felt again that calming warmth that began to seep from her fingertips onto his and insidiously, slowly delicately entwine and envelop his very soul.
Quietly he replied. “Again, I agree with you, I would not expect you to.”
She snatched her hands away trying to cool the heat that his touch had kindled within her.