Forever, With You

by Sophie Love

  “But you knew he was missing?” Emily asked. “That he’d been declared a missing person?”

  Trevor just shrugged. “To be perfectly honest I just thought he’d moved out. My only concern was the house falling into disrepair and the state of the street because of it.”

  Emily felt her mind begin to whir with thoughts. “So when was the last time you saw him then? Do you remember?”

  Trevor took another sip of tea. Emily noticed steam clinging to the ends of his moustache hair where it rested on his top lip.

  “Gosh, I’m not sure,” Trevor said. “Time blurs when you reach my age.”

  Emily clenched every muscle in her body. “Can you try to remember? Please.”

  Trevor must have picked up on her anguish. He tapped his chin and looked into the distance as though trying to pluck a memory out of thin air. “It was a long time, dear. At least a decade.”

  A decade. Ten years. If she could trust Trevor’s memory then here was a witness to Roy Mitchell’s return to the property after the date he had gone missing. She had to probe further.

  “What was he doing when you last saw him?” she asked.

  “I honestly don’t remember,” Trevor said, growing a little exasperated. “It was late at night. I’d been woken up by the sound of a car coming up the street. It had a noisy engine, must have been some old auto salvage type. I went up to the window…”

  He pursed his lips then and Emily couldn’t help but smirk at his admission of spying on the household through his uppermost window.

  “...the trees weren’t as high back then so the view was better. I saw Roy enter the house and that was that. Nothing more to report.”

  He shrugged as though disappointed himself that the anecdote had ended on such an anticlimax. But for Emily, his sighting of her father was astonishing, exciting, and terrifying all at once. It wasn’t just letters now, or vague hypotheses about how they came to be in the wine cellar’s vault, it was a real, concrete memory, with details. She could picture her father now in an old car he’d fixed up, coming to the house in the dead of night thinking he was hidden under the cover of darkness but in reality being witnessed by his nosy neighbor through an attic window.

  Emily’s heart hammered with anticipation. She needed more. This was the closest she’d come to her father.

  “You didn’t see how long he stayed for?” she asked.

  “No,” Trevor replied. “I went back to bed. The car was gone in the morning, much to my relief. It was such an eyesore. A beat-up hunk of junk. I’m surprised he managed to even get it running the state it was in.”

  Emily sat back, deflated but also invigorated. The sighting of old car was certainly odd—Emily’s father took great pride in his vehicles. He’d made a bike for her from scratch and had done up several old cars in his time. He wasn’t the kind of man who’d drive a rusty auto-salvage car.

  “Do you remember someone called Diana?” Emily asked.

  Trevor tapped his chin again. “No, I’m afraid I don’t.”

  “What about Toni?”

  Another head shake.

  Emily tried a new tactic. “Do you remember seeing a golden Labrador? Its name was Persephone.”

  Trevor began to laugh then. “Oh, yes, I remember Persephone! I had a Chihuahua called Mildred. When we were vacationing I’d walk her down the beach. Persephone was always down there and Mildred, rest her dear soul, just loved her. They looked so funny together, that big Labrador and my tiny little Chihuahua.” He sighed. “I do miss her terribly. I guess I’ll be seeing her soon enough, if you believe in that sort of thing.”

  Emily felt her heart ache for him. She wanted to say something comforting but found she couldn’t even utter a word. She could hardly breathe. The biggest pieces of the jigsaw were finally falling into place. She’d been barking up the wrong tree all this time. Her father had been having an affair but the affair wasn’t why he had gone. Something else had driven her father to take such drastic action. But what that could be Emily felt no closer to the truth.

  CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

  In the days that followed, Emily’s thoughts were plagued by of the mystery of her father. But that wasn’t the only thing on her mind. She was thinking more and more about the family, about life with Daniel and creating a stable home for Chantelle. Waiting for news from Richard about securing legal guardianship of Chantelle was frustrating. And Daniel hadn’t brought up marriage again, though that was probably because she’d scared him away by being so blunt and unwelcoming every time he mentioned it.

  But as Thanksgiving approached, Emily found herself wondering more and more what it would be like to have a couple more kids sitting around the dinner table, a boy and a girl with her dark hair and Daniel’s piercing eyes. If the back taxes on the inn were somehow miraculously cleared, their kids could attend the same school as Chantelle, sleep in the two bedrooms beside hers. They’d be rehearsing for the very same recital that Chantelle had coming up.

  So far, Chantelle had only been rehearsing during school hours, but today Owen had suggested he come over to the inn and accompany her on piano so she could get some extra practice in. Emily, seeing it as an opportunity for socializing, had invited some of Chantelle’s classmates and their parents over as well.

  None were here yet, so it was just her and Daniel sitting together on the living room couch, Chantelle standing nervously beside the piano. Owen began to plunk out the opening chords of the song and Chantelle, nervously fiddling with her hands, shifted from one foot to the other, then took a breath and began to sing.

  The second Chantelle’s warbling birdlike voice began Daniel tensed with shock. Emily too felt like she’d taken a punch to the gut. The child’s voice was beautiful, seeped in an emotion far beyond what one would expect from a seven-year-old.

  Emily stretched out for Daniel’s hand and felt his fingers interlink with hers. They watched on, entranced, as Owen created the music that acted as a carrier for Chantelle’s beautiful voice. How had she hidden this talent from them? Her fear of being the center of attention had made her hide herself from them, to keep this precious talent to herself. But now, with her school performance fast approaching, she’d finally bitten the bullet and allowed her parents to witness her singing. It was stunning. Breathtaking.

  “Am I just biased because she’s my kid?” Daniel gasped when the song was over.

  Owen shook his head. “No. She really is an excellent singer.”

  Just then the bell rang. Emily could hear the merry chatter of Bailey coming from the other side. She went and opened the door to Yvonne and Bailey.

  “Kieran’s flying to Hawaii so it’s just the two of us,” Yvonne said.

  “No problem, come on in,” Emily said, gesturing inside. “Chantelle’s just warming up.”

  Bailey bounded past Emily, leaving the two women to greet each other. It had felt like an age since they’d gotten together; there had been a lot of distractions in Emily’s life. Getting back to a normal family routine was soothing for Emily.

  Suzanna and Wesley arrived a little later with Toby, then Ryan and his dad turned up, and Georgina and both her parents. Finally, with all the kids together on the makeshift stage and all the parents with their mimosas in hand, the “dress rehearsal” began.

  Once again, Owen began to play the accompaniment. The children sang. Toby was so quiet as to be inaudible and Bailey was so loud and enthusiastic she drowned out everyone else. Yvonne giggled and watched on with delight as her boisterous daughter once again demanded the limelight and threw every ounce of passion and energy she had into the performance. Then throughout the whole thing came the bell-like crystal-clear sound of Chantelle’s voice. Even with the distractions, Emily found herself able to hone in on the sound of Chantelle. She wondered if this was what it was like to be a mom, always able to pick your own child out of the crowd, able to distinguish their cry, attuned to them through instinct.

  The performance ended and everyone cheered.

&nb
sp; “I think you deserve a mimosa,” Emily said to Owen, handing him a drink. He accepted it with his shy grin. “Thanks for everything you’ve done for us,” Emily added. “You’ve been such a help with Chantelle.”

  “She has a real talent,” Owen said. “I’d get her into singing lessons if I were you. Maybe even opera. She could be a star.”

  Emily raised her eyebrows. Just imagine if the little girl was a savant.

  As everyone ate and drank together and the children ran around the inn playing, Emily watched on with contentment. Life was good, she felt blessed, but she also felt like she was standing on the precipice of a mountain about to jump, as though everything was about to change dramatically. That in some ways it already had. She had definitive proof now that her father was alive, and yet she felt as though the mystery was tied in knots, that each knot she unraveled revealed another, on and on for infinity so she would never solve the riddle of Roy Mitchell. Then there was Daniel and his failed proposals. Would he ever get the guts to try again? Could he even do it right, in the way that Emily craved? And finally the inn. Would her business even survive the winter? Or would the back taxes force her into bankruptcy?

  As if the Universe had heard her predicament, the inn’s phone began to ring at that exact moment. Her heart fluttering, Emily answered it, using her best hostess voice.

  The voice on the other end was male. “Hi, I saw on your website that you have a carriage house,” he said. “I’d like to book it.”

  “Of course,” Emily replied, trying to keep her voice steady. But in reality she was beyond excited. She was ecstatic. The carriage house plan had come good at last and the effort she’d put into the website was paying off. Finally she was going to get some much needed income. It was just a small step toward paying off the taxes but it could be enough to calm the banks temporarily and stave off an eviction. “May I ask when you were hoping to occupy it?”

  “I’ll be arriving at the weekend if that’s possible.”

  “It is. You’ll actually be our first guest. The renovation work has just been completed.”

  “Wonderful,” the man replied. Then he dropped a bombshell. “I’d like it for a month.”

  Emily faltered, tried to catch her breath. The carriage house wasn’t cheap. Booking it for a month would mean a lot of income.

  “That’s no problem at all,” she managed to say in her hostess voice, though the pitch had risen to a mouselike level.

  Her fingers were trembling with excitement as she typed all the information into the system and booked the guest, Colin Magnum, into the carriage house for the next month. Then she sent a text out to her staff letting them know about the booking and asking for their shift availability. Everyone seemed just as excited as she was that the inn was back on its feet, that her risk with renovating the carriage house was paying off.

  Once she’d finally organized the up coming month, she returned to the party to find that it was winding down.

  “We’re just heading off,” Wesley told Emily as he wrapped his arm around Suzanna. “We don’t want to be tired and grumpy for the real performance tomorrow.”

  Suzanna blushed and leaned into her friend, whispering in her ear, “Plus, we’re trying for baby number two.”

  Emily gasped. Suzanna was usually so shy and retiring. It made her giggle to hear her divulging such personal information.

  “What spurred that on?” Emily asked.

  “You actually,” Suzanna replied. “During the storm you got us thinking about not putting things off anymore, of following our dreams. So Wesley is going to try and set something up in terms of a wine business and I’m going to try and create another human.” She grinned.

  “Well, good luck with that,” Emily said with a wink. It warmed her heart to know that she had encouraged her friends to follow a new path, to take a risk in the pursuit of happiness.

  Everyone gathered their coats. As they left Emily apologized for having been torn away by work-related matters.

  “We’ll see you at the performance tomorrow,” Yvonne said, kissing Emily and Daniel in turn.

  They waved them off.

  Once everyone had gone, Daniel, Emily, and Chantelle retired to the living room.

  “So we have a guest?” Daniel asked Emily.

  “We do,” Emily replied, almost giddy with her excitement. “And get this. He’s renting out the carriage house for a month. A month!” She was practically leaping on the couch.

  Daniel gasped. “That’s incredible. You’ll make a ton! I’m so glad I finished it in time for the holidays.”

  Emily sighed with contentment, grateful for all the hard work Daniel had put into restoring the place, and the countless trips he’d made following eBay leads for rare and exotic decorations and artworks. He really had worked his hardest for her just as he’d promised.

  After Chantelle had been tucked into bed and Emily and Daniel were together in their bedroom, Emily sat at on the vanity table stool moisturizing. She could see Daniel’s reflection in the mirror as he undressed.

  “I want to adopt Chantelle,” Emily said.

  She watched him pause, his fingers hovering over the button of his shirt.

  “Richard said you have a strong case for full legal guardianship over her because of Sheila’s drug abuse,” Emily explained. “Once you’ve got it, I want to pursue adoption.”

  She swiveled on the stool to face Daniel. His expression was unreadable.

  “I don’t want to erase her history,” he said, finally.

  “And I don’t want her to be torn away from us,” Emily countered. “Chantelle is my daughter, pure and simple. She doesn’t want Sheila.”

  “She doesn’t want the drug-addled monster that takes over Sheila,” Daniel replied. “But she needs her mom in her life.”

  Emily stood. “She doesn’t want to leave us. She needs the security of knowing this will be her home. That if Sheila turns up again she won’t be able take her away.” She reached Daniel and rested a hand on his chest. “I don’t want our daughter hiding in the basement anymore. I don’t want her having nightmares.” She paused and swallowed the lump in her throat. “I want her to have a happy life here with us, with brothers and sisters.”

  Suzanna’s words earlier had gotten Emily thinking. Why wait around? Why not take the plunge and make things happen the way she wanted? She’d done it before with the B&B. Daniel had done it with Chantelle. Now it was time for them to do something together.

  Daniel clutched the hand that Emily had placed on him. He seemed dumbstruck by her words, touched, and no longer confrontational. “You’d really do that? Officially adopt Chantelle if you could?”

  “If such a thing is possible. I love her and never want to leave her. It’s what she wants too.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She told me so,” Emily said. “When she was having a nightmare. She told me she wanted me to be her mom. Her only mom.”

  Daniel took a small breath. He seemed shocked that such conversations had been taking place without his knowing. Though he had of course been there to see Chantelle and Emily growing close, the fact their bond had become so unbreakable had clearly passed him by.

  “If that happens,” Daniel said, “hypothetically speaking, there would be no going back.”

  Emily nodded. She’d never felt more confident of anything in her life. “I know.”

  “You want that?”

  “I do.”

  Daniel crushed Emily against him and his lips found hers.

  “No going back,” he whispered.

  “No going back.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

  The school hall was dark, with a large red velvet curtain covering the stage. As Emily looked around at the large space and all the seats slowly filling with parents, she felt a pang of nerves for Chantelle, knowing how anxious the child was about performing in front of people. But she was also excited that Chantelle had the opportunity to show the world her talent. This would be a proud m
oment for the whole family.

  Emily and Daniel found seats beside Yvonne and Kieran.

  “How was Hawaii?” Emily asked Kieran as she sat down beside him.

  “You mean how was the inside of my hotel room in Hawaii?” Kieran replied with a laugh. “For the whole six hours I occupied it? Lovely, thanks.”

  Emily smirked. They sat back in their seats then, as the lights grew dimmer. The audience hushed. Miss Glass took her seat behind the piano and began to play the opening chords. Then the curtains pulled apart and the performance began.

  Emily felt Daniel’s hand grip hers. She held on tightly. The second she saw Chantelle walk onto the stage she felt a lump form in her throat and tears begin to fall down her cheeks, and the child hadn’t even started singing yet! Emily couldn’t help herself. Chantelle had come so far and she could not be prouder of the girl.

  The children began singing their songs, with Bailey being by far the most theatrical of the bunch. Emily had a sudden flash forward to Chantelle and Bailey in performing arts classes, singing and acting together, growing older, being friends for years. The thought warmed her heart.

  The song ended and everyone clapped. Then to Emily’s surprise, Chantelle stepped forward. A spotlight fell on her.

  “She’s doing a solo?” Emily gasped to Daniel.

  Neither of them knew anything about it. Chantelle looked like an angel as she stood there, her voice as clear as crystal, her golden hair illuminated by the stage lights. Emily felt like she had been frozen in time by the beauty of the moment. It seemed as if every single person in the audience was holding their breath, awestruck by the talent of such a young child.

  When the song ended, the crowd erupted with cheers. Emily had never felt such fierce pride before. Chantelle blushed and joined the rest of her classmates. The performance continued, but Emily was still frozen in that moment, in that place of pure love.

  *

  Emily, Daniel, and Chantelle bustled into Joe’s diner. The elderly man broke into a grin when he saw them.