by Michelle Day
Peeling back the blanket, Paul eased the tip of his finger into the tiny, perfectly formed hand and admired the minute finger nails. Tiny fingers grasped his finger with a surprisingly strong grip, making him smile, he felt tears begin to prickle his eyes as the boy squirmed and made a soft mewling noise before settling once more into sleep.
“He’s perfect.” Paul whispered looking into his mothers’ eyes “I can’t believe he is a part of me.”
“You’d better believe it my boy; he’s going to be part of you for the rest of your life.” Her tone was a little harsh but like her son, she was overcome with emotion at the birth of her first grandchild.
Carmen remained in hospital for an entire week. True to his word, Paul had arranged a single room for her although she had mentioned that some of the mothers on the ward had begun to talk to her after his first visit, telling her that on seeing him, they partly understood why she was so drawn to him.
Chapter Two
Paul was all too aware of his looks, he knew his thick, dark hair, kept a little too long but not overly so, was the initial draw and he made sure to always keep it clean and shining. He often caught girls and women watching him as he pushed his heavy fringe out of his eyes, some of them hiding blushes, others sighing at the gesture. His height was often remarked upon, at sixteen he had reached just over six foot and would grow another two inches before obtaining his full height.
Comments were also made about his dark brown, almost black eyes fringed, with thick black lashes that brushed his sculptured high cheek bones as he slept. Broad shoulders flared from his elegant neck and tapered down into his hard muscled chest and stomach, narrowing at the hips. Even from behind he was an impressive sight; his shoulders shaped the clothes that he wore without detracting from his muscular back and pert, firm bottom filling whatever garment he chose to wear. Trousers clung to his thighs as he moved, accentuating the toned, exceptionally hard muscle beneath the material and he moved with the grace of a trained dancer.
He knew he was blessed in the looks department and was lucky to have a naturally athletic body, he was delighted with his added bulk when he begun to attend the gym which would become a lifetime habit over the years to follow. He realised very early, that his body coupled with his chiselled facial features from his proportionally straight nose and full, well defined lips, made him an attractive proposition and found that he really didn’t have to try to make women notice him, wherever he was, whatever way he turned, one female or another would smile at him or watch as he walked by.
The fact that he adored women of all shapes and sizes was obvious as he didn’t discriminate in who he spoke to or dated. He enjoyed the company of women whether or not he was involved with them; they were quirky and funny and gave him no end of amusement. Even ex girlfriends didn’t have a bad word to say about him although he would generally break off one relationship in order to start another; he treated them all with respect and had remained friends with all of them. He set about making himself into the perfect man, his confidence growing with each passing relationship. He was determined to have it all from the beautiful wife and children to the large house and fast cars and endless amounts of money to support the lifestyle he dreamed of and if he kept on the way he was going, everything he wanted was well within his grasp.
Outside of the hospitals strict visiting hours, Paul and Monica spent a little time shopping for baby clothes, at Monica’s request, they also spent a bit more time with Helen and Luke, Monica bristling with pride at the way her son interacted with the toddler. Paul also took the time to visit various estate agents and register Carmen’s details, explaining the current situation that she was unable to visit any properties at present but they should keep the details of potential properties coming.
The evenings were spent in the hotel room, Monica generally on the phone to Michael, Tessa and Matt. Paul would shower and then, wrapped in a bathrobe, sit at the low table in the living room of the suite Monica had rented and immerse himself in paperwork and scheduling for his gardening business. He kept the schedule two weeks in advance so he could well afford to take a break from this but it kept his mind busy when it became restless.
Plucking the cigarette from his fingers, Monica, stubbed it out in the overflowing ashtray and scowled at him “I thought you were going to try and give up?” She asked, hands on hips.
“As you’ve put out more than I’ve smoked I don’t seem to have to try.” he answered.
“You won’t be able to smoke around the baby.” She told him, taking a seat on the sofa opposite him.
“I don’t intend to.” He replied.
“I wanted to talk to you about Gavin.”
“I had a feeling you were building up to something.” He smiled as he put his pen down and lounged back, one bare foot coming to rest on the edge of the table.
“Don’t sass me boy!” She warned. “Sorry Mum.” He said, still smiling. Monica tutted at his obvious insincerity. “As Carmen is going to be out of action for a while, it will be down to you to register the birth.” “Huh, I hadn’t thought of that. What’s your point?” “He needs to have your surname.” Monica stated.
“Okay, why?” He sat up, interested, both feet on the floor, leaning forward, arms resting on his knees.
“Well, besides the obvious fact that she didn’t give you any option on the Christian name, the Jensen name will open so many doors for him as he gets older, not something that’s likely to happen if he is known as Scott.”
Paul nodded his agreement. “I’ll run it past her, see what she says.”
“I have a fairly good idea of what she will say.” Monica huffed.
“Mum, you are going to let me handle this aren’t you?”
“Of course, why would you think otherwise?” She asked, mimicking his earlier insincerity.
The argument that ensued over the issue of Gavin’s surname became nasty with Paul caught between his girlfriend and his Mother and siding heavily with the latter. Carmen, sore, tired and suffering a little post natal depression was at her most venomous and despatched the two Jensen’s from her room within moments of Paul backing up Monica’s well rounded argument.
Helen watched Paul pace her kitchen. Although he hadn’t spoken since coming into the room with his mother, she could see he was angry; he was physically shaking with his arms firmly crossed over his chest, his fists tight balls either side of his ribs.
Placing the tea pot and her best china on the table in front of Monica, she turned to Paul, touching his arm as he paced towards her, “Give her time, she’ll get used to the idea.”
“I don’t care if she doesn’t, he’s having my surname. Who the hell does she think she is?” He. raised his voice, his scowl deepening, finally giving reign to his temper. “This is unbelievable, I could understand it if I had done a runner, never to be seen again but I’m here, I want to be a part of his life, I’m going to support them both and she’s still trying to take the lead over me. What gives her right to do any of that without considering my side of things?”
While he ranted, Helen sat next to Monica who was cuddling Luke close to her chest, Paul’s sudden raised voice had startled him and he was sitting stock still, watching him pace and shout, eyes wide in astonishment.
“Paul.” Monica said softly, Helen was convinced he wouldn’t hear her but he stopped pacing and turned towards her. “You are frightening Luke.” Monica pointed out.
He raked his fingers through his hair as he regarded the frightened little boy, relaying his rant in his head. Suddenly, he smiled and sank down to Luke’s level where he was perched on Monica’s knee.
“I’m sorry buddy,” he started, his voice soft, placating. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” He ruffled the blond hair, affecting a higher pitch and adopting baby like speak he continued. “I may have shouted but I didn’t swear, we didn’t have to cover your ears did we mate. You ok?” He was convinced the child didn’t have a clue what he was saying but he continued to babble until Lu
ke reached out to him, expecting to be picked up. Lifting him away from Monica, Paul sat him on his own lap, bouncing his legs up and down while he held the boy, parting his legs every now and then pretending to let him drop bringing forth squeals of laughter from the now, very happy toddler.
Monica was up early the following morning packing their things in preparation for the journey home, they had stayed longer than expected and she was looking forward to returning to her family and bringing order back to the house.
“Morning.” Paul mumbled as he wandered into the suites’ living room and reached for the coffee pot, he had slept fitfully after once again arguing with Carmen upon the presentation of Gavin’s birth certificate which stated, clear as day that the boy now bore his surname.
“Good Morning.” Monica replied before facing her son “Good God put some clothes on.” She continued observing her son in just a pair of boxer shorts.
“Coffee first.” He answered, smiling at her over the top of the cup.
Monica tutted and turned back to her suitcase but not before she noticed how much her son had matured and the perfect sculptured body that was usually hidden beneath his clothes. She mentally slapped herself for giving her own son the once over, telling herself that even if he wasn’t her son, he most definitely wasn’t her type, she preferred blue eyed blonds but that didn’t mean she didn’t recognise an attractive man when she saw one and Paul was most certainly one of those. She shook her head upon the realisation that even she wasn’t immune to his charm.
“Why are you packing?” Paul asked, now dressed, he came to peer into his case.
“We are going home today, I did tell you.” She straightened from folding clothes.
Paul mused that she had indeed told him of their departure date. “I’m not going home.” He stated.
“Oh yes you are.” She replied, hands on hips.
“Mum, think about it, Carmen still can’t do a lot and Helen has a part time job now that Luke is in play group, I’m needed here at least for now, I’m staying.”
“You make a good argument.” Monica told him “What about your business?”
“I can run that from here and Phil’s a good guy, he’ll oversee things for me and it’s not like it’s going to be forever. I’d quite like to look into the possibility of getting something going up here as well.”
“Ok, what about the two days you do at the office?” She asked.
Paul pulled a face, even though under Norman Satchell’s tutelage he was beginning to enjoy the work he would still rather not be in the same building as his father for any length of time. “I was hoping you could talk to Dad or Gramps about some paternity leave?” He hedged.
“I don’t want you to stay.” Monica sighed “But I do see that you have very little choice at the moment so yes, I will talk to your father about time off for you, don’t expect it to be paid though and Paul, don’t forget about your business, you are doing well, I would hate to see it all ruined.”
“I won’t forget Mum and I’ll call you every day and let you know how things are going.”
Paul ended up staying in Gloucester for three months, during which time he made himself indispensible to the two women by doing chores around the house as well as completing the maintenance on it. He looked after Gavin when Carmen returned to work having managed to secure a position as a night school teacher for adults wishing to further their education and he took very good care of Luke, picking him up from play group, allowing Helen to do some much needed overtime.
Perusing the business section of the papers on a daily basis, he also managed to pick up a failing gardening company for a very reasonable price and persuaded Phil to join him for a week to see what they could do with the workforce and try to coerce them into his way of working before leaving Phil with them to once again collect Luke. He had come to look on the boy as his surrogate son and immensely enjoyed the time they spent together.
Carmen found her evening work very rewarding and often found herself drawn into raucous debates during lessons. It felt so good to be exercising her mind again, there was after all, only so many hours in the day that she could tolerate cooing at her baby and enduring Paul’s teenage drama’s and the long drawn out conversations that he had with his brother over the phone every couple of days which is about the only time she heard him laugh these days. Working at night also meant that she slept late in the morning when he was usually up and out taking care of Gavin giving her much needed space from his wondering hands and persistent mouth; he didn’t seem to understand that she just wasn’t ready to resume their sex life just yet.
Sitting on the sofa with the morning’s mail, she watched as Paul leant over the travel cot where Gavin was sleeping, he pulled the blanket a little higher onto the boy’s body, gently stroking the shock of dark hair on his head before straightening and sitting beside Luke and a very large colouring book. His loving, gentle ways with both boys squeezed her heart, making her feel most unfair by repeatedly spurning his advances, but if she wasn’t ready, he would just have to accept that. Besides, she was still a little tender in her nether regions and Paul was well endowed, the mere thought of having sex made her cringe, remembering the pain of the birth and the subsequent glut of stitches, no, he would just have to wait.
“Where’s Helen?” She asked, her fingers deftly opening the large envelope from the estate agents.
“She went shopping.” He answered, not bothering to look up, he was still a bit miffed after having been turned down again.
“Huh, you’d think she could at least ask me if I minded taking care of Luke.” Carmen huffed.
“You aren’t taking care of him, I am. I offered so that she had some time to herself and besides that, you were asleep, neither of us saw any reason to wake you up.”
The tone of his voice made her look up, narrowing her eyes at him as she recognised his belligerent tone and set of his shoulders and knew they were very close, once again to arguing.
“Look, Paul, I know you are upset,” she began.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” He cut her off “Especially in front of him.” He gestured to Luke.
“Ok, you are right.” She conceded, she flicked through the pages of properties most of which were unsuitable, sighing deeply when she came to one sheet depicting a once beautiful, now shabby, five bedroom detached house. With a little work, it could be fantastic, the only reason the estate agent had sent it was because with the repairs it required, it was just within her price range.
“Anything worth looking at?” Paul pulled her out of her daydream, having left Luke to his colouring; he came to hover in front of her.
“Not really, only this and it’s far too big.” She held out the sheet with the five bedroom house on it.
Taking the sheet, he sat beside her, carefully reading through the details. “It needs a lot of work but it’s doable.”
“I could never afford to run a house that size.” She replied.
“Hang on, just think about it.” He turned towards her, his face alight “The house is huge, there’s more than enough room for you and Gavin and even Helen and Luke.”
“Are you suggesting that Helen sells this place and we get a house together?”
“Yes. Absolutely! You have the money from your house and this one is worth at least twice what it was now all the repairs have been done and I can do most of the work on that house myself so that won’t be an added cost to you, I’ll take care of all of that side of it. I could even divide the house in two if that works out better for you two and it means Gavin won’t grow up an only child and neither will Luke and you and Helen will have each other for support.”
“Paul, even with the money from both houses, it’ll still be a bit tight affording this place and that’s if Helen is willing.”
“I’ll chat her into it.” He grinned “You don’t have to worry about the shortfall; I’ll make up the difference and anyway, we don’t have to offer the full asking price. Now that both businesses a
re making a profit, I’ll hardly even miss the money. The least we could do is go and look at the place.” He flipped over the page “The garden is massive, look at this; the boys could have hours of fun out there, after I reclaim it from the brambles anyway.”
His enthusiasm was contagious and she found herself smiling along with him and even began making plans on how to approach the conversation with Helen.
Later that day, with Helen warming to the idea, they made an appointment to visit the house, as it was vacant; the estate agent let them have the keys and allowed them free access to the property. They left Gavin and Luke with Helen’s childminder neighbour so that they could concentrate on exactly what would need doing to the house.
Paul left the two women to wonder the house, deep in conversation while he, note pad in hand, went from room to room making minute examinations of each of the ground floor rooms before heading upstairs. It took a while before Carmen noticed his absence and called his name.
“Up here.” He called from the top of the stairs where they joined him.
“It’s much worse than the bumf says it is.” Carmen stated.
“I know, but it does mean we can get away with offering a lower price. I’m going up in the loft.”
“It might not be safe.” She touched his arm in caution.
“I’ll be fine.” He smiled, standing on a chair and settling his hands on the edge of the loft hatch, getting a firm grasp before hauling himself up through the hole. “Big loft,” he looked down at Carmen before wandering away, “It’s going to need a new roof.” He called.
“Can you do that?” She called back, his head appeared in the ceiling above her.
“No, but it’s not a problem. I know people in the trade; I’ll get it done at a reasonable price.” He sat on the edge of the loft hatch and slowly lowered himself down, giving both women a flash of his toned abdomen shortly before he landed on his feet “What do you think?” He asked.