But it was a fantasy. Sure, Becky loved Abby, but that was her job. Eventually, Abby would grow up and Becky would want a family of her own. There was no chance that his fantasy family would ever be a reality. Becky was the nanny and he had to keep reminding himself of that fact or he would lose her and he and Abby needed her, for a little bit longer at least. He would just have to find a way to deal with his ridiculous obsession with getting her naked and sweaty. Maybe it was time for him to find himself some female companionship, at least to take the edge off.The days passed slowly while Barry was away. Becky and Abby found things to entertain themselves; Becky enrolled Abby in a playgroup so she could meet some other kids. They went to the library for story time and did some sightseeing around Melbourne, going to the museum and finding some fun playgrounds and parks, but both of them missed the big presence of Barry at night. True to his word, he Skyped with them every night, once
Jo smiled. “Sure. We go every week.” Jo and the other mothers waved to her as they trouped out of the room and Becky waved back at them. She should probably join them, but she had decided that she would do as Barry had suggested and buy herself some clothes to replace the ones Heather had given to charity. She was a bit sick of the cropped pants and t-shirts that had become her uniform. She might even splurge and buy herself some new underwear if she found some on sale. When she was sure Becky had settled into class, she slipped out of the room and down to her car. She drove to a local shopping center and parked in the underground car park. She couldn’t remember the last time she had gone shopping without Abby and a feeling of loss settled over her. She had been Abby’s primary caregiver for nearly five years. In another few months, she would be going off to school and Becky had no idea what she was going to do when that happened. She wondered if this was how other mothe
“Cassie,” Becky said gratefully. Adam took a step back, giving her the breathing room she needed and her eyes locked on to Cassie’s questioning ones. “I thought that was you,” Cassie said, her face breaking into a big smile. “I’m so glad I ran into you.” She flicked a glance at Adam and then stuck out her hand. “Hi, I’m Cassie Smith.” “Cassie, this is Adam Calhoun,” Becky said, moving away from the clothing rack to stand beside Cassie and out of Adam’s grasp. “Have we met?” she asked. “Your name sounds familiar.” “I don’t think so,” Adam said, barely containing his sneer. “Cassie is engaged to Brian Colleen,” Becky said and watched with satisfaction when his eyes widened. She turned to Cassie. “Maybe Brian has mentioned Adam, I think they may have done business in the past.” Cassie shook her head slowly. “No, I don’t think so.” “Oh, then maybe Barry mentioned him,” Becky said with relish. “Adam married Heather, Barry’ ex-wife.” “Nice to see
They pulled into the driveway and Becky took Abby inside, setting her up in front of the laptop so she could once again watch the ballet that Bethany Reynholm starred in. The little girl was even more obsessed with the prima ballerina after meeting her and Becky was happy for her to be distracted for a while so she could get herself under control. Seeing Adam had really shaken her up and the familiar itch under her skin was back, along with the need to run away. But she couldn’t leave Abby, especially with Barry overseas. No, she needed to deal with it without running away. Adam’s advances towards her hadn’t started right off. He seemed more than happy with Heather in the first few months that Becky had come into their lives. She’d lived with them for a few weeks before Abby was born and had been Heather’s birth coach. After Abby was born and brought home, Becky’s days and nights had been consumed with taking care of the tiny baby. It wasn’t until Abby had started to to
Barry was distracted as Casey read through her findings. They had narrowed down the likely culprit to five employees, but Barry just couldn’t concentrate. He had spoken to Becky before coming into the office, and she had seemed different. She was distant and withdrawn and had ended their conversation quickly, which was somewhat of a disappointment to Barry. He had come to rely on those late-night chats with her when she was showered and dressed for bed. He liked talking to her, getting to know her, and seeing her today, and how standoffish she had been put him in a bad mood. “Barry! Are you with us?” Freddie glared at him, but Barry couldn’t care less. “Sorry,” he said with a sigh. “I had a disturbing call from home.” “How about we take a break,” Freddie said, standing and stretching. He turned to Barry. “Do you need to make a phone call?” Barry stood and fished his phone out of his pocket. “Yeah,” he said, looking at the time and making the calculations. It would be late at h
“Cassie,” she said with shock, “what are you doing here?” Cassie shrugged. “I had the day off and thought we could have coffee.” She held up a bakery box. “And cupcakes.” Becky smiled and stood aside to let Cassie in. “Who’s here?” Abby asked coming down the stairs. She was wearing a bright pink tutu and a cute little white crop top with ‘Diva’ scrawled across it in pink and she had her pink hair extensions clipped into her hair. She was still geeking out over her close encounter with Beth Reynholm and wouldn’t let Becky dress her in anything else. Becky hadn’t minded, they hadn’t planned on leaving the house. When Cassie looked between them, Becky looked down at her own outfit and laughed. Abby had convinced her to dress up too and she was also wearing a tutu, although it was more just a long skirt made out of tulle, with leggings underneath and her yoga crop top. “Sorry Cassie,” she said with a shake of her head, “we weren’t expecting company.” Cassie beamed at them. “Th
He waited impatiently for the Skype call to connect. He had already spoken to Abby and Becky earlier, but he’d told Becky he would call back. He needed to talk to her and make sure she was okay. He was still seething over the whole Adam debacle and he had taken great relish in reading the preliminary reports his team had assembled for him. On the surface, the guy’s company looked solid, but Barry had a gut feeling that there was something lurking underneath that wouldn’t bode well for Mr. Calhoun. This was why Barry was known as a shark; he could scent blood in the water, and there was just something about Calhoun’s holdings that tweaked his senses. The call connected and any and all thoughts of Adam Calhoun fled as he drank in the sight of her. She was wearing a pale blue top in a silky material that buttoned up in front, but the top button was undone and he had a peek at the soft skin of her cleavage. He felt himself harden and was thankful that she could only see him from the che
Becky and Abby spent the next two days planning her upcoming birthday party. It was two weeks away, and they had to get the invitations sent out. Abby had made friends at playgroups and ballet and Becky had also added Barry’ friends to the invitation list. She’d run it by him before she sent them, but she thought he might appreciate having some testosterone in the house to counteract all the little girls who would be running around. And it was a pink princess party, so all those little girls would be dressed head to toe in pink and no doubt as princesses. The poor guy would need all the male influence he could get. Becky had tried to get Abby to relax her dress code for the boys, but she was steadfast - she wanted everyone dressed in her favorite color. Becky made a mental note to go out and buy herself a pretty dress to wear, perhaps while she was buying Abby’s party dress. The pink didn’t end with just the dress code, either. They had to have pink decorations and as much pink f
Six Months Later…Everyone he loved was in the room. They were celebrating. Barry and Becky had finally set a date. Lisa and Mason wouldn’t be far behind. Brian and Cassie kept sneaking glances at one another that they thought nobody else noticed. He thought he knew what was going on but he didn’t want to ruin the surprise. It was their news to share and he was happy to wait for them to be ready to share it. Liam and Loretta were here too. He’d been slowly getting to know them. There was a lot of hurt to work through, but they were getting there. Jonathon quite enjoyed having a younger brother even if it was only in small doses at the moment. Devi and Kirra were also there. Kirra was graduating in a couple of weeks and then she would be hopefully attending one of the universities close to home. She wouldn’t know if she got accepted until the new year, but Jonathan was quietly confident that she would get into her top pick. And then there was Emma. Every day with her was
“I know it’s too soon,” he said, cupping her cheek. “But I want you to know that I am in this for good. I want to spend my life with you Emma. I want us to be a family. You, me, Kirra, Devi, Liam, and Loretta—” “Loretta?” “My mum. I want one big, messy family with you and me at the heart of it. Tell me you want that too.” She pressed against him and brushed a kiss on his lips. “I do,” she said before putting the remaining half of the chocolate in her mouth and grinning. The wheel came to a stop and he drew Emma to her feet, moving them both over to the window. The entire city of Melbourne was spread out below them, but it dimmed in comparison to the woman in his arms. “I love you, Emma,” he whispered before kissing her while they stood on top of the world.He took her home. He couldn’t not. They had stuff to work out and a relationship to manage. He had a family to get to know and she had her mother’s illness to navigate and her sister’s final year of sch
He stepped into the pod and waited for the door to close before holding the final box out to her, his mouth dry. She reached for it but he snatched it away, lifting it beyond her reach. “Before I give this to you, I need to explain.” She looked from the box to his face and nodded. “Okay.” The wheel started to move and Jonathon moved them over to sit on a bench. He exhaled roughly. “Okay, so I don’t know how much of this you already know, but how about I just start at the beginning?” She nodded again. “My mother left when I was two. I always believed she left us for a man with money. I’ve recently found out that wasn’t true.” He took a deep breath and her hand rested gently on his chest as she moved closer to him. He took strength from her closeness. “Someone was impersonating me—” “Liam?” He nodded. “Right. Liam. It turns out Liam is my brother. He was trying to draw me out and get me to notice him. He ultimately wanted to meet his father. He didn’t
“Are you looking for this?” the security guy asked, holding out an old-fashioned paper ticket. Emma laughed as she snatched it from him, waving it over her shoulder as she jogged toward the front doors of the building. She slid into the car and Brian looked at her expectantly. “Um…” Emma looked between Brian and Cassie. “I want to say Luna Park, but I don’t think that’s right.” “Why Luna Park?” Cassie asked. Emma held up the ticket in her hand. “We went to a fête in Merveille and rode the Ferris wheel.” “The Melbourne Star,” Brian said, his voice gruff. “Of course!” Cassie cried excitedly, leaning over to give Brian a smacking kiss. “You’re brilliant.” Emma could barely keep still as Brian drove them across town toward the Docklands and the giant observation wheel. As much as she was enjoying herself, she wanted to see him. She had already forgiven him for his lie and now she desperately wanted to ask his forgiveness for her stupid, fearful, erratic
She walked around the corner expecting to see Jonathon outside the patisserie, but there was no one there. She stepped inside breathed in the sweet scent of pastries and chocolate and looked around, hoping to spot him, but he wasn’t there. “Are you Emma?” a lady asked. “Yeah,” Emma said, turning to the woman who sat at a small table with a familiar little box in front of her. “This is for you,” the woman said, standing and walking away. Emma sat and took the box, pulling at the bow and opening it to see another chocolate truffle, this time it had an ’S’ written on top of it in dark chocolate. She didn’t need the little ‘Eat Me’ note to know what to do. She put the truffle on her tongue and closed her eyes. The chocolate coating melted away to leave behind a cake center with the sweet tang of apricot jam. “Sachertorte,” she mumbled to herself as she sighed and opened her eyes. Emma picked up the note that had nestled beside the truffle in the box.The first time we made lov
Dear Emma,The first time we met I wanted to kiss you. I knew I couldn’t. I knew it was stepping across a line both personally and professionally, but still, I couldn’t deny the attraction I felt.Our relationship has had an unconventional start, a bit of a rocky middle, and an absolutely appalling ending, but there were some real high points along the way. Let me remind you of how good it was between us and how good it could be again.Do you remember our first kiss? I don’t think I will ever forget it. I thought I knew what I was getting myself in for when I leaned down to brush my lips across yours, but I was a fool. You were so much more than I ever thought I would ever experience. You took my breath away and I lost a little bit of my heart to you at that moment.If it meant as much to you as it did to me, meet me there at the place where we first kissed.Jonathon.Emma could feel the wetness on her cheeks and she sniffed as she wiped at the tears. “Well?” Cassie asked, rocking o
It was the first Saturday morning Emma could ever remember that had the three of them sitting around the kitchen table eating pancakes and laughing. What would have been a simple, family Saturday morning ritual for some was something out of a fairy tale for Emma. She knew they were a long way from being a happy family, there was still a lot of hurt to navigate and broken trust to overcome, but it was a start and for once in her life, she was willing to just go with it. On this day, Devi was back to the woman she vaguely remembered from before Tom died and Emma wanted to soak it up and memorize it. From pancakes, they’d gone to gardening. Emma shared her plans with Devi and Kirra. She would let the lease go on her flat and move back in here permanently. It meant she would be on hand if Devi needed her and hopefully give some stability for Kirra’s final year of school. After she graduated and went off to uni, Emma could look at what would happen next. They all agreed that if they were
Emma wanted to believe her, but it was tempting to turn away and close her heart off so she couldn’t be hurt again. Except it would hurt anyway. If there was one thing she learned through this whole saga with Jonathon it was that closing your heart off to others was a mistake. You ended up hurting everyone that way, not least of all yourself. She put her arm around Devi and hugged her. “Good for you mum,” she said.Jonathon worked all night and most of the day. He tried calling Emma but when she didn’t pick up or reply to his texts after the first twenty or so, he gave up. What he had to say needed to be said in person anyway. Inspired by the woman he had fallen irrevocably in love with, he had spent the night holed up in his test kitchen creating the perfect set of truffles. Anybody could buy a box of chocolates or a bunch of flowers but only he could create an entire set of truffles that spelled out just how much he loved her and how much she had impacted his life. He had words
Kirra said when Emma finally made it home. Emma had been wandering around the city trying to come to terms with what all this meant for her life going forward. She had made some hard decisions, but she felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. It hadn’t helped with the pain in her chest where her heart was currently crumbling away to dust, but at least she knew that she wasn’t going to end up like her mother just because she had fallen in love. Life was always going to throw her curve balls and she just learned something about herself. Despite her previous belief, she was actually strong enough to withstand them, even swing the bat at them, and make the best out of a bad situation. “Hey, yourself,” she said, sitting at the table opposite Kirra. “Where’s Zoë?” “She had to go and run some errands.” “Where’s mum?” Kirra bit her lip and her eyes teared up. “I don’t know.” “She’s not here?” Emma asked, sitting up straighter and leaning forward. “When I got home, Z