A Beautiful Forever (30 page)

Smiling, she sighs a little. “Hey,” she echoes back.

“Food’s ready.”

“Oh, how long have I been in here?”

“Maybe an hour.”

She closes her eyes for a moment before sitting up, bringing
a sleeping Grace along with her. I watch as she carries Grace to her cot and
places her gently inside.

“Do you still care about her Elliot?” she asks me quietly
when she returns to stand in front of me.

“What? Why would you even think that?” I reply, sliding
across the bed where I can reach her hands and pull her towards me, so she’s
sitting on my lap.

Her eyes are brimming with tears as she looks at me.
“Because Elliot, she’s beautiful and it’s not like you broke it off because you
wanted to… Plus, I was watching you from up here, talking to her… you look so…
right together. I guess I kind of feel like a consolation prize in comparison.”

“Paige, how can you not understand how much I love you? Do
you want to know what I think when I look at Katrina? I think, thank god things
didn’t work out with her, because if they did, I might have missed out on
meeting you.”

She rests her head on my chest, and I wrap my arms around
her. It's times like these that she seems so small to me.

“Do you think I would have tattooed your name on my arm if I
wasn’t sure about you Paige?” I ask.

She lifts her head, “Why did you show her the photo of my
back?”

“I didn't. I showed her a photo of you and I together, and
she swiped to the next photo and saw it that way. It pissed me off actually,
and I snatched my phone out of her hand.”

“Why? Were you embarrassed?” she challenges me.

“No Paige. I just didn’t think it was any of her business.”

“Why were you even showing her your phone? Were you spending
time with her while you were home?”

Chuckling at her barrage of questions, I shake my head. “She
approached me while I was packing up after training a client, we spoke for like
– two minutes and that was it.”

“Do you think your mum likes her better than me?”

“No, not at all, my mum loves you.”

“Then why would she invite her?”

I laugh a little, not really sure why my mother did it.
“Because she’s an idiot. I think she was just so excited that we were coming
home that she invited every person she came in contact with. I’m surprised the
checkout chick, and the petrol station attendant aren’t here.”

Paige laughs through her nose a bit at this and I smooth her
hair away from her face. “I love you alright. I choose you above every woman
past, present or future – you’re The One for me, do you understand that?” I
assure her, my voice still low so as not to wake Grace.

Placing a hand on either side of my face she leans in
pressing her lips to mine. I breathe in deeply, holding her tightly to me as I
return her fervour but stop us before we move any further.

“We have to get back out there Paige. They'll come looking
for us soon.”

“Alright,” she nods, sliding off my lap, taking one last
look at Grace before she walks to the door.

The rest of the BBQ goes by fairly smoothly. Katrina and
David leave soon after lunch, so I don’t have to feel uncomfortable for too
long. Admittedly, I think they were feeling a bit weird too, so I guess we’re
all glad when lunch is over, and they can leave quietly.

I spend the rest of the afternoon catching up with Naomi and
getting to know Stephanie. All in all, it’s been great to meet everyone who’s
important to Elliot and his family, I just could have done without the
ex-girlfriend sighting.

Before he leaves, Elliot’s father, who actually seems quite
nice considering what I was expecting, invites us both out to dinner the next
week, saying that he wants to give us a wedding present since he missed our
nuptials.

Now that all the guests have left, I’m taking over baby duty
by lying on the floor in the lounge room with Grace while she plays on her mat,
grabbing at little balls and shaking them so the animals and tiny beads inside
them rattle about.

Elliot is off helping his mum, and Steven clean up after the
BBQ of the century. We’ve decided not to say anything about Katrina to his mum.
She went to so much trouble to put all of this together so we don’t want to
appear ungrateful and Elliot seems very sure that she didn’t mean anything by
it, so I will trust him on this one.

With the BBQ behind us, I can look back on the day and say
that I honestly feel very welcomed by all of Elliot’s friends and family, and
after I got over my moment of intense jealously, I can say that I had a lot of
fun today, too.

Mum has agreed, well, actually she’s insisted on looking
after Grace for us while we go out to dinner with my father and Erica. Both
Paige and I are really nervous about leaving her. We've never had her babysat
before.

“It’ll be fine you two, just go and have a good time. I’ll
call if she won’t settle, don’t worry,” mum stresses to us as we leave. She
practically pushes us out of the door and closes it in our faces.

“Shall we?” I say to Paige, holding out my arm for her to
take. She smiles and slips her arm in mine, leaning into me. “You look gorgeous
tonight by the way.” She’s wearing a fitted black dress that hugs her body in
all the right places, and I wish that we had a room of our own to go back to
after dinner tonight.

“Thank you, you scrub up okay yourself,” she replies.

We drive to the restaurant, spending most of our time
wondering aloud if we’re doing the right thing leaving Grace behind, we could
have brought her with us. But when we pull up at the restaurant, we realise
it’s pretty up market. Not really the right place to bring a baby.

God, I hate being away from Grace, and I hate eating at
fancy restaurants, obviously with my background; I haven’t been to very many.
Ok, I’ll be honest; this is the first time, the only extended table manners I
have are learned from watching Pretty Woman.

Elliot very gentlemanly opens my door and ushers me inside,
the décor is very modern; all glass lined walls and dark square shaped
furniture. The host shows us to our table where Elliot’s dad, and his wife are
already waiting.

Robert stands as we approach, shaking Elliot’s hand and
kissing my cheek. I take my seat across from Erica and smile at her.

“Are we late?” Elliot asks.

“No, not at all,” his father answers. “We just wanted to
make sure we were here before you.”

“Ok?”

“Well, it’s not every day that a father gets to welcome his
son home from overseas, especially when he brings with him, such a lovely wife
and a beautiful daughter.”

I blush a little and thank him for his kind words. A waiter
comes over and takes our drinks order. Robert orders a bottle of wine for the
table and feeling uncomfortable asking for a coke in a place like this, I go
with sparkling water. I feel like a wolf in sheep’s clothing in here.

“You don’t drink Paige?” asks Erica.

“No, I don’t. I’ll have one occasionally but I'm still
feeding Grace, so I don’t drink at all at the moment.”

“You’re
still
feeding her? Isn’t she eating normal
food yet?” she asks wide eyed.

“She only eats soft food, she still needs her milk,” I
answer diplomatically.

As our drinks are brought to us, we all talk about what life
was like for us in the UK, Erica is interested in the fact that I’m a
hairdresser, saying that she always wanted to be one when she was a kid.
Although I think, most girls go through that phase at some point.

The waiter returns and takes our orders, I order something
to do with chicken and hope that it will be ok. The meals aren’t names that I
recognise, so I just point at one and say that I can’t read it properly without
my glasses. I catch Elliot trying not to grin; he knows full well that I don’t
wear glasses.

When our meals are delivered, I’m rewarded with the most
tender slices of chicken, drizzled with a warm creamy sauce on a bed of semi
crisp vegetables that tastes divine. I’m so glad I didn’t order something
weird.

I listen in as Elliot and his father talk about Robert’s
work, he tells us some vague details of the case that he is working on and
gives Elliot a reminder that he can always go back if he’s had enough of
personal training.

I have to give the guy credit. He doesn’t give up too
easily. “I don’t think so dad, I never really enjoyed law,” I say.

“Fair enough son,” he says surprising me by holding up his
hands to imply that the subject won’t go any further. “Have you got work lined
up or do you need to look around?”

“I’ve already called the gym I used to work at, and they’re
happy to take me back,” I say.

“I’ll bet you’re very popular, Elliot,” Erica puts in. “All
the women would want you because you’re so nice to look at, and all the men
would want you because they want to look as good as you. I’m not surprised they
want you back.”

“Thank you Erica… I guess,” I laugh, making a joke of it as
I place my arm around the back of Paige’s chair, using my thumb to caress her
shoulder as we all talk.

Paige is looking at her phone on the table. I know she’s
resisting calling my mum to make sure that Grace is alright, truthfully, I
would love to call her too, but I’m trying my best to just enjoy our time out
and not worry. I know my mother will call if there’s a problem.

My dad raises his hand and signals the waiter over, asking
for the bill before turning to us. “Erica and I asked you out tonight because
we wanted to give you a wedding present. We feel really bad that we didn’t get
to come out for the wedding or the baby, so we wanted to give you something…
helpful as a wedding gift.”

The waiter approaches us again with the bill, and my father
places his credit card in the black folder, handing it back to the waiter
immediately.

“We know you are both dying to get back to little Grace,”
Erica adds. “But if you can just bear with us, we have something really special
for dessert.”

“Ok?” I say, looking at Paige as she says the same thing.
Dad signs the bill when the waiter returns again and stands.

“Did you drive?” he asks.

“Yeah we did, where are we going?” I say standing as well.

“It’s a surprise, just follow us,” he tells me.

Erica claps her hands giving a little excited squeal and
Paige, and I exchange glances as I offer my hand to help her up.

Walking out of the restaurant, we follow behind my father
and Erica, who are clinging to each other, the picture of a happy couple. I
guess now that I think about it, this is the happiest I have seen my dad in
years. Erica is obviously very good for him.

“Where do you think we’re going?” Paige asks me quietly.

“I seriously have no idea.”

Butterflies are churning in my stomach as we follow Robert’s
Mercedes through the night. I put in a call to Kathy to let her know that we
are going to be a little longer, and she tells me that everything is fine,
Grace is fast asleep and we should take our time.

I feel relieved and kind of sad at the same time. I miss my
baby.

“So everything’s fine?” Elliot asks.

“Yeah it is, I don’t even think she misses us,” I tell him.

“Of course she misses us. She's just secure enough that she
can handle her grandmother looking after her for a few hours – that’s all.”

He takes a hold of my hand across the centre console and
gives me a reassuring squeeze before breaking away as he flicks the blinker on
and squints out the windshield.

“What the hell…?” he trails off, turning into a street
behind his father who’s pulling into a parking garage under a block of flats.

“What? Where are we?” I ask as he pulls over to the side of
the road and parks the car.

“I used to live here,” he says. “I didn’t think he still had
it.”

“Had what?”

“The flat, this is the flat he used to let me live in. I
moved out when he stopped supporting me. I thought he’d sold it.”

I look up at the white brick building. It looks like it was
built in the seventies, it’s very close to the beach. I can hear the ocean from
where we’re standing.

“Does your dad live here now?”

“I don’t think so…”

“We ready?” Robert asks, opening the entry door from the
inside for us. They must have entered from the car park. Erica is standing
behind him, a massive smile on her face as she gestures wildly for us to come
in.

Walking up the stairs, my heart is thumping in my ears,
Elliot seems a little tense, and I don’t know what’s going on. So I blindly
follow behind Robert, stopping when they stand in front of a brown door.

“This is it!” Erica exclaims.

“We’re at the flat,” Elliot points out, a question hanging
in the air when he finishes.

“Your flat,” corrects Robert, holding out a key and taking
my hand before placing it on my palm.

“What?” we say in unison.

“The flat – it’s your wedding gift!" squeals Erica
“Open it!”

“Dad, I –”

“It’s done, son. It’s yours. The paperwork is inside.”

“I don’t know what to say,” I stammer out.

“Just open it!” Erica insists.

My hand is shaking as I reach out and put the key in the
lock. As the door swings open I’m faced with a long narrow hallway. A faint
smell of paint invades my nostrils as I step inside, closely followed by
Elliot.

As I walk down the hallway, I first come to a formal dining
room with a square, chestnut-coloured  table, surrounded by eight leather
chairs and a high chair in the corner, there’s a mantle off to one side and on
it are some photos of Elliot, Grace and I. I look back at Elliot, utterly
surprised.

“Do you like it?” Erica asks coming to my side. “We
renovated and I decorated it for you, but if there’s anything you don’t like,
just tell me, and we will fix it up lickety split!”