Legal Action - Box Set (34 page)

              “Hey sweetheart,” he said. Kissing Charlotte’s cheek and she blushed, unused to having a father’s attention. How’s that big boy, have you hung his stocking by the fireplace yet?”

              “No, I need to do that, he doesn’t even have one,” she said and wondered if she was ever going to remember every little detail that went with raising a child. Her mother hadn’t had material things to give Charlotte, just her love which seemed like enough, but she wanted her son to have as perfect a childhood as possible.

              “Well that’s good then,” Charles said and he laid a beautifully wrapped package on his desk. “It’s for our boy, but go ahead and open it.”

              Charlotte grinned like a kid and untied the bow and removed the box top, inside amidst clouds of tissue was an intricately embroidered stocking covered with sequins and tiny jewels. She lifted it out and smiled from ear to ear as she examined it. It was exquisitely made of silks and velvet depicting Santa in his sleigh with eight reindeer flying across the world on a starry night. Across the velvet cuff at the top,
Atticus,
was perfectly embroidered.

              “It’s unbelievable! I can’t believe how beautiful and intricate it is, I can’t wait to hang it over the fireplace. He’s going to love it Charles, and so will Finn, I’m overwhelmed. All I ever had growing up was a cheap fake fur stocking with my name in glitter. Where did you get this?”

              “I had it made; an artist I know in Chelsea makes them. I want to know about your childhood sometime in the future, Charlotte. Not now though, it’s Christmas time and also I have good news about the Asian girl. She went before a judge and was declared criminally insane; she’ll be locked up in Ashworth Hospital. It’s an excellent high security mental facility far away in the North East of England. She’ll stay there for six to thirty years or life depending on her rehabilitation or unless someone decides to extradite her to the U.S. which isn’t likely, she doesn’t seem to have any family.

              “I owe you for so many things Charles, how will I ever repay you?” Charlotte asked, her blues eyes meeting his.

              “By being my daughter and letting me make up for the years I missed, I know you suffered and that tears me up inside. Let me be part of your life and think about calling me Dad.”

              “I’ll work on that,” she smiled and he truly loved to see her radiant smile, she had that in common with her mother, they both brightened a room just by being in it. “We might be going skiing over Christmas, if you’d like to come out to Surrey and spend an hour or a day or a week, you’re welcome to,” she said.

              He asked if she would bring the baby to his home and meet his wife over the holidays but she said she wasn’t ready for that and she had an inkling that his wife wasn’t either.

*

              Finn planned to start back working at the law firm in Surrey after the New Year, his memory had almost completely returned, only the details of his covert missions seemed permanently deleted. For that, both he and Charlotte were glad, it was a life better left unexamined, they decided. He was happy and content as a family man and the depth of love he felt for Charlotte and Atticus astounded him. He was not exactly thrilled when Charlotte told him they were invited to spend Christmas with her former boyfriend, but he did owe the man his life. Bly was engaged now, so hopefully that meant he wouldn’t be mooning over Charlotte all the time. JP would be there with Amanda and there was world class skiing so all in all he was up for it.

              Jude had become somewhat a stranger to Dovecote Cottage after the incident with his crazy “girlfriend.” He was horrified and embarrassed that he’d been so taken in by a mad woman, but Finn and Charlotte didn’t hold him responsible for what happened. The girl was psychotic and he had no way of knowing, they told him, but the thought that he’d inadvertently put his nephew in danger haunted him. He’d thrown himself into his work and spent his free time volunteering for various charities and finally made the announcement that he was leaving for India to join Doctors Without Borders.

              You really aren’t to blame, Jude,” Finn told him as they sat in front of the fire the last night Jude stayed at the cottage before leaving for Calcutta. “The girl is mentally ill and how could you have known she wanted to get to us through you? Let it go, Charlotte and I refuse to think about what might have happened, you just have to let go and say a prayer of thanks that all is well.”

              “We’ll miss you Jude, Atti especially misses you already. Don’t stay gone for long, promise me that, and you know how I am about our happy family unit!” Charlotte said and stood behind his chair then leaned forward over his shoulder to hug him and hold her cheek against his.

*

              A few days before Christmas with all their bags packed and the beautiful stocking Charles had given Atticus hanging from the mantle, Charlotte laid her sleeping son in his crib and turned to Finn who sat in the rocking chair.

              “What are you doing in here,” she asked, curling up in his lap and kissing his beautiful mouth.

              “Just watching my very beautiful love and thinking how lucky I am to have you and Atti,” he said, releasing the elastic band holding her long ponytail and burying his face in it. “I remembered some incidents, some missions I once took part in, what a fool I was to have risked missing all this.”

              “All this, as in our drafty little cottage and two older ladies for best friends and getting snowed in for days at a time? Or other things?” she asked running her hand along the stiffening bulge in his jeans.

              “Hmm, a little of both I suppose,” he popped open the buttons of her favorite soft ragged jeans and slipped his hand inside and she winced. “What’s wrong my love, are you hurt?”

              “It’s my Christmas present to you,” she said, her eyes twinkling.

              He lowered her to the floor and pulled her jeans off carefully while she smiled up at him. She lifted her hips as he removed her panties and then he smiled too, and said, “I think I love it, but I’d better take a closer look.”

              She’d stopped in at a tattoo parlor that morning and low on her left hip, not far from her smoothly shaved pussy, was a small heart with his name inside. It was fresh and raw so to keep from hurting her he lay on the floor of the nursery and she mounted him and they tried hard not to wake the baby.

*

              Amanda hadn’t exaggerated; the mountain village of Karlovy Vary was straight out of a fairytale and the Grandhotel Pupp was indeed heaven. Amanda and JP were there in the lobby waiting to meet them and Finn and JP grabbed their ski bags and hit the slopes immediately. Amanda went upstairs to help Charlotte settle in to her room, Georgina had come along to help with the baby and of course Charlotte asked Henrietta to join them as well. Charlotte had texted Bly to say she would pay for Henrietta, that she was alone in the world and lived for Georgina and Atticus. In his usual fashion he told her to bring Georgina’s friend and he didn’t want to hear a word about money.

              “Can you believe these people?” Amanda asked, as they wandered through the opulent hotel, it seemed that every country on Earth was represented, at least the wealthiest from each country.

              It reminded Charlotte of Monte Carlo, beautiful people strolled through the hotel lobby and shops and the bars and restaurants, all were dressed in furs and jewels. Bellmen trailed behind them with brass carts overflowing with Louis Vuitton luggage and exotic pets. Charlotte saw assorted dogs on leashes and in designer pet carriers, one woman carried a tiny monkey dressed in a silk suit, while a man in a business suit wore a turban and had a huge green parrot on his shoulder. Nannies dressed in stiff uniforms herded small groups of children into a restaurant where tables overflowed with mountains of creampuffs and tarts, cupcakes and every manner of sweets. In the middle of the room stood a fountain that flowed with chocolate for dipping strawberries and cubes of fruit and cake that were cut into whimsical shapes and threaded onto wooden skewers.

              The world outside the hotel was a winter wonderland, a picturesque village hidden in a valley surrounded by snow covered wooded mountains. A narrow river snaked along the edge of the village and long sections that were frozen solid were roped off for ice skating. As the sun disappeared behind the mountains gas lamps flickered to life on ornate lamp posts and on the sides of shops. An amber glow was cast over the entire scene as horse drawn sleighs carried smiling couples and families swaddled in fur blankets to view the enormous lighted Christmas tree in the center of the main square.

              It was the night before Christmas Eve and carolers wandered the streets and gathered inside the Grandhotel singing familiar carols in Czech. Waiters carried silver trays with steaming mugs of wassail and glogg to offer the hotel guests.

              Charlotte and Amanda spotted Georgina and Henrietta drinking mugs of the hot mulled wine and showing little Atticus the beautifully decorated Christmas trees scattered throughout the hotel.

              Charlotte gathered her baby in her arms, kissing his fragrant neck and he squealed with excitement as she pointed at the horses and sleighs with jingle bells outside the windows.

              “Let me hold that adorable little man,” Amanda said, taking him from Charlotte. “I can’t wait to have a baby; oh I hope our baby looks as much like his daddy as this boy does. I swear, other than having your eyes Charlotte, he’s a tiny version of Finn!”

              “Are we having a baby or a wedding first?” Charlotte asked as the four women settled into plush sofas and Atticus crawled to the nearest Christmas tree to maul the elegantly wrapped packages underneath.

              She was about to answer when Bly’s sexy voice said, “what a cozy little gathering, merry Christmas!”

              Amanda hugged her brother and Charlotte stood smiling at the pair, then Bly pulled her into a familiar embrace and whispered in her ear, “We need talk alone, it’s important.”

              “This must be the family, I’m Natasha, Alex’s fiancée,” a women’s voice was greeting the others.

              “You picked a girl from the South,” Charlotte said to Bly as she heard the heavy drawl and she turned to meet a face that was vaguely familiar.

              “You must be Charlotte, of course I recognize you from your magazine pictures. I’m Natasha, so nice to meet you, Alex has an irritating tendency to go on and on about you.”

              Something was not quite right, Charlotte thought, her mind was buzzing, trying to think why Natasha’s voice was so familiar, even though her face wasn’t. Slowly it dawned on her as the woman turned away and exclaimed over Atticus while Bly held him. Amanda gave Charlotte a look and mouthed the words
bad nose job!     

             
Charlotte studied Natasha as she spoke to Atticus in fake baby talk, she had long unnaturally black hair and she was only about an inch taller than Amanda. She was very thin and even though she was probably Charlotte’s age she looked older. Her nose was too perfect and her eyes seemed unnaturally slanted and she wore bright blue contact lenses. Her lips were obviously over-filled with some foreign substance and her boobs were so large and perfectly round they resembled softballs under her tight, low cut sweater. She brushed her hair back and laughed and Charlotte caught a glimpse of the girl she’d once known.

              “Natalie,” Charlotte said flatly.

              Natalie faced Charlotte and smiled sweetly but it wasn’t a smile that reached her eyes, they still held the same fury and contempt they had in college. “I wondered if you’d even remember your best friend from college. When you simply left for the bright lights of Hollywood I was so hurt and lost without you, Charlotte! I’ve been doing some acting so I changed my name to Natasha, it’s more mysterious don’t you think?” she said, and her tone was sugary sweet and taunting.

              “Can you believe I met your roommate from Ole Miss, Charlotte? Small world isn’t it? It’s remarkable really, you two could almost pass for sisters,” Bly said, taking Natalie’s hand and kissing the gaudy engagement ring.

              “I’d hardly say we were best friends and if you think we look like sisters you’d better have your eyes checked,” Charlotte said, and she took her son and went to her room.

*

              Amanda insisted that Charlotte needed a few spa treatments to get rid of tension. They lay side by side on massage tables in the world-class spa as the knots and kinks were worked out of their bodies. Warm fragrant oil was rubbed into their skin while the peaceful sound of flutes floated through the air. They’d soaked in a steaming outdoor pool before the massages to loosen their muscles and it had seemed surreal just to float in the sublimely warm water surrounded by mounds of snow and fragrant pine trees and towering mountains.

              “Who cares that Alex is marrying the wicked witch of the South, he’s not always the easiest man to live with. Think about it, he wanted to control you and he’s still hopelessly in love with you, so he’ll no doubt fuck around on her in no time flat. Besides, one word from you any day any time and he’d drop her like a hot potato,” Amanda said, as their bodies were pounded and kneaded.

              “I want him happily married, but I promise you that woman is as dangerous as a rattlesnake. She had me expelled from school so fast; I don’t even know who she slept with to make it happen on a weekend!” Charlotte said, she was so agitated she sat up on the table and her sheet fell away.

              “Damn girl, you look great for having a seven month old baby, your boobs are amazing,” Amanda said, staring.

              Charlotte lay back down, embarrassed. “I just hope he gets a pre-nup and that’s all I have to say about it. I don’t want to be here with her, as soon as Finn finishes skiing I’m telling him I think we should leave in the morning.”