The Wedding Invite (Lakeview) (Lakeview Contemporary Romance Book 6) (35 page)

“So she tried to stifle me, to make me go another direction …”

“She gave in to the college thing – thinking that maybe then you might get it out of your system – and for a while you did. And you started what these non-artistic types call ‘a proper job’.” He winked. “But I was secretly pleased for you, love, when you started up your business. Of course, I worried too, I worried about how you’d manage – what with you being so mild-mannered and that – but I never said anything to support you and that was a mistake. I should have. I should have stood up to Maureen, and made her see that she had to let you go your own way. Things are different now, young people are more confident, there are greater opportunities and you have so much talent.” Then he laughed. “Still, you’ve more of your mother in you than I thought, love. You went your own way, anyway.”

Laura sat back. She had never ever considered that her parents might have had their own hopes and dreams, dreams that were eventually smothered by circumstance. And yet, how could she
not
have known?

When Laura thought about it now, it had always been her father helping her and Cathy with homework – never her mother. He had always been the one with all the answers to the general-knowledge questions on the quiz programmes, the one with the balanced opinions and the open-minded outlook – Joe being one of the few in Glengarrah openly spurning gossip or idle talk.

Laura had never really given it a second thought; she thought that her father knew things because he read so many books and newspapers. In fact, her father was
always
reading. Just then, Laura had a brief memory flash of her father scribbling things in a notebook, things he found interesting or things he wanted to remember. But she had never thought twice about why that might be.

Now Laura would have given a lot to read some of her father’s writing. He might have been brilliant.

“Look, I didn’t come here to make you feel guilty,” Joe said, seeing Laura’s torn expression, “and I hope you don’t think that your arrival was the reason for my giving up the writing. We were mad for a baby, and when you came along it was better than anything. No, I just wasn’t good enough and over time I came to accept that. Anyway, there were more important things in life. I had to look after my family and I did.”

“But haven’t you ever pursued your writing since? OK, I know it wouldn’t have been possible when Cathy and I were around, but the house is very quiet now. Couldn’t you try again?”

Joe’s eyes twinkled. “Ah, I do a bit now and again, when your mother’s not around,” he said. “I enjoy it as much as I’ve always had, but I doubt it’s any good.”

“Dad – I’d love to take a look what you’ve written! Will you let me read it?”

Joe shrugged. “Why not? But it’s more of a hobby for me these days, love, not something I could do on a regular basis, so don’t get any ideas. And we don’t want your poor mother losing her mind altogether,” he added, laughing.

Laura looked at him, thinking she had never heard her father speak so much, so
easily
all at once. Then again, when did he ever get the chance – Maureen more than made up for the both of them.

Joe continued. “Look, I suppose I just want you to maybe try and see things the way your mother sees them. She’s nervous of things like that, Laura, nervous and untrusting of anything she can’t understand – anything she can’t control. Because of what happened with me, Maureen craves stability, and I suppose she couldn’t really understand why you would throw caution to the winds and give up a good job like you did. And let’s face it, love, sometimes the worst thing an ‘ordinary’ Irish person can do is actually
be
successful and have everyone else believe that
they
think they’re better than them.”

He gave a wry smile, and Laura thought she understood exactly what he meant. A sense of innate inferiority was at the root of Maureen’s problem and why she worried so much about Laura ‘running away with her notions’.

“I was so hurtful though, Dad, and I tried so hard to make her understand how important it was to me, and why I had to do it. But she’s impossible to talk to and she treats me like I’m a child … ” she trailed off exasperated. “Oh, I don’t suppose we’ll change her now.”

“No, we definitely can’t do that,” Joe laughed softly. “In a way, I suppose she
does
still see you as child. But, Laura, what I’m trying to say is that you shouldn’t make the mistake I did, and let the begrudgers or Maureen affect your choices. Your mother can’t help herself, and in fairness I don’t think she realises that she
is
hurting you.”

“I know,” Laura said, and for a long while she and her father sat in silence, lost in their thoughts.

“Look, pet, it’s late and I’d better head back,” Joe said eventually. He stood up and then reached across and patted Laura lightly on the hand. “I’ll tell your mother you’ll give her a ring tomorrow, maybe?”

“I’ll ring her first thing.” Knowing what she knew now, Laura was anxious to make it up with her mother but she needed to mull things over a bit first. “Thanks, Dad, thanks for everything.”

Giving him a quick hug at the doorway, Laura closed the door behind her father, and went back into the kitchen. She’d tell Neil all about it, but first she needed a coffee.

Despite everything, she felt a little better now that she understood her mother’s reasons for being so hard on her all these years. She had thought it was because she wasn’t good enough, but that wasn’t it – she had been
too
good and that had terrified her mother.

Her mother’s lack of trust, lack of belief still hurt, but in spite of everything, maybe it was understandable. And as her father had said, Maureen had been raised in a different age – an age where people raised their families, went to work on a weekday and Mass on a Sunday, and were perfectly happy about it. Her mother couldn’t comprehend ambition and dreams and crazy things like that, because she had seen it all go wrong for Joe. And maybe, Laura realised, maybe she too had inherited some of her mother’s sense of acute inferiority – something the Catholic Church had drummed into most women of her generation, and something that this one was doing its best to discard.

She smiled inwardly. Catholic guilt she could deal with. But for the moment, she resolved to talk to her mother, firstly to apologise for the argument, and then have it out with her about the business. OK, so it might take a while, but maybe over time, and with Joe’s help, she might be won over. And Laura was going to make her parents really proud of her.

Both of them.

She smiled warmly and shook her head as she waited for the kettle to boil. Her father – a writer. These days, life never failed to surprise her.

N
icola looked up
. “Hi,” she said softly, her heart quickening.

“Hi.” Ken stood in her office doorway, stony-faced and tired-looking.

“Did you enjoy your few days off?”

He wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Yes, thanks.”

“Well, did you go away somewhere or …”

Ken ignored the question. “Nicola, I just wondered if there were any problems here while I was away?” he asked curtly. “Anything you couldn’t deal with?”

“No, nothing.” He sounded so cold, so distant, she thought. Why was he doing this?

She sat forward, her body taut with anxiety. “Ken, come in and close the door, please. We need to –”

“No,” he interjected, his tone brisk and offhand and still he wouldn’t meet her eyes “I don’t think we have anything to say to one another. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over.”

“What?” She barely heard her own voice. “But, why? Why won’t you listen, give me a chance to – ”

“Nicola, I know I gave you back your key but I wondered if I might have permission to get some things from your house? My golf-clubs are still there – I should have taken them before but I wasn’t thinking.”

Her
permission
? Who did he think he was talking to – the Queen? “Well, of course you can – do you want to call round later and maybe – ”

“I need to go now, if that’s okay.”

“Sure.” Wounded by his curt and dismissive manner, Nicola reached into her handbag and tossed the keys at him.

“Thanks.”

“But can we not …” She trailed off in mid-sentence, realising he had already left the room.

Nicola moved to the window and, looking down at the carpark below, she saw Ken approach his car, his expression rather amused as he got in and drove off. What the hell …? What was so funny? Was he enjoying taunting her like this? All of sudden, Nicola felt a burst of annoyance. Who the hell did he think he was, speaking to her like that and going off in a strop, letting no one know where he might be going? Here she was, these past few days, worrying and fretting over him, wondering how he might be feeling and what he might be thinking. ‘Permission to get my things’ indeed. Well, it was about time he did call and collect his
things
– those awkward bloody golf-clubs and squash-racquets and gym-gear that had been cluttering up
her
house. And he could take his blasted
Lord of the Rings
DVD box-set with him too, and his books and his computer games and …

Nicola slumped miserably on her desk. Was that it? Was it really over? She couldn’t imagine being without Ken – he was such a huge part of her life now, he
was
her life now. What would she do without him?

Nicola didn’t get much of a chance to wonder as just then her extension buzzed and Sally put through a call from one of the gym-equipment suppliers. She groaned inwardly as the rep on the other end tried to explain why seven of the ten treadmills they currently supplied to the centre would need to be taken away for servicing.

“But can’t you do it here?” Nicola asked impatiently, but her heart wasn’t in it. At this stage, they could take the swimming-pool out of the place for all she cared.

She got back to work but her mind wasn’t focused and she had covered very little ground before Ken reappeared in her office, and without even looking at Nicola, casually dropped the keys on her desk, before turning to leave. This indifferent gesture, along with his blatant, unashamed rudeness was just about enough for her.

“
Hold on there, just one second, you,”
she said, in a tone that brooked no messing about.

“What?” Ken answered innocently but, most annoyingly, she could see him trying not to smile. He
was
enjoying this.

“What?
What?
” she mimicked, doubly annoyed. “Ken Harris, I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but if you think you can treat
me
like a piece of dog – dog –
meat,
then you’ve got another think coming. How dare you carry on like this – sulking and grouching like a spoilt child and making it plain to all and sundry that you’re annoyed with me. How dare you take off for days on your own – refusing to listen or speak to me when you know damn well that I’ve done nothing wrong. Not to mention embarrass me here at work by not telling me you’re going.”

“You’ve really done nothing wrong, then?” Ken said, in a tone that Nicola could only describe as brazen.

“Yes! I mean – no.” She shook her head. “I mean, I haven’t done anything wrong and yet you’re treating me like I’m responsible for a breakout of chicken-pox or something. You won’t listen to me, you won’t even
look
at me – who the hell do you think you are?”

“Fine, I believe you,” Ken said and shrugged indolently, a gesture that
really
set her off.

She could feel her heartbeat quickening, her pulse racing, her irritation rising as, saying nothing more, he headed for the door again.

“
Don’t turn your back on me,”
she shouted at him, desperately trying to resist throwing something at the annoying, infuriating,
exasperating
– idiot. “Hey, I’m talking to you … what? What the hell is
he
doing here?” Nicola watched in astonishment as Barney sauntered casually through her office door, his tail wagging enthusiastically as he sniffed the floor beneath him.

“Well, would you look at that?” Ken said nonchalantly, his eyes wide and innocent-looking. “He must have sneaked into the back of the car while I was at your house, and came back here with me.”

“
Sneaked
into the back of the car? For goodness sake, Ken, he’s a fully-grown Labrador – how could you not have noticed him?” What was the matter with him? Of all the stupid …

“I don’t know, I suppose I wasn’t thinking. Anyway, he’ll be fine with you now, won’t he?”

Nicola harrumphed, now
really
frustrated. “This is a leisure centre, Ken Harris – you can’t have dogs in …” Barney ambled to Nicola’s side and she reached down to pat him on the head. “Sorry, Barn, as much as I’d love it, you can’t stay here.” She glared at Ken. “And silly Ken here will have to drive you home … now what have you found for burying
this
time … oh.”

Nicola’s heart leapt as Barney dropped whatever he had been carrying in his mouth out onto her lap. She stared in disbelief at the small, navy, velvet … was it?

She looked up and saw Ken watching her, his expression now no longer sullen. Instead it was … expectant.

“Well done, boy” he said, and then to Nicola, “We’ve been practising that trick for a while.”

“Ken?” she said breathlessly, almost afraid to ask. “Is this … is this what I think it is?”

“Well, why don’t you open it and see?” he asked, coming closer.

Barney flopped down on the floor and put his head on his paws, his dark eyes rising upwards with curiosity as his mistress opened the – admittedly sticky – velvet box to find an unusual and stunningly beautiful, ornate diamond ring.

Nicola’s hand flew to her mouth and, for a long moment, she was unable to think – let alone
say
anything. Was this really…?

“Well?” Ken urged gently, his eyes full of emotion. “Will you?”

Nicola looked from the ring to Barney, to Ken and then back again to the ring. At this the Labrador groaned loudly, apparently frustrated by her lack of response.

“I don’t know what to …” She looked at him, still unsure that this was actually happening. “But I thought you wanted to break up with me – you were so angry with me …”

“I was being an idiot. Immediately after I saw Dan at your house I was annoyed and angry with you. Then afterwards when you denied you’d seen him, I thought –”

“Oh, Ken.” She knew she was stupid to deny it on the phone then, but he had put her on the spot and she hadn’t been thinking straight. But afterwards, he wouldn’t
let
her explain.

“So, what changed your mind?” Nicola asked him.

“Well, I went off and sulked for a while, deciding that I wasn’t going to speak to you until I was good and ready. To be honest, I was also a little bit afraid that you
had
gone back to Hunt. Then I met Helen in town at the weekend and she told me what had happened, how you were just getting him to come clean with his poor new girlfriend.”

“But I could have told you that, if you had let me.”

“I know, and I was being an idiot. I’m sorry, Nicola, I should have given you the chance to explain, but as I said, I was also terrified that you’d tell me you
were
going back to Hunt. I was willing to delay that possibility for as long as I could.”

“But then why … today?”

Ken shrugged easily, his eyes twinkling “Well, after days of not speaking, and then stupidly giving you your key back, I had no other way of getting Barney here.” He shrugged. “And I figured we might as well get our first decent argument over and done with,” he said mischievously. “You’re really great to watch when you’re angry. Your face kinda gets screwed up and your eyes are –”

“Ken Harris. You don’t mean to tell me that you came in here today and set out to make me mad on purpose.”

He shrugged again. “As I said, I couldn’t think of any other way to get your house key off you. But bringing Barney here to the office wasn’t in the original plan. I had planned to ask you before now … actually, I had planned to ask you that night.”

Nicola sat back, shocked. Now she really understood why he was so angry, why he had reacted so badly to seeing Dan at the house. But arranging all this and Barney too … Tears sprang to her eyes.

“Look, you haven’t answered yet, and you seem a little confused, so just in case you haven’t yet got the picture, I suppose I’d better make myself clear.” Ken crouched down beside her and took both of her hands in his. “Nicola, I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?”

Nicola looked at Ken, looked at his kind, uncomplicated face, his expressive, honest brown eyes and didn’t have to think too hard about the answer.

“Yes. Yes, Ken … of
course
I’d love to marry you.” Nicola threw her arms around him and kissed him.

Barney watched them both for a moment, then, realising they would be busy for some time, gave a loud groan and rolled over.