Chapter 24

Friday morning. He would normally sleep for another half hour or so, but this morning the bed felt more than usually empty though still warm on Celia’s side, in contrast to the comforting feeling of Celia’s hot body against him. He pulled himself out of bed and began his ablutions.

When he emerged downstairs, he found Celia in her accustomed position feeing Bethan with a face happier and more serene than he had seen for what seemed like a long time. Whereas he normally would have greeted her and gone to get his morning tea and some milk fo the cereal she would have placed on the table, this time he went to her and bent over her, kissing her eager lips, and attracting a seraphic smile.

“Morning, my love,” he whispered, since Bethan’s eyelids were already dropping.

“Morning my darling,” she replied, her eyes shining with love.

He stroked her hair and went for his tea, bringing another mug for her and beginning his muesli breakfast.

“You didn’t have to get up, you know,” David told her. “Siân said she’d see to Beth.”

“I couldn’t wait to cuddle Beth,” she said quite shyly. “I missed her so much. In any case...”

Celia burped Bethan and took her to her pram to nap for a while.

“No sign of Alex or Siân yet?” he asked.

“No, I think Siân is more worn out that I was. Alex is quite athletic you know!” She looked horrified for a moment at her admission that Alex and she had been intimate, even though she knew that David knew that. “But Alex needs to be up for work,” she said.

“Why don’t you take them both a cup of tea?” David asked with a mischievous grin. “You might be able to ‘burst in on some action’ as Siân put it.”

“Good idea!” she giggled. “Though I suspect they’ll be spark out after a very late night!”

She came down with a wide grin than before. “They looked so sweet cuddled up together, and weren’t at all embarrassed at me seeing them like that! Mind you I certainly got Alex going when I told him the time!” She laughed. “Siân pushed him out of bed. Just as well I’m used to seeing him naked; he’s a very good looking man, you know!”

“Having second thoughts about last night?” David asked wickedly.

“Never, never, never!” she cried, moving behind him and hugging him. “For some reason, I’m imprinted on you, always have been really.”

“I’m relieved,” David replied with a contented smile.

At that moment a small figure arrived sleepily in the kitchen. At first, David thought Evan would be ecstatic that Celia was back, but he just went over to her and waited to climb onto her knee for a hug. Then David realised that Celia had not been absent for long, and all the angst about her leaving had been firmly kept from Evan, between Siân and himself.

He looked at Celia, a definite mother, as the little child snuggled his head into her neck and she stroked his hair. The little boy sat up.

“Uncle Alex is here!” Evan proclaimed.

“Yes, chicken,” Celia told him. “He stayed the night.”

That was all Evan wanted to know, and turned his attention, predictably to breakfast. So the peace of that morning, full of love and affection and somewhat indolent after their commitment the night before, was over, and life became busy as David prepared for work, Evan was fed, and Alex rushed downstairs and out, since he did not have a change of clothes or his razor and needed to go home.

His rushing about amused Evan no end, and the little boy giggled as the man scurried about looking for his coat, running upstairs to kiss Siân goodbye, then clattering down and away, with a “Bye all! Bye Evan!” and the door slamming behind him.

The two adults smiled, partly at Alex’s display, partly because Evan found it so amusing and partly that all the noise he was making did not wake the slumbering Bethan.

Siân arrived, hair awry, in a longish teeshirt and the occasional flash of knickers. She peered at the two adults, took in Evan sitting at the table, grinned at him and gave a little wave, at which Evan laughed and waved back.

“Slept well?” David asked, heavy with implication and a cheeky smile.

“Eventually,” Siân replied.

“A good night, then,” asked Celia, aware as were the other two of a little pair of ears in the room.

“Very good!” Siân agreed with some enthusiasm. “Fun!” she added obliquely.

“So did we,” said Celia, laying her left hand on the table nonchalantly. Siân’s eyes widened.

“Really!” she said, clearly suppressing the obligatory female squeal at the sight of an engagement ring. “Wow, David, you don’t hang about, do you?”

“I think I rather hung about over long,” he said. “After Alex came and explained, I think the course of events was predictable, don’t you?”

“Too right!” agreed Siân meaningfully. “Everyone else could see it.”

“Time for me to go,” said David. “A little more gently than Alex’s departure!”

He went to his office and collected the papers he had brought home, it seemed so long ago. He returned to the kitchen, kissed Evan, who gave him a sloppy one back, then he kissed Siân on her cheek, and Celia rather more lingeringly on her lips.

Evan giggled. “Daddy kissed Aunty Celia!” he shouted. They realised why he thought that amusing: it had never happened in all the months Celia had been there.

“That’s right,” Siân laughed along with him. “Daddy loves Aunty Celia now, and she loves him.”

Evan seemed quite happy about that, and turned his attention back to breakfast. Thankfully, they tacitly agreed, he was not old enough to ask why it had taken so long! That would have taken some explaining.

Celia went with him to the front door. “I wish you didn’t have to go to work,” she said wistfully. “I’ll miss you so much.”

“Me too,” he said, “ but quite a lot of people are relying on me to go to work! We’ll have all weekend!”

Celia pulled him to her, arms round his neck, kissed him soundly and at length, and pressed her shapely body tightly against him. “Just to remind you what’s waiting for you when you come home,” she said seductively.

“You’ve no idea how much I’m looking forward to that!” he groaned.

“I think I have,” she said laughing, as she ground against his growing erection. “Good bye!”

He saw her standing at the door, waving him off, the epitome of a loving wife, and he had a sudden clear vision of Gwen doing the same from that very porch. There was a tug at his heartstrings for her, but it was a happy memory and he was sure, if she was somewhere watching him, that she would be pleased her best friend was taking her place. He felt supremely blessed and thought his children were too.

He walked into the office to see Marissa look up, then look again and smile broadly.

“Morning, Boss,” she said glibly. “Something good happened at home, yes?”

David was confounded. “How do you know these things?” he asked. “And Good Morning Marissa!”

“David, you are calm, peaceful. Your face has lost its worry lines. Something good has definitely occurred. Care to share?”

“Alex came round last night, talked some sense into me, cleared up a lot of misunderstandings and sent me round to his place to talk to Celia. As a result of our talk she came home with me, I proposed and she accepted.”

“Glory hallelujah!” Marissa shouted with joy. “At last!”

“What d’you mean, ‘at last’?”

“David, for months I’ve been watching you avoiding the fact that you are hopelessly in love with Celia, because, of course, Gwen is still much in your thoughts and rightly so.”

“You never said.”

“You would never have accepted it; you had to come to it all by yourself. In any case I value my job!”

David smiled. “You are a very wise woman, Marissa, and I’m deeply grateful to you for supporting me over the months, but especially over the last weeks. Any more words of wisdom for me?”

Marissa thought for a moment. Then a smile spread across her face.

“You say you got engaged last night?”

David nodded.

“I cleared your diary for today. I can handle anything that comes up. Go home to your fiancée. You’ll want to tell parents and in-laws. Off you go! See you Monday!”

David leaned forward over her desk. “I’m sure HR can handle a sexual harassment case for you,” he said, then swooped in and kissed her soundly on her lips. Then, “Why don’t you let the outer office know and take the day off yourself? Josie can field any calls; she does when we both have to attend meetings.”

She stood and came round the desk. “Thank you Mr Musgrave! Oh, I do like working here! I’ll like it better still if I get another kiss.”

So he kissed her, gently, and she kissed him back, gently. They both smiled.

“Such depravity!” she said with a laugh, and with that they both left the office.

On his way home, Gwen’s family came to David’s mind, and he felt a compulsion to be sure of their approval of his engagement. Though he remembered them saying they would be happy if, being so young, he married again, he wondered if they might feel differently when faced with the reality of it. So with a feeling resembling fear. he parked on his drive and phoned the Price’s number.

“Hello, Mam,” he began. “It’s David. I wonder if I could come to visit this weekend with the children? I know it’s short notice–”

“Dafydd, Cariad,” she laughed, “of course you can come.”

“Is it OK if I bring Celia Thompson with me?” He wondered if that would provoke a question from his mother-in-law: he had never brought Celia with him before.

“That will be lovely!” she said, and he could hear the smile in her voice. “We haven’t seen her since the wedding, you know, though she was always Gwen’s best friend, and she was never at home when we visited you.” She paused then added, “Siân won’t be here, you ... Oh, what am I saying? So daft, me. She’s at your house isn’t she? Is she coming as well?”

“Not sure,” he replied. “I think she may stay over here this weekend.”

“Oh. Well, I suppose our loss is Alex’s gain, isn’t it? Bye!”

David could have sworn there was a giggle from her as she hung up, and he was left wondering how much the Prices had been told of their younger daughter’s most recent romantic development. He left the car and entered the house.