Chapter 14

Fifteen minutes later we had thrown on some clothes, just joggers and t-shirt and jersey shorts and a vest top for Rachel, it was 10.30 and there was no sign of the kids, so our little tryst in the pool had gone un-noticed. Rachel had made some tea and was sitting at the table with a bowl of muesli in front of her, with a huge grin on her face. I sat hugging my tea, smiling at her when she grinned and said:-

“I’m so happy Steve, it’s taken these few days to make me realise that you are my rock, I love you so much”

Putting down her spoon she raised her hand and stroked my cheek with the back of her fingers, the look of love on her face was wonderful and I would have done anything for her at that moment. She smiled and almost whispered;

“Thank you for all you have given me my love, I am so happy to be wearing your engagement ring, I can’t wait to be your wife.”

I had a huge lump in my throat, and kissed her hand and told her that I felt the same, Laughing I said:-

“Lets’ try and raise the rabble from their sleep and do something nice with them, I bet Alice could do with a little spoiling today? What do you think?”

She squealed in delight and was out through the kitchen door like a teenager, going to wake the girls and telling me to rouse Tim as she didn’t want to go into his bedroom dressed in her skimpy shorts and vest. I groaned and got up to leave the table, only to find coming back at the same speed. She stopped placed a huge kiss on my lips and was gone again, with calls to the girls of:-

“Wake up sleepy heads we are going out for the day, Hurry up...”

There were groans from Alice who was obviously still completely zoned out from her ordeal, and almost looked tearful as she came out onto the landing, coupled with an excited

“Where are going? From Issy

Tim came out of his room looking remarkably tidy, and smugly informed us that he had been up for a while and had showered and could be ready soon.

I laughed and shouted to Rachel:

“Did you hear that my love? The men of the house can be ready within a half an hour, how long will it take you three to get ready? An hour may be two?”

Rachel poked her head out my (our) room and told me to watch out or she would come out there and sort me out and that as she could be ready in an hour. I laughed and told her that pigs might fly, and by the time they all were ready it be tea time. there a load groan followed by a hairbrush flying towards me at head height, I neatly side stepped and it bounced off the wall with a clatter, and Rachel poked her tongue out at me and retreated into the bedroom as I roared that I was going to teach her a lesson, Rachel howled in mock fear as I began to chase after her, Issy and Tim were laughing out loud at the exchange between us, but as I glanced at Alice who standing there transfixed with a look of sheer terror on her face and then burst into hysterical tears, saying that it was happening again, and Mummy was always fighting and throwing things. I stopped in my tracks as she was almost hysterical, I called Rachel, Tim and Issy suddenly stopped laughing, but Rachel hadn’t heard and came running out expecting more fun and revelry.

I had tried to cuddle Alice, who was becoming more and more distraught, obviously thinking I was cross with when Rachel realised and came running to her and scooped her up in her arms. Asking her what was wrong all she got was muffled cries and sobs that I didn’t yet understand, Rachel held her calming her, by telling her that we were playing and having fun, and that we were so happy, she apologised to her telling her, that we hadn’t thought, but we had been so happy to have her back that we were playing around. Silently I put my arm around them both and told Alice how much I loved her, and that I would never knowingly hurt her, the next thing I knew both Issy and Tim were there too and we were all hugging Rachel and Alice. The love flowing through us all was infectious and Alice began to realise that were just messing around and began to smile. Rachel began to cry, but this time she had a huge smile on her face and thanked us all for being so wonderful, Alice apologised to her and to me and looked like she was going to start crying again. I held her little hand in mine and looked her in the eyes saying:-

“Alice, I love you as much as I love Tim and Issy, they know how I feel and feel the same way, to me you will always be my daughter and they think of you as their sister...”

To which there were vigorous nods of agreement from both children.

“We are a family now my lovely, there will be times we argue, but the bond that your Mum and I have will bind us all together, I don’t mind if you are upset or scared, as long as I live, I will be here for you and will protect you. I will never try and take the place of your Daddy, he is yours and you must decide whether you want him in your life. Mummy and I will deal with whatever you decide and she can help with that side but I will be here if need to talk, but you can come to me with any question, I will never judge you but I will be here for you.”

Tim smiled at her and before I could continue, he said with slight embarrassment:

“Alice, I love you too, you and Issy have become so close, you are so lucky that you have your Mum, and now we are the same, we know we can’t have our own Mum back, but you both have given Issy and I so much love in the last few months. We have the very next best thing, as we have a great new mum and an amazing little sister as a bonus, and I promise you that like my Dad you now have a big brother and older sister to look out for you too.”

With that Issy, nodded vigorously and said

“I love you too sis”

The next thing was that we were all crying and hugging and apologising all at once, then laughing and crying some more. Issy hadn’t said much, but she hugged Alice and Rachel at the same time and said to Rachel;

“Thank you for finding my Daddy, we love you both so much, I was so scared we’d lost you on Friday Ally, you are home with us now ... where you belong”

This brought another round of hugs and kisses, before Alice asked if we were still going out for the day. we assured her that we were and that we should all get sorted, She and Issy decided to shower and get ready together, whilst Rachel went back into “our” bedroom, after telling Tim how proud I was of him for what he said to Alice, I was stunned sometimes how mature he was, he was a typical boy, but showed a sensitivity that was so rare in children of his age. As I entered our bedroom Rachel was sitting on the bed cradling her head in her hands, I wasn’t sure if she was silently crying or just trying to comes to terms with what had just happened, I stood in front of her and gently stoked her hair asking gently:

“Are you ok love?”

“Oh God Steve, what kind of Mother am I? I have ruined her, I couldn’t keep her safe from that evil man, she must hate me! In fact I hate myself right now ... How could I do this to her?”

“My darling, you have done everything possible to give stability and normality, but she has had an awful few days. Think about it, one of the people she is supposed to trust implicitly has just stolen her away from the rest of us, and when he realised she had talked to you, he hid her in a dark cellar. Coupled with how strange he was acting the whole time he had her and the fact that she had to endure a police rescue. I think she is doing well considering what she has had to endure.

Rachel, listen to me my love you are an excellent mother, look what Tim and Issy just said, Alice was just scared because she was insecure and didn’t realise you and I were messing around. She will be fine in a couple of days, but we will have to keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn’t have bad dreams or any side effects from this. Come on sweetie, you need to be strong for her.

I love you so much, let’s get sorted and go out and enjoy ourselves as a family; a bit of retail therapy won’t hurt us”

She smiled at me, a tired but genuine smile, held me close for a few seconds and agreed with me;

“Thank you my darling man, you have become such a strength to me in recent months, I am sorry, but I get so scared about what Mark is capable of, he made such terrible threats about the fact we are together. I’m sorry if I have brought this threat to you and the kids”

Sobbing she carried on;

“I was really cross with you for having your security team check him out, I thought you were being over cautious, now I realise how naive I was, I believed him. After everything he has put me through I believed him!! I am sooooo STUPID, how could I be so gullible Steve? ... I feel awful.”

With that she slumped against me, and I just held her, letting her get rid of her tears, after about 5 minutes, I kissed the top of her head and quietly suggested that we get sorted to go out. She smiled sadly and said I was right and that she would have a quick shower and get ready. I deliberately made a lewd comment about the fact I would be happy to wash her back and any parts she couldn’t reach. She started to get cross, and then realised I was try to make her laugh and finally did, saying that if I did we would never get out today. The kids were true to their word, Tim was ready in no time, and even had time to cycle to the paper shop to get the Sunday papers, the girls were ready in just over the hour and seemed fine, giggling and chirping away, with no apparent sign of the earlier concerns, both had obviously decided to find clothes that were similar, but not identical so nice jeans, pastel tops and co-ordinating cardigans. Rachel as always took the longest to get ready, but she arrived in about an hour and a half, wearing snugly fitting jeans a cotton white blouse under a navy cotton jumper and boots with a small stiletto heels, her long dark hair in a pony tail, single pearl studs in each ear, and obvious but understated make up, the only jewellery she wore, was her watch and engagement ring. She looked so elegant, refined, I often think she reminds me of a slightly older Anne Hathaway, I was so pleased to see that her eyes had that sparkle again that was missing upstairs, but there was still a little hesitation there as she smiled at me for re-assurance and before saying brightly to them all;

“Right you lot, where shall we go? Shopping? For a drive? Both?”

All three said in Unison; “Bristol!”

Everyone started talking at once, and it was decided that we would go to the new Cabot Circus Shopping area in Bristol, and then if there was time onto Browns in Park Street for food.

Cabot Circus was partial redevelopment of Bristol City centre which used to be part of the outdoor Broadmead shopping centre and comprises of around 250 shops & restaurants, most of which are designer brands, niche boutiques or high end department stores. Each of the kids had some accumulated money to spend and I was sure that Mum or Dad and probably both would “top it up” where necessary. The drama of earlier was forgotten and I decided that we would take the Jaguar as it was about an hour or so away. The Range Rover was equally comfortable but the spaces at the car park were tight, but the main reason was I loved driving the big cat, and I didn’t get the chance that often, because I was often driven to meetings by my driver, rather than drive the car myself. As they were sitting in the back chatting away, eating sweets and crisps and drinking from cans of fizzy drink, I remember thinking that he wouldn’t be happy to see the carnage three kids will make in the back of a car on a road trip, but none of that mattered as we effortlessly glided along the motorway, the big silver car, effortlessly eating up the short distance between Cardiff and Bristol. Rachel seemed calm as she sank back into the soft red leather seats with Tom Jones belting out “Green Green Grass of Home” and “Delilah” from the CD. While both my kids loved current music, I had brought them up on artists like Tom, Meatloaf, Queen, The Jacksons, The Beatles and even Bon Jovi plus several more, so they had a wide range in music tastes compared to their peers. Alice on the other hand wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, but soon joined in and tried to sing the lyrics, but bless her, she gave up completely when he got to “New Mexican Puppeteer” and just watched amazed as Tim, Issy and I belted out the words, oblivious to the odd looks we were getting from the girls.

Rachel looked at me with a huge grin, and said jokingly

“What would your staff and clients say if they could you now?”

“Easy” I laughed “My staff would be pleased to see me happy and in love, and my clients would think I was just having fun with my family, something that hasn’t happened enough since Jane died. But it seems to be a daily occurrence since both you gorgeous ladies came into our lives!! ... What say you kids?”

“Definitely” and “Absolutely” came from Issy and Tim in unison, Alice looked at us as if we were mad but was beaming as Tim wrapped her in a big hug and Issy just laughed as Alice squealed as he tried to give her a sloppy big brother kiss. Rachel looked at me with a huge smile, her eyes twinkling and mouthed “I love you “to me just as old Tom launched into Princes’ “Kiss”. Life felt pretty good right now and I was so happy that only 48 hours after the fright of Friday night we were all together having a day out together.

“You are all mad!!” she laughed “What have we let ourselves in for Al? This is a mad house!!!”

Alice was still squealing and laughing and said to her mother between laughs “it’s fun though Mummy”

To which Rachel looked at me and winked as she said innocently “It certainly is, I have so much fun with Steve as you all do, you all make me so happy”

The kids were totally oblivious to her innuendo, which made it even funnier as she rested her hand on my thigh only inches away from my rapidly awaking instrument of fun. I laughed and said to her quietly she was a bad girl, and she just smiled and said;

“You will have punish me later then wont you”, and lightly brushed her slender hand over my crotch grinning constantly.

Alice must have seen her grin in the mirror, and she asked her what was funny, and Rachel said to her with a completely straight face that she was teasing me. I’m sure that parents throughout the ages have been in similar situations, but at that moment I found it so erotic, that she could get me so worked up in such an everyday situation. I would certainly get my revenge later, that I was sure. Everything settled down and the kids started planning what they wanted to spend their money on and we all just settled into the regular chatter of a young family who are all together in such situations. I was so happy; I felt that I could burst, the journey continued in the same vane and we all enjoyed the frivolity of a family day out.

When we arrived we decided that we were all hungry and we visited Patisserie Valerie, and the kids all had their delicious BLT’s without the T and followed by Ice Cream which made me smile, as I couldn’t help asking myself why kids never seem to like tomatoes and at what age, they realise that they are actually really nice!!! Rachel and I had more grown up choices accompanied by Cappuccino for her and a Latte for me. We wandered around the shops and I was probably a little over indulgent, both the girls had new outfits in Next, Tim had clothes from Oakley and Urban Outfitters, and I couldn’t help buying them each an IPod; a nano for the girls and a touch for Tim. Rachel mildly chastised me for spoiling them, but I assured her that it was a special occasion and that I wouldn’t make a habit of it. She smiled and said that she understood, and she was just as soft, as after a second trip into Next and H&M the girls both came out with make-up sets, outfits and shoes and Tim mysteriously came out of Fat Face with a wallet and some Flip Flops and a lovely top from Crew. The only person who hadn’t had anything was Rachel, I had bought some work shirts and a comfortable pair of loafers for the weekend. She seemed happy just being around us all, she had bought herself some Prada perfume, but I was determined to buy her something nice, she had been looking at handbags in Harvey Nichols, I had tried to persuade he to have a Prada Tessuto leather & Nylon bag which I knew she loved, but she wouldn’t hear of it but had fancied a Mulberry Soho bag, which was around £300, but she wouldn’t let me buy it for her, despite the kids and I trying to persuade her, so when she took the girls off again, Tim and I snuck back and bought one and when we met for a coffee I proceeded to hand it to her. For a second I thought I was in trouble, as she started to well up and then she just leaned over and hugged me tight.