Resolution (Saviour #2)(95)
“Stell. Can I ask you something?”
“Of course you can.”
“Do you think if I arranged for Gabe to see a counsellor he would go?”
“A counsellor? Why does Gabe need to see a counsellor? What’s wrong?”
“Please do not repeat a word of this to anyone ever Stell, seriously.”
“I swear, I won’t, you’re scaring me Lauren, tell me what’s wrong.”
I take a deep breath. “Gabe thinks he doesn’t deserve to be loved. He thinks that I’m going to eventually leave him and Ava will one day cut him out of her life. He doesn’t feel he’s worthy of love… Because of what went on between him and Jackie.”
“Far out. Seriously, why, why would he think that? It wasn’t his fault. It’s not like it was an affair. She abused him, he was under age.”
“I know, I’ve told him all of this but he just feels so guilty. I think Charlie dying has made him feel worse and he’s really struggling with it all and I don’t know what to do, I want to help him but I don’t know where to start, I need you and your brothers and Sam and Jen in on this one, he doesn’t think any of us should love him. He broke down and told me all this, this morning, that’s why he’s being so paranoid. He thinks that if I’m left alone with time to think, that I will get rid of the babies and go back to Jay.”
SHIT!!! I know what I’ve just let slip before Stella takes it in. I watch her face as she digests my words. Her mouth drops open. “Wh…wait a minute. What babies? Are you pregnant?”
Her mouth drops open again as she looks from my water to my belly to my face. “You are? You’re f*cking pregnant aren’t you? Are you serious and you didn’t tell me? When? How far? Oh my god, get him on the phone. I’m gonna kill him, why the f*ck didn’t he tell me? Get him on the phone right now.”
There are only one other couple in the restaurant and they are staring right at us. “Stell. Calm down, don’t ring him yet, it’s supposed to be a secret, no one is supposed to know, I have to have some tests done because of my age, once we get the results back from them and we know everything is okay. Then we will tell people, we have to consider Ava, she will be devastated if there is anything wrong with them.”
“Them? Anything wrong with them. YOU’RE HAVING TWINS?”
Seriously, Stella has no volume control, but I can’t help but smile at her enthusiasm. “Yep. We’re having twins, around June the twenty first they are due…All being well”
Stella jumps up from her chair and slides onto the bench seat and throws her arms around me. “I can’t believe it Loz. I am so happy for you both. Oh my God, he must be over the moon, another set of twins, you two are like your own little fairy tale. Oh my God I’m tearing up.”
We spend the rest of our meal and the rest of our evening in fact, discussing, babies, Gabe and Jackie. Stella ends up sleeping in my bed with me, but tells me the next morning she had to go to the spare room in the middle of the night because my snoring was so bad. Well I slept fine!
I get up when I hear Stella moving about in the kitchen. I have to be up at the Palmers place at nine to meet the carpet fitters so I need to get my arse into gear. I call Gabe to wish him good morning and to let him know that as it’s such a beautiful morning I am off to take a walk on the beach for half an hour but he doesn’t answer, I don’t leave a message, those horrible voice to text things never seem to understand my accent and end up leaving a message that makes no sense, I will just call him once I’m back.
As I walk into the house my mobile and the land line are both ringing, I grab my mobile first, its Gabe. “Morning Ba…”
“Where the f*ck have you been? I’ve been calling you for over half an hour? Fuck Lauren. I told you to keep your phone on you.”
“Yeah and good morning to you too… Have you quite finished?”
“No. Where were you? I was calling the land line from the hotel phone and your mobile from mine, you didn’t pick up either.”
“I went for a walk on the beach. I have no pockets in my leggings or vest.”
“Well tuck it in your f*cking bra. Don’t leave the house again without your phone, are we clear?”
“Who the f*ck are you talking to? I am not a child; do not speak to me like I am a f*cking idiot.”
“Well don’t f*cking act like one!”
I hang up. Who does he think he is, talking to me like that, this paranoia is getting ridiculous, he seriously needs help! My phone starts to ring again. Well if he wants to treat me like a child I will f*cking well act like one. Prick!
I flip the phone to silent, put on some music and get into the shower; an hour later I am pulling up on the driveway of ‘Bella Cliché’, just as the carpet fitter’s truck arrives. I leave them to unload as I take a walk through. The place looks amazing, a complete transformation, I cannot wait to get the pieces in place that I have chosen; the whole house is surprisingly clean. I wouldn’t be surprised if Gabe told the cleaners to do an extra special clean, not just your average builders clean. Shit. Gabe, my phones still on silent. Actually I went a step further and switched it to airplane mode when his calls kept interrupting my music. I pull it out of my bag and change the settings, seventy eight missed calls. Not just from him but from his whole family, and all of my friends, and text messages from all of them too. This is ridiculous, it starts to ring again as I’m scrolling through my messages, most of which are telling me to ‘Ring Gabe’.