A Beautiful Forever(45)
When we walk inside there is already a crowd of people saying hello to my mother - who’s holding Grace; and Paige - who’s looking a little lost.
Relief washes over her face when she spots me, so I’m quick to make my way towards her and take hold of her hand.
“Look at Grace, she’s loving it,” Paige says quietly to me as I join her.
“She’s a big show off, isn’t she?” I comment smiling at our daughter who is absolutely loving being the centre of attention.
We stay connected by our hands as we greet the procession of friends and relatives who come through the door, some of them I don’t even remember, and some, I don’t even think I’ve met before.
Paige
So far, I have met, Aunts, Uncles, cousins, distant cousins, friends of Kathy, friends of Steven, and just when I was beginning to wonder, some friends of Elliot arrive.
He seems really happy to see one particular couple, and steps away from me to greet them, actually hugging the guy and doing that back slap thing they all do. Moving on, he hugs the girl, kissing her on the cheek before he holds her at arm’s length.
“Is that what I think it is?” he asks her. Nodding, she rubs a hand over her protruding belly. Elliot congratulates them both, before turning to introduce them both to me.
“Paige, this is Gary, my mate from my uni days and his wife Stephanie.”
“Oh!” I breathe, holding out my hand to shake both of theirs, “I’ve heard so much about you.”
“All good I hope,” Gary rumbles. He is much shorter and chunkier than Elliot, with slightly thinning dark hair cut close to his head. His face pleasant and friendly, I like him already.
I smile at him and turn to Stephanie, “So you’re Stephanie, Naomi’s friend?”
“Yes, I am. We went to high school together actually. She’s coming you know; she'll be here soon.”
“What?! Oh wow, I haven’t spoken to her for like, a year.”
“She’s really looking forward to seeing you and Elliot - and the baby of course, where is she?”
“With Kathy, I’ll take you over to introduce you. Congratulations on your baby, how far along are you?” I ask, guiding her towards Kathy, who is slowly making her way outside with Grace.
“23 weeks, so I’m on the home stretch now,” she answers, following beside me and chatting about her pregnancy.
Elliot
I feel really pleased that Paige just walked away with Stephanie. It bodes well for my hope that they’ll be great friends.
“Looks like our wives have dumped us,” Gary comments, watching after them.
“That’s a good thing mate. They're off to bond over babies,” I say watching after them as well. I’m about to steer Gary outside, so we can both get a beer when a new group of people come by to say hi.
“Hello,” I say carefully, wondering why in the world they’re here.
“Hi Elliot, I hope you don’t mind – your mum invited all of us when she was at mum and dad’s place a couple of weeks ago. We’ll only stay a little while, I just didn’t want to be rude,” Katrina says, her face flushed with embarrassment.
“How are you mate? It’s been a while,” David says, extending his hand in greeting.
“I’m fine. It's fine,” I say to them both as I shake David’s hand. Gary is just standing next to me with his eyebrows firmly stuck up on the top of his forehead, as he watches this play out.
This is really weird, why in the world would my mother invite my ex and her fiancé here? She must have lost her mind slightly while I’ve been gone.
Katrina looks really awkward, so I give her a friendly hug and cheek kiss in greeting. She turns around and introduces me to her mother and father as well as her brother and his wife. It makes me realise how underdeveloped our relationship actually was. We never went beyond meeting friends.
I point them all towards the back yard where everyone is congregating and tell them to help themselves to a drink.
“What the hell?” Gary says to me as they walk away.
“Exactly,” I reply, watching them go outside.
Chapter 38
Paige
I’m now glued firmly to Kathy’s side as I hold Grace while we’re surrounded by a group of clucky women. Stephanie just adores Grace, who keeps trying to reach out and pull her long dark hair. She has relinquished the jade bangle she was wearing, and it's become Grace’s teething ring as she bites down on it and covers it in baby drool.
“She’s so beautiful Paige,” Stephanie keeps cooing about my little bundle of joy. I’m smiling as I look up and spot Naomi through the sea of faces and wave her over.
“How are you!” she exclaims, hugging me and Stephanie alternately. “Look at her, isn’t she beautiful!” she says about Grace, touching her head and smoothing her curly hair backwards. Grace just smiles because she knows she’s beautiful.
“It’s so nice to see you again Naomi,” I say truthfully.
“It is, and much happier circumstances this time. I’m so glad you two got your act together. Married and a baby!” she sighs, “It’s so wonderful!”
Naomi asks if she can hold Grace, and I happily hand her over as I catch Elliot waving me towards the house where he’s standing with an older gentleman and a young woman. I check that the girls are happy with Grace and weave my way towards him.
“Paige, this is my father Robert, and his wife, ah… my step-mother, Erica.” They both smile and I hold my hand out to shake theirs in greeting. Elliot’s father takes my hand and pulls me forward a little to kiss me on the cheek.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Paige. I'm sorry we never got the chance to visit you both in London,” he says to me.
“Oh, no worries,” I say as Erica embraces me in her cloud of perfume, she’s impeccably made up, with long blonde hair and even longer legs. She reminds me a lot of a Barbie doll actually, and I doubt she’s much older than I am.
“I’m so happy to see you both,” she says looking between Elliot and I.
We exchange platitudes for a while before they move on to say hello to Kathy, who now has possession of Grace again, I laugh, seeing her so pleased to carry Grace around, showing her off.
“Your mum is enamoured with our daughter,” I comment.
Elliot chuckles and puts his arm around my shoulder as we take a moment together to watch everyone around us.
“I have to tell you something,” Elliot says quietly in my ear, he reaches down and takes hold of my hand before leading me back inside and into the kitchen.
“What is it?” I ask, worried.
He looks really nervous, “Um… my mother invited Katrina and like, her whole family.”
My face drops as my stomach starts to churn. “Ex-girlfriend, previous-love-of-your-life Katrina?” I ask in a hushed tone.
“I’m sorry. Our mothers play tennis together, and they’re good friends, I guess mum didn’t really think before inviting them all.”
“Should I be worried here Elliot? Does her being here affect you? Does it affect us?” I start to feel a slight panic rise as the thought of Elliot still having a thing for her flashes through my mind.
“No Paige,” he assures me, “There is nothing for you to worry about. I just didn’t want you ambushed. I’ll take you to meet them ok?”
I give him a look that says ‘Oh god, don’t make me do this’ as he wraps his arms around me, hugging me tightly to him.
“I know, I’m sorry,” he whispers. “Let’s just get this done, and we can move on and have fun ok? Did you see Naomi yet?”
I put on a brave smile and nod my head, “Yeah I did, she looks great.”
“Ok, you ready?”
“Alright, let’s get this done,” I say, rolling my eyes and taking a deep breath before taking the hand Elliot offers me to lead me through everyone to meet his ex-girlfriend. Freaking awesome!
Elliot
It takes us a while to get through everyone as we get stopped often by well-wishers and friends or relatives who have questions about our time in the UK. When we eventually make it over to where Katrina and David are standing, we find them talking to Gary, Stephanie and Naomi.
Everyone is overly happy to see us, and I can sense a bit of tension in the air. Paige is hanging just a step behind me, so I pull her to my side to make the introductions.
“Paige, this is Katrina and her fiancé, David,” I say. She smiles tightly and holds out her hand, her movements awkward and her face flushing red.
Katrina and David both take her hand alternately and remark how nice it is to finally meet her. “Kathy’s been showing everyone photos of you both and little Grace, she’s very proud,” Katrina says kindly.