Three Wishes(90)

The designers drifted through the house pointing at this sofa. “That has to go.”

And at that bookshelf. “That has to go.”

And the other chair. “That should never have been created in the first place.”

It was part hilarious, part humiliating and part annoying, mostly the last part.

Lily called Nate’s office in London.

“It’s too much too soon,” she told him while watching her living room furniture being carted out the door.

“It’s too little too late,” Nate retorted firmly.

Quite clearly they were in a stalemate. And even more clearly, they were not going to discuss it because they didn’t have time to discuss anything and probably wouldn’t discuss anything even if they had time.

Lily had transferred her financial burdens firmly onto his very strong shoulders mainly because he’d demanded she do it. Seven million pounds in the bank or no, all the bills were immediately switched to be debited from his accounts.

This, for some bizarre reason, he’d commanded she do the very first morning he awoke beside Lily in their new bed. As it was an ungodly hour and she’d been half asleep at the time, she didn’t put up much of a fight and simply told him sleepily where she kept her household files.

“I do not like this,” Fazire said, standing outside the door of a room on the top floor. It used to be a room that held junk. Now three workmen were diligently making it into the bathroom part of a master suite for Lily and Nate that was to make up most of the top floor.

Lily tried cajoling. “When this is done, you’ll only have to share the bathroom with Tash.”

Fazire turned cold eyes to her, unimpressed.

Lily kept trying. “You can have my bedroom when we move out, it’s lovely in there now.”

Fazire’s eyes turned to stone at this reminder of Nate’s grandiosity.

“Fazire, I’m doing this for Tash,” she finally whispered.

His eyes flickered for a moment and then he whispered right back, “I know you, Lily-child. You’ll lose your heart.”

“No I won’t, I promise Fazire. I know exactly what there is to lose and I’m not going through it again,” she replied fervently, so fervently she half-believed it herself but the other half wasn’t so sure anymore.

In just days Nate was demonstrating, in every way, he was intent on taking care of them and exhausting himself and (likely) bankrupting himself in order to do it.

Fazire watched her closely for a moment, nodded, although it was clear to see he was not convinced, likely seeing the stronger other half, and then he floated down the stairs even though she’d asked him not to do any of his genie antics in front of the workmen. Fazire really didn’t like stairs, going up or going down. Luckily the workmen were too busy to notice.

The next week, Nate’s temporary office in Bristol was ready for him and life changed again in the seafront terraced house.

Nate was a force of nature not living in the house. He filled it with his quiet dynamic when he actually spent time there.

Fazire’s genie pout switched immediately to open hostility. If he’d been allowed to do magic, there would have been hell to pay. Instead, he burnt Nate’s toast all week even though Tash’s and Lily’s was perfection, accidentally misplaced Nate’s car keys twice and kept moving Nate’s mobile phone to various deep regions in the house.

This last backfired as Nate would ring his phone with Lily’s mobile and Tash would run around the house trying to find it just like it was a game. Fazire would watch this with an expression that clearly said, “Foiled”.

Tash, on the other hand, moved directly from blossoming under the loving care of the possibility of a complete family unit straight to full, glorious bloom when that family became a reality.

Nate still worked ungodly hours but he was always there for breakfast even getting up first to wake Tash for school, this not only allowed Lily to sleep in but also had the unprecedented bonus of the usually morning-grumpy Tash flying out of bed full of energy and good cheer. And he was always home at the very latest to put Tash to bed.

This he did by laying in it with her, his big body stretched out on her girlie comforter, holding one side of her book while she rested her head on his chest and held the other. In this position he listened to her read.

He could and did, to Tash’s delight, she was a superior reader for her age and liked to show off her skill, do this for hours. They did it even sometimes until after her bedtime which Lily allowed, telling herself they were both making up time.

Lily would watch them surreptitiously, she couldn’t help it. Her daughter was so full of joyful happiness; it was a pleasure to see.

And secretly Lily loved watching Nate with Tash. She’d dreamed of it for years, thinking it would never be a reality. And the reality, for Tash, was better than any dream Lily could create.

As for Lily, Nate’s being home more often meant making up time in an entirely different way.

Just as eight years before, they didn’t share their deepest secrets, hopes, wishes and dreams over romantic dinners or during pillow talk. Just as eight years before, they barely talked at all. But just like eight years before, they made love. A lot. Nate couldn’t seem to get enough of her. This Lily understood because she seemed equally to want him more after every time they’d been together.

However, this time it was different. This time she held herself back or she tried, it was difficult. It was Nate, her wish, her romantic hero come alive (again). This time she enjoyed the beauty of their lovemaking, participated in it, allowed him to teach her new things and take her to new heights but she never let herself go or mostly she didn’t, well, perhaps sometimes she managed to think about trying not to let herself go before she let herself go.