CHAPTER 30

 

“Would it be possible…?” Cate paced back and forth in the quiet studio. The camera crew weren’t there which she was eternally grateful for because they could easily twist the request she was about to make into yet more evidence that she was an out of control diva. She hated asking for favours. Thanks to her biological father, she wasn’t good with the possibility of rejection. “I know it’s really bad timing because we’ve got two dances to learn this week but I was wondering if there’s any chance…”

“Geez Cate,” Declan scowled, “whatever it is, would you just spit it out already? You’re making me really nervous.”

“I’m sorry,” Cate said quickly. “It’s just that my sister, Ruby is coming to Seattle for a visit. Her flight gets in this afternoon and I was kind of hoping to meet her at the airport. She’s been through a really rough time and we were all going to go; me, Mats and Sierra, Liv and Sofia. Lola has made her this huge, sparkly banner – it’s kind of embarrassing and adorable all at the same time. We just want to make her feel really welcome here, you know?”

Declan looked like he was thinking about it and Cate felt like her heart was beating out of her chest.

“As soon as she’s settled, I’ll come straight back to the studio, I promise. I’ll even sleep here if that’s what it takes.”

Declan laughed, “I’m not Vladimir, of course I’m not going to make you sleep here.”

As she ran out of the studio with a peanut butter and banana sandwich wedged in her mouth, she tried in vain to stop her coat from flapping open because underneath she was only wearing the vest and yoga pants she’d worn to dance in and it was that kind of really bitter cold that made your lungs hurt when you tried to breathe.

“You might want to think about changing your shoes,” Declan said, holding her trainers. She’d run out in her very impractical, spiky-heeled dance shoes.

“Thanks,” Cate gasped, flinging herself into her car. Kian had the Tank today. She checked her watch again and grimaced, “I’m so late.”

When she turned the key in the ignition, nothing happened. “It’s seriously not my day.”

“Come on,” Declan said. “I’ll drive you to the airport.”

“You don’t have to do that. You’re already doing me a huge favour by letting me miss training this afternoon.”

“It’s no big deal,” Declan shrugged. “My car’s parked over there.”

“Thank you,” Cate said gratefully.

As they drove to the airport, Cate tried to make herself look more presentable. She brushed her hair and tied it up in what she hoped was a relatively smooth ponytail, grabbed a pack of baby wipes from her bag and cleaned her face, put on a long belted cardigan, changed out of her sparkly dance shoes into a more normal pair of Converse trainers and popped in a breath mint.

“You carry all that in your bag?” Declan marvelled.

“I’m a mum,” Cate shrugged. “do you want a mint?”

When they got to arrivals, Liv was already there with the children. “Mama!” Mateo yelped, careening across the slippery floors towards her. Cate scooped him up and carried him back across to Liv. “Thanks for looking after them,” she gave her sister a hug.

“I’m seriously considering being sterilised,” Liv teased quietly. “I don’t know how you cope with three of them?”

“You manage,” Cate laughed. “Do you know if her flight has landed yet?”

Liv nodded, “about five minutes ago. I can’t believe she’s almost here.”

“Can you see her?” A crowd of people surged through the doors and holding on to both Mateo and Sierra, Cate struggled to see above the bobbing heads.

“What does she look like?” Declan asked, standing on tiptoes.

“She looks exactly like Cate,” Liv said.

“There she is,” Cate and Liv immediately spotted their half-sister as she came through the doors. “Excuse me,” Liv said, pushing her way through the hordes of jet-lagged arrivals. “A little room please, I’ve got a baby here.”

“I can’t believe you just used your child as a battering ram,” Ruby laughed, abandoning her luggage trolley so she could give them both hugs. “Ugh, I’ve missed you too much.”

“We’ve missed you,” they both assured her. “Where’s Mateo?” Ruby looked around.

“He’s over there with Declan,” Cate pointed them out.

“Oh,” Ruby stumbled. “What’s um, Declan doing here?”

Cate linked her arm through Ruby’s. “My car wouldn’t start. He gave me a lift.”

“Auntie Booby!” Mateo cried excitedly when he saw his aunt.

Cate winced. Some of the other passengers and their families were giving them really strange looks. “It’s Ruby,” Cate corrected him. “Auntie Ruby.”

Ruby scooped up her nephew and gave him a kiss, “I tell you what, why don’t you call me Auntie Bee instead?”

Mateo cocked his head to one side, as if he was thinking about it, “OK, Auntie Bee.”

“Declan, this is my sister, Ruby,” Cate introduced them.

“You’re such a bitch,” Liv said, spelling out the word because there were children present. “How can you look that good after a gazillion hour flight? I should really hate you.”

“It wasn’t too bad,” Ruby scrutinised Cate and Liv, “since somebody bumped me up to first class.”

“That was nice of them,” Cate laughed, reaching for Sierra’s stroller. She and Liv had jointly covered the cost of Ruby’s first-class plane ticket. She definitely deserved to be pampered after all the crap she’d been through with the sex tape.

“Is Lola at school?” Ruby looked around for her eldest niece.

“Oh no,” Cate cursed. She reached under Sierra’s stroller and retrieved the big, sparkly banner that Lola had made. “If Lola asks, will you tell her how much you loved seeing this when you came through the doors. She worked so hard on it; I can’t believe we forgot to hold it up.”

Ruby raised an eyebrow, “you want me to lie to your kid?”

“Yep.”

“I love it,” Ruby took the sparkly banner from Cate. “I’m going to hang it above my bed, I like seeing my name up in lights.”

When they got to the car park, they realised that Sierra and Mateo’s car seats wouldn’t fit in Declan’s car. “I can’t drive right now,” Liv said. “I need to breastfeed Sofia.”

“Cate, why don’t you take Liv’s car? Sierra and Mateo are going to have to go in Liv’s car anyway because of their car seats and at least that way, Liv can feed Sofia,” Declan suggested.

“But what about Ruby?”

“I can drive Ruby home.”

“Is that OK with you?” Cate asked Ruby. She shrugged, “yeah, I guess?”

As they drove home, Sierra woke up and started crying. “Darn it,” Cate cursed, they were on the freeway and so she couldn’t stop the car and calm her daughter.

“How is she?” Cate asked Liv, who was sat in the backseat with the children.

“She feels a little warm,” Liv said, touching Sierra’s forehead. “I’ll remove a couple of layers.”

She was still fussy when they got closer to home. “Would it be OK if you dropped us off first? I feel really bad about not helping Ruby get settled but I just want to check that Sierra’s OK.”

“Of course,” Liv waved away her protests. “I was going to invite you, Kian and the children to come to ours for dinner tonight, you know to celebrate Ruby’s first night here in Seattle.” Ruby was staying in Seattle for four weeks, the first two weeks she would be staying with Liv, Jax and Sofia and then the second two weeks she would be staying with Cate, Kian and the children.

“Won’t she be too jet-lagged for a big family dinner?”

“I was kind of hoping it would help to keep her awake. The absolute worst thing you can do for jet lag is to go to sleep too early.”

“OK, I know Lola’s really excited to see Ruby. I’ll call you once I’ve got Sierra settled.”