Chapter 44
Sydney
I’d decorated the house with streamers and balloons and had a four tiered cake baking in the oven. The house already smelt of cookies and delicious cooking, and I’d made sure not to accept any guest bookings for the period of those four days. Emilia’s second birthday was going to be all about family and close friends.
She was sitting in her high chair in the kitchen, listening to the music playing on the radio. She liked to do that, watch me cook with some music in the background. I turned to her from time to time, to sing along or smile at her. I knew she was excited. She knew it was her birthday and she was looking forward to her friends coming over and lots of gifts. Every time she asked for her daddy, I tried to change the subject. Dane had said he would try his best to make it, but I knew he had three important deals to broker in this month alone and there was always the possibility that he might not be able to come.
This was a lifestyle I had willingly chosen for us. Dane couldn’t move from New York and I didn’t want to move from Tramore. So until we could come up with a workable solution, this was how our family was going to look like. Dane visited us every couple of months, for a weekend or a few days whenever he could get away.
I missed him when he wasn’t around and I knew Em missed him too, but she had got used to seeing him occasionally, as had I. It wasn’t the ideal situation, but it was better than not having him in our lives at all. Besides, we were in love. I wouldn’t have chosen to have it any other way, if it meant that I could be with him.
I heard Leo and Cora come into the kitchen with bags of shopping. I’d sent them out to buy some more supplies for the party food I had planned. Em was excited to see Cora again and she picked her up in her lap and took her to the living room to play with her. Leo lingered on in the kitchen, talking with me.
Leo and I had grown closer in the past year. He had quickly realized that he was only forcing himself to have feelings for me, that connection just wasn’t there. He was the happiest when he was single and free and he had grown to respect the relationship I shared with Dane.
“Is he coming?” Leo now asked as I put on my oven mitts to extract the tins of sponge cake that were baking.
“He’s going to try,” I said, without looking at him. I didn’t want to see the look of disapproval in his eye. I knew Em was lucky to have people like Leo and Cora who loved her so much. I was confident in the knowledge that she would always have loving people to care for her.
“Isn’t he like super rich? Can’t he just take his private jet and fly down here?” Leo asked. I put the cake tins down on the counter and laughed.
“He doesn’t own a private jet, Leo,” I said.
“But I saw his picture in the Financial Times. His face was on the cover of Forbes. The man is one of the richest people on Wall Street,” Leo said and leaned on his arms against the counter. I tucked some strands of hair behind my ears. Of course I knew how rich Dane was, even though we didn’t discuss money.
He made sure Em had the most expensive clothes and toys, he bought me jewelry constantly and had plans on investing in the B&B. I waved a hand to dismiss Leo’s claims.
“He’s a successful guy, sure, but he’s also very busy,” I said and I knew my cheeks were flushed. I was beginning to hope that Dane did turn up, for Em’s sake. I didn’t want our daughter to celebrate her birthday without him.
“Surely he can get away for one evening?” Leo insisted and I looked at him, giving him a look that said that he should back off.
“He’s trying his best. I know he is,” I said and Leo rolled his eyes. Even though he was a good friend to me and respected my decision to be with Dane, it didn’t mean that he liked it. He thought Dane was arrogant and a bad father, for living away from Em. The truth was that I was guilty for keeping her away from her father. I knew it would be much simpler for me to just move to New York. But I didn’t want that life. Being a stay-at-home girlfriend and mother to a successful billionaire was not the future I had dreamt for myself.
Leo and I were glaring challengingly at each other when there was a squeal in the living room. It was Em’s voice. Leo and I both ran, my heart was beating out of my chest because I thought something had happened to her.
When we got there, I saw Dane in the middle of the room, his hands filled with bags of gifts. He dropped them to the floor and bent down to take Em out of Cora’s arms and then he turned to me.
I thought my eyes had filled with tears, I was so glad to see him. I hadn’t wanted to accept the fact that he might not come, but I knew there was a huge possibility of that happening. It was the middle of the weak. He had important meetings. What was he doing here?
Dane took a few long strides in my direction. Em clung to his arms and with his free hand, he drew me close to him and kissed me passionately on my mouth.
“You look beautiful, Sydney. I’ve missed you,” he whispered in my ear. I clung to him with the hope that he would never let me go.
xxx