Diana was right, Diana was right…

The words reverberated around in my head like the sound of a train. One like what Hayden was on right now, I thought irrationally. I hadn’t had the opportunity to tell him what Catrina had told me before he went on his course, and when we’d spoken, it was all about him and Alfie. Now I wished I had.

Maddy stood in the centre of the living room, all blond extensions and high heels. After arriving ten minutes ago, she’d demanded to take Alfie back and wouldn’t wait until Hayden got home. She was dressed in a smart skirt suit that wouldn’t have looked out of place on the Square Mile. As I examined her, I noticed that the buttons wouldn’t last five minutes with Alfie around and the cream-coloured blouse she wore would soon be covered in sticky finger marks. She was talking, but I couldn’t take in what she was saying.

“I’ve spoken to Hayden and he knows exactly what’s going on.” She swept into Alfie’s room, where he was taking his afternoon nap. “So I’ll collect all of Alfie’s things and we’ll get going.”

I followed her and put a hand on her arm. “I think we should wait for Hayden to get back.”

“There’s no need.” She shook me off, not even giving me the courtesy of looking at me.

“You’ll disturb Alfie’s routine if you wake him now.”

Maddy whirled around. “What do you know about his routine? You’ve been babysitting him for what, six weeks? And you think you know everything? I was the one looking after him on my own for a year.”

“Hayden offered to help.”

“When was that? I must have missed it.” Her gaze bored into mine, silently accusing me of lying.

“You can’t waltz in here and take Alfie without Hayden’s permission.”

“I’m his mother; I don’t need permission.”

“Maddy, please.”

“And I don’t take orders from the hired help either.”

“I’m not the hired help. Hayden and I are together.” I couldn’t stop the words from coming out of my mouth.

The laugh that came from Maddy was tinged with sarcasm. “Oh, really? That didn’t take long. I always knew he had a crush on you. Tom’s little sister with her PR smarts and her beautiful dark hair.”

I wished I had the smarts now to stop her leaving with Alfie. While I didn’t want to leave her, I needed to find out where Hayden was, and how long it would be before he came home. Walking away from the tension for a few moments helped to calm me down. All I wanted to do was slap Maddy across her smug face. She might have the glamorous job in France and a rich, older boyfriend—oh, wait, that bit was true for me too—but she couldn’t swan around demanding everything her way.

As I entered the living room, the front door swung open and Hayden rushed in, dropping his bags by the sofa.

“Is he still here?” he asked, breathless.

I nodded mutely and pointed towards the bedroom.

Alfie was in Maddy’s arms, his cute little face screwed up as he cried. She jiggled him up and down, his cries getting louder rather than softer.

“Give him to me,” said Hayden.

“No. I told you on the phone what was going to happen. Robert and I are making a new start in Paris and Alfie’s going to be part of it.”

“So you’re giving up work to look after him?”

Hayden’s question seemed to floor her and she hesitated before answering. “We’re hiring an experienced au pair who’s going to be living in.” Maddy turned to me. “Much like you did.”

My breath caught. I knew that I meant more to Hayden than simply being the live-in help, no matter what Maddy was trying to imply.

“That isn’t what Bea is.”

“No, she told me that the two of you are in love or in a relationship or something. It won’t last once Alfie’s gone. After all, he was the only reason the two of you got together.” Maddy sniffed. “Ssssh, now Alfie, there’s a good boy. Mummy’s here now.” Her words did little to soothe him and he reached his little arms out towards Hayden, his wails increasing.

Hayden looked over at me and I could see the expression of love in his eyes, the tenderness he’d always shown.

“Alfie may have been part of the reason that I finally realised what Bea meant to me, but we’ve created a solid unit over the last few weeks. A family. Alfie needs stability.”

“With me, in Paris.”

“I disagree. How can you consider taking him away from the things he knows, his friends…”

“His father?” I interjected and Maddy shot me a death stare.

“He’s fifteen months old; how many friends can he possible have at that age?”

“Given the amount of play dates and parties you insisted he attend, I’d say he has a lot,” said Hayden.

“You can’t take him away from me.”

“And you can’t take him away from me.”

Their voices were raised and angry, which caused Alfie to start screaming. He wriggled in Maddy’s arms, trying to get out of her grasp. I couldn’t take it any longer and intervened, taking Alfie from Maddy and shooing them both out of the room. I gently stroked his head, breathing evenly, and he began to settle, the screams subsiding until only snuffles remained.

“Why don’t we stay here while your Mummy and Daddy work out what they’re going to do?”

Alfie curled his tiny hand around my finger and my breath caught, a tear finding its way down my cheek.

I didn’t want it to end like this.

I knew things would be different after the six weeks were done, but I’d naively assumed that they would go back to the way they were: Alfie with Maddy, Hayden seeing him every weekend, us seeing him every weekend.

It looked like that wasn’t going to happen.

I wasn’t prepared to give up my family.

I had to stop it.

Placing Alfie back into his cot, I waited for a few minutes until he settled, then took a deep breath and headed out into the living room. Hayden and Maddy were still yelling at each other, seemingly going over the same ground.

“Shut up!” The force of my tone surprised me and two heads whipped around in my direction, the yelling ceasing.

“You two arguing isn’t going to solve this. It isn’t about who is the better parent, and getting one over on the other. You need to think about Alfie and what’s going to be best for him.”

“Which is clearly being with his mother.”

“Who is hiring someone else to look after him.”

“Like his father did.”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t start this again.”

“You seem to think you have all the answers, so what’s your solution to this?” Maddy demanded.

“I don’t. All I know is that I’ve spent the most perfect six weeks watching Hayden get to know his son better, playing with him, teaching him, and watching Alfie blossom along with all the other babies. It would be a shame to take that away from him, from both of them. I’m just asking you to think hard about how you see the future before making a snap decision.”

I could sense they were both listening to my speech and I knew I had to make it count. I went on.

“What if you and Robert don’t work out? Or you hate your job after a few months? Six weeks isn’t really long enough for you to find out.”

“I could say the same about you and Hayden,” said Maddy, snidely.

“This isn’t about me and Bea,” sighed Hayden. “And she has a point.”

“Any decision you make this afternoon is going to stick with you, maybe forever. So you have to make sure it’s the right one.” I desperately hoped that Maddy would make the right choice, at least not to take Alfie away tonight.

Maddy’s gaze went to the door of Alfie’s room, where all appeared quiet. She fixed her eyes on Hayden. “She’s right. I need to think more about how this could work. And you deserve to spend more time with Alfie. I’ll pop in and say goodnight, then I’ll go.”

She did exactly what she said she would and left shortly afterwards, with promises to talk more over the weekend.

The moment the door closed behind her, I collapsed on the sofa, the tears coming hard. As I sobbed, I felt Hayden sit down beside me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders and kissing the top of my head.

“You were fantastic.”

“I hope I haven’t made things worse.”

“It’s only going to be worse if she doesn’t budge from her decision. And I think you might have convinced her that she’s wrong.”

Hayden tilted my chin up towards him, so I had no choice but to look into his eyes. They were glistening with emotion.

“Whatever happens, Bea Hudson, I don’t think I could love you any more than I do right now.”

He kissed me and I dissolved again.

“I love you too.”

“Does that apply to Alfie as well?”

“Why would you doubt that? I love the little family we’ve created. Whatever Maddy decides, I want to make us work.”

Hayden grinned. “Me too. Now let’s make sure Alfie’s happy with that.”

We went into Alfie’s room. He stared up at us, his blue eyes inquisitive. Hayden swooped him out of his cot and pulled the three of us together in an embrace. The little boy laughed and smiled as we cradled him between us.

“I think we’ve got our answer.”