31 Days of Autumn (13 page)

Friday 18
^th
October

Ellie

‘I’m so sorry to leave you, Ellie,’ Dan whispered as
he kissed my forehead while I fed Eva, lying in bed, propped up on a mountain
of pillows.

‘Your work is important, I get that. You’ve
stalled on this project while I was recovering and it’s unrealistic to think
that you could avoid work for the rest of the month. Go, Magda’s here if I need
anything, but I’m not an invalid, I can look after myself.’

‘I just worry about you. You’ve been through so
much,’ he sighed, running a hand through his hair.

‘As have you and you’re not resting. Why don’t
you go and get the boys up. They love you waking them up, then you can bring
them to me before you go,’ I suggested.

‘Actually, I’d like to take Ollie to work with
me.’

‘Are you planning on doing any work?’ I
laughed. ‘You’ll have to have eyes in the back of your head, especially on that
walkway over the open sections of the coy pond. He’ll be in that like a flash.’

‘I’ll watch him, Stuart too. I just think it’s
time he spent some time with his old man, saw the empire he’s going to take
over one day. You’ve seen him on the iPad already, he’s a genius. I think he’ll
be more talented than me and that’s saying something.’

‘Hopefully he’ll be more modest as well,’ I
observed with a wink. ‘Are you sure about this?’

‘I am,’ he nodded. ‘Enjoy some time with Jonas
and Eva without Ollie trying to take charge and having a sulk when he doesn’t
get his own way.’

‘He really is your son,’ I smiled, making Dan
chuckle. ‘Ok, bring him in to say goodbye before you go and try not to wake up
Jonas yet then, as he’ll throw a fit if he can’t go with you and Oliver.’ I
watched his sexy backside in his fitted suit trousers as he disappeared to sort
Oliver out. Would I ever get tired of looking at him? I sincerely doubted it. I
looked down as Eva stopped drinking. ‘Just you wait, one day you’ll meet a man
who’ll sweep you off your feet, too. Hopefully he won’t be as stubborn as your
father, because I’m telling you, he wasn’t easy and I don’t want you to go
through a second of the heartache I did before he came to his senses.’ I kissed
her dark hair and gently rocked her against me. Her skin was flawless and her
lashes, courtesy of Dan, were longer, darker, and thicker than mine. I took a
deep breath as I hoped that I’d be around to see her grow up and have children
of her own. My parents had missed out on so much. She raised her clenched fists
to her head and yawned. For a moment, I contemplated getting out of bed and
checking her nappy before putting her down in her bassinet myself, but the
thought of Dan’s reaction stopped me.

‘Mummy,’ called Oliver as Dan strode in with
him on his hip.

‘Morning, gorgeous,’ I smiled. ‘Can we do a
swap, Dan? Eva’s ready for a sleep.’

‘Sure,’ he nodded, carrying Oliver over and
putting him down on the floor. ‘Remember, no jumping on your mummy’s tummy,’ he
warned him. Oliver nodded and scrambled up onto the bed immediately, then
crawled up to tuck under my right arm.

‘Kiss,’ he called, pursing his lips. I bent
down to give him one and he beamed and craned his neck to look at his sister.
‘Kiss for Eva, too.’

‘You do love your sister, don’t you?’ I asked,
feeling my heart expand as I angled her for him to plant a wet kiss on her
cheek, before Dan scooped her out of my arms.

‘Love Jo-Jo, too,’ Oliver nodded. ‘Jo-Jo
sleeping.’

‘I know, but as you’re a big boy, you’re going
with Daddy to work and look at you. He even dressed you in an adorable little
pair of suit trousers with a waistcoat, shirt, and tie.’ I giggled and looked
over at Dan, who’d laid Eva on her back on the changing table.

‘He needs to learn that you have to look smart
when you go to work,’ he nodded.

‘He’s not even four, he has plenty of time to learn
those kinds of lessons.’

‘You’re never too young to start learning. If
he can master an iPad, he can dress smartly for work. Besides, it’s the first
time most of my employees will meet him. He needs to make an impression.’

‘Oh, I’m sure he’ll make one without any
assistance,’ I laughed. ‘I hope you got Stuart to issue an urgent memo for all
ladies wearing skirts to be sure to have underwear on.’

‘I’ve no idea where he got that habit from,’
Dan chuckled, pausing to blow a raspberry on Eva’s bare tummy. ‘I didn’t teach
him to look up skirts and I know even Lucas wouldn’t, Oliver came up with that
all on his own. You know what I love about having a daughter?’

‘Knowing she’s not likely to follow in yours or
Lucas’s dodgy sexual footsteps?’ I teased.

‘She’s
never
having sex if I have
anything to do with it,’ he scoffed as he expertly fitted her nappy. ‘I love
that I don’t get a face full of pee when I change her.’

‘That was so funny, though not as funny as you
treading in Oliver’s shitty nappy.’ Dan shot me a look and rolled his eyes,
making me giggle, which set Oliver off, in turn making Dan laugh as he did up
Eva’s sleep suit. He carried her over to me, letting me give her a kiss, before
he did the same and carefully placed her in her bed, right next to me.

‘There, I’ll let Magda know that we’re off and
she can have the baby monitor in case Eva needs you. Can I get you anything
else before we go?’

‘No thanks, I think I’ll have a sleep while she
does. I’m still feeling pretty wiped out. Don’t overexcite Oliver, he might
need a sleep if you plan on being there all day.’

‘I’ll be back around lunchtime. No doing
anything you shouldn’t,’ he warned, bending over with his knuckles on the
mattress as he gave me a long and drawn-out kiss. We broke apart when we heard
Oliver giggling again. ‘Come on, son. Let’s leave your mum in peace.’

‘Be a good boy for Daddy,’ I warned, giving him
a one-armed squeeze and planting a kiss on top of his head. He nodded and
lifted his arms up for Dan to pick him up. I caught my breath as I watched my
two gorgeous men head for the door, and blew a kiss as Oliver waved goodbye
over his dad’s shoulder. ‘Poor Daddy,’ I whispered to Eva, who was already fast
asleep. ‘He has no idea what he’s let himself in for.’

I’d had a good hour's nap when I heard a squeal
and footsteps approaching. I opened my eyes and saw Magda poke her head around
the open door.

‘It’s ok, I’m awake,’ I smiled. ‘Morning.’

‘Morning. Jonas wants to see his mummy.’

‘Bring him in,’ I nodded, shuffling back up the
bed and adjusting the pillows behind me to sit up. I grinned as he stomped in,
holding onto Magda’s outstretched hands with a smile all over his face.

‘Mama,’ he called.

‘Morning, Jonas, are you coming for a cuddle,
gorgeous?’ I replied. He nodded his head and Magda lifted him up and put him on
the end of the bed. He crawled up and scooched under my arm, offering me his
lips for a kiss. I felt tears well in my eyes as I looked down at him, then at Eva
fast asleep in the bassinet next to the bed. I really had the most gorgeous and
loving family. I was so happy to know that I could spend as much time as I
wanted with them all now that I was out of the hospital, with no visiting time
restrictions.

‘I’ll sit in the corner and read so I’m close
if you need me. Pretend I’m not here.’

‘Magda, I don’t want to pretend you’re not
here,’ I laughed. ‘I love having you here.’

‘Magda love being here. They are very good
boys. They missed you so much.’

‘Not as much as I missed them. Thank you for
looking after them for me.’

‘Miss Jenny did most of the work, I only looked
after them at night so she could rest. How are you feeling?’

‘A little sore, but all things considered, very
lucky and grateful to be here. A bit of pain is nothing, not now that I’m home
with my boys, well one of them at least.’

‘My Ollie didn’t want to leave you to go to
work this morning. He looks like he needs another holiday.’

‘He does, doesn’t he,’ I sighed. ‘I don’t know
what I can do to make this up to him.’

‘You have given him a little girl. I know he
loves the boys, but I see the way his face lights up when he looks at his
daughter. He is besotted with her, as he is with you.’

‘I’ve seen it, too,’ I nodded, smiling to see Jonas
falling asleep against me. ‘I don’t think he expected to love her as much, he
was always adamant he only wanted two boys, but who could fail to love her? She’s
perfection.’

‘She is,’ agreed Magda. ‘Even Mr. Davenport
Senior thinks so. No steam trains in her room.’

‘No,’ I laughed. ‘I think she’ll be able to get
away with a pink princess theme for sure.’

‘So, what do we have planned for today?’ Magda
asked.

‘Absolutely nothing, a nice quiet day. We have
everyone around for an early dinner tomorrow night, before we head back to
Scotland Sunday morning.’

‘And I'll do all the cooking for dinner. You'll
do nothing,’ she warned with a pointed finger.

‘Magda, it will be an awful lot of work, I need
to help,’ I objected. I’d invited over Luiza and Daniel, Brooke and Molly, John
and Edward, as well as Jenny, even though she officially had the weekends off.
James and Andy were also going to join us. I wanted to thank them all for their
support while I’d been in the hospital.

‘No help. You rest. Ollie will scold me if you
lift one finger.’

‘Honestly,’ I tutted.

I’d snuck into my office while Magda was
playing with Jonas, to polish off the manuscript I’d been working on before Dan
had forced me to give up working on it a month ago. I was over deadline as it
was and whilst I was sure my agent would be understanding, I didn’t want to
push it.

‘What the hell are you doing in here?’ Dan’s
voice snapped. My fingers stopped moving on the keyboard as I cringed. He was
back sooner than I’d expected and sounded mightily pissed off.

‘Sitting down, taking things very,
very
easy,’
I replied, steeling myself for a verbal punishment as I turned around in my
swivel chair. My face fell as I took one look at Oliver, who was standing next
to his dad, clutching his favourite teddy bear to his chest. He had tear tracks
all down his cheeks. ‘Baby, what happened?’ I gasped, holding out my arms. He dropped
his teddy and ran to me, burying his face in my lap as he started to sob. I
stroked his back and looked up at Dan for answers.

‘Back to bed, or at least to the sofa, Ellie. I
mean it,’ he warned, shoving his hands in his trouser pockets.

‘Don’t even think about lecturing me, Oliver Daniel
Davenport. Not until you tell me why you’ve brought our son home in tears.’

‘I hurt, Mummy,’ Oliver sniffed as he lifted
his head to look at me, his green eyes full of tears.

‘Where, darling? Show Mummy where you hurt,’ I
coaxed. He turned around and rubbed his neck. I pulled down his shirt collar
and frowned. He had a slight lump, which was bright red, and I could see where
he’d been scratching it. ‘O, baby, that looks so sore. What happened?’ I asked,
looking up at Dan again and he shrugged.

‘Looks like a wasp sting, doesn’t it?’ he
suggested. ‘I didn’t know what to do so I just left it. He hasn’t stopped
bloody crying since though.’

‘Well I’m not surprised, they can be really
painful, and you could show a bit of sympathy for a start,’ I uttered, kissing
Oliver’s head and rubbing his arms.

‘He’ll be fine. He’s a big boy, he can handle
it, no point mollycoddling him.’

‘He may look big, by virtue of having your tall
genes, but he’s still a baby, Dan. He’s
my
baby,’ I scowled, wondering
what had him acting so uncharacteristically detached.

‘He’ll never grow up if you keep treating him
like one, Ellie.’

‘What’s got into you today?’ I gasped. ‘You’re
lucky I’m not one-hundred percent and my boy needs me right now, or I’d be
hauling you over the coals for your attitude. All he needed was a bit of love
and reassurance. Go and fetch me some ice, it will cool the puncture wound
down.’ I gave him my best glare as Oliver took another wobbly-lipped gasp and
rubbed his eyes. Dan quickly spun on his heels and disappeared. ‘O, darling,
it’s ok. I’ll make it better, I promise,’ I soothed, continuing to rub my hands
up and down his arms.

‘Hurts,’ he moaned.

‘I know, I bet it does. You’re such a brave
boy. Let’s get your neck sorted, then we can go and have some lunch. How about
I do you a nice cheese and ham toasted sandwich and as a treat, you can have
some ice cream for pudding.’

‘Ok,’ he nodded, still not sounding his usual
self. I got him to tip his head forward and checked his neck again. I couldn’t
see any sting left in, but there was an obvious puncture wound and the skin
around it was very hot.

‘Come on, let’s go to the kitchen. We’ll clean
that up with some antiseptic cream and then put some ice on it, which will stop
it hurting.’ I got up carefully and offered him my hand, which he took
immediately. He scooped up his teddy before we wandered through to the kitchen,
where Dan was filling a bowl with some ice from the machine in the fridge. He
gave me a guilty look as he pushed the bowl across the island towards me. ‘Can
you put Oliver up on the bar stool,’ I ordered, not bothering with any niceties.
I was so cross with him. He did as he was told while I rummaged for the first
aid kit. I ignored Dan as I cleaned up Oliver’s neck with an antiseptic wipe,
then applied some cream and put a plaster over the top. ‘I need a small freezer
bag for the ice.’