No Bra Required! (15 page)

“When Richard told me about you, he said you were
heartbroken, but that day I met you I could tell that you were angry, it showed
in your eyes.”  Ed stroked Lucy’s face tenderly and hugged her closer.

After a few minutes, Ed finally broke the silence that had
fallen between them.  “You know it was probably really hard for him to
tell you.  The thought must have crossed his mind that you would think
that he was replacing Lottie.  I’m not sticking up for him, but it must
have been tough for him too.”

Lucy sighed as she thought about Ed’s words.  “Maybe, but
at the time I was hurting and couldn’t see past that he’d replaced us
both.”  Lucy rubbed her hands across her eyes, wiping the last of her
tears.  “Anyway, whatever feelings I did have for Simon have completely
gone.”

Ed started to laugh.  “Since you met me and received
the Ed Bryce special loving you mean?”

Lucy hit his arm playfully.  “Don’t get too big headed
doctor, but yes you obviously do have something to do with it. But, I’ve also
found out a few things about Simon that prove what a shit he’s been for a
while, and if I’m honest with myself, has been since Lottie died.”  Lucy
went on to tell Ed about the things she learned from Sarah, plus other things
that Simon had done during their marriage, which at the time she’d explained
away, not wanting to admit that her marriage wasn’t perfect.

“God you’re right he is a shit” Ed looked horrified at
Lucy’s story of the spa break.

“Hmm, I know, Lottie’s death should have brought us closer,
shouldn’t it?”  Lucy looked up at Ed with wide, questioning eyes.

Ed nodded.  “I agree, but who knows what he was going
through.”  He pulled Lucy to him and enfolded her in a tight hug. 
“Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me.” 

Ed looked at Lucy and realised that he wanted to hold her
forever, and protect her from anything else horrible that may happen.  He
thought about their relationship and knew that, despite only being together a
couple of days, she was extremely important to him.  

Lucy shifted in Ed’s arms “What time is it?” she
asked.  “You have to get back to the surgery soon.”

Ed looked at his watch.  “It’s just gone one; I’m okay
for another half hour.”

“That’s good,” said Lucy snuggling up to his chest
again.  “You ought to get some lunch before you go back though.”

Ed shook his head.  “I’m not hungry, are you?”

“No, I couldn’t eat a thing.”  Lucy smiled up at Ed.

She genuinely couldn’t eat; she had a steady flutter of
butterflies in her stomach when she was with Ed, he made her feel safe and she
trusted him.  Lucy also knew that she had to make a decision soon about
going home, but while she was here with Ed, feeling happy and safe, she didn’t
want to think about it.

Two days later Lucy had made her last trip to school to pick
Nate up.  Georgina had arrived home from America earlier in the day, so
would be resuming her care of Nate the following afternoon.

“Are you excited about seeing your Nanny later, Nate?” 
Lucy rubbed Nate’s head as they walked up the drive.

“Yes, she might have a present for me.  I’ll miss you
though,” Nate replied as he smiled up at Lucy.

“Ah, thanks Nate.  I’ll miss you too.”

“You could come and have tea; I think Daddy would like that
too.”

Lucy started to blush.  “Oh really, why?” she asked.

“Because he likes you, he told me that you were a nice
lady.” Nate didn’t seem to be perturbed by Lucy’s question.

Lucy let out a sigh of relief, glad that Nate hadn’t found
out about her and Ed from someone else.

“Well, I think he’s a very nice person too.  Anyway,
what would you like for tea?”  Lucy changed the subject.

“Erm, chicken noodles please.”

“Okay, we’ll see if there are any.  If not we’ll have
to think of something else.”

“It’s okay, Daddy bought some at the supermarket yesterday,
especially for me.”  Nate nodded sagely.

Lucy laughed as she opened the door.  “Okay, chicken
noodles it is then.”

As they walked into the hall, Lucy thought she heard a noise
in the kitchen.  It couldn’t be Ed; she knew he had a busy surgery this
afternoon.

“Hello,” she called.  “Is anyone there?”

In the kitchen door, Georgina appeared.

“Nanny!” cried Nate running down the hall, into his
grandmother’s arms.

“Hello, my darling.  Gosh I’ve missed you.” 
Georgina pulled Nate into her arms and hugged him tightly.  “Have you been
a good boy for Daddy and Lucy?”

“I have been really good Nanny, did you buy me a
present?”  Nate stood on tiptoe and kissed Georgina’s cheek.

“Hi, Lucy.”  Georgina looked up at Lucy and
smiled.  “I’m sorry did I startle you?  I couldn’t wait to see this
young man, so Jack dropped me off.”

“No, it’s okay.  Did you have a good trip?”  Lucy
relieved Nate of his school bag.

Georgina’s face darkened, despite a small smile at her lips.
“It was okay, thank you.”  She looked down at Nate and ruffled his
hair.  “Nate, why don’t you go upstairs to get changed and you might find
something for you on your bed.”

“A present?”  Nate smiled widely.

Georgina nodded.  “Yes, so off you go.  Shall we
have a cup of tea?” she asked Lucy.  “I think we’ve got quite a lot to
talk about.”

Lucy shuffled uncomfortably on the spot.  “Oh, okay,
yes a cup of tea would be lovely.”

Georgina smiled widely and rubbed Lucy’s arm.  “There’s
nothing to worry about, I promise.”

Lucy followed Georgina into the kitchen, and watched as she
made them both a cup of tea.  Finally she passed a mug to Lucy, and they both
sat down at the dining table.

“So, firstly tell me all about my boys and what they’ve been
up to while I’ve been away.”

Lucy coughed nervously, wondering whether Jack had told his
wife about her and Ed.

“Well Ed was ill while you were away, so I stayed, for a
couple of nights, to look after Nate, oh, and we had a little incident with
Nate’s teacher.”

“Oh dear, the lovely Mrs Bushnell.  Tell me all about
it,” said Georgina settling in her chair.

After telling Georgina the story of Nate and Bradley’s trousers
and details of Nate’s play dates and homework, Lucy was feeling a little more
relaxed.  Georgina had barely mentioned Ed to Lucy, so she either didn’t
know about their relationship, or she was going to wait and grill Ed about it
later, either way Lucy was relieved.

“Sounds like Nate has kept you busy.  I have really
missed him, and Ed and Jack of course, but Nate most of all.”  Georgina
smiled as she poured some tea into her mug.  “Would you like any more
tea?”  She proffered the teapot to Lucy.

Lucy nodded.  “Please.  So, was your flight back
okay, you don’t seem to be too jet lagged?”

“I am starting to flag a little to be honest, but I wanted
to see Nate and Ed.  I called Ed at the surgery before you got here, and
he thinks he should be home by four, a couple of patients have cancelled
apparently.”

Lucy’s heart skipped, and her stomach somersaulted at the
thought of seeing Ed soon, despite that they’d already managed a brief meeting
in the staff room.  She smiled as she thought of their secret kiss earlier
in the day when Callie had nipped out to get some milk.  The last two
evenings Lucy had spent here, with Ed, until around midnight.  Once Nate
had gone to bed they had curled up on the sofa, laughing, talking and kissing
until Lucy had reluctantly had to go home.  Gerald had been great about
Lucy leaving him alone each night, he’d had some friends round to play Bridge
on one night, and on the other he had gone to bed early to read a book.

“To be honest I hope he doesn’t ask me too much about the
trip,” said Georgina, breaking Lucy’s reverie.

“Oh, did something happen that might upset him?”  Lucy
tried not to sound overly concerned.

“No, nothing unusual, but just having to tell him about Luke
and Katie is always difficult.”

“I can imagine.”

“It’s hard because the children are beautiful, and extremely
well behaved.  I’m the same as any doting grandmother – I want to talk
about my grandchildren.”

“Can’t you talk to Mr Bryce about them?”  Lucy felt for
Georgina, it must be hard for her having two sons at loggerheads, but she could
understand Ed’s aversion to talking about his brother.

“Jack listens to a certain point, but as soon as I mention
Luke or Katie he gets really angry.  His relationship with Luke is very
fragile after what he and Katie did.  Don’t get me wrong I’m still angry,
but I’m not as stubborn as Jack, and a little more forgiving.  To be
honest with you, Jack and Luke have always clashed, you see Luke’s caused us no
end of heartache over the years.  He was always in trouble at school, and
then when he left he was sacked from one job after another, usually because he
never turned up, preferring to either play football or stay in bed with his
latest girlfriend instead,” Georgina explained.

“What about his grandchildren though, Mr Bryce is missing
out of being in their lives too?”

Georgina shook her head.  “I know that part hurts me
too, but he just won’t visit them.  His answer is they can come and stay
here for the summer when they’re old enough.”

“I can understand his reluctance, but that doesn’t make it
any easier for you though, does it?”  Lucy instinctively reached across
and held Georgina’s hand.

Georgina smiled and patted Lucy hand, on top of her
own.  “Oh it is lovely to have someone to talk to, it really is.  The
other problem I have is that Luke has asked to borrow some money.  They’re
up to their eyes in debt apparently.  Luke is an assistant football coach,
so he doesn’t earn a terrific amount, but they live like millionaires.  They
both have a car, country club memberships and a nanny stroke house-keeper; none
of which they can afford.”

“So what are you going to do, if you don’t think I’m being
nosey?” asked Lucy.

“No, I don’t think you’re being nosey, but I don’t know what
I’m going to do either.  I can’t possibly give them any money without
Jack’s consent, and I don’t think he’ll give it.  You see before Luke left
for the states, we had to pay off a huge debt for him.  He’d borrowed an
awful lot of money from one of those backstreet loan companies and not made any
repayments for four months, and you can imagine how high the interest
was.  If we hadn’t paid it off, knowing Luke he’d have probably gone off
to America and just left us to deal with it anyway, he wouldn’t actually care
what mess he’d left behind.  He’s totally selfish and never been willing
to make sacrifices for anyone, not even Katie and the children, unlike Ed, who
worked long hours all the time he was studying because he knew that it would
provide a decent life for his family if he did.  So, it’s a difficult
conversation that I’m going to have to have with Jack, but not today, it can
wait until tomorrow at least.”  Georgina sighed and gave Lucy’s hand a
squeeze.

Suddenly both Georgina and Lucy were alerted by the noise of
a key in the front door.  Georgina stood up and made her way to the hall
to greet Ed.

“Hi Mum,” he said, pulling her into a bear hug.  “Ooh
I’m so glad that you’re back.”

“Hello sweetheart.  I’ve missed you.”  Georgina
pulled away from her son and looked at him.  “Well you don’t appear to
have lost weight, so Lucy has done a good job looking after you both.”

Ed lowered his eyes and hugged his mother again.  “Yes,
we’ve been okay thanks.  Oh hi Lucy,” he said, noticing Lucy through the
kitchen doorway.

“Hi,” called Lucy brightly.  “I’m going to make a fresh
pot of tea, would you like one?”

“Oh yes please,” replied Ed releasing Georgina from his
grip.

“Oh for goodness sake,” cried Georgina.  “Why don’t you
two stop pretending that you are just employer and employee?  I know all
about you both being a couple; did you honestly think your father would be able
to keep it a secret all the way home from the airport?  He couldn’t wait
to reveal all the details; I’d hardly got my seat belt fastened.”  Georgina
laughed as she placed a warm hand on Ed’s cheek.  “So why don’t we sit
down and you can tell me all about it.”

Ed grinned at Georgina and hugged her again.  “I asked
Dad to let me tell you, but I should have realised he’d wouldn’t be able to
help himself.  The thing is…” he paused looking around to check Nate
wasn’t in earshot.  “We haven’t told Nate yet.”

“It’s okay, Nate’s upstairs, he’s probably playing his new
computer game that I bought for him.”

“I just thought, well we just thought that he may find it strange
Lucy suddenly becoming daddy’s girlfriend.”

Georgina smiled.  “That’s a healthy sign that you are
referring to yourselves as ‘we’.  Come on sit down and let’s talk about
the best plan of action.”

Lucy and Ed spent the next ten minutes telling Georgina all
about the last few days, and how they’d fought their feelings for each other,
but finally gave up fighting at the dinner.

“Okay, so what about you Lucy, you’re due to go home in a
couple of weeks aren’t you?”

Lucy nodded and held Ed’s hand.  “I am, but I think
I’ve decided to stay on a little longer, to see how things go.”

Ed’s lips spread into a broad smile that lit up his
eyes.  “Why didn’t you say earlier?”  He said picking up Lucy’s hand
and kissing it.

“I was going to tell you later, I decided last night, well
at about four o’clock this morning to be honest.  I woke up suddenly, and
it struck me that I wanted to stay.  It is okay isn’t it?”

“God, yes of course it is,” Ed replied.  He felt
ecstatic that Lucy had made the decision on her own; he hadn’t needed to
persuade her. 

“That is lovely news Lucy, but I need to be sure that you’re
not rushing into this, so soon after your marriage breaking up.”  Georgina
looked at them both; she was serious, but not stern.