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“Uncle!!!” Children’s voices shrilled from inside.
My belly twisted at that word, but I didn’t have time to react before the door crashed open and two dark-haired pre-teens hurled themselves at Pierce.
He wrapped his arms around them, laughing. “Steady on, guys. You’ve grown so big you’ll knock me over.”
“This is Hayley, my fiancée,” he introduced me to them. “And these, Hayley, are Archie and George.”
They stared at me with Pierce’s deep blue eyes. “Hi,” they said in unison. They were so alike, and so like Pierce, my chest squeezed.
“And I’m Bethany.” An older, female version of him, had appeared in the doorway. “It’s lovely to meet you. Don’t stand out here. It’s freezing. Come inside…”
She ushered us into a long, narrow hallway with a flight of stairs to the left, a door at the end and another to the right. After she’d opened the door to the right, we stepped into the small living room. Net curtains covered a bay window overlooking the street. Gas flames flickered in the fireplace. And Pierce’s parents sat sprawled on one of a pair of sofas placed in front of the hearth, not bothering to get to their feet when I was presented to them.
Pierce and I perched on the second sofa, while Bethany and the twins went to the kitchen to finish preparing our ‘tea’.
I gazed at Pierce’s parents. I knew David and Dawn Fox were in their mid-sixties, but to me they looked so much older. David had put on a shirt and tie for the occasion. His hair was entirely white, and his puffy, red face bore witness to his drinking habit. Pierce had told me he also had an addiction to gambling on horse racing…hence his chronic shortness of cash. Dawn, who frittered away the money Pierce sent her on endless online shopping, had overdone the makeup, particularly the bright red lipstick, which, instead of making her look younger, had aged her by bleeding into the wrinkles around her pursed lips. My fingers twitched to wipe it all off and start again.
“So…Hayley,” David Fox practically purred my name. “I hear congratulations are in order.”
“Yes, when’s the happy day?” Dawn added.
“We’ve started looking for a venue we like.” I locked my spine and raised my chin high. “Only we haven’t found one yet.”
Pierce stayed silent, and I prayed he wouldn’t stir up trouble before we ate by telling them they wouldn’t be on the invitation list. He’d been adamant about it when we’d discussed who we would invite. “I’m not having those bloodsuckers spoil our wedding,” he’d gritted out.
Thank God, Bethany, George, and Archie chose that moment to come through a door at the far end of the room. “Tea’s ready,” the boys announced.
One thing which struck me about the meal…tea was, in fact, served as the beverage. Bethany had made shepherd’s pie and everyone dove in hungrily. Everyone except me. The food I’d eaten for lunch was still heavy in my stomach. I used the excuse of jet lag for my lack of appetite and sipped my milky tea instead.
“How did you and Pierce meet?” his mom asked, raking her gaze over me.
“I’m his stylist. We’ve known each other a couple years.”
“Mixing business with pleasure, eh?” David Fox spoke with his mouth full, spraying mashed potato and mince onto Bethany’s pristine white tablecloth.
I caught the anger in Pierce’s expression and reached for his hand under the table. Don’t say anything, I shot him the message with my eyes. Not in front of the boys.
His broad shoulders eased, and he squeezed my fingers before launching into a discussion with Archie and George about which were the best drum kits for them to learn on. They played guitar, they told me, but wanted to be like their totally cool uncle.
Again, the word sent a chill through me. I reproached myself for being paranoid. Camila had suggested I saw a therapist when I’d told her about Uncle Earl last week. If I carried on reacting like this, perhaps I should…
We managed to survive to the end of supper, or tea, without Pierce killing his father, although a couple of times I think he came close to it. David Fox didn’t say one nice thing to him throughout the meal. He criticized his clothes, saying he could at least have worn a dress shirt, he criticized his attitude, saying he should have brought a gift for his mother, and he criticized the fact that he hadn’t told them in person about his upcoming marriage, leaving them to find out about it from the press.
Finally, we got up from the table, and I heard Pierce whisper to Bethany to keep the boys with her in the kitchen until the coast was clear.
We returned to the living room, with more cups of tea. “If you weren’t off the wagon, we’d be enjoying a few cans of lager,” David Fox slurred. Had he mixed something into his tea?
