AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And no fancy party was going to change that.
* * *
‘Your mother has left me.’ Ezekiel entered Flynn’s office without knocking and dropped into the visitor’s chair. ‘I just met with her and a divorce solicitor.’
Flynn wondered if this was really news to his father, whether he’d honestly thought that Isabella would come back once Thomas had recovered. ‘I’m...sorry?’
Ezekiel waved a hand to dismiss Flynn’s apology, as if the dissolution of his marriage was nothing but a mere inconvenience. ‘It shouldn’t affect things here. Thomas and I have been business partners too long to let something like this tear down everything we worked so hard to build up.’
Of course that was his concern. Business before everything else, just the same as always.
‘I’m glad things will be...amicable.’ What else could he say?
‘In fact, she’s throwing a party this weekend. You should have an invite somewhere in there.’ He pointed to Flynn’s in-tray. ‘Celebrating your brother’s quickie wedding in some Vegas casino, apparently.’
Flynn smiled as he flicked through the stack of papers. Of course Zeke and Thea had got married, and as irreverently as possible. Finding the envelope, he ripped it open and read the invitation.
Isabella and Thomas invite you to celebrate life and love with them.
They certainly weren’t wasting any time at all. And apparently his mother had given up worrying what other people thought. He approved, he thought.
Even more, he approved of this party—because Helena would be there. He’d done as she asked. He’d listened, he’d thought and he’d spent a lot of time considering her manifesto.
His mother’s party would be the perfect time to show her how well he’d learned, and listened. And to tell her his new plan for their future.
As Ezekiel ambled back out of the office, Henry rapped on the door.
‘You got a moment?’ Henry asked.
‘Of course.’ Flynn gestured to the seat across the desk. ‘What’s up?’
Henry sat, holding a brown file tightly between two hands. ‘I have the information you asked me to find. Are you sure you still want it?’
Flynn’s chest tightened. ‘I’m sure,’ he said, even though he wasn’t. ‘Thank you for doing this for me.’
Henry shrugged as he handed the file across. ‘I’m just grateful you decided to look up your birth mother, rather than asking me to find the monsters who hurt Helena. After that first phone call...let’s just say I had visions of having to defend you in court if you’d found them.’
‘I’m trying to look to the future, not the past. And, you know, not get arrested.’ Flynn held the file lightly between his fingers but didn’t open it. Did he really want to know? And did it matter? Was it enough to just acknowledge that perhaps his real mother had reason to believe that he would have a better life without her, whatever happened next?
‘If you want me to make contact, I can,’ Henry said, nodding at the file. ‘When you’re ready.’
‘Maybe.’ He’d thought this was what he needed, to prove to Helena that he’d moved on. But the more he’d studied her manifesto, the more he’d realised this wasn’t about adoption—his, or her daughter’s. It was about them finally allowing themselves to be happy.
He opened his bottom desk drawer and slipped the file inside. ‘Not just yet,’ he said. ‘But soon, I think.’
‘Okay.’ Henry shrugged. ‘Anything you want me to do in the meantime?’
Flynn smiled. ‘How would you like to come out to the family estate for a party this weekend?’
‘Sounds good,’ Henry said. ‘What’s the catch?’
‘I need you to go and pick something up for me first. From Italy.’
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
‘YOU LOOK BEAUTIFUL.’ Thea finished zipping up Helena’s deep blue cocktail dress and stepped back. ‘Flynn won’t know what’s hit him.’
‘Zeke, last I saw,’ Helena joked. She didn’t know how much Zeke had told Thea about their visit to Flynn, but she’d seen Thea cooing over his bruised hand afterwards.
Thea sat on the bed, smoothing out her own bright red dress. Isabella had wanted her to wear white, but Thea had been adamant that she had already done the wedding thing. Almost twice.
‘Are you going to be okay down there tonight? With him here, I mean?’ Thea asked.
Helena shrugged. ‘I don’t think it matters if I am or not. Even if he wasn’t my husband, he would still be Zeke’s brother, Isabella’s son. He’s going to be around, always. I’m going to have to get used to it some time or another.’ Not to mention the fact that she’d met with Isabella’s divorce solicitor the day before. At some point, she’d have to sit across a table from Flynn and discuss what happened next. She wasn’t looking forward to it but if Isabella could do it, so could she.
Thea checked her watch. ‘It’s time. The first guests are probably already arriving.’
Zeke met them at the top of the stairs and they headed down together. It was strange, Helena thought. It had been so many years since the four of them had been at a party together in this house. So very much had changed in the years since Zeke had left home but, in lots of ways, it felt like just another party.
At least she was old enough to drink at them these days.
‘There you all are!’ Isabella called from the hallway. ‘Come get a glass of bubbly and say hello to some people.’ Helena and Thea exchanged a glance, grabbed champagne flutes and headed in.
The party was in full swing by the time she caught her first glimpse of Flynn. Isabella had collared him by the door and was holding h
is arm tightly as she spoke close to his ear. Helena had no idea what she was saying but she suspected she didn’t want to hang around and find out, either.
With so many people in attendance, it wasn’t too hard to keep moving between the crowd and stay out of Flynn’s way. It was entirely possible he was doing the same thing, of course. She was under no illusion that he’d be desperate to talk to her, either. If he had been, if he’d moved past his anger and disgust, he would have called by now.
People would talk, of course, if they weren’t seen together tonight—but people would talk anyway, the moment the divorce was announced. Maybe it was better to get the rumours started now so it wouldn’t be so shocking later. They could even bury the news under the announcement of Thea and Zeke’s wedding.
Helena looked around for Thea and her husband. This was their night, after all—theirs and Isabella’s and Thomas’s. She’d celebrate with them and then she’d disappear upstairs for an early night when no one would notice. Thea could tell people she had a headache if anyone asked.
There. She had a plan. Flynn would be so proud.
The minutes ticked by unbearably slowly, but eventually Helena figured it had to be safe to escape. She was halfway across the room to let Thea know she was going when she heard the sound of metal on glass.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, if I could ask for your attention, please?’ Flynn’s voice rang out across the party and stopped Helena in her tracks. ‘My mother has asked me to say a few words.’
Of course she had. Of course Isabella would be behind this.
And of course she’d be grabbing hold of Helena’s arm right now.
‘Come on,’ she said as she dragged her closer to where Flynn was making his speech. ‘I don’t want to miss this.’
I do, though! Helena sighed and allowed herself to be dragged. But after this she was going to bed.
‘As you probably all know, my mother and Thomas asked us here tonight to celebrate life and love, in its many and wondrous forms. We are all, as I know you are, giving thanks for Thomas’s swift recovery and hoping for plenty more life for him to enjoy yet. And we’re celebrating a marriage—yes, another one!’ A smatter of laughter at that, and Helena felt too many eyes on her.
