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‘I know my job involves looking for trends and seeing what lies ahead so all I can say is that thank goodness I don’t run a dating agency because I didn’t predict either of these. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not truly happy for you all. Clara, you’ve been my closest friend in Hopeford.’
So close that I haven’t seen you since I returned, a little voice whispered but Polly ignored it.
‘I know how much Raff loves you and I know he will do everything he can to make you happy—and when Raff sets his mind to something he usually achieves it!
‘And Grandfather, Grandmother. Thank you for raising Raff and me. I know it wasn’t easy, that we weren’t easy. I know it put a strain on you. I’m just glad you’ve found your way back together after thirteen years. You’re the most formidable team I know. So.’ She held her glass high. ‘To the Raffertys. Congratulations.’
‘The Raffertys,’ they chorused, glasses held to hers before they sipped.
Polly put her glass down thankfully.
‘Aunty Polly,’ Summer’s voice rang out clearly. ‘Why aren’t you drinking yours?’
Every eye turned to Polly and she sank back into her seat, instinctively looking over at Gabe for help.
But he just sat there.
‘You didn’t drink any wine either.’ Raff sounded accusatory.
For goodness’ sake, wasn’t a girl allowed to not drink? It wasn’t as if she were a lush!
But maybe Gabe was right. They had to know soon enough and although a big announcement hadn’t been her plan maybe it would be better to tell them all in one fell swoop. Like ripping off a plaster.
Polly took a breath, feeling the air shudder through her.
‘I have a little announcement of my own. This isn’t quite how I wanted to do it...’ she looked around the table, desperate for some reassurance ‘...but I suppose there isn’t an easy way so I’m just going to say it. I’m pregnant.’
‘That’s great, Polly.’ But Clara’s voice was lost as both Raff and her grandfather sprang to their feet.
‘Pregnant?’
‘You’ll marry her, of course!’ Her grandfather was glaring at Gabe.
‘What do you mean, pregnant?’
So much for extending the celebrations.
The noise levels rose. Polly couldn’t think, didn’t know which angry, accusatory face to answer first. ‘Stop it!’ She had risen to her feet as well, hands crashing down onto the table, rattling the crockery and silverware.
‘Come on, Summer, let’s go for a walk.’ Clara threw her an apologetic glance as she shepherded her daughter from the table. ‘We’ll talk later, Polly. It’s great news. Raff?’ Her eyes bored into her fiancé, an implicit warning. ‘I’ll see you at home.’
Raff sank back into his seat. ‘Sorry, Polly. It was just, it was a shock.’
Charles Rafferty wasn’t so easily cowed. He was still on his feet and glaring over at Gabe. ‘Well?’ he demanded.
‘Grandfather!’ Polly said sharply. ‘For goodness’ sake. You are not some medieval knight, much as you might wish it, and I am not some dishonoured damsel to be married off to avoid a scandal. This is a good thing and it has nothing to do with Gabe.’
Maybe she had put too much emphasis on the ‘nothing’, she conceded as the Frenchman whitened, and added: ‘I’ve only known him a few weeks.’
‘Then whose is it?’
‘Mine,’ she said firmly. ‘This is the twenty-first century, I am thirty-one and I am quite capable of doing this alone.’
‘Yes, dear, we know how independent you are.’ Her grandmother sounded like a dowager duchess from the turn of the last century. ‘But what your grandfather means is who fathered it? Unless you went to one of those clinics,’ she said a little doubtfully.
If only she had! That would be so much easier to admit.
‘Someone I met travelling.’ She held up her hand. ‘I don’t know his surname. Obviously if I had foreseen this I would have exchanged business cards but I didn’t. So it’s up to me. And you, if you want to be involved.’
‘Of course we do, dear, don’t be so melodramatic.’
But her grandmother’s words were negated by her grandfather’s expression. Shock, disapproval, horror, disgust passing over his face in rapid but sickening procession.
‘A granddaughter of mine? Besmirching the family name with some dreadlocked backpacker? I told you to get married, Polly. I told you to settle down...’
‘With respect, monsieur, that’s enough.’ Now Gabe was on his feet. ‘Polly has done nothing wrong. It may not be your preferred path for her but she is going to be a great mother—and a great CEO.’
