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Hadley collects her things together. “I’ll go and sort it right away. We’ll look forward to having Ollie home tonight.”
She leaves, and I turn to Jill. “What happens now? Will Ollie be going back to my mum’s?”
“If the paperwork is with me by six, I’ll drive him to collect his things and take him to the address provided to the judge.” I relax slightly, knowing at least Ollie will be away from that bitch for now. “We’ll arrange another visit next week.”
“When will I be able to have him with me?” I ask.
“We need to see clear drug and alcohol tests, which Lucy will take care of. We need to see a home that’s stable for him, and once he returns to you, we’ll have to monitor the situation to check he’s doing well and things don’t deteriorate.”
Chapter Sixteen
ALBERT
I stop the car outside the double black gates and press a button for them to open. Rosey leans forward, looking at the white house as I drive up towards it. “Whose house is this?” she asks.
I stop the car and get out, rounding her side and opening her door. “Do you like it?” I ask, keeping hold of her hand and leading her up the steps.
“Yeah, it’s stunning. This area is so expensive. Are you breaking in?”
I laugh and produce the front door key. “Nope, I have full permission to be here.” I unlock the door and lead her into the hall. It was the first thing I loved about it when I saw it. The wide staircase curves off and the hall is huge. I put the code in to deactivate the alarm. “Shoes,” I tell her, and we both kick them off.
I lead her through to the kitchen, the second room that sold this place to me. I watch as she stares in awe at the kitchen island and the new units. “It’s so modern.”
“Drink?” I ask, taking the kettle and filling it with water.
“Are you going to tell me who owns this place and why we’re here?”
“You need a place to show the social worker, right?”
She laughs. “Yeah, but it needs to be a permanent place. They’ll be around for a while keeping an eye on things. Besides, once I’m allowed, I’ll go back to the clubhouse.”
I take her hand and pull her closer. “I thought about this long and hard,” I say, tucking her hair away from her face, “and I thought it was about time you had a place to call your own. A place to settle and put down roots. A place with me . . .” I trail off, and Rosey stares at me open-mouthed. “Is it too much?” I ask, suddenly feeling ridiculous. Arthur warned me not to rush anything. “Fuck, I’ve messed this up, haven’t I? Look, if you hate the idea, I’ll sell it. Or I can just stay where I am, and you and Ollie can live here.”
She grabs my face and stands on her tiptoes. “Stop talking,” she whispers. Then she kisses me hard, wrapping her arms around my neck. I tug her closer, lifting her legs and wrapping them around my waist. We’re panting when we pull apart. “No one’s ever done anything like this for me,” she says against my mouth. “You bought us a house?”
I nod, smiling. “So, you’re happy, not mad?”
She kisses me again. “Really happy.”
We get the call from Mav to confirm Ollie is now in his and Hadley’s care. Rosey is so relieved, she almost cries. “Now he’s out of there, I can pay them a visit,” she says.
I gently pull her to me. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. We know nothing about Dougie, not really. We should do more research. Mav is putting some guys on him to watch his movements.”
“He uses kids to run his drugs, that tells me all I need to know.”
“Rosey, I’m serious about this. Let’s do our homework.” She nods in agreement, but there’s a look in her eye that tells me she isn’t leaving this until she’s at least spoken with her mum.
I eventually leave Rosey to get settled in, then I head to the clubhouse to collect some of her clothes. Ollie rushes over when he spots me. “Is Mum with you?” he asks eagerly.
I shake my head, and he looks disappointed. “She isn’t allowed around you without your social worker giving her the nod. She’d be here if she could, you know that.” I follow him over to the couch. “I actually wanted to speak to you,” I add, sitting beside him. “I wanted to run something by you.” He looks wary. “Well, you’re the only man in your mum’s life that she’d do anything for, so I thought it was important to run things by you.” He relaxes a little. “I bought a place,” I begin, “somewhere for you and your mum to settle.” I pull out my phone and bring up some pictures of the house. “It’s not far from the clubhouse, so you’ll get to see Mav all the time.”
He takes my phone and examines the pictures closely. “Will I have a big bedroom?”
I nod. “Huge.”
“Can I have a game set up in there?”
I smirk. “If your mum says that’s okay.”
