Frisky Business (56 page)

‘And as for you,’ she said, turning her attention to Kit. ‘I don’t even know where to begin. Subjecting us all to Lauren for starters, when it was completely unnecessary – not to mention treating Mom and Dad like a pair of throwbacks. I mean, what did you think they’d do – disown you or something?’

‘Come on, Hannah,’ Ethan said. ‘Give him a break.’

She smiled, softening. ‘It
is
nice to see you happy,’ she said to Kit.

‘God, we’re going
to have an awful lot of explaining to do, aren’t we?’ Kit said with a sigh.

‘You most of all,’ Ethan said chirpily.

‘At least I’m not screwing around with a mom.’

‘I am
not
screwing around with her.’ Ethan rolled his eyes. ‘Don’t listen to them,’ he said to Romy.

‘Ugh, I’m suddenly not hungry anymore,’ Kit said, pushing his plate away. ‘I mean, how the hell are we going to explain all this to Mom and Dad? Where do we even start?’

‘Well, don’t look at me,’ Tank said as he piled bacon between two slices of toast. ‘I haven’t a clue what’s going on.’

‘I’ll explain it to you in the car on the way home, sweetie.’

‘We’ll have to tell Mum too,’ Romy said to Danny.

Hannah stirred her tea thoughtfully. ‘Mom and Dad will be back this evening. What do you say we make them dinner and just tell them everything? We could invite your mother too, Romy – kill a whole flock of birds with one stone.’

‘I’m on for that,’ Romy said. ‘Mum was going to keep Luke as long as I wanted today anyway, and we were going to go out for dinner. She could just come here instead.’

‘Are you sure that’s a good idea?’ Kit asked. ‘It’s an awful lot to hit them with all at once.’

‘I think the sooner everything’s out in the open, the better,’ Romy said. It would be such a relief – she couldn’t wait. She had had enough intrigue to last her a lifetime.

‘I agree,’ Danny said, smiling shyly at Kit. ‘I mean, what’s the point of having a hot boyfriend if you can’t show him off?’

‘You’re so shallow,’ Kit said, looking hugely pleased.

‘So, what are we going to have for this dinner?’ Hannah mused. ‘We’d better make it a good one.’

‘With lots of wine,’ Kit said. ‘Lots and lots of wine.’

They
spent the rest of the day planning and preparing the dinner. They all worked companionably together, cleaning and cooking, chatting as they chopped and stirred, polished and tidied. Romy felt deliriously happy being close to Ethan and not having to hide how she felt about him. Even doing simple domestic things like chopping vegetables together was bliss. They made beef in Guinness with creamy mashed potato and roast root vegetables, and Hannah made a dense, luscious chocolate cake for dessert.

‘Anyone would think we were trying to butter them up,’ she joked as she and Romy put the finishing touches to it.

By the time Colm and Laura got home, the house was sparkling, the table was set and the candles lit, and several bottles of wine were open and breathing.

‘This is a lovely surprise,’ Laura said, smiling delightedly as she surveyed the scene. ‘And something smells wonderful.’

‘We’re almost ready to eat,’ Hannah told her. ‘We’re just waiting for Romy’s mum.’

‘Oh, Marian is coming? That’s nice.’

‘We have something we want to tell you,’ Kit said, ‘but we’ll wait until we’re all together.’

‘Oh, I think we can guess what that is,’ Laura said, her eyes twinkling as she smiled knowingly at Romy.

‘Um … I really doubt it,’ Ethan said.

‘Do you think she
does
know?’ Kit whispered to Romy when they were alone in the kitchen.

‘No, of course not. She thinks we’re getting engaged.’

‘Does she?’ he groaned. ‘Oh, fuck!’

‘Never mind,’ she said, patting him on the shoulder. ‘It’ll all be over soon.’

Just then the doorbell rang. ‘That’ll be Mum.’ Romy went to answer the door.

‘Let’s get this over with,’ Kit said, following her.

Luke
was awake when Marian arrived, so everyone started on drinks while Romy fed him and put him to bed in Kit’s room. All eyes were on her when she returned to the dining room, and she could feel the excitement in the air, the eager anticipation in the expressions of Laura and Colm – and even her mum. She tried to ignore it as she busied herself with helping Hannah to serve the food while everyone took their seats.

‘This all looks terrific,’ Colm said.

‘Right, are you all sitting comfortably?’ Hannah said when they were all seated. While everyone nodded and began serving themselves, she added, ‘Don’t get used to it,’ under her breath with a sly smile.

‘Well, you had something to tell us?’ Laura prompted, her eyes darting between Kit and Romy.

‘We’re not getting engaged,’ Kit blurted out.

‘Oh.’ Laura’s face fell.

‘You’ve called us all here to announce that you’re not getting engaged?’ Colm asked. ‘Not that I’m complaining, mind. You can tell us you’re not getting engaged any time if we get a feed like this.’ His eyes had glazed over as he ate, his face flushed with pleasure.

Romy looked around the table, but no one seemed inclined to begin. Hannah and Ethan were both looking expectantly at Kit, who was clearly struggling to think what to say. He opened his mouth several times, only to shut it again. She didn’t blame him. She wanted to do this, but it really was hard to know where to start.

‘I’m not Kit’s girlfriend,’ she said to get the ball rolling.

‘Oh! You’ve broken up?’ Laura asked.

‘Er, no – not exactly.’

‘She’s sleeping with
Ethan,’ Kit piped up.

‘Ethan!’ Laura gasped, turning to him. ‘How could you do that to your own brother?’

‘She told you – she’s not his girlfriend,’ Ethan said.

‘Well, not now that
you’ve
slept with her,’ Colm said. ‘For feck’s sake, son!’

‘But
he
wasn’t sleeping with her,’ Ethan said defensively.

‘Oh, so you thought you might as well!’

‘No! Anyway, he slept with Romy’s brother.’

‘With her
brother?’
Laura gasped, and all eyes shot to Danny. ‘Why would he do that?’

‘I’m gay,’ Kit said.

‘No, you’re not, son. Just because you’ve had one …’ Colm cleared his throat, ‘you know … experience … it doesn’t mean you’re gay.’

‘But he
is
gay,’ Hannah said.

‘Since when?’

Kit shrugged. ‘Always, I suppose.’

‘And you knew?’ Laura turned to Hannah accusingly. ‘And you never told us!’

‘I
never told you! What about Kit? He should have been the one to tell you. Anyway, Ethan knew too.’

‘God, this is better than
EastEnders,’
Colm said, grinning.

‘We didn’t
know,’
Ethan said. ‘We just suspected. Kit never told us.’

‘Well, good on you for coming out anyway, son! That can’t have been easy.’

‘Dad, he’s thirty-one,’ Hannah said, rolling her eyes.

‘Still … But what about your girlfriends?’ Colm asked Kit.

‘They were beards,’ Ethan said. ‘Including Romy.’

‘His girlfriends wore beards?’ Tank whispered to Hannah.

‘I’ll explain later,’ she said, patting his hand.

Kit turned to his mother. ‘A beard is what they call a—’

‘Good
Lord, I know what a beard is, Kit,’ Laura said indignantly. ‘I do watch television, you know.’

‘So Romy wasn’t really with Kit at all,’ Ethan said. ‘We weren’t doing anything wrong.’

‘No,’ Laura said gently, ‘but honey, when there’s a child involved—’

‘I’m not going to mess her around, Mom. I swear.’

‘He’s not,’ Romy said, feeling the need to stick up for Ethan when everyone was having a go. She wanted him to know that she trusted him.

‘Thank you,’ he said, taking her hand and smiling at her. ‘It’s nice to know
someone
has some faith in me.’

‘So, everyone’s happy, in the heel of the hunt?’ Colm summed up, looking in turn at Kit and Ethan, Romy and Danny, who all beamed and nodded in response. ‘Well, that’s the main thing, isn’t it?’

‘You’re right,’ Laura said, a fond smile softening her features as she looked at all the happy faces around the table.

‘Well, I think it’s great,’ Marian said. ‘I always liked Kit.’ She smiled approvingly at him.

‘She did,’ Danny said to Kit. ‘She never trusted Paul – thought he was sly.’

‘Ah, for feck’s sake!’ Tank swore. ‘I was just getting the hang of this. Who’s Paul?’

‘I don’t know, actually,’ Hannah said.

‘He’s Danny’s ex,’ Kit told her.

‘Ah, okay. All clear now?’ Hannah asked Tank.

‘Yeah,’ he said uncertainly. ‘But I still don’t get where your man comes into it all.’

‘Who? Paul?’

‘No, the little fella who was here on Christmas Day – the baby.’

‘Oh, Luke! He’s Romy’s son.’

‘And are
we not going to find out who his father is?’

‘Er … no, I don’t think so.’

‘Oh. I thought we would.’

‘I suppose
you’ll
be like a father to him now,’ Kit said to Ethan, looking downhearted. ‘I kind of liked having a son.’

‘Well, you can be like an uncle to him,’ Romy said, and he brightened.

‘Same as you,’ he said, smiling at Danny. ‘He can be my sort-of nephew.’

‘So, I take it this means you won’t be moving back to New York?’ Laura asked Kit.

‘No, definitely not.’

‘Well, that’s great news,’ she said, beaming at him. ‘It’s good to see you so happy, honey.’

‘This is better than an engagement any day,’ Colm said. ‘I think we should have some champagne.’

‘Well, that was certainly an interesting evening,’ Marian said to Romy as they got into a taxi later, replete with chocolate cake and champagne.

Colm had insisted that they drink toasts to Kit and Danny, and Romy and Ethan, and to Kit coming out of the closet. And then, so that they wouldn’t feel left out, they had toasted Hannah and Tank as well. The party broke up shortly after dinner as everyone was flagging after the celebrations the night before.