A Beautiful Forever (29 page)

“Steve, I don’t think we’re going to fit all of this meat in
the fridge, have you got a spare esky?” I ask. I think my mother has invited
every person she has ever met since the day she was born, there is so much meat
in front of me.

“Yeah mate, here you go,” Steve says, walking towards me
with a blue esky in hand.

I nod thanks as I take it from him and fill it with a bag of
ice, placing the meat on top before closing the lid and sliding it out of the
way.

“Sounds like people are arriving,” Steve comments as voices
filter from the house out to us. He starts walking inside, giving me a friendly
slap on the back as he passes. “Time to put your game face on.”

When we walk inside there is already a crowd of people
saying hello to my mother - who’s holding Grace; and Paige - who’s looking a
little lost.

Relief washes over her face when she spots me, so I’m quick
to make my way towards her and take hold of her hand.

“Look at Grace, she’s loving it,” Paige says quietly to me
as I join her.

“She’s a big show off, isn’t she?” I comment smiling at our
daughter who is absolutely loving being the centre of attention.

We stay connected by our hands as we greet the procession of
friends and relatives who come through the door, some of them I don’t even
remember, and some, I don’t even think I’ve met before.

So far, I have met, Aunts, Uncles, cousins, distant cousins,
friends of Kathy, friends of Steven, and just when I was beginning to wonder,
some friends of Elliot arrive.

He seems really happy to see one particular couple, and
steps away from me to greet them, actually hugging the guy and doing that back
slap thing they all do. Moving on, he hugs the girl, kissing her on the cheek
before he holds her at arm’s length.

“Is that what I think it is?” he asks her. Nodding, she rubs
a hand over her protruding belly. Elliot congratulates them both, before
turning to introduce them both to me.

“Paige, this is Gary, my mate from my uni days and his wife
Stephanie.”

“Oh!” I breathe, holding out my hand to shake both of theirs,
“I’ve heard so much about you.”

“All good I hope,” Gary rumbles. He is much shorter and
chunkier than Elliot, with slightly thinning dark hair cut close to his head.
His face pleasant and friendly, I like him already.

I smile at him and turn to Stephanie, “So you’re Stephanie,
Naomi’s friend?”

“Yes, I am. We went to high school together actually. She’s
coming you know; she'll be here soon.”

“What?! Oh wow, I haven’t spoken to her for like, a year.”

“She’s really looking forward to seeing you and Elliot - and
the baby of course, where is she?”

“With Kathy, I’ll take you over to introduce you.
Congratulations on your baby, how far along are you?” I ask, guiding her
towards Kathy, who is slowly making her way outside with Grace.

“23 weeks, so I’m on the home stretch now,” she answers,
following beside me and chatting about her pregnancy.

I feel really pleased that Paige just walked away with
Stephanie. It bodes well for my hope that they’ll be great friends.

“Looks like our wives have dumped us,” Gary comments,
watching after them.

“That’s a good thing mate. They're off to bond over babies,”
I say watching after them as well. I’m about to steer Gary outside, so we can
both get a beer when a new group of people come by to say hi.

“Hello,” I say carefully, wondering why in the world they’re
here.

“Hi Elliot, I hope you don’t mind – your mum invited all of
us when she was at mum and dad’s place a couple of weeks ago. We’ll only stay a
little while, I just didn’t want to be rude,” Katrina says, her face flushed
with embarrassment.

“How are you mate? It’s been a while,” David says, extending
his hand in greeting.

“I’m fine. It's fine,” I say to them both as I shake David’s
hand. Gary is just standing next to me with his eyebrows firmly stuck up on the
top of his forehead, as he watches this play out.

This is really weird, why in the world would my mother
invite my ex and her fiancé here? She must have lost her mind slightly while
I’ve been gone.

Katrina looks really awkward, so I give her a friendly hug
and cheek kiss in greeting. She turns around and introduces me to her mother
and father as well as her brother and his wife. It makes me realise how
underdeveloped our relationship actually was. We never went beyond meeting
friends.

I point them all towards the back yard where everyone is
congregating and tell them to help themselves to a drink.

“What the hell?” Gary says to me as they walk away.

“Exactly,” I reply, watching them go outside.

I’m now glued firmly to Kathy’s side as I hold Grace while
we’re surrounded by a group of clucky women. Stephanie just adores Grace, who
keeps trying to reach out and pull her long dark hair. She has relinquished the
jade bangle she was wearing, and it's become Grace’s teething ring as she bites
down on it and covers it in baby drool.

“She’s so beautiful Paige,” Stephanie keeps cooing about my
little bundle of joy. I’m smiling as I look up and spot Naomi through the sea
of faces and wave her over.

“How are you!” she exclaims, hugging me and Stephanie
alternately. “Look at her, isn’t she beautiful!” she says about Grace, touching
her head and smoothing her curly hair backwards. Grace just smiles because she
knows she’s beautiful.

“It’s so nice to see you again Naomi,” I say truthfully.

“It is, and much happier circumstances this time. I’m so
glad you two got your act together. Married and a baby!” she sighs, “It’s so
wonderful!”

Naomi asks if she can hold Grace, and I happily hand her
over as I catch Elliot waving me towards the house where he’s standing with an
older gentleman and a young woman. I check that the girls are happy with Grace
and weave my way towards him.

“Paige, this is my father Robert, and his wife, ah… my
step-mother, Erica.” They both smile and I hold my hand out to shake theirs in
greeting. Elliot’s father takes my hand and pulls me forward a little to kiss
me on the cheek.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Paige. I'm sorry we never got
the chance to visit you both in London,” he says to me.

“Oh, no worries,” I say as Erica embraces me in her cloud of
perfume, she’s impeccably made up, with long blonde hair and even longer legs.
She reminds me a lot of a Barbie doll actually, and I doubt she’s much older
than I am.

“I’m so happy to see you both,” she says looking between Elliot
and I.

We exchange platitudes for a while before they move on to
say hello to Kathy, who now has possession of Grace again, I laugh, seeing her
so pleased to carry Grace around, showing her off.

“Your mum is enamoured with our daughter,” I comment.

Elliot chuckles and puts his arm around my shoulder as we
take a moment together to watch everyone around us.

“I have to tell you something,” Elliot says quietly in my
ear, he reaches down and takes hold of my hand before leading me back inside
and into the kitchen.

“What is it?” I ask, worried.

He looks really nervous, “Um… my mother invited Katrina and
like, her whole family.”

My face drops as my stomach starts to churn. “Ex-girlfriend,
previous-love-of-your-life Katrina?” I ask in a hushed tone.

“I’m sorry. Our mothers play tennis together, and they’re
good friends, I guess mum didn’t really think before inviting them all.”

“Should I be worried here Elliot? Does her being here affect
you? Does it affect us?” I start to feel a slight panic rise as the thought of
Elliot still having a thing for her flashes through my mind.

“No Paige,” he assures me, “There is nothing for you to
worry about. I just didn’t want you ambushed. I’ll take you to meet them ok?”

I give him a look that says ‘Oh god, don’t make me do this’
as he wraps his arms around me, hugging me tightly to him.

“I know, I’m sorry,” he whispers. “Let’s just get this done,
and we can move on and have fun ok? Did you see Naomi yet?”

I put on a brave smile and nod my head, “Yeah I did, she looks
great.”

“Ok, you ready?”

“Alright, let’s get this done,” I say, rolling my eyes and
taking a deep breath before taking the hand Elliot offers me to lead me through
everyone to meet his ex-girlfriend. Freaking awesome!

It takes us a while to get through everyone as we get
stopped often by well-wishers and friends or relatives who have questions about
our time in the UK. When we eventually make it over to where Katrina and David
are standing, we find them talking to Gary, Stephanie and Naomi.

Everyone is overly happy to see us, and I can sense a bit of
tension in the air. Paige is hanging just a step behind me, so I pull her to my
side to make the introductions.

“Paige, this is Katrina and her fiancé, David,” I say. She
smiles tightly and holds out her hand, her movements awkward and her face
flushing red.

Katrina and David both take her hand alternately and remark
how nice it is to finally meet her. “Kathy’s been showing everyone photos of
you both and little Grace, she’s very proud,” Katrina says kindly.

“Congratulations to both of you,” David says. “On your
marriage and the baby. I’m still trying to get this one down the aisle.”

Katrina laughs and nudges David with her shoulder, “You make
it sound like I’m avoiding it. David wants to elope but I really want the whole
fairy tale thing, and that takes time to plan,” she says.

“What did you two do?” David asks.

“Oh, we just had a small ceremony with a few friends. Kathy
and Steve came, and my mother and father were there too. Then we went to a restaurant
afterwards.” Paige tells them.

“It was great,” I add. “Small is good. I wouldn’t have
wanted it any other way.”

“Oh, you both have matching tattoos,” Katrina points out,
“Elliot showed me a photo of the one on your back Paige – it’s absolutely
amazing.”

I feel Paige immediately stiffen at my side. “Oh he did, did
he?”

“How long did it take you to get?” Katrina asks, either not
noticing, or choosing not to notice Paige’s change in temperament. 

I hear crying somewhere behind us and both Paige, and I turn
to try to find Grace. Paige takes the opportunity to excuse herself to go and
retrieve Grace from my mother.

“Trina!” David admonishes chuckling slightly.

“What? What did I do?” she asks.

“You didn’t need to mention the tattoo Katrina, I didn’t
exactly show you that photo,” I point out.

“Oh god, I’m such an idiot – let me go and talk to her. I’ll
tell her it was my fault.”

“Trina, leave it,” David tells her. “I know you have the
best intentions, but it’s better if you sit this one out, ok?”

“Ok,” she agrees as David plants a kiss on the top of her
head, squeezing her close to him. “I really am sorry Elliot,” she says.

“It’s fine, Katrina. Don’t worry about it. I'll talk to
her.”

Well, that was awkward. Katrina is fucking stunning. I feel
short, fat and ugly near her. She looks like a female equivalent of Elliot. I
think I hate her. Sure it’s irrational because I just met her but seriously –
what the fuck? Why in the world would Kathy invite her here? Does this mean she
prefers Katrina to me? Is this one of those weird things where the mother in
law is nice to my face but tells everyone else that I was a consolation prize?
Maybe she thinks that Elliot only married me because I got pregnant, oh god,
what if he did…?

When I reach Kathy, Grace has really taken to crying, she’s
obviously tired so I take her inside to Elliot’s and my bedroom to feed her to
sleep. She’s wailing and pulling at my top as I shush her and undo my buttons,
so she can feed.

I stand in the quiet, shut off from the party outside and
look over the photos on the wall. Smiling to myself at the memories behind
them, the largest photo in the centre is the one of me in the hotel room when
he took a photo of my tattoo, the one that Katrina mentioned – how the hell did
she manage to see it? Were they hanging out together? Has she been in this room
with him? Oh god, I don’t even want to think about it.

Grace snuffles in my arms as she drinks with her eyes closed
and her tiny hand laid flat against my chest. My heart fills with love for her
as I watch her drifting off into baby dream land.

Walking over to the window, I look out at the people below
me. I can’t believe there are so many people here happy for Elliot’s return. I
can’t believe he was willing to give all of this up to stay in the UK with me.

As my eyes move towards where Elliot is still standing my
heart deflates, landing with a thud in the pit of my stomach. He’s talking
animatedly and laughing with Katrina; David has this fake smile plastered on
his face. If he’s the guy Katrina chose over Elliot, and he looks
uncomfortable, then how should I be feeling?

I look down as Grace’s mouth falls open and her body fully
relaxes. I should put her in her cot and go back out, but I’m not ready yet.

It’s time to eat and I haven’t seen Paige for a while, I
think she might be hiding out inside with Grace. I excuse myself from talking
to my aunt and uncle, and head back into the house in search of Paige.

I find her fast asleep on our bed, cradling Grace in the
crook of her arm. My heart feels full at the sight of them together, and I stop
caring that we’re supposed to be outside with everyone. I ease myself onto the
bed and brush the curls on the heads of both of my girls. They are so beautiful
that I just want this moment for myself before I need to wake Paige.

Her eyes flutter open anyway and slowly focus on mine.
“Hey,” I whisper.