Lily’s arms went around his shoulders and with a little hop, her legs went around his hips and he reflexively put his hands under her bottom to hold her steady against him.
She was pressing her cheek against his and holding him tightly.
“What’s this?” he whispered into her ear.
Her head jerked back and she looked at him, her eyes bright and tears were glimmering at their bottom edges.
“You said in Alistair’s conference room you were going to marry me but then you didn’t say anything about it again. You said two months. It’s been nearly a month already!” He had no chance to respond to her overwhelming reaction as she went on excitedly. “We’ll fix a date tomorrow, yes?” she asked and he nodded, finding himself pleased by her extremely positive response.
She leaned into him and again put her cheek against his.
“I have so much to do! I have to find a dress and Tash needs a dress. And we have to get invitations.” Her head jerked back and she looked at him again, all sign of tears were gone, her eyes were alight and dancing. “A small wedding? In the Registry Office?”
At her question, he nodded again and with a soft pull, she released her legs from his hips and he let her go. He watched as she kept talking excitedly and walked around the room, turning off the lamps.
“Fazire will need something to wear and then there are flowers. I think peonies, Mom loved peonies. It’s the Indiana state flower, did you know that?” She didn’t look at him as she asked the question, nor did she wait for a response.
“We’ll need a photographer. I don’t want one of those Nazi photographers that take seventeen hours to pose all the photos. It should be a fun day. We should be drinking and eating, not spending all our time having our pictures taken. What do you think?”
Before he could answer, she stopped and jerked erect after turning off the second lamp.
“I know! Fazire can take the photos!” She clapped her hands in front of her excitedly and Nate remembered her doing precisely the same thing when he’d given in to her motorcycle ride on their first and only date. The sight of it made his chest expand in a way he’d never felt before, it was warm, it was pleasant and he had no idea what it meant. He had no idea that it heralded contentment and security, two things he’d never felt in his life.
He had not even come into the room and was still standing in the doorway. He leaned against its jamb and continued to watch her.
He didn’t stay very long in his position. Lily walked toward him, grabbed his hand and led him out of the room through the living room and up the stairway to their bedroom. The entire time she talked and she planned.
She asked him if he wanted dancing then didn’t wait for his answer and decided there should be dancing.
She asked him if he wanted to wear a morning suit then didn’t wait for his answer and decided that was too stuffy for a Registry Office.
She asked him if he wanted speeches then decided there must be speeches.
In the bedroom, after he’d closed their door, she turned into his arms.
“Just leave it to me. I’ll take care of everything. I’ll call in Laura and Maxie and we’ll have it sorted in no time.” She pressed her index finger in his chest. “You just need to be responsible for the honeymoon. Can you do that?”
His arms tightened and he smiled into her shining face.
“I think I can manage that.”
She tipped her face up to him and smiled.
Three days later, Nate was in his new Bristol office in a meeting, two of his transplanted staff seated in the chairs in front of him awaiting instructions, when the buzzer went on the phone.
When he was in a meeting, the buzzer never went on his phone.
Ever.
Nate wasn’t a cruel boss but he was a demanding one. He expected his staff to work hard and smart, to be ambitious but not greedy nor backstabbing and to be forthcoming with good ideas and constructive criticism. He rewarded them for these things. The more of them they demonstrated, the better they demonstrated them, the larger the reward.
If they failed to demonstrate them, they were gone.
He was not friendly with his staff. He didn’t take them out for drinks. He didn’t buy them Christmas presents although he did give them generous Christmas bonuses. He didn’t share his personal life with a single soul in the office or out of it, for that matter. He did not encourage this behaviour amongst his managers and their employees either. He expected work to be work, he expected success, he expected absolute professionalism and he led by example.
He was not a doting father to a corporate family.
He was the respected, removed commander of a very tightly run corporate army that, day-after-day, achieved remarkable results.
It was his edict that he was never to be disturbed during a meeting unless it was urgent. An edict like all of his edicts that was always strictly obeyed.
Therefore, when the phone sounded, both of his staff jumped in surprise.
Nate hit a button on the phone. “Yes?”
“Ms. Jacobs for you,” His secretary, Jennifer said over the intercom, adhering to his command that any time Lily called, any time, she was to be put straight through.
Nate didn’t spare his two employees a glance (if he had, he would have seen their eyes widen in surprise), he just picked up the phone.
Lily had called him once to complain about her living room furniture being carted away.
Tash, on the other hand, called him every day when she got home from school to tell him every minuscule piece of news that she felt might be of import which was practically every second of her day. Nate looked forward to his daughter’s calls. Natasha was talkative but clever, incredibly clever. She had at her command a great number of words, and she used them well and often, far better than people three times her age. It was clear Tash was advanced and Nate was already looking into special schools for her something, he thought vaguely, he really should discuss with Lily.
Nate had learned quickly that Tash’s calls were to come on a regular schedule and he had Jennifer clear his diary for that hour, without exception.
But Lily had only called once. There was no more furniture to be hauled away and most of the work was being completed that week. He had no idea why Lily would call and he was concerned it was not good news.
“Lily,” he greeted her.
“Hi! You busy?” she responded brightly, her light hearted tone taking him by surprise.
Nate was busy. Nate was always busy.
“No,” he replied.
There was a pause. Then she asked, “What’re you doing?” And she spoke as if she was calling just to chat, as if she did this every day.
He sat back in his chair, taken aback by this latest development that was the New Lily and finding himself wondering at her intentions.
His glance slid past his two employees who were pretending (poorly) not to listen in to their normally cold and indifferent boss’s unprecedented conversation with the unknown “Ms. Jacobs”, a woman for whom he would interrupt a meeting without even the briefest hesitation.
He ignored them.
“Working,” Nate answered.
She let out a carefree laugh then remarked, “Of course.”
“Lily, is there something –”
She interrupted him. “Tash is going to be on school holidays soon and I think we should plan a family trip.”
Nate froze at her unexpected words.
He’d had family holidays with Victor and Laura but as Victor worked constantly, they’d been few and far between. During those holidays Jeff had taken every opportunity to torment Nate in his own special way while Danielle had taken her own opportunities to torment Nate in entirely different ways.