Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 87538 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87538 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
“Here’s your tea,” Sutton says, handing me the mug I’d placed down. “Is everything okay?”
“Absolutely.” I grin as if to underline my point. “Guinevere just needs to eat.”
“Is she on a schedule?” she asks.
“She is. Some babies just are happy to slot into a timetable.”
“It’s no wonder, given her father,” she says.
I make no comment and try to keep my facial expression neutral.
“How’s he taking to it?” Her expression shifts from amused to concerned, her eyebrows pinching together.
“Amazingly,” I say, that defensive feeling rising up in my chest again. “Takes all humans a while to learn to live together at first.”
She laughs. “I guess you’re right. Some humans are easier than others. But it helps that Jacob likes a schedule. Me too, I suppose.”
“We’re all different,” I say. That’s what I would tell Eddie and Dylan as they got older and asked questions about our family. Why our parents were gone such a lot. Why we didn’t have dinner all together like they saw on television. Every family is different, I would tell them.
The Coves couldn’t be more different from the Cadogans.
“But Dax is so caring,” I say.
“He is?” says Jacob.
“Yes,” I say at the same time as Carole.
“Just because he’s not as verbal as the rest of you doesn’t mean he doesn’t have feelings. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t care,” Carole says. I want to applaud, but I don’t. “I’m glad things are going well,” she says to me. She holds my gaze as if she’s waiting for me to contradict her.
“Yes, very well,” I reassure her.
“Well, we’re all delighted you’re here,” she says. “I knew the first time we met that you’d fit right in.”
That’s my job. Fit in, become part of the background. Useful scenery, unnoticed until needed. Hopefully that’s how things will go this weekend. Dax won’t notice me and I won’t notice him.
Something tells me that’s wishful thinking.
SEVENTEEN
Eira
I stand at the door to Dax’s room, looking between the monitor and the travel cot. Guinevere doesn’t seem to be concerned about being in a different place at all. Maybe because she knows she’s surrounded by her entire family who clearly adore her already, despite her barely opening her eyes this afternoon.
“How is she?” John asks in hushed tones from behind me.
“Sleeping like a princess,” I whisper in reply.
“Are you ready to eat?” he asks.
I wave him away. “I can fix something later. I’ll keep an eye on Guinevere.”
He takes a breath. “You have a monitor.” He pauses. “And better than a monitor, you’ve probably got a good instinct and excellent hearing. Guinevere will be fine while you eat. While we all eat. Together as a family.”
Gravel collects at the back of my throat at the word family, but I’m out of excuses.
“I don’t want to impose and—”
“I insist,” he says. “If you’re looking after my granddaughter, we want you well-fed. And my apple pie is the best in the world. Mark my words, you won’t want to miss it.”
He practically herds me back to the kitchen, where there seems to be people everywhere.
“And now Eira’s here,” Carole says. “We’ve got a full house.”
I glance at Dax down by the dining table, chatting to his brother. Will he mind his employee joining him at dinner? It’s not like we never see each other in the evening—and then there was Backgammon Night—but it’s not normal to socialize with the family like this. Not in my experience.
The helicopter arrived safely and now, at the end of the kitchen, a huge dining table is full of Coves. Some have been born into the family. Some have married into the family. But they’re all family.
I don’t belong here.
“Eira,” Carole calls, “come and sit next to me.”
“Mrs. Cove, I’m very happy to fix myself a plate and—”
“Absolutely not,” John interrupts, and Carole fixes him with a look.
“If you would prefer to eat on your own, that’s fine. We would love you to stay. Wouldn’t we, Dax? Jacob? Everyone?”
The table falls silent. I’m sure I’m beetroot red as everyone turns to face me.
“Of course,” Madison says.
“Absolutely, you have to eat. We don’t bite,” Jacob says.
Everyone else chimes in with similar words of encouragement. I’m entirely mortified that I’ve made such a spectacle and am now the center of everyone’s attention.
My gaze catches on Dax’s. He’s opposite me, the expression on his face incomprehensible. Then he gives me a small nod and I just make out the word stay under the hubbub of everyone’s chatter.
I sit and the spotlight slides off me. Everyone focuses on the food.
I’ll eat quickly and quietly and then creep back upstairs. No one will notice I’m gone.
“She’s such a pretty baby, Dax,” Kate says. That’s the absolute truth. Of course all babies are lovely in their own way, but many aren’t pretty.
“Are you sure you don’t need a second DNA test?” Vincent says.