“Look, we can’t change the way things happened.”
“No, we can’t.” I sighed. “So, you need to be a good boy about this and learn to live with it.”
“Do me a favour and don’t tell me to be a good boy and don’t do to her what you did to Jenna.”
Really? He was going to lecture me about how to take care of the woman he threw away?
“I’m serious, Richard,” I gritted through my teeth. “Next time you see her, apologise. Profusely. She didn’t deserve your retaliation. Also, I suggest you tell her about your wedding plans. I’m not sure what you’re thinking, but I can promise you that she isn’t going to take it well.”
He shrugged and downed what was left of his beer before doing his whole coat on routine. We didn’t say goodbye or anything. He just walked out, and I sat there waiting for my sister and nephew.
I spent the next week waiting for Richard to tell Quincy about the last-minute wedding. Every day that went by that she didn’t talk to me about it, the more I wanted to tell her. I’d never been good with secrets, but the reality was that it wasn’t my business. Well, the part about Pippa flying half way across the world wasn’t. That was between her mum and dad.
I wasn’t happy about it when it came to Molly, but at the end of the day Jenna was her mother, and it wouldn’t be right if she wasn’t there for her wedding. That was what our life was going to be like from now on. Compromise. I’d let our daughter go with them to the States and in return she’d let me have her on Christmas day, for the next two years. I knew Jenna wasn’t happy with that, but in a roundabout way, it levelled it out for the both of us.
However, I knew Quincy wouldn’t see it that way when it came to Pippa. She may not act like handing her over to Richard on his days was a big deal, but I knew her better than that. I saw the way she constantly checked her phone, even when we were together. It was always within her reach. I could understand her detachment issues, but at the same time it was hard knowing that part of her worry stemmed from her loss.
We’d barely settled in for the pantomime that Willow was playing one of the ugly stepsisters in before Molly mentioned how excited she was about going to visit her grandmother in America. I tried to stop her from saying anything more, but she was as shit as me at keeping secrets. The visit turned into the wedding and in a matter of minutes that whole situation got out of hand. I saw the withering look on Quincy’s face as she got up and excused herself. Her hand strangling her phone. I also knew I was in for it because it was obvious I knew.
Fantastic!
I sat with the girls in our box and waited for her to come back. I couldn’t leave a six-year-old and an almost seven-year-old unattended, so I had no choice but to wait. We were almost at the end of the first part before she came back in. A scowl on her face and her cheeks so red that she looked feverish. I reached out across the girls and put my hand on her shoulder, but she slapped it away. The look on her face telling me to pretty much fuck off.
I just wanted to leave. I wanted to get her alone and tell her that it hadn’t been my place to tell her. I really wish I had because it would’ve been a hell of a lot better than my daughter blurting it out in a place where I couldn’t explain why I hadn’t told her.
I honestly expected her to leave during the interval. The way she was ignoring me and manhandling her phone, she did not want to be there either. But that was Quincy for you, she sucked it up and let Pippa have a good time. Like any great mother would.
Both of the girls were excited and hyper. They were completely oblivious to Quincy’s foul mood. I really didn’t know what to do at that point. Not without making a massive hoo-hah of things. So, I just fooled around with the kids. I fed them more sugar and junk until the interval was done and we had no choice but to go back to our box. I thought about talking to her behind the curtain in the box, but I knew it wasn’t the right thing to do, so I let her stew. I could see all the cogs twisting and turning. I could see exactly what she was thinking.
She wasn’t. The glint in her eyes was like the high-pitched stab music in Psycho. She was out for blood.
By the time we made it out and into a cab she was like a silent assassin lying in wait. She interacted with the girls and humoured them. She even joined in some of their re-enactments from the pantomime. She just didn’t acknowledge me. She’d done the same thing when Phillip told her I was going to America. She’d ignored me and stewed over it, until I worked up the courage to kiss her. Then she’d just held on to me, almost like she was begging me not to go. Maybe I shouldn’t have gone. Maybe if I’d stayed life would’ve been a lot easier now. She would never have married Richard.
“I’m sorry, Quincy.” I leaned forward towards her, but she shuffled farther back in her seat.
“It’s too late for sorry, Jamie.” She shook her head and looked back out of the cab window.
“Mummy?” Pippa tugged on the sleeve of Quincy’s coat. “Why are you angry with Uncle Jamie?”
Molly looked at me with her eyes wide like she was shocked, “Oh no, daddy! What did you do?”
Quincy turned to the girls and smiled, “I’m not angry. How could I be angry when I have the both of you here to cheer me up?”
“Then what’s wrong?” Molly leaned forward as she stared up at Quincy.
“I just don’t like surprises.” Her arm wrapped around both Pippa and Molly.
My heart melted as she brushed her fingers through my daughter’s burnished brown waves. Her smile so tender.
“That’s not true mamma.” Pippa looked up at her with a frown on her face. “You love me.”
“You’re right. You were the best surprise ever, that’s why all other surprises just aren’t nearly as great.”
“Daddy? You know how mummy and Uncle Richard are going to get married?”
I swallowed. For moment I thought that we were going to get away from the whole wedding malarkey. “Yes, Molly.”
“Does that mean you’re going to marry my mummy too?”