Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
It was hard to believe we’d been living in England full time for a year already.
Our daughter, Eloise Leonora Covington, had been born three years ago today, in fact. We’d moved to Brighton House on her second birthday.
Not long after Felicity and I got engaged four years ago, she found out she was pregnant. Fortunately, it was just after she’d passed the bar. She’d been switching to a new kind of birth control, and we hadn’t been careful enough. But honestly, it was the best news I could have received. We got married shortly thereafter in a small ceremony on the bay in Narragansett. Sigmund flew to the States to be my best man, and Felicity had her best friend, Bailey, by her side. We celebrated after with a clam bake by the bay and fireworks. It was perfection—everything coming full circle.
I decided to take control of the situation with the local press back in Westfordshire, cutting a deal with a paper to print a photo from our Rhode Island wedding to announce that I’d gotten remarried. I donated all the money from that article to Mrs. Barbosa and her foster children. After the story went to press, I didn’t bother to monitor the situation online. I just let everyone have a field day while I stayed in America. I no longer cared what anyone said or thought about me. My mother still hadn’t been speaking to me at that time, so she saw the photos in the paper along with everyone else. The only person I’d contacted with a warning was Darcie. She deserved at least that and appreciated the heads up.
Shortly after Felicity and I got married, she took a part-time job working as a legal advisor for the Department of Human Services in Rhode Island. She was finally doing what she’d always wanted to: advocating for children. She continued working there until we moved, and she vowed to look for a way to continue that work as soon as we were settled in the UK.
The first time I heard from my mother was right after Eloise was born. She asked if I would be willing to come back for a visit with Felicity and the baby. So that’s what we did when our daughter turned six months old.
My mother did the best she could. She was cordial to Felicity and tried to pretend we’d never been estranged in order to be in her grandchild’s life. Eloise was the game changer. Things weren’t perfect with Mother even to this day, but they were better than they had been.
When we moved here last year, Felicity decided to keep the house in Narragansett and was now renting it out to a family. We knew that as Eloise approached school age, we would have had to pick one location, and we’d agreed that England made the most sense. The timing had been right, since Aunt Mildred had decided to move to France around the same time, leaving her beautiful farmhouse vacant. I purchased it from her. Surrounded by animals, which included Felicity’s beloved Shetland, Ludicrous, Brighton House was the perfect permanent home for us.
Felicity truly seemed happy here, never wanting to venture away from the farm much, aside from her teaching job or volunteering at a foster home in London.
After her morning ride around the grounds, my wife stepped down off of the black stallion. “Your mother will be here soon. She’s coming for Eloise’s birthday cake.”
“Quick, hide the paint, Eloise! We wouldn’t want your grandmother to have a heart attack,” Sigmund quipped.
“She’s actually loosened up quite a bit, thankfully,” I said.
Felicity went inside to shower, and I got Eloise cleaned up for the small family birthday party. We were planning a kids’ party later in the week.
Since my wife never wanted a huge staff, we had one part-time housekeeper, Mary, who was now setting up balloons in the dining area.
It was nearly noontime when Sigmund kicked back with a beer in the living room to watch the football game. The doorbell rang, and I went to answer it while Eloise played on the floor next to Sigmund’s feet.
My mother stood at the door, holding a gargantuan, wrapped box.
“Hello, Mother.” I kissed her on both cheeks.
“Hello, my darling. Show me to the birthday girl.”
After Mother joined Eloise and Sigmund in the living area, I noticed my gorgeous angel descending the stairs. Felicity looked divine in a simple white dress with an empire waist. She and I had an announcement to make at the party. Yes, she was pregnant again, and that was part of the announcement, but the other bit made me equally nervous and excited.
I took her aside. “You look so beautiful right now.”
“I do? I don’t feel it.”
“Trust me,” I said as I placed a soft kiss on her lips. “I swear you’re even sexier when you’re pregnant.”