One Wish In Manhattan (A Christmas Story) (32 page)

D
ean opened
the front door and Hayley bowled through it. ‘You’d better tell me exactly what he said to you and what you said to him and what Angel said to anybody.’

‘Slow down,’ Dean said. ‘Take a breath.’ He followed her towards the stairs.

‘Take a breath?! He’s up there with the daughter he doesn’t know he has. Why didn’t he just ring?! Why did he have to turn up here? What’s he even doing here?’

‘I know, it’s Sod’s Law.’

‘I want to kill Sod right about now.’ She put a hand to her head, trying to press away the tension with her fingers.

‘What do you want me to do? Do you want me to take Angel out somewhere so you can talk to him alone? I’ll do whatever you want me to do. Just tell me,’ Dean said.

‘What have you said to him? What have you said to Angel?’

‘He knocked on the door, he said he was looking for you, that you’d left this address at Vipers.’ Dean sighed and put his hand to his head as he recalled the scene. ‘I asked him in, I said you wouldn’t be long, I made him a coffee, I told Angel he was a friend and …’

Hayley clamped a hand to her mouth. ‘Oh my God, no, Dean, she knows it’s him. I showed her a photo!’ She ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time, and burst into the main room, her breath catching in her throat. The scene before her stole what little breath she had left.

Angel was sat on the arm of the sofa holding a foolscap pad and there he was, Michel, Angel’s father, sat next to his daughter, sketching with her. He looked completely unchanged. He was wearing jeans and battered Converse sneakers, a tie-dye T-shirt, his hair still tousled.

‘So,’ Hayley started, making herself move. ‘What’s going on here then?’

Angel looked up, a serene yet slightly scary smile on her face. ‘Michel is here.’

‘I can see that,’ Hayley stated, stepping closer.

‘Hello, Hayley,’ Michel greeted, putting the pad down and standing up. He stepped forward and quickly kissed her on both cheeks. Angel started to clap and Hayley shot a look to Dean for some help.

‘So, Angel, let’s go find Randy and Vernon and take them for a walk,’ Dean offered, taking his niece by the arm.

‘But I don’t want to. I want to stay here,’ Angel protested, pulling a scowl.

Hayley swallowed. ‘Angel, please, go with Uncle Dean.’

Michel had walked into this situation with absolutely no prior warning. She needed to tell him in a controlled way, so he had a chance to react to it without Angel being here. He deserved that at the very least.

Angel folded her arms across her chest and looked indignant. ‘It’s not fair.’

‘Double waffles and hot chocolate?’ Dean tempted. ‘Let’s get your coat.’ He shepherded Angel from the room and Hayley collapsed into the chair opposite Michel. How did she begin? When she eventually found the strength to meet his eyes, he was gazing back at her.

‘You have done something a little different with your hair,’ he started.

‘You haven’t.’

He smiled, put a hand to it. ‘It has been a long time since we saw each other last.’

‘You do remember then?’ Hayley asked. ‘One wild night under the influence of wine and vodka.’

‘But, of course. It is impossible to forget someone who wore a neon pink dress and danced so crazy.’

She blew out a breath. That was something. Not that it would make it any easier. ‘You changed your name.’
And it was agony trying to find you
, she wanted to add.

‘Yes, for my job. It was a suggestion from my agent. He thought Michel Arment had more appeal.’

‘Wow,’ Hayley stated. ‘An agent.’

‘So, you live here now? In New York?’ he asked her. ‘With the man that was here?’

She shook her head. ‘No. Dean’s my brother. I’m just visiting.’ She swallowed. ‘I still live in England.
We
live in England.’

He nodded. ‘I have travelled quite a lot. I go back to Belgium for a time, then to France, but I come back here two years ago. My art goes well here, people like it and they buy it.’

‘That’s good,’ Hayley nodded.

She watched Michel’s eyebrows knit together as he looked at her. ‘You want to catch up? To go out together?’ he asked. ‘That is why you try to find me?’

She shook her head. ‘Not exactly, no.’

‘Then …’

She squeezed her eyes tight shut. If she could pay someone to come in and deliver this news for her then she would. Like a kissogram service but not. He was here. It was what she’d wanted. She needed to get it over with.

‘There’s no easy way to tell you this.’ Hayley drew in a breath that had her ribs bursting for relief. ‘Our night together all those years ago … we didn’t just make love, Michel, we made a baby.’ She screwed her eyes shut again. ‘I got pregnant and I had your baby.’

There. It was done. Out in the open. The only thing to be afraid of now was his reaction.

She dared to open one eye and watched the colour fall from his face. He leant forward, put his face in his hands, dragging his fingers down the skin, eyes wide with shock. He wet his lips and opened his mouth to speak. ‘The girl who was here …’

Hayley nodded. ‘Yes, that’s her. That’s Angel.’

He shook his head. ‘I do not believe this.’

‘I know it must be a shock and I never had any intention of getting you involved, but Angel, she has this dream to meet her father and I just want to make her happy. That’s all I’ve ever tried to do.’

‘I mean … how could you do this?’

‘What?’

‘Ten years ago you have a child and … I do not … I cannot.’ His voice was raising in volume and his agitation was clear to see. He got to his feet, kicking at the wooden flooring and heading towards the Christmas tree. He threw his arms up in the air, bells on Bruce’s branches reacting as his fingertips swiped at them.

‘You say you were careful … I ask you this!’

‘I was drunk, Michel! And young and stupid!’

‘Ten years, Hayley,’ Michel stated.

‘I know how long it’s been.’

‘You do not find me when you know you are pregnant.’

‘Well, no, I mean, you were here and I was in England and we were both young. You wouldn’t want to settle down with a child. You had dreams to paint and take pictures, see the world.’

‘So you do not tell me?’

‘I …’ Hayley moved her eyes away. She didn’t know what she had been expecting but it hadn’t been this. So much anger and accusation.

‘You do not give me the choice?’

‘It was my problem.’ She swallowed, instantly regretting the word ‘problem’. Her mother had told her what to do and she had let her, too ashamed, too overwhelmed to have an opinion.
He wouldn’t want to know. He was on the other side of the world.

‘I didn’t think …’ she began.

‘That is obvious.’ He made a noise of irritation like someone had pushed past him on the street.

She tried to even out her voice, taking a breath before continuing. ‘Listen, we have to deal with the situation as it stands now. I have a nine-year-old daughter who made a wish this year to meet her father.
Your
daughter. Now, it’s up to you.’

She waited for her words to sink in, watching him shift his feet, rubbing one trainer up against the other. He turned to face the window and Hayley watched him as the snowflakes flashed past the glass. What was he going to do?

He turned around to face her and she swallowed.

‘I am allowed to have a decision now, yes?’ Michel spat.

She opened her mouth, unsure what was going to come out. ‘Yes … of course … I …’

She watched him suck in a breath that filled his wiry frame, rocking him slightly until his hair fell over his face. What was he going to say?

‘I can’t deal with this, Hayley.’ He put his hands into his hair, wrapping it around his fingers until he was pulling it like someone in complete turmoil. ‘I just can’t deal with this.’

‘Listen … I know it’s a big thing … a huge thing but … nothing has to change for you. I mean, we can …’ She was talking so quickly none of the words were coming out how she wanted them to. She just needed him to know that Angel just wanted the chance to get to know where she had come from.

‘Nothing has to change?!’ He shook his head, his hair responding to the motion. ‘You tell me I have a child! Everything has changed!’

She could feel the tears at the very edge of her eyelids. One blink and they would be slipping down her face. She had to hold it together.

‘I’m sorry.’ He strode towards her but moved past, heading for the door. ‘I can’t do this.’

‘Michel, please,’ she begged, reaching for his arm.

He shook her off and before she was really fully aware of it, she was hearing footfalls on the stairs and the slam of Dean’s front door.

H
ayley couldn’t believe
he’d walked out. Was her mother right? Was that what would have happened if she’d told him ten years ago? She was hurt and disappointed. Yes, she’d only known him one night back then, but he’d been kind and decent and hadn’t behaved like someone who was going to run the second something unexpected happened. This was all her fault. From beginning to end it had been a disaster and now Angel was going to be bearing the brunt of all those mistakes. It was even worse that Angel had actually met him. Now she would think he didn’t want to know her. She had meant to protect her from that.

She wiped at her tear-stained eyes and blew her nose as she heard sounds from downstairs. Angel, Dean, Vernon and Randy were back. She had no idea what she was going to say. She couldn’t tell Angel the truth. What was the truth anyway? Michel had just been told he had a nine-year-old daughter. You didn’t get over that in a New York minute. He couldn’t leave things how they were, could he? He would come round. He had to.

Hayley rushed to the sink, splashing cold water on her face and rubbing it dry with the Union Jack tea towel. She had this situation.

And then the door opened and Randy burst through it, his claws skittering over the wood floor towards her, bow tie shining from his furry neck. The dog leapt up at her knee and she stroked its head.

‘Hey,’ Dean greeted cautiously.

‘Hey! Did you have double waffles and hot chocolate?’ Hayley asked like she was an excited children’s television presenter.

Angel was already pouting, her eyes roving over the empty lounge room. ‘Where’s Michel?’

‘Michel?’ She put a question mark at the end of his name which was an instant mistake. She wet her lips and tried again. ‘He had to go. He had an exhibition to get ready for tomorrow.’
More lies
.

‘Why don’t we read Randy your favourite Christmas story?’ Vernon suggested to Angel.

‘Did you tell him about me?’ Angel asked.

The look on her daughter’s face was killing her. So much hope was written there, so much love too. This meant everything to Angel and she wasn’t about to rip that apart until absolutely necessary.

‘Yes,’ Hayley said, eyes shining with more tears. ‘Yes, I did.’ She swallowed. ‘It’s a big thing … a really big thing to take in and … he’s doing so well with his art and he’s really busy right now.’ She paused. ‘We just need to give him a little bit of time.’

It sounded lame and nowhere near enough.

‘So we just need to sit tight and wait a little bit longer, OK?’ Hayley asked Angel.

Angel nodded. ‘OK.’ Her voice was soft, lacking in any real emotion.

‘OK?’ Hayley checked.

Angel nodded again. ‘His eyes are just like mine aren’t they?’ she stated.

Hayley smiled. ‘Yes, they are.’ She said a mental prayer in the hope God was watching this and that he could send a team of disciples to give Michel a kick up the backside.

‘So, what are you thinking of doing on this sabbatical?’ Cynthia asked. She slipped an olive into her mouth and watched Oliver from across the table.

‘I have no idea. Try and stay alive long enough to enjoy it, I guess,’ he responded, grinning.

‘That isn’t funny, Oliver.’

He took a swig of his beer. ‘I need to sort out the unholy mess at the company first. Peter Lamont’s dismissal, the Regis Software episode…’ He looked at his mother then, wanting to gauge her reaction. She had been stronger than he could have imagined over Andrew Regis and he knew how much it must have hurt to have her trust and loyalty betrayed.

‘Cole is quite capable of stepping up to the plate,’ Cynthia said.

‘I know,’ Oliver replied. ‘I’m just not quite ready to hand over the reins just yet.’

‘And if you had another focus? Something else to concentrate on in the meantime?’

Her last sentence made him realise where this was heading and he was shaking his head with a whole lot of certainty. ‘No.’

‘You don’t even know what I’m going to say,’ Cynthia said, picking up her wineglass.

‘I definitely do know.’

‘I want you to speak at the McArthur Foundation fundraiser, Oliver.’

‘Mom, we’ve done this before. I don’t want to get into another fight about it.’

‘Neither do I,’ Cynthia responded, putting her glass back down on the table. ‘So, why don’t you tell me about Hayley Walker?’

Oliver fumbled with his beer bottle and it slipped from his hand, spilling some of its contents on the red and white tablecloth. He reached for his napkin and began to mop up the fluid. His mother had thrown him. He didn’t know what to say. Had Hayley told his mother about them? How else would she know?

‘Oliver, I still come here with Janice and Linda.’ She reached across the table and lay a hand on his arm. ‘Anna told me you brought someone here, how you were with each other … Tony filled me in on the rest.’

Oliver’s eyes shot to the bar area where Tony was making drinks for other tables.

‘Don’t worry, he didn’t give you up easily. I did have to threaten every bad teenage photo I have of him, blown up to poster size and put on the windows of his new restaurants.’

Oliver blew out a breath. ‘There’s nothing to say. We had one date and then I realised it wasn’t going to work.’

And he’d been reliving every moment of their time together ever since. Her laugh, the way she talked at a hundred miles a second, her enthusiasm for life. And there it was. How could someone so full of life be forced into his pity party?

‘You know she’s helping me organise the fundraiser?’

He nodded. ‘Yeah, she told me.’

‘She’s doing an excellent job.’

‘She’s an excellent person.’ He raised his eyes to his mother then. ‘Very capable.’

Cynthia let a sigh leave her lips. ‘It doesn’t have to be this way, Oliver.’

‘It doesn’t have to be
what
way?’

‘Running from your feelings doesn’t make them go away. All it does is make you sad and the person you have feelings for even sadder.’

He picked up a slice of pizza from his plate, thought about eating it, then dropped it down again. ‘I can’t do what you did with Dad and Ben.’

‘What did I do?’ Cynthia asked. ‘Except love them unconditionally?’

‘There! That. Exactly that.’ He wiped his fingers on the napkin. ‘How can I expect someone to care for me unconditionally when the truth is I could die at any time?’

Cynthia shook her head. ‘I was in a very dark place when we lost Ben. We all were. But your father, he held us all together as best as he could, knowing his number could be up at any time.’ She placed the flats of her hands on the table as if she was garnering strength from its solidity. ‘He told me that everybody in this world could die at any time and he was right. All of us are dying, Oliver. I could get run over in the street, or be gunned down by that gang over in the housing project, there’s risk just getting up in the morning.’ She smiled then. ‘But we can’t all stay in bed.
Netflix
wouldn’t cope with demand.’

‘Mom …’ Oliver started.

‘You need to stop being so afraid and contact the consultant, Oliver. And then, tell Hayley everything.’ Cynthia paused. ‘If she’s the person you think she is then it won’t matter one bit.’