Second Time Around (16 page)

It made perfect sense. Being part of a happily married couple would not only endorse Halley’s claim to the kids, it would save her a lot of money and stress while she waited for the outcome of Chantelle’s custody application. A side benefit of Halley moving in with him was that it would prevent Chantelle getting access to the house in the interim. Alec was also smart enough to realise that when Halley gained access to her money she might help him with his horrendous mortgage payments.

“I know how we can solve all our problems,” he declared. Halley’s eyes rose hopefully to meet his. Feeling confident that she would see things his way, Alec drew the ring box from his pocket and opened it.

“Will you marry me?”

Halley stared at the perfect diamond ring sitting in the box that was identical to the one she had picked out of a catalogue at Em’s insistence. At least she now knew how Alec had known what she liked, she thought wryly.

The diamond was pear shaped and she recalled how her grandmother had used that description to describe things when they went wrong. Halley thought the fact that her life had gone ‘pear shaped’ was an understatement.

She sucked in a breath. She had made her mistakes, now she had to deal with them. Unfortunately she knew she couldn’t do it on her own. Marrying Alec would solve all her problems.

“I don’t think I have any other choice,” she murmured, looking away but not in time to miss the hurt look in Alec’s eyes.

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, Halley regretted saying them no matter how true they were. Alec was the first man she had been interested in for years and in other circumstances she would have thrown herself at him in joy. He deserved a better response than the one she had just given him.

“I mean I would be honoured to marry you,” she corrected.

Alec gave her a tentative smile and slid the ring on her finger.

“The saleswoman tried to talk me up to a more expensive ring but it was a bit beyond my means,” he confessed. “If you like I can change this one for something better as soon as I can afford it.”

Halley made her hand into a fist so that the ring could not be removed.

“Don’t you dare,” she scolded, admiring the ring at the base of her finger. “It’s perfect.” She looked up and caught his eye. “Besides I wouldn’t want anything dearer. It would be money tied up in something we can’t do anything with and I would be terrified of something happening to it.”

Alec laughed at her response. Dear, practical Halley. It was no wonder he lov… liked her so much.

Halley smiled back at him, amazed by how her opinion of him had changed in the last few months. She had thought he was an aloof, only-suiting-himself and couldn’t-care-less-about-kids kind of man but he had proven her wrong.

During her date with Rufus, Rufus had let it slip that Alec had bought that huge monstrosity of a house he lived in so they would have a place to work from until they could afford to lease office space in Sydney. Four of the bedrooms had been turned into offices and as their business expanded they had taken over the lounge as well. Rufus had candidly told her that if Alec hadn’t provided a base at his own expense they wouldn’t have achieved as much as quickly as they had.

He had even speculated that the reason that Alec had not sold the house after they had relocated to Sydney was because his ex-wife had treated him badly and he had something to prove. Halley had wanted to hear more but Rufus had changed the subject, aware that he had probably said more than he should have.

When it came to Em, Halley admitted that she had completely misjudged Alec. Far from being an indifferent father, he had lavishly spent on Em’s care, intending that she would be well looked after when he could not be with her. When Halley had enlightened him as to what really happened at his house in his absence he had investigated Halley’s allegations then had fired Mrs Rice.

And it wasn’t just his daughter he doted on. On numerous occasions he had taken the boys and Cassie on their family outings as well, giving her much needed time alone. Alec even adored Buddy, she thought fondly. One weekend he had borrowed a tennis ball machine from Rufus and had kept Buddy busy down at the park, firing them off on the field at the highest setting. The dog had enjoyed himself so much he hadn’t wanted to walk any further than necessary for days afterwards.

Yes, Halley thought, Alec was a man that under different circumstances she could have easily fallen in love with. She just wished she had met him before life had got in the way.

“Shall we seal the proposal with a kiss?” Alec asked, giving her shoulder a nudge with his.

Halley admired the ring on her finger again then met his eye.

“I think that would be a good idea,” she agreed, wanting to make up for her insensitive comment earlier.

Alec leaned over and gave her a peck on the corner of her mouth before drawing away. Wanting more than that, Halley drew her arms around his neck and tugged his head back to hers. Needing no further encouragement, Alec returned his lips to hers and began to kiss in earnest. He was so thorough that Halley was soon breathless.

They barely heard the ranch slider being flung open downstairs and three pairs of feet run inside only to suddenly stop.

“Aunty Halley?” Corey’s voice called out. “I didn’t make this mess. It was probably Cassie!”

Alec reluctantly drew back and Halley was pleased that he was breathing as heavily as she was.

“Ready to share our news?” he asked.

“I can sleep on the sofa if you prefer me to,” Alec said as he watched Halley take in the queen sized bed in their hotel room. The room was part of their wedding gift from Rufus who had also organised the celebrant for the ceremony earlier that afternoon. Rufus had joked that by using the same one he had used for his last two weddings he had been able to get a discount.

Halley tore her eyes from the bed.

“No. There’s room enough for both of us,” she said carefully, liking the idea of being able to spend an entire weekend relaxing with her new husband without being continually interrupted by the children. For the past week she had been frantically busy packing up the household to move next door while the children had un-helped. Despite her best efforts she had only managed to clear the bedrooms and the home office.

It hadn’t helped that she’d had to put the packing on hold for a day after a deluge of rain affected the fence between their properties. The whole fence had started leaning ominously in the direction of Alec’s property and they’d had to prop up the fence, dig around the base of the posts and pour in the concrete that Rufus had initially recommended they use.

Alec’s face had been grim the whole time he had dug around the posts, daring her to bring up the fact that he had ignored Rufus’ advice. As Halley stirred wheelbarrows full of concrete in the drizzle while he worked it didn’t even occur to her to give him a hard time over it. She was too busy enjoying the patter of rain on the umbrella she held over their heads. It was far more soothing than the racket coming from the noisy children inside.

Now Halley was looking forward to spending her wedding night sleeping peacefully. Not terribly romantic of her, she knew but she would have been only kidding herself if she thought Alec was interested in her as a woman when she felt as alluring as a hippo wearing lipstick.

She placed a hand on the small of her back and started rubbing. Alec immediately came up behind her and took over the task.

“Is Peanut giving you a hard time?” he asked.

Halley gave a small smile at his appellation for the baby despite her discomfit.

“No. It’s just a back ache. I think I’ve been overdoing it the past few days,” she admitted.

“Would you prefer to get room service instead of going out somewhere?” Alec asked.

Halley met his eyes over her shoulder and Alec could tell she was relieved.

“If that’s okay.”

Alec’s hands glided up to her shoulders and gave them a squeeze.

“Of course it is,” he told her softly.

He started massaging her neck and Halley dropped her head forward with a groan of pleasure.

“That feels so good,” she murmured.

Encouraged, Alec tugged her cream coloured shrug off her shoulders and dropped it on the bed. He returned his hands to the nape of her neck and started unbuttoning her matching maternity wedding dress.

Feeling unsettled at the thought of any intimacy Halley stepped away.

“I’m feeling hungry. How about you order for me?” she asked airily to hide her discomfit. Wanting to put a little distance between them she looked around the room and her eyes landed on the luxurious marble bathroom behind him. “If it’s all right with you I’d like to try out that spa bath before the food arrives.”

“Sure,” Alec replied, realising that he’d made a tactical error. Despite her advanced pregnancy Halley was practically a virgin and his advances had made her skittish. He needed her to be more relaxed before he tried again.

He picked up the menu and perused it as Halley made her way into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. Alec smiled as he picked up the phone. He had a plan.

Halley braced herself against the closed bathroom door while she gathered her wits. Everything was moving too fast for her and she wasn’t ready. At this moment she didn’t know if she would ever be ready.

She had been touched when Alec had asked her whether she wanted a big wedding. She hadn’t. The few friends she had made since she had arrived in Australia had dropped to the wayside once she had gained custody of her nephews and niece. It hadn’t been anyone’s fault; they all just had different priorities in life.

Halley had resigned herself to a second registry office wedding but Alec had been perceptive and had organised more with the help of Rufus and Leonora who they had asked to be their witnesses. The day after they announced their engagement Leonora had asked her to look online for pictures of wedding dresses and to forward her pictures of those she liked.

Halley had been too aware of her condition to look at wedding dresses and had instead chosen a picture of a plain empire line sundress with a full skirt that ended below the knee.

Leonora had then asked for her favourite colour and whether there were any particular flowers she would like for her bouquet. Worried about money being spent on something that would just die and serve no residual purpose, Halley emailed back that her favourite colour was green and that she wasn’t fussed over flowers.

Being preoccupied with packing up the contents of the house around meeting the children and Cassie’s needs, Halley had gladly handed every other task required for the wedding over to Leonora’s capable hands.

This morning Leonora and Rufus had arrived on her doorstep. Rufus had been left to look after the children while Leonora had taken her to a spa in Sydney where she had been treated to the first facial and manicure of her life. Leonora had been apologetic about not giving her ‘the works’ but had said they were pressed for time as she drove Halley to the hairdressers which had been the next stop.

While Halley’s hair had been curled and styled, Leonora had her bright orange hair dyed to a surprisingly neutral shade of ash blonde. When Halley had asked why she had done that, Leonora had told her that it was the bride’s job to stand out on her wedding day, not hers.

After that, instead of returning home, Leonora had driven a bemused Halley to an historic homestead which she then found out was to be the wedding venue. She had protested the cost as she was ushered inside until Leonora had explained that the house was owned by one of their clients who had given them a good deal.

Halley had been stunned when she had seen the dress waiting for her in the room they were changing in. It was similar to the picture she had emailed but was so much more. The dress was a cream coloured satin and had a sparkly silver bodice with a silver ribbon that ran underneath. The skirt itself had been covered in some sort of matching cream coloured gauzy fabric that floated when Halley had tried it on.

She hadn’t been given much time to admire it though. Leonora had changed into a more subdued version of the dress in a shade of forest green then had helped Halley into a cream coloured shrug then had put on her own matching green one.

“I feel like Cinderella,” Halley had gasped as she accepted a pair of low heeled sparkly silver sandals to try on. Once they were on her feet she felt like a princess despite being unable to see beyond her stomach to see how they looked.

In the meanwhile a box had been delivered to the room and Leonora opened it and pulled out two bouquets of delicate pink and white orchids amongst greenery.

“Let me guess. A client made these,” Halley said dubiously as she accepted hers.

“No,” Leonora told her with a satisfied smile. “The florist is my sister-in-law.”

Halley had ruefully decided not to question the cost of anything after that. Leonora seemed to have a cost cutting answer for everything.

There was a knock at the door then Rufus poked his head in.

“I have a couple of visitors for you,” he began but then he caught sight of Leonora’s hair. “What happened to you?” he asked in shock. “You look normal.”

Leonora self-consciously patted her hair.

“Do you like it?” she asked tentatively.

Rufus twirled his finger and she obligingly spun around.

“Well?” Leonora prompted when she returned to face him. Rufus smiled and when that dimple of his appeared Halley could tell he was going to say something rude.

“You look like...”

Em barged past him with Cassie in her pushchair into the room. Halley immediately noticed they were both wearing miniature versions of Leonora’s dress.

“Oh aren’t you two adorable!” she exclaimed drowning out the end of Rufus’ comment.

Em spun around in her skirt, making the gauzy fabric float around her.

“Look Halley!” she cried. “Isn’t my dress pretty?”

“Yes, it’s beautiful,” Halley agreed then spied the sparkly tiara in Em’s hair. “You look like a princess!”

Em stopped spinning and beamed.

“I know,” she said.

“Are you ladies ready?” Rufus asked, after ducking out of the room for a moment to speak to someone.

Halley sucked in a breath and nodded.

Before she knew it, Leonora had plucked Cassie from her pushchair, handed Em a small bouquet and had led her from the room. Rufus offered Halley his elbow and she wrapped her arm around his.

This was it.

“We had to invite the employees and a few business acquaintances so we could write it off as a business expense,” Rufus murmured as he waited for an usher to indicate they could go into the room.

“How many?” Halley asked, her mouth suddenly dry.

The music she had barely noticed before changed and beyond the door came the sound of a lot of people getting to their feet. Ahead of them the usher indicated for Em and Leonora who was holding Cassie to enter the room.

“No more than a few hundred,” Rufus reassured her, patting the hand tucked into his elbow.