Crap.Crap.
Drowning in guilt and mortification, Becky glanced at him but his face revealed nothing.
She told herself that this wasn’t the end of the world. They’d make it through Christmas and then end it. He’d had relationships that had ended before. This was simply going to be another one of those. They’d say it was amicable. They’d realised they just weren’t compatible. That way it wouldn’t impact on their parents’ friendship.
Her confidence in her plan lasted until they walked back inside the house.
There, standing in the hallway, were Will’s parents, his mother’s eyes glistening with tears of joy and his father beaming.
His mother rushed over to them and wrapped Becky in her arms, hugging her tightly.
“Oh Becky, Becky, my dearest girl.”
Becky stood rigid. This was her worst nightmare. Also, was it possible to break ribs with a hug? Who knew Will’s mother was so strong.
“Jenny called us, and we came straight over! Why didn’t you tell us! Oh, I’m so excited I’m all over the place. Don’t be upset—I’m sure you wanted to tell us yourselves, but we couldn’t wait. We’re so happy! This is the best Christmas gift you could have given us.” She gave Becky another squeeze and then turned to her son. “I don’t know whether to scold you or hug you—”
Becky wanted to saygo for the scold—it hurts lessbut Will had already stepped forward to give his mother a warm hug.
“Hi, Mum.”
“That’s all you’re going to say?” His mother sniffed. “Why didn’t you say anything to us before now?”
“Well, because I—” Will met Becky’s horrified gaze across the top of his mother’s head. “We hadn’t really planned to announce it yet. It wasn’t the right time.”
“But what better time is there than Christmas, when the whole family is here to celebrate together? Your sister is going to be thrilled. What time is it in Canada? When can I call her?She has been worried you’ve been spending far too much time working.” His mother turned and reached out a hand to Becky. The tears were now streaming down her cheeks. “You’re so right for him. I’ve always known it.”
Becky opened her mouth but no words emerged so she closed it again. Had Will’s mother been drinking? She was talking as if they were a match made in heaven, not a match made in desperation.
“Mum.” Will was calm. “You’re embarrassing Becky.”
“Don’t be embarrassed!” She squeezed Becky’s hands. “You’ll give him a reason to come home in the evenings instead of spending all those hours in the hospital. Perhaps you can even persuade him to take a lunch break. He’s very good at his job of course, and we’re proud, but in the end there is more to life than work no matter how important that work is. Family should come first, every time.”
Becky couldn’t breathe. She was swamped by panic. She’d kidded herself that this was controllable but it was already bigger than she could handle. She wanted to hide behind the Christmas tree the way she had when she was very young.
This was terrible. Awful. What had she done?
Not only was this not what they thought it was, but it was clear that she wasn’t who they thought she was either. They saw her as some stay at home siren who would lure her son back from the hospital with the promise of lunch and lingerie.
Becky thought about the hours she spent in front of her laptop. “Work is important to both of us.” She finally croaked out some words but no one was listening to her.
His mother seemed to have gone into some sort of excited trance and her own mother was almost as bad, looking on with a happy smile.
“I always knew,” Will’s mother said. “I always knew the two of you shared something special. I said it years ago, didn’t I, Paul?” She looked at Will’s father, who nodded dutifully.
“You did say it. On more than one occasion.”
“I said,those two are perfect together and they don’t even know it.” She was beaming. “How did the two of you finally get together? I want all the details.”
It was like a very bad sitcom.
Becky was reeling. “Er—it was—” Her voice tailed off. She didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t anticipated having to answer questions. What had she started here? Panic tickled the back of her throat. She needed to tell them. Right now. Before this became more complicated than it already was. This just wasn’t fair on them. Or on Will. “Look, all of you—I need to—”
“It was sudden,” Will said smoothly, interrupting her before she could finish her sentence. “It crept up on both of us. And now this is all a bit overwhelming for Becky so I think we should all try and relax and tone it down. No more questions. She doesn’t love being the centre of attention.”
Thank goodness for Will. Thank goodness he knew her so well.
But he’d just made everything a hundred times more difficult for himself. Couldn’t he see that?
