Kate looked down at Zoe in her spotless white onesie. And here she was. One perfect baby. She bent down on her knees.
“Hello baby girl,” she said in a light voice. “Are you ready for an evening with Nani Geeta?” and she reached out for her daughter. Tiny fingers immediately curled around hers accompanied by a gummy smile.
“You are going to have so much fun with your nani,” Kate cooed.
Kate really was lucky, with the best mother-in-law in the world. Well, not in-law, she supposed. Kate and Olivia weren’t married. But that position.
Funny. Lately, whenever she thought of not being married to Olivia, regret sank in her chest. She’d made so many mistakes before, she didn’t even think about the option. Not that she regretted every ex. She hadn’t married Harry, and their relationship was short, but they had two children, and co-parenting with him had been one of the best things in her life. But her marriages? She regretted those.
She smiled down at Zoe, to shift herself out of the past, into her happy present.
“Who’s the cutest baby?” Kate said, adoring her. “It’s you.”
She gently bopped the little button nose, to a gurgle from Zoe.
“Yes, it is,” she said indulgently, to more gummy smiles and elation for Kate.
Apparently, Olivia had been almost identical, going from a photo Geeta passed around the family once.
“Bloody hell, Olivia. Did you clone yourself or something?” Millie had said, looking at the picture. “Is that the only way you could guarantee perfection?”
Olivia had given her a look and raised an eyebrow. “Nice of you to acknowledge my perfection, Millie,” she’d said evenly, to the woman Olivia often found a bit much.
And Millie had laughed, and Kate smiled, loving that dry sense of humour of Olivia’s when it surfaced.
Was it all a bit much, Kate wondered.
Because things had happened so quickly. A visit to her GP and a private referral to an Oxford clinic, and a donor arranged. Pregnancy and birth followed swiftly.
And these were huge changes.
Olivia’s steadiness and conviction came with a difficulty handling change sometimes.
Was that it?
Kate, fame, kids. It was a lot for Olivia. Anyone. And Kate did everything to keep their lives private, especially after that god-awful start in the public eye.
Was it all too much, too soon, for Olivia?
Kate picked up Zoe, her tiny head nestling warm in the crook of her neck. And she swayed her hips, as much for her own comfort as Zoe’s.
Chapter 4
Tonight, Kate decided. They should talk tonight. Whatever bothered Olivia, needed to come out.
A car door clunked shut in the crescent below. Olivia must have already handed Zoe over to Geeta.
Kate breathed out long and hard while staring into the ensuite mirror. She recognised that look on herself – mouth in a straight line and not a single muscle relaxed.
Anxiety wasn’t something she often felt with Olivia. They talked to each other with loving respect, a novelty in her relationships, and god it was refreshing. Olivia’s strengths were so different from her own that she admired her without reservation. And, she believed Olivia did the same, watching her enthralled when transforming for a role.
But, things fell through the cracks. Especially now that they had a baby. Zoe brought them even closer, but their time was spread thinner and things went unnoticed.
But they had tonight.
She heard movement in the bedroom and she breathed out, properly nervous now.
“I’m nearly ready,” Kate called.
