She had a point, one I'd been avoiding thinking about. "He mentioned changing one of the bedrooms into an office earlier so we had somewhere to work."
"By 'we', did he mean him or you?" Marie said. "What was the context of the suggestion?"
I stumbled, feeling like I was telling them Jackson's secrets, but I did want to talk about it and neither Sophie nor Simone were there. "I had been working in the kitchen and had paperwork everywhere, so he said about making an office upstairs."
They both stared at me as if I was completely missing the obvious, their faces almost identical.
"It's too soon," I said.
"Why?" Marie opened another bottle of prosecco and passed me a glass. "I was engaged to Ed after I'd known him for seven days. I came home with him to England after eleven. We got married six months later and it was only that long because we needed to arrange a biggish wedding."
Payton nibbled on a samosa. "We should get your wedding album out," she said. "There are photos of Jackson and Maxwell in there that would make Van hoot."
"That's something for the morning, honey," Marie said. "When Jackson's here and we can watch him get all grumpy and embarrassed."
"You moved countries after knowing a man for less than two weeks?" I said, still catching up. "Didn't it scare you?"
"It scared the fucking bejeezus out of me," Marie said. "But I wasn't going to let him go home without me and he had four kids and a life that he needed me to sort out. I never regretted it, even when he drives me mad and these lots were little shits. Bear in mind I had seven kids under the age of ten and a husband who was a workaholic and didn't know what to do with babies."
"How did you cope?"
Marie laughed. "I laughed a lot because there was no point in crying. I made them do chores to help in the house and I never, ever lied to any of them about how I was feeling or what needed to be done. I never had a conversation in my head." I understood what she meant. I'd spent too long with Richard, afraid I wasn't doing something right but never sure what right was. "Payton, there are more snacks in the cold room. Can you go and grab them and put them on the table? And tell Max he is not to open any more whiskey."
"He won't listen to me." Payton stood up, entirely sober. "He'll be nasty to me, Mamma. Like he always is."
Marie looked at her with a knowing expression. "If he had been nasty to you or Ava you'd have turned out less spoilt."
"You never believe me when I tell you how awful he was when I was little."
"Payton. Go."
She stropped off as if she was thirteen.
"She's a nightmare," Marie said. "I don't know how Max and Jackson didn't strangle her, or leave her with a pack of wolves. Some days, I wish they had."
"They adore her," I said, quite honestly. "Except at work, where being their sister doesn't count."
"As it shouldn't. Look, Vanessa, you're going to get quizzed by everybody this weekend about you and Jackson. He will too, because he doesn't bring women home to meet his family, even the couple of steady relationships he had in the past we never got to meet on a formal basis. It's up to you what you do and when, but my advice for what it's worth is that you're honest with him and ask him about things you're not sure of. That's how I brought him up," Marie said, refilling her glass.
"Have you done imparting your wisdom?" Ed said, having paused just within earshot. "Your advice might be a little old-fashioned nowadays, my love." He grabbed her waist with a big hand and lent over to kiss her cheek.
She smacked his hand. "Unlike you, I've stayed relevant. You're just a dinosaur."
I laughed, seeing the affection between the two and the easiness between them, nothing like Richard and I had been, or Richard's parents.
"What advice has she been giving you?" Jackson said, appearing behind me, his arm automatically pulling around my waist. I felt my body melt and my shoulders relaxed.
"To be honest and ask questions," I said, turning to him as Marie and Ed disappeared towards Maxwell who had opened another bottle of whiskey. Killian was standing next to him, drinking what looked like coffee.
"What do you want to ask?" he said. "Ask anything because Marie is right."
"Do you want me to move in with you?" I held on to his forearms as if trying to stop him from running.
"Yes," he said. "I do. Do you want to live with me?"
"I think so. But it hasn't been long enough."
"What do I need to do so you're sure?" he said, walking us towards the stairs, out of earshot of everyone else.
