Page 83 of Gold Digger
“Sorry, love,” he said in a quiet voice. I felt my eyes sting but blinked to clear them as I gave him a small nod of acknowledgement.
Denise sighed then went out to fetch Hayley and Claire back into the room. Before anyone had a chance to speak, Hayley stood up and slammed her little hand down on the table.
“I live with my sister,” she said in a loud, clear voice which carried around the room. A tear did slip down my cheek then. It was partly pride, partly relief, but primarily pure joy. For Hayley to stand up and speak to a room full of adults was something I would never have thought possible a few months ago. “We are theSister Team. I’m gonna let Ollie, Claire, Vicky, Margot and Florrie on our team. Oh! And Lucy, Felix, MikeandLegolas. It’s a big team now. Granny and Grandpa, you can join our team too if you want, but not if you’re going to be mean to Lottie. No mean people are allowed on the Sister Team.”
“We’re not going to be mean to your sister, love,” Tony said softly.
Hayley crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at him and Brenda. “You’ve been super mean to her before. You say you love me, but there’s no me without Lottie. So you hafta love her too.”
Brenda stood up and walked around the conference table to get to Hayley. When she reached her, she crouched down to her level.
“I’m sorry, darling,” Brenda said softly, pushing Hayley’s hair back from her forehead and behind her ear.
“We’ll do better, love,” Tony, who’d come around to stand next to his wife.
Hayley tilted her head to the side and hesitated for a moment before she took the step forward into Brenda’s arms. Brenda’s breath hitched as she hugged Hayley back, her eyes screwed up, a tear leaking down her cheek and a fierce expression of relief on her face. When Hayley was transferred to Tony’s arms, Brenda turned to me.
“I was wrong,” she said, her voice stiff despite the tears now free-falling down her face. She swallowed. “I’m sorry.”
Tony and Hayley had separated now. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath as Brenda and I stood watching each other. Then Brenda did something I would never have expected. She grabbed me into a hug. It took me a few seconds to work through my shock and hug her back, but I managed it.
“You kept her safe,” Brenda said, her voice now broken with her sobs. “You were just a baby yourself, and you kept her safe.”
“It’s okay, Brenda,” I muttered, completely overwhelmed. Then Tony hugged me as well, talking about how he was a “stupid bugger” and how sorry he was.
“Right, well, that sorts that,” Denise said as Tony and I separated. Her voice was thick, and when I looked at her and Laura, there were tears in their eyes.
“Wonderful,” Margot put in. “Well, if that’s all wrapped up, might I suggest lunch at The Ivy? Ladies, you’re welcome to join us.”
Laura smiled. “I must say I have never had one of these meetings conclude with an offer of lunch at such a fancy restaurant!”
“Darling, their salmon en croûte is to die for.”
Denise laughed. “We’ve another meeting, so we’ll have to settle for a pasty from Gregg’s, but thanks.”
We all filed out of the building. After the last emotionally charged hour, it was more than a little awkward. I’d assumed Tony and Brenda would rush off, but the biggest surprise of that day was yet to come. Because once we were on the pavement, Tony moved to Ollie and put his hand on his arm.
“I… er, well—” he broke off to clear his throat, clearly working up to something. After a moment, he puffed out his chest. “Lottie doesn’t have other family so?—”
“Yes, she does,” Margot interrupted. “We’re her family.”
“He’s not married her yet,” Tony put in and Margot pressed her lips together in frustration. Tony turned back to Ollie, his face set with determination. “What I mean to say is that we’re her family now.” He looked away for a moment, clearing his throat again. “Y-you should know that I won’t have some rich fly-by-night messing her about. I know you’ve upset her. Clearly, she’s let you off the hook, but we’ll be watching you now too. So your intentions better be honourable.”
I blinked in shock. How had we gone from Tony looking at me as if I was dirt on his shoe to him blasting Ollie in case he mightmess me about?
There was a pause. I thought Ollie was going to let rip at Tony again. But instead, his expression softened. “Okay, consider me thoroughly warned. And, just so you know, I might have let Lottie down before, but that is not going to happen again. I love her and Hayley very much.”
Tony swallowed and gave him a sharp nod.
“Right, we’d best be off,” Brenda said into the uncomfortable silence.
“Of course not,” Margot put in, linking her arm through Brenda’s. “There’s lunch to be had. We’ll all be going together, then we can talk about you and Tony popping up to the country estate next month.”
Everyone started walking down the pavement with Tony and Brenda swept along for the ride. I was having trouble keeping up, what with going from the fear of this morning, to the shock of the entire Harding clan showing up at the hearing, to the relief that Hayley wasn’t going to be taken from me, to the utter mind-boggling shift from Brenda and Tony being my enemies to them wanting me as their adopted granddaughter. And then there was Ollie…
“Bringing the entire family might have been overkill,” I told him as he took my left hand in his, holding it firmly. We wereboth at the back of the group. Hayley was walking between Claire and Tony, Vicky was walking with the dowager and Brenda.
He shrugged and grinned down at me, totally unrepentant. “I didn’t want there to be any doubt in anyone’s mind who you and Hayley belonged to.”
