"Oh, she is so cute!" Taylor squealed excitedly as little Emma grabbed hold of her index finger and gurgled contentedly.
"Stop hogging my niece, Taylor! Other people want to hold her too, you know," Jake interjected with a mock scowl on his face.
Taylor blatantly ignored him and continued rocking the baby. "Maybe I'll just adopt you and take you home," she cooed. "How would you feel about being a Weston?"
"I might have a problem with that," John interrupted indignantly.
Taylor turned pleading eyes towards Isabella. "C'mon, Izzy, just consider it. Remember what it's like to have a newborn baby? All those sleepless nights? Just think, if I take little Emma here, you'll be able to sleep on schedule again!"
"Hmm," Izzy murmured, a smile curving her lips. "That does sound pretty tempting, Tay."
"Watch out, Dan – I think Taylor's getting clucky," Emma teased playfully.
A chorus of laughter followed Emma's jest. Only Jake appeared to notice that Daniel didn't seem quite so amused. In fact, he was frowning slightly, as though he seemed displeased by the very idea.
Jake wondered what the matter was, but knew that now wasn't the time to ask. He resolved to talk to his friend in private, as soon as they had the opportunity to be alone.
"Alright, people, give the new mum a break. She needs to feed the baby," the nurse interrupted.
Taylor reluctantly handed little Emma back to her mother, but not before Isabella noticed the look of wistfulness in her eyes. She suddenly wondered if her sister's teasing comment might have had a grain of truth in it, after all.
As the others shuffled out of the room, Isabella impulsively caught hold of her friend's hand.
"Maybe you'll be next," she said meaningfully, giving Taylor's hand a squeeze.
Taylor seemed surprised by Izzy's words, but then grinned wryly, realising that her desires were pretty transparent.
"I sure hope so," she whispered back, giving little Emma and her mother one last kiss before walking out of the room.
XX
"Do you have any plans tonight?" Emma asked casually as she and Jake walked towards his car.
"Yeah, I'm having dinner with someone."
"Oh, OK," Emma muttered, feeling oddly disappointed. She'd been hoping Jake would be free – it had been a while since they'd had the opportunity to hang out together alone.
"Dinner with a client?"
Jake didn't answer her immediately. Instead he cleared his throat and averted his gaze. Of course, that aroused Emma's suspicions immediately.
"Not exactly," he muttered finally, as he turned his key in the ignition.
Emma looked at him closely and noticed that he seemed uncomfortable. Embarrassed, even. And she couldn't understand why he was embarrassed. Unless...
"Oh, my gosh! You have a date!" she exclaimed. She grinned broadly. "What's her name? What does she do? Oh, please tell me she's not another Paris Hilton wannabe!"
He glared at her. "That joke's getting old. And it's not like I asked out that girl in the first place – she was a blind date and you know it."
"Okaaaay," Emma said slowly, slightly stunned by his defensive tone. "I won't do it again. But seriously, who is this woman you're having dinner with tonight?"
Jake hesitated before he replied, "Caroline Bingley."
Caroline Bingley... Caroline Bingley... why did that name sound so familiar?
And then Emma remembered... and gasped out loud.
"Oh, please say you're kidding!" she groaned. "No, Jake, no. You can't seriously be going out with her tonight! Not after she was so horrible to you!"
"You were six when Caroline and I broke up," Jake pointed out matter-of-factly. "How could you possibly know that she was so horrible to me?"
Emma rolled her eyes. "I was a precocious child and you know it," she said with a sigh. "I might not have known all the details back then, but I knew that something was wrong with you. You went off to Europe and didn't come see us for ages. Then when you came back, you just seemed really angry and sad. Izzy and I had never seen you like that before and it scared us."
She paused thoughtfully. "And just in case you're wondering, yes, I realised all this before you drank too much at Izzy's eighteenth birthday and spilled the whole story."
Jake reddened as he remembered that night. It was lucky that Emma had been with him. He didn't want to even think about what he might have done if he had been alone.
"Therefore," she said triumphantly, "you have to agree that Caroline Bingley did treat you horribly. I mean, breaking up with you over voicemail? So uncool."
Jake allowed himself to smile. Emma had such a simple, yet clear way of putting things sometimes. And she was absolutely right – Caroline had done him an injustice (not to mention driven him temporarily insane) by breaking up with him so abruptly and without an explanation.
Whether he liked to admit it or not, he had been very invested in his relationship with Caroline. Although they'd been together a little less than a year, it had been a big deal for him. Caroline Bingley had been the only girl he'd ever had a serious relationship with – so much so that he'd not only contemplated proposing... he'd actually bought the ring.
On the night they were due to celebrate their eleventh-month anniversary, Jake had pulled out all the stops. He'd had it all planned.
He had booked reservations at an expensive Italian restaurant which overlooked Sydney Harbour. It hadn't been an ordinary table for two, either... he had booked out an entire room. He had hired a string quartet to serenade them during their meal and had hidden a diamond solitaire ring in her flute of champagne. He'd even filled the room with stargazer lilies, her favourite flowers.
From an outside perspective, one might think he was rushing things too much and should never have gone to the trouble of proposing. But then that outside perspective wouldn't know that Caroline had been the one who had been nudging him to propose.
During their relationship, she'd frequently dropped hints about wanting to get married and made several not-so-subtle suggestions that they get engaged. She would steer him towards china patterns when they went shopping and comment that they could register for these one day. She would point at houses while they were walking along Sydney's beaches and idly remark that she hoped they'd have a house like that one day. When his aunt had gotten married, they'd gone to the wedding and she'd smiled and said they should take notes for their own wedding.
It was the kind of attitude that would make your average eighteen-year-old guy freak out and break off the relationship immediately, if it weren't for two factors.
The first was that Caroline Bingley wasn't the desperate loser one might assume she was. At the age of eighteen, she was independent, chic and successful. At no time did Jake think that Caroline needed to get married, and so the fact that she wanted to – and to apparently marry him – was really quite flattering.
And the second factor... well, Jake Knightley wasn't your average eighteen-year-old guy. His parents had been childhood sweethearts and had the kind of blissful marriage that most people could only dream about. Jake knew what it was like to have a happy family life and he had wanted that kind of life too.
Jake didn't expect to get married straight away, of course – but he imagined a long engagement throughout uni, getting a job and making sure he could financially support a wife and then finally tying the knot somewhere down the line. But with one voicemail message dumping him on the night he had planned to propose to her, Caroline Bingley had effectively crushed his dreams.
So to say that she had treated him horribly... was really quite an understatement.
XX
Emma saw the familiar look of sadness enter Jake's green eyes and she silently cursed herself for making Jake think about such a painful subject. But knowing the effect that Caroline Bingley had on him, could she as his best friend, in good conscience, actually allow him to keep his appointment tonight?
"Are you sure you want to go, Jake?" she asked apprehensively. "You don't owe her anything – it's not like you have to see her."
"I know," Jake replied quietly. "But some part of me does have to see her, Em. Even if it's only to get an explanation for why she dumped me fourteen years ago." He laughed a little bitterly. "Even if it's just an apology without the explanation."
Emma still looked doubtful. "And where are you going to meet her?" she asked.
"Tetsuya's."
Emma whistled softly. "Tetsuya's! Jake, the woman doesn't deserve to go to dinner with you at a place like that, let alone out with you in the first place!"
"Relax," Jake reassured. "Caroline's paying."
"Even stranger," Emma mused out loud. "Paying for dinner at Tetsuya's with your ex? Maybe she really does want your forgiveness... or maybe she wants you back."
The thought had crossed Jake's mind.
Emma glanced at him. "You're not seriously going to get back with her, just because she takes you dinner at a fancy restaurant?" she blurted in disbelief.
"What? Where are you getting this from?" Jake protested, as he pulled into Emma's driveway and switched off the ignition.
Emma looked up with a start. She'd been so wrapped up in their discussion that she hadn't even realised that they'd reached her house.
She crossed her arms. She wasn't going anywhere until she figured out what Jake was going to do.
"Jake, you have the softest heart of anyone I know," she said quietly. "I just don't want to see you get hurt again."
Jake swallowed as he contemplated the irony of Emma's statement. Oh, if only she knew how he felt about her secret relationship with Lucas Elton...
"I'm not quite so gullible as you think," he said firmly. "I'm just curious about what she wants, that's all."
Emma smiled as she unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the passenger door. "Good boy," she said approvingly, patting him on the shoulder.
"I expect a full report on everything that happens tonight, you hear?"
"Loud and clear," Jake said with a wink.
XX
Emma stood at her window and watched quietly as Jake pulled out of the driveway. She didn't know why, but she felt distinctly uneasy about Jake having dinner with Caroline that night.
She hoped she was just being paranoid.
Author's Note: Many thanks to Lady Dudley, ToReadandWrite, RhiannonAmidala, iambbq, Stephy-Lou-Clark-Weasley, TheImaginationAddict, SkiCan, Saved4EverAndEver, mintaddiction, Ami4 and moonlight08 for your kind words and continued encouragement. You keep me writing this story.
There are some big events coming up in the next chapter, including Jake and Caroline's dinner date and Lucas' party! Stay tuned. =)
