CHAPTER 11

Six years later...

"Mom!" The voice shouting up the stairs is earnest and impatient and I smile as I hear it as the tone is so similar to the one I have often heard coming from my husband.

I put down the manuscript I am currently reading and trying to make notes on and leaving my study I stand at the top of the stairs and I look over the stairwell.

"Yes Theo, what's the matter?" I ask, I can't help it but the smile grows wider at the sight of my eldest son who is standing at the bottom of the stairs with his hands on his hips, as he really is a miniature version of his father.

"I can't find my phone," he says angrily as he looks up at me.

I wonder what exactly he expects me to do about that as when Christian bought him the cell phone, he was told that it was his responsibility and if he lost it, it would not be replaced.

"Well look for it then – it will be where you left it!" I say as I retreat back to my office and carry on ploughing through the manuscripts.

Christian had only relented and bought Theo a phone for security reasons because he wanted to join the after-school athletics club. He is only 12 but is a seriously competitive athlete. He is tall for his age and is maturing rapidly; my baby boy is growing up.

As I settle down and pick up the manuscript that I am trying to read the door bursts open and Phoebe storms in, she is clearly agitated about something so once again I put down the manuscript and turn my full attention to her.

"Yes, Phoebe what can I do for you?" I ask patiently as I look at my 10-year-old daughter, she tosses back her long copper hair. She is so beautiful, all of my children have Christian stamped all over them, but Phoebe's eyes are unnervingly like Christian's, the same shade of grey which at the moment are sulky and miserable.

"Mom I really don't want to go to Ava's party, just because she is my cousin doesn't mean I have to like her," she says as she scowls at the thought.

I sigh, "Phoebe I am not going through this again, we are all going to Ava's party, it is her birthday, she is family and as such we help her celebrate".

"But mom" Phoebe whines.

I feel my temper rise, Ava and Phoebe were always very close when they were younger but recently things have not been good between them, I put it down to the fact that they are both so similar in temperament and they clash, neither one willing to admit when they are wrong.

"Enough!" I snap, I have had it with Phoebe's tantrums, god help us when she gets into her teenage years as she has been going on 15 since she was about 7. She tuts loudly and I shake my head as she flounces out of the room without another word, and I return my attention to my work once more and pick up the manuscript again.

A few moments later I put it down again and I sigh and give up my work as a bad job as I hear the front door slam and a sound resembling a herd of elephants thundering up the stairs. I wait and the next moment the door flies open and Isobel and Alex are charging towards me, each a ball of excitement desperate to tell me about their day at school.

From what I can grasp from the frantic gabbling Izzy has got all her spellings right and got a sticker and Alex got a star for a picture that he drew. I kiss them both and congratulate them and before I can say anything else off they whirl to change slamming the door shut behind them. I pause and listen wondering if anything else is going happen when I realise that is all, I try again and pick up the manuscript I have been trying to read and I start again.

There is a knock and my door opens again; now what? I turn to look and I smile as I see Gail standing there smiling at me, with a mug of steaming tea.

"I thought you might like this," she says kindly.

"Gail you are a lifesaver!" I grin and I stand to take the mug from her. "Thank you" I add after I take a sip.

I sit down again and sigh and as I sip my tea I try for the fifth time to work, as I pick up the manuscript once more, my phone rings, I shake my head and the urge to giggle is overwhelming, I pick up my phone and smile when I see Christian's name on the screen.

"Hello," I say.

"Ana, I have to work late I have to take a conference call from the shipyard in Taiwan, so I won't be home until about 7 ish."

"Ok fine, I'll let Gail know," I say a little sharper than I had planned to say it.

"Ana, what's wrong?" Christian has picked up on it and now sounds worried.

"Nothing, I am just trying to work and at this moment I have been reading the same line in the manuscript I am supposed to be reviewing 5 times, because I keep getting interrupted," I say and as soon as the words leave my mouth I immediately regret my outburst and want to stuff them back in.

"Well I'm sorry to have disturbed you" Christian replies haughtily. He sounds hurt, and I regret snapping at him.

"I'm sorry Christian, I am just feeling a little stressed at the moment I'm sorry I took it out on you," I say desperately trying to make things right again.

There is silence for a moment then when Christian speaks again it is in that low seductive tone which never fails to arouse me.

"Well you know I have an excellent cure for stress when I do come home" he purrs and I feel myself go weak.

"I may hold you to that!" I say "I love you" I add.

"I love you too baby, always" he replies, "See you later" and with that, he is gone.

I stand up and looking once more at the manuscript I decide to give it up and I go down to the kitchen, where Gail is busy preparing something delicious for dinner.

"Gail, Christian is not going to be home until about 7ish, that hasn't messed things up for you has it?"

Gail smiles "Not at all Mrs Grey, not a problem". She is so easy going and unflappable and I don't know what I would do without her, as I am thinking this the words come out of my mouth.

"Thank you; I honestly don't know what I'd do without you," I say sincerely. Gail just smiles at me and looks a little bit embarrassed.

As I walk away Sophie, Taylor's 20-year-old daughter wanders into the kitchen.

"Sophie darling how are you?" I ask as I embrace the beautiful young woman who is standing before me.

"I'm good thanks Ana, Jose is keeping me busy with this new campaign, I just thought I'd drop by and see my dad and Gail, where is dad?"

"I assume he's with Christian at Grey House, Christian has just phoned to say he is working late and won't be back till about 7 so I'm sure you will find him over there". I say

Sophie looks confused, "Oh, ok but I've just come from there and Andrea told me that Mr Grey had left the office for the afternoon and that my dad had gone with him".

"Oh" I reply and my mind starts working overtime, Christian has never lied to me before, what's going on, I try and keep calm, there must be some reasonable explanation – one which I cannot see at the moment, but my mind is running riot.

Sophie looks at me and must see my confusion and she looks uncomfortable, "she could have got it wrong," she offers lamely as the explanation.

I nod, knowing that is highly unlikely as Andrea is nothing but efficient and knows exactly what is going on. I push away the thoughts I am having and turn my attention back to Sophie.

"Anyway Sophie what's this new campaign?" I want a distraction and decide Sophie is the person to provide it. When she left school, she went to college and studied photography and advertising and when she graduated Jose was so impressed by her level of competence he had offered her a job as his assistant at the advertising company he works for.

"Baby food," she says, "I can't go into too much detail it's a new line and a bit hush-hush, can't think why, but it is" she shrugs.

I nod and smile, "Well as lovely as it is to catch up I have to get on," I say, I can't wait to get away now as I can't help wondering about where Christian is. Just then the door opens and Theo comes in for a drink.

"Sophie!" he exclaims "How are you?"

"Hi, Theo I'm good how's school?" Sophie replies grinning at Theo.

"Usual," he says with a sullen look as he helps himself to some water out of the fridge.

Sophie laughs, "Well stick with it and don't let them grind you down!"

Theo laughs "I won't," he says as he grins back at her.

I hear a buzzing noise and Theo rummages in his pocket and pulls out his phone.

"Oh, so you found it then?" I say staring at the phone in his hand.

"Yeah it was in my bag all the time," he says dismissively as he stares at the screen at the text he has just received. Then without another word, he wanders out of the room texting rapidly.

It is 7:20 when Christian finally returns home, he comes in and kicks his shoes off and he yanks off his tie, and jacket. He sits with a sigh and smiles at me.

I just stare at him, and his face drops "Ana what's wrong?" he says leaning forward his grey eyes fixed on mine.

I decide not to beat around the bush "Why did you lie to me?" I say shortly.

He freezes "When?" he asks, he looks angry and hurt at the accusation.

"Tonight when you rang to say you would be late because of a conference call to Taiwan, yet Sophie arrived here about 2 minutes later looking for Taylor and said she had been told by Andrea you both had left for the day".

Christian sighs, "We had left, I got a call about a problem in Taiwan and had to turn the car around and go back to the office so I could set up the video conference call and that's when I called you, we must have missed Sophie that's all" he stares at me, realisation dawning on why I am confronting him. "You thought I was cheating on you?" he asks the shock evident in his voice.

I feel so stupid now, I knew deep down that there would be a reasonable explanation but I allowed all my insecurities free reign and the negativity just took over. I get up from my seat and walk over to him and I don't hesitate I climb into his lap and hold him.

"I'm so sorry," I say, in a really small voice.

He lifts my chin with his finger, so I am looking at him.

"Hey, it's no problem baby, but surely you should know by now that I will never ever cheat on you, there is nobody else, I have never even looked once let alone twice at any other woman, I don't need to because you are my universe, it's only ever been and only ever will be you."

I let his words wash over me and I close my eyes, I really can't believe I actually thought what I did and now I feel incredibly stupid so I kiss him apologetically and he responds leaning down and he deepens the kiss whilst pulling me closer, I hear him groan as I press myself against him.

"God! Will you two get a room!" we both look up and see the disgusted look on Phoebe's face.

"And will you stop being so damn cheeky!" I snap back. Phoebe huffs once more before she flounces out again.

"What's the matter with her?" Christian asks as he watches her go.

I shake my head "She's sulking about Ava's birthday party, she doesn't want to go" I explain.

Christian sighs "well you can hardly blame her, after what Ava and her bratty friends did to her". I know what he is referring to but I look at Christian incredulously, I honestly can't believe such a clever man could be so dense at times.

"Christian it was proved Phoebe was as much to blame as Ava," I say as I start remembering back to the problem which had caused all the latest unpleasantness.

Phoebe had insulted Ava and to get her own back Ava and her friends had locked her in the tools shed in their garden and left her there. Kate and I had gotten the truth out and sorted the matter.

Christian sighs again, "She'll get over it," he says trying to end the subject.

I smile and let it go, I ease myself off of Christians knee and pull him up, "come on let's have dinner", he yanks me into his arms and spreads a line of kisses down my neck.

"Yes and then afterwards I will release some of that stress you have" he whispers into my neck.

oooOOOooo

Christian and I are lying in bed after he has comprehensively relieved my stress. I am feeling warm and fuzzy now, that is until he turns to me and I can see the hurt in his eyes, which makes me immediately on edge once more.

"Did you really believe I'd lied to you?" he asks.

"No... I don't know, I... oh I don't know I have been feeling out of sorts for a few days now and over-reacting to situations which normally I would handle with ease" I stare into his eyes and place my hand on his cheek, "I'm sorry" I say.

He smiles and pulls me on top of him, "Show me how sorry you are" he says with a wicked grin.

I grip his shoulders and lift myself before lowering down on to his waiting erection; I can't believe he is ready to go again so quickly.

Two hours later I am lying staring at my husband, he is now in his early 40's but his body is still as toned and beautiful as when I first met him, and his sexual appetite is still as insatiable. I lie in his arms and we slowly drift off to sleep.

The next morning I awaken and Christian is wrapped around me, making me hot and I frown, we haven't woken up like this for years, when we were first together it was a regular occurrence when he thought I would leave him after a fight. I sigh as I realise that my irrational behaviour yesterday must have upset him more than he was letting on, I gently stroke his arm and he rouses and kisses me on the neck.

"Good morning beautiful," he says smiling at me.

I smile and place a kiss on his nose, "Good morning my sexy wonderful husband" I say grinning at him.

"Hmm, sexy and wonderful eh? I like that" he says with a grin, and he pulls me closer.

There is a knock at the door; it has always been a rule in our house that the children knock before entering our bedroom when we are both in it, for obvious reasons.

"Yes" I call and the door opens slowly and standing there is our 8-year-old daughter Isobel.

She is a female version of her father, and at this moment she is dressed in a long pink princess dress, and tiara and she runs straight to Christian. There has always been a special bond between Isobel and Christian, all our children adore and idolise him, but Isobel is totally a daddy's girl and she can twist him around her little finger in a way nobody else can.

"Well good morning Princess, you look very lovely this morning," Christian says with a smile as he lifts her on to the bed, "What can I do for you?" he adds.

"I'm ready to go!" she says simply.

"Go where darling?" Christian asks.

"Ava's party" she says firmly.

Christian laughs, "Well that's great, but it's not until this afternoon, so I would suggest you wear something else this morning as you don't want to spoil your pretty dress do you?"

"Ok," she says simply and plants a sloppy kiss on Christian's cheek before jumping down and disappearing. As much as she can manipulate Christian to do what she wants, she adores her father so much that anything he says is law.

I am smiling as I watch her go, of all our children she is by far the easiest. Teddy or Theo as he now insists on being called is getting so ambitious and competitive in everything he does and he has to be on top at all costs. I am concerned that that ambition and drive to be the best will turn ruthless as he gets older. Christian and I are exceedingly proud of him though, he is only 12 but is working to a level of a 15-year-old and clever doesn't even begin to describe him and his passion and talent for athletics is astounding to watch as he wipes the floor with his peers. He has had an advantage though, Christian had one of the basement rooms converted into a home gym, for himself and Theo to work out, and Theo has been training with Claude since he was 7. I had lost count of the times they would appear sweaty and hot from their workout and Christian would shake his head in awe and say 'that boy is a machine!'

Then we have Phoebe and what can I say about her, she was a sweet-natured little girl but gradually she appears to be turning into a brat of epic proportions, her irrational jealousy of Isobel is disturbing and very worrying, in fact, you could say she doesn't really get on with anyone, she is confrontational and if things are not going Phoebe's way Phoebe lets you know about it as she kicks off and kicks off big time. Then finally there is Alexander, now 6 and a live wire, he is never still he always has to be doing something and when he enters a room you know about it as he is a whirlwind. He is my special little boy, the bond that Isobel and Christian seem to have is what Alex and I also have. I wouldn't say favourites, as that is wrong and I would never choose one child over the others, and I love all my children dearly and equally but after what I went through when I was pregnant with him there is definitely a special bond between us, not only did I keep him safe when I miscarried his twin brother and then delivered him healthy and to term, but there is something there which pulls me to him, it's like the umbilical cord between us has never been cut and just like how Izzy always gravitates towards Christian, he will always come to me first.

I still remember clearly and with dread that awful dream I had that he had died of cot death when he was a baby I had never had a dream so realistic before and thankfully I have never had another since and I never want to again, I still break out in a cold sweat when my mind wanders back to that time.

I am pulled from my thoughts by Christian who is gazing at me.

"Welcome back, what were you thinking about?" he asks.

"Our children" I reply with a smile.

oooOOOooo

Christian is sitting eating his breakfast as I wander in and join him. Gail appears, "Good morning Mrs Grey what can I get you for breakfast?" she asks as she smiles kindly at me.

I am suddenly feeling hungry, really hungry "You know what Gail, I would love an omelette with cheese and mushrooms, please".

Christian stares at me in shock, his forkful of omelette has frozen mid-air as he gapes at me, his face breaks into a huge grin, he is clearly pleased with what he has just heard, as he is always complaining that I don't eat enough.

"Certainly Mrs Grey, coming right up!" Gail says as she bustles away.

Theo comes in with wet hair and a towel around his shoulders, Christian smiles at him, "Did you enjoy your workout son?" he asks.

"Yep, and I beat my time for 200 metres, I will destroy everyone at the heats next week!" he says with a grin.

He goes to the fridge and opens a carton of orange and pours himself a huge glass full, and sits beside Christian.

"Are you coming to watch dad?" he asks.

"Try keeping me away" Christian replies.

Just then our attention turns to the whirlwind which has just entered the room, Alex and Isobel are barrelling in and Isobel runs to Christian and stops dead when she sees Theo sitting next him, Theo grins at her and moves over she flings her arms around him and then climbs up on the chair Theo has just vacated.

Phoebe appears looking sulky and sits herself down with a dramatic sigh, I smile at her and she turns her head away, I sigh and shake my head. Alex comes to sit with me gabbling nineteen to the dozen about Ava's party.

"Will Noah be there?" he asks suddenly, I glance at Christian and he shrugs.

"I don't know darling" I reply honestly and I take another shot look at Christian before taking a sip of tea.

After Elliot had self-destructed and had an affair which resulted in Noah his marriage to Kate had inevitably broken up. It was also a bit uncomfortable that the woman he had slept with was Susannah, who was one of Christian's ex-subs, not that anyone other than us and Kate knew that fact. To be fair though Susannah has been a model of discretion, dignity and maturity over the years though, never letting on about her past involvement with Christian.

Kate and Susannah had ironically become friends bonding over how badly Elliot had treated them both. He has tried time and time again to straighten himself out and be a good father but he always managed to screw it up and let his children down somehow.

He had been devastated when Kate refused to take him back, and just couldn't separate being a father to Ava and Zoe from the relationship he wanted with Kate. He isn't a deadbeat dad as he has contributed financially towards all his children and they have never had to go without materially but he is never there for them emotionally like Christian is with ours.

Alex looks at his father, "Why doesn't Noah live with Ava and Zoe? he is their brother after all" I almost choke on my omelette, and glance at Christian who looks uncomfortable. It seems that it's a question all the children want answering, as they are all staring expectantly at Christian waiting for him to reply.

"Uncle Elliot is Noah's dad, but Aunty Kate isn't his mom," Christian says eventually.

"Who is his mum?" Alex asks.

"Another lady" Christian replies in clipped tone. I can tell by the expression on his face he doesn't want this to carry on, so I try a distraction on Alex.

"What are you planning to wear this afternoon Alex?" I ask.

The technique was successful and Alex happily tells me about his planned outfit. I glance at Phoebe she has a smug expression on her face, she has been listening intently to the conversation and I can tell that she is plotting something. This is confirmed for me when we don't hear another complaint from Phoebe about not wanting to go and it's making me nervous; I corner Christian in his study mid-morning.

"Christian I'm worried," I say as I close the door.

He is on his feet and coming towards me anxiety written all over his face, "What's wrong?" he asks.

I sigh, "It's Phoebe, after that conversation this morning at breakfast, about Noah, she has been... I don't know... different."

Christian nods "Yes I had noticed that, she gives you the impression she is up to something."

"It's not just me then?" I say in relief.

"No, it's not but don't worry I'll keep an eye on her," he says pulling me closer and planting a kiss on my forehead. I reach up and grab his face and pull his mouth towards mine. The kiss deepens instantly and his hands are all over me as he pulls to towards him I feel him harden against me. I still have trouble believing the effect I have on this man sometimes, not to mention the effect he has on me.

I brazenly reach down and unzip his jeans and I hear him suck in a sharp breath as I reach into his boxer briefs and take him in my hand stroking him gently but firmly.

"Fuck" he moans, gripping me tighter and thrusting his hips forward.

I let go and easing myself away from him, I lower myself to my knees.

"Ana" Christian moans as I grasp him again and let my tongue glide slowly over the glistening head of his penis, as his hands move to grip my head I swallow him and I smile inwardly as he lets out a primal guttural groan.

I start moving with purpose, taking him to the back of my throat and withdrawing, sucking hard, I let my tongue caress him and I look up to see the unadulterated pleasure on his face.

"Ana" Christian hisses after a few more moment, "Shit I'm going to come, I don't want to come in your mouth" he says desperately.

I ignore him and keep my steady rhythm, I feel him swell and lengthen and then jerk in my mouth, as he does so he freezes holding himself still and holding my head in a vice like grip. I feel the warmth and taste the saltiness as I swallow reflexively taking everything he gives me.

I'm not sure what happens next but the next thing I realise is when I am on my back on his desk and he is looming over me.

"Your turn," he says ominously and then he lowers his head between my legs.