Chapter 27
She might've been watching the screen as the images flashed by (she couldn't even be bothered to channel hop), but C.C. didn't think she'd been paying attention to a single word that anybody had said on the tv for...well, over an hour. Maybe even longer than that – two, three hours? She didn't know, or really remember.
It was hard to concentrate, after having not slept. She hadn't been able to stop thinking about everything all night, and that had left her as tired as she was miserable. She hadn't even made it out of her short silk pyjamas that morning, and it was well past breakfast time.
She shrugged off that valiant but ultimately pitiful attempt at shaming herself into some self-respect. Who cared, even if she hadn't gotten dressed? She could've slipped into her oldest sweatpants and had her only exercise of the day by walking back and forth between her seat and the fridge, it wouldn't change anything.
It wasn't like she had anywhere to be, either, other than the sofa she was currently lounging on in the Brightmore household's living room. She had no job to go to while she was on vacation, no gossip sessions with Marie while the older woman was still mad at her...
No Niles to talk it all through. Not that she could imagine he'd want to, even if he was around. Why would he? There wasn't any point – he'd moved on. He was marrying Kathleen and getting everything he could out of it.
He'd be getting everything, while she got nothing. Apart from maybe an extra pound or several around her hips from all the chocolate, takeout and nacho cheese she'd already self-prophesied appearing in her future.
After all, it wasn't like she'd be needing to stay in shape. Her days of looking attractive were over, unlike Kathleen, who would probably keep that bimbo's body with any amount of personal training available and a ton of money exchanged with a good plastic surgeon. Men would be looking at the redhead years from now and they'd still see a woman they wouldn't mind getting to know. But C.C.? She'd had two kids and nature did not take kindly to that fact, so why would anybody else?
Besides, only one of them needed to make sure that she'd still fit in a wedding dress after eating...
It was over. That was all there was to be said. She'd been an idiot and a coward, and she hadn't listened when people had tried to turn her around to face the truth. And now, she was paying for it.
She'd get to pay for it all over again on the day itself, when she'd have to get her girls ready to walk down the aisle before Kathleen. And it wasn't like she would be able to avoid it – Mia and Lottie would obviously have to be flower girls because they were the groom's daughters!
She'd have to get her girls ready in pretty little dresses, with their hair done nicely and clean shoes, clutching a little bouquet or arrangement or something...all for a wedding where she knew she wouldn't be welcome, let alone...anything else.
She'd just get to hear about it later. How Niles had stared adoringly as his beautiful beloved bride glided her way down towards him, the very picture of a man who'd found a new dream – a new everything to take the place of the nightmare he'd originally wanted. They'd say their vows with tears in their eyes and hitched breaths in their throats, and celebrate their love with the people they loved...
The one part she wouldn't hear about from the girls would be the wedding night. She wouldn't hear about it from anybody – she could do a fine job imagining it by herself; how utterly bewitched Niles would be by whatever Kathleen decided to not wear, all the sweet nothings he'd whisper as they moved between the sheets, all the playful giggles coming from Kath–
No, she had to stop. Not only did the image want to make her vomit, it also made her want to launch the remote through the television screen. And the last thing she needed on top of every piece of crap dumped on her recently was the bill for a new one.
The new Mrs Brightmore would probably insist on it, and of course her darling hunk of a husband would oblige...
Instead, she used the building adrenaline from the anger to pull herself upright and off the sofa. If she was going to be awake for the rest of the day (though the idea of going back to bed was tempting), she might as well make coffee.
A few minutes later, she had a steaming cup in her hands and a slightly larger amount of energy than she'd had before. Not to get her wrong, she still felt like she'd been emotionally smeared into the tarmac by a semi-truck, but at least she felt a little less lethargic.
It might actually help her to think a little clea–
SLAM!
"I cannot believe you made me order a taxi to get back here! It cost me nearly two hundred pounds!"
"You honestly thought I was going to let you put one foot in my car?! You're as ignorant as you are unpleasant, and that is an achievement, if I do say so!"
"Unpleasant?!"
"Yes! It's a word those of us educated beyond the mastery of fire invented. It means that people don't like you!"
If she hadn't caught herself in time (slightly scalding her hand in the process, not that she cared), C.C. would've stumbled in surprise and collapsed against the wall.
The door slamming, followed by the quick sound of smaller footsteps running upstairs had been one thing, but the argument clearly raging between Niles and Kathleen? That had completely thrown her!
If anybody had asked if those two people in the other room were getting married, any sane person would've answered with a big, fat no. They sounded like they held nothing but loathing and contempt for one another (actual, not forced or pretended out of pride)! What the hell had happened on this camping trip?! They weren't even due back yet!
Had...had their fighting been so bad that they'd had to come back early...?
Or, as the answer more likely was, had the two little sets of footsteps that had just hurried away upstairs been the last straw?
C.C. nearly let a smirk crack at the corners of the frown she'd been wearing all day. She'd known her girls would give Kathleen hell, and this was proof positive...
She had to look. She had to make herself known, and maybe stop the screaming long enough to get some answers from at least one of them...
She stepped out into the hallway, where Niles had turned away to wrestle off his jacket...and where Kathleen had obviously heard that someone was downstairs...
The redhead's gaze pierced her on sight, narrowed and threatening.
"Oh, it's you," she sneered. "I thought it might've been someone important."
The moment Niles turned and saw who Kathleen was referring to, he couldn't help but let his jaw drop.
C.C...clad in nothing but short silk pyjamas, baby pink and...a-and matching the colour of her lips perfectly...
No! No, he had to stay away from those sorts of thoughts! That wasn't the way to start off his plan! It was too forward, and could easily come across as disrespectful! Ungentlemanly!
A...a true gentleman would never...never think about the curves those pyjamas were hiding, nor about running his hands over them...or beneath them...
He had to snap himself out of it! He had no right to even be letting those thoughts into his head! He didn't know what she would say, when he eventually asked if they could try again. What if she soundly rejected him?! He couldn't harbour thoughts like that – or the feelings that came with them – after such a turn of events!
He had to keep his mind on the things he knew for sure. Such as the fact that Kathleen had just openly insulted C.C.!
What made her think that she had the right to abuse the mother of his children like that?! Especially seeing as she wasn't even going to be their stepmother – she was nothing to Lottie and Mia, and yet she felt the right to interfere with their lives and spit at whomever they wanted!
"I beg your pardon?!" he demanded to know from the redhead. "Just who the hell are you calling "not important"?!"
He was fuming, and the dark look on Kathleen's face only made it worse.
"The unimportant cow who just wandered into our conversation, that's who!"
Niles felt like he could've exploded when she said that. How dare she say such things about C.C.?! Especially when the only "unimportant cow" that he could see - and had probably, truly met - in his entire life was Kathleen herself!
He wished he'd never met her; that she'd never taken a job working for him or sullied his restaurant with her advertising. And, if by some horrendous twist of fate their paths had still managed to cross, he wished he'd stayed away.
He'd have saved himself and his family a lot of trouble. And even as he thought about it, he realised just how deeply he owed them all an apology for inflicting Kathleen on them without warning or means of objecting.
They would have been fine, had she not come into the picture. Lottie already had a mother, who could never be replaced or moved on from. And he understood now that he'd have survived the loneliness, whether it felt good or not.
Besides, being alone was far better than being with that.
He turned towards the hateful woman, repulsed even by the thought of having to speak to her. But he did it anyway.
"There's only one unimportant cow in this room that I can see," he snarled, thrusting one finger out and pointing up the stairs. "And she's about to get her things and get the hell out of my house!"
Kathleen responded with the kind of "ffft" spitting noise that would usually be found coming from angry or feral cats. Though to even make the comparison was rather insulting to the animals, as they weren't supposed to belong to a species that had evolved beyond basic sentience.
"Fine!" she eventually snapped, starting to storm up the stairs like a child who was having a temper tantrum.
She did, however, pause about half-way and turn around again to keep on berating him.
"I'm keeping all the jewellery!"
She probably meant it as some kind of threat, but Niles honestly couldn't care less. He didn't want anything in that house that could be left as a reminder of her. In a passing thought, he was actually tempted to burn the bedsheets and buy fresh once she was gone.
But he supposed he'd deal with all of that stuff - that in an event he'd probably later refer to as the Great Exorcism - once the problem had vacated his premises.
"You're welcome to it," he retorted. "I don't want anything in this house that you've touched!"
"Oh whatever," she huffed in return, stomping her way further up towards the bedrooms. "None of it's even that good anyway!"
"Neither was what you did to get your hands on it!"
His shout was met by a slamming door, followed by muffled sounds of things being moved – chucked and bashed about – as Kathleen raked through drawers and off shelves, finding most if not all of her things and probably a few of his own items as well.
Not that he cared much. Anything that got stolen or broken would be a small price to pay for having that awful creature out of his house and out of his life.
Out of all their lives.
He was particularly reminded of that fact when he turned to C.C. and found her there, a look on her face like she'd just witnessed him walking away from
a bomb exploding.
Despite the chaos that had just taken place, he felt oddly calm about all of it, however. It was as though the finality of it all had actually lifted some weight off his shoulders.
That was when he also noticed that C.C. had a mug of coffee in her hands.
"Is there enough water left for another cup?" he asked. "I could do with a drink."
For an endless instant, C.C. merely looked at him, head tilted slightly sideways, almost as if considering him. Then, she wordlessly reached out her hand and offered her own cup, smirking.
"It's spiked – you probably need it more than I do."
Niles, who in any other circumstances would have both questioned and quipped her needing hard liquor before 11 am, gladly took what he was fairly sure was a gift from the Heavens and gulped the steaming cup down in one go.
By the time he was done, both his tongue and throat were screaming, but he didn't really mind. She was right – he did need that. Babcock was, quite evidently, as right as could be.
"Thank you," he rasped, his now empty cup clutched safely in his hands. "I could use the energy."
"Trouble in paradise, I take?" C.C. replied, not trying to disguise her satisfied smirk in the slightest.
From the way she asked and the way she was giving the Cheshire Cat a run for his grinning money, Niles could only confirm the suspicions he'd had that she'd expected all of this to happen. He just didn't know if the girls and their inherited penchant for pranks had been the giveaway, or if he truly had been that blind to something everybody had been able to see.
He heavily suspected the latter, even though the former had obviously played its part. It didn't matter, though – he was grateful anyway. Relieved, and ready for whatever the future (post his burning mouth) would bring.
He hoped it would, at least partially, involve the woman now stood in front of him, waiting for his answer.
Taking in just enough of a breath to try and put out the fire, he screwed up his face dubiously, "I don't ever think I quite made it to Paradise. Dante and Virgil took an awfully long detour down in Hell and...well, I think I got lost down there for a very long time."
A spark appeared in her eyes after he'd finished speaking, and the smirk on her lips softened. Like she was still smug, but there was something in there that had nothing to do with satisfaction over the situation.
It looked – he thought, perhaps too much – like a hope of her own.
"Was that an apology I just heard?" she asked.
"One of many," he answered without any shame whatsoever.
He held back from adding "in the days and weeks to come". He was afraid that she might think he was being purposefully passive aggressive, or somehow being sarcastic about how she'd expect him to grovel for her forgiveness for days afterwards.
Neither of which were true, of course. But Kathleen had pulled those tricks on him, whenever he'd said or done something that had displeased her. She'd accuse him of doing it on purpose, and not speak to him for hours on end, until he practically got down at her feet on his knees and begged (preferably with a shiny trinket in hand).
It left him with a scar he knew would heal. But he had to help it.
Luckily, he had been allowed to take the first steps in that direction, with the help of his girls.
Their pranks really and truly had made him see the light.
And as if on cue, C.C. nodded slowly in understanding, "I see. And what exactly made you decide to do a one-eighty on this little thing you've had going on?"
Niles felt himself starting to smirk a little, and he let his eyes wander up the stairs. He already knew that C.C. knew he wouldn't be looking up to see if Kathleen came back down.
He was looking another direction entirely.
"Let's just say two little girls who inherited their parents' love of practical jokes tore off a blindfold or several," he said. "I had been willing to give that woman every benefit of the doubt, but how could I, when they helped me see her for what she really is?"
"Fair enough. I must say – I'd love to hear all about what they've been up to," replied the blonde, "See how much they got from us."
Niles chuckled. Their girls, although separated by life and some rather unlucky circumstances, were exactly like them. They had their pranking genius, their sharp wit and...well, their mother's beauty.
Not that he would say that to C.C.. Not just yet. He didn't want to come off way too strong and blow his last shot at making things right.
Still, being cautious didn't mean he was going to take things slow. He was done with that – he'd done far too much waiting and that had driven them apart. It was time to act. Act and speak openly, no qualms or roundabout truths.
Ever since becoming a businessman, he'd learnt the value of chasing what one wants with zeal, if necessary. And he knew damn well what he wanted.
This time, he wouldn't let it go without a fight.
Wait. Maybe not fight – they'd done far too much fighting in their lives. Maybe he wouldn't let it go without really trying.
Yes. That was it.
He had to really try, for a change.
"Well, if you'll join me at the restaurant tonight, I'd be glad to spill the beans over a glass of wine and a plate of our best pasta."
Anybody who'd come into the room right at that moment would've heard a pin dropping to the floor. They would've heard the birds twittering in the trees in the back garden.
They would've heard C.C.'s heart missing a beat in her chest.
It was during that beat that she questioned everything.
Was...was he really saying what she thought he was saying? Meaning what she was interpreting? All while she was dressed like some sort of slob, who hadn't given enough of a rat's ass to be in daywear by nearly noon!
He couldn't be, could he? It wasn't possible!
He'd just broken up with Kathleen - the woman he'd been prepared to marry, for worse or even worse - and now it sounded like he was asking her out on a date!
But why? It wasn't as though...he hadn't moved on...
Just like Marie had said he hadn't. And had implied that he would never, no matter how many places he went and people he met, none of it would ever be enough...
The bright blue of his eyes and the memory of what the older woman had said came like two wake-up slaps in a pincer movement; one either side, pinning her in.
But it was the eyes that caught her. She'd tried hard not to think about it before, but they were so much like the sky - bright, open...full of endless possibilities...
And right now they were full of hope for an answer. As was the small smile spreading across his lips...
She had the memory engraved on her flesh of how soft they were, and she tried not to shiver or let her knees buckle. She nearly had to look away, the thought of so much of one of his grins was killing her...!
If the heat in her cheeks was anything to go by, she knew she was done for.
She didn't want to be a coward. Not like Marie had said. And sometimes not being a coward meant throwing all caution to the wind, and taking a chance.
"Alright."
Again, there was a moment in which anybody who had entered would've heard every little sound going on in the place.
They might've even heard the tiny fireworks going off in every part of Niles' mind, heart, body and nervous system as the initial shock wore off and he realised that she had agreed.
She...she really had agreed! He hadn't expected her to say yes – not really. Well, his confidence and plucked up courage had kept him from sinking entirely, but still! She had agreed to go out with him, that night!
And he had to start planning everything to make it the perfect evening. Not too much, obviously – that would do so much more harm than good. But a nice dinner (gourmet food and fine wine), in a beautiful, intimate setting (he knew just where in the restaurant would be best)...that was exactly what was needed.
But he'd need to get the awful shrew he'd nearly married out of the house first. Then he could go and start to make the arrangements.
God, he was nearly shaking just thinking about it!
But he couldn't possibly let her see him quite so...well, excited. She'd wonder if there was something wrong with him, at best, or guess what was really going on, at worst. And if she did that, she might get the wrong impression and think that he was moving even faster than he was intending!
He really didn't want it to put her off.
So, he smiled like he imagined a normal person might, "Excellent. I can get us the best table we have in no time at all...!"
"I should hope so," she said, crossing her arms over her chest, much like she used to do back when they'd worked together at the mansion. "You are the boss, after all."
"Well, I–"
"Who would have ever imagined it?" she cut him off, smirking. "You really didn't need to leave the kitchen to find success in life after all!"
For a split second, Niles' mouth hang uselessly open, no sound quite managing to come through. Had…had Babcock just zinged him? Just like she used to do before their world had spun off its axis?
Just like in the old times…?
The mere thought of it was enough to make Niles' heart skip a beat. Or it would have, had Niles' cardiologist not had his way and inserted a pacemaker after his latest echocardiogram results had been particularly poor. Still, figuratively speaking, it missed several beats.
Zingers – playful ones, at that – were a good sign. A really good sign.
A sign that, even after all that had happened, he could still hope.
And it felt...somehow both comforting and refreshing, to be able to step back into familiar territory. It was like going home, after years of travelling to distant lands with strange customs and foreign tongues, or somewhere he couldn't sleep, or eat, or think straight, without second guessing everything he was doing and feeling like there was a bubble between him and everyone else.
It felt like he had been somewhere he didn't quite belong.
He wasn't going to make that mistake again. Home was where the heart was, after all.
That was why he was stepping back over the threshold like the Prodigal Son, full of the apologies that everyone he loved so richly deserved, and ready to never leave any of it behind again.
Luckily, he knew the perfect way to tell her all of this, without having to wax quite so poetic. Again, he knew he had to set a boundary, and anything that could accidentally be rewritten into a sonnet was, officially, a no-go area.
"Well, we don't all start off with your money to fall back on, you know," he told her, keeping his faintly amused expression. "I'm sure the Royal Vaults of an Ice Queen such as yourself must be continuously overflowing."
"Technically you did start off with my money," she shot back. "But I'll let you have this one – I bet it feels good to be on top just this once!"
Niles went back and forth in his head over what to say to that. He was tempted to say something along the lines of "I have more than enough experience in being on top", but was afraid of something coming out wrong, or badly, or just otherwise interpreted differently to the way she meant. He certainly had enough experience in that department, and he wasn't sure he wanted any more.
But before he could utter any kind of response that wouldn't earn a PG-certificate rating, there came a loud crash from upstairs that sounded like far more trouble and money than it was worth.
From that description alone, it had to have been Kathleen.
And the snap back into the reality of that moment broke whatever spell had been weaving its magic there.
At least, for the time being.
Niles scowled up the stairs, "I suppose I had better go see what the bull broke in the china shop..."
"And I should really take a shower," C.C. said, feeling slightly disgusted with herself. "Maybe put something on..."
Niles nearly told her that there wasn't any need to trouble herself with it, but he held his tongue before it became so loose it dropped out and got him yelled at.
So, he nodded instead, "Yes. Uh...right you are. You know where everything is already, don't you?"
He tried to play it cool as he insisted on walking C.C. up the stairs, when she told him that she had forgotten where the towels were. It was much safer that way – he knew he couldn't and shouldn't be anything less than a gentleman to her, and walking next to her rather than behind her removed even the slightest hint of temptation to look up at the wrong moment.
Something about walking side by side with her felt so...right, at any rate, that any temptation he may have had was...well, put on a back burner. He'd simply use his imagination, and what memories he already had, when he was alone.
His only regret was that, after he'd shown her where they were, he had to go and sort out the screeching leech that was currently robbing-slash-vandalising his property under the guise of packing.
But it had to be done. So, he quickly pointed C.C. in the direction of the airing cupboard, once they had gotten upstairs.
"All the clean towels are in there; feel free to use as many as you need, and put them in the laundry basket when you have."
He thought he could collapse back down the stairs again at the smile he received in return.
"Thank you, Niles."
Mentally reaching out to grab a support, stopping his entire body from immediately turning into jelly, he nodded and smiled in return.
"You are most welcome, Babcock."
A piercing cry of a curse from Kathleen caught their attention again before anything else could be said. And, with a roll of his eyes in C.C.'s direction, he turned on his heel and went to see what the caterwauling was about (if it was about anything in particular that was worth mentioning).
C.C. also turned on her heel, heading for the airing cupboard and starting to smirk as Niles' voice raised the moment he'd opened the door Kathleen was behind.
She picked out her towels as he chewed out the woman who would have been the most awful bride.
And, meanwhile, neither parent noticed the tiny gap in Lottie's bedroom door closing, nor the giggles that followed.
"That was close," Mia whispered, grinning all over her face.
Lottie stifled her giggles, "Extremely...!"
They'd been so sure they'd be caught on the stairs, it was still pumping adrenaline through them to know that they hadn't been. After Kathleen had come up, they'd gone (partially) down to see what all the fuss was about.
They hadn't expected what they'd found. But anybody who asked could be certain they were over the moon about it. The shock of the triumph - their mother accepting their father's offer of a date – had paralysed them so much that they'd nearly been caught eavesdropping!
They'd only just managed to shake themselves out of it and scramble back up before they were discovered. It was just lucky the conversation had continued a little bit upstairs, where they had been able to continue listening in from the comfort of Lottie's room.
And now they knew for sure that they could celebrate. This was a major step forward in the plan.
Their parents were going on a date, and Kathleen was packing all her stuff to move out of their lives.
Things had to really be looking up, from then onwards.