My Son(37)

When they had returned to the villa it was after 6, and Philip had declined the offer of tea looking around at the many people still hooking up lights and setting up equipment.

“Think not” he had said, flashing her a warm smile, before jumping into his sports car and blowing her a kiss, was gone. As she had waved goodbye a voice behind her had made her jump suddenly

“Where have you been?”

Kelly had spun around to come face to face with Marc

“Marc your home early” she had smiled. However, the dark look on his face quickly wiping it from her face as he had scowled at her.

“Was that Phil?” Kelly had nodded

“Is there anything wrong” she had asked in surprise at his mood “Your not normally home this early”

He had once more frowned at her

“I can leave early if I want Miss Brown” he had said stiffly “I wanted to spend some time with my son”

Kelly didn’t understand what the problem was, unsure as to how she had upset him. Had she known then she would have left Max

“I..I didn’t know” she replied “If you had told me I would have left Max with Beth”

This response however, had seemed to somehow make things worse, as his mouth had tightened further as Marc had lifted Max from her arms and strode back into the house.

The rest of the night Marc seemed to totally avoid her, cutting her off when she tried to talk, and Beth had on several occasions flashed her a “what’s wrong with him” look, as she just returned a blank shrug. The only one who seemed to bring out any of his usual good humour was Max with whom he played with happily.

When Max was put to bed, Kelly had made her apologies as she was still full from the meal Philip had treated them to. However, she admitted to herself it had much more to do with not wanting to be with Marc, not understanding what she had done so wrong.

Downstairs Beth had hung back until Kelly had left, before rounding on Marc

“You are totally out of order Marc”

“Keep out of it Beth” he had stated flatly as she had ignored him

“She is a nice girl, not like those others you bring home.” before she went silent; suddenly realising that for the past month there hadn’t been any other women

Looking at him closely she had continued

“You’ll drive her away if you keep behaving like this”

Marc had looked up at that

“Maybe that would be for the best” he said as Beth Green had scowled at him

“I don’t think you mean that” she had said, as he had interrupted her, his voice angry

“And I think that she should stay away from Phil, he’s hurting right now, doesn’t need some little gold digger to confuse him”

Beth had gasped in shock

“She isn’t….”

But before she could finish he had jumped up from the table, pushing aside the untouched meal she had prepared and angrily marching out to the gardens.

“Keep out of it Beth”

Beth Green had cleared up the table a solemn look on her face.

The next day Phil had phoned to let her know that all of the arrangements were in order. He had organised flowers and for the ring to be poured into her wine glass with champagne as he got down on one knee to propose.

Kelly was surprised at the level of detail he had gone to, and told him that if it had been her she would have married him on the spot. Pleased at this he had wrung off happy with himself.

She had just hung up the receiver as Beth had appeared by her side

“Was that Phil” she asked as Kelly had nodded smiling at her

“Yes…Beth would you mind watching Max for a couple of hours. I need to do something in the village”

Beth had smiled in return

“No problem honey, everything here is pretty much organised”

The errands Kelly had, included picking up the picture she had put in the framers the previous day with a request for a quick framing job. She had also taken her digital camera to the drugstore where she had finally had copies printed of the contents, amongst those the pictures of Max’s birthday. After completing all her tasks she had sat at one of the local coffee shops and ordered a cake and latte. Enjoying these and the feel of the sun beating down on her she had looked through the pictures, smiling at the memory of that wonderful day. She had frowned once more remembering the previous night and the way Marc had behaved, for the life of her not able to think what she had done to annoy him so much. With a little doubt growing in her she had remembered Trudy’s diaries describing how Marc De Santo was well known for his boredom level where women were concerned. But surely this was a different situation.

Frowning, flashes of Max and Marc had crossing her mind. Over the past month they had grown closer and closer together the bond between them so strong now. What if Marc had only had her come to make it easier for him to get closer to his son? What if he now felt close enough to lose her from the equation, a cold feeling gripping at her heart. No he couldn’t be that cold hearted she told herself. The story of his mother’s death and the way it had affected him had explained his invitation to her, but perhaps she had been wrong. Kelly bit down on her lip the seed of doubt planted in her mind. What else could explain his behaviour to her?