Starting over Chapter 29

Chapter twenty nine

Ben pulled the woman by her arm into the kitchen and before the door had closed he looked furiously at her “What are you doing here? You died” the woman looked at him “I’m sorry Ben, I didn’t…” “You didn’t what?” he couldn’t believe his eyes. Derek entered the kitchen “Hey Ben, Mark said you wanted to see me” the woman turned around and looked at her other son “You, what are you doing here, we buried you” Derek was just as furious as Ben “I can explain” Fiona looked at her boys “I surely hope so” said Ben “Can I sit?” Fiona nodded towards the stools at the kitchen island “I guess” Ben shrugged his shoulders “Why now, why today?” Derek asked but just as she was going to answer Meg and Sarah came thru the door. “What are you up to?” Meg asked “The party is not in here” Sarah added before the both looked at Fiona. They had seen old photos “Is this…?” Meg looked at Ben “Isn’t she dead?” was Sarah’s question as she took Derek’s hand. “Yes and apparently not” Ben answered both questions “This really isn’t the time or place” Ben said as he didn’t trust Derek who usually wasn’t as diplomatic. Fiona looked at Meg and Sarah “You must be the Cummings’ sisters who owns the hotel” Meg extended her hand “I’m Meg Cummings, this is my sister Sarah” she looked at Sarah who too shook the woman’s hand “Sarah Evans” she said full of self-confidence as she felt Derek’s hand on the small of her back “Sarah’s my wife” Derek explained with both pride and hurt in his voice “I’m Fiona Douglas” the woman introduced herself “As you’ve guessed I’m Ben and Derek’s mother” she looked again at her sons and got tears in her eyes “I know you probably will have a hard time to forgive me, but I want to tell it all to you. To the four of you” she looked at Meg and Sarah “I know you’re engaged to my Ben Meg” she said and looked then at Sarah “But that I was going to be a grandmother my contacts didn’t tell me” Everyone was silent “if you all let me” she added “Can we talk about this tomorrow?” Meg suggested “I think we’re all let’s say a bit more than shocked” she looked around “Ok then, lunch here at one, I should be done at the hotel by then” Meg said and Fiona looked at them all “Is it ok that I bring my husband and daughter?” “Of course, the more the merrier” Derek said sarcastically.

Meg was the one who walked her to the door “I hope I didn’t ruin your evening, I would have waited if I knew you had a party” Meg smiled “That’s ok, it wasn’t easy for you to know. We’ll sort everything out tomorrow” she closed the door and went back to the kitchen where Ben and Derek were talking about their mother with angry voices. Sarah was trying to calm them down but hadn’t had much luck “Shall we go back to the party before the others start to wonder” Meg said and pushed Ben and Derek to the door as she looked over the shoulder and nodded towards the fridge for Sarah to take the cake out. The party went on but not as long as Meg had thought, maybe the guests too felt the tension both Ben and Derek carried. It was before midnight when Ben and Meg went to bed “Ben” Meg spoke softly to him “Please talk to me, tell me how you’re feeling” Ben sat up in bed and took her hands “Betrayed” was his first word “angry, disappointed and” he took a deep breath “so happy that you were there with me” Meg lent forward and kissed him softly “I’m always here for you, don’t ever forget that”. They talked a little more and then fell asleep close together.

The next morning Meg was at the hotel already at seven am. She had to catch the chef as soon as he arrived and ask him to prepare lunch for take away. Around nine a man in his early 60’s with red-ish hair came up to the reception disk “May I help you?” Meg asked “Yes please I’m in suite 434, Douglas, and we need some extra towels” Meg looked at the computer “Sure Mr Douglas, I’ve got the cleaning staff on that floor as we speak so it will be taken care of at once. Will you need it for the rest of you stay?” “That would be nice, both my wife and daughter uses a lot, hair, body… you know” Meg smiled “I understand. I will see to it that you get extras the full stay. Anything else I can help you with?” “No, thanks, that was all” Meg lifted the phone to informed the cleaners. When she sat back down she realized ‘Douglas… that must be Fiona’s husband… and the woman who called and book her daughter’.

Meg came home just in time to put the food on plates and reheat what needed to be reheated. Ben was nowhere to be found. She only hoped he’d be back in time. Quickly she set the table and then changed into a nice summer dress instead of her business suite, she was just walking down the stairs when the doorbell rang. When she opened it there was a woman her own age with red hair “Hi, is this Ben Evans’ place?” she said with a Scottish accent “Yes, who are you?” Meg didn’t really like surprises when she was rushed. “I’m Annie…Annie Douglas, my mother said to meet her and daddy here” Meg smiled “You’re Annie, come on in, I’m Meg” she stepped aside and showed Annie to the sitting area “Can I offer you something to drink” Meg walked towards the bar “Just some water please, I still feel the effects of flying” Annie answered “Jet lag isn’t very fun” Meg remembered back when she came to Sunset Beach after her vacation. “So, is my ‘brother’ around?” Annie asked and made quotes with her fingers. “Sorry, Ben’s not home yet, I hope he soon will be” Meg walked over to the table to fix some last minute settings. “So, how do you find Sunset Beach so far?” she asked “It seems like a nice city, I’ve found the cutest little shop just around the corner from the hotel” Annie said “Oh you did, that’s my friend Tina from Sweden who runs it. It’s mine and Sarah’s” “It is, I really liked it” “I will” Meg promised and went to open the door as the bell rang again, this time it was Fiona and her husband who Meg recognized from the morning “Meg, this is Del Douglas my husband” Fiona introduced “Nice to meet you again Mr Douglas, I would have introduced myself this morning if I’d known it was you” Del shook Meg’s hand “No worries Miss Cummings” Meg smiled “Please call me Meg” she looked over at Annie “All of you” Fiona looked around and saw the table “You shouldn’t have gone to so much trouble Meg” “I didn’t, I brought it home from the hotel” she started to get worried, neither Ben nor Derek and Sarah had turned up yet “Will you excuse me while I make a phone call” she said and walked into the kitchen. She called next door, but there were no answer so she quickly called Sarah’s cell phone “We’re on the way” Sarah answered “I had a doctor’s appointment that I forgot to tell you about yesterday, we should be there in 10 minutes” “Good, can you ask Derek if he’s talked to Ben, I can’t seem to find him. He’s not answering any phones and Mark said he hadn’t been in at either the Java Web or his downstairs office” Meg heard Sarah ask Derek and the answer too. “Well hurry the two of you, the Douglas’ are already here” Meg hung up and went to her guests. “Derek and Sarah should be here in just a few minutes” Meg told them “Can I offer you two something to drink?” she looked at Fiona and Del “Not for me” Fiona said as Del shook his head. At that moment Ben came thru the terrace door, all sweaty from his run. “There you are” Meg looked at him a little disappointed “Our lunch guests have arrived” Ben saw his mother, a man and a woman just a few years younger than himself. “Give me ten minutes and I’ll be back down” he said and took the stairs two steps a time.

Meg and Sarah did their best to keep the conversation going thru lunch. Ben and Derek were no help, they weren’t exactly sulking but they didn’t contribute with anything. When Meg had served the coffee she sat down and looked at Fiona “So, I’ve not know Ben and Derek for that long, but right now they’re just being plain stubborn. Of course you are all hurt here, but please Fiona can you tell us?” “Of course I can and will” she looked around the table, at her husband and daughter, both her sons and the women in their lives. “What I’m going to tell might shock you some, but some you will find you understand” this she said looking at Ben and Derek “I will start at the summer/early autumn where Ben and Derek just had turned 3. I was still married to their father and well it’s not secret he was an alcoholic” she took a deep breath “Do you remember that you spent a lot of time with aunt Louise?” “Vaguely” Ben answered. “Anyways, I was never truly happy in the marriage to your father, but I stayed for you both” she looked with sad eyes at her sons “I don’t know what would have happened to you otherwise. I asked for divorce once, but got to know that I’d never get to see you and I couldn’t bare that” Del put his hand on hers in support, he knew the full story. After a quick look at him Fiona continued “Well I met Del at a New Year’s Party and one thing lead to another. When I realized I was pregnant it was too late to do anything but carry on, so I let you boys stay with my aunt and left to stay with Del in Scotland. I had my baby in the end of September and it’s Annie” she smiled at her daughter, who knew some of the story but not all. Fiona took a zip of her water glass “I couldn’t keep Annie near me with you boys, I didn’t know what your father would do. So I let Annie grow up with Del and it broke my heart not to have all my children with me all the time” “But why did you fake your own death, didn’t you think it would hurt Derek and Ben” Sarah asked “Of course I knew they would be hurt and it took a really long time before I set my plans in action. You see, Albert, that’s their father was still alive and although we didn’t live together we were still married” she looked at Ben and Derek “You know he wasn’t around much and that I chose to live with aunt Louise when you both grew up and went to college and then here to the US” they both nodded “I knew you both could cope on your own, and I needed to be close to Annie” she held out her hand and Annie took it and nodded “Annie got cancer that I’m so happy that she’s now cured from and the easiest way to be with her was to ‘die’ in England and go live with Del and Annie in Scotland under a fake name. I was after all still married” “So, how come you’re here now?” Ben asked “Well, I got the news just a couple of months ago that your father had passed away. Was there anyone who contacted you both?” they shook their heads “When I heard Del and I returned to England and started sorting everything out and when I was ‘alive’ again we got married in Scotland and then we decided we needed to come here and talk to you both”

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