Bella (29 page)

Mother was right and
I knew that
’
s what I had to do no matter how hard things were.

I wasn
’
t any happier, mother told me things I didn
’
t
want to hear but she was being truthful. We walked back to the house.

   Once back at home
I decided to pack up as many things as I could and return to Sandy Cove the
next day. I couldn
’
t face telling Bella, but I knew she would never forgive me if I
just left without a word. The lights were on at Bella
’
s
house when we got there. I could see her standing in the living room and
Claudio had his arm around her. The feeling in my stomach made me feel
physically sick. When we went in Bella went and put the tea on. Violet was
playing her violin, and the other children were in bed. I followed Bella into
the kitchen and stood by the window.She guessed something was wrong.

  
“
Why weren
’
t you here when I got back from the airport Simon?
”
I tried to get the words out but every time I did I couldn't.

  
“
You
’
re leaving Simon, I know you are?
”
She said with a heavy heart.

   
“
Bella you know I have to, I can't stay here watching you play happy
families. We both know we can never be together and that's why I can
’
t stay here any longer. Please believe me.
 
I love you with all my heart and I always will no matter where you
are.
”

I hated seeing Bella
upset and part of me wanted to stay, but I knew that would be selfish on my
part. I hugged her and kissed away her tears. I looked into her beautiful blue
eyes then I went upstairs and gave the children a kiss.

When I came back
downstairs mother had bid her goodbyes and had gone out to the car. I put the
suitcases in the car and I couldn
’
t wait to leave. If I
was going to leave I knew I had to do it there and then.

Mother must have
felt awkward on the journey to Sandy Cove. I never spoke once and eventually
she fell asleep. The roads were empty so the journey was quick. We stopped off
to get some fuel and I needed a coffee. My eyes were heavy from tiredness and
crying. Mother got the coffee and something to eat.

  
“
I can't face food mother, my stomach is churning.
”

   
“
You will feel better if you eat just a little something.
”
Mothers are always right, so I ate my toast.

   When we arrived
at Sandy Cove we decided to stay at a hotel for a few days. We didn't want to
stay with grandmother and Auntie Caroline. We found a small bed and breakfast
down a side street not far from the promenade. I was so tired and needed to try
and get some sleep. Every time I closed my eyes I could see Bella and the look
on her face when I left. I lay there tears choking me; I am a man but I sobbed
like a baby until I fell asleep. I think exhaustion got the better of me in the
end.

I woke up to mother
knocking on my door.

  
“
Simon, Simon, are you there?
”
 
I had to laugh.

  
“
Yes I'm here mother. Be with you in five. We went downstairs for
breakfast. Mother had a slice of toast and I had pancakes and maple syrup.

  
“
I feel better after that.
”
I admitted.

We went to the
estate agents to look at properties to rent. Luckily my house in Lighthouse
Cove could be rented out until I decided what I was going to do.

We found a nice
little house just outside Sandy Cove and went to view it. The garden was
amazing and I thought it would even be nice to get a dog. The sitting room was
quite small, but the kitchen was massive and had a large dining area with patio
doors opening on to the garden. Upstairs there were four bedrooms, one en
suite. We decided to take it. Over the next few days while we were waiting to
sign the tenancy agreement we stayed at the bed and breakfast.

    Auntie Caroline
met up with us for coffee and decided to give mother some of the money which
rightfully belonged to her.

  
“
You do know your mother won
’
t want to give Barbra
any money, that
’
s why she kept her locked up.
”
I
said to Caroline
.
She looked at my mother.

  
“
This money belongs to you Barbara, so I will make sure you get some.
The return on the hotel itself has made enough money. We have a few million.
”
I nearly choked on my coffee.

  
“
You
’
re saying you have all this money, and some of it belongs to mother,
yet she hasn't really seen any of it.
”
  Caroline took out
her cheque book and wrote a cheque out.

  
“
This is for now Barbara; I will sort out some more for you later.
”
I had a quick peek at the cheque,
£
500.000,
wow!

  
“
Mother, you have enough there to buy a property you don't need to
rent.
”
Caroline told mother that she would get another million in a few
days then she would have all the money that rightfully belonged to her.

  
“
When you say the hotel is worth a few million and you have made a
big profit, how much exactly? If you don't mind me asking?
”
Caroline told me the hotel was worth about five million and the
profits they had made were certainly about three million.

   
“
So my mother should receive another two million then. That seems
fair and then she will be happy. You need to give mother two point five million
pounds at least
”

  
“
I will see what I can do. I
’
ll probably have to
talk to your grandmother first.
”
Mother looked at me and smiled.

  
“
We are rich son! Now we can buy a house or we could buy our own
hotel.
”
 

  
“
If I sell my house in Lighthouse Cove then I can put some money into
it. But the question is do you want to buy a hotel here or somewhere else?
”

We had no reason to
rent a property anymore. As soon as the cheque had cleared, auntie Caroline
gave mother another million, and said that grandmother wouldn
’
t agree to anymore. Mother wasn
’
t
bothered; she had enough money with what she had been given. So we both decided
to go on holiday to the United States. It was my mother
’
s
dream to visit the US. After all I did live in New York and I loved America. We
both booked our tickets for the next day.

Once we arrived in
America we decided to stay in New York for a few days, then make our way to New
Orleans. I wished Bella was with us, she would have loved to travel with us.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

After
Simon left I couldn
’
t eat or sleep. The worst thing was I couldn't talk to anyone about
my feelings. Lizzie knew but she wouldn't talk about it because as far as she
was concerned Simon was my brother.

Caroline called me
to say that she had given Barbara the money that belonged to her and that they
had gone to the US for a holiday. I would have loved to be there with them.

   Over the next few
months I had to keep myself busy. Violet was doing her exams at school. Robert
was now in high school and Bella had just started nursery.

Simon wrote letters
and sent post cards. They stayed in New

York for a few days
and then travelled on to New Orleans.

After, they went to
Dallas, Mexico and then LA.

Claudio had become
distant. I knew he was tired with everything. My mind was always with Simon and
nothing could change that. I felt selfish about my thoughts, but my heart ached
for him so much. I  Remembered him sitting on our favourite bench eating fish and
chips. I couldn
’
t even go back to that spot because I couldn
’
t
deal with the thought that he wouldn
’
t be there. The
amount of times we had shared passionate moments on the beach and sitting on
that bench. I remembered all the moments I had with him when we were teenagers
and the first kiss we shared.

   My mobile rang
and interrupted my thoughts. It was the hospital Claudio had collapsed at work
and had taken there. They did many tests but couldn't find anything wrong.

Eventually they
found a hole in his heart; luckily it wasn't life threatening, but he would
have to take it easy for a while.

   A year passed by
and I still hadn
’
t seen Simon. I was busy looking after the children and Claudio.

We decided to go on
holiday. So we went to the south of France and rented a villa. All Claudio and
I did was relax, drank fine wine and ate delicious French food. That holiday
was what we needed. The children spent most of their time playing in the pool.

   After a few days
in the south of France we travelled to Spain and stayed there for two weeks.
The weather was glorious and hot.

I laid there by the
pool reading a good book trying to take my mind off things. I thought it would
do me good, but I couldn
’
t stop my thoughts.

I haven
’
t heard from Simon and Caroline for ages. I hope they
’
re ok.

Claudio came over to
me with a drink. He told me he had just had a call from Simon. I sat up trying
to hide the fact that I had been longing for the moment he finally called, but
to my surprise the news wasn
’
t quite what I was expecting.

  
“
He has met a girl over in America, her name`s Ruby.
”
Claudio said.
I felt sick with jealousy.

I had to hide my
pain and put on a straight face.

  
“
That
’
s great. I
’
m really happy for him. It
’
s about time.
’
I smiled, trying to hide the anger that was dwelling up inside me.
How
dare he
? I asked myself.

I couldn't relax
after the news and ended up crying my heart out.  I had to tell Claudio that it
was the wrong time of the month and that's why I was crying.

Once we were back
home I threw myself back in to work and decided to go back to college.

Life was hectic.
Violet was growing up into a beautiful young woman and Robert just looked the
spitting image Simon, except for the eyes, he got them from me. Bella was a
lively child. She had my long blonde hair and her father
’
s beautiful brown eyes.