A Different Class - 25

Chapter 25

"The missing Peter Burford-Mills?" Patrick was amazed. "I knew that girl had class! Just didn't realise she was the product of a legend of local folklore!" All their lives Peter's disappearance had been whispered about, as though a warning to all youngsters in their social group not to disobey their parents. Now that Nate had pieced together the missing parts of the puzzle they both thought it ironic that Rebecca was actually the product of this much frowned upon behaviour. 

"The very same."  Nate was still quite stunned by it all, glancing over at the sleeping and idyllic form of Rebecca. "And I need your help there."

Patrick had got the taste for his private investigating work, "cool. What do you need me to do?"

Nate explained that Rebecca had no physical memento of her parents, not even a photo. He divulged as much as he knew about her past, locations and addresses, and Patrick was enthusiastic.

"I'll head down to Brighton tomorrow, I'm sure I can charm my way into some useful information."

Nate sighed, "I owe you even more now! You are a good mate, thanks."

"Hey I'm always glad to be of help to someone as useless as you!" It was an ironic comment as Nate was anything but. 

"Well I've got one more favour to ask of you...a kind of double favour!"

Theatrically groaning Patrick offered, "what now?"

"Well...I'm looking for a best man..."

Like an excited child Patrick squealed, "You've asked her to marry you? Oh My God! I honestly thought I'd never see the day that Bachelor Groves got married! What was the other part? Organise a stag weekend?"

"Godfather?" Nate asked in a quiet humour filled voice.

Patrick's response was both extremely positive, and extremely profanity-filled. Nate was still smiling when he hung up the phone.

It was amazing to think after a weekend together that life had carried on around them. Her contract in Bristol was indefinite, at the time she took the job she had no intention of heading back to London. Now as Nate drove off very early Monday morning she was devastated, and missed him more than she thought possible. 

They now had the added dilemma of trying to meet up as much as possible, whilst trying to manage their individual lives. The journey was about two hours, and with Nate’s travelling abroad, it meant that they had to try and catch up at weekends and occasional evenings.

Nate found he quite enjoyed coming out of the City and spending days wandering through new places. Rebecca was blooming, as she became more and more relaxed, finally seeing and believing that neither of them needed his family.

Patrick was still investigating the Burford-Mills story for Nate, unbeknown to Bec, he wanted to resolve that issue, soothe that fear as much as he wanted to marry her. He knew if he could sort everything out, compartmentalise things in a logical way - that was his way of dealing with everything, then they could both be free to do what they want.

It was a few weeks later before Rebecca returned to London, she had some serious apologising to do her friends after snubbing them so dramatically. Nate insisted that they all came over for dinner. It was another chance for him to prove that he was serious about their future. And her friends mixing with his was an important part of that. So early on Saturday, Bec set off to meet with Johnny, Lyle, and of course Tara. They were all invited that evening along with Jase Tara's boyfriend to dinner with Patrick and Seb and Emily, but she needed to see them first and explain all that had happened.

Rebecca found herself tearfully apologising to her three friends over lunch. She'd spent so much time saying sorry since she'd met Nate that she felt embarrassed, but with their continued support and devotion, she managed to tell them the whole story, Sir Ed, the fiancee, her family history - not that the names meant anything to them, and finally the baby.

Glancing around the table she saw all three mouths hung open wide. But it was in combined amazement as oppose to shock. Tara was the first one to speak.

"You know that we all think of you as family more than a friend, but none of us knew any of this about you. I should feel sad that you didn't feel you could trust me, but instead I just feel relieved that you're finally accepting everything, I never thought I'd say it, but the Groves boy is good for you." She squeezed Bec's hand adding, "and I can't believe we're having a baby!"

Bec smiled, the two boys weren't really good with emotions, but both smiled back. This baby was theirs, her family's and they'd all be a part of his or her life. She vowed that.

Later that evening Rebecca emerged from the bedroom in a new dress, a crocheted cream number that clung to her even curvier curves, then fell to mid thigh. Despite them eating in, she still wore heels and fairly thick cream tights. With her hair elegantly pulled up from her face Nate gazed at her with pleasure. She looked beautiful. As she swept a tendril of hair behind her ear, nervous in his gaze, he spotted the light catch the diamond set into her engagement ring and he felt a rush of emotion. He couldn't believe that he was so lucky, that this beautiful woman wanted him, and that she was carrying the baby he'd not realised until recently he'd waited all his life for. 

"What?" she asked, biting her lip nervously. 

Shaking his head, denying anything was wrong, he stepped towards her and pulled her into his arms. "Nothing's wrong...everything is perfect!"

Patrick was always the perfect dinner guest, charming, funny, and so much more aware of modern culture than Nate. He had hit it off with Johnny and Lyle when he'd met them a few months ago, and tonight that easy familiarity returned. Seb and Emily were equally amenable, and soon fairly raucous conversations started as they tucked into the slow roast pork that Nate had spent the afternoon cooking.

As he headed for the kitchen to retrieve more wine, Bec followed him, "thanks Nate, so much."

He turned to smile at her, "for what?"

She shrugged sliding her arms around his waist, "for everything. You spend so much time doing things for me...I love you."

Grinning he returned the embrace, "and I you. And as tempting as it is to stay here, just with you and kiss you..." he swept his lips down to cover hers briefly, "we have guests!"

After dinner they all moved to the sofas and chatted, mostly about Australia, Seb and Emily hadn't been back from their month long honeymoon more than a couple of weeks, Johnny and Lyle were desperate to get back there, and Tara and Jase were about to go in the next few months. 

Patrick and Nate escaped to the study under the pretence of getting more wine, but actually wanted to catch up on Patrick's investigations.

He handed Nate an envelope, and he opened it eagerly. There were a few letters, faint, aged ink, and two photographs. One was of a girl, maybe five years old, sat astride a fat pony, flanked by a couple, obviously her parents, the two adults were beaming at her, and it was so obvious that they were all happy. As he stared at the little girl, he realised that it was Rebecca, those eyes and that smile were unmistakable. It almost caused a pain in his chest to see the picture,  Becca so happy, a time she couldn't remember, and despite what she thought, her parents were devoted to her. 

The second picture was of her parents, stood together laughing.

"It was taken at a party, for a village wedding or something." Patrick offered. "I managed to find a very helpful girl in Social Services, and another in the Registry Office." He reached into his pocket, "the photos came from a neighbour, Peter worked for them, they remembered the family obviously, and would love to see Rebecca again. But this, came from the local court."

Nate took the paper and opened it, a report from the inquest into Rebecca's mother's death. He glanced over it and felt more pain, poor Bec. Her mother had cancer, diagnosed the year after her father had died. The conclusion was that the overdose had been accidental and due to worsening pain and the inability of the pain killers to relieve that. 

Nate shook his head in wonder, "I have no idea what she'll make of all this, but...the photos...she can barely remember her parents, she hasn't got a photo." He looked at Patrick. "I have way overstepped the friendship boundary. And I'm almost fed up with hearing myself thank you, but thanks Patrick. I can't put it into words!"

It was after midnight when the last of their very verbally grateful guests departed. Closing the door, Nate turned to smile at her and toast their success as hosts, but he suddenly became aware of how exhausted she was. 

"Tired?" he asked scooping her up into his arms.

Nodding she murmured, "what gave that away?"

He laughed as he deposited her on the bed, "the closed eyes and snoring on your feet?"  He'd imagined discussing her family with her that evening, but she was in no fit state, so he put it off until the next day. He wasn't looking forward to it, but he hoped so much that this would make her feel a little more positive about herself. 

Nate loved watching Rebecca sleep, she was so content, so relaxed, it was a lovely sight, and she rarely looked that happy awake. Smiling he slipped out of the bed, she was too comfortable to wake. His TAG revealed it was seven am, he rarely slept beyond half six, finding his running shorts and a black long sleeve compression skin, he headed for the door and his running shoes. 

He loved this time of day bounding along the Thames past a dozen landmarks that in a few hours hundreds of tourists would be clamouring over, early morning sun peaking through the office blocks and trees. He was tired but refreshed when he got back to the apartment. After an invigorating shower he was brewing coffee and cooking eggs when Bec finally emerged from the bedroom.

Looking up he smiled, her hair was ruffled, her face creased from the pillow, and her pyjamas - a strappy top and cute shorts were all tipping his libido over the edge. Nate wondered if he'd ever lose this desire for her. Opening his arms he accepted her into a warm hug. 

"You smell nice!" She offered looking up into his face.

He laughed, "Powerfruit shower gel. Who'd have thought?"

It was Bec's turn to smile, since she'd moved in to his home she'd slowly tried to change a few things, more than a few things. Pizza toppings to toiletries, the man was as predictable as time, and it had been the shower gel and shampoo that had brought the most resistance. 

"Turns me on!" she suggested over her shoulder as she made for the fridge. Nate's response was a groan, nope, he'd never get tired of her, never stop desiring her, gulping he turned away, unable to watch her drink the glass of orange juice she'd poured. Maybe another cold shower was in order.

Later they sat at the kitchen table reading the Sunday papers, empty plates stacked in front of them, and coffee still warm in their mugs. Coffee was the one thing Rebecca was having trouble letting go of, and Nate loudly monitored her intake with sarcastic tuts.

"Patrick has been looking into things Becca..."

He'd tried to think of ways of explaining this, breaking the ice so to speak all morning, and it was proving to be harder than he thought.

"What do you mean?"

He shrugged and handed her the envelope.

All Nate could do was watch her face as she glanced from the envelope to him, then back to the envelope. Opening it slowly he could sense her confusion and apprehension as she pulled the items it contained out. Her hands were shaking as she looked at the photos, and when Rebecca's eyes finally found his, she was crying uncontrollably. He scooted his chair closer to his and offered a hug. She moved closer to him but didn't collapse into his arms as he feared she would.

"They're just like I remember..." her voice was a breath, a doubt, a question.

"That's because you were there, and they loved you sweetheart. Read the report."

She unfolded the paper and read for an age, when she finished she folded it and kept her head bowed. His hand came to her shoulder and she tipped her head so that her cheek rested on it tears spilling from her skin to his, and sighed.

"She did love you Becca, she was ill."

The reply was a sob, and it was ten minutes or more until she could formulate words, "you said we can go to their graves?"

He nodded, "we can take flowers, you can talk to them both if you like. And the farmer that your Dad worked for would love to meet you again, he and his wife found these photos, then Patrick managed to find some of the court things. Your mother was a good woman, she just had no help."

It was then that Bec turned to him and broke her heart. It was all too much for her to comprehend, and all too generous a gift from Nate. She couldn't formulate words to describe how she felt seeing the photos, the evidence that her mother may not have selfishly killed herself. If she ever wondered whether she loved Nate, it was at a time like this that no words were needed, that she knew she did. She loved and trusted him implicitly, and he knew exactly what she was thinking, and how she needed him to act.