‘Or I can just answer the question,’ he cut in, smiling to let her know he appreciated her having his back. ‘I had Grace when I was eighteen. My parents are pretty rigid in their views and couldn’t deal with their son being a dad when he’d only just left school, and them having a granddaughter born out of wedlock.’ He’d wanted to make things right, wanted to man up to his responsibility. His parents hadn’t been able to see past his initial mistake.
‘So they, what, disowned you?’ Elle looked appalled.
‘Pretty much.’ He glanced over at Grace, who’d picked up the squirt and was now tickling her, leading to squeals of giggles from Caitlin. ‘They never got to see Grace growing up. Never got to see the amazing person my careless, irresponsible, shameful actions – their words –resulted in.’ He swallowed down the bitterness. ‘Their loss.’
‘Did Freya’s parents help out?’ Elle gave him a sheepish smile. ‘I’m my mother’s daughter when it comes to the nosey part.’
‘Freya lived with them in the beginning so yes, in a way, but they didn’t look after Grace, if that’s what you mean.’ He looked Elle straight in the eye, determined that at least one part of this story would leave the right impression. ‘I didn’t want them to. Grace was my daughter, I wanted to bring her up as much as I could.’
‘Then she’s a credit to you.’ Mia’s mum had a warm smile, just like her daughter, and right now Luke was humbled to find it directed at him.
‘She’s a credit to herself, mainly.’ Luke shrugged. ‘I’d like to take some of it, so would her mum, but truth is she’s making her own way in life.’
Mia, who’d been silent until now, reached for his hand. ‘You gave her a stable childhood. Her parents weren’t together in the traditional sense but she saw them as often, if not more, than most kids see theirs. Heck, you even bought flats next to each other so she can pop round whenever she wants. You were there for her, Luke. That’s to your credit. And it’s a shame your parents can’t see you now to realise it.’
Luke wasn’t sure, even if he knew what to say to that, that he’d actually be able say it.
Thankfully Grace chose that moment to bring the still giggling Caitlin over to them.
‘She’s worn me out.’ Grace dropped onto the blanket next to him and threw her arms around his shoulders in a gesture that always made his heart squeeze, no matter how often she’d done it over the years. Her face was flushed and her green eyes – yeah, he was going to take credit for those at least – danced.
‘Youngsters today, right bunch of snowflakes.’
She shoved at him. ‘Thanks Dad. Why don’t you try and keep up with her then?’
Maybe it was what he needed. A break so he could get his emotions back into line. Jumping to his feet, he looked down at the cute little tot with blonde curly hair and a cheeky smile. ‘So Squirt, want to go and talk to the ducks?’
‘Quack. Ducks go quack.’
He reached for her hand and hauled her up onto his shoulders as he used to do with Grace, much to her delight. ‘Sure they do. They also go hoot and squeak and hiss if you listen carefully enough.’
‘Hoot, hoot.’ She grabbed at his head, giggling.
Luke glanced over to Mia’s parents and smiled. ‘How about we ask Grandma and Grandpa if they want to come too? They can help us listen.’
He wasn’t sure what Caitlin’s reaction was, but Mia’s parents immediately got to their feet, so he guessed it was a good move asking them.
As Luke strolled off with a large part of Mia’s family, he marvelled at how relaxed the morning had been. Sitting in the sun with his arms around Mia, talking to her family, watching Grace enjoy herself. It had felt far easier than he’d expected.
Having spent the whole of his life not measuring up to what people expected of him – his parents, Freya … himself – yeah, having that in his head, he’d been shit scared of meeting Mia’s family. Not that he’d have ever admitted as much to Sandy. Now, though he didn’t know what they thought of what he did for a living or whether he was good enough to date their precious daughter, they were at least happy to walk by his side. And considering the conversation they’d just had, that was a pretty amazing result.
Not quite as amazing as the way Mia had come to his defence, though. For the first time in his life someone had told him he’d done something good, something to be proud of. Tears burned his eyelids and he had to force himself to focus back on Caitlin’s chatter before Mia’s parents were subjected to the embarrassing sight of their daughter’s boyfriend crying.
As soon as Luke and their parents were out of earshot, Elle turned to Mia. ‘Holy crap, that man is amazing with my kids. Please let me take him home with me.’ Dave cleared his throat and Elle giggled. ‘Just to keep the small people entertained, you muppet.’ Once again her sister’s gaze sought Mia’s. ‘Guess he’s not just a hot guy with a great body, huh?’
Mia glared at her, desperate for her to shut up because Grace was still with them. Luke’s daughter.
‘What?’ Elle gave her a quizzical look. ‘You’re the one who told me you used to ogle him while he worked out.’
While Mia turned a shade of tomato red, Grace burst out laughing. ‘Seriously? You can see Dad do his weights from your place?’
Once again Mia levelled a death glare at Elle before turning to Grace. ‘Excuse me later when I accidentally shove my sister into the pond.’ She rubbed at her face. ‘God, I can’t believe we’re having this conversation but yes, I may have noticed your dad when he did his workout every morning.’
‘At ten o’clock,’ Elle supplied unhelpfully.
Grace’s wide-eyed stare swivelled from Mia to Elle and back to Mia. ‘Is that how you started messaging each other?’
‘Well, we met at the bar first but yes, I guess he knew when he put a message up in his window I’d be able to see it.’
‘That’s so sick,’ she exclaimed. ‘Way cooler than using a phone.’
‘It was your dad who started it but yes, it’s been fun, if a bit weird considering I’m a tech person and writing notes on paper to stick into a window is about as untech as it gets. It’s also been challenging having to work out what he’s trying to say from his cryptic symbols.’
Grace laughed and Mia immediately saw the resemblance to Luke. Not just the sparkling green eyes or the dimpled smile but the same easy way he had. As if nothing else existed but now, and enjoying it to the full. ‘He told me about them. Sometimes he’d text me asking where to take you and what symbols to use in the message.’ She gave Mia a sly look. ‘He was trying to be dead clever so he’d impress you. The first one, the donut with the frost symbol, that was the best. I wouldn’t have got it.’
‘I nearly didn’t. I had to google it.’ She paused. ‘Thank you for joining us today. I hope it hasn’t been too weird. Aside from Elle and her big mouth, of course.’
Elle humphed. ‘Hey, it’s only fair Grace knows you think her dad’s hot.’