Love to Hate You: Three's a Crowd

Chapter Fourteen - More the Merrier

Mattie was less certain that Rafe would be supportive of her wish to reconcile with her father. She knew her husband to be a bad-tempered, intolerant man, and her father to be a bad-tempered, intolerant addict, and so never the two shall meet. Unless she asked them to. Meeting her father without Rafe's presence was out of the question, on account of Rafe would never allow it, and Mattie was not sure that she wanted him to allow it, either. Of course, she didn't need him to "allow" anything. She did things without his permission all the time, but if Rafe knew she was going to meet her father, he'd insist on going with her, and then an argument would likely ensue between husband and father. Her loyalty would be to Rafe, but her ire would be directed at him as well, because if he didn't accompany her, she wouldn't need to take sides. The reconciliation would run much more smoothly with Rafe's presence. Assuming her father was non-violent. Unsure what to do, she did the sensible, productive thing and did nothing at all.

She sat at Sunday lunch at her mother-in-law's house and listened to Amy describe the new house Xander was hoping to buy, letting everyone else's drama and conundrums wash over her, until she felt almost lulled by it, like a starfish bobbing at the shoreline with the ebb and flow of the incoming tide.

'It's about ten minutes from Vee and Carl's place. About... fifteen from here?'

'You'll be close to us, then?' Vicky said, because the home she shared with Rudy was similarly placed.

'I think so. I don't know the area well, though. Do you live close by, too?' she asked, turning to Rafe and Mattie.

'Not far,' Rafe replied. 'We're about twenty minutes from Mum, but she's helpful and doesn't mind making the drive several times a week,' a teasing smirk thrown at Aunt Vee, who – despite adoring her son and grandchildren – did not enjoy the "to-ing and fro-ing" of a longer commute.

'We actually live a little further away because Raffey bought an old church and converted it for us. They're obviously difficult to come by, so we couldn't get any closer to Ramona without scrapping the conversion plans,' Mattie explained.

'That's nice,' Amy said, leaning in with interest. 'Do you have a graveyard, too? I've seen a few nice conversions online, but one I saw had headstones in the back garden. I wouldn't be able to sleep alone at night. I'd be worried the place was haunted.' Xander was flummoxed by this. Amy's aged cottage was old enough to have encountered several dead bodies. He thought it likely that if ghosts existed – which they don't – more than one or two would surely inhabit the cottage's oak beams, along with the woodworm.

'What does "haunted" mean?' Isaac asked, from around a mouthful of spaghetti; specially prepared for the children, because they were a waste of high-quality, premium red meat.

'It means superstitious morons will believe anything,' his father told him, before emptying his wine glass.

'No graveyard,' Mattie answered, throwing a warning look at her husband. 'Graveyards were a no-go, on account of I didn't want to live in a haunted house, either. It's actually very small. More a chapel than a church. We've converted the original space to make it suitable for a young family as a living space, but Raffey designed an extension – very modern, using mostly industrial materials – and the bedrooms are in the new part. Totally ghost-free.'

'Are you the only one who doesn't live locally?' Amy asked, turning to Tobias.

'Yeah. I'm still in London. These guys used to be, but they moved back this way when they heard the pitter patter of tiny feet,' the younger brother replied.

'Like you, then?' Amy said, smiling at Xander, who looked unsettled, but no longer sick to his stomach.

'Yes,' he nodded, before changing the subject – rather rashly, considering their company – by asking Tobias, 'So, no more dates with Darcie?'