Charlotte Delaney has sworn off men. After one relationship disaster after another- including turning a guy gay!- Charlotte is so over the male species.
Isaac Fletcher had his heart cruelly broken. Yes, it was years ago. No, he never got over it. I...
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"-And!-" My mother's loud voice carried down the line, becoming louder as her annoyance increased. We'd only been on the phone for a few minutes and already I'd exasperated her by constantly interrupting her whenever she tried to speak. "Did I tell you that Matilda will be there? Of course, she's bringing Jason and Shania with her just so that Malcolm can rub it in my face just how well 'put together' his children are compared to mine."
I rolled my eyes at her comment. "I can't speak on May and Alice's behalf but I'm well put together, Mum," I remind her. When she just grunts in return, I do a quick time check and internally groan when I see that it was still too early to end this conversation by hanging up on my mother. She'll only ring back in a few seconds. "I don't get why we're all being summoned, anyway. What does Granddad have to tell us?"
With hindsight, I shouldn't have asked this question because now Mum was in her element, telling me all about the gossip she'd heard from my aunt, Stephanie, with regards to Granddad. Despite Mum not getting along with my father's brother, she was civil enough to Malcolm's wife that they were constantly whispering behind everyone's back. That was part of it, I guess, but if I'm being honest, I think the only reason Mum phones Stephanie on a regular basis is so that she can get the inside info on what my cousins are doing and then try to out-do her by telling Stephanie all about us.
For years, Stephanie had revelled in the fact that her granddaughter, Shania, was the youngest member of the family, but with mine and Lottie's baby soon making its arrival, Mum must be thrilled that the spotlight is back on her. It's pathetic that this is what two women well into their fifties do but there was no changing their ways.
"But, of course, that's just what Stephanie has been telling me. So, in answer to your question, I'm not sure," Mum says, her voice going up an octave. I don't even have to see her to know that she's throwing her arms up in the air, face twisted like she's just sucked on a lemon. "If we're all being summoned, then I'm going to assume that it's important. Perhaps he's finally giving up the full-time running of the estate, although I hope not. With Malcolm being the eldest son, he'll take over and we all know how that's going to end up! I'll never live it down."
Yesterday, I received an invite in the post. It was from my grandfather's estate in Scotland and it asked that we all attend a family get together next week. Now, I love my grandfather very much and being the only family member that lives in the UK now, I was the one that saw him most often, but this invite was so out of the blue that no one had a clue what it was for. I tried to call him to see what was going on, panicking slightly when I received no answer. I'd been redialling every hour since then, although I was getting nowhere. That's why I called Mum to find out if she knew what all this was about.
"You didn't tell him about Charlotte and the baby, did you, Mum?" I asked, my voice pleading. I had wanted to tell Granddad myself, in person, and if Mum had gone and opened her big mouth, I was about to go apeshit.
