Famously Yours - Sequel to A Famous Affair

Famously Yours chapter 6

By the time the girls arrive, my mood has grown even more melancholic and subdued. I try to greet them with the most fraudulent of smiles I can muster. As soon as they see my raw throbbing cheek, and not to mention my puffy eyes and swollen lips from all of my crying, their sweet faces soon drop. I can't even bring myself to look into their concerned eyes because my babies shouldn't be seeing me like this . . . ever!

"What's happened, Mum?" Lissy asks fearfully.

"Do you mean this?" I casually point to my face. "Don't worry, my darling. I stupidly walked into a filing cabinet drawer. Katie had it open and I wasn't looking where I was going. It looks worse than it really is." I hug her reassuringly.

Lottie is watching me intently. "It must have hurt a lot because you've been crying," she innocently says.

"It did hurt, Lottie. I'll survive, though. I just need to look where I'm going, that's all." I forcibly laugh. My blatant lie appears to have worked because the girls instantly relax. To avert their attention away from my miserable mess of a face, I walk into the kitchen. Opening the fridge, I grab the bean shoots, peppers and mushrooms. "I'm thinking of making a stir fry. Is that okay?" I ask, still trying to sound as normal as I can be.

"That sounds good," Lissy says, leaning against the fridge freezer.

"Can we not use the green pepper, Mum? They always taste more bitter than the red and yellow ones," Lottie asks with a cute scrunched up face.

"Just chop up the ones you do want then, darling." I smile as I open the drawer to take out the wooden chopping board, placing it on the worktop in front of Lottie. We all busily start preparing dinner. I'm busily frying chicken strips, plus I'm on noodle duty, while the girls eagerly slice vegetables. Such a simple chore brings me much needed respite from my emotional day. The girls' lighthearted chatter is just the tonic that I need to lift my stamped on spirits.

Now my mood has somewhat brightened, I decide to tell the girls about seeing Shawn. "I expect your dad will tell you girls, but I've been to see him today . . . we had a lot of things we needed to talk about." Trying to play down our meeting, I continue to stir the chicken that's sizzling away in the pan, without looking up at either one of them.

"Oh?" Lissy asks in surprise.

"What did you talk about, Mum?" Lottie asks, pushing a pile of diced mushrooms in my direction while she waits for my answer.

"Lots of things, darling."

"About the house?"

My eyes widen, surprised by Lottie's comment. "Did your dad tell you about selling the house?" I ask with interest.

Lissy intervenes. "He asked us the other night how we felt about moving." She casually pops a piece of red pepper into her mouth.

Swirling the noodles around, I look at both Lissy and Lottie. "How do you feel about moving?" I ask.

Lissy smiles. "Whatever makes Dad happy, makes us happy."

Feeling incredibly proud, I open my arms, a silent request for a cuddle, which both girls happily give. "You both are growing up so fast. I can't tell you how proud I am of your maturity." With my arms draped around both of their petite shoulders, I give them a motherly squeeze. "I think your dad feels that a new start would be best, I have to agree with him." I now have two pairs of beautiful blue eyes looking deep into my own. I feel awful about lying to them earlier, but I genuinely believe that telling them that their beloved father hit me, during a brief moment of complete madness, would do so much more harm than good. That knowledge would destroy them. I know it would. It has taken them both such a long time to get to this point. They are at last happy. I won't ever be the one to hurt them again. No, this is definitely something that they must never know about. For as mature as they are about things, that painful knowledge would be all too much for their growing adolescent minds. To morally balance things out, I decide to be honest about the divorce. "There's also something else you should know, and I want you to remember that we both love you very much." I pause before continuing. "Your father and I are going to get a divorce." I swallow hard as I say the words. The girls both look up at me for a few seconds. I try to read their thoughts but their faces are expressionless. Shit! I've said too much . . . too much too soon!