Forget Me Not

Chapter Sixteen

Riley and Victoria were discharged after a day. Riley was perfect, he was feeding well and he barely even cried. Sienna and Jude agreed to stay with Victoria while she was recovering. She needed to rest. Nancy said she and Arthur would take care of Aurora for a day while Riley settled in. Victoria appreciated the help. She rested frequently unless Riley needed feeding. She was exhausted all the time, napping on the sofa or in bed.

After a couple of weeks, she did start feeling better. She got up with Riley on the nights, made Aurora breakfast and even took her to school. Everyone cooed over him. Aurora was quite split. She loved him one second then disliked him the next. She knew it would happen. Victoria was a single parent who had to give Riley all her attention. Sienna and Jude came back once a week to check on everything, the health visitor came a few times and Nancy was there when Aurora and Daisy were in nursery and while Tiffany was in school. Victoria had a routine and she stuck with it. She still found time for milk and flashcards with Aurora, still found time to coo over Riley. But although she was happy when busy with her family, busy with her best friends... She was still lonely.

On Saturday, Sienna and Jude came round. Victoria had bathed Aurora and her baby (not at the same time, that was just asking for a disaster), fed them both breakfast and gave herself breakfast as well. Her parents arrived at eleven and babysat while she took a shower and dressed, she didn't find time to do much nowadays.

When she came back downstairs, Sienna had made lunch for Victoria and for Aurora. Victoria munched on a cheese sandwich while feeding Riley. A rapid knock came on the door.

"Dad! Can you get that?!" Victoria called.

"I'm on it!" Jude called back. Victoria finished her sandwich and patted Riley on the back. He burped and Victoria cradled Riley in her arms again.

"Dad? Who is it?" Victoria called. Jude didn't make a sound.

"Jude?" Sienna's voice was near. Most likely she had come from the kitchen to see if Jude was okay. Sienna inhaled sharply, so sharply it had to be a gasp.

"What are you doing here?" Sienna said.

"Mum? What's going on? Please don't make me get up!"

"No! Get out of here!" That was Jude. There was a lot of huffing and puffing. Victoria was about to get up when someone walked into the room, followed by two other people followed by her own parents. Nathan. Nathan had lost a lot of weight over the time they had last seen each other. The sparkle had gone from his eyes. He was wearing a cream coloured waistcoat with brass buttons and matching cufflinks on his crisp white shirt plus a white tie and black trousers. Behind him were his parents, Lillian and Timothy. Timothy was dressed in a black suit and Lillian was dressed in a lilac dress, her hair was windswept and she looked completely and utterly pissed off.

"Victoria," Nathan said.

"Nathan." Nathan's eyes dropped to look at Riley in her arms. He fell to his knees in front of them. Victoria's heart seemed to have stopped, she felt numb and in shock. If her arms hadn't been locked tight before Nathan had walked in, she probably would have dropped Riley.

"Is this him? Is this our son?" Nathan's eyes were filling with tears. Victoria was still in shock but she managed to nod. "Can I hold him?" Victoria's mind was swirling. What if he had done this to take her children? They were the only reason why she got up every morning. She shook her head and held Riley close to her breast. Not a chance. Not now. Not yet.

"Nathan. This is ridiculous." Lillian was saying. Nathan had his eyes locked on Victoria's. Victoria had her eyes locked on Nathan's. They did not remove their eyes from the other.