The Harbour...Chapter Seven: Guess What?
The children were hanging around the kitchen table, and Carolyn was just starting to make breakfast when Marco walked in.
Her stomach flipped over as looked up at him. He hesitated, then broke into a dazzling smile that made her knees weak. She wanted to throw her arms around him, but knew she couldn’t do that in front of the children. Not yet anyway.
“Hey guys!” Marco said in greeting.
“Uncle Marco!” Caitlin cried, waving vigourously from the table where she had been in deep conversation with Joel.
“Hey Uncle Marco!” Joel said, throwing up his hand to give Marco an air five from across the room.
With a grin, Marco reciprocated.
“Good Morning Uncle Marco,” Maya said with a soft smile.
The startling blue-gray eyes staring out from the messy hair around her face were exactly the same colour as his, and like his, ringed with eyelashes so thick and black she looked like she was wearing makeup.
Maya had caught Carolyn and Marco kissing passionately in the living room last night after her birthday party.
Carolyn blushed as she remembered.
They told their daughter that he had proposed, and she had given their announcement the thumbs up.
Carolyn smiled as she remembered the conversation. She was as ever, amused and amazed by her daughter’s mature self-possession.
She had been thirteen when she and Kyle had sat her down and told her that her biological father was Uncle Marco, the family friend she had known for years.
Shocked and shaken but assured that Kyle was still her ‘Daddy,’ she had with great poise adjusted to the new situation.
She, Kyle and Carolyn had gone to therapy and with a lot of love and honest conversation they had pulled through.
Maya had also chosen to have a relationship with Marco, though they spent time together away from the house.
She still considered Kyle her father, and his devotion to her was unwavering.
She had remained a “Daddy’s girl.” When he launched his first line of furniture a year later, he called it “Maya.” (He later launched lines named after the two other children).
But Maya and Marco had grown close, and developed a comfortable friendship.
Joel and Caitlin had been told about a year and a half ago. Kyle, as bad a partner as he was, was a devoted father and had come to the house at Carolyn’s request to tell them together that Uncle Marco was Maya’s biological dad.
There had been a lot of questions from Caitlin. Joel, the quiet one, had mostly listened.
But the kids had grown up in Simmiewood with friends and even relatives who came from families made up of all sorts of combinations. Uncle Marco was already a part of their lives and they adored him. Carolyn assured them that her time with Uncle Marco was well in the past when she and their Dad weren’t together. They too, seemed to take the news in stride.
But standing in the kitchen now Carolyn suddenly felt anxious.
It had been just her and the children for the past two years. She would still wake up in the mornings with one or two of them curled up next to her in the bed. An actress who could now pick and choose her roles, Carolyn’s occasional time away from them was punctuated by long spells at home were she was able to drive them to and from school, and their gajillion extra curricula activities. They spent time together at home and went on family outings regularly.
Now she had to tell them that they would now have to share her with someone else.
She looked at Marco nervously.
With a slight nod and an assuring smile, he stepped towards the island in the middle of the kitchen, and plunged right in.
Clapped his hands together he said brightly, “So, kids. Your mom and I had a talk last night. And guess what? It turns out I love her and she loves me, and so I’ve asked her to marry me.”
With a loud squeal Caitlin leapt to her feet, and rushed over to fling her arms around Marco and Carolyn.
“Oh, that’s just so romantic!” She cried, her eyes brimming with tears.
Maya, beaming from ear to ear shoved back her chair and followed her little sister over to hug her parents. Her eyes shone brightly.
There was much giggling and squealing in between the hugs.
“How long? How long have you loved each other?”
They all turned to look at Joel.
His golden skin suddenly looked peaked and there was a sheen of sweat on his forehead.
How long?” He asked again softly, his eyes glistening.