Baby on Board

15

I opened my mouth to ask another question but Isaac's voice interrupted. "Please, don't ask her anything else. I need to go and fix all this mess," he said, rubbing the heel of his hands against his eyes. "Because she got into trouble- again- Alyssa's basically told Martha that she has to stay here. I'm sure that didn't come as a shock." He pointedly looked at his daughter. She simply shrugged and smirked. "Thought so. Look, Charlotte, I wouldn't ask otherwise but could you keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't get into more trouble today? I have to go see Daniel and sort out some legal stuff so that Martha can stay here."

"Yeah, course, anything you need," I say quickly. Part of my should have been disappointed in Martha for doing whatever she did to get arrested and for Alyssa to basically disown her, but bubbling under the surface was a lot of pride and happiness that Martha was staying. I kept that secret until Isaac brushed past me, kissing my forehead, and disappearing from sight. Ignoring the intimate gesture he'd bestowed upon me, I waited until I heard his footstep morph into silence and then turned back to Martha. "Good going, kiddo."

She beamed at me. "I know, right?" Then her smile fell and she narrowed her eyes on me. "Want to explain what that was with my dad right there?"

"Nope," I say, popping the 'p' sound. 

Before Martha had the chance to interrogate me more on the matter, Sophie swanned back into the office, our cousin, Keira, hot on her heels. I groaned when I saw Keira. If she was here, things were about to get crazy and I really didn't have the mental capacity to deal with it. Any of it. Sophie's sarcasm was one thing, Martha's another. But Keira? No, thank you, not today. Not ever. Just no. 

The girls, with some pushing from Sophie, began to discuss ways of celebrating Martha's extended stay in London. Keira thought that Martha thoroughly deserved a shopping trip to ease the distress of having been arrested. Stupidly, Sophie agreed. Suddenly, all three had decided where they were going and were pulling on their coats in no time. 

"Um, excuse me?" I say, leaning back in my office chair and staring at them. "Where do you think you are going?"

"Shopping!" Keira answered in her fabulously Irish accent. "Are you coming?"

I shake my head. "No, I'm not and you two aren't going anywhere," I say, pointing at Martha and Keira. In turn, I explained why they weren't to leave. "You're probably grounded and you haven't finished your shift downstairs yet. Sophie, you can bugger off, by all means."

My sister pouted. "Is Joey making you angry?"

I threw a biro at her. "Stop calling my baby a joey!"

"Now, Charlotte, having a baby messes with your hormones and I'm sure you're feeling very stressed right now," Sophie explains in a patronising tone. The only reason I was angry was because she was still here. If she left, I'm sure I'd feel so much better. "That it why I think you should join us on this shopping trip of ours. Shopping is a form of exercise and as Elle Woods professed to the world, exercise releases endorphins, endorphins makes you happy, and happy people don't snap at their sisters like you just did. Grab your coat, sis. We're going shopping."

Feeling too weak to argue, I let Sophie pull me up from my seat and throw my coat towards me before pulling me down the hallway, down the stairs, and out the door. I didn't even put up a fight when she hailed a taxi and directed the driver to Harvey Nichols. For the rest of the morning and well into the early afternoon, I protested very little.

In fact, I enjoyed every second of shopping with Sophie, Martha, and Keira. Even when we sat for lunch and I had to listen to the three of them bicker and snap and be sarcastic to everyone, I laughed and smiled.