My dearest grandmother strutted through the door without any greeting, her sagging chin held high up and her red coloured lips drawn into a thin line. She was nearing eighty years and still was dressed ostentatiously in a tight, black mini-skirt, red tube top with a denim jacket, fishnet stockings and black sandals with block heels. She thrusted the innumerable paper bags which contained gifts for her great grandchildren to the nanny and me and brushed past me like she owned the damn place.
Robert was dressed modestly in a striped shirt and trousers as he emerged through the door. My dearest grandmother was already complaining about the crummy place and I stood frozen on my spot, flabbergasted by their sudden arrival. Robert hugged me and then Clark while patting his back affectionately, talked to us for a few seconds and I managed to crack a smile, until my grandmother called him dramatically like those old-fashioned wives calling their husbands in soap operas.
As Robert strode towards her, I pulled down Clark by his collar and hissed, "What is this?"
"What?" he asked innocently, his eyebrows knotting in perplexion.
"You called them? I mean I'm okay with Robert, of course, he must come, but her? Why did she come?"
"They're your grandparents, Georgia and they have a right to--- "
"Alright, alright." I sighed and released his collar. "She better not screw anything up, this is my father's home. He's already still mad at Robert for the entire abandoning my mum thing and if she'll go on complaining about his house, he'll flip out."
"Don't worry, it'll be alright," he murmured while pulling me close to him and kissed my forehead lovingly. I melted into a puddle as I snuggled closer to him, placing my head against the soft beats of his heart. I wasn't a good mother because I had so much difficulty connecting with my babies, especially my baby girl. She was so boisterous and nobody could calm her like Clark. Clark was a natural father and immediately bonded with the babies, like he had known them for a long time.
"Let's go daddy Brownie," I teased playfully, my lips curling into a whimsical smile and he glared at me. Ah, the bliss of love . . .
"Awh, my back hurts. Why didn't you two keep this ceremony thing back in London? Robert and I had to fly all the way from there and now I'm so tired," my grandmother whined, purposely acting snobby as Robert dotingly squeezed her shoulders.
"You weren't invited," I muttered and she quirked an eyebrow in question. Clark elbowed me so I grudgingly added, "Even we flew all the way from London with our babies. We just wanted my town people to see them since all can't afford to fly."
My darling grandmother ignored my reason completely as she sauntered towards the cute cribs. "Ah, here are my lovely great grandchildren! They're so beautiful!" She gazed at the babies while tickling each of them under their chin and then she turned to me, putting up a saccharine smile. "Nice luck that they don't look like you, Georgia."
"Oh, grandmother, nice luck that you lived to see my babies," I remarked, mirroring her expression smugly when I noticed her eyes widen just for a second before she composed her posture.
"My baby boy!" she exclaimed in a shrill voice, picking my baby girl up and my hands balled into fists.
"That's my baby girl," I corrected through gritted teeth and Clark wrapped his arms around my waist tightly from behind, before I could knock that old hag down.
* * *
My dad's house, although way smaller than Clark and my house back in London, looked extremely stunning with the dainty decorations. So many maids, chefs and servants had worked hard to clean the house until it was spotless, put fairy lights outside the house and on the roof, adorn the ceilings and walls with little butterflies and flowers like structures from golden paper, fix additional lights in the house to brighten the space and prepare a large spread of delicious food and drinks.
I had been ordering the team of servants around although there was an assistant and a planner to look over it. I had the experience because ever since I married Clark, I left my job as a manager in one of the Brown's industries [Robert had given me that job after I had completed my studies] since it was honestly very boring. I did create a lot of chaos there and everybody paid too much attention to me because I was the granddaughter of the founder of the company and the future wife of the owner. I liked the attention, but it was not something I wanted to pursue. So Clark helped me open various circuses which weren't the traditional circus, it had a modern twist and I tried to manage them smoothly.
The guests, my town people attended the party we threw and all them warmly congratulated us. My most loved grandmother had taken a nap through the entire celebrations while Robert and my dad were locked in one room, Robert apologising to dad. The house was filled with the aroma of sumptuous food, soft music to which some couples were swaying, chattering of some people and squeals and giggles of my baby girl and people who were playing with her. The town people were so proud of me and surprised that I had ended up with a decent, super rich and happy family and not in prison.
The waiters swished past me, catering to the guests every need and serving drinks while I watched Clark rocking our baby boy in his arms and softly humming to himself. The dim lights of the passageway shone over them and the atmosphere around us was serene, away from the noises booming in the party hall which sounded muffled here. Our baby boy's eyes were closed, his chubby cheeks was pressed against Clark's chest and his tiny hands was loosely clutching Clark's t-shirt. Clark's lips was curled into a small smile as he still held him tenderly like he was holding a fragile glass object.
Our babies were three months old and it was quite difficult handling them, particularly our baby girl, in spite of the countless maids. She had mastered rolling over so quickly and now it was tough to control her because she wouldn't stop rolling when she was awake. On the other hand, our baby boy slept through most of the time to the extent that it was worrying us whether it was normal to sleep so much. Even when he was awake, he quietly fed from me and didn't make a great fuss like our baby girl.
Our girl was a monster, pure evil who wouldn't stop crying the entire night until her dear daddy would rock her to sleep. Most of the time, she refused to come in my arms and I barely managed to breastfeed her. Her innocent smile and twinkling eyes never failed Clark to spoil her more, who constantly gave her all the love and attention. I wasn't jealous of her, I was jealous of Clark for getting all the love from our babies.
As the night proceeded and the guests left, the servants quickly cleared the space leaving behind a large table in the centre with two large glass bowls with 'girl' and 'boy' written on it and little chits and pens surrounding the bowls. These chits were for our family and close friends to write their choice of names that they thought was suitable for our kids out of which one would be picked up from each bowl. We still hadn't named our children because of difference in Clark and my opinions. I wanted to name our boy Tommy or Tom for short because honestly it wasn't that bad and our girl Tequila Burrito Puma Ranger because really, that monster deserved it.
My dad, my grandparents, my brother and his wife Ally [who had a good marriage except that they were unable to conceive a child] Kyle, Peaches, two close friends of Clark, Ian [who was now in good terms with us, but sat in a secluded corner trying to avoid my father's menacing stare] and a recent friend of mine, Santiago, an Argentinean tango dancer. Apparently, people liked a tango dancer in circus musicals and Santiago was the best.
"Why is he here?" Clark asked in a cold tone as he narrowed his eyes at Santiago.
"Aw, daddy Brownie is jealous," I chirped and Clark glared at me dangerously, abruptly stopping my teasing. "Come on, Santiago's fun. Instead of you, I should be jealous. He's a closeted gay and he's totally hitting on you, watch out."
Santiago was indeed ogling at Clark from a distance and blushed deeply when Clark's eyes met his. Clark awkwardly cleared his throat and hurriedly walked away from the room. I giggled and waved at Santiago merrily who raised his hand and waggled his fingers, it was his own version of a wave.
I stared at him as he turned around to pour the soft drinks from the bottle into his cup. My eyes involuntarily travelled down to his butt, not because I was attracted to him, but because as he walked, it jiggled so much like it was going to create an earthquake. I had never seen a butt move so vigorously. I felt someone's sharp shoulder touching my arm and my dear grandmother was beside me, also staring at Santiago's butt, but she didn't seem to notice my presence as if she was in deep thought just like I was a few seconds ago.
I walked towards Kyle who was seated on a chair and staring at Peaches' bouncing breasts as she jumped excitedly in front of the cribs, trying to entertain the babies. They were thirteen now and both of them had just entered adolescence, but they had developed quickly. They were no more the little children I remembered and Kyle who had always loved Peaches was fascinated by her more, now since she had already developed into a young woman.
"Pervert." I smacked Kyle's head and he looked startled, his face turning scarlet as he shyly muttered something about not embarrassing him like that in front of everyone since they were no longer kids.
I rolled my eyes and walked away to stand in front of all the people gathered and then drawing everyone's attention, I announced loudly, "Okay guys, you might have written your chosen names by now. Drop that in the bowls so that Clark and I'll pick one."
Once everyone had dropped their chits, I picked one from the 'girl' bowl. I glanced at Clark who stood beside me and then unfolded the chit. My hands were frozen for a while, but then my lips twitched upwards.
"Samantha," I read aloud and I felt myself getting overwhelmed. "Samantha was my mum's name!"
Clark smiled at me, approving the name and I scanned the crowd, trying to figure out who wrote the chit. My eyes landed on Ian who nodded slightly and I swallowed the lump formed in my throat. I was speechless and before anybody especially my dad could figure out that Ian suggested my mum's name, I quickly averted my gaze towards Clark.
"Are you sure about Samantha?" I asked with gleaming eyes.
"Of course, it's beautiful," he replied and everyone clapped their hands.
"Alright, now our baby boy's name . . . " I trailed off as my hands roamed eagerly in the other bowl. I excitedly picked a chit up and unfolded it, my jaw hung wide open. "Bobby?"
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A/N :
I'll write more bonus chapters soon!