“Well, it’s excellent to have you back, Nattie,” Alexander was usually the one to lay it on the table, “But I’m wondering what’s made you leave your life to come all the way back here.”

“I just wasn’t happy,” Her face went deep red. She looked at me like she needed to be rescued. “Things weren’t going to get better.”

I knew instinctively that Natalie was pregnant.

“Why would that be, Nattie Muffin?” Oliver’s eyes were sparkling.

“Well…Uncle Oliver and Auntie Sil…and Mum and Dad, I…” Her big blue eyes moved from one of us to the next, “I’ve made some major decisions concerning my life and my relationship. And, well,” She took a deep breath, “I’ve come home for a lot of reasons, but one mainly. Please no one shout. I’m going to have a baby. I’m sixteen weeks along.”

Alexander’s expression didn’t change. He just sat in his chair.

“Nattie!” Lucy exclaimed, “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I didn’t plan it, it just happened. I wanted to make sure of what I was going to do before I told you. Like I said, I had some major decisions to make about my life.” I suddenly noticed that she was showing under her oversized jumper. We must have all been blind not to see it.

“And him?” Alexander had that thing that some Daddies have when it comes to their little girls. When I say that ‘thing’, I mean a deep, animalistic instinct to protect them and rip the throat out of anyone who has threatened or harmed their daughters. If Alexander had been a wolf the hair on the back of his neck would have been standing on end and his teeth would have been bared, “Why isn’t he here with you?”

Natalie went pale.

“Did he send you packing?” Oliver was doing his best to keep his voice under control. He had the same instinct as his brother. Even after all the years had passed since Natalie had lived under our roof, the line between her being our niece and our daughter was still sometimes blurred.

“Not exactly,” Natalie replied meekly.

Lucy moved to her side and slipped an arm around her. It was a protective measure that I was inclined to do myself.

“What do you mean not exactly?” Alexander demanded. He really didn’t need her to answer him. I could tell by the look of him he had already figured what she would say. He had that same expression on his face that Edmond had got just before he began screaming his head off, “Why isn’t he here with you sharing the good news?”

“She doesn’t need you to be angry,” I snapped, “She needs you to be her dad.”

Alexander took a deep breath, stretched his arms over his head and stuck his hands in his hair. He was making an obvious effort to remain calm. “I’m not angry with her. Why would I be angry with her?” He looked at me with such force that if I had not already been sitting I would have straight away. He stared at me before he turned back to his daughter, “Nattie, please just tell me what sent you home. I need to understand so I can help you.” He still sounded like he was ready to open a can with his teeth.

“He didn’t want to get married.”

“You don’t have to be married to have a baby,” Alexander was pressing for an answer.

“He didn’t want the baby, either. He tried to…” She couldn’t say it.

“Tried to what, Muffin?” Oliver prodded.

“He told me to have an abortion,” She said it quickly like she had filth in her mouth. “He even made me an appointment. And when I refused to go to it, he left me.”

Alexander’s face twisted. “Son of a fucking bitch,” I swear his lips did not move when he said it. “I knew it!”

“She did the right thing,” Lucy rubbed Natalie’s shoulder, “Coming home straight away where she’s got people who love her. She did the right thing, Alex.”

“She did.” I agreed. I could see the rage swelling in Alexander. Someone had wronged his baby daughter and he had every intention of avenging that, “Calm down, Alexander!” I knew that look, that hateful twist of the lips that he and Oliver both got on their faces just before they did something really rash and awful. “You’re not going to do your daughter one bit of good acting on your impulses.”

But it was as if Natalie didn’t hear a word we’d said. She began to sob, “I’m sorry, Daddy! I never wanted to disappoint you! I’m so sorry!”

“Disappoint me?” Alexander sounded eerily like Edmond. It was strange how he could be so like his father sometimes. Oliver could never quite climb to that same level of rigidity. He always fell short and went soft when it came to the children, but Alexander could turn purple as eggplant and shout until people scattered in all directions. “You came home, Natalie. How could that disappoint me?” He could have taken a less hostile tone, but I think we all acknowledged his effort. “I’m not disappointed in you! I’m bloody disappointed in that piece of…”

“She doesn’t need to hear that either!” Lucy interrupted.

Alexander clenched his teeth and looked over at his brother.

Oliver said nothing. He sat in his chair stone faced and locked eyes with his twin brother. He flicked a glance at Nattie and returned his stare to Alex. He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms.

“Natalie, you are my daughter,” Alexander moved to his child. He knelt before her and took her face in his hands, “I love you more than my own life, Muffin. I really, truly am not angry with you. I am not at all disappointed in you. I love you and I love your baby. And whatever it takes, we will see you through this. Yeah?”

Natalie fell into her daddy’s arms, “I love you, too, Daddy. I just want you to be happy and excited for me! I want this baby! I really do! I’ve wanted a baby for a long time!”

“I am happy for you.” He didn’t sound incredibly sincere.

“Your dad’s in shock,” Oliver explained, trying to cover for his brother’s apparent lack of enthusiasm, “Give him a minute. Alex, come in the kitchen with me. Let the women talk about woman things.”

The two of them disappeared into the kitchen and exchanged words in harsh whispers while Lucy and I tended to Nattie. We got her calmed down enough to find that she was actually was pleased about her pregnancy, she was just a little shocked in the beginning and now was very afraid of the unknown. She needed us to do for her what we had always done for her. That was to try our best to understand, to protect her, and to love her without condition. Those were all things I had no doubt we’d be able to live up to. And the baby…well, that little muffin was just a bonus.

When the twins tried to walk out the front door by themselves, however, Lucy had the good sense to break up the dangerous duo.

“Oh no, you two! Don’t even think it!” She ran to the door and grabbed her husband by the sleeve, “If you think you’ll be slipping off, planning a trip to France you’ve got news coming to you!”

“Lucy’s telling the truth!” I called from my spot at Natalie’s side on the couch, “The two of you sharing ideas on how to make what’s wrong right is the exact opposite of what Nattie needs!”

“Let go of me!” Alex irritably yanked his arm away from his wife.

“Nattie needs her family now,” Lucy puffed up to Alexander. She didn’t stand even to his shoulder, but she gave the impression that if he didn’t listen she’d crush him with one hand, “She needs her father and her uncle here and not rotting in prison for killing the man she was foolish enough to love! We’ve all done that and you did it once, too, Alex! We’ve all loved a fool and been made a fool of for it! You had children on your own, too, if you remember, when your wife walked away from the three of you! How much better would it have been if Silvia had killed Melissa and been off in jail? And I know she wanted to, she told me so! No, Nattie’s got a lot to get through and I’ll not have the two of you adding more pain to her plate!”

Those two men could look amazingly innocent at times.

“We weren’t up to anything,” Oliver lied. “We were just going to the pub for a pint.”