Chapter Fifty Seven

"You sure you're ok?"

Lizzie nodded, and smiled at Oscar across the table. He had spent the whole of the night worshipping her and pleasuring her...she blushed just thinking about it. "I'm fine, I forgive you...we get on with things, ok? That was the deal. You keep forgetting the agreements we make, hey?"

Oscar smiled, "I just feel like I overstepped a mark...I'm sorry about that, ok?"

"You keep saying. I understand why you did it, I'm over it. Let's forget that there are any members of the Breen family other than me."

That made him sigh and he was silent as he picked up his coffee mug and drained it. She could feel his reticence, but she didn't have any agenda, she meant what she said.

He wants to marry me. That thought had been in her mind for every conscious moment...though he'd done his best to spend most of the night without a coherent thought. But marriage...she couldn't wait for him to take Nate to school so that she could even begin to think what that meant. Because he was overwhelming her every sense and she was struggling to process it all.

When her focus returned from her daydream, he was watching her intently, a smirk hinting at his lips. Almost as if knew what she was thinking. Fortunately a five year old boy caused enough to distraction that she could hide behind.

An hour later, Oscar called her. He had a meeting in the city, but he wanted to meet her afterwards. She wasn't exactly enamoured at the rethought of travelling into the city centre by public transport, and she had planned on a long hopefully contemplative bath. Instead, she had a quick shower, and twenty minutes on a bus filled with strangers. A million miles from the Zen-like state she'd envisaged.

Oscar was sat at a café in the centre of Manchester, his laptop open on the table in front of him, his head bowed, eyes trained on the screen. She had the luxury of watching him, without him realising. It was a treat, but she realised she wasn't the only one. A group of women sat in the window were less than discreet in the way they ogled him.

She ordered a skinny latte, and her voice alerted him to her presence. Oscar slammed the lid on his laptop and skipped over to her.

"Let me get this." He wafted a twenty pound note in front of the barista, and Lizzie smiled as he slung his arm around her. "You look edible, Miss Breen."

His breath against her ear made her shiver, and as she chuckled, she took pleasure in the look on the faces of the women who had been casting eyes at him a few moments earlier.

As the coffee was produced, he grabbed it, then led her to his nearby table. "How's your morning been?"

She shrugged, "hadn't really got into doing anything before I was summonsed into town."

He grinned, "it's for a good reason, I promise."

She cocked an eyebrow at him, and he laughed, "you don't trust me?"

"Haven't we had this conversation before? Of course I do."

Oscar nodded, "good. Because I've arranged for us to meet our lawyers."

That made her stop dead, "why?"

Leaning forward he kissed her on the cheek, "because we are going to formalise things with Nate. I'm going to become his father, and legally, you will become his mother."

"But I can't...I'm not..."

Oscar sighed, taking her hand, "you're legal guardian, it won't take much to adopt him. Not really. And if it takes a lot, costs a lot...hell whatever we have to do, we're making us...this...a family...proper. Do you get that? THIS is what I want more than anything."

Lizzie didn't know what to say, she'd spent so long thinking she was going to lose Nate, that it seemed crazy to think that she would be able to have him, permanently, him AND his father.

"What if they won't let me..."

He silenced her with a finger to her lips, "we can do this, I've already spoken to Max, my solicitor. He seems to think that it's fairly straight forward."

When she raised an eyebrow again, he laughed, "Ok, maybe not easy, maybe not straight forward, but doable. I want us to do this. I want our family to be safe."

So an hour later they were sat opposite Cheryl, the lawyer that her sister had selected so long ago. If she found the fact that she and Oscar were now the same side of the table, as oppose to the opposite sides of a few weeks earlier, she hid it well.

"Recognising you as Nathan's father isn't difficult. If you produce a positive DNA test, then we can start that process." She turned to Lizzie, "adopting can be a long winded process..."

Lizzie shrugged, "parenthood is permanent. I believe that Oscar isn't going to take him from me, but I want to be more than a 'guardian', I want to be a parent to him. He's only five..."

Cheryl smiled, "and that kind of determination will get you a long way. Social services have to be involved, and before that starts I suggest that you get Mr Wicker recognised as Nathan's father. Then let social services in to deal with the rest. The more stable the two of you are, the easier it will be..." She sighed at Lizzie, "I have to warn you that it's a very detailed, in-depth process, and they leave no stone unturned. Will anyone resist that? Do you have any other siblings who might challenge your claim? What about your parents? Nathan's grandparents. Would they contest this for any reason?"

She said that loosely, not expecting Lizzie to turn ghostly white.

It was Oscar who took over, laying a hand over Lizzie's, before turning to Cheryl, "there's no one who will contest that. No one. Can you start the ball rolling? We want this done as soon as possible."

Lizzie couldn't formulate the words properly, Oscar pulled her to her feet, then bundled her out of the office, as he nodded a goodbye in the direction of the lawyer.

"What are you doing? She'll think we're crazy."

In the safety of the lobby, he pulled her into his arms, "you getting any more upset would have led to waves of sadness and regret. You don't need that; nothing is going to change our plans. Ok?"

She nodded, a little dazed, and he gave her no chance to regain her bearings until they were in the car, careering out of the city.

Oscar had stopped the car outside her house when she finally looked up at him; his lips were pulled into a grim line.

"We've got to see them...haven't we?"

He shrugged, "they are the only ones who could contest this, make it difficult. I mean there's no chance that they can stop this...but they can make things very difficult. We go there, TELL them how it is going to be, then we get the hell out and make our family complete, and safe. Ok?"

She hated that her bottom lip wobbled at the drama and sadness of it all. But she was supported or consoled by his lips finding hers, devouring her softly and gently. For a long moment she could forget that she was sat in the car, outside her home, on the verge of tears.

Oscar lifted his head, but his hands remained wrapped around her cheeks, fingers feathering into her hair, his finger tips massaging her scalp in a rather seductively calm manner.

"OK?"

She nodded, she wasn't about to lose her head, not now.

His eyes focussed on hers, and he grinned, "how about we head inside and I take this massage to other parts of this delectable body."

Cocking an eyebrow at him, she smiled, "are you suggesting that you distract me with your body?"

"That and my mouth..." He punctured the words with a kiss, "my hands...my tongue...my nose."

The hypnotic affect of his actions disappeared as she stared at him questioningly, "your NOSE?"

Leaning forward, he lashed his tongue around her earlobe, then used his nose to nuzzle at it, all the while explaining all that he wanted, or rather the way he intended to use his nose, amongst other things all over her body.

An hour later, they were wrapped around each other on the sofa, their clothes scattered around the lounge. Oscar's lips were on her forehead, humming along to the music that played in the background.

"When do we go confront my parents?"

He kept humming, his hands running over her bare back, down to the curve of her backside, making her shiver.

"Well I was only there a couple of days ago," he eventually offered. "Bu the sooner we sort things out, the better really."

Lizzie nodded, "tomorrow."

He groaned, but there really was no other alternative. Instead they reluctantly dressed to head out and collect Nate from school.

The following morning, they both had emails from Cheryl, requesting various information, birth certificate, passport, pay slips, and for Oscar, the mouth swab that would be used to trap some cells from inside his mouth - the start of the DNA test that would put him in the legal position as Nate's father.

As she ate breakfast with Nate, Oscar called his parents, his birth certificate was at theirs, he informed her that someone who travelled as much as he left important things somewhere safe. That made her wonder where all her documents were, she couldn't remember where she'd left all hers.

Nate skipped into school, oblivious to the tensions left behind in his home, and it wasn't until she returned to the house, and Oscar, that she realised how anxious she was.

The drive to her parents' home was surreal. Despite spending her formative years in the area, as they drove through the familiar streets, she couldn't think of a single positive memory...or even a negative one. Nothing. She may as well be driving to Oscar's family home, for what it meant to her. That was sad.

When he stopped the car outside their house, he reached across and squeezed her hand, "this is just to make things smoother. They aren't anything. OK?"

She gave a nod that felt like bravado, inside she was quaking. She hadn't made this journey since Janis had died, before that, she couldn't remember. Nothing about this place, these people, no part of this trip made her feel safe, or happy.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and stepped outside. The front door that she refused to see as imposing was ahead of her. She marched straight up to it and rapped on the large metal knocker.

The door opened before Oscar had made it to her side. And her mother stood at the door, dressed in black, a look on her face that betrayed anxiety more than anything else.

"Mother."

The older woman bristled, but Lizzie had slipped in to her façade, she was hidden behind a screen, they'd never know they hurt her. Before her mother could respond, she brushed past her into the hallway.

"Where's Dad? I need to speak to you both."

She marched into the lounge, where two other women sat and looked up in surprise. Lizzie didn't recognise either of them, but she smiled genially.

"Sorry to interrupt, I'm just looking for my father. In fact...we have a lot to talk about, so it may be worth you taking a break. Ladies, can we change this to another day?"

"Elizabeth!"

Her mother ushered in and made apologetic noises to her friends, "don't worry. We won't be long."

Lizzie laughed, "sorry mother, but I have a lot of quite serious things to discuss with you, we may take quite a long time."

Her mother turned, "is this to discuss you marrying...him?" She pointed to Oscar who had appeared in the doorway, bemused. "Because he has already told us about it."

Lizzie shook her head, "way to go with the romance, Ma. But no. This is about your grandson."

She watched the women on the sofa as their mouths fell open in sync. Obviously it wasn't just her who was hidden away from her friends.

She broke into a smile, "they don't know you're a Granny?" Lizzie shook her head in wonder, "well that's no surprise as you haven't seen him in more than a year. It's ironic though, don't you think? Sitting here in full mourning regalia for his mother!"

She spotted the moment that her mother flipped, she lashed out, grabbing Lizzie's arm with both hands and tried to push her out of the room.

"I think you should take your hands off her, Mrs Breen."

Oscar was there, like some giant saviour, towering over them. Her mother dropped her hands, then stepped back, tears flowing down her face.

The two seated women jumped up to comfort her, but Lizzie wasn't backing down.

"It would be a lot easier if you leave, please."

The two women looked bewildered, but it wasn't until her mother lifted her eyes and waved a hand to dismiss them, that they scuttled out of the door.

"Well." Lizzie stared at her mother for a long moment, before she crossed the room and took a seat, her eyes never leaving her mother. As if to command, the older woman transitioned from woeful tears to anger in moments, stepping towards her daughter, "who do you think you are coming here and embarrassing me?"

Oscar was about to step in, but he saw Lizzie lean forwards in her chair, she was doing this. Who knew what state she'd be in later, but this was all coming-out today.

"So, mother. Can we break that down?" She didn't give her time to answer, "Embarrassing you? By coming to talk about you grandson. It is not my fault that you have surrounded yourself with people who don't remember I exist and don't know about Nathan." She shook her head, "you are truly a disgrace to the word 'parent'."

"LIZZIE!" Her father's voice cut through the eerily quiet room. "what do you think you're doing, shouting at your mother?"

Oscar saw Lizzie's nostrils flare, as she pulled herself to her feet, "I've come to discuss things with you, so sit. You too mother."

The three glared at each other, a Mexican standoff...and then almost surprisingly, her mother slumped into a chair. Her father glanced between the two women, then did the same. That left Lizzie in the same position, standing over them.

"All my life I have never been good enough for either of you, and for bloody years that has devastated me. But today I heard you disown Nathan, that boy..." she ran a hand through her hair. "No. No way. We have come here today to get you to sign this form." She pulled it from her bag, "ironically you are the only maternal relatives he has, so you WILL sign this form. You will relinquish any possible link to him and allow me...the only person in the world to love him...other than his father, to become his legal parent."

Her mother gave a half laugh that Oscar knew was bravado, and ignored. This version of Lizzie...confident, strong...it was all he'd ever wanted to see in her. She was an amazing and splendid sight. He was mesmerised.

"If you don't sign the form," she had barely taken a breath, "then we may all move back to this village and ruin every single relationship that you have. I will tell your local priest about the verbal and emotional abuse you've thrown on me since I was too young to understand it; I will tell your WI meeting about how little you've supported me over the years. And I will tell the WORLD that you are a reluctant, make that absent Granny." She gave a half laugh, "you WILL feel almost thirty years of wrath, and I assure you that it will be both painful, and character destroying. Your choice."

She folded her arms, so confidently, but her bottom lip quivered, Oscar knew how much this was taking out of her. He wanted to stand up, wrap his arms around her, but he knew that she had to go through with this.

"We're going to get some lunch, when we return...I'll expect that form filled in and signed by you both."

Turning, she took Oscar's hand as she marched out of the room, and dragged him with her.

He didn't speak, not until they were in the car and the house was a speck on the horizon.

"You were amazing in there. I honestly thought they'd break you. I am so proud of you."

When she didn't reply, he glanced to his left and saw her head hanging forward, shoulders shaking. With a curse, he swerved to the side of the road and stopped the car, then turned to her, lifting her chin so that he could look at her, "hey, babe."

She tried to smile, tried to lighten the mood, but she couldn't hide the tears coursing down her cheeks, "they hate Nate as much as me. That's what tipped me...they can slag me off, hate me...I don't care. But he doesn't deserve that, and they don't deserve an ounce of him."

He pulled her towards him across the centre console of the car, uncaring of the hand brake digging into his thigh, kissing the top of her head, he felt her snuggle into his neck before he said, "they don't deserve either of you...and you Mamma Bear, wow! Nate is so lucky to have you as a mother."

She whimpered into his shoulder, "I'm not his mother."

He scoffed, "even when Janis was here I know that you were the steady and caring influence. I'm not stupid...and neither is Nate. You ARE his mother, whether you want to be, or not."

She lifted her head, eyes bloodshot, cheeks still wet, "you always say the right thing."

He shook his head, "nope. I'm just stating the very obvious. You are everything...I just have no idea why those bastards don't get it. I'm going to spend the rest of my days loving you enough for three, that's a promise."

"Wow. You really do have the all the words Mr Wicker."

He grinned, "I have more than words, a dozen ways to prove to you how much I love you. One day you'll believe in me...and most importantly believe in yourself."