The Trophy Wife by Evie Baxter

Seventeen

Itook one last surreptitious look at Tori, trying not to let Isla see that I was worried. Tori had entered into a full blown panic attack at the thought of me seeing them again. The woman I had thought was a cold hearted, mercenary and vindictive bitch in London was actually one of the most fragile, broken woman I knew.

Conversely, she was probably also the strongest woman I knew. Tori had got herself out of an abusive marriage. She was raising a happy, confident, adorable little girl. She had built a life for the two of them in an environment that she felt secure in, and that gave Isla the chance to grow without the shadow of her father looming over them. Tori might not realise it, but she was far stronger than she probably thought.

I watched the rise and fall of her chest as she lay there looking skyward. Her breaths had evened out and she looked less tense. I felt confident enough in her condition to lead Isla to a spot a short distance away that would allow for us to run with the kite to try and launch it without getting in anyone’s way.

We made several attempts, running to try and get the kite airborne, but Isla’s little legs weren’t up to the speed that was necessary. She was looking a bit dejected when I got an idea.

“What do you think if we each take a responsibility?” I asked her, crouching down and smiling into her gorgeous brown eyes.

“What do you mean?” Her brow puckered.

“Well, your job will be to hold the string. Do you think you can do that without letting go?” She nodded enthusiastically. “My job will be to run.”

Isla pursed her lips in doubt. “But how will we get the kite up if I’m holding it and you’re running?”

“I think it might work if you’re on my shoulders,” I told her.

“Yes!” she shrieked, slightly damaging my hearing, but worth it to see the joy in her face.

So that was what we did. I hoisted Isla up on my shoulders and told her to hold on tight with one arm whilst holding the kite string in the other hand. She wrapped an arm around my forehead in a way that almost obliterated my vision and then shouted at me to run.

I held her shins in my hands to make sure she didn’t shake loose and then took off down the gentle slope of the field.

“Faster, Bastian, faster!” Isla’s joyful cries made the awkwardness of running with a child on my shoulders worth every moment. “It’s going up. Bastian, it’s starting to fly! It’s flying!”

I slowed my breakneck pace when I was sure the kite was launched then, instructing Isla to hold the kite string tight, I swung her off my shoulders until she was standing, back to my front. I showed her how to let out more string to allow the kite to fly higher, and how tugging at the string could make it do acrobatics in the sky.

“This is the best thing ever!” she told me, her eyes round with excitement.

With that, I gave the little girl a piece of my heart.

I looked over at Tori, who was sat with her back propped up against the tree we had been picnicked under, watching us with a pensive face. She was so serious, and so sad. The woman I was attracted to was a well of hidden depths and stories untold. She’d been a victim and her scars were not visible to the average person. In our brief acquaintance I was quickly seeing how much she tried to hide from the world.

But I’d seen some of those scars now, and I wanted to shield her from all who had hurt her. I’d never had this overwhelming need to be a protector and it was disconcerting. It also lit something inside me. The caveman I never acknowledged. The one who wanted to keep his woman from harm, care for her and stake ownership over her.

Only she wasn’t my woman. And she didn’t want me to be her man.

I turned my attention back to Isla, trying to still my thoughts. This was but one date. I could show Tori that she could trust me. All men were not built alike. All I needed was to convince her to go on another date with me, with or without her daughter. And then another. And so on. I would chip away at her walls and build her trust in me a little bit at a time.

Isla soon showed signs of tiring, which didn’t surprise me considering she had been going full tilt since we met up. Tori busied herself folding up the picnic blanket and avoiding eye contact with me. I tried not to smirk, because no one put that much effort into ignoring someone, unless they were all too aware of them.

“Bastian?” I looked down into the big, brown doe eyes of Isla, blinking tiredly up at me.

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“Will you carry me back to the car? I’m tired,” she sighed.

“Of course,” I told her, giving her a soft smile. How could anyone say no to this girl?

“Isla, Bastian’s hands are going to be full getting all these things back to his car.” Tori tried to intervene.

I scooped Isla up with one hand, and leant her into my shoulder telling her to hang on tight, which she did, wrapping her little arms snug around my neck. Then I stooped and grabbed the handle of the kite carry case and added in the handles for the bulkier Jenga bag. “It’s all good,” I informed Tori, “If you can grab the picnic basket and the blanket that will be everything taken care of.”

Tori frowned, but did as I asked. I placed Isla down gently by my car and soon the small boot was filled to capacity with the picnic basket, blanket and the Jenga. I took the kite and placed it in Isla’s small hands. “This was your almost five years old present, remember. It’s for you to take home.”

I watched as she hugged the kite to her chest, blinking tiredly up at me and giving me a sleepy smile.

“Thank you, Bastian. I promise I will take care of it until we can fly it together again.”

Tori’s brow pinched. “Isla, Bastian has a busy life in London,” she tried to say but I interrupted.

“I’ll talk to your mummy, and we will work out when I can see you both again. But remember, Mummy is in charge, huh. Don’t be pestering her.” I stooped and scooped the little girl up in my arms again. “Which car is yours?” I asked her.

She leant her head on my shoulder, her eyes drooping heavily and waved a hand in the random direction of half the cars in the car park.

“This way,” Tori clipped out. “I can take her.” I ignored her offer and followed her slim form to the far side of the car park where her aging Land Rover was parked in the shade of some trees. She opened the back door and I bent to carefully place the sleepy child in the safety seat that was there. I stood back to allow Tori access to secure Isla in properly.

Once she was done, I closed the door gently and then strode around to the driver’s side before Tori could get there and held her door open for her.

She scrunched her nose at me. “What are you doing?”

“Being a gentleman,” I shrugged.

“Well, don’t!” she snapped.

“Tori,” I said her name in a gentle chide.

She looked in the back of the car to see that Isla was already asleep before she turned back to me and hissed, “I don’t need you to be a gentleman. I can do everything myself. I don’t need you.”

What a prickly pear. Her defence modes were on max, and I understood what she was doing, trying to push me away. Whatever her plan had been for the day, the way it had gone had not been it. I’m sure she had thought I would have run back to London long ago.

I smiled softly at her. “You don’t need me to be a gentleman to you. I know that. You have proven you are more than capable of caring for yourself and your daughter, Tori. Isla is proof of that. But maybe you should consider that I need to be a gentleman to you for me, not you. I need to know I am treating you in the best way possible.”

“Consider the job done. You’ve been the perfect gentleman. Great! It’s been a blast. I have to take Isla home now.” She slid behind the wheel of her car and went to pull the door closed but I held it fast, preventing her from achieving her aim.

She growled at me. I fucking loved the fight in this woman. Robert may have tried to break her, but she had managed to find her strength despite what life had put her through.

I rested my forearms on the car roof and bent my body so I was looking into her eyes. “Tori, baby, I know you found today difficult. But you did it. You went on a date. With me,” I added with a triumphant smirk. “Now, go home and think about it. Do you want our next date to be just the two of us, or with Isla too?”

“There isn’t going to be another date,” she snarled through gritted teeth.

“Eh, you like me,” I told her something I knew deep down, despite all her fighting to ignore the fact. Her head dropped to her steering wheel in aggravation, making a grin spread across my face. “How about dinner next time. Just you and me. I can meet you at a restaurant in Banbury so that you don’t have to be in the same car as me.”

“I’d prefer to not be in the same restaurant as you.” She turned her head to glare at me, vestiges of the ice queen peeking out from her narrowed eyes.

“I’ll call you tomorrow when Isla is in school. We can formalise our plans then. I’m looking forward to seeing you again, Tori.” With that I shut her car door, but not before she managed to get the last words in.

“You’ll be lucky if you think I’m seeing you again.” She turned the key and started the engine. I stepped back as she put the vehicle in reverse and swung out the parking spot, the gravel crunching under the tyres as she pulled away slightly faster than she should have.

Yeah, she would see me again. That flustered demeanour was not that of someone who was not interested. I strolled back to my car, happy with how the day had gone. Other than Tori’s panic attack. I’d have to do my utmost to make sure I didn’t trigger another one.

I’d look up restaurants in and around Banbury when I got home. Just in case Tori hadn’t made a choice of her own.