Chapter 48

Christmas was once again in the air, and Kate stamped her feet and slapped her hands together to try and avoid them falling off. Mikey’s school had another disco. It was starting to rain, and if she kept her focus on the school, she could ignore the flipping great big billboard with her on it, advertising pencils.

“Hey, Kate,” two parents called out with a cheery wave. “You’re home for the weekend?”

“Yeah.” She nodded. She spent her time shuttling back and forth from London to Cardiff. Darcy had bought her a Bentley, telling her that she had to look good travelling. Susannah had backed her up, and when two McGregors got going, there was little she could do but nod. Still, it had taken five seconds to enjoy the Bentley.

“Hey, Kate…” One of the older kids ambling out of school flashed his jacket at her. One of Darcy and Zoë’s new high-street collection. “What you think?”

Looked warm. That’s all that counted in her eyes. “Cool.”

He grinned like she’d proposed, thumped his mates, and ran off. People did that a lot these days. Even ones that weren’t in junior school.

“Kate-oh!” Mikey yelled out his happy call.

“Yeah, Kate-oh!” Susannah was with him. How’d she get here so quickly? Susannah grinned like she could read her. “Mum flew us up this morning.”

Kate held open her arms, caught Mikey, then frowned down at Susannah. “She flew you up and let me drive three hours?”

“I think she was attempting to surprise you by picking Mikey up.” Susannah chuckled and sank into a hug. “Although. She said she had something to do first.”

Kate ushered them both to the Bentley and glanced up at the billboard. “Maybe getting that thing off?”

Susannah and Mikey piled into the back, breaking out into “Silent Night.”

“She happens to like it.” Susannah waved at three people grinning then shut the door. “Don’t knock it. She’s not even picked holes in how you hold a pencil.”

Kate chuckled and purred the car into life. “Guess we’d better wait for her here and keep her happy, then.” She tapped out a tweet: Picking up Mikey needs for one Darcy McGregor to be on time. #FashionablyLate?

Central Cardiff. A winter wonderland of ice rink and rides filled the City Hall grounds with a festive cheer. It wasn’t snowing but raining – which Darcy had come to realise on visits was a common occurrence – as she darted from opening a new modelling exhibition in the National Museum out into the deluge.

She flicked through her tweets and stopped, then grinned like a complete besotted teenager. Kate knew her so well. Fashionably late indeed. If she didn’t hurry up, Susannah would nag, and she seemed to nag far more. She was working hard shadowing Marge, and she was taking her A Levels. Teenagers; what could you do with them?

So much had changed. Marshall had been forced to apologise for his behaviour—worse acting than normal—and seemed to spend most of his time unemployed. Darcy couldn’t imagine why. John had begged to reinstate the show after the live reveal, but oddly, she’d signed with a rival network instead. Marge had been most pleased.

Zoë and Blanche were pregnant, as they kept telling everyone. Darcy did like to remind them that only Zoë was. Where would the baby grow on a twig? Still, Susannah seemed delighted she’d have a sister. Darcy would remind her of that one day when the baby was stealing her clothes.

Mikey was, as he always was, happy, carefree, and a super-vegetable. They’d even created a toy in his honour. Mikey the Sproutman was a kid’s hit. She tried not to say too much about him eating peas and carrots. She still wasn’t sure about the violence issues that raised.

She stared at the line of people outside the museum waiting for a cab and pursed her lips. Why weren’t there more cabs? Maybe she could text Kate and have her pick her up? She tapped her nails to her phone. No, no. She wanted to show she could navigate this city as well as her own.

She pulled her slick collar up to the rain. Kate, well, she was imperfectly wonderful. How else could she be described? She got Darcy free pencils, for a start. She’d spent every night by her side to the point Marge wanted them to have their own show. She wasn’t quite sure about that. The public were crazy for Kate as it was. If they weren’t careful, Kate would be too busy to see her. She was not putting up with that. Oh no. She’d captured Kate, and she was not going anywhere.

Darcy glared up at the rain as a mother of three muttered through the window of the remaining cab. Yes, Darcy had changed, and she hadn’t changed. She had her own clothing company with Zoë, had a best-selling, critically acclaimed book—yes, literary award. The literary community had listened, but she kept much of herself hidden from the camera. She was still not the best at talking about her feelings. They knew of Kate—she grinned, not caring if her flush was on show—but they didn’t know the half of it.

Mother of three was taking too long. Did she not understand the principle of catching a cab? What was so hard? All she had to do was get in, tell the driver where she was going, and pay. The rain got heavier. Kids would get soaked. They bounced around, yanking at their mother’s arm. Darcy looked up at the sky. No, she hated getting soaked. She ducked into the cab and pulled a wad of money from her pocket. “Three hundred if you get to Mikey’s school before Kate has to wind down the window and sign autographs.”

“You’re on!” The cab driver screeched the cab into life and she smiled, leaning back into the nice warm seat.

#EmbraceDesigner had moved so many, revealed the woman inside: the model, the mother, the girlfriend, the Style Surgeon. She glanced back at the stranded mother of three. And, yes, she was still a bitch…but a loved one.

She flicked out her phone and tweeted, tagging Kate in for all to see: Kate, whether late or not, I’m worth the wait. #LoveDesigner.

Yes, love was officially in fashion.