by June Hopkins
"Really Annie don't worry. You’ve obviously done a fantastic job with him. He is a great kid, a real credit to you. I only wish I hadn't waited so long to meet him." Tom's gaze turns to Harry who is at the top of the wooden play area, whooping with a couple of other kids around his age. He has a wistful look about him and I feel slightly better about things. I really need to stop being so over sensitive about everything. Harry comes running back over to us with another little boy in tow. I recognise him as Ashley, who is in the year above Harry at school.
"Hello, Ashley, who are you here with then?" I ask him.
"My dad and his girlfriend, but I don't like her. My mum says she's an ugly old trout with a fat bum," he informs us.
Tom snorts with laughter.
"Oh really. Oh dear, that's a shame," I say faintly.
"Is this your dad then?" he asks Harry.
"Yea, he is, he's been away working and now he's home. That's his car there, the big blue one," Harry points at the Beamer.
"Whoa” says Ashley, clearly impressed.
"The top comes down and everything. It's really cool. Come on let’s see if that frog's still there." They turn and run back to the play area and Tom and I are literally slack jawed and we stare at each other with wide eyes.
"Not in a million years," I say in a shocked voice. "I cannot believe he just said that. How on earth can he know? Have you told him?" Suddenly that makes sense. Tom must have told him while I was in the loo.
"God no, Annie, don't be ridiculous. Of course I haven't told him. I'm as stunned as you are." I stare at him for a moment but I can tell he is telling the truth.
"Well I never. Hang on, maybe he was just making it up to show off in front of his friend. Yes that must be it; I will have to ask him straight when he comes back." I am relieved at this and sure that is the explanation.
"Annie you know if you are right, we should tell him the truth. We couldn't wish for a better opening," Tom says matter of factly.
He is probably right. Either way I haven't time to think about it as Harry comes running back over to us.
"Mum can I have another coke please? I’m really thirsty."
"Not so fast young man. Come and sit here a moment please." Harry plops himself down next to me with an exaggerated sigh.
"Why did you tell Ashley that Tom is your father?" I ask him sternly.
"Because he is, isn't he? You said I look just like him and he looks like me and he's been working away. He told me he's been in America didn't you?" He looks at Tom, "You are my dad aren't you? I hope you are, as that means I can go in your car whenever I want and all my friends will be soooo jealous."
Tom smirks at him, "No flies on you, are there young man?"
I splutter. I am completely caught on the hop. Never in a month of Sundays did I expect this, but who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth? Why make it difficult when it doesn't need to be, and if all it takes to be accepted after seven years is a BMW then who am I to argue?
"Yes Harry, Tom is your father. Tom is the surprise I had for you this morning before the duck incident. Is that ok? Are you alright with that? Is there anything you want to ask either of us?"
"Nope, that's cool. Can I call you dad, and can I please have another coke and go back and play now? Ash is going in ten minutes."
"Umm, yes of course, go and play," I tell him, as quite frankly I am lost for words. Who'd have thought it could be that easy? I shake my head and look at Tom, who is wearing the biggest grin and then suddenly he roars with laughter. Once he stops laughing, he says that he had better go and get his son a drink and asks if I want anything. I ask for another gin and tonic; a large one, I need it.
Chapter 12
7.00 pm and we are back home after a delightful afternoon spent with Tom. Harry has been in bed for an hour. He was exhausted, luckily, as I am now sitting in my small lounge with my parents. I waited until Harry was asleep and then made the phone call I had been dreading. My parents arrived within fifteen minutes and now my father is pacing up and down, huffing and puffing at the news I have just landed on them from a great height. My mum has not commented, she is just sitting quietly on the sofa watching and waiting.
Dad is far from happy. Unfortunately as it turns out, I was a little too honest in the telling, clearly not the kitchen table incident, but I have told them everything else. Well I am still a little over excited about it all. Maybe I should have been a little more conservative with some of the detail; edited things slightly.
"I am very disappointed in you Annabelle." Yes, that is my given name and only used by my parents when I am in trouble. "You should have told us the truth in the beginning. I would have ensured that he take responsibility for his actions. Years, years and not a word, not a penny. You say he knew, he knew, yet nothing. Well you can be sure he will make up for it, if I have to hold him upside down and shake it out of him. I have never heard anything like it, this is disgusting behaviour and him a lawyer, he should know better."
"Dad..."
"Dreadful, absolutely dreadful and you have spent the day with him. What do you think this will do to Harry? I am aware that you say he is fine as you put it, but Annabelle, this could scar the child for life. You should have told your mother and I the minute you knew he was coming back. At least we could have prepared Harry, perhaps sought some professional advice in how to deal with it all. Oh I really don't know what to say to you." He stops for breath as mum and I send each other a significant look.
I try again to pacify him, "Dad please, really, Harry is fine, truly..."
"Don't be ridiculous, Annabelle, of course the child is not fine. You have no idea what is going on in his head. How long do you think it will be before he finds out the truth? Hey? Discovers that his wonderful father knew all along, yet took the wholely self centred decision to put his career first."
This jolts me somewhat, as I hadn't actually considered that possibility but I quickly discount it. I mean, who would tell Harry that? Not any of us, so exactly how could he find out? No, dad is just being over dramatic.
"Dad please, things really are not as bad as you think. Once you calm down and have a little time to get used to the idea, you will see. This is not all Tom's fault; after all, I never told him and honestly never would have. Tom is clearly besotted with Harry. He’ll make it up to him and me, you'll see," I beseech him to understand and keep glancing at my mum, who still hasn't added her two penn’orth. She seems perfectly calm and I am praying not as upset as dad, as I am counting on her to bring him round to the idea. He gives me that look, the one that makes me feel as if I am ten again. He shakes his head at me with a defeated expression and I feel ashamed of myself for not trusting them with this information years ago.
"Oh Annabelle, where did we go wrong? Have you no sense at all? Do you really think that he wants you?" Lissa's words from this morning fly back into my brain and I take a shocked intake of breath.
"Edward, that is enough. There is no need to speculate in that way. Who are we to say what the man's intentions are?"
I give my mother a grateful glance but am still reeling from the words. What if dad and Lissa are right? Could I be deceiving myself?
"I am sorry Annabelle, I hate to upset you but you have to be prepared. The man is a lawyer, if he decides that he wants Harry, you could be playing right into his hands with your behaviour. Annabelle, be realistic. He doesn't live here, he has another life in New York. I think you should at least consider the possibility that he may not be all that he appears to be. I am going to speak to Phillip, ensure we have all bases covered and I would like you to hand Harry's passport over to me, now."
My father stands in front of me, palm out; he is not joking. I take another sharp intake of breath.
This is spectacularly unfair; he is jumping to ridiculous conclusions, as if Tom has arrived on our doorstep with the sole intention of kidnapping Harry. My father is completely over reacting and I am not putting up with this behaviour a moment longer. I am certainly n
ot handing over Harry's passport; I have never heard anything so daft. This is my home. I am nearly 28 years of age and I refuse to be treated like a naughty schoolgirl. I feel myself getting hot with rage and I stand up to face him.
"Dad, I love you but I am not prepared to continue this absurd conversation any longer." This little outburst sends my dad's greying bushy eyebrows up to his receding hair line.
"Absurd conversation? Annabelle, I rarely get involved in any of your decisions but I do expect that you have the decency to take me seriously when I do. I only have your best interests at heart; yours and Harry's. Something is very fishy about the whole thing, I don't like it." He shakes his head, his forehead in a deep frown. My anger recedes as quickly as it came and I sigh loudly.
"Dad, I do take you seriously but that does work both ways. This is my life, my decision. I understand that you are upset. This is, after all, a shock for you but you must trust my instinct, please." My father is about to go off on another rant but mum jumps in and saves the day. She puts a placating hand on his forearm.
"Edward please, let’s just go on home. We need to sleep on this and think about it again tomorrow. You are just upsetting each other, and that will get us all precisely nowhere." Mum’s green eyes look calmly at the two of us. I knew I could count on her. My father gazes steadily at me, I can see his mind racing and I hold my breath but he just takes a deep breath and pulls himself up to his full 6ft 2in height, straightens his shoulders and says, "Right, yes, of course. We should go, but this is not the end of it young lady. We will talk about this some more tomorrow when you drop Harry off."
I say nothing; I am hardly going to tell him right now that Tom talked me into allowing him to look after Harry whilst I am at work tomorrow. Now I feel bad, maybe I shouldn't have agreed to that but it just sort of happened. I will ring mum in the morning and explain, and let her tell dad. They make the move to leave without speaking and I lean in to accept a brusque kiss on the cheek from dad. Mum gives me a kiss and accompanies it with a reassuring hug; she whispers in my ear, "I always thought it was Tom," she confides and then winks at me as she pulls away.
They have gone and I am now the one pacing. Dad is over reacting, he has obviously been watching too much television. As if, I snort loudly, but the things Lissa said about Melanie and the no children, now dad is ranting on about cloak and dagger kidnap plots. Well not exactly, but that is what he is thinking. This is mad, the whole thing is mad; Tom would never be that devious, would he? The kitchen incident springs to the forefront of my mind in full Technicolor. No, he wanted me I am convinced, and the kiss before he left. No, I don't care what they say, Tom and I are meant to be together; we always were. I would know, would feel it, if there were anything underhand going on but even so it wouldn't hurt to check, just to be on the safe side. I'll give Tom a ring, get it from the horse’s mouth. Yes that is exactly what I will do, right now.
I pick up the phone and ring Lissa's number. Ben answers, and I ask for Tom curtly; I am still unhappy with him. Ben seems startled to hear my voice and he quickly calls Tom in order to avoid speaking to me; not that I'm worried, I'll bide my time on that one.
"Annie, are you ok? Is Harry alright?" Tom asks breathlessly.
Oh bless him, he is worried about us. "Yes, yes, we're fine. You don't need to worry about us," I tell him, although I'm feeling a little breathless myself, his voice is like warm treacle.
"That's good, Ben and I are in the middle of a workout, sorry if I'm a little out of breath." he enlightens me and I immediately have a vision of him dressed in shorts and vest top, all bulging biceps and glistening with sweat, I swallow. I also realise that he wasn't exactly worrying about our welfare at all.
"Oh sorry for interrupting, only I have to ask you something and I need to ask you now."
"Really? Sounds ominous go ahead," he tells me with a smile in his voice.
I falter slightly, maybe I should wait until he's in front of me; perhaps I should be able to see his face, check out the body language etc but I discount it, I'm being ridiculous. I will just ask him straight out. "Tom, my father has just given me a bit of a roasting and seems to think you are here with the sole intention of kidnapping Harry."
There is a stunned silence on the end of the line, followed by a roar of laughter, "What? He thinks what? Well I suppose I can hardly blame him for being suspicious of my motives. He is your dad and only wants what's best for you, but I can assure you I only have the best of intentions; I just want to make up for lost time with Harry."
I give a relieved sigh, Lissa's words pop back into my mind. Well in for a penny, why should I protect her after what she said? "That's good to hear Tom, but that's not my only concern. Lissa seems to think the same thing, well not the kidnap plot, but she did tell me this morning that the only reason you are here is to get to know Harry because suddenly Melanie doesn't want kids." I hold my breath. There, I've said it, dropped my best mate in it and after this morning I don't care.
There is a sharp intake of breath, and an undertone of controlled anger in his voice as he says "Is that so? Well Lissa has been busy hasn't she? Annie, she had no right to say that to you, certainly not in that context. Melanie decided, years ago that she didn't want children; she prefers her career. I'm not happy and hoped she would change her mind given time. Unfortunately that's not the case, she now plans to be sterilized. She told me on the plane and I was just letting off a little steam to Ben and Lissa when I arrived. You can't believe that's my reason for wanting to meet Harry now, surely not after all that I said last night? I wouldn't do that to Harry, you do know that don't you?"
Once again I let out a relieved sigh but am now cringing with embarrassment. I shouldn't have asked. Bloody Lissa, my toes are actually curling. I want to get off the phone as soon as possible, "Ok Tom thanks, I'm sorry to ask, after all it really isn't any of my business. I just wanted to hear your side, I hope you understand. I’ll see you tomorrow at 10.30. Bye," I am blushing now.
"Annie please don't worry, its fine. You have every right to ask anything you want, it's not your fault and I really don't mind. Have a good evening and I’ll see you tomorrow," with that he says "Bye" and puts down the phone. His placating tone of voice doesn't make me feel much better, but hopefully he'll have it out with Lissa for stirring things. Well, serves her right; it's none of her sodding business anyway.
I walk through to the kitchen to put the kettle on and the phone rings, is he phoning back? I retrace my steps and grab at the receiver, “Hello," I say in my sultriest voice.
"Well hello to you too." James says huskily, "if you carry on like that I'll be on the first plane back."
Jesus, I wasn't expecting that. "James," I say stupidly, "um how are you? How's it going?"
"Who were you expecting?" He laughs at me, "I hope you don't answer the phone like that to everyone."
"Um no, no of course not, I thought it might be you, well hoped it was you." What the fuck am I doing?
"How've you been then gorgeous, you missing me yet? Hope you're behaving."
"Of course I'm behaving. It's all the same here, you know, boring. How's the holiday? What's the time out there?" I am babbling and talking shite, but he's caught me on the hop. I haven't had chance to work out what to say.
"About 11.00 I think. We've been out for hours so I'm a little worse for wear. Sorry ‘bout that. I tried your mobile earlier, a few times actually, but just kept getting the answer phone. Have you checked it? Bet it's out of battery again, you are sooo useless." He laughs at me.
"Battery, oh God yea probably. Sorry about that, I'll put it on charge immediately."
"I phoned the pub for you as well but Helen answered, I didn't realise she'd made you swap."
Yea, she wanted to go out Thursday night; she texted me about 3. No notice as usual, but I didn't mind; meant I could spend the day with Harry. I'm covering Alex as well tomorrow afternoon, so I'm expecting a bulging wage packet next week."
"Don't let them take advanta
ge of you babe."
"What like you, you mean?"
He laughs, "Ah well, that's different."
"So how's it going? Are you surrounded by fit babes in bikinis?" I ask him hopefully.
"Yea of course, it's floor to ceiling with 'em here but I only have eyes for you, which is odd, I don't even need to resist. How weird is that? You seem to have succeeded in the impossible Annie; looks like I'm actually moving in to week three and still wanting to shag the ass off you. Who knew?" He laughs some more and I feel dreadful.
"How's Harry? I bought him a present yesterday; he's going to love it."
I hear voices in the background, raucous shouting and bawling, getting louder.
"Annie, sorry I have to go," he starts whispering, "We had a bet on who would phone the Mrs first, the loser has to get naked and run round the restaurant. You can get arrested for that shit here. I'm hiding behind a bush. I'll phone Sunday because we're out on a desert rally tomorrow, see ya."
The phone goes dead and I stare at it dumbly. Oh God what have I done? I put the receiver down and go through to put the kettle on. I make a cup of tea whilst trying to make some sense of what I have just done. I should have told him but he was so lovely. He really, really likes me. I don't think I've ever known that before, it's usually the other way round. Well, I mean there have been a couple of occasions where I'd played the femme fatale but honestly the leading men in those possibly two scenarios really weren't all that much, and were dispatched pretty well immediately. James has a way of flattering me that is hard to ignore; his little speech about only having eyes for me is replaying in my brain and suddenly James is sprinting ahead of Tom. I mean at least I know that James fancies me, wants a relationship with me; he even bundled me up with the 'Mrs' tag, which means he must have told his mates about me. Whereas Tom, well, what does Tom want? I mean one minute I'm on the kitchen table then the next, nothing; I received a quick peck on the cheek when he dropped me off this afternoon. Then again he was hardly likely to grab me and snog my face off in front of Harry was he? Then there is Melanie. He said on the phone that she didn't want kids and that he wasn't happy about her decision, but at no point has he said that he's leaving her. In fact, now I come to think about it he hasn't made any comments along those lines, so why then am I assuming that he is going to whisk me and Harry off into the sunset? Maybe this is just what it is. He just wants to meet Harry and have a relationship with him, why wouldn't he? Whereas James actually wants both of us. Am I prepared to give up that chance just in case Tom sees the light?