Chapter 25
‘Happy birthday, dear Liam-and-Luca… Happy birthday to you!’
Both boys beamed and then blew out the candles on their birthday cakes.
Lauren had really come up trumps on the design.
Marc was relieved and grateful. Often, his default setting as a parent was to treat every decision like an obstacle to be cleared, and by asking Lauren to make the cakes he felt as though he jumped sky high over that one.
He decided to text Lauren later with a picture of the boys blowing out the candles.
‘Come on then, lads,’ Marc said, once they’d all tucked into a piece of delectable sponge. ‘It must be time to watch the movie.’
Cheers from all four little boys greeted this announcement, and as Marc cued up the film and Bella helped by sorting the popcorn, Marc felt as though he’d really pulled off this afternoon.
Kids happily ensconced, Marc, Bella and Noah kept a casual eye out for any potential disharmonies among the boys. Despite Liam’s initial grumbles about the guest list, all four of them had got on well, and Marc was able to relax a little.
‘Thanks again for coming over,’ he murmured to Bella. ‘I know you two probably have more exciting things to do on a Saturday afternoon.’
‘What, and miss the epic movie that is Dinos versus Robots: the second chapter?’ Noah grinned back at him. ‘Honestly, mate, it’s good to be here. I don’t think we’ve done enough of this as a family.’
‘And it’s nice to be invited,’ Bella added. Marc knew, from the hints Noah had given him, that Bella had little contact with her own family, and she seemed to be enjoying being included in the Hathaways’ dynamic.
They settled back on the sofas, Marc on one and Bella and Noah on the other.
The four boys were soon engrossed in the movie and, despite having sunk enough mini sausages and crisps to feed a small army, were shovelling in popcorn from big bowls as fast as they could.
Perhaps this would be the right time to text Lauren that picture.
‘I’m, er, just nipping to the loo,’ Marc said, pulling himself up from the sofa. ‘I won’t be a tick.’
‘No worries.’ Noah smiled. ‘If war breaks out while you’re gone, I’ll sit back and enjoy the fun!’
Marc gave his brother a rude but affectionate gesture and as he left the living room, he pulled his phone out from the back pocket of his jeans.
Scrolling through his photographs, he found the one of the boys blowing out their candles and sent it to Lauren with a ‘thanks again for this – hope to see you in the pub on Christmas Eve.’ He tried not to second-guess himself, although he wondered if he should have included a kiss on the text, as well.
‘Everything all right?’ Noah’s voice broke into his thoughts. He hadn’t even heard his brother behind him.
‘Er, yeah,’ Marc replied. ‘I was just… checking my phone. Didn’t want to do it in front of the kids, set a bad example, you know.’ Aware he was gabbling, he stopped abruptly.
‘Okay.’ Noah smiled. ‘Don’t take this the wrong way, but I wanted to be sure you weren’t… what was that thing I read about? Spiralling? You left the room pretty quickly.’
Marc was touched. Noah wasn’t one for emotional check-ins.
None of them were, really. The fact that his brother even knew what ‘spiralling’, an escalation of negative thoughts was, was surprising.
He reached out and clapped a hand on Noah’s shoulder.
‘I’m fine, mate, honestly. Relieved that things all seem to be going so well in there.
’ He tucked his phone back into his jeans.
‘But thank you. I appreciate you looking out for me.’
‘Any time.’ Noah smiled again. ‘And it really is lovely to be included today. The boys are great, and it looks as though they’ve made some good friends.’
At that moment, a cheer went up from the living room. Poking his head around the door again, Marc could see that the dinosaurs had got the better of the robots in the mid-movie confrontation. All four boys were sprawled out on the floor, now, finishing off the popcorn.
Marc sent a silent message upwards, as he always did on these occasions. Tessa, I think you’d be proud of us all today.
Noah obviously clocked the strange expression on Marc’s face. ‘Are you sure you’re all right?’
‘Yeah. Just… you know. Every birthday’s a milestone where she’s further away from us.’
‘She’d have been so happy to see how the boys are turning out.’ Noah’s voice, with a trace of gravel in it, made Marc’s throat ache. He cleared it, swiftly.
‘Well, we’d best get back to it.’
Noah nodded. ‘I think Bella’s called dibs on running pass the parcel, when the movie’s over.’
‘She’s welcome to do it!’ Marc grinned. ‘Although I’m not sure how much time we’ll have before their friends go home.’
‘That’s all right. I’m happy to have a go myself,’ Noah quipped. He headed back into the living room, and Marc tried to put thoughts of the ‘milestones’ out of his mind as he popped to the loo. Things were the way they were, and he needed to live in the moment.