Chapter Twenty-Five #2
‘I want to marry Iris, more than anything I want that, but if she said let’s fly to Vegas and do it in our jeans, I’d like that even more.’
‘It’s your wedding too, it has to be what you both want.’ She was desperate for him to get to the point of what ailed him and wanting so badly to warn him yet again to slow things down, to take the time to make sure it was really what he wanted.
‘Everyone says that, don’t they, but it seems to me that it’s all about compromise and one of you saying yes to keep the peace or make the other happy.’
‘I guess so.’ Holly, she knew, had every last detail worked out; Aiden would merely have been required to turn up and say, I do! But it was not Holly he was marrying.
‘How do I tell Iris that Holly is pregnant?’
‘For the love of God! You still haven’t told her?’ She put her mug down, her voice raised.
‘Does it sound like I’ve told her? I wouldn’t be asking, would I, if I had!’ He raised his voice a little.
Enya sighed. ‘Your sarcasm is quite unbecoming.’
She was still a little startled at how it took no more than a light strike of a match to set things ablaze and how quickly the fire of disharmony took hold. It was a pattern that was tiring, and she was more than a little sick of being his verbal punchbag, his and everyone else’s.
‘And you’re right, of course, silly old Mum!
’ She raised her voice. ‘And so I guess my advice is the same today as it was yesterday and the day before that and no doubt it’ll be the same tomorrow: tell her sooner rather than later as the longer you keep it from her, the less favourable a response you’re going to get.
I don’t know how else to put it! Keeping it a secret only compounds the problem.
And forgive me if I’m not mentally in tip-top form this morning.
I had a rather disturbed night, on account of your pregnant ex sneaking into my room in the middle of the bloody night, when I was unaware she was in the house, which gave me a flipping heart attack! ’
Her words, bluntly delivered, now coasted on pent-up anger; she was entirely over being shoved with the shitty end of the stick when none of this was her doing!
‘What?’ He screwed his eyes up in disbelief.
‘You heard me, and when I screamed, Phil, Jenny and Maeve – who, incidentally, was armed – came running in and we all had a cup of tea in our PJs! That was until I inadvertently announced that you were getting married, and everyone rolled their eyes and left in a huff, like I was a toxic thing to be avoided! As if it’s me that’s caused this whole bloody pantomime.
And it’s not me, Aiden, it’s nothing to do with me, actually, but you’re not here, Jonathan’s not here, and it appears to be me who is the sounding board, the kicking post, or the shoulder to cry on!
And truth be told, I’m getting a little pissed off with it all! ’
‘You told them I was getting married?’ This apparently what he’d chosen to take from her monologue.
‘Yes, Aiden, I did. Because, as I might have mentioned, I am losing track of what you have said and what you are keeping secret.’
‘I’m not keeping anything secret.’ He sounded most indignant.
‘You are though! You are!’ She banged the table.
‘You hadn’t told Holly, the expectant mother of your child, that you’re getting married in a matter of weeks and you haven’t told Iris, the woman you want to spend the rest of your life with, apparently, that you’re having a baby with your ex-partner, have I missed anything? ’
‘You make it sound so simple!’ he barked.
‘I need to, because it seems you are intent on making everything so bloody complicated! I mean, what’s the plan? Wait until the child is a teenager then whip it out as a surprise one Christmas, ta-dah! Here’s one I prepared earlier!’
Whether with nerves or at the end of his tether, Aiden burst out laughing, and she had no choice but to follow his lead.
‘It’s not funny!’ she wheezed, as she howled her laughter, knowing it was that or sob.
‘I know, I know.’ Her son lay his head on his arms, as his shoulders shook. ‘Oh my God, I know!’
They sat this way for a minute or two, both struggling for breath, beside themselves with laughter until it naturally subsided and the air around them was cleared of anger and in its place, the beginnings of peace.
‘Mum,’ he ran his palm over his face, ‘I’m so tired.’
‘Me too, love.’
‘Why was Holly here in the middle of the night?’
‘Well, it wasn’t strictly the middle of the night, but I was in bed, preparing for sleep.’
‘She broke in?’ He stared at her, clearly hoping to be corrected on this point.
‘No.’ It was time for Enya to speak with the honesty she was keen for her son to foster.
‘She arrived just as I was leaving to catch my train yesterday. I think she was trying to hide from Jenny and Phil, and I didn’t feel I could tell her to leave, didn’t want to.
I’m happy she still feels she can come over whenever, and it will be even more important when the baby comes along. ’
He gave a slight shake of his head, as if he was still finding it hard to accept that a baby would be coming along.
‘I came home, didn’t know she’d fallen asleep and went to bed, only to see her shadowy figure looming in the doorway as I nodded off. I screamed the place down!’
‘Where was she sleeping?’ he asked, his voice quiet, suggesting he could take an educated guess at the answer, especially as she lived in a two-bedroomed house.
‘In your bed.’
‘That’s not,’ he closed his eyes, ‘that’s not okay, not really. Supposing I’d come home with Iris?’
‘This is exactly what I’m talking about, Aiden, setting the boundaries, having those difficult conversations that mean people aren’t taken by surprise. They need to happen and soon.’
‘Can I tell Iris the news over the phone, do you think?’
She answered slowly. ‘Do you remember when Dad was ill, when we first found out?’
Aiden nodded.
‘How would you have felt if I’d told you over the phone?’
‘Terrible.’
‘Exactly, and for me who was doing the telling, I needed to see your face, hold your hand, be there to help you digest it, to answer the hundreds of questions that I knew you’d have.’
‘So I take it a text is also out of the question?’ He beamed at her.
‘No, I think that’s a good idea, or better still, why don’t you do it via a series of emojis?’
‘Do you know, Mother, your sarcasm is quite unbecoming.’
‘I need another coffee, and only because it’s too early for wine.’ She stood from the table. ‘Can I get you one?’
‘No, but I’ll have some more eggs if there are any going.’
Enya grabbed the bowl and happily smashed eggs into it. She grabbed the whisk and vigorously beat them.
‘You okay, Mum?’
‘Yes! More than okay, why?’
‘I dunno, you just seem a bit...’ He stared at her hand, beating the eggs furiously as she gripped the bowl.
She stared at her son.
Dominic was right, she was a woman who could set the world alight if she so chose, and she did! She chose right there and then to step out of the shadows and go grab the bloody life she wanted, one where she was in control.