Chapter 21 #2
‘Oh brilliant, you’re all done. How was it?’ Mr Pengelly lowered his voice as he asked the question, casting his eyes around the room as though he expected one of the Ofsted inspectors to spring out from underneath a desk at any moment.
‘Very well. I told them how great you all are with Leo.’
‘He’s the great one. I wish all the kids were as much of a joy to be around as he and Theo are.
It’s been heaven for the last twenty minutes, just the three of us.
’ Mr Pengelly looked over his shoulder again, laughing as he did.
‘Yeah, I probably shouldn’t say things like that out loud at the moment, should I? ’
‘Maybe not.’ Nathan laughed too, before giving the teacher a more serious look. ‘How do you think the inspection is going overall? Have you got any idea yet?’
Nathan wanted to ask how Rowan was holding up too, but it might have seemed overly familiar and made Mr Pengelly question just how close Rowan and Nathan’s relationship had become.
It wouldn’t take much to trigger the kind of gossip he knew she was desperately trying to avoid, especially now that James was back on the scene.
‘Mrs Bellamy has just been in to give a briefing to the rest of the staff, mostly about the outcomes of the teaching observations, but the two of us are catching up once I’m done here.
As head and deputy, it’s probably our necks on the line more than anyone else’s if we don’t get the outcome everyone is expecting.
If it’s anything less than the good grading we got last time we could get the chop.
’ He’d lowered his voice again, shooting a glance towards the two boys this time, but they were far too busy splashing brightly coloured paint onto a huge piece of paper.
‘It sounds like you’re both really busy and if it’s okay with Mrs Bellamy…’ Nathan paused for a moment, something about using her married name feeling far more poignant since James’s arrival. ‘I could take Theo back to our place so that he can hang out with Leo, until she finishes work.’
‘I’m sure she’d really appreciate that and I know I would, because it means we can get stuck straight in to reviewing what’s happened today.
Bella’s already gone home with one of her friends, so that would mean poor old Theo being left here on his own otherwise.
’ Mr Pengelly smiled again. ‘Can you keep an eye on the boys for two minutes and I’ll go and see what she says? ’
‘Of course.’ Nathan watched the deputy head disappear, and wondered if he could get away with asking Mr Pengelly if he knew why Theo hadn’t been picked up by his father. But that would definitely have been overstepping the mark.
‘She said you’re an absolute lifesaver and that she’ll come and pick Theo up from your place. She won’t be any later than seven, even if I have to shove her out of the door at half past six myself!’
‘Great. Can you let her know I’ll make sure the boys have dinner by then too. I really hope the rest of the inspection goes well for you all.’
After a bit of negotiation with Leo about bringing their part completed painting home to finish, the three of them headed off. They were two minutes away from the house when Nathan’s phone started to ring. It was Will.
‘Are you still at the school?’ His brother’s voice sounded strained and Nathan’s scalp prickled in response.
‘We’re just on our way back now. Did you get my text saying I had to speak to one of the inspectors?
’ He felt guilty that his late arrival home with Leo might have made his brother or Heather worried, but he’d checked that the WhatsApp message he’d sent had been read before he’d gone into the meeting.
‘Yes, and I’m glad you got the chance to talk to them about how great the school is. It’s just…’ Will hesitated for a moment. ‘Are you on speaker phone?’
‘Yes, and I’ve Theo with me too. Rowan’s working late.’
‘Okay. Well, we’re off to see if we can find a stork in Port Kara, if you know what I mean.
’ Will might have been talking in riddles, but Nathan knew exactly what his brother meant and he also knew why he hadn’t just come out and said that Heather was in labour.
Leo could be a worrier, especially when it came to his mum or anything to do with hospitals.
So they’d agreed it would be better not to let him know that the baby was on her way until she’d arrived safely.
Port Kara was code for St Piran’s, the hospital that was located there, and the stork was code for the midwives who’d be bringing the baby into the world.
‘Amazing. Has Mum gone with you?’
‘Do you seriously think I could do anything to stop her?’ Will laughed.
‘Not a chance. Take care and good luck. Love you all.’ The words caught in Nathan’s throat as he thought about how scared his sister-in-law probably was.
She’d been paranoid the whole way through the pregnancy that, despite the frequent scans, there’d be something that had been missed.
Nathan had seen her crying in Will’s arms, not long after they’d discovered they were having another baby, and telling him she couldn’t cope if she had another child with a life-limiting condition, because she couldn’t face the prospect of losing them both.
He’d watched as his brother had reassured his wife, but he’d seen on Will’s face that he was every bit as scared as she was.
All he could do now was silently pray that their fears would be unfounded.
‘Love you too, bro, and give Leo a big hug from me.’ Will hung up the phone, as Nathan pulled into the driveway and stopped outside the main house, turning to look at his nephew who had a quizzical expression on his face.
‘What’s a stork?’
‘It’s a big white bird.’
‘Why are Mum, Dad and Nanny going to look for one in Port Kara?’
‘Because looking at beautiful birds is a nice relaxing thing for your mum to do before she has the baby.’
‘I suppose so.’ Leo wrinkled his nose. ‘But I’d much rather look for dolphins or seals, if I was in Port Kara.’
‘Me too, but do you know what would be even better?’ Theo nudged Leo’s arm. ‘Imagine if you saw a shark, or a killer whale. That would be so cool.’
They were off then, the boys, talking about all the animals it would be way cooler to spot than a stork.
It was a brilliant distraction from worrying about Heather.
Nathan took the boys up to the main house, and set about making their dinner as they continued with the artwork they’d started with Mr Pengelly, adding in some of the animals they’d decided might one day grace the beach at Port Kara.
They’d wanted to carry on with it after dinner and, by the time there was a knock on the door, just before 7 p.m., there’d been a hippo and a giraffe added to the picture which could now give the passenger list on Noah’s ark a run for its money.
‘Hey.’ Nathan kept his greeting casual when he opened the door to Rowan, but the sight of her still made him catch his breath.
She was beautiful, despite the dark circles under her eyes that indicated a run of sleepless nights.
He’d texted to let her know he was up at the main house and what was happening with the baby, and the concern was evident on her face, despite the brevity of her response.
‘Any news?’
‘No, and I check my phone at least twenty times a minute.’ He laughed as her eyebrows shot up behind her fringe, and he stood back to let her in to the house. ‘You might think I’m joking, but I’m really not.’
‘I’d be doing that too. I can’t wait to be an auntie one day, but with Charlie living his best life travelling around the world I could be a very old lady before that happens.’
‘Maybe another baby first instead.’ Nathan hadn’t meant for the words to come out of his mouth, but she and James wouldn’t be the first reunited couple to have a ‘sticking plaster baby’ in an attempt to get their marriage back on track.
‘Another baby?’ She blinked a few times in quick succession, as if she was trying to make sense of a far more complex sentence and then she laughed. ‘For a moment there I thought you were making me an offer.’
He wanted to laugh too, but he couldn’t.
He seemed incapable of playing it cool any more and waiting for her to tell him what was going on with James, because not knowing what was happening was almost as torturous as waiting for news about the baby, and suddenly he wasn’t capable of doing both things at the same time.
‘I don’t think James would be very amused by me even joking about that.
Not if you two are trying to make a go of things. ’
‘We’re not. Oh God, Nathan, I’m so sorry, I’ve messed you about so much and I know that it must be what this looks like, but I promise you I’ve got no intention of giving things another go with James.
’ She took a step towards him and he wanted to kiss her so much that he had no idea how he stopped himself, but somehow he did.
‘Does James know that?’
‘Of course he does and even if I desperately wanted to get back with him, which I absolutely do not, I know without a shadow of a doubt that it isn’t what he wants either.’
‘Look, it’s none of my business and I’ve got no right to even ask you any of this really, it’s not like we made each other any promises.
But I really like you and I hope at the very least that we’ve become good friends again over these past few months.
’ He waited as she nodded. ‘Okay, so as your friend, I hope you won’t mind me saying this, but I think you’re wrong.
When I saw you all at Camel Creek you looked like the perfect family and then at the fireworks it was obvious how devastated James is by everything that happened.
He still loves you and I can’t blame him for that for one second. ’