Chapter 65
Ed had pulled it off! One of the mothers had picked up Joe’s mobile, which kept ringing persistently backstage, and taken the message. It was, the caller had insisted, urgent, and yes, Mr Balls had to know, whether he was on stage or not.
Somehow, his ex-wife, whose considerable ability in the field of human rights was enhancing her reputation in the legal profession, had persuaded the court that Natasha’s mother had acted in the best interests for her child, in circumstances that were to remain undisclosed. You can only guess at them, Ed had said darkly. So Natasha had been returned from her foster family to her mother, and an application had been made for the two to stay in England permanently. Of course there were no guarantees, but if anyone could swing it, it would be Ed.
As for Dilly Dalung, she was still in trouble but she could afford the best legal brains available. Joe was proud of Ed for acting for Natasha’s mother without payment, even if she had done it with an eye to impressing him.
‘Fantastic news,’ said Mike and Lynette, as they celebrated with non-alcoholic Christmas punch at the back of the hall after the show was over. Joe, feeling slightly out of it when all the other staff were bringing family, had invited them, along with his godsons.
Mike slapped Joe on the back. ‘Nice tights. Great performance too – real Oscar stuff. No, really, I mean it! Had tears running down our faces, didn’t we, Lynette?’
Lynette nodded. Moving away from her husband, she took Joe to one side. Despite having cleared the air with both of them about the beach incident, it still made him feel a bit awkward to be talking to Lynette in a low voice in the corner of the room.
‘I do hope,’ she said, her long auburn hair falling over her face like a Pre-Raphaelite model, ‘that this breakthrough with Lily doesn’t mean you’re thinking of giving Ed another chance.’
The thought had only occurred to Joe for a split second. People did get back together. Take Clemmie’s mum, who was there holding hands with her ex. Don’t even ask, he had heard someone mutter, before adding darkly that nativity plays did some very strange things to people.
Joe saw Juan and his father waving at him. ‘I couldn’t go back to someone who had got rid of our baby,’ he said quietly, waving back.
Lynette nodded her approval. ‘I liked Gemma, by the way.’
Joe gave her a warm grin. ‘That’s not very subtle.’
‘It’s not meant to be subtle.’
He moved closer so he could whisper. Ears were everywhere, big and small. ‘She’s taken. Engaged to Action Man, who happens to be my landlady’s son.’
Lynette gave him one of the quizzical looks that she usually reserved for one of his godsons when they’d promised her, hand on heart, that they’d already cleaned their teeth. ‘Are you sure? Because I heard them having quite an argument backstage, after Fraser had insisted that we tried to find you before the show started.’
She winked. ‘Not that I was listening, of course. Although I did happen to hear something which sounded as if she was giving him back his ring.’
‘Really?’
‘Really!’
If he hadn’t known better, he’d have said that Lynette was flirting with him, when in fact she was giving him a ‘what are you waiting for’ twinkle.
‘Ah, there you are, you two!’
Joe gave an awkward smile as Mike strode up, looking slightly on edge. The last thing he wanted his best friend to think was that he was making a play for his wife.
‘Has Lynette told you about this plan of hers?’ Mike said.
‘Sorry.’ Joe dug his hands into his pockets the way he sometimes did when feeling cornered. Inviting Gemma to dinner was a crazy idea. ‘I just don’t think I have the nerve.’
Mike looked taken aback. ‘Really? But you’ve offered to do it before? It’s only for four days just after Christmas.’ He draped his arm around his wife. ‘We haven’t had any time to ourselves since the boys were born, and neither of us would trust them with anyone else.’ He gave a small sigh, and Joe noticed that he looked rather more tired round the eyes than usual. ‘To be honest, both of us could do with a bit of a break.’
Lynette was laughing now. ‘Joe and I were talking about Gemma! I hadn’t got round to asking him about the boys yet.’ She gently touched Joe’s arm. ‘I found this great deal in the paper; it’s a four-day trip to Venice, and we wondered if you could possibly …’
‘Have the boys?’ Joe understood at last. ‘I can think of nothing that I’d like to do more.’
‘Uncle Joe, Uncle Joe! Are you going to look after us in your cool London flat for two days squared?’
He’d taught them well!
‘Uncle Joe, Uncle Joe, can we go to Madame Two Swords?’
‘May’, corrected Lynette. ‘May, not can.’
‘Uncle Joe, Uncle Joe, can we go to bed really, really late?’
What had he got himself into? Four glorious days with his wonderful godsons. He couldn’t wait.