A Model Mother

Chapter 14

Once Miles had gone Helen offered to take Lloyd and Natalie back to the flat and give Rose some time to relax and have a chat with Delma. Rose jumped at the chance; she felt drained and urgently needed some down time, especially since she would likely be spending the next day with Miles too. Lloyd would be perfectly happy with his grandma and aunt and waved happily to Rose as he left much to Delma’s amusement.

“Clingy isn’t he!” she laughed.

“Helen’s fab with him. He’s almost as content with her as he is with me now.”

“You don’t mind that?” Delma asked quizzically, scrutinising her friend’s face.

“No, not at all.” She saw Delma’s look.

“Seriously, I really love her – and she adores Lloyd. She wouldn’t let anyone upset him, including Miles. And to be honest, I guess I hadn’t realised how good it is to have family around to help when you have a baby. I’m actually starting to have some time for myself and for the business. And she’s so good for Nathalie. I’m just worried that she might start to feel put upon at some point.”

Delma nodded, “Yes, she has turned out to be a real star. But Miles will always come first for her, don't forget that."

“And speaking of absent family,” Delma continued, have you heard from your Dad?”

“Yes, we still email at least every week and we Skype. Last week he dressed up in his dive gear for Lloyd and jumped in the sea. Lloyd was absolutely riveted, but when he put his mask on Lloyd started to cry, it was so funny. Nat and I were in tucks.”

“He’s thinking of coming over in the next couple of months. He’s keen to catch up with Nat. If he times it right she’ll be on holiday and can return with him to Palau. She’s really excited about it.”

“Have you told him about Miles?”

“Yes I have. He has talked it through with me in detail. I promised I’d Skype him tonight or tomorrow to let him know what happened. He’s very measured as you know, but I can tell he’s worried, as I am, about how custody of Lloyd is going to work out.”

“Well, since we’re on the subject, tell all, how is the lovely Miles, did you give him my extra special love?”

As Delma made coffee, Rose provided her with a detailed account of the visit. They both laughed and laughed when Rose told Delma about Miles using the word “Daddy” for the first time and the consternation it caused. Rose finished off by telling Delma about Miles kissing her as he left.

“Cheeky bastard, hope you don’t catch anything nasty off him.” Delma retorted.

“Did he give you any clues at all about why he left you?”

“Nothing, but his behaviour towards me has changed from the last time we were together. It was an awkward meeting but I still felt that he was trying in some way to be conciliatory. I think that may be Helen’s influence.”

 “What was he like with Lloyd?”

“He couldn’t take his eyes off him and played loads with him. One thing is for sure, he will want to spend more time with him or have some kind of custody.”

“Hmmm!” Delma mused. She was just as worried for her friend as she had ever been. Was Miles playing some kind of game just to get Rose off her guard? After the way in which he left her she wouldn’t put anything past him.

“Please be careful,” she urged, “just keep your wits about you and keep in touch with Carl too, make sure he knows what is happening and also make sure he lets you know anything he can glean from Bill Campbell.”

Rose smiled at her friend’s concern.

“What if he really does want a reconciliation? If I decide I don’t will it send him off the deep end again?”

Delma pondered it too. “But will you agree to a reconciliation without knowing why he left you?”

“God, no,” Rose concurred. “At some point, whatever happens, I want to know exactly what happened.”

“Do you think he left you for someone else, that it didn’t work out and now he has changed his mind and wants you back?”

Delma and Rose had talked this over so many times, and were still no nearer anything else other than speculation as to what had happened. Nevertheless, Delma was aware that talking it through did in some way help Rose to deal with it.

They both comfortably fell into their usual post-mortem of what might have happened to turn Miles into a Jekyll and Hyde character. Delma had questioned her friend so closely for the past year that she didn’t think that there was any fact or any possible angle that they had not covered. Basically, Delma had concluded, the man was a shit, but he had hidden it really well.

“I have picked up from Helen that there seems to be some concern over Max”, Rose continued.

“She is very loyal and hasn’t said much but I’m sure she’s worried that he’s in some kind of trouble. I think that he may also have done one of his vanishing tricks, which he’s prone to every now and again.”

“I do wonder if he is in some way involved in what happened between Miles and I but I can’t work out why. It is funny though; Helen seemed really interested in the time that I met him by accident in Vegas. When I first told her she was just a bit surprised that he had been there when she had thought he was at work. But a couple of weeks later she asked me again about it.”

Delma munched on a biscuit absentmindedly, trying to think through what the link with Max might be.

“What is Max like,” she asked.

“Physically he’s tall, good looking in a classic way with Celtic looks, black hair, pale skin, beautiful blue eyes. He’s interested in sports and plays a lot of tennis but he can drink like a fish and goes on a complete binge now and again. When he’s drunk he’s not nice to know but normally he does have real charm, he is one of those people who can talk to anybody and make them feel a mile high."

"Women just fall into his arms, but he can’t seem to keep them. Or maybe he doesn’t want to. I suspect he may have a real problem with gambling and this may be the root of the problem between him and the Setons at the moment, hence the interest that he was seen at Vegas when they thought he was at work.”

“Is he close to Francesca?”

“Very. But every so often, from what Miles told me, he just seems to go AWOL and nobody hears from him, then he resurfaces and everything can be fine.”

She checked her watch and reluctantly decided she had better return to her flat. The friends hugged and Rose promised to let Delma know everything that happened the next day.

“Oh well,” Delma said, “keep calm and if you  get the chance to duck Miles in one of the aquariums tomorrow, do take it and ask Nathalie to take a ‘photo on her camera – I’ll turn it into a screen saver for us.”

Rose giggled at the thought of an indignant, submerged Miles on her PC.

 Dear readers, please do leave me comments, I will respond to all of them. I'd welcome some feedback on the story so far and what you are anticipating or looking forward to most about Rose and Mile's situation.