A Model Mother

Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

Helen called Miles to let him know of the arrangements she had made with Rose.

“Miles, hi. Rose has agreed to meet with you tomorrow morning at 11am at Delma’s flat. Do you remember where that is?”

Miles did. Unexpectedly he felt his stomach clench slightly. He was immediately anxious about meeting her. But also excited about seeing Lloyd.

“Delma will pick Rose up and take her and Lloyd there. Rose thinks she can still spot the odd photographer hanging around and by driving off with Delma she hopes not to arouse suspicion. Delma won’t stay in the flat but she will make use of the ground floor residents’ suite, that way she can stay in the building and do some work but can give you two some privacy. Lloyd will be comfortable there too, he has been to the flat loads of time.”

“There are a couple of conditions.”

Miles had been sure there would be. “Go ahead.”

“Rose wants Nathalie, her sister, to be present at all times; she has also asked that I’m present too; this is for Lloyd’s benefit. She’s worried that if there is any…tension, he may get upset. He’ll have myself and Nat on hand if he does.”

But his own father won’t be able to comfort him, Miles thought bitterly to himself.

“OK, anything else?”

“Yes. Rose wants to know how you want to be introduced to Lloyd.”

Helen exhaled, why she had to have such a ridiculous conversation between two grown up adults who had managed to produce a gorgeous healthy baby was beyond her but as long as there was a chance to bring them together she would do what it took.

“Miles, what I mean is, shall Rose refer to you as Miles’s Dad or not.”

“Of course I want my son to call me Daddy,” exploded Miles.

Helen almost giggled, he sounded so indignant.

“OK, that’s settled then. But just one word from me.”

“Go on.” Miles waited for the lecture, he knew it would be short, sweet and to the point.”

“If you end up spoiling my relationship with Rose and LLoyd, I will never forgive you. Fair enough if you and Rose have issues that cannot be resolved. But Lloyd is my grandson and I want to play a full role in his life. Rose has placed her trust in me to mediate an initial meeting between the two of you. If you deliberately blow it, you may destroy her trust in me too.”

Miles ran his hand through his hair. “I told you that I wanted to keep this meeting light, an icebreaker. I want to enjoy meeting my son. But after this meeting, if things turn sour once I start pursuing access to Lloyd, then I can’t promise anything. And you know something Ma; I need your support too.”

Helen melted, it was a long time since her confident, capable, headstrong, ruthless businessman son actually said he needed her.

“I know you do darling, and you will always be my number one priority, whatever happens, you do know that don’t you?”

Miles smiled, “Of course, thanks for sorting this out. I’ll be there by 11 on the dot. I’ll use the side staircase.”

“Ma, there’s something else, I need to talk to you about. Max.”

“Oh dear,” said Helen. “Is he alright?”

“No, he’s not.” Miles gave his mother a resume of his conversation with Andrew.

Helen digested what he had told her. “I think you had better find him as soon as possible. It sounds to me as if he’s going off the rails a bit. I know he was really upset that things didn’t work out between you and Francesca; in fact I thought at the time that his reaction had been over the top, he was almost more upset than you two were. I had suspected he was gambling, but didn’t realise he was visiting Vegas.”

“Has Rose ever mentioned seeing him  there?” Miles listened carefully to his Mother’s answer.

Helen seemed surprised by his question, “Yes, actually she told me she did see him there once.” She thought back to what Rose had said. She sensed somehow, that her answer was important to Miles, goodness knew why.

 “I think she was rather amazed that he turned up at the same hotel she was staying at. Seems as though Max made a big thing about the coincidence. Apparently he made her promise not to tell you he was there as it was a trip for pleasure not business. Helen said she told him she had no secrets from you and he got a bit agitated. She said she kept it light and promised not to say anything as long as he stayed out of trouble.”

Helen remembered some more. “She said that she thought her promise to him was irrelevant anyway, as some photographer spotted them and took pictures of them at the hotel. Funny thing is, the photographs never surfaced, or at least she never saw them and I haven’t either.”

Miles felt the same sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that he had had when Bill had queried the ‘photos' authenticity. In fact he started to feel nauseous. Ridiculously, he almost wanted Bill to call and confirm that the ‘photos were definitely of Rose, so that he could feel reassured that she was as duplicitous as he believed.

He was so lost in thought that he forgot his mother was still on the end of the ‘phone.

“Are you alright? What’s the matter?”

“Nothing”, Miles said hoarsely, and quickly cleared his throat.

“Nothing. I’m just wondering how I’m going to find Max”, he lied.

“I’ll give it some thought too,” his mother offered. “But tomorrow is more important.”

She’s right, Miles thought. Tomorrow he was going to see his son for the first time. And he was going to see Rose too. The woman he had once loved more than anyone else.