‘He would be. I’m sure he’s chuffed he could even make it happen at his age.’
‘He’s not that old. Men have children when they’re far older than he is.’
‘Just because they can doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. He’ll never keep up.’
Zoe was inclined to agree, even though saying it out loud might seem uncharitable. But perhaps that was more to do with her complicated feelings about him being with Chantal than it was about her dad’s energy levels. She’d cared for plenty of couples where the father was older than the norm, and, apart from the odd raised eyebrow, it was rarely any real obstacle to fatherhood. Of course, none of those men were her own father, with a new partner younger than Zoe herself. ‘He might not, but it won’t be any skin off your nose either way, will it? That’s surely for him and Chantal to worry about.’
‘Hmm…you sound as if you’re happy about all this.’
‘Mum, I’m happy for Dad because he’s happy. What do you want me to say? You’d like me to disapprove or feel angry about it, but I can’t.’
‘Not even after everything you went through last year with your own?’
‘That’s a low blow, Mum. This has nothing to do with what I went through, and if you’re using that to stoke up some kind of reaction in me, it won’t work.’
‘How dare?—’
‘Mum, you know I love you, and you know I have sympathy for what you went through after you split from Dad, but I’m not going to have this conversation with you until you’ve calmeddown. So I’m going to put the phone down now and we’ll talk tomorrow.’
‘But Zoe?—’
As she’d promised, Zoe ended the call and put her phone down. She wanted to switch it off, but there was no way she’d do that in case one of the mums in her care needed her, and as she’d predicted, her mum phoned back straight away. She glanced up to see Alex giving her a look of pained sympathy.
‘You’re a braver person than me to ignore it.’
‘I’m exhausted, and if I talk to her now I’ll say something both of us will wish I hadn’t. It’s…complicated with my parents. I haven’t really told you much about it, I know, mostly because I don’t like talking about it. But I see I’m going to have to fill you in because I have a horrible feeling that their differences are going to start impacting my life like they did during their divorce, and that means it’s going to impact yours too. And before that happens, I want to say sorry. I don’t want to drag you into it, and I’ll try not to, but I can’t promise it won’t be that way.’ She paused and tried to inject some humour into her tone. ‘I bet you didn’t imagine I’d come with this kind of baggage, right? I mean, Ritchie is one thing, but my mum and dad’s divorce makes mine look like plain sailing.’
‘Please don’t feel like you can’t talk to me about it. You spent enough time in the middle of mine and Billie’s problems – we owe you.’
‘Thanks. What I hope will happen is Mum will sleep on it and see that there’s no point in getting upset. She can’t change anything, and being bitter won’t help. I wish she could let him go.’
‘But they’ve been divorced for…what did you tell me?’
‘Two years. The trouble is, because he got with Chantal almost immediately after he left, Mum thinks he was having an affair and she can’t stop feeling like a victim. Dad says he didn’tgo near Chantal while he was still living with Mum, and I believe him even if she doesn’t. He’s smitten with Chantal too, and, whatever I think about her, she makes him happy. Mum needs to come to terms with that just like we all have, but she’s never really been able to. And the sad thing is, Mum’s not a crazy woman, not remotely. She’s the loveliest, kindest, most tolerant person on the planet, but there’s something about this situation, about the way it all played out, that sends her off the edge like nothing else.’ Zoe shrugged and settled back onto the sofa to be folded into Alex’s arms. ‘Dad and Chantal together just seems to trigger her, and now there’s going to be a baby…’
‘Maybe it will make her see sense.’
‘I can only hope so. You know what else is annoying? I bet she hasn’t phoned my brother ranting about it.’
‘What makes you say that?’
‘Because she knows she won’t get a reaction from him. She saves it for me because I’m more sympathetic. I’m my own worst enemy really. I ought to be more like Tom – it would make life a lot easier.’
Alex pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head. ‘Poor you. There’s no peace for you, is there? Someone always wants something from you.’
‘I don’t feel quite like that, but I know what you mean. It does seem as if there’s always some drama. You know what’s weird that I’m going to have to get my head around?’
‘What?’
‘I’m going to have a half-brother or sister who’s thirty-six years younger than me. And ifIhave a baby…well, that’s going to get very confusing!’
‘It will,’ Alex said with a smile in his voice. ‘It’s good you can see the funny side of it.’
‘Not yet, but I’ll get there. In the meantime, my job is to keep Mum from losing it. And possibly keep Mum and Dad from one another for the next few weeks until things calm down.’
‘That shouldn’t be hard, should it? They don’t see each other now, do they?’
‘No, but you don’t know my mum…’
