As if he was taking this literally, little Spencer, who had been squirming harder and harder, opened his mouth and let out an ear-piercing cry. Anna looked nervously across at Teresa.
Her sister-in-law unbuttoned her shirt and held out her arms, a weary look on her face. ‘I told you… Dairy cow!’ The baby settled into a steady sucking rhythm and Teresa relaxed and smiled across at Anna. ‘That’s me, then. I’ll be stuck here for the next half an hour – if I’m lucky!’
‘Since Scott has escaped to Sainsbury’s, do you want me to make you a cup of tea?’
Teresa smiled at her. ‘Thought you’d never ask!’
Anna smiled back and went to make the hot drinks, and when she returned to the living room, she said, ‘It’s not just me then. You find her – Gayle – difficult too?’
Teresa sighed before glancing down to check on her son. ‘I put up with it for Scott’s sake. She’s intense, I know, but she’s basically harmless. I just try to let it all slide off.’
Anna sat down on the sofa and clasped her hands in her lap. ‘But how do you do that?’ She’d managed to keep her cool at the one family lunch she’d been to since the vol au vent incident, but she’d discovered that ‘not reacting’ was a lot tougher than it sounded.
Teresa thought for a moment, idly stroking the downy hair on the top of the baby’s head. ‘The way I look at it, without Gayle, Scott wouldn’t be my Scott. He’s much more like her than his dad, but it’s watered-down in him. He’s quietly determined, not noisily pushy, but that’s where he gets his drive from.’
Anna sipped her tea. ‘I suppose you’re right. I always thought Spencer was just like his dad: laid-back, full of fun, but he had that drive too, and that’s what prompted him to take a risk and follow his dreams.’
It occurred to Anna that if Spencer had been just like his father,he’d have been happy to potter around in a middle-management job until his retirement, just as Richard had done. Maybe that ambition, that creativity, was his mother’s gift, even though Anna was struggling very hard to see where it came from. Was Gayle a dreamer too? It hardly seemed possible.
Teresa lifted the dozy baby so his chin was resting on her shoulder, then she rubbed him firmly on his back. After a few moments, he let out a gurgling belch. ‘I wonder what this little man will be like. Whether he’ll be like me or like Scott? Or just a mixture of all of us in his heritage, combined to a secret recipe that is uniquely him.’ She looked down at her son with such love that tears almost sprang to Anna’s eyes. ‘It’s all in there,’ Teresa added. ‘All those things have already been planted, but it’s going to take years to see them come to fruition, for them to work their way out.’
That was a beautiful thing, Anna decided, to watch a person unfold like that.
Teresa caught Anna’s eye. There was a huskiness in her tone when she said, ‘A lot of the time I find myself hoping that he’s just like his uncle.’
Anna didn’t say anything. She just gave a watery smile to her sister-in-law, and then she went across the room to give her a hug. Just in case the moment was getting too girly and emotional, little Spencer responded by doing the manliest thing he could think of and let out a giant fart. Anna caught Teresa’s eye and they both burst out laughing.
Teresa lifted him and undid a couple of poppers so she could peek inside his babygro to see what the damage was. ‘Oh, crap,’ she said. ‘Literally. It’s exploded right out of the nappy,and it’s probably gone halfway up his back.’ She pulled a face. ‘I haven’t got used to that bit yet,’ she said, standing up and giving her son a disgusted look. ‘I’d better change him. Third time today, and it’s not even noon yet!’
Just as Anna had sat back down again, the doorbell rang.
‘Get that, would you, please?’ Teresa said as she headed up the stairs. ‘It might be another flower delivery.’
But when Anna opened the door, instead of finding a bouquet, she came face to face with her mother-in-law. ‘Oh! It’s you,’ Gayle said, echoing perfectly what Anna was thinking. ‘Where’s Teresa? Where’s the baby?’
And hello to you too, Anna thought, as Gayle hurried past her, but she held her tongue, reminding herself of what Teresa had just said. Maybe, if she squinted and tipped her head in the right way, she would be able to see that little speck of Spencer in Gayle. It might prevent Anna from throttling her.
Richard trailed in behind, as always, laden with bags. He gave Anna a one-armed hug, careful not to bash her with what was obviously a prize haul from John Lewis’s baby department. ‘I think what you meant to say, my darling,’ he called after his wife, ‘is, “Anna! What a marvellous surprise!”’
‘Oh, yes. Of course,’ Gayle said absent-mindedly as she made her way into the living room. Richard and Anna followed.
‘I dropped in for a visit,’ Anna explained. ‘Teresa’s just gone to change his nappy.’
As if on cue, her sister-in-law came back down the stairs. ‘All nice and fresh for Grandma,’ she said, and handed the baby over to Gayle,who had spun around and stretched out her arms as soon as she’d heard Teresa’s voice.
Gayle’s face lit up as she cradled her grandson in the crook of her arm. ‘He’s grown so much!’ she said, turning to exclaim to Richard.
‘We only saw him yesterday. How could earth can you tell if he’s grown at all?’
But his wife had already focused her attention back to the baby in her arms. She walked into the living room and sat down in the corner of the sofa. ‘He looks so much like Spencer,’ she said, almost whispering.
Richard gave one of his weary, well-worn huffs that seemed to be his main method of dealing with his wife when she was being a little exasperating. ‘That’s because heisSpencer.’
‘No,’ Gayle said, tickling the baby under his chin so he opened his mouth and his eyes wide, ‘I meantmySpencer.’
Richard shot a look at Anna. ‘Don’t you mean “ourSpencer”?’
Then Gayle did the most bizarre thing. She took her eyes off the baby for a few seconds and giggled. Actually giggled. ‘Oh, silly me. Of course I meantourSpencer.’ She smiled at her husband, not minding his dig at all, and then things went even further into strange territory, because she turned that smile on Anna, clearly including her in the joke. ‘But he does look like him, don’t you think?’
