Chapter 5

Someone was shaking my leg. Gary Glitter was on the radio singing about his Rock and Roll Christmas.

"Come on, wake up sleepy head. I need your help."

"What? Where are we?"

"We are just coming up to the Dartford Crossing. I need you to get some cash together for the toll."

I delved into my pockets and pulled out a handful of loose change.

"Dartford already? That was quick."

"It certainly was not, the traffic has been awful. It feels like it's taken ages to get this far. You've been asleep that's why it seems to have been quick."

I counted out the money and made sure we had exactly the right money for the toll. We moved onto the Queen Elizabeth Bridge and she looked at me.

"I don't know what you were dreaming about but it seemed like fun, at one time I'm sure you were laughing."

"It was not so much of a dream, more of a memory."

"Well I'm glad there are some happy memories."

She wound down the window as we approached the barrier. I passed her the cash; she dropped it in the trough and started to wind the window up.

"Why didn't we just stay together then, instead of wasting so much time?" She asked as we moved off again.

"I don't know really, I didn't really believe we could make it work. I mean you had him, and your career. You do realise that my confidence was totally destroyed. I mean my wife took up with a younger man. I felt old and useless."

"Yes, I don't think I realised how much that had affected you. Still we had good times to remember."

"They were good times weren't they?"

"Yes they were, and now we are going to have many more." She reached over and squeezed my hand.

The Ronettes were singing I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus as we turned onto the coast bound A2. I settled back in my seat remembering the last time I dressed up as Santa Claus. Nobody Kissed me. My eyes closed and my mind drifted back.

I'd been dreading my first Christmas as a divorcee. I had no idea what Penny was doing and I had a horrible feeling that she might try and gatecrash our celebrations with her new husband. In the end she opted to stay in Bucharest Both Phoebe and David were invited to go out there at her expense, but both turned it down. Phoebe told her it wouldn't be worth flying out because she wanted to spend some of the holiday with me. I watched her as she put the phone down.

"If they think I'm spending more than a day in that man's company, they've got another think coming."

"You make it sound as if you don't like your new stepfather. I would have thought you would get on, you're in the same age group."

"Yes but he's married to my mother, something he seems to forget from time to time."

She wouldn't expand on the comment but it didn't leave much doubt in my mind as to what had soured the wedding for her.

"Never mind, there's always next year. They'll be living in Britain by then."

"You really think you've got it sussed, don't you Dad? Mum loves her job and she likes Romania. What makes you think she'll quit?"

"I've read the same text book he has. My guess is they'll come over for David's graduation. She'll probably have a few interviews lined up with the hope of being able to go back and tell them she doesn't want to renew her contract. They'll be back in Britain by September."

"Daddy you're so cynical."

"Yes and it's putting a damper on things, so lets get on with preparations for Christmas. I know your Gran is looking forward to having us all together, I thought we would have her come here this year. She won't feel she has to do so much in someone else's house."

Christmas almost went off without a hitch. I say almost because I did have three phone calls. The first came from Lady Caroline, a nice touch I thought. She was checking to see how I was, knowing Christmas would bring memories. Next to call was Sephie. Mum gave me a big grin when I said I would take it in the bedroom. Sephie was spending the holiday with her parents and rang to say thank you for her present. We must have spent half an hour on the phone. We never seemed short of things to talk about. She asked me to pass best wishes on to mum before hanging up. I'd just put the phone back on its base station when it rang again.

"What have you been up to I've been trying to get through for ages I nearly missed my slot." said an all too familiar voice.

"I'm sorry Penny; I forgot to put my life on hold in case you rang." I could hear her calling my name as I put the phone down on the table and called Phoebe and David. Mum looked a bit concerned so I went and sat next to her.

"A certain young lady sends her best wishes for Christmas." I said. Her eyes lit up.

"Do you mean that nice young girl who used to come for Sunday lunch?"

"That's the one." I reached under the sofa and pulled out a parcel. "She also asked me to give you this. She said she knows it's not much but she wanted to get you something that you would enjoy."

Mum opened the parcel and found a small tin of Shortbread biscuits from Fortnum and Mason's.

Tears came to her eyes."How did she know they are my favourites? And look they're from Fortnum's"

"She's a very observant girl, Mum. Of course they came from Fortnum's. She said they had to be fit for a queen so she went to the queen's grocer."

"Now I know you're mucking about." she said wiping the tear s from her cheeks."Now just behave yourself, you're not too big for a slap you know."

I was holding my hands up as if I was protecting myself from mum but I was watching Phoebe who seemed to be having a hard time with her mother.

"No I can't bring him to the phone. He's in the shower, I don't think dad wants him dripping all over the carpet. -- Well if we'd known you were going to call I'm sure he'd have got up earlier. -- No mum you don't have to make an appointment to talk to your children. You just have to accept that surprises don't always work out as you plan them. Just ask Dad. --No. I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that. --Look perhaps if you rang back later. -- Oh I see.--Yes, Merry Christmas to you too."

As she put the phone down I slipped my arm around her shoulders. She reached up and took my hand.

"They're going to Ion's parents for lunch and she forgot the time difference."

"Is David really in the shower?"

"No he'd just got out when you called. I couldn't tell her that he didn't want to talk to her." she buried her head in my shoulder."It's so horrible being piggy in the middle Dad. I know she's the one in the wrong, but she's my mum and I love her."

"Of course you do."I said stroking her hair. "And so you should. Leave David to me. If he doesn't want to talk to her then he can tell her himself."

I waited for her to dry her eyes and asked if she and her Gran could finish cooking Christmas dinner. When she said she could, I called up to David.

"David. Get your arse down here; we're going down the pub." He started to protest but I soon stopped that. "You're coming with me or you're feeling the rough end of your Gran's tongue. Which is it to be?"

"OK. OK. I'm coming."

He didn't take kindly to being told to man up. As we walked to the pub his head was down as he suffered the lecture.

"I thought I brought you up better than that." I said. "If you've got an issue with your mother you damned well tell her about it. You do not hide behind your sister."

"I wasn't."

"Yes you were. Tell her I'm in the shower you said. She's your mother. She brought you into this world. The least you owe her is an explanation."

"How can you be on her side after what she did to you?"

"I'm not siding with her. If I'm siding with anyone it's your sister. She still wants a relationship of some kind with your mother, and you're making it pretty difficult for her."

"So what am I supposed to do, tell her to piss off?"

"If that's the way you feel, yes."

"I can't. I can't do that to her dad."

"Then you can do what your sister does, try to remain friendly or do what I do, be civil to her, treat her like any other person you know. What you don't do, is to get your sister to lie for you. Are we clear on that?"

"Crystal clear, Dad. I suppose that means you want me to get the beers in."

I slapped his back. "Since it probably comes out of my pocket in the long run, I'll get them in."

I was pleased to see that David's first action on getting home was to give his sister a hug and an apology. The rest of the holiday went well and I even got to see Sephie at New Year.

By Easter David was starting to get a little stressed with final exams coming up. He also had to decide what to do about graduation. It was to be held in the cathedral, each student was only allocated two tickets.

"I've been thinking about what you said at Christmas. I think I'd like to give mum a chance to come to my graduation. I only get two tickets so you might find yourself sitting next to her if she comes. Would that be alright with you?"

"No problem for me."

"Well, of course, she may not come."

"She'll come alright, but she'll want to bring arsehole with her."

"She'll be out of luck then, I only get two tickets and you're having one"

Sure enough on a bright July morning I found myself standing in the cathedral waiting for the graduation ceremony to start.

"You're looking well." she said as she took her seat. "The single life must agree with you."

"It has its moments." I looked her up and down."You're looking ... well, tired, if I'm honest."

"I'm not surprised we didn't get in till 3 am."

"Well I hope you took plenty of water with it."

"Don't be sarcastic; you know I'm talking about the flight."

A hush fell over the congregation as they introduced the honorary doctorates being awarded to the great and the good. Each of those honoured gave a short speech, and then the first round of graduates filed in. As they did Penny tried for a bit more conversation.

"You are still single then. I seem to remember a woman talking to me when I called you at home."

"Oh yes, still single, you know what they say, once bitten twice shy."

"I suppose I asked for that. I thought perhaps a woman was responsible for the new look. You never looked like that when we were together."

"Well since you ask it was a woman that caused me to lose weight. I went to surprise her for Christmas and found her shacked up with another man. It's amazing what something like that can do to you."

"Really Drew, can't we put all that behind us? I've married again. I've moved on. Isn't it time you did the same?"

"I have, I've moved on so far that I told David it was OK to invite you."

"You mean he asked your permission to invite me?"

"Not permission as such but he did ask if I was alright with it."

"But you haven't moved on enough to let him send a ticket for Ion. He was very hurt you know. He'd have loved all this."

"David only got two tickets. You didn't seriously expect me to miss my own son's graduation so that Ion could see the ceremony."

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't know."

The university chancellor took his place and the graduation ceremony proper, got started. David's group, the Computer Science students were the last group and so we had a lot of applause to get through before the sight we'd come for, our son being presented with his degree and being welcomed to the university rolls. Once it was all over we all filed out into the sunshine. Penny didn't seem to be able to take her eyes off me. In the end she had to say something.