Chapter 54

“Five women. You’ve been at the whisky again father.”

Andrew went to walk past him and go to his room.

“Andrew McLeod!”

Guess who wanted to be part of the conversation.

“Why are five women inviting you to a party?”

“Look, let me get into the damn house and put my bag down. I need a glass of water. I have been away for three days. I really don’t know what is going on, any more than you do.”

Once he got settled Andrew found that he had calls from Katie Gibson, inviting him to a party at her house on the upcoming Saturday. Followed by calls from Suzanne, Tanvi, Moira, Hannah, Tanvi again and finally Moira again wanting to know if he was going to the party at Katie’s.

“Who are all these girls Andrew? You have just come back from visiting Nikki and you see Leslie all the time and now this. What are you doing?”

That was a perfect encapsulation of his mother. Never could see a conclusion without jumping at it.

“Katie, Suzanne, Hannah and Tanvi are all in the field hockey team. Suzanne and Hannah are in some of my classes. Moira and Suzanne study with me in the library after school. Moira is getting me to tutor her this year in Maths. Katie and Tanvi are in 5^th year and Moira is in 6^th year. Have I missed anything?”

“Andrew, they all seem awfully keen for you to be at the party.”

This was his dad sounding surprisingly calm, although he had switched from a sneering tone to an innuendo laden one.

“I will give them a call over the rest of the afternoon and find out why they are all eager to make sure I am there. I will let you know.”

“What will their parents think about all this?”

His mother at her finest.

“I don’t know Mum. I will check with Katie, who I will call first and find out about this party. I presume her parents will be there.”

Thus Christmas Eve afternoon was spent trying to talk to everybody. All the while trying to keep his mother from worrying about what all these parents thought of her. He started to see where, indeed who, Rowan got her self-centeredness from. She of course wanted to know why he was on the phone, what was happening, why she wasn’t allowed to go the party. You get the idea. 13 going on 3.

Katie was easy. She was having some people over to the house. The hockey team, some people from her year. She had invited Moira through Suzanne who she had called to get his number. Her parents were going to be there. Any time after 5.00 and it would be done by 11.00. Andrew thanked her and asked if he could bring something. He noted down her address and said he would be there around 6.00.

Suzanne wanted to make sure he knew about the party. Completely redundant as she had given his number to Katie. They spoke for a while and he told her he would see her there on Saturday. Andrew called Tanvi next and of course got her father.

“Hello Dr. Jindal, can I speak to Tanvi please. It is Andrew McLeod sir.”

His mother was vibrating with intense interest that he knew Tanvi’s father.

“Hello Andrew, let me get her. I presume this is about the party on Saturday.”

“I presume so too sir but I don’t know for sure.”

Polite, give nothing away.

“Here she is Andrew.”

“Andrew, hi, how are you? Sorry to bug your parents but I wanted to make sure you heard about the party on Saturday. I wasn’t sure that Katie had your number. I had to phone a couple of people to get Suzanne’s number to finally get yours.”

Andrew didn’t think she breathed once as she gabbled that all out.

“Hello Tanvi, it is nice to hear from you. I did get a message from Katie about the party but thank you for checking to make sure that I did too. I presume that you are going to the party judging by the comments your father made to me before you came on the line.”

“Oh yes Andrew, I have helped Katie organise it. About 40 people are coming. I am very excited.”

She laughed at herself.

“In case you can’t tell.”

“You do sound enthusiastic about it that is for sure.”

“What time will you be there Andrew?”

“I told Katie I would get there around 6.00 Tanvi. I will see you on Saturday. Thanks for looking out for me.”

He managed to get off the phone and explain to his mother how he had met Dr. Jindal at the hockey. When he phoned Moira it was Lord Barnes who answered. Andrew nearly hung up.

“Hello, can I speak to Moira please. It is Andrew McLeod sir.”

Andrew figured he would try and avoid the Lord Barnes thing with his mum listening to every word.

“Call me Jim, Andrew. No need to call me sir.”

He sounded like he had been at the whisky.

“I think if I call you Jim sir, my mother would beat me with the telephone.”

HIs mother looked mutinous as Andrew smiled sweetly at her.

“Well, you’re probably right. Let me see if I can find Moira.”

There was a gap of at least 40 seconds while he could hear shouting at the other end. Eventually, a breathless Moira answered the phone.

“Hello, Andrew. Are you still there?”

“Hello Moira, yes I am here. Has your father been at the booze? He wanted me to call him Jim.”

She giggled on the phone.

“I think he started at the golf club and has had several more since he came home. Did you hear about Katie’s party?”

“Oh yes, half the attendees of this party have called. My mother is not used to her son getting seven calls from five different girls. I have had some explaining to do.”

“Who else called Andrew?”

Her calm voice not masking her keen interest in the answer.

“Katie and a couple of people in my year. Everyone wanted to make sure that I knew about it.”

He told Moira he would see her Saturday and finally got her off the phone. Before he could even try and talk to Hannah his mother was on him.

“Have you met Moira’s father as well?”

“Yes I met him after studying one day. He introduced himself as Jim Barnes and it is his running joke that I should call him Jim. I never do.”

“What does he do?”

Andrew was going to have to dance carefully round this one.

“I believe he is a lawyer Mum. Half the parents who have kids at Heriot’s are lawyers.”

He finally was able to break free and call Hannah. His mum appeared to have given up at this point and finally left him in peace. Hannah answered the phone and brightened when he said hi.

“I just wanted to see if you were going to the party on Saturday Andrew?”

Her too.

“Yes, I am going. I should be there fairly early, around 6.00. Thanks for making sure I had heard.”

“That is okay, I just wanted to make sure you would be attending. Otherwise I was probably going to skip it.”

She sounded a bit down.

“I will be there but why were you going to skip it if I wasn’t going to be there.”

Andrew was confused here.

“I am having a bit of a hard time with the other girls at the moment that is all.”

Okay.

“Would you like to get there with me Hannah? I am going to be at my friend’s place before the party and think I am going to walk over. It is only 20 minutes or so from his house. Why don’t you come over at 5.30 and say hi and then we can walk to Katie’s together?”

The relief in her voice was clear.

“That would be really nice Andrew. Your friend won’t mind?”

“Julian? No he will be okay with it. If the weather is miserable he’ll give us a lift in his Capri. He likes to get out in it even if it is only a short distance.”

Finally he was off the phone. Time to actually process all that was happening here. Hmmm. Suzanne was fine. Even though she knew Katie would call she was just being territorial. They were past the dating thing. Hannah worried him a little. She seemed to be becoming isolated within the year and the team. He hoped that the weather would be good so that they could talk on the way over. She needed a friend more than anything else at the moment. As for the other three, Andrew couldn’t begin to fathom it. Moira sounded like she needed a friend as well. There was their underlying agreement that added a frisson of excitement to their interactions but she just seemed to be up for some fun. Probably at his expense. But she had also been blunt and honest, they were not a couple. As for the last pair he was completely confused. Tanvi seemed to be most obviously attracted to him but at school they went round as a pair. He had no idea whether Katie was helping or competing but Saturday night was going to be an interesting night. Nobody could ever accuse him of a dull life.

Christmas Day had a huge surprise. Leslie and her parents had accepted an invitation from his parents to come for Christmas dinner. Nobody had said anything to Andrew and so he was blown away when he opened the front door and the three of them were standing there. He came to his senses and got them all inside. Brian and Leslie were laughing that they had managed to keep the secret. Even Mary, always the quietest one, was smiling. Andrew later found out that his mum had briefed everyone about Faith and to steer well clear of cancer unless the Campbell’s raised it first. It gave Andrew a rare moment of appreciation of his mum. Normally around him she wasn’t that sensitive.

As it turned out the Campbells decided to address the issue early on. When asked how they knew the family, Brian quietly stated that they had met Andrew when their daughter was also in hospital. Afterwards he had become a good friend to the family and was Leslie’s best friend. What was clear but left unsaid was the outcome of the other daughter’s treatment. However, Brian smoothly went on to talk about Andrew’s work with him over the summer and the sombre moment quickly passed. Soon Leslie was centre stage. The family remembered all the tales that Nikki had told the previous year and there was much reminiscing but Leslie was requested to tell some new Andrew stories. Leslie was a born story teller and had really blossomed in confidence since starting her business course.

“The thing with Andrew is that he is a very discreet young man. Some of the tales he has shared, I am the only person he has ever told. We will have to find some others that are more suitable for a Christmas audience.”

Half the family looked eager to hear these tales and the rest were laughing. One person looked like she had sucked a lemon. Guess who.

“The best Andrew story that I can think of is the time he asked one of his classmates out. 3^rd year, not yet 15 years old. Dinner and a movie, no big deal other than one minor detail. Italian Catholic girl. Mum and Dad want to meet this young man who dares to take their daughter on a maybe, not quite, sort of date. Andrew and the parents of his classmates can be a very volatile mixture. He is less than enthused but hey it’s a pretty woman, a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do.”

Already several of his family were laughing hard.

“What everyone forgot was Nana. So when Andrew turns up for a quiet meal and hopefully a low key interrogation what does he find? 17 of the family all invited by Nana to meet the boy who is daring to take out her oldest granddaughter. So in walks the hero of the tale and gets sat down next to Nana. Questions coming thick and fast. The young lady is trying to run interference and is banished to the kitchen. This one then tells her to stay and bold as brass tells Nana that he is a Viking protestant, and a poor one at that, his words. He was her friend and he admired her courage and temper. He told Nana he could see where she got it from. Complete silence in the room. Nana is looking at the pair of them and then turns to her son and scowls and says “A Protestant!” Just for one second she holds the face but then smiles and our hero has swayed another fair heart.”

Everyone laughed and clapped and his grandmother smiled at the way he had charmed another old lady. Leslie ceded the floor at that point but did spend the rest of the day telling Andrew tales to smaller groups. The day passed quickly and was just a hoot. Andrew didn’t say anything when they left but he called Leslie later just to check they were okay.