A Lesser Evil - Lesley Pearse [63]
‘I don’t see what you’re getting at,’ Fifi said peevishly. She hated it when he put himself down. ‘That bang on the head must have done you more damage than I thought.’
‘You’re the one who’s always studying the neighbours,’ he said. ‘I would’ve thought you’d seen it by now.’
Fifi decided that it was anxiety and pain that were making him look at things with such jaundiced eyes. In a day or two he’d probably regain his normal optimism, so there was no point in her arguing with him. ‘So when did they say you could come home?’ she asked.
‘Not for a couple of days at least,’ he said. ‘Look, why don’t you make the most of having today off, and go home to your parents for the weekend?’
‘Home to them!’ Fifi exclaimed, thinking the bump on the head must be worse than he thought. ‘They haven’t even answered my letter about the baby. They won’t want to see me!’
Dan took her hand in his and caressed it, his dark eyes boring into hers. ‘You don’t know that! I was thinking about it before you arrived. Maybe they’ve been waiting for you to make the first move? I don’t like the thought of you alone all weekend in the flat, and it will be a darned sight easier for you to make it up with them without me around.’
‘Mum will just be nasty,’ Fifi said stubbornly. ‘I know she will.’
‘You don’t know that for sure,’ Dan said firmly. ‘Ring them and see what they say. If they blank you off you’ve lost nothing. At least you’ve been big enough to give it a try.’
As Fifi had always considered she was the wronged party, she believed that it should be her parents who should offer the olive branch. But she liked the idea of being magnanimous – her father at least would see it as a sign she’d grown up. And if she made it clear she was coming home alone, her mother wouldn’t be so edgy. Once there, with Patty getting all excited about the baby, it would be hard for her mother to stay on her high horse.
‘But even if Mum was agreeable, how could I go and leave you in here?’
‘Why not? Normal visiting hours are only an hour, twice a day, it would be daft staying in London just for that.’
‘But you’d hate not having a visitor,’ Fifi argued.
‘It’s the weekend, some of the blokes from work might come,’ he said with a shrug. ‘And even if they don’t, I won’t mind. I can chat to the nurses or the other patients. Or just catch up on some sleep.’
Dan never said anything he didn’t mean, so Fifi knew he really would be happy enough here alone. Her mother had always claimed that Fifi was as stubborn as a mule, so it would take the wind out of her sails just getting a phone call. She really did want to make the peace now with a baby coming, and perhaps this was the golden opportunity to call a truce.
Dan was right, she didn’t relish the weekend stuck alone in the flat, especially when it was so hot. She could see the garden at home in her mind’s eye, the lush grass, the trees and flowers, and she could imagine herself lying on a blanket reading a magazine, with her mother bringing her out a glass of her homemade lemonade. It would be so nice to sleep in her old room, to see her brothers and sister, maybe catch up with a few old friends on Saturday night.
‘Ring her,’ Dan said firmly, perhaps sensing she was wavering. ‘You’re having their grandchild, for heaven’s sake! You’ll want them in the picture when he or she is born. Then there’s Patty and your brothers, they’re going to be aunty and uncles, and they’ll be thrilled to see you. I don’t want you to be home alone all weekend either, so please, do it for me!’
Fifi felt a surge of love for Dan. He was hurt, yet he wasn’t thinking of himself, only her. If their positions were reversed she knew she wouldn’t be that noble or generous. She really did have to go along with his idea.
‘Okay, I’ll phone, but I’ll only go if she’s nice. I’m not going all that way just for more rows.’
He took her hand and squeezed it. ‘Meet her