CHAPTER 53
It was an awkward time for a few days. It wasn’t that Elaine’s family made Blake and me feel unwelcome, though. Far from it: we were enfolded in their family like something out of a bad Star Trek film. Twm had returned much later than Eric, and Sarah simply ignored him when he claimed not to be hungry, making a small dent in our breakfast supplies. I conveyed the news to my own mother after Twm had played proud grandfather. He had been adamant.

“Sioned has told you our agreement, and that is two mothers, no special ownership of either child. They are Sioned Angharad Sarah Powell and Anthony Twm Kevin Powell. Siân said that all of the names are family names. ALL of them, and Sarah, you are to let Victoria know the news”

Sar asked the obvious question: why Victoria and not Kevin herself? Twm just grinned.

“Your sister-in-law-and-in-reality said to me that if we spoke to Kevin, rational conversation would cease immediately. I know it is late, but please. And we have enough for the morning?”

I stepped out into the night to ring Mam, just to make sure my own boy was still safe, of course.

“How is he?”

“Asleep, love, but he’s fine. Wants to know when you’ll be back”

“Ah. Not sure about that. Still stuff to do”

“And how are the important people?”

“Um. Sorry. Two healthy children, Mam, and both mothers doing well”

“Thank God! Details, girl! Details!”

“Not got the weights, Mam, but a boy and a girl. Twm--- Lainey’s Dad--- says all ten toes and fingers and that. He went in for one of the births. Blake did the other”

Mam laughed happily.

“Dad and me were right about that boy, weren’t we? One of the good ones, that is what we said, and we were right”

“Well, I think so. I did have one little problem, though”

“In what way?”

“Someone else was here when Blake and I arrived. Remember me talking about Annie Price? Well, she was here with her husband”

“Awkward?”

“Not now. Can you understand she makes far more sense now?”

Mam chuckled.

“Another of the good ones, love?”

“Absolutely, Mam! Makes me realise how lucky I have been, even with, you know”

“I do know, love. Just remember that you make your own luck. So give our best to your friends, and we will see you when you get back”

I stood for a while in silence after she went, counting so many blessings I got lost halfway through, before re-joining so many of ‘the good ones’.

The morning brought the promised camper van, which wasn’t as big as I had expecteded, and with it a couple in their late middle age, one of whom I immediately recognised. He made a point of walking straight up to Blake, shaking his hand firmly, and then peered at me before breaking into a grin.

“No longer blonde, then? Any problems with that idiot flute-player?”

Everything he did was accompanied by a twinkle, and as he was hit by Jim’s flying hug he started to rumble out a laugh.

“In the door first, boy! And what news? And where’s the dog?”

Tony had emerged behind his son, reaching past the lad for a handshake of his own.

“Simple news, Arwel: Anthony Twm Kevin and Sioned Angharad Sarah. All four people doing well”

Arwel’s eyes narrowed just a little, and something frightening started to uncoil behind his eyes.

“Angharad?”

Tony nodded.

“Our sisters say that their daughter will know her family, and that family remain exactly that”

Tony barked out his own laugh, an utterly mirthless sound, as frightening as Arwel’s glare.

“They drew the line at Carwyn”

Arwel simply showed his teeth.

“The only line needed there is enough bloody rope and a sharp drop to go with it. Dim ots. You have enough for breakfast?”

Sarah flashed me a ‘what did I tell you?’ look, and then dragged everyone indoors, where Sioned, naturally, had the kettle coming to a boil. A large pot of soup she had somehow conjured up was simmering on the hob, and suet and flour were standing on the worktop ready for use. My own mother-skills clearly had a long way to go in their development.

We had a slow, quiet day, Sioned and Arwel’s wife Alice working over the house from top to bottom as Arwel and Tom assembled two combined prams/cots that had somehow managed to squeeze into Arwel’s van despite the presence of rather a lot of beer, which ended up in the garage. Cards were arriving, as well as bunches of flowers, and the ‘parental’ bedroom began to feel crowded. The final touch came that evening, when Eric took a phone call, clearly having made himself at home, and beamed round the room.

“Girls will be released tomorrow afternoon! Who wants to drive?”

Blake looked over at the new grandfather.

“Take one each, Twm? Or rather, two each? Those carry-cot things are designed to strap in, so we can keep them away from air bags”

It made sense, and when the two men departed, I was cajoled into heading back to the supermarket with Eric and Annie in order to corner their stocks of disposable nappies, baby wipes, sterilising tablets and so on. Tony, grin still in place, suggested buying a garden shed to store it all in, but once more, the garage came in handy. Nappies, wet-wipes and beer: there were the makings of a very odd joke just then. Tony found another photo album for us as the boys left for the hospital, and it was a classic, divided neatly between more photos of a manic dog, Stephanie Woodruff with a violin and the light of utter insanity in her eyes, and a selection of Annie and Elaine’s friends in various poses, some of them almost as disturbing. Towards the middle of the book, however, there were others, and I recognised the backdrop immediately.

“Buck House, Annie?”

“Yes indeed! Got a gong for that stuff with Dennis. Hang on… Eric! Got the laptop?”

He passed over a battered Dell, and plugged the power lead in for us, as we were lying back in the sofa in BFF mode once again. Annie got logged on, and opened her (their?) photo folder.

“Right, girl. Those are obviously prints from the files I sent Elaine, but…. Right. I keep some of these pictures purely for historical reasons, aye? This one is from a couple of years before we got married”

I bit my tongue immediately, not needing to ask which wedding she meant, and it was a good job I had said tongue restrained.

“Ginny dragged me out on a zombocalypse ride--- silly overnight camping trip, supposedly practice to escape the zombie hordes. I think this came from our friend Fee”

Dark hair. The same eyes, and a flute I remembered held to lips surrounded by a heavy beard. A hint of reflection from the cheeks that I guessed meant tears, and a paunch that made the musician look like Buddha after a hair transplant.

“Shit!”

“Shit indeed, girl. That was me. Told you I got fat, aye?”

“Yeah, but…”

“I keep it as a focus. If I ever have a run of bad times, it’s there to show me I can, will, come out the other side. Now, compare it with the Palace shots. Lost a lot of weight by then I had. And…”

She turned to grin at me.

“Now, these ones you will have to understand are what I think of as our honeymoon, even though it was well before the wedding. This is Penang, off the coast of Malaysia. We had been in Thailand, and no, you don’t need to ask why. Couldn’t go in the water, though”

There was nothing whatsoever to deny Annie’s gender, mainly because if there had been, the bikini she was wearing wouldn’t have had room for it. I freely admit I stared.

“Bloody hell, love! How much weight did you lose. No! Stop! I am not getting any stupid jokes about ‘a couple of stones’!”

She preened.

“I ended up losing nearly ten stone, Di. Hard at first, but I had an incentive. I wanted to be able to get into nice stuff for that man over there---ooh, Eric! Blushing, is it?”

He was pink, and after stammering something about leaving before the punchline, he was off into the kitchen just as the reason occurred to me.

“Let me guess, Annie: something about getting you OUT of nice things?”

Once again, I got that impish smile and a burst of happy laughter, just as the front door banged and four new arrivals were introduced to the room.

I was slightly disappointed at the look of relief on Elaine’s face when she spotted how I was curled up with Annie. Didn’t she trust us?