The Twenty-sixth

No, this didn't really mean she was infertile, but the doctors told us it was doubtful she would ever carry a baby for the full term. So we did keep trying but not to the extent we had before.

In theory life went on as normal. But over the next few years, it became a very strange normal. Slowly without us even noticing it to start with, we began to have little arguments. Not disagreements; I think all families have them. No, these were arguments, often about the most insignificant things that got exaggerated completely out of all proportion. And we often found ourselves going to bed before we'd cleared the air.

I have no real explanation as to what really happened over the next couple of years. At times we were as loving to each other as we'd ever been. At other times we'd have stand up rows at the drop of a hat, as I said, often over the most ridiculous things and in the most public of places. Some of our friends stopped asking us to their parties and the like, because they didn't know whether we'd explode at each other.

Somewhere in amongst all this Vivian came on the scene. I think she had been around for sometime, but Claire started turning to her for support. I turned for support to where all too many men do: the boys down at the local pub. To be honest I'd began to not want to go home from work in the evenings to face yet another row.

As time went on, things just got worse and worse until the day we finally decided to get divorced. I can't tell you now which of us was the first to bring the idea up. But we went to the solicitor together although hardly speaking to each other when we did so.

The woman was good and managed to arrange everything amicably. Claire and I did not wish to prolong things by arguing over our assets, so they were split down the middle. I think we both just wanted out, as quickly as possible. The house was sold and Claire, I believe, went to stay with Viv for the time being, whereas I rented a small flat for a while. But luckily for me a position soon became available back at head office and I'd returned to my hometown.

My father had died about a year before Claire and I divorced and my mother died of a broken heart a few weeks before our divorce was due to become final. Claire's last act as my wife was to attend my mother's funeral with me.

The day of my mother's funeral she played the part of a wonderfully supportive wife. I don't think I could have gotten through that day without her there. Three days later she was out of my life completely and I hadn't laid eyes on her again until I saw her when I began making that speech at Terri's wedding.

Well, I thought Claire had disappeared from my life again for the next four weeks or so. I learnt otherwise when the next lot of telephone bills came in. With three teenagers in the house, I keep a close eye on who they are talking to on they're mobiles, as well as keeping track of they're internet usage.

On all three of the children's mobiles were calls to a number that I didn't recognise. Why should I recognise the number you might ask? Well, normally I don't take too much notice. I was really looking for premium rate numbers. But quite suddenly all three of them were calling the same number. Now that was unusual. They don't all have the same social circle.

I noticed they called the number on consecutive days. One day Kylie, the next Graham and on the third day it was Angela's turn. Well, this set the little grey matter working. A check back showed me the calls started a few days after Terri's wedding. From there it wasn't too much of a puzzle to work out who the calls were being made to. A check on the phone book in Angela's phone - checked when she left her phone in the stable whilst she was exercising her horse - confirmed my suspicions. The children were calling Claire.

Then I realised that they were calling her at the same time everyday. On checking where they all were at that time, I worked out that they were all in the house alone, whilst I was doing the late check on the horses.

That evening instead of going straight to the stable block, I circled around the house and watched through the lounge window whilst Graham call Claire on his mobile phone and then placed it on the table. I can only assume that he'd put his phone on the loudspeaker function as all of then lent towards it as they spoke. It was a shame I hadn't thought to leave a window open; I would have been able to hear what they were talking to Claire about.

It was a couple of days later and Terri and I were having lunch together when she asked me, "Jack, what's got into you this week?"

"Sorry?"

"You've got something on your mind. Come on, don't try to hide it from me. I know when you're upset about something."

God, talk about a chip off the old block. Terri could read my mind almost as well as her mother could.

"The children have been calling Claire."

"So? She's their auntie, isn't she? Why shouldn't they talk to her?"

"Oh, its not that I object to them talking to her. It's the fact that they are keeping it secret from me. That's what I find upsetting!"

"Well, what do you expect, with the way you behaved at the wedding?"

"What the hell did I do at the wedding? I introduced her to everyone and danced with her."

"It was the vibes you put out that evening, Jack. Everyone was terrified to mention Claire's name after that night."

"You're joking!"

"No, you made it plain Claire was a taboo subject and, well... the children wanted to get to know her better."

"You knew they were calling her?"

"Yes, well, I knew they'd asked Kevin to get her phone number from his aunt for them. So it stood to reason they would be calling to her on the phone."

"Terri, am I really that much of an ogre? Do they think I'd try to stop them talking to Claire?"

"Don't be so silly. I'm sure they think that it would upset you to know they were calling Claire. So I expect that's why they've kept you in the dark about it."

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That day I left the office early and stopped at the telecom store on the way home. It was around ten that I got up from the sofa to go out and check the horses as I did every evening that I was home. But that night I went into my den first and returned with a conference phone that I replace the phone in the lounge with.

"You might find it easier, kids, if you use this to call your Aunt Claire instead of the hands free function on that little mobile. The calls will be cheaper, as well." I smiled at the three slightly confused and guilty looking teenagers, then left them to it.

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That evening I took a little longer than usual with the horses. When I got back inside the house, Angela was the first to speak.

"You knew we were talking to Claire on the telephone?"

"I would think that was obvious."

"And you don't mind?"

"Why should I? She is your auntie, I think, and your godmother. You've got the right to speak to her as often as you wish."

"We thought you'd be upset if you found out."

"To be honest I'm more upset that you didn't tell me that you were calling her than I ever could be that you did call her."

"We're sorry," Kylie butted in. "We thought because...."

"Because what? That Claire and I are divorced. Look, kids, that's something that happens in life. Claire and I fell in love when we were young and got married. I don't know, maybe we got married too young. But somewhere along the line it all went sour on us."

"You fell out of love with each other?" Kylie asked.

"Yeah! No. Oh, I don't know what happened. We just kind of started having rows all the time. Look, I don't know why we do things sometimes. We ended up getting divorced, but she's still your auntie and if you want to keep in touch with her, I'm only too pleased."

After that evening they called Claire on the phone in the lounge every day, but still when I went out to check the horses. I didn't listen into their calls as I could see no harm in them.

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It was about another two months later Angela was in the drama group at her college and their Christmas production was coming up. Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare, not my idea of a pleasant evening's entertainment. But when your daughter is playing Juliet, you have to go, don't you?

Anyway I came home from work one evening. Angela had gotten us our tickets and they were lying on the kitchen table. Out of curiosity I picked them up and looked at them, and in doing so I just happened to count them. I'm not sure why; it's one of those things you just do.

There were seven of them, so I did a quick calculation in my head. There were tickets for Kylie, Graham, Brenda, Terri, Kevin and myself, which made six.

"Who's the extra ticket for?" I asked Angela, as if I didn't know.

"Oh, Daddy, you wouldn't mind if... if Claire comes as well, would you?"

"Don't be silly but have you asked her? It is a long way for her to come."

"I haven't actually invited her, but she said she would like to see me on stage."

"Well, you'd better be quick about inviting her. She'll probably have to arrange time off work to get down here on the opening night."

"Thank you, Daddy. I'll do in right now," Angela said as she left the room to go into the lounge and call Claire.

For some reason it didn't strike me as odd that she had gone to use a telephone that was out of my earshot. There was an extension in the kitchen.

The opening night of Angela's play was cold and overcast. I unfortunately got held up at the office. But Terri got away on time, and she, Kevin and Brenda volunteered to get everyone to the college theatre on time. I got there at the last minute, without having time to eat or change on the way.

They had left me a seat on the end of the row alongside Brenda. Terri and Kevin were on the next seats in with Kylie (who was sweet on Kevin) and Graham sitting beside them. Claire was at the far end of our little collection of seats.

"At last," I thought, "they aren't trying to push us together!"

Angela made a fantastic Juliet. Only I did find myself thinking I'd have to have a word with the young man playing Romeo. I'd seen him hanging around Angela a few times in the past, and - I don't know - he struck me as playing the part of Romeo a bit too enthusiastically for my liking. I suppose all fathers must think that way though.

At the end of the show we went back stage to find Angela, who was really on cloud nine. Then when we got outside we were in for a bit of a surprise. The fog had come down whilst we'd been in the theatre. It was a real pea-souper; you couldn't see more than about ten or twenty yards.

The first thing that crossed my mind was that there was no way that Claire could drive the hundred or so miles back home in that kind of whether. I had no choice; I had to invite her to stay over for the night with the children and I.

At first she declined the offer but the children then got to work on her. Brenda and Kevin joined in telling Claire that it was too dangerous for her to try to drive all the way home in that weather.

So Claire stayed over. This, of course, meant I slept on the couch, whilst Claire had my bed. In the morning when I awoke, everyone else was out with the horses.

Just for those of you who haven't got livestock, the horses come first; they have to done before anything else, no matter what the weather. Or how you're feeling that day.

I stuck my head out the door just to make sure that they were all at it and then set about sorting breakfast out for every one. I was surprised to find that Claire was not in my room when I went up to call her. She apparently was outside with the children.

The children kept Claire busy for most of the day. She spent much of the time out with horses and went for a ride on my horse with all the children during the morning. Apparently Claire was in the habit of going straight from work to the stables where she normally rode and kept a bag in the back of her car with her riding gear.

It was late afternoon before the subject of Claire leaving to go home came up. I'm not sure how they did it but the younger two children persuaded her to stay over until Sunday. Claire kept asking me if I objected. But I'm going to be honest here; if I had objected, I wouldn't have been the favourite person in the household. Besides I'd hardly seen Claire all day so it wasn't going to make any difference to me. Except for me sleeping on the couch again that is.

Saturday afternoon, I'd run Angela in to the theatre for her matinee performance and I didn't have to pick her up until eleven that night when the evening performance was over. Claire kindly offered to cook the evening meal, but I suggested that we go out to eat, which we did quite early because of the children.

The rest of the evening Claire and I played Monopoly with Kylie and Graham until I went out to check the horses and then went to collect Angela. When Angela and I returned, the others were all in bed. Angela was quite beat so she went to bed as well. I made myself comfy on the couch again.

Sunday Morning was a repeat of Saturday. Everyone was outside before I woke up. I cooked breakfast and they all went out for a ride together again before Claire left for home around lunchtime.

I can remember thinking to myself that the weekend had been very pleasant. There had been no sly digs between Claire and I. Actually we didn't really speak much as she had spent most of her time with the children.

The children did talk about the weekend a couple of times but the main subject of conversation soon turned to the coming Christmas celebrations, and what the master plan was for this year. It had become habit for Brenda and Terri to join us for dinner Christmas day and stay until the evening. But this year Kevin and his family were in the mix and we really weren't sure what was going to happen.

After a lot of beating around the bush, Brenda told us that she, Terri and Kevin were going to his parent's house Christmas day and would come to us on Boxing Day. The children were disappointed and I know Brenda felt terrible about the decision. But she had spent many Christmases with us in the past; it was only fair that Kevin's folks got a look in.

I discussed going out for lunch on Christmas day with the children but they weren't keen on the formality of doing that. I did point out that I wasn't the best cook in the world and the food would probably be better. But Angela and Kylie announced that they would cook Christmas dinner; Brenda had spent a lot of time teaching them how to cook and they had always helped her prepare it in the past.

I was just settling down to the idea that it would just be the four of us when Graham dropped the bombshell.

"Daaad?" he said to me after I came in from my late night check of the horses one evening. The dragged out word telling me that he was after something.

"Yes, Graham."

"You know that Auntie Bren and Terri aren't coming Christmas day."

"Yes."

"Well, wouldn't it be nice if Auntie Claire came down instead?"

"I should imagine Auntie Claire has her Christmas all sorted out by now, Graham," I answered him.

"No, she's staying at home all on her own!" Kylie butted into the conversation.

"You think so?" I asked in reply.

"We know she is. She hasn't got anywhere to go." Angela joined the conversation.

"Tell me, Graham, did you draw the short straw or something here?"

"Sorry, Dad, I don't understand you," Graham replied.

"Well, I suspect that you three are in cahoots here and you divvied up to see who'd suggest to me that we ask Claire to come down for Christmas."

All three of them looked at me with guilt on their faces.

"Okay, ask her. I can't see that it will do any harm for her to be here. I'll just have to get used to sleeping on the couch."

"No, you won't," Angela replied. "Kylie is going to sleep on Graham's camp bed in my room and Claire can have her room."

"Ah, you've got it all worked out, have you? And when did you make all these plans?"

"When we asked Auntie Claire to come."

"What? You've already asked her? And what would you have done if I'd refused?"

"We'd all have slept in the horsebox with Auntie Claire and you'd have felt rotten. Anyway we knew you wouldn't say no. It's Christmas."

So there it was, a coup d'état or whatever they call it. Claire was coming for Christmas whether I objected or not.

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I didn't actually talk to Claire before she arrived. I didn't avoid talking to her; that's just how it happened. Mind I did have to do a lot of thinking about what to buy Claire for Christmas. I settled on what I thought she'd find a nice surprise, but I also decided I wouldn't actually give it to her until Boxing Day.

Claire arrived during the afternoon of Christmas Eve and we all went out for a meal together, although we were accompanied by a stranger in the form of Angela's new boyfriend - yeah, you got it, the "Romeo" from the play. I figured there was going to be enough cooking to be done over the following few days. Once again we went early as we had the young ones with us.

When we got home again we played silly games until Romeo left and Graham and Kylie went to bed. Then Angela, Claire and I played Scrabble until midnight when the two girls went up.

I sat there for another hour or so re-playing the day over in my head. I'd really enjoyed myself that afternoon and evening, but I still wondered whether I was making the right decisions.

Christmas morning, although special, was like any other day in as far as the horses had to be taken care of before anything else. Claire had volunteered to make the breakfast whilst the children and I did the yard.

Over breakfast Christmas presents were passed around. In the past we had left the first present giving of the day until after Brenda and Kerri had arrived, but this year we could start early. I wont go into what everyone got, except to mention that Claire gave me a watch and I gave her a framed picture of the children on their ponys.

"But this is the picture from your lounge," Claire said once she had unwrapped it.

"Yes, we noticed how much you liked it," I replied. "Now who's for a Christmas morning ride together after we get the turkey in?"

"But we haven't got enough horses for everyone!" Kyle commented.

"Oh, yes, we have. Mr Grant is going to bring that young mare of his across for Claire to ride," I replied.

The children kind of took over at that point. The washing up was done and the turkey was in the oven before Claire and I knew what was happening. I made a quick call to my neighbour Bill Grant and he was standing in our yard with the mare by the time we all got out there.

We rode the lanes up onto the heath and all cantered and trotted around together for about an hour or so before we headed back home again.

"What do you think of Twenty-sixth?" I asked Claire as we walked back side by side.

"She's lovely, but what a silly name. She's so much like Candy, the first pony I ever had. Just a little bigger, that's all."

"Well, she's yours whilst you're here. I arranged it with Bill Grant."

"Thank you, that's so nice of you. She's so much nicer than the school horses I've been riding lately," Claire said.

Back home we or rather the children - with Claire overseeing things - got the Christmas dinner sorted. And we did the cracker and silly hat thing whilst we ate it.

After dinner we all retired to the lounge and rapidly gave up on the oft-repeated film on the television. So it was back to silly games for the rest of the day, punctuated by the stable work that had to be done.

I'm not sure if the children worked it or whether I did, but by about nine PM Claire and I, having consumed much more mulled wine than was good for us, were sitting together on the couch. When I said I was going to do my evening check around the yard, Graham and Kylie said that they would do it for me. Angela was on the phone to Romeo again; I was beginning to think that that little romance was going to get rather expensive in phone calls.