He opened the front door, and Dylan’s mum came billowing into the hall.
‘Excuse me . . . I don’t recall inviting you in,’ protested Max, but his voice just blew away through the open door like a discarded leaf. Ignoring him, she barged into the lounge, with Dylan following, looking lost and sullen in her intimidating presence.
There was no place to hide. Diana was lying on the sofa with a blue blanket over her, and TammyLee was sitting in the chair beside her, engrossed in playing with her mobile.
‘Is that ’er?’ Dylan’s mum asked him, jerking her thumb at TammyLee.
‘Yeah.’
‘Right, you . . . you got some explaining to do, my girl.’ Dylan’s mum folded her fat arms. ‘And I ain’t leaving ’til you come clean about what YOU did with MY grandchild.’
TammyLee couldn’t seem to find words to reply.
In the shocked silence that followed, the house was filled with the roar of heavy rain. Max stood up and assembled the shreds of his authority.
‘And you are?’ he asked acidly.
‘’Is mum.’ She jerked a thumb at Dylan, who was shuffling from one foot to the other. ‘Iris Fredrickson.’
‘Well now, Iris Fredrickson . . . what gives you the right to barge into our home, uninvited? Especially with this . . . this boy in tow. He’s not welcome here, and neither are you. So kindly leave.’
‘I don’t take no notice of the likes of you,’ Iris said, looking contemptuously at Max. ‘Think you’re so bloody good, don’t you? Well, your daughter is a lying whore.’
TammyLee leaped to her feet.
‘I AM NOT,’ she hissed. ‘You don’t even know me.’
‘Don’t want to, either.’
‘You’ve no idea who I am or what kind of life I have,’ TammyLee said. ‘You only know what Dylan’s told you. He feels guilty about dropping my cat in the river . . . animal cruelty that was . . . I could have reported him for it . . . so he’s just winding you up with stuff he’s fabricating to get attention. That’s what he is, an attention seeker. Everyone knows that.’
‘Now you listen to me, my girl.’ Iris moved closer and jabbed a fat finger at TammyLee’s face.
‘No, you listen.’ TammyLee stamped her foot, and even from under the sofa, I could feel the heat of her anger. I wished I was a tiger that could leap out and defend her. ‘I don’t have a life like most girls my age. I come home from college and care for my mum,’ she said, waving a hand at Diana, who was calmly watching.
‘That don’t make you a saint,’ said Iris.
‘WHAT is this about?’ demanded Max. ‘Will someone please tell me?’ He looked searchingly from one to the other, while torrents of rain lashed at the windows. It was nearly dark outside, but inside the fire flickered orange, and there was light that only I could see. It was the shine of angels who were mostly around Diana.
I chose that moment to emerge from under the sofa. I had to help. With my tail up and eyes bright, I was aware of the empowering light as I stood there bravely, a very small cat in the midst of angry, towering humans. Who should I go to? I wanted to be with Diana, or TammyLee – that would have been the obvious choice. But I looked at Iris, first. I’d seen her swollen legs coming through the gate and her fist thumping the door. Now I looked for her eyes, which were embedded in the folds of an unhappy face. I examined her aura and it was in tatters. Her heart was tightly wrapped in layers of misery.
She looked down at me looking up at her and melted. That’s when I knew exactly what to do. I targeted her, brushing my waving tail around those swollen legs as I glided to and fro. I stood up on my back legs, purring, and dabbed at her skirt with paws of velvet.
Everyone was watching me.
Iris couldn’t resist me. She reached down and smoothed me, and it was obvious from her touch that she loved cats. Without asking permission, she picked me up and I let her. I made a fuss of her, purring, and gazing into her eyes.
‘You don’t have to be angry,’ I was telling her, by telepathy. ‘You can talk quietly, like Diana, and then the angels will help you.’ I talked directly to her soul. It shone like a lamp in the distance, and as she responded to my love – it came closer and she began to relax.
Diana decided to help me. ‘Well,’ she said. ‘Tallulah loves you, doesn’t she? Now, why don’t you sit down in that armchair, with Tallulah? And Dylan, you sit there, on the stool by the fire . . . you look cold, poor lad. And let’s talk this over, quietly, and calmly, shall we?’
Diana would have made a good cat, I thought approvingly. She was so lovely, and quietly spoken, no one could get mad with her. I saw Dylan glance at her with disbelief and longing in his eyes.
‘You sit here, love. I’ll move my feet,’ she said to TammyLee, who was staring at me with an incredulous expression.
Everyone sat down exactly where Diana had told them to, and I began work on Iris’s heart. Only Max was still standing, looking bewildered as he often did when faced with the radiance of Diana’s love. She looked at him. ‘Now why don’t you go and get those sandbags, Max? Listen to that rain.’ She turned to Iris and spoke to her as if she was a long-lost friend. ‘We have to be so careful living close to the river.’
‘Absolutely not,’ said Max. ‘I’m staying right here until this is sorted out.’
His voice sounded raucous in the quiet atmosphere Diana and I had created. Dylan sat mutinously on the stool, studying the flames leaping up the chimney. I noticed a handbag dangling from one of Iris’s arms. ‘Just wait until you put that down,’ I thought. ‘I’ll have that open in seconds and see what’s inside.’
But Iris opened the handbag first, and took out a folded piece of newspaper. She hung the bag back on her arm.
‘THAT’s what this is about.’ She unfolded the paper and thrust it at Max. ‘And don’t even think about tearing it up. I got copies.’
Max frowned as he read what was on the paper, and handed it to Diana.
‘Oh, yes, I remember that poor little baby,’ Diana said. ‘I hope someone nice adopted him and I hope the mum is all right. She must have been desperate to abandon her baby.’
‘I don’t call it desperate. EVIL, that’s what I call it,’ said Iris loudly. She pointed at TammyLee. ‘SHE’s the mother. Ask her, go on . . . ask her.’
Her accusation rang around the room. Even Diana looked shocked. TammyLee put her head in her hands.
‘There you are. Look at ’er. Guilty!’ Iris announced triumphantly.
‘That’s an appalling accusation,’ said Max. ‘Can you substantiate it?’
‘SHE can.’ Iris pointed at TammyLee.
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ said Max. He looked at TammyLee. ‘It’s not true, is it? Tell me it’s not true.’
Diana put both arms round TammyLee and held her tightly. ‘Surely this isn’t true, darling? Darling?’ TammyLee was silent, holding the edges of her secret together with a long practised strength.
Iris was using up my love so fast I didn’t think I could give any more. I jumped down and ran to the sofa, to sit between TammyLee and Diana, and from there I could see Amber’s puzzled face watching us through the glass door, her tail down.
The talking went on, and on, with the clock ticking loudly in the silence and the rain adding a hush to the house. The flames in the fireplace lost their energy and began to glow, and sink into scarlet.
Seeming to be intimidated by his mum, Dylan took no part in the conversation, only responding with a grunt or a shrug. They argued about dates and lies, while Diana sat with the newspaper picture of Rocky in her hands, smoothing it and gazing at the baby’s bright little face.
After one of the silences, she said, ‘So . . . you think that this little boy is my grandson?’
‘And mine,’ said Iris. She pointed at TammyLee. ‘And she’s the mother. Aren’t you? Come on, admit it.’
‘I’m not admitting anything,’ said TammyLee stonily.
Iris leaned forward in her chair. ‘Then if you won’t admit it, we
’ll have no choice. I’m not letting this go. We’ll go to the social workers . . . and my son will have a DNA test done. At least he’s coming clean about what he did . . . and he wants to be a father to that baby. You lot think my Dylan’s a bad boy, but I know different. If he’s got the guts to own up, why haven’t you . . . Tammy whatever your name is? Stubborn aren’t you? . . . Madam!’
‘Will you SHUT UP!’ screamed TammyLee, her hands clutching her temples. ‘Just shut the hell up and get out of our house. GO. Just GO.’
‘Please, darling . . . shh . . . it’s OK. Max and I will support you whatever happens . . . we’re here.’ Diana turned to Iris. ‘I think . . . it would be best if you go and leave us to talk to our Tam on her own. Then we’ll get back to you, I promise. Can you understand that . . . as a mum?’
‘She’s right,’ said Max
Iris folded her arms and sat back. ‘I ain’t moving ’til she admits it,’ she said. ‘Get the police if you like . . . they’ll be interested in what I’ve got to say. I ain’t moving.’
Dylan rolled his eyes and tried to intervene.
‘Mum! We can’t stay here all night. I want to get home.’
She shot him down. ‘Don’t you start. Don’t you dare tell me what to do!’
Max walked across to the window and looked out. ‘It’s raining, pouring,’ he said, ‘and in view of our proximity to the river, which is already full to the brim, I think you should go and I’m going to drive you home. Otherwise, you’ll end up sleeping here with no electricity. And before you object to that, I would point out that it’s a generous offer . . . kind of me, considering the way you barged in here, uninvited.’
‘Tomorrow’s another day,’ said Diana. ‘We need time to sort this out, Iris. It’s a shock, yes, but IF it’s true, these two young people will need our support, not condemnation. I’m concerned for my daughter, and I’m sure you are for Dylan. We shouldn’t involve the police at all. It’s a family matter.’
‘Thanks.’ Dylan looked at Diana as if she was rescuing him. ‘I’m not a bad person like you think . . . I . . . I’m sorry for what I did to the cat . . . it was stupid . . . peer pressure and stuff.’
‘Yeah, and drugs,’ said TammyLee.
‘I’m off it. I’m clean now.’
‘’E is,’ said Iris, ‘without any help from the medics.’
‘Pigs might fly,’ TammyLee muttered.
‘This isn’t going anywhere,’ said Max, taking his raincoat from its peg and jingling his car keys. ‘I’m going now so make your minds up.’
Dylan stood up. ‘Look, Mum,’ he said, putting his face close to hers, ‘you know you can’t walk home in this rain, and there won’t be a bus for hours. Have some sense. This isn’t the last day in the history of the universe.’
Iris sighed. She glowered at TammyLee, and handed her a slip of paper. ‘That’s my mobile number and, if I haven’t got the truth from you by tomorrow, I’ll be back . . . with the socials.’ She unzipped her handbag, extracted a voluminous pink raincoat from a pouch and put it on with much rustling.
As soon as they had gone, TammyLee let Amber out of the conservatory, and we listened to the rain pounding the glass roof, and the splashing of Max’s car driving off into the night.
Diana and TammyLee stayed on the sofa, not speaking, but TammyLee wouldn’t look at her mum. I returned to the warm hearth rug with Amber and began to wash vigorously, feeling I needed to cleanse my coat of the last traces of the hostility Iris had generated in our home.
Diana was holding TammyLee’s hand, and gazing expectantly at her. If she’d kept quiet, it might have been OK, but, in her softest voice, she asked that same painful question: ‘Is it true?’
TammyLee looked at her, desperately and wordlessly. Then she lurched to her feet and stumbled out of the room and up the stairs. Minutes later she hurried down again, clad in high boots, a black parka and with her hair stuffed into the hood, which was falling forward over her face.
I heard Diana gasp as her daughter fled past and flung the front door open. The wind blasted hard raindrops and yellow leaves into the hall. TammyLee slammed the door behind her, and we heard her footsteps vanishing into the night.
I jumped onto the windowsill and ducked under the curtain to see which way she was going, and I saw her hooded silhouette, a bag flying from her shoulder. She headed down the road towards the busy roundabout where the headlights lit up the driving rain and the water pouring down both sides of the road.
I was used to TammyLee coming and going, so her flight from the house didn’t bother me. But it worried Diana. I’d never seen her so upset. She sat with her eyes shut and her hands clinging to a patchwork cushion that TammyLee had made, repeating over and over again, ‘Oh, God, please look after our Tam. Let her come back, please.’
Even the solid presence of Amber leaning against her legs didn’t seem to help. I went on washing and grooming my fur until it felt silky and clean. Then I looked round for something to play with. After all the rage and the rows the humans imposed on me, I needed time to be a cat.
I padded around, sniffing the places where Dylan and Iris had sat, and made an amazing discovery. Iris had left her handbag behind! Wow. I circled it a few times, eyeing the worn leather toggle on the zip, patted it, and did my pouncing routine, leaping and twizzling in the air. I crouched and sidled, never taking my eyes from the zip toggle in case it moved, loving the excitement and fun building inside me.
Little beads of joy raced through my heart. With delicate skill, I got the toggle between my teeth, held the bag down with my paws, and pulled. It slid open with a satisfying buzz. Now I could see inside. I did my pounce routine again, then reached my paw into the soft interior and extracted an open roll of peppermints. The smell of them, and the spiral of torn green wrapping, freaked me out and I chased it towards Amber. She sniffed at it and stuck her nose high in the air. ‘I’m not allowed to have those,’ she said, but I left them there for her, and returned to the open bag.
Next, I took out a bunch of keys, which smelled awful. Attached to them was a tiny lion with a fuzzy mane and eyes that rolled around comically. He wasn’t brilliant to play with because I couldn’t detach him from the keys. I went on burrowing, and extracted a rattly packet of tablets in silver foil, and a biscuit wrapped in cellophane. I was just hooking out the purse, when Amber started barking and Max came back in.
‘Iris left her handbag behind,’ he said, rolling his eyes. ‘And I see you’ve been busy, Tallulah!’ Tutting, he scooped up the stuff I’d taken out and put it back, but no one laughed, and that was unusual. This time, my attempt to break up the misery with a bit of humour was not appreciated.
‘Back soon,’ said Max. ‘I’ll pick up some sandbags.’
‘No . . . Max . . . wait,’ cried Diana, her face taut with anxiety.
‘What is it, love?’ In two strides, Max was beside her, looking concerned. But Diana couldn’t seem to speak. She clutched his arm and took some deep breaths.
‘Our Tam has run away,’ she sobbed. ‘Never mind the sandbags . . . you’ve got to find her, Max . . . she’s so vulnerable just now . . . and she ran out the door in black clothes. She’ll get hit by a car. Oh, please, please look for her, Max . . . she might do something terrible, the state she’s in.’
‘Silly girl,’ said Max. ‘What about you, here on your own?’
‘I’ll be OK for a few hours,’ wept Diana. ‘Please, just go and look for her. And don’t shout at her, Max, please. She’s very, very emotionally fragile right now.’
Chapter Thirteen
THE LION IN WINTER
Hours later, Max came back, without TammyLee.
‘No sign of her,’ he said. ‘I checked all the usual places where she goes. Her mobile is turned off. If she’s not back in the morning, we’ll report her missing.’
The anxiety stretched itself into every corner of the house. Max made up the fire and brewed cocoa in silence. He washed up and fed Amber, and put some fresh cat litter
in my tray. ‘Don’t you go out, Tallulah,’ he said. Amber was allowed out, and came back with her legs dripping wet. Then Max lit candles and stood them in the window in jars. He persuaded Diana to go upstairs to bed. ‘While you can,’ he said. ‘If the power goes off, you won’t have the stair lift.’
‘I can’t possibly sleep,’ said Diana, ‘not while my TammyLee is out there. I don’t want my medication tonight, Max . . . I need to stay awake.’
Max stayed up with her and we heard their voices talking. Amber and I had had enough of the stress. We needed a long sleep, and we needed each other. I was glad to lie on the hearth rug with her, even though she was snoring and having one of her woofy dreams. The rhythm of her breath, and the purr of the fire, was comforting. The sound of the rain seemed distant, but the night was full of unfamiliar swishing and gurgling sounds.
Later, I was wide awake for a while and I trotted upstairs to TammyLee’s room, to see if she was there, and she wasn’t. I rolled about on the duvet and played with the soft edge of it. Then I jumped onto the shelf of teddy bears and walked along it with my tail up, inspecting them. They hadn’t got auras, only the twinkling eyes gave them a presence, and their black noses and stitched-on smiles. Next, I sat on TammyLee’s laptop, to think. I sat on her chair, and on her pillow. Where was she? I wanted her.
What if she never came back? Whose cat would I be then?
‘Worrying won’t help you,’ said my angel. The next three days are what you need to focus on, and you must look after YOURSELF, Tallulah. You are a very important cat, and you are so loved . . . we need you to survive.’
‘Survive what?’ I asked, but my angel disappeared in a shimmy of light, and I was left alone on TammyLee’s bed. Survive? What, again?
There was silence from Diana’s room, so I ran downstairs to Amber and snuggled up to her. She sighed and put a warm paw over me, as if she wanted to hug me. I purred a little and went to sleep between her big paws, knowing that if I heard TammyLee’s footsteps, I’d be instantly awake, and so would Amber.
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