Unexpected

by Jenny Frame

  “My name is Dale, and children and a family are the last thing I want, so you don’t have to get all worked up. My life consists of working hard, driving my race car, and going out and having fun. Nowhere in that does a child figure.”

  Becca looked at her retro Nintendo T-shirt with the I Scored with the Princess logo and said, “Clearly.”

  For some reason she didn’t want to explore, that comment hurt, but she didn’t respond. “I called the clinic and the information is correct. I don’t know how Jake got the information. He said he hacked into the database, but that can’t be true.”

  Becca sighed and rubbed her baby bump, as if trying to soothe it. “He can do it. Jake is a special child. He has an IQ of one hundred fifty-five and is an expert in computers. He is one of the youngest children to pass the Microsoft engineer’s exams, and he’s done this sort of thing before.”

  “Jesus. What an amazing boy,” Dale said.

  “He is.” Becca was sounding a little less hostile now. “I don’t know where he gets it from. The maths and equations he does, I’m lost when I look at them.”

  But Dale knew, and it built another connection to Jake and this family in her heart. She had always found numbers extremely easy and had excelled in maths until she went to secondary school, and foolishly thought being cool was more important than her studies.

  “You’ve done a great job with him—he’s a polite and clever boy.” Dale’s gaze lowered to Becca’s bump, and she was desperate to ask the question that was burning in her brain.

  Becca must have felt her gaze because she immediately tensed. “I’m grateful for you bringing him back, but I think you should go now.”

  Dale scanned the once impressive, but now tired looking vicarage. “Jake said you needed help with some things around here. Is there anything I could help you with?”

  “It’s none of your concern. We are fine. I can look after my son myself.”

  Talk about independent. Rebecca Harper seemed to have a hard shell covering her beautiful body, and didn’t appear as if she ever smiled.

  “Okay. If you ever need anything, I’m Dale McGuire of McGuire’s Motors. You’ve probably heard of my business.”

  Rebecca gave a sarcastic laugh. “Yes, one of your garages gave me an overinflated quote only a few weeks ago. Mechanics see a woman coming and take them for idiots.”

  Dale’s business was one thing she didn’t tolerate criticism of. She was proud of the service and professionalism she provided. “McGuire’s Motors does not take advantage of women. I could work out a good deal for you if you’d like.”

  “No,” Becca snapped. “We don’t take charity from anyone. Please just walk away, Dale, and don’t ever think about us again.”

  Something inside Dale told her she shouldn’t walk away, but she had to. She nodded and walked around to the driver’s door. Just as she was about to get in, Dale looked up at Becca and asked, “Will you tell me one thing before I go?”

  Becca nodded.

  “Is your new baby…” She wanted to say mine but knew that wouldn’t go down well. “Are Jake and the new baby from the same donor?”

  Becca took a few seconds and then said, “Yes, they’re from the same donor.”

  Dale felt her throat tighten, and emotion churned in her stomach. She managed to croak a thank you before getting in her car and speeding off.

  * * *

  Becca closed Jake’s bedroom door and walked downstairs to the kitchen. Sadie was still there and waiting for her.

  “I’ve made a pot of tea. Sit down and get the weight off your feet, sweetheart,” Sadie said.

  “Thanks.” Becca sat and wrapped her hands around the steaming cup of tea, hoping the heat would seep inside her and reach the cold inside.

  Sadie, who lived in the old farmhouse next door, was a great support to Becca and Jake. Neighbours were few and far between around here, so Becca had been really lucky to have Sadie right next door.

  Sadie sat down and placed her hand on Becca’s arm. “How’s Jake?”

  Becca sighed. “Angry. He’s not speaking to me because I sent Ms. McGuire…Dale away.”

  Sadie let out a long breath. “That was a turn up for the books, eh? That boy of yours is a smart cookie.”

  My boy, thought Becca. She’d never thought about the donors she had used after she had chosen them. When she had looked through the clinic’s database, she had been drawn to the egg donor who had a high IQ but was also a manual worker. She thought that would give her child a good chance of having a wide range of abilities.

  The clinic had always cautioned that her child had the right to search for their donor when they were eighteen, but she’d promised herself she would deal with that if it ever came up. This was entirely different.

  “I never thought this could happen.”

  “What was she like, this Dale?” Sadie asked.

  Becca added some milk to her tea and stirred. “She scared me.”

  “Why? She didn’t want to have anything to do with the Jake or the baby, did she?”

  Becca gave a hollow laugh. “Going by the childish way she dresses for her age, I doubt it. She scared me because when I looked in her eyes I saw Jake in her.”

  It was the first time that she didn’t feel like Jake was totally her child. Whether she saw Dale again or not, now Becca knew there was someone else who had a part in creating her children, and she knew she would never forget that feeling when she looked into Dale’s eyes.

  “I don’t want you to worry, Becca,” Sadie said. “You have to think of the baby just now, and I’m sure that’s the last you’ll see of Dale.” Sadie stood up. “I made a casserole for you and Jake for dinner. I’ll just go and get it from the oven at home.”

  Becca grasped Sadie’s hand and smiled. “Thank you. I don’t know what we’d do without you.”

  “Don’t be silly. It was lonely out here before you and Jake came. This house stood empty for five years, so believe me it’s wonderful to have you two a stone’s throw away. I like to look after people.”

  Plumtun’s remote nature had been what Becca longed for, but now six months pregnant, with what the doctor feared might become pre-eclampsia, it was becoming a problem.

  “Thank you, Sadie. You’re an angel.”

  When Sadie left, Becca looked around her half-finished country kitchen and felt the guilt that was always her companion at the moment. When they had moved in and she’d had the funds to start renovations on the vicarage, the kitchen had been the first thing she’d tackled. The walls were newly plastered but the builders had not painted or finished. The new kitchen fittings and cupboards were sitting still in their packaging in the garage, and not likely to be installed anytime soon.

  As her pregnancy had progressed and she began to feel ill, she’d had to take on less and less work. Her funds dried up and the builders packed up, leaving them in an unfinished house.

  Becca felt overwhelmed and tears sprang from her eyes. For Jake to go to the drastic step of finding Dale McGuire meant he knew how bad things were for them financially, and that was her fault. She had put their little family at risk because of her need to have another child, and Jake was suffering for it.

  Everything was coming apart. Her career, her family, and her relationship with her son, and now Dale McGuire was an even bigger threat looming over it all.

  * * *

  Dale drove into the car parking area in front of McGuire’s Motors and shut off the engine. The garage was all locked up. Sammy and Val had obviously gone to pick up their little girl, Mia, from her grandma’s.

  She had always admired what Sammy had achieved. She had everything—a wife like Val, a child, and a family that loved her.

  What did she have to hurry home for? Nothing, not even a pet. But although she had admired Sammy’s life, her own had never really bothered her until the last year or so.

  Dale was thirty-six years old, and her life was filled with working at the garage during the week, then going out the
pub on Fridays and Saturdays, and she was tired of it. The only bright spot about her weekends—besides her racing—was having Sunday lunch with Val, Sammy, and Mia. She loved that.

  Mia was her god-daughter and she loved her. Dale was great at being the cool playmate, but she wasn’t the one Mia ran to to take care of her when she was hurt or scared. That was Sammy’s job.

  But Jake had run to her.

  Jake and Becca had filled her thoughts on the drive home. Dale might have only known Jake for the best part of a couple of hours, but as she drove away, she felt like she was leaving a part of herself behind.

  Dale reached down to her glove compartment to grab a lollipop, and found a photograph sitting amongst the lollies.

  “How did this get in there?”

  She pulled it out and stared at the image of a smiling Becca standing with Jake on what looked like his first day at school.

  She turned the picture over and a read a message on the back. Dale read out loud, “To Mum, please don’t forget about us.”

  On the last word Dale’s voice cracked, her eyes filled with tears, and a memory floated across her mind as she looked at Jake’s picture.

  You were a mistake, Dale. I’ve got my own life now.

  Dale wiped away the tears that threatened to fall. “Fuck this.”

  She stuffed the picture into her pocket, started her engine, and drove off at a high rate of speed.

  Half an hour later, she dropped her car off at her flat in Islington and got a taxi to her regular pub hangout, Belles.

  She nodded to the bouncers as she walked through the door, and headed straight to the bar of the trendy all-female club.

  Dale could feel lots of eyes on her and lots of whispers as soon as she entered. She was well used to getting lots of attention from women. She didn’t know why, but it had always been like that ever since she had first gone out in the London pub and club scene.

  She took a seat at the bar and the owner walked over to her.

  “You’re early tonight, mate.”

  “I needed a drink, Mac. Can I get a lager and two shots of vodka, just for starters?”

  Mac had worked at Belles ever since Dale had first sneaked in here age seventeen. She was part of the furniture and had been a good friend to her over the years.

  “It must be bad. Give me a minute,” Mac said.

  While she waited, Dale looked around. It was only seven o’clock. Far too early for the serious party crowd, but it was still pretty busy. As she looked around at all the youthful faces, she felt out of place.

  Dale had always swaggered into Belles and felt at home, but recently everything that had been so appealing was becoming less so. The music wasn’t as good, the laughter and chatter were too loud, the haircuts too weird, and the women far too young.

  What is happening to me?

  At the other end of the bar, a girl who looked barely eighteen met her eyes and smiled seductively, clearly trying to hit on her.

  Mac arrived back with her drinks. “Here you go.”

  Dale immediately knocked back one of the vodka shots and said, “Mac, why do your punters look younger and younger? It’s making me feel old.”

  Mac laughed. “You’re right. We’re the two oldest here. The last of the old crowd. Everyone got married and settled down, that’s why. When you’ve got someone to go home to, a night out in a noisy bar doesn’t appeal any more.”

  Dale knocked back another shot and took a sip of lager. It was true. Every one of her friends and acquaintances from the bar had dropped out of her life, as they each met a partner and settled down. Now it was just her, and her age only seemed to enhance the attention she got from the younger crowd.

  Dale remembered being fresh out on the gay scene in her late teens and chasing the sexy, experienced older women. In fact the first woman she had slept with had been in her midthirties, and taught her everything she knew about making love to a woman. Now, Dale realized for the first time, she was the older, experienced woman in amongst the youthful crowd at Belles.

  Feeling utterly depressed, Dale took a long drink of her lager. The young woman who had given her the eye across the bar walked over to her, flanked by her friends, some of whom Dale recognized.

  “Hi, Dale. Would you come and dance with us?”

  The way her friends whispered and giggled behind her made them appear like a gaggle of schoolgirls, and that made Dale feel even older.

  “I don’t really feel like dancing tonight, girls.”

  They looked perplexed, and Dale understood why. She always danced, she was always the life of the party at Belles, but tonight partying was the furthest thing from her mind.

  “Oh, please, Dale, you always love to dance—”

  “I’m sorry, girls. Not tonight.” She shouted over to Mac, “Could you get these girls drinks on me?”

  “Coming up,” Mac said.

  The girls looked disappointed but reluctantly left her alone with the promise of free drinks.

  I feel like I’m at a high school disco.

  Her thoughts turned to Becca and Jake and she wondered if they were settled for the night. Jake had said that his mum cried a lot, and she could believe it. When Becca had looked her in the eyes, she had seen sadness and loneliness in Becca’s, as if she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders.

  “Can I have another shot, Mac?”

  Mac reached for the bottle behind her and filled shots for them both. “You don’t usually knock them back like this. Is everything okay?”

  Dale reached into her pocket, pulled out the picture of Becca and Jake, and put it down on the bar.

  Mac looked at the photo and said, “Beautiful woman, and cute kid. Who are they?”

  “That, Mac, is my family in a parallel universe. I’ve got one kid and one on the way, and I’ll never know them.”

  Dale picked up her shot and downed it, desperately hoping it would calm the churning emotions inside her.

  * * *

  Becca struggled up the last steps of the oak staircase with a bowl of apple pie for Jake. He’d refused to come down for dinner and so Becca hoped to tempt him with Granny Sadie’s apple pie.

  She knocked on the door and got no response. “Jake? I’ve got dessert for you.”

  Becca still heard nothing so she opened the door and walked in to find Jake working on his computers. He had his older desktop and Becca’s own laptop she used for work sitting side by side. He needed much better equipment to meet his talents but it was the best she could do.

  “Jake? I’ve got apple pie for you.”

  “Not hungry,” Jake replied grumpily.

  Becca sighed and walked over to sit on his bed. “Jake, I know you’re angry, but please come and eat something.”

  “I’m coding a new game. I haven’t got time.”

  “It’s Granny Sadie’s apple pie with custard.”

  The tip-tapping of Jake’s fingers as they flew across the keyboard came to a stop. He looked around at the bowl and got up from his chair. The temptation was clearly too much.

  He sat down on the bed beside her and took the bowl. Becca stroked his brown hair, and again thought of Dale’s thick dark unruly locks, so much the same as her son’s.

  “I know you’re not happy with me, but we have to talk about today.”

  Jake stabbed his spoon into his dessert and nodded.

  “What you did was wrong, Jake. For one, you could get into a lot of trouble with the police for hacking into the clinic’s database. We’ve had this talk before. Just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should. That’s private information.”

  Jake looked up at her with tears in his eyes. “I just wanted to get you help, Mummy. Why shouldn’t the woman who helped you have me help us?”

  Becca sighed. How could she explain something so complex to a child? Jake might have a higher IQ than most adults, but he was still a little boy, with the simplistic world view of a little boy.

  When Jake started to ask why he did
n’t have a daddy or another mum like the other kids at school, she had considered not telling him the truth about his conception, but only for a matter of seconds. Becca knew what harm lies in a family could do, and she’d vowed she would never do that to her own child. But she’d never anticipated the steps he’d taken.

  “Jake, things could have gone really badly today. You rode on the local bus yourself—anyone could have gotten you. I need to know where you are at all times. Remember, we don’t ever, ever talk to strangers or anyone who wants to know about our family. If you ever go off somewhere yourself without telling me again, there will be no more computer club. Do you understand?”

  Jake nodded solemnly. “I just wanted to help. Dale was nice. I liked her.”

  Becca gulped hard. It hurt to think Jake might want to have a relationship with his real mother.

  As if reading her mind, Jake put down his bowl and hugged her.

  “You’re my mummy, and I love you. That’s why I wanted to help. I hate to see you sad.”

  Becca squeezed him tightly. “I know you love me, but you have to trust me to handle the problems we have. Ms. McGuire appeared to be a good person, but it could have been someone so different. They could have taken you and I’d never see you again.”

  Jake sighed in resignation. “I’m sorry, Mum. I wanted to help.”

  “You can help me by not making me worry, Pooh Bear,” Becca said.

  Jake kicked his heels against the bed and said sadly, “She called me wee man. I liked it.”

  Becca had to change the subject and get him off these new thoughts and feelings. She looked over to the whiteboard on his wall and noticed equations and coding language she didn’t understand on it.

  “So, tell me what game you’re coding now.”

  “A game to help kids understand maths,” he said sadly.

  Becca couldn’t be any prouder of Jake if she tried. Despite being an exceptionally intelligent young man, he had no arrogance and always thought of other people.

  She gave him a squeeze and said, “That’s a wonderful idea.”