Lee’s mum and dad were loud, over-confident people who enjoyed showing off on their ‘fully loaded’, ‘more than just a motorcycle’ Honda GL1800 Goldwing, on which they toured around Bristol and the South-West seeking out fairs and county shows where they could display the bike and meet up with other owners. For reasons beyond Lee’s ken, both his mum and his dad chose to play the part of hardened bikers when they indulged in this hobby, so they had a full wardrobe of bikers’ leathers, vests, boots, neckerchiefs and sunglasses, which they would wear when attending. They LOVED being in character, pretending to be hard as hell, which Lee felt was in total contrast to the transport, basically a sofa on wheels, the most comfy and expansive motorbike imaginable. Not a throbbing hog, more a giant marshmallow in a trolley.
Lee had very quickly realized that their passion for the bike and the dressing-up wasn’t to be mocked. In fact, they were singularly humourless about it, so he left them to it, and they left him and his younger sister to it on most weekends when they blat-blatted off on their far-too-regular thrill-seeking jaunts. Relieved to see them rattle off down the road, the siblings were left to their own devices, and formed a strong bond because of it, with Lee always keeping an eye out for his sis, and constantly making her laugh with his silly jokes, ‘Sometimes, y’know, I just tuck my knees up to my chest and sort of tip forward – it’s just how I roll. Haha.’
This was the loving Lee that Minnie fell for, and because she completely opened her seventeen-year-old heart to him and knew she could trust him, she decided after six months or so that she really wanted to sleep with him. She told Hope that she loved Lee, and Hope wasted no time in getting her to the nurse for advice about contraception. Minnie was offered an implant or birth-control pills. She made the wrong choice. For her. Minnie totally forgot who she was and somehow believed that she would remember to take a pill every day. She didn’t and in September, she missed her period. She didn’t worry too much, the whole contraception lark was new to her body and she suspected that it might take a while to settle in, probably agitating her normal rhythms. When she missed her second period, she told Lee and he went and bought a pregnancy test.
She peed.
They sat together on the floor of her bedroom with their backs against the bed. Lee said, ‘Look, whatever happens, right, we’re together with this, OK? Curls? OK?’
Minnie had tears rolling down her face. She was very quiet. She knew before she even looked, she knew. She whispered, ‘What have we done? Seriously, what have we done?’
‘We’ve fallen in love, that’s all, and that ain’t gonna change, whatever this says. Trust me.’
‘This is the bit where my dad legged it – when there was me.’
‘Min, look at me. I ain’t going nowhere.’
And they sat transfixed, long after the second line bled through, confirming their suspicions.
‘What’s the percentage it’s right …?’ Lee piped up eventually.
Minnie reached for the packet and read the side. ‘Ninety-nine per cent.’
‘Right,’ he said. ‘Wanna do it again to check for that cheeky one per cent?’
‘No,’ she said, ‘it’s right. I know it’s right. God!’
‘C’mere, baby-mummy.’ He took her in his arms and held her very tight. She was trembling. ‘Honestly, Curls, you’re going to have to accept that I’m here forever, OK? It’s happening, and I’m here … I’ve got a job, we can do this,’ he reassured her.
‘What about school? I’m doing my A levels next year.’
‘Do ’em the year after. It’s OK, really, you’ll only miss a year … You DO want to have it, don’t you? You’re not thinking …?’ Lee sat back, suddenly letting this awful thought dawn on him.
She instantly bounced it back: ‘No! No! God, really? No.’
‘Oh, good.’ He blew out a long breath. ‘I wouldn’t cope with that. Not … y’know, something we’ve done together like this. Not something – I mean – someone. Christ …’ He was starting to process the hugeness of it.
‘I wonder if it’s a boy or a girl?’ Minnie said.
‘So long as it’s a baby, I don’t care.’
‘Shut up, Lee. What else could it bloody be?’
‘Well, y’know, an alien. Have you been cheating on me with an extra-terrestrial? Or, y’know, a leprechaun, or a hobbit or an orc …?’
‘Stop it, Twat, you twat, honestly …’
‘Do you even want to KNOW if it’s a boy or girl?’
‘No. Maybe not. Just if it’s OK, I s’pose.’
‘So give it a name that goes for either for now,’ he suggested.
‘Yeah. How about BEAN?’
‘Yes! That’s good. YES. Bean.’ They both laughed.
‘Yeah,’ he said.
‘Yeah,’ she said. They went quiet together.
‘You’d better tell your mum …’
‘Yeah. Shit. Yeah. Wait ’til eight o’clock.’
‘Why?’
‘She’s watching Easties. She loves that.’
‘OK.’
Lee leant over and kissed her belly through her top. ‘Hello, Bean. I’m … er … yer dad.’
Hope Decides
Hope was curled up on the sofa, Cat was curled up next to her and Mouse was curled up next to Cat. It was a cosy scene of Beatrix Potter proportions and strangeness. Hope liked evenings like this, when everyone was gathered in. She couldn’t ever settle happily until she knew her beloveds were safe. She rattled through all of them in her Rolodex mind: Doris at bingo with friends, not drinking, lovely.
