‘Like you.’ Minnie giggled.
‘Like me, then just tip me the wink, and I’ll end her with one swift karate chop. I’ll put her closer to her God … hoyaa, like that. Two seconds tops. On the floor. Never sees life again. Bye, Anna.’
‘Yeah, not sure any of that is relieving my stress, to be honest.’ Minnie turned back to the mirror.
He put his arms around her from behind, framing her swelling belly with his big builder’s hands, and he kissed her ear. ‘All I’m sayin’ is – it don’t matter what she thinks. If she’s nice, it’s a bonus: you get an extra mum. If she isn’t, it’s you, me and Bean, just like it always was going to be. No big deal, OK?’ he clarified.
She turned to face him and took his face in her hands. ‘Yes. Love you.’
‘Love you back,’ he said.
‘Love you front,’ she said.
‘Love you sideways.’
‘I’m ready. You’ll wait here, yeah? See you when it’s over.’ She kissed him gently and turned towards the door.
Julius was checking his tie in the mirror. He decided it looked great. Really great. He had arrived early at the hotel. He had plenty to organize. This was a huge day. For him.
Thripshaw met him in the designated room. ‘Morning, Mr Lindon-Clarke. Well, here we are on this suspicious day. A long time coming, I think.’
‘Yes, indeed. Longer than it should’ve been, thanks to you and your dozy team,’ Julius snapped back sarcastically as he took off his coat and handed it carelessly to his secretary Kirsty.
‘There’s no need for that, sir, my team were, and still are, splendid folk, who’ve gone above and behind to tie up all the loose holes in this case. Yes, mistakes were made. No one can be the suppository of all wisdom, least of all me …’
‘Never a truer word,’ emphasized Julius.
‘But,’ continued Thripshaw, ‘this matter concludes here today, and is a perfect case and point that, with perseverance and justice, it can always turn out to be rosie dosie in the end. Agreed?’
Julius looked at him, aghast. ‘When can I see her?’
‘We’ve asked Mrs Lindon-Clarke, sorry, the ex Mrs Lindon-Clarke to join us in here, and then my colleague Debbie will collect the young lady and bring her down. Then I think it’s for the best if we leave you three alone together. We don’t want to upset the apple tart.’
‘No,’ replied Julius, heading back to the mirror to reconfirm how impressed he was with himself.
Anna opened the door mid-preen, followed by a huge dollop of awkward. Julius decided to ride roughshod over all of it by advancing on her with his arms open, exclaiming, ‘Darling!’
Anna recognized the familiar sophistry. ‘Hello, Julius.’ She accepted his hug but returned none of it; she didn’t feel obliged to, since it was entirely fake.
‘Where shall we sit?’ she said.
Debbie arranged the sofas so that they were opposite each other and suggested that they should give Florence her space on one, and that the two of them should sit together on the opposite one. It was good thinking, but Julius was distracted by his phone and he kept nipping out into the hall to answer it. Anna tried not to mind, but she did. She really really did. Eventually, she had to pipe up.
‘Julius. Please turn your phone off, and come and sit down. We are about to meet her for the first time in eighteen years. For God’s sake!’
Julius was surprised. He was about to initiate the customary ruckus in which his need to be alpha would drive the quarrel, but he suddenly realized that he was no longer married to her, therefore had zero power any more. It wouldn’t matter if he won an argument. He compromised and turned his phone to silent.
They sat quietly for a minute or so as Debbie cleared the room out, asking Kirsty and Thripshaw to leave.
Debbie turned to them both. ‘Are you ready?’
Julius and Anna nodded.
‘OK, I’ll be back with her in two ticks,’ said Debbie as she left the room, sliding a sly wink of support to Anna, unseen by Julius.
The room was still and silent.
Anna didn’t want to, but she knew she had to look at Julius. For a fleeting second, they locked eyes and a ghost of a memory passed between them. They had, after all, made this person who was about to come through the door. There had once been … something … together. Any whisper of rare vulnerability disappeared from his face the moment the door handle turned.
They both looked at the door. Debbie came in first, and in her hand was a hand. Then an arm. Then she was there.
Anna gasped. The beauty of her. The light.
Here she was. Her daughter.
Minnie froze to the spot just inside the door. She couldn’t take her eyes off Anna. Something in her felt profoundly connected instantly.
Julius was the first to clumsily break the magic mother-line moment.
He bellowed, ‘Florence! Come and give your dad a big hug!’
Minnie’s brain was thrown into complete confusion. Who was ‘Florence’? Who was ‘dad’?
This felt like an assault. Anna recognized immediately that she was floored, and put her arm out to prevent Julius from lunging forward.
Instead, the ever-sensitive Debbie led Minnie to the sofa and indicated for her to sit down, which she just about managed on her jelly-wobbly legs. Never had she felt so entirely other-worldly. The whole room and everyone in it seemed surreal.
Debbie crept out, closing the door behind her.
The three sat there, looking at each other, drinking it all in. The air was thick with difficult.
Anna spoke, eventually. ‘What would you like us to call you?’
‘Florence, of course!’ blurted Julius. ‘That’s her name!’
‘Shh, Julius,’ Anna interrupted, the lioness in her emerging in defence of her cub. She turned back to Minnie. ‘Please help us to know what you would like to be called?’
‘Well,’ replied Minnie, speaking for the first time in this strange room, ‘I’d like you to call me by my name. Minnie.’
‘What?’ he puffed. Anna put
