‘Oh how lovely!’ Jo sounded thrilled, causing Ben to feel even more guilty. ‘We’ll see you then.’
Ben hung up, wishing he had suggested it to Bella much sooner. His parents were good people and it wasn’t fair to have punished them for a slip of the tongue when they were very stressed.
‘Midday?’ Bella’s voice cut through Ben’s thoughts and he spun around to find her watching him with a deep frown creasing her smooth forehead.
‘Yes. What’s wrong with that?’ Ben’s heart immediately sank again. He should have known it wouldn’t be straightforward.
Bella rolled her eyes theatrically. ‘Oh, nothing, except that Elodie will be asleep. I thought they were coming to see her?’
Ben sighed. ‘They are coming to see her. Surely it won’t do any harm to keep her up a little bit longer for once?’
‘Oh for God’s sake, Ben!’ Bella spat. ‘That’s typical of you. You aren’t the one who’s worked your backside off to get her into her routine. I’m not wrecking all my hard work just to suit you.’
‘Fine!’ Ben snapped. ‘Then we’ll have lunch first and they can see her when she wakes up.’
Bella tipped her head to one side and put her hands on her hips. ‘Well, you needn’t think I’m cooking lunch. I’ve got enough to do, thank you very much, without having to entertain your parents.’
Ben could feel his temper starting to rise. She was so bloody unreasonable sometimes. And having broken the deadlock with his parents, he was suddenly desperate to see them. He couldn’t let her ruin it. ‘I’ll do the cooking,’ he cajoled, his jaw tight with tension. ‘You can sit and chat to them.’
‘Oh yes, that’s a good idea, because we get on so well.’ Bella gave a haughty toss of her head.
Ben walked over to her and pulled her into an embrace. Her body was stiff and unyielding. ‘Please, Bella, don’t turn this into a feud. They’re my parents and they’re Elodie’s grandparents. I don’t want them to become strangers.’
He felt Bella soften slightly as he spoke and she lifted her face to look at him, reminding him just how truly beautiful she was. ‘I’m sorry, Ben. I just … feel that your mum doesn’t like me and it’s really hurtful.’
‘She does like you.’ Ben tried to quell the urge to tell her that her own behaviour had been far more hurtful towards his mum, especially keeping her away from her first grandchild. ‘So don’t go looking for insults and slights. Just be yourself and they will love you as much as I do.’
Bella smiled, immediately lighting up her delicate, heart-shaped face. ‘I love you, too. I’m just so tired all the time. How about we get an early night?’
Ben grinned, all irritation instantly forgotten and feeling a surge of love for his gorgeous wife. ‘There was a time when that would have meant something else entirely. And do you know what? Even though I know you’re only talking about going to sleep, I can’t think of anything I’d love more.’
‘Who says I’m only talking about going to sleep?’ Bella gave him a seductive look over her shoulder as she took his hand and pulled him towards the bedroom.
‘Gosh, I’m so nervous that my hands are sweating!’ Jo shook her head and tried to laugh but found that she couldn’t. ‘It’s ridiculous, isn’t it?’
Peter glanced in the rear-view mirror, before pulling out and overtaking an ancient campervan that was dawdling along the dual carriageway in front of them. ‘I’d say it’s perfectly understandable, given the way she’s behaved.’
Jo shot him a grateful look. She should never have doubted it, but she was pathetically relieved that he hadn’t blamed her for the rift.
After Bella and Ben had stormed out, she had spent the whole of Christmas Day crying. Emma had more or less passed out on the sofa, having drunk half a bottle of whisky to alleviate the shock of her accident, while Peter had finished preparing a lunch that none of them wanted, leaving Jo to sob into her wine glass.
‘It’ll be OK,’ Peter had reassured her, although the tiny muscle pulsating in his cheek had given the lie to his words.
‘It won’t!’ Jo wailed. ‘She’s won, Peter. She wanted him all to herself and now she’s got him. I can’t believe I thought we’d struck lucky with her because she wouldn’t want to take Ben away from us – how wrong could I have been! If only I hadn’t opened my big bloody mouth.’
Peter’s own mouth had set in a hard, straight line. ‘It wouldn’t have made any difference. If it wasn’t that, it would have been something else. She was just waiting for her moment.’
Jo burst into tears again. ‘But why? What have we done to her to make her hate us?’
Peter shook his head. He had a look of cold fury in his eyes. ‘Who knows?’
Jo blew her nose. ‘And you were being so extra nice to her, too.’
‘I was being nice to her because I knew she was waiting for us to make a wrong move. I was determined not to give her the ammunition.’
It all made sense now, the non-alcoholic mulled wine and the over-enthusiastic welcome. ‘But then you didn’t need to give her the ammunition – I did it for you.’
Jo covered her face with her tissue, letting it absorb the tears that refused to stop falling.
Peter put his heavy, reassuring hands on her heaving shoulders. ‘It was bad luck, darling. She caught you at a particularly bad moment.’
‘You don’t blame me then?’ Jo looked up at him through her swimming eyes.
Peter gave her a tired, worried smile. ‘Of course I don’t. I could never blame you for anything.’
‘What the hell are we going to do though, Peter? I can’t bear the thought of losing Ben.’
Peter shook his head. ‘We won’t lose him. We just have to wait. She’ll come round, eventually. Mark my words, once the baby arrives everything else will be forgotten.’
But it had taken so much longer than any of them had ever imagined. Jo had sent a card apologizing for what she said, as well as texts and calls but they all went unacknowledged. When Elodie was born, all they received from Ben was a short text telling them her name and weight and confirming that everything was OK.
Both Peter and Jo had called his mobile number, which seemed to be no longer in use. Emma had also tried repeatedly without success, which hurt Jo far more than their refusal to have anything to do with her and Peter. Emma was as bewildered and perplexed as her parents but as she was travelling a lot for work, she didn’t have as much time to dwell on it as Jo did.
Day after day, Jo clung to her phone, praying for it to ring. She felt as though someone had taken her heart and wrenched it out of her chest. The cold fingers of fear that she really might never see her darling boy again tightened their grip with every passing week.
She thought about calling Matt, reasoning that any information, even second-hand, would be preferable to the deafening silence they were currently enduring. But as she began to dial his number, she was overwhelmed with shame and embarrassment. What if Matt knew about the row she’d had with Bella and had taken her side? She felt so fragile that she didn’t think she could take another barrage of criticism.
So she waited, trying to distract herself with her voluntary work at the local hospice and consoling herself that while her life was something of a struggle right now, at least she had a life. These poor people were nearing the end of theirs and it did at least help to put her own problems into perspective.
If anything, Peter took