Red-letter Day
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your letter! I cried when I read it, which made Charlie really worried that something bad had happened! He was really pleased too when I told him what you’d written and says a big thank you! I keep rereading your letter to check it’s really true!
I can’t believe you’re letting us come home! We can make my room into the perfect place for the baby and us. I know you said it’ll be a bit squashed but, honestly, it’s probably the same size as our whole teeny chalet here! I’m so excited that you’re going to be there to help me. I’ve missed you and Izzy SO MUCH the last few months. Your letter came at the perfect time. Monique has been having loads of chats with me about how hard it’d be for me to have the baby in Switzerland, and Charlie’s mum keeps phoning him and I don’t know what she says, Mum, but he’s always a bit fed up or sad or mad at me when he gets off the phone. I’ve been really starting to think that we made a mistake running away.
Thank you for forgiving me. (I’m guessing that you HAVE forgiven me or you wouldn’t be letting me come home, would you?) I promise things will be different when I’m back. I’m different now – I’ve had to be. My baby needs a proper mum, not someone who can’t even look after herself.
Charlie is going to get a job the minute we get back. We’ll pay our way for food and things for the baby so you don’t need to worry about that. We’re both so grateful to you. It’s going to make everything totally perfect and I can really start to look forward to this baby instead of feeling scared.
I’m going to be with you and Izzy in two weeks – hurray!!!!! I’m going to forget the cost and phone you up RIGHT NOW so we can make plans!!
Love you forever,
Alex and Charlie and Bump xxxxx
I am SO excited that Alex is coming home to live! It’s going to be fantastic – just like it used to be. I’m pretty glad that we can start to get back to normal too because this year has been totally rubbish. I like it when you know what’s going to happen, when the only surprises are nice surprises, but this year hasn’t been like that at all.
I’m sitting in our den and relaxing. Mum and I have been working for hours today, painting Alex’s room. Mum said it needed doing and if there’s going to be a baby in there then it should be fresh and clean. We packed up all Alex’s stuff and put it neatly in boxes in the bottom of the wardrobe. I don’t know how she’s going to manage sharing a room with Charlie and a baby, but I suppose babies are quite small so it probably won’t take up much space, and Charlie’s a boy so he probably doesn’t have a lot of clothes and stuff.
Mum told me not to tell anyone what I’d heard Marianne saying that day in our kitchen, about Charlie going off to university while Alex looks after the baby. She said that Alex and Charlie needed to have a fresh start and a chance to make their own decisions, and that we needed to support them, but not choose for them. Then she muttered darkly about not everybody understanding that, but she didn’t seem to want me to answer her so I pretended I hadn’t heard.
I haven’t told Hannah or anyone else that Alex is coming home. I don’t want there to be a big fuss or anything so I’m just hoping that people will have forgotten what happened last term and not go on about it. We can just go back to normal.
If I peer through the branches of the fir tree, I can see Mum hanging out the washing on the line. She’s been a lot happier since she told Alex that they could all live here with us. We’ve talked about it loads; Mum said that I had to be honest about how I felt about sharing our house with Charlie and a baby. I thought about it really hard, but I just don’t think it’s going to make much difference. Charlie will be out at work and he’s so quiet that I don’t think I’ll notice when he IS here. And a baby isn’t going to affect me very much. It won’t be able to walk or talk or do anything at all really. Mum said that it will cry, but I’m sure tiny babies can’t make that much noise and I can always close my bedroom door if it cries when I’m trying to sleep.
I think this is a new start for all of us. It’s going to be totally fine.