December 2009 – The Reconciliation

Chloe had seen nothing of Eve’s Nanna after Halloween. It was a small town, and Chloe had heard through friends, that apparently she was the worst mother in the world. And what a shame it was for Eve being brought up by her. The older woman was going around saying the social services should be called. But Chloe knew she wouldn’t do that. It was way too much effort for Tom’s mam. Now that Eve wasn’t in her life she would soon revert to type. Descend back into a fog of cheap alcohol. She would soon forget about Eve. Just like she seemed to have managed without Tom in her life. No doubt the woman would be shacked up with some new boyfriend within weeks. Chloe thought if anyone was the worst mother in the world, then it would be Tom’s.

But the fallout had got Chloe thinking more and more about Eve’s father. Far from being a bad mother, she recognised that a child grew up best having contact with both parents. Goodness knows, she had missed her own mother enough when growing up. Chloe found herself thinking back, about how it was that she had lost real contact with Tom.

It was his mother who had confirmed to her that Tom had definitely joined up. Wound her up about how he’d left her holding the baby. Looking back it seemed a bit sick really. Taking some girl’s side against your own son. Chloe wondered what her motivations were. Did she want to clean her act up? Make amends for the crappy way she had brought up her own child? But more than that, it seemed like she actually wanted to hurt her son. Did she feel abandoned herself, maybe?

There were constant barbed comments about Tom, whenever she came to pick baby Eve up. Going on about how useless the little girl’s father was. She never stopped slagging off her son, despite her protestations that she’d always “loved him to bits”. In her post birth isolation, Chloe had often found herself agreeing with the woman. But now that she was out of her life, she had a little more space to take a detached view of the situation.

Chloe found herself reminiscing about all the times she had spent with Eve’s father as school friends. And from her own perspective, she started asking herself what her real opinions were, on his behaviour since their rift. After the chasm that had opened up between them, Chloe had found it difficult to think about the night that changed everything. But Tom going to the army hadn’t been a surprise to her. He’d talked of nothing else during their early days in year 11. And from what had happened recently, she could certainly understand his desperation to get away from home.

But the young mother still had some resentment that Tom’s life had continued on track. Sending money for Eve wasn’t the same as looking after her all the time. But he had been trying to escape the shitty home life he’d endured with his mother. And he hadn’t returned, so he must have stuck in at his training. Maybe, thought Chloe, he might want to get to know his daughter a little. She knew that she would need to be careful about how she approached this with her dad. He remained furious that Tom hadn’t supported her through the pregnancy. He couldn’t care less about how much Tom had wanted to get away from home.

Still, perhaps somewhere inside, Chloe wondered if she even might retain some feelings for Tom. She knew that he was away in Yorkshire somewhere, training. But he was still contactable in the UK. Deciding to take a risk, Chloe put fingers to keyboard and sent a Facebook message with some photos, and included her mobile number. She hoped for a text. Which duly arrived.