Lu has just stopped on her way home at the motorway services to search out some strong black coffee and a pastry when her phone starts to shrill. The caller display says Isaac. Instinct tells her this isn’t going to be good news.
‘What’s the matter, love?’ she asks, unclipping her seat belt and flexing tired shoulders.
‘It’s Polly. She’s gone.’
‘Gone where? Isaac, what’s happened?’
‘We had a row. She thinks I’m Reggie’s dad.’
‘What?’
There’s a short silence. Lucia’s head reels. Maybe she misheard him.
‘I beg your pardon, Isaac? Did you say …’
‘She thinks I’m Reggie’s dad,’ Isaac repeats more loudly. ‘Mum, when are you coming home?’
‘As soon as possible. But Isaac, is it true? Are you his father? Why didn’t you tell me before?’
‘She’s got it wrong. Mum, please come back.’
‘I’m already on the way. I should be there in about an hour, traffic permitting. Stay put and I’ll be as quick as I can.’
‘Drive carefully, Mum, please.’
Isaac’s voice is shaky and he’s disconnected before Lu has chance to say goodbye. She gets out of the van and heads for the main building. There’s no time for coffee and her appetite’s completely gone but she needs a loo stop and a leg stretch before she does the last lap.
Washing her hands five minutes later, Lu’s tired brain begins to process what Isaac has just told her at last. Polly thinks her son is Reggie’s dad? That can’t be right. Or can it? Maybe he’s just in denial. How can Isaac be expected to cope with this sort of crisis? He’s only just beginning to get his life on track. But a grandson? She’s always longed for her lovely boy to find someone to have a family with and it’s seemed like an impossible dream.
This means that Isaac must have had a relationship with the elusive Alice when he was in Leeds. How did Lu never know about this? She recalls how withdrawn her son was when he returned home for good, so soon after his triumphant exit to join a course that ticked every box for him. And Reggie … as Lu thinks about the adorable little boy her heart swells with love. Could he actually be Isaac’s son?
The tumble of thoughts rolls around Lu’s brain as she sets off again, the radio playing classical music to settle her rising panic. Her mind is still reeling at the thought that Polly’s sister must have been at uni in Leeds with Isaac. For some reason she’s always imagined Alice to have fled the nest to somewhere further North. The relationship between Isaac and Alice has got to have been serious if that’s the case because Isaac doesn’t do trivial. And if so, why has he never mentioned her? She feels her heart begin to race alarmingly and does her best to push the worst of the worry to one side so she can concentrate on the busy motorway.
The traffic isn’t too bad, and in less than an hour Lucia is driving past the post office at a crawl and turning into the lane leading to Jasmine Terrace. Home. It’s such a comforting word, and Lu says it to herself several times. Now all she needs to do is sort out Isaac’s issues and find Polly. She makes a rueful face at herself in the mirror as she pulls onto the drive. Simple? Not so much.
‘Isaac? I’m home,’ she yells, carrying Nigel’s basket into the kitchen and decanting him next to a very surprised Petunia.
Her son comes thundering down the stairs two at a time. ‘Can I borrow the van?’ he gasps.
Nigel frolics around Isaac’s ankles as he holds his hand out hopefully for the keys to the van. ‘Hang on a minute,’ Lu says, catching hold of her son’s arm. ‘Let’s just calm down. Why do you want it so urgently and where are you planning to go?’
‘I’m off to track Polly down,’ Isaac says. ‘I know the name of the village where she’s staying but she never gave me the full address. I’m going to find her whether she wants me to or not.’
Lu’s head’s spinning now. ‘But … but … if she doesn’t want to see you … Is it because you’ve talked about you being Reggie’s father?’
‘I’m not his dad, and she knows that now. I bloody wish I was though.’
A wave of sadness washes over Lucia. So she isn’t Reggie’s grandmother after all. ‘But … but if it’s not you, who is it?’
‘We still don’t know. It doesn’t matter really. I want to help look after him and watch him grow up. I don’t care who his biological father is. I just want me, Polly and Reggie to have chance to be a proper family.’
Lucia takes a deep breath, swallowing her disappointment. ‘That’s wonderful, love. So I’ll still get to be the grandma? I love Reggie anyway, it makes no difference to me if he’s yours or not.’
He sighs. ‘Look Mum, I haven’t got time to talk about this now. I’m going to find Polly’s village. It can’t be that big and someone must know who she is, surely. I don’t care if she wants to see me or not, we need to clear the air. I love her.’
Isaac says this with such an air of wonder and triumph that Lu hasn’t the heart to discourage him, and maybe he’s right. If she’d waited until Des was ready to discuss their marriage she’d still be sitting on the sofa feeling sorry for herself. At least now she knows what the next steps are.
‘You’ll need to fill up with diesel again and check the tyres and water and so on. Go and do that while I make you some food to take with you.’
‘No need, I’ve just eaten, I don’t want to waste any time. I can always stop on the M1.’
Lu is lost for words. Isaac has always scorned fast food restaurants on motorways. He must be desperate to get on his way. She fetches her luggage from the van as Isaac dashes around getting ready, and within fifteen minutes he’s ready for off, a small bag packed and ready on the passenger seat. He comes back into the kitchen to say goodbye.
‘You’re absolutely sure this is the right thing to do?’ Lu says, putting her hands on Isaac’s shoulders to make sure he’s listening.
‘It’s got to be right. I can’t live without Polly. Stop trying to hold me up. It’s time I stood on my own feet. More than time.’
Isaac pulls away but at the last moment, comes back and hugs Lu. ‘Sorry, Mum,’ he mumbles. ‘I’m just scared Polly won’t want to see me after all this. I didn’t mean what I said. Well, I did actually,’ he adds, his innate honesty battling with the desire to put things right.
‘Not to worry,’ says Lu rather stiffly, but she hugs him back and then gives him a gentle push towards the van. ‘Bring Polly back as soon as you can. I miss her already, and Reggie too.’
Lu watches Isaac drive away, with very mixed feelings.
‘Will he be safe?’ she whispers. It’s a question she and Des have asked each other many times over the years, every time Isaac has tried something new. It’s odd to be saying it to herself. Her eyes are full of tears and there’s a lump in her throat. Des isn’t hers now. She hasn’t had time to think how she feels about that, but one thing’s for sure. Even a husband who doesn’t want her anymore would be better than this echoing, empty house today.