Рейчел Уэллс - Alfie And George

‘My pleasure. Any time you need some time to yourself, I’m there,’ Tiger replied, then bade us goodbye. I stood back so George could hop through the cat flap.

‘I missed you,’ I said, and I really had. It was strange — I did need time to myself every now and then, but when I had it, I missed him. Was that parenthood? I guessed it must be because I was pretty sure I had heard my humans saying something similar.

‘Me too, Dad. What’s for tea?’

Later that evening I lay snuggled up in the armchair, with George curled up next to me. It was dark outside; Jonathan was watching the news on TV and Claire came in to join him. I felt nervous; they had been perfectly civil to each other while Summer was around, but now she was in bed, I was unsure how the land lay.

‘Hi,’ Jonathan said.‘Are you OK?’

‘Yes, I just spoke to Tash.’ Claire sat down.‘It looks as if it’s all being sorted. I think Dave has had some kind of wake-up call. She’s not sure, but he has apologised and said he does want to be a good dad to Elijah. They’re going to meet up this weekend, with his mum, and she seems hopeful.’

‘She won’t take him back will she?’ Jonathan looked concerned and I sincerely hoped not.

‘No, I think the way he acted, cheating, moving out, not to mention the lying and the way he behaved since, means she’ll never fully trust him again, but Tash is a good mum and she wants what’s best for her child. At the moment that means having his dad around, no matter how useless he is.’

‘I agree, although I’m not Dave’s biggest fan. But I am Elijah’s, of course.’ Jonathan touched Claire’s arm.

‘Jonathan, we have our own issues to deal with, I know that, and we need to figure them out, so this weekend I want to go and see Mum and Dad with Summer, and I want you to come.’

‘OK, what’s brought this on?’

‘I’m not going to pretend. I could do with a change of scene, but also … Dad is a social worker, you know that, and he’s going to help us with the adoption — just explain how it works and what we need to do, if we decide to push forward with it. I thought it might help you to speak more to him about it.’

‘You mean your dad is going to talk me into it?’ Jonathan bristled.

‘No, I told him that I found it all a bit confusing and I explained how you felt, and he said perhaps if he talked us through the process, and all the options available to us, then maybe we’d stop arguing and come to a decision we were both happy with.’ I was proud of how reasonable Claire sounded.

‘Right …’ Jonathan still sounded doubtful.

‘Look, I know how single-minded I get, so does Dad. I wanted us to get married when we did, I wanted Summer when we did, I know how I am and, well, I think Dad is probably more likely to be on your side than mine.’

‘It’s not about sides, you know that. I just don’t know if I can do this.’ Jonathan sounded sad rather than angry.‘I wish I had your belief, I really do.’

‘And that’s what this weekend is about. Having a chat, a change of scene and then hopefully we can make a decision together. Besides, Mum and Dad are dying to see Sum.’

‘Blimey, you sound more reasonable than I’ve ever heard you,’ Jonathan said.

‘That’s my dad. He kind of gave me a bit of a talking-to. Anyway, can we go?’

‘What about Alfie and George?’

‘Frankie said they could both go and stay with them. We can drop them off on the way and either pick them up on our way home or Tomasz will drop them back here. The boys want to spend time with Alfie, and George, of course, before they go on their holiday.’

Wow, I was going to spend the weekend with my Polish family, which was great, and George was going to have his very first weekend away. And we’d see Dustbin! I was already excited.

‘You’ve got it all sorted then.’ I saw Jonathan raise his eyebrows.

‘Sorry, I know, I’m so bossy. But you kind of knew that when you married me.’

‘True, I did. Look, Claire, about the adoption—’

‘I know you’re worried you won’t be able to love a child that you didn’t make.’

‘Yes, that’s it.’

‘But I think you can.’

I felt a tingling in my fur. I looked at George, curled up next to me. I couldn’t love him any more than I did, yet I didn’t make him. I looked at Jonathan and Claire, who appeared to be deep in thought. I had adopted George, hadn’t I? Yes, it had been an enforced adoption at first, but still … And now I would be distraught without him; I loved him so much. I needed Jonathan to understand this. Surely that was the answer. He had to see that, if I could love George, he could love an adopted child. I just wasn’t sure how I could make him see that — at least, not yet.

‘Oh, Mama, look, George is playing with the sardine!’ little Tomasz exclaimed with joy. I had told George that food was not to be played with, but he loved how slippery it felt between his paws and he was chasing it around the kitchen — although of course it wasn’t alive — and pouncing on it. The boys thought it was hilarious. Aleksy was laughing so hard he couldn’t speak.

‘George, eat the fish, is not a toy,’ Franceska chastised, winking at me. She then grabbed it, chopped it up and put it back in his bowl. He obediently ate. We had arrived a little while ago, just after the boys had got back from school. They were excited, not only because we were staying with them but also because it was the start of the summer holidays. They were leaving next week for their holiday in Poland, which I felt sad about, but I didn’t want that to tarnish this weekend. I wanted us to have as much fun as possible.

We ate tea and then the boys put on a film, Star Wars , which I couldn’t quite figure out, but it was quite exuberant. There were lots of flashes of colour across the screen. George jumped up onto the TV stand and tried to chase the flashes before Aleksy moved him away.

‘You’ll be in trouble if you break it,’ he said, echoing my thoughts. George looked at me, and I tried to give him a stern look but he just smiled that adorable smile of his. I think he was enjoying his first holiday.

Just as the film finished, big Tomasz arrived home.

‘Ah, the cats, my boys, how lovely to come home to you all.’ He smiled broadly and kissed everyone, and then he kissed his wife.

‘ Kochanie , I have bought some champagne home from the restaurant for us tonight.’

‘What are we celebrating?’ Franceska asked. Big Tomasz looked a bit sad, but didn’t say anything. It was yet another ‘not in front of the children’ moment.

‘Right, boys, bedtime,’ Franceska said.

‘Oh, Mum,’ Aleksy said. He sounded like an English boy now, although I knew big Tomasz and Franceska were teaching their sons Polish. ‘Can we stay up a bit, with Alfie and George?’ he begged.

‘Half an hour,’ she conceded. ‘Tomasz, I’ll put supper on, you spend time with the boys.’ I noticed that Franceska didn’t exactly sound happy, but I was distracted as Aleksy picked me up while both big and little Tomasz started playing ball with George. Aleksy carried me into his bedroom. As my first child friend, Aleksy and I had been through a lot together. I had been his first friend in England and I’d also helped him when he was being bullied at school a couple of years ago. He confided in me, and as he placed me on his bed I knew we were going to have a chat.

‘I’m worried, Alfie. Mum and Dad aren’t really speaking and now we’re going to Poland for the whole holiday without him. I’m going to miss you, and home, but I’m going to miss Dad the most.’ He looked sad as he stroked me. I snuggled into him and purred my understanding.