Abigail: Chapter 57
About an hour later my mobile rang. I was still stuck in Abigail’s kitchen waiting for her to finish packing. We’d only be gone two nights but I’d forgotten how much stuff little kids needed. I’d watched from the kitchen as bag after bag had been stacked in the hallway. The phone call was a welcome relief from the monotony.
I glanced at the screen and saw it was Rob. “Good morning Rob!”
“Where are you?”
“Abigail’s house.” I paused. “Why? Where are you?”
“Your house. Bugger! Stay there, I’ll be right over.”
He hung up before I could even reply and I returned to watching the in-house entertainment. Every time Abigail put a bag in the hallway, Lucy would wait until her mother was out of sight and then open the bag and start rummaging through it. Every now and then she’d find a toy or item of clothing that belonged to her and she’d take it and put it somewhere out of sight, presumably her bedroom. This little routine continued for about twenty minutes before Abigail finally snapped.
“Lucy! That’s enough!”
“But me not want go. Me want stay with you.”
She made the word stretch into three syllables and looked up at Abigail as she said it. Under different circumstances it would have been incredibly sweet and endearing but we had places to be and Abigail was determined that her daughter’s performance shouldn’t delay us.
“No Lucy. You’re going to see Nanny and Grandad. They want to see you before Christmas. Now go back in your room and bring out your things.”
“No!” The child stamped her foot and crossed her arms against her chest.
“If you don’t go and get them, we’ll be leaving without them.” She gave Lucy a look. “I mean it. If you want teddy and Mr Pickles and your pink dress at Nanny’s house you have to go and get them and put them back in this bag.”
Abigail turned and went back in the direction of her bedroom leaving Lucy standing in the hallway, arms still crossed. She stayed like that for a couple of minutes but then seemingly had a change of heart. She walked out of sight and soon retuned with her arms full of stuff. I smiled as I watched her try and shove them all back into one of the bags. It was a minor victory for parents everywhere and I revelled in every second of it.
Not long after that there was a knock at the door.
“Charlie, would you get that? I’m just finishing up here.”
I opened the door and there stood Rob. I looked behind him. “Where’s the helicopter?”
“Helicopter?”
“You got here so fast, I thought you must have flown.”
“Bugger off!”
“Language Robert, there are children present.”
He looked over my shoulder and saw Lucy staring up at him. “Oops, sorry.”
Abigail came into the hallway, took one look at Rob standing on her doorstep, and shrieked. She ran back upstairs where the noise of packing soon resumed.
“Something I said?”
I smiled. “I think the reality of the situation is finally starting to hit home. Come on, I’ll make you a cuppa. This might take a while.”
Two hours later and we finally pulled up outside Carol and Saul’s house. When Abigail had tried persuading her parents to have the children for a couple of days it quickly became obvious that that was never going to work. They had far too many plans, appointments booked weeks ago that couldn’t possibly be changed. I was all in favour of telling the two of them to get their act together and stop being so selfish but Abigail wouldn’t hear of it. Instead, Carol and Saul had come to the rescue, sounding delighted to be asked. Having witnessed Little Miss Tantrum in action, I wasn’t convinced they’d be quite so delighted by the end of the visit but I decided it was best to keep my thoughts to myself.
Abigail walked with the children up the path to the house while Rob and I unloaded the luggage. When Carol opened the door and looked past her daughter-in-law and grandchildren to see me and Rob struggling under the weight of everything Abigail had packed, her eyes widened.
“Don’t worry, this is just the bare essentials,” I reassured her with a smile. “They’re not staying for a month.”
Carol smiled and led us all into the house. “Pop the bags down there would you?” she said, gesturing to a space at the bottom of the stairs.
We unloaded and I rolled my shoulders. “I’m sure the Queen and her whole entourage travel with less,” I whispered to Rob.
He grinned and followed Carol into the front room. Rob and I had the luxury of sitting back and watching the scene unfold before us. I’d not seen Abigail and the children together outside their own environment and it was fascinating to watch. Saul appeared to glow in his grandchildren’s company and it made me smile to think that I’d helped to make that happen. I might never know what had caused Abigail’s frostiness to thaw but watching them together, I realised it didn’t matter.
Carol made a fuss of showing the children to their room while the rest of us sat and made small talk. No-one mentioned the one subject that was on all our minds: Toby. I had to believe that the next time I saw Carol, Saul and the children, we’d be bringing him home to them. I ignored the doubt that was niggling at the back of my mind. I knew that if we were to have any chance of making this a successful trip, we all had to stay positive, and none more so than me. Abigail was taking her cues from me and if I started to doubt the outcome in anyway, she’d likely fall apart.
When I’d finished my coffee I took a look at the time and decided that we really needed to get on the road. I was keen to get to Barnstaple before dark and thanks to the time it had taken to get us all here, that was looking less and less likely.
I caught Rob’s eye and motioned to my wrist. He nodded so I stood up and touched Abigail gently on the arm. “We should be making a move.”
“Okay, let me just say goodbye to the children then I’ll be right back.”
Rob and I said our goodbyes to Saul and called upstairs to Carol with the children, then went out to the car to wait for Abigail. The look Rob and I gave each other spoke volumes. This was it. It was time.