The Misadventures of a Playground Mother (8 page)

I stared straight at Penelope and shook my head in bewilderment. I had been listening to this tedious story out of politeness, only to have the climax revealed as a fall-out over a child's toy. Surely not, what was my life coming to? Nevertheless, what else did I expect? This was Penelope I was talking to.

Lifting my hands to my face in fake shock, I asked, ‘Surely not over a talking telephone?' I stopped and took a breath waiting for Penelope to respond. She didn't disappoint me. I saw a flicker of annoyance flash across Penelope's face; quite clearly, she was still narked after all these years over the missing birthday present.

Just at that moment, Melanie appeared at our side. Penelope abruptly stopped speaking and turned a shade of crimson.

‘Are you leaving?' I asked.

Melanie looked down at her watch. ‘Yes, I need to pick Dotty up from school.'

‘Oh, is that the time? Matt kindly worked from home this morning and has looked after Matilda and Daisy all day, but I'd better pick up Eva and Samuel too. Do you need to collect Little Jonny and Annabel, Penelope?'

‘No, they are going to Rupert's for tea tonight; he is collecting them.'

‘I'll come with you then Melanie,' I said, thankful for the chance to escape.

The Farrier appeared and stood behind Melanie. He touched her arm lightly. ‘I need to mingle with the remaining guests and tidy up and I'll catch up with you soon.'

‘Very soon I hope.' Melanie replied.

They smiled at each other and he began shaking the hands of a group of mourners who were leaving. Melanie and I walked towards the front door.

‘I know it's only a short journey to school but do you fancy a lift?'

‘That would be a yes in these heels, thank you!'

Melanie blasted up the heat to get the car warm. We were actually about twenty minutes early, but I'd rather be sitting here with Melanie then listening to Penelope, and also, it would give me plenty of time to question Melanie's relationship with Penelope.

S
itting
outside the school gates with the engine running to keep warm, I decided to ask Melanie how she knew Penelope. Even though I didn't know her particularly well I didn't feel as if I was prying because after all, without any encouragement, she had quite openly told me how she and BB had crossed paths.

Melanie beat me to it.

‘Come on, you are dying to ask me how I know Penelope!' Melanie grinned.

We both laughed ‘I am! I was just about to ask,' I replied.

Glancing down at her watch, ‘how long have we got?'

‘Long enough, now stop stalling,' I joked.

‘I met her on a night school course,' Melanie began.

I nodded. That tallied with Penelope's story, so far so good.

‘She was late for the first class and all the students were already sat down in the classroom, the only spare seat was next to me. I'm sure if Penelope was telling you this story she would have made it all about her.

I could tell by the pained expression on Melanie's face that there was more to this story than a missing present.

‘It all began the minute the tutor walked in to the room. I can remember smiling to myself because Rob was so charismatic. Not only was he extremely good-looking with floppy blonde hair and a lopsided cheeky grin but he oozed fun. Penelope quickly spotted his wedding ring. I was fully aware I was ogling my new lecturer; I can remember watching his every move as he glided around the classroom handing out sheets of paper and textbooks. He was gorgeous.

Penelope and I became friends, I was single but she was with Rupert and had already given birth to Little Jonny. The classes were at night-time which was convenient for Penelope because Rupert would look after Little Jonny once he had finished work. Each week we would meet outside the college and go in to the classroom together. At break times, we behaved like giggling teenage girls hanging around the corridors sipping cans of coke, and usually discussing Rob. Penelope and I were becoming inseparable; it was a friendship that seemed to develop quickly. She was always asking me to go, here, there and everywhere with her, shopping, the cinema, or grabbing a bite to eat after the college course. To be honest, Penelope was doing me a favour by keeping me busy. I was suffering from a broken heart.'

‘The Farrier?' I interrupted.

‘Yes, how do you know that?'

‘I overheard you in the kitchen.'

‘Did you ever meet Camilla?' Melanie asked.

Raising my eyebrows I answered, ‘She has crossed my path a few times, unfortunately.'

We both laughed.

‘Camilla told me that they were a couple and I disappeared from the stables we were working at. I couldn't bear to see him with someone else and now it seems that wasn't quite the case.'

‘I bet that was difficult for you?'

‘It was, the Farrier belongs in my heart, he is the only man I ever carried a torch for; and then there was Rob.'

‘The tutor?'

‘Yes, the first lesson of the course we found out Rob was single after he introduced himself. I can still remember his words very clearly.'

“Please do not call me Sir or Mr Hardy. My name is Rob and I love fancy restaurants, appreciate a full-bodied glass of wine, strolls in the country and I play the odd game of football at the weekend in an attempt to maintain some level of fitness. I have one son and one wife, well soon to be ex-wife.” I can remember Penelope spinning round on her chair and declaring “he's single he's bloody single!” Melanie mimicked.

‘I hope you don't mind me asking but how did you two get together then?'

‘Rob was very flirtatious in the classroom, but more so towards me with his cheeky winks and banter and after the third lesson, he suggested we met up in a nearby pub after the class had finished. We sat at a table in a dark corner of the pub, away from the hustle and bustle of the other drinkers so we could talk. We flirted; it was fun, and the memories of the Farrier were slipping away. Rob was a good catch, maybe too good to be true.'

A sudden sadness flooded across Melanie's face.

‘Are you OK?'

‘Yes, I've never told this story, but it's good to finally share it with someone.'

I gave her an encouraging smile to continue.

‘I started to enjoy myself, realising for the first time that other men might actually find me attractive. I could count on one hand the number of dates I'd been on in the past years but all were disastrous and best forgotten. I lost my confidence and self-esteem was depleted when the Farrier took up with Camilla.

‘Then we began to get closer. He would take me out more and more and I could safely say I was in an established relationship with Rob. I can remember when he whispered, ‘I love you' for the first time. It melted my heart and at last, my mind and emotions were beginning to recover from the hurt and the pain caused by the Farrier. I began to fall in love with Rob. I let him in, but as time went on it appeared his words were nothing more than sweet nothings.'

Melanie was now visibly upset. She wiped away a tear that escaped and rolled down her cheek.

‘My relationship with Rob seemed to deteriorate overnight. I knew Rob was a flirt. I had witnessed it for myself at the evening class, but panic started to set in when the topic of conversion began to include his colleague Laura all the time. I challenged him on numerous occasions but each time he would declare she was only a friend. He dropped her name into the conversation at every opportunity – far too much for my liking and alarm bells began to ring loud and clear.'

‘What did you do?'

‘He told me she was his rock, and that she had supported him during the breakdown of his marriage, but then it also transpired that the luscious Laura was also the best friend of his soon to be ex-wife. She was the same age, thin, but not what I would call attractive. She was also a single mother, and her child was the same age as Rob's son.'

I could guess what was coming next, but I was still none the wiser as to how Penelope and a child's toy fitted in to all this.

‘My gut feeling, the pangs of anxiety, and that ghastly distressing feeling were festering deep down in the pit of my stomach. I knew that Rob and Laura were more than just friends, the ‘just friends' routine didn't bode well for me. I suspected he was a player, and more than likely sleeping with both of us. By the end of the course, he had started to ignore me in class and Laura began popping in to the classroom more and more. Then I saw it, that look in his eyes, that grin, and there she was standing as bold as brass in front of the class tilting her head and smiling back softly with those doe eyes of hers. I am not a jealous person by any stretch of the imagination quite the opposite, in fact, but he made me feel so insecure. Every time I tried to talk to him about it he was ingenious enough to make me doubt myself leaving me feeling stupid and inadequate.'

‘He sounds like a very devious man to me.'

Melanie nodded.

‘He would humiliate me with his constant chatter about Laura and would taunt me about what a good friend she was, and of course, that she didn't nag him. He was cruel and reduced me to tears on numerous occasions. I asked him to stop seeing Laura but Rob claimed that if I loved him I should trust him.

‘It sounds to me that this was a no win situation, a stalemate.'

‘Exactly. I asked myself to what lengths was I prepared to go to make Rob love me? The answer was simple, none. It was time to walk away but only after, I did one more thing.

‘What did you do?

‘I followed him one night from the college and he led me straight to the front door of Laura's house. I parked the car on the road opposite and I watched them embrace on the doorstep and disappear inside the house. Before I could even decide what to do, I found myself running up the path and hammering on the front door. Laura opened the door, and of course, Rob was still standing in the hallway because he had only just arrived. The look on his face said it all, as if he wanted to be anywhere else except standing there; he couldn't even make eye contact with me. I asked Laura outright if she sleeping with Rob. Before he could answer, she replied, yes and what did it have to do with me. I announced that I had been too. Rob was busted and he stormed to his car and drove away at high speed with no explanation leaving Laura and me standing on the step.

‘But at least you found out the truth and you now know it wasn't all in your imagination,' I offered.

‘Laura invited me in and told me that Rob's marriage breakdown was due to a one-night stand with her after he'd had a row with his wife. After that, they had continued to sleep together regularly. In a way, I was relieved. It was like the weight of my uncertainty had been miraculously lifted off my shoulders.

Rob was clearly a selfish man and had manipulated the situation with Laura. She told me their relationship had been kept secret due to Rob controlling her. He told her if the news escaped of their indiscretions before his divorce was finalised, their relationship would be over.

I could only assume that she too had been hypnotised by his charm and was prepared to do anything to keep him interested – playing the role of family friend, and ready to support him at a moment's notice in more ways than one. She was waiting in the wings and didn't mind how long it took. He took us both for a fool.

Rob was more concerned about saving his own reputation. He was very highly regarded within his family. His father was the local parish priest, and his mother belonged to every committee within miles; heaven forbid his good reputation should be tarnished in any way.

Laura had no inkling of his relationship with me; his excuses were believable; he was the model lecturer supporting students after hours with their course work, attending training courses, or marking essays. Well, what did she honestly expect? He'd already cheated on his wife with her best friend, I wasn't sure if that said more about him or the best friend, but why did she think it was going to be any different with her?'

Is this when you called it a day with Rob?'

‘If only it had been that simple,' Melanie stated.

‘Why what happened then?'

‘I confided in Penelope about my decision to split up with Rob. I wasn't going to play his mind games anymore or even give him the benefit of the doubt. I wanted to take back control of my life. Don't get me wrong. Rob begged me to take him back. He came up with all the excuses under the sun, but I was sick of the constant lies, lack of trust and for the obvious fact I wasn't prepared to share him with another woman. Then within 48 hours the unthinkable happened.'

I held my breath, ‘go on.'

‘The two blue vertical lines appeared on the white stick and yes they were there, loud and proud screaming ‘baby here'! Just as I'd made the decision to walk away from the relationship, I was pregnant with Rob's child. There was no other way to describe this situation other than a complete and utter disaster.'

‘Dotty?'

‘Yes, Dotty. At the same time, Penelope was also pregnant with Annabel.'

‘Did you take him back?'

‘He told me this would be the making of him; a child would keep him focused and provide a fresh start for us all as a family.'

‘I'm assuming it didn't last very long?'

‘No, my original instincts had been right; the relationship came to an abrupt end on the day Dotty was born. Rob, the lowlife that he is, was caught in the maternity ward toilet, partaking in his own kind of internal examination with another one of my friends who had come to visit me. Busted by Penelope, and not an excuse between them; well what could they say? That they were wetting the baby's head? I kicked him out of my life for good before I'd even heard the baby cry, or put my paper knickers back in place. What should have been one of the happiest days of my life came crashing down all around me.

‘Is that why you fell out with Penelope?'

‘What? Because she told me about the pair of them? No. Penelope showed solidarity towards me. She was great at first, but things became strained. I was a single mother, extremely tired, but with no one to share the midnight feeds with me, I had to do everything myself and I had hardly any money. However, I loved Dotty and wouldn't have it any other way. Penelope had Annabel, and it was she who suggested a joint first birthday party. We had a few mutual friends at the time – people from the antenatal classes etc.

As I lived quite a distance away, Penelope suggested we hold the gathering at her house. But the day of the party I was exhausted. I hadn't had much sleep the night before, because Dotty was coming down with something and had been restless all night. I barely kept my eyes open during the party and to be quite honest, I was relieved to return home. I placed Dotty in her cot and I must have drifted off to sleep on the top of my bed.

‘When I awoke I checked my phone and I had received numerous messages from Penelope demanding where the present was that I stole. She stated if I valued the friendship, I would return it immediately. The texts went on and on and she was demanding that I return the present immediately. Then Dotty woke up a few hours later with blisters all over her body and the doctor confirmed she had chicken pox.'

‘No wonder she didn't sleep much the night before.' I said.

‘Yes exactly, and I was so tired that I couldn't be bothered with Penelope's drama and didn't text her back. She knew that for the past year I had found it extremely difficult to cope, and I would have thought she should have known be better than to think I would to pinch a present.

I just took myself away, and because Rob had controlled me for most of that relationship, I didn't need a friend who was just as demanding. I wanted peace and calm. I did check the presents and yes, I did have an extra toy, which I placed on Penelope's doorstep a week later, with a note explaining the mix-up but I didn't hear from her again.'