The Would-Begetter (16 page)

‘He keeps making jokes,’ Wendy gulped. ‘I mean, I can take a joke like anyone else, but…’

‘There’s a time and a place for everything?’ Barry supplied.

‘Yes… And then he’s really good, you know… in bed and that, and we have a terrific time and… and then he’s really horrible to me afterwards, like it was all a mistake or something, or he wishes he hadn’t. So I don’t know what to think… and now there’s the baby…’

‘When’s it due?’ Barry asked.

‘Middle of December. I’m really worried, Barry. I don’t want to end up as a single Mum. I’d never manage…’ Her eyes and nose were now red and swollen. All traces of
make-up had vanished. She looked scared and vulnerable. Barry put a determined arm around her shoulders.

‘You won’t have to,’ he assured her. ‘You can marry me instead.’

‘But it’s Hector’s baby.’

‘So what? I like babies.’

‘But…’

‘I’m serious Wendy. I want to marry you.’ Then Barry’s confidence wavered and he added quickly, ‘But don’t say anything yet; think about it. Yes?’ He squeezed her shoulders and she looked up at him with a tremulous smile.

‘You haven’t any crisps on you, by any chance?’ she asked him. ‘I’m famished.’

Jess was also feeling confused by Hector’s behaviour and by her own reaction to it. One minute he was confiding his innermost thoughts to her, and the next he was biting her head off. She felt hurt and resentful. Then she tried to consider things from Hector’s point of view and conceded that, if she was right about his part in Zillah’s pregnancy, then the man certainly had a problem. It was no wonder he was a bit tetchy. She could understand his fascination with Zillah; she was a beautiful woman, but Jess would have expected Hector to be more canny than to get involved with someone who already had a partner, especially a man like Clive. And anyway, Zillah seemed to her to be a cold fish; not at all what Hector needed. Jess felt angry with him for being so
dense
.

And now there was Wendy. He ought to have had the sense not to have seduced her of all people! Jess despaired of him but couldn’t, quite, dismiss him from her thoughts. Why do I mind so much when Hector’s cross with me? she asked herself. And why does his procreative behaviour (which would undoubtedly repel any right-thinking, family-orientated, normal human being) seem to have an undeniable logic about it which I certainly deplore, but which I can also, sort of, understand? Horrible man! she thought crossly. He’s not worth all this introspection.

She decided to ignore Hector and his problems in future. Get a life! she told herself sternly. It was easier said than done,
in a job as time-consuming as hers. Ah well, she thought, at least my work is enjoyable. I suppose I’m very lucky really.

So the summer went by, and August was all but over before Jess managed to take Caroline up on her offer of a weekend in London. Caroline’s house was one of a terrace on three floors plus a basement with railings. It looked much like any other town house outside, but was both elegant and welcoming within. Jess saw her own photograph on the wall almost at once, and was pleased. She discovered her friend to be huge and uncomfortable, but still serene.

‘How did your new boss take the news?’ Jess asked her that evening.

‘She was a bit miffed at first,’ Caroline admitted, ‘but fine now. I’m off work for this last month thank goodness. Just as well; I feel like a tank!’

‘What about getting a nanny?’

‘That’s all sorted out, luckily. It hasn’t been easy. As well as letting her have the basement flat downstairs, I’m even having to buy a car for her.’

‘Goodness!’

‘You don’t know the half of it, Jess. I’m beginning to realise that I’m going to have to plan my life like a military operation. It’s going to cost me a small fortune too.’

‘Is… the father… going to be able to help?’ Jess asked, choosing her words carefully.

Caroline laughed. ‘You really mean, “who is the father?” don’t you?’

‘Well…’

‘He’s been ringing me up every week since the end of May – making a perfect nuisance of himself. He even arrived on my doorstep a couple of weeks ago.’

‘What, to ask you to marry him?’

‘No, he didn’t go quite that far.’ Caroline said drily.

‘But… do I know him?’

‘You gave him my address!’

‘OH NO!’ Jess coloured deeply. ‘Oh my God! I’m… so sorry… I even joked about it, but I never imagined for one moment…!’

‘No problem,’ Caroline said. ‘I’m more than a match for Hector. Don’t tell him he definitely
is
the father though, will
you? I reckon that by tricking me into the pregnancy in the first place, he’s well and truly forfeited any rights he might have had to this baby, and anyway I have absolutely no intention of being beholden to him.’

‘You wouldn’t marry him then?’

‘Heavens, no! Sorry Jess, I know he’s a friend of yours.’

‘There’s something else I think I ought to tell you,’ Jess said slowly. ‘I didn’t tell you the whole story earlier because… well, because you said you and Hector hadn’t been to bed together…’

‘Sorry,’ Caroline said. ‘Stupid pride. Great mistake. It only happened the once, you see. Wonderful isn’t it! So what’s the big secret then?’

Jess told her, ending with: ‘So I suppose Hector must be waiting until all three babies are born, and then I imagine he plans to choose one of you and propose marriage.’

‘Cold-blooded bastard!’ Caroline was incredulous. ‘Real life just doesn’t work like that. Has the man no feelings?’

Jess felt obliged to try to explain. ‘Well you see, he felt totally betrayed by Megan, his wife; it really devastated him. So maybe he’s just been trying to make absolutely sure it couldn’t happen again? Underneath, I’m sure he’s convinced he’s being logical and scientific, and that science is a justification in itself. I know that sounds awful, but he is a decent chap really, honestly…’

‘Well, you know him far better than I do,’ Caroline said. ‘The whole idea sounds grotesque to me.’

‘He’s just desperate for a son to inherit the family title,’ Jess said. ‘But I’m sure he would never knowingly have fathered three at once. It’s just a bizarre fluke.’

Caroline laughed shortly. ‘A son, huh? Well according to the tests,’ she said, rubbing her bulge complacently, ‘mine’s a girl, so tough luck!’

‘Really?’ Jess felt quite light-headed. ‘Perhaps they’ll all be girls?’ she said, giggling. ‘Three daughters! Then what on earth will Hector do?’

On 25 September, after a long and difficult labour, Caroline produced her daughter and vowed she would never ever again have another baby. Hector turned up at the maternity hospital on the 26th, and assured her that dislocating one’s shoulder was far more painful than childbirth. ‘How the hell would you know?’ Caroline asked. ‘I read it somewhere,’ Hector told her. He stood by the see-through cot where the baby was sleeping, and peered at it intently. ‘He looks a little yellow?’ he said in tones of concern.

‘Neonatal jaundice,’ Caroline said crisply, ‘and nothing whatever to worry about. She’ll be fine.’

‘She?’ Hector looked up sharply.

‘Yes, “she”. There are two kinds of human beings, Hector, or had you forgotten that? So I’m afraid I can’t really call her Morgan. Although I suppose I could name her after King Arthur’s fairy sister?’

‘What?’ Hector looked blank.

‘You know, Morgan le Fay.’

Hector ignored this. He sat down heavily on the bed and massaged his mouth agitatedly with one hand. He looked shattered. ‘This will sound ridiculous,’ he said eventually, ‘but somehow I never anticipated this. I’ve been concentrating so much on having a son, you see, I’ve been… so focused…’

Caroline almost felt sorry for him. ‘Well, never mind,’ she said. ‘It’s not a problem. I’m absolutely thrilled she’s a girl. I couldn’t be happier.’

‘Oh… good.’

‘She’s beautiful, isn’t she?’

‘Yes…’ Hector pulled himself together. ‘What are you going to call her?’

‘Hannah Moffat.’

‘You couldn’t be persuaded to change your mind and call her Gwladys, my great-grandmother’s name, I suppose?’

‘I think not,’ Caroline said quite gently.

‘I could register her for you?’ Hector offered. ‘No thanks.’

‘Well… should I contribute to her maintenance… a monthly cheque?’

‘NO,’ Caroline was firm. ‘Look, I’m sorry Hector. This baby is nothing whatever to do with you and I won’t accept any money. I’ve a good job and plenty of support. I didn’t plan that things should be like this, but that’s how they’ve turned out, and I shall cope in my own way. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but it has to be said.’

‘So you’ll be all right?’

Caroline saw the beginnings of relief start to creep over Hector’s face. ‘We’ll be fine.’

‘Ah,’ Hector had rallied himself by now, and stood up to go, smiling bravely. ‘No hard feelings then?’

‘Absolutely not.’

‘By the way,’ Hector said, suddenly remembering, ‘How did you know about my wanting to call my son Morgan?’

‘Doesn’t everyone?’

‘Can’t trust anyone these days,’ Hector snorted with disgust. ‘Just wait until the next time I see young Hazelrigg!’ He moved towards the door.

‘Good luck then,’ Caroline said.

‘And you.’ Hector stopped and turned. ‘Good luck with what?’

‘Well, the next two babies of course.’

Hector turned an unlovely shade of red, opened his mouth to reply, closed it again, raised a hand in a half-hearted valedictory salute, made a dash for the door and was gone.

‘Say goodbye to Daddy, Hannah,’ Caroline crooned to the sleeping infant. Then she stood Hector’s greeting card beside all the rest, called for a nurse to find a vase for his flowers, and settled herself back comfortably on her pillows for a contented nap.

‘I’ve got a bone to pick with you, Jess,’ Hector said as soon as he had made sure that the Distribution Manager (who shared
her office) was safely in a meeting and unlikely to disturb them. There are some very personal things I unwisely told you in confidence, and now I find you’Ve been blabbing them to all and sundry. It isn’t good enough. I’m disappointed in you.’

‘I haven’t been “blabbing” anything to anyone,’ Jess countered, stung. ‘But if you mean Caroline, then I thought she had a right to know.’

‘Well that’s where you’re wrong,’ Hector said. ‘Let’s get this straight once and for all, shall we? Caroline’s baby is not mine. She and I have no “relationship” and it’s very unlikely that we shall be seeing each other again. Right? Have you got that?’

‘That still leaves Zillah and Wendy,’ Jess retorted. ‘Particularly poor Wendy!’

‘That’s none of your bloody business!’

‘Perhaps not, but you can’t censor my thoughts, and in my opinion it’s high time you had some kind of an ethics transplant.’

‘And what exactly do you mean by that?’

‘You know perfectly well! Examine your conscience, Hector, if you’ve got one! Now I’m sorry, but I’ve got to go. I’m late already.’ Jess picked up her camera bag and walked out. Hector was left standing in the centre of the room.

Flaming cheek! he thought. Who the hell does she think she is?

But later that evening, he reluctantly allowed the niggling feelings at the back of his mind to emerge and display themselves. It was true, he hadn’t been behaving well. Jess was right, blast her! His whole crusade for a son might well have been logical, but it had also been obsessive, and it certainly wasn’t ethical. Maybe it had been just as well that Caroline’s baby had turned out to be a girl? What a fool he’d been. He might have landed himself with a wife he didn’t even
like!
He was lucky to have got off so lightly. And another thing, her baby clearly wasn’t his; if it had been, he was sure he would have known at first sight. So now he didn’t have to see, or worry about either of them again. Well thank God for that.

But, as Jess had so rudely remarked, that left Zillah and Wendy. I could be in deep trouble here, Hector thought. It’s
not the sort of thing one can easily buy one’s way out of. If only Wendy hadn’t
tricked
me.

Then he felt obliged to acknowledge that she had only done what he himself had also been doing, but probably for love, which put him firmly to shame. There was no escaping the facts; he had been well and truly shafted by his own arrow!

Barry was assiduous in his courtship of the gently swelling Wendy. He bought her flowers, carried her heavy shopping, and even took her out for meals when Hector failed to honour his unwritten weekly commitment to her. He tried to persuade her to finish working early, take an extra amount of maternity leave and look after herself properly, but she was surprisingly stubborn and refused to stop until the very last moment. Barry suspected she was afraid, if she disappeared from view, that Hector would simply forget about her. He reckoned she had a point there, so he kept pressing her, but only gently.

Above all, Barry displayed enthusiasm for every aspect of parenthood. ‘What’ll you call it?’ he asked, one evening in October.

‘I thought Zara, if it’s a girl,’ Wendy said. ‘Hector wants Gwladys, but I’ve put my foot down. Imagine the poor little thing going through life as Gwladys with a
w!
‘Course, if it’s a boy, it’ll be Morgan.’

‘Don’t you know which it is already?’

‘No. I said I didn’t want to. I think it should be a surprise. Knowing in advance would spoil it.’

‘Is that the only reason?’

‘Well,’ Wendy admitted, ‘not quite the only one. You see if it’s a girl, then Hector probably wouldn’t marry me, out of disappointment. But if it’s a boy, he might marry me just for a son. So either way, I lose out, you see? I just can’t risk it. I want him to marry me because he loves me…’ Her lower lip quivered.

‘But why Morgan?’ Barry asked hurriedly. ‘Sounds more like a sports car?’

‘It was Hector’s father’s father’s name; my baby’s greatgrandfather, and Hector says…’

‘Morgan Bing, eh?’ Barry tried it out. ‘He’d get teased rotten at school.’

‘No, Morgan Mudgeley,’ Wendy said, with a defiant lift of her chin.

‘How can you be so confident?’ Barry asked. ‘There’s only a couple of months to go before it’s born.’

‘Shut
up
, Barry. It’s none of your business.’