Alfie and George

Chapter Twenty-one

Polly was at our house when big Tomasz drove George and me home. Matt and Jonathan had gone to the pub. Matt was no further forward in his job search and Polly was worried that he might still be feeling depressed. Claire thought a trip to the pub might do both him and Jonathan some good.

We settled the children in front of the TV. Claire said it was frowned upon to use it as an unpaid babysitter but she defied any normal mum to actually be the one who frowned on it. They were arguing about who got to cuddle George and so they all had to take turns. George didn’t mind being passed between them — as always, he quite liked the attention. Polly, Claire and I sat in the kitchen; all doors were open so we could hear the kids, but at least we could also have some grown-up time.

‘How are things with work and Matt? I feel I haven’t seen you in ages,’ Claire said.

‘That’s the job. Honestly, I do like it but I want to cut down a bit on my hours. I can’t though, we need the money and at the moment I have two big projects on, and of course everything has to be finished yesterday so I’m working most evenings. I feel I hardly see the kids and when I do, I’m so knackered I just let them watch TV.’

‘Like now, like me, you mean? Don’t beat yourself up, Polly — you need a break. It’s not like we’re terrible mothers, you need to cut yourself some slack.’

‘You’re right. Been there, done that. I know I can be tough on myself sometimes, but it’s hard not to feel guilty, you know?’ When Polly had post-natal depression with Henry, she felt she wasn’t a good mother to him and I know she still beats herself up about it, but she’s a great mum — I see it every day.

‘You’re enjoying your job though?’

‘I love it. And I love that they appreciate what I do. I know it sounds silly but I feel really proud of myself. I don’t think I could go back to not working again. But I don’t know what the future holds. I just wish Matt would get a job, not because I want to give mine up — to be honest, I really don’t — but because he hates being at home so much. I can’t bear how miserable he is.’

‘There’s nothing you can do though, is there? I mean, apart from being supportive. And he’ll find a job soon, Pol. He’s applying for them, isn’t he?’

‘Yes, and I’m trying to be optimistic but, well, his glass is definitely half empty at the moment. You know how happy go lucky he normally is but now he’s all doom and gloom.’ She sighed.‘Anyway, how was the weekend?’

‘Good and bad. Dad put it all into perspective for me. If we want a child sooner rather than later, then we need to be open to adopting an older child. The process still takes a long time, although, thanks to Dad, and the contacts he has, we are quite a way along. But as soon as we’re approved, if we’re approved, if we want a baby or a young child, then the wait begins. I think an older child would be great, they’d be at school and it would be an older sibling for Summer, like Henry, maybe, but Jonathan thinks it’d be even harder for him to love an older child than a baby.’

‘His argument?’

‘It does make sense. Well, to him it does, only because it’s the way he feels. He thinks that he loves Summer so much because we made her. He’s scared that if we adopt a child he won’t feel the same and he doesn’t want a child to live with us and feel second best.’

‘It’s kind of sweet, in a way,’ Polly pointed out. And I agreed. Jonathan did have a sensitive side, it was just kind of buried beneath designer suits and bluster.

‘Oh yes, he wouldn’t want to treat the child differently, but more importantly he wouldn’t want to feel about them differently, even if they didn’t realise it. He said it was important for him to love any child equally and if he didn’t he wouldn’t be able to live with himself.’

‘So what are you going to do?’ Polly asked.

‘We agreed to see if we got approved before we made any decisions, but to be honest, he’s freaked out a bit and let’s just say we aren’t on the best of terms right now.’

‘Oh God, we’re all arguing.’ Polly looked at the table.

‘Yes, we all are. And Tash, who is the only one of us whose relationship is actually broken, is probably doing better than we are now!’

‘I’m glad for her. She’s really been so strong through all this, it’s amazing.’

‘Yes, well, that’s the thing. I have someone I want her to meet, one of Jonathan’s colleagues, so I thought I’d arrange a dinner. Here, next Saturday night. Can you get a babysitter?’ Claire asked.

‘I can, but are you sure it’s wise to fix her up? It hasn’t been very long since she split up with Dave.’

‘No, and it might be terrible, but she’s been stuck in that flat since she moved in, she only sees us and she needs a confidence boost. It might end in tears but, on the bright side, they’ll probably be mine.’ Claire laughed and Polly smiled at her.

‘OK, I think you’re mad but I’ll come. I mean we’ll come. What does Jonathan think?’

‘That I’m too bossy for my own good! But I think he loves me for that in a weird kind of way.’

‘And Tash?’ Polly drummed a manicured finger on the table.‘Surely she has a say?’

‘Well, she’s not exactly jumping at the idea but she eventually agreed with me that a night out with some company and food would do her good.’

‘So you wore her down too?’

‘I absolutely did.’ Claire grinned and gave Polly’s arm a squeeze.‘We’ll work things out, our little gang, we always do.’

‘Miaow!’ I jumped onto the table. Thank goodness, some positivity at last, although I knew that I would be the one to sort it out in reality.

‘Mummy, Mummy! Summer won’t let me have my turn with George.’ Martha appeared at the door looking cross.

‘Come on,’ said Claire.‘Let’s go and sort this out.’ The two women smiled as they went into the living room. It seemed there was only so much the TV could do.

Jonathan came back from the pub quite late. Claire had waited up and so had I. George was sleeping next to me, snoring softly. I loved hearing the sounds he made while sleeping — I could watch him for hours. Well, until I fell asleep anyway.

‘Hi, Jon, how was your night?’ Claire asked as he kissed her.

‘Good. I did try to come home ages ago but Matt wouldn’t let me,’ Jonathan said.

‘That’s OK. Was he all right though?’

‘Not really, but I think he’ll be fine, he just needs time. Right, I’ve got a really busy day ahead of me tomorrow so I’d better get some sleep.’ Without waiting for Claire to respond he left to go upstairs. Claire looked a bit sad as she cleaned up the kitchen before following him.

‘George,’ I said, nudging him gently. I did think about leaving him to sleep here but I wanted my bed. He opened one eye and looked at me.‘Bedtime.’

‘Dad?’ he said, stretching his little legs out.

‘Yes?’

‘Why is everyone so unhappy?’

‘What do you mean?’ I asked, but I felt a quiver in my fur; had my boy picked up on the tension?

‘I had a lovely weekend, but it was clear that Franceska and Tomasz were sad, then Polly looked a bit miserable and Claire talked about them all falling apart. Tash as well. I only just met these people but what happens if they don’t get better?’ He sounded so sad, and although my heart was breaking for him, I was also incredibly proud. He was learning to be a very perceptive little cat: a chip off the old block, as Jonathan would say.

‘George, please don’t worry, we are going to fix this, both of us. My job is often to help my families, and you’re right, now they need us more than ever, but we’ll figure it out. Trust me.’

‘I do trust you, Dad,’ George said as he got up and made his way to bed.

Snuggled up next to little George, I began fretting. I had now promised both Aleksy and George that everything would be all right, but I had no idea where to start. There were often hurdles to get over but this time there seemed to be so many. One thing my families had in common was that they did love each other, and I knew they wouldn’t ever fall properly apart, but I could also see they needed help. Urgently. Yet again my to-do list had grown.

I also had to deal with my own heartbreak — although that had been pushed far down the list — George, who needed guidance and a lot of taking care of, as well as all my humans, or the adults anyway. At least the children seemed to be all right. Although Aleksy knew something was amiss with his parents, so how long would it be until all of the children were affected by the less-than-congenial atmospheres in their respective homes? Children, just like kittens, did pick up on things, even the little ones. So, I had the children to protect, the adults to sort out and I had promised George and Aleksy we were going to find a way to do it soon.

I tried to sleep but my brain was whirring.

Franceska was going to be so far away, so how on earth could I get big Tomasz to see that working these long hours for his family was making him risk them all? How could I get Polly and Matt to see that although they had a role reversal, and it wasn’t perfect for either of them, they could make it work? And Claire and Jonathan, well, they worried me most of all in a way. They were so far apart, despite Claire’s dad trying to talk some sense into both of them. Jonathan still thought he couldn’t love someone he didn’t make but that was crazy — look at the way I felt about George. Even if he were biologically mine, I couldn’t love him any more than I already did. So why couldn’t Jonathan see that? Why couldn’t Claire point it out to him? Yet again, it all came down to me. I had a heavy burden on my little cat shoulders and a long, hard road ahead to ensure everyone was happy. And on top of that, there was the mystery of the lamppost cats to solve. If there was something sinister going on, we needed to get to the bottom of it. And quickly.

My whiskers ached at the thought of how I was going to do it, but somehow, do it I would.