Noah had been moping around the house for days and Vanessa could tell that it was wearing thin with his mother. They had both tried talking to him when he has first started showing signs of something being wrong, but he had brushed them off. They had chalked it up to typical teenage hormones and let him be. But that had been 3 days ago, and he was still stomping around, seemingly with the weight of the world on his shoulders, and neither of them had a clue why. All they knew was that it was beginning to affect everyone else in the house. Even the two youngest members of the family had picked up on it.
Initially Charity had decided that she was going to talk to him but that hadn't gone well. It had ended with doors slamming and mother and child refusing to talk to each other for the rest of the evening. Vanessa had tried to ask Charity about their fallout, but her girlfriend had just mumbled something about how Noah was a brat and refused to say anything else. Vanessa had struggled to keep a straight face. Noah and Charity were more alike than either of them were willing to admit, but she wasn't going to tell the other woman that. Tentatively she had asked if Charity wanted her to speak to Noah. Charity had agreed and smiled her thanks. Rather than badgering Noah, they decided that it was probably best to let him cool down some more and to try and speak to him again the next day.
That was how Vanessa found herself waiting at the bus stop for her step-son. She shuffled from foot to foot as she waited, oddly nervous. She didn't know why but something in her gut was telling her that whatever was wrong with Noah was big. Standing up straight as she watched the bus approach and pull to a stop, she waited for the familiar mop of blonde hair to appear in the crowd of teenagers spilling off it.
"Noah! Over here, mate!" she waved to catch his attention, just in case he somehow hadn't heard her shouting.
"Vanessa? What are you doing here?" his brow furrowed, "Is everything alright? Is it Mum?"
"Oh no no nothing like that," she reached out to reassure him, "just thought we could go for a walk? Maybe have a kick about?" she nodded to the football he was carrying.
"Uhhh okay" he grumbled, clearly suspicious. Vanessa hated football and had never shown interest in playing with him before. Her out of character behaviour spooked him a bit.
Silently, they both headed off towards the cricket pitch, both lost in their own thoughts. Vanessa was busy wondering how to broach Noah about his recent mood without making it worse and Noah was running through the past few days in his mind, trying to figure out if he had done anything that would warrant being told off because he couldn't think of another reason for this one-on-one with his stepmother.
As they reached the edge of the pitch, Noah threw his school bag on the ground and kicked the ball as far across the field as he could, trying his best to put as much distance between himself and Vanessa in the hopes of putting off whatever conversation she was clearly planning. Vanessa watched as he ran off after the ball. He took his time returning to her, but when he was close enough he kicked the ball to her gently. Surprising herself, she managed to stop it from rolling away from her, albeit clumsily.
Noah laughed at the look on her face, "I thought you wanted a kick about?" he asked.
"To be honest Noah, I wanted to talk to ya," she smiled, tight-lipped.
"Yeah, I figured," he grunted out, "what about?"
"You."
"Me? What about me?"
"You've been knocking about acting all hard done by for days," she started, "and you had that big barney with your Mum last night. So, out with it. What's going on?"
Blunt is the approach she had settled on, apparently. She hadn't known what she was going to say to the boy until she opened her mouth, but she figured that straight forward was best. Noah wasn't a baby anymore and he didn't need her pussyfooting about him.
"Nothing's going on," he answered a bit too fast for it to be true. He was shifty, and Vanessa could tell that if she went about this the right way that she could get him to open up.
"Don't give me that, there's something going on," she tried to catch his eye as he did his best to look anywhere but at her.
"S'nothing," he mumbled.
"Is it school? Is someone giving you grief?" she questioned, "'cause you know your Mum'll be straight down there to sort it out if that's the case."
"No, no it's not school," Noah rushed to reassure her, visions of his Mum making a scene flying through his head.
"Alright then, what is it?" she asked again. He had all but admitted that there was something, so she knew that he knew that there was no getting out of this conversation now.
"Fine," he huffed, clearly unhappy that he had backed himself into a corner, "how come Moses is calling you 'Mum' now?" he mumbled out.
"Pardon?" Vanessa asked, leaning in so she could hear him.
"How come Moses is calling you 'Mum' now?" he asked again, this time clear enough that Vanessa could hear him.
Oh, she thought. She supposed that she shouldn't be surprised. She and Charity hadn't really spoken to him about Johnny and Moses's decision to call them both Mummy, and obviously that hadn't been the smartest decision. They had both just assumed that he would be okay with it. Clearly, they had been wrong.
"He asked if he could and I said yes," she told him, "same with Johnny and your Mum."
"Oh," was his only reply.
"Is that okay?" she tried to look as approachable and understanding as she could. She wanted Noah to talk to her about this. It was obviously weighing heavily on his mind and him keeping it bottled up hadn't done any of them any favours over the past few days.
"Yeah, of course! I just..." he trailed off and Vanessa watched him fidget with the ball at his feet. There was something he wanted to say but obviously didn't know how to put it into words. So, she waited. As she stood there she watched him open his mouth to speak before giving up at least three times before she decided to gently try and push him into finishing his thought.
"You just?" she asked, still doing her best to keep an open look on her face.
"I just," he sighed, "I just thought that you always loved me and Moses the same amount, but you obviously see him as a son more than you see me as one."
The look on his face broke Vanessa's heart. He looked so much like his mother in her most vulnerable moments that the vet couldn't take it. Rushing forwards, she pulled the teenager into her arms. She knew all too well how turbulent Noah's past had been with his step-parents and she also knew exactly what it felt like to be unwanted by one of the people who was supposed to love you more than anyone on the planet. His pain resonated within her for a long moment before she pulled back to look him in the face.
"Noah Dingle, I love you just as much as I love your brother," she croaked, her voice thick with emotion.
"Why are you his Mum and not mine then?" the teenager asked. At that moment Vanessa was reminded just how young he actually was. She sometimes forgot that, despite the fact that he was a grumpy teenager who insisted that he was 'grown up now', he was still just a child. A child who had been let down by the adults in his life more times than she could count.
"Oh, love, I am your Mum," she smiled tearily.
"You are?"
"Of course I am," she pulled him in for another hug, "and you don't have to, but you can call me Mum, too, if you want."
Noah nodded against her shoulder, "I think I'd like that."
"Well alright then," she chuckled, "now that that's settled, it's time for us to go home and for you to apologise to your Mum for giving her lip last night."
He nodded again, knowing she was right. He had been rude to his mother the night before and she hadn't done anything to deserve it. Pulling back from each other Vanessa saw that Noah's eyes were watery, but she pretended not to notice. He picked up his bag and ball and they fell into step next to each other. As they walked back home Vanessa flung her arm around Noah's shoulder, still feeling the need to reassure him that she wasn't going anywhere and that she loved him.
Walking into the house they were greeted by Noah's other mother, who had obviously been waiting for them.
"Hey up, you two look happy," she raised her eyebrows a Vanessa, her eyes asking if everything was alright now.
Vanessa nodded, "Very happy."
"Yeah?" the landlady asked, curiosity lacing her voice.
Putting her out of her misery, Noah answered the unasked question with one of his own, "I'm gonna start calling Vanessa 'Mum', is that okay?"
Charity's eyes went wide and flew from her son to her girlfriend who was smiling shyly, "Of-of course it is, kid. As long as it's okay with Vanessa?"
"More than okay," Vanessa answered. In the space of less than a week she had gained two new children. To say it had been an emotional week would be an understatement. As she watched her girlfriend and son talk about how his day at school had been she slipped her hand into her coat pocket. Her fingers gripped tightly around the ring box hid within and she smiled. Yes, it had been emotional, and she figured that within the next few days emotions would run even higher. She couldn't wait.