CHAPTER SEVEN

Progress Report

Some time later, Louisa and Martin sauntered back over to Joan's house and joined her and Phil for lunch. Joan looked at Louisa and Martin, and judging by their relaxed manner, and smiles on their faces she figured they had probably put the last few hours to good use.

"That was a delicious meal Joan" said Louisa, as she helped Joan with the washing up, while Martin and Phil played with Phil's train set in the other room. "Thank you once again for cooking lunch and babysitting Phil for a few hours".

"It was my pleasure", said Joan.

"So, just between you and me, how are things going? Any luck yet with my second grandchild?"

"Not yet. Don't worry Joan, you'll be the first to know after myself and Martin if I fall pregnant, I promise" said Louisa with a laugh.

"Because I can always do some more babysitting, if you need more time together".

"We're fine Joan, you do enough babysitting as it is, and we do occasionally need to see Phil or he'll begin to wonder who we are" said Louisa with a smile.

"Well if you're sure," said Joan. "Only Martin's not getting any younger, and there's no time to waste", Joan started to look worried at the thought of this.

"It's OK Joan, I don't think either Martin or I have reached our 'use by' date yet. There's still life in us yet" said Louisa trying to think of something to change the subject.

"So, Martin's told me a bit about his Father and your brother. I've never met him of course, but by all accounts he was a terrible father, and not much better as a husband or brother. I was thinking of the situation our new neighbour was in, and wondering if you'd ever forgive your brother if he had a change of heart and really meant it?"

"Now there's a thought" said Joan. "Christopher and I never really saw eye to eye on anything, he was always so caught up in being rich, and successful in his career, and in his possessions. He never appreciated anything he had, and always coveted what everyone else had. His marriage to a social parasite didn't help either, I doubt that she ever loved him, but there must have been some chemistry between them as they managed to stay together for so long. Mind you, he probably wasn't faithful to her, or her to him for that matter".

"He never really hurt me as much as he damaged Martin though. We were of a similar age, were loved equally by our parents and he had no power over me. So if he was to realise the errors of his ways, and truly changed for the better, then I imagine after some time of him proving himself to me, I could probably forgive him for what he's done to me. I don't think I can ever forgive him, for the damage he's done to Martin though. He was privileged enough to have a child, and he all but discarded him as soon as he could, by sending him to boarding schools and then to me during the holidays as he couldn't be bothered with him".

"It suited me as we loved having Martin, especially as we had no children of our own, but I hated seeing the effect that horrible boarding school had on him. Each time he came to stay with us, he was more and more withdrawn. Someone with a weaker character would never have made it through the same situation without breaking. As it was, there has been years of damage that time will never be able to completely undo".

"If you ever meet my brother Louisa, don't be fooled by his charm and good looks. He's a selfish individual without a care for anyone but himself. He's probably busy living the high life in London somewhere for all I know. The last I heard he was doing surgery again, and surgeons do get paid a high wage, a few decent investments and he should be up and running again, even after his divorce. He's probably dating some young thing, young enough to be his daughter too, judging from my knowledge of his tastes" said Joan with a grim little smile.

"I never realised just how selfish he was, even though I knew he was pretty bad. Don't worry Joan, he'll have to get through me first if he wants to have anything at all to do with Martin. I won't allow him to mess with Martin's emotions again unless he has had a true change of heart and I can be absolutely sure of it. If he did have a change of heart though, I have a feeling that Martin would secretly love to be reconciled to his dad if he ever reformed. It's a relationship that he has naturally yearned for all of his life and of course never had. Oh well it's all hypothetical anyway, as you say. He is probably busy living a society lifestyle in London somewhere".

After finishing drying and putting away the dishes, Louisa and Joan sat back down at the table with a cup of tea each. Phil and Martin soon joined them. "Would you like a cup of tea or coffee Marty?" said Joan

"I'll have a tea please Auntie Joan" said Martin/

"Can I have some milk please Grandma?" said Phil.

"You certainly can Phil" said Joan. "What lovely manners you have today".

Joan soon returned with a tray containing Martin's tea, Phil's milk and the remainder of the cake she'd made especially for today.

"Can I have some more cake please mummy?" said Phil

"I'm surprised you can fit anything else in Phil after all you ate at lunch today" said Louisa.

"I've got a little bit of room left up here" said Phil pointing to a spot near his right shoulder. "My lunch went to my stomach from here and my drink went in this hole here" said Phil pointing to various locations in the area of his stomach.

"OK then, if you're sure you've still got some space for the cake left" said Louisa smiling as she passed him a piece of cake.

Martin as usual declined the treat as it was not optimally nutritious. After helping Joan tidy up after their snack, Martin Louisa and Phil headed back home to continue cleaning up the back garden until it was time to go in and make their evening meal.

This time Martin cooked, while Louisa took Phil upstairs for his bath time. Phil had lots of bath toys, and loved to make up stories for them as he had his bath. Today his toys got a bit boisterous in the story and Louisa ended up getting hit by a large splash of water, thoroughly drenching her white top. Calling bath time to an end, she got Phil out of the bath and dressed, then took him downstairs to Martin.

"Martin he is all yours. I need to get changed as I'm drenched" said Louisa. Martin turned to Louisa and observed her now thoroughly wet top.

"Do you need any help with that?" he said with a suggestive look.

"Somehow I don't think you'd be all that helpful" Louisa said as she headed upstairs to change her clothes.

If Phil hadn't been present at the time, Martin would have shown her just how helpful he could be in such situations. Oh well, he still had tonight after Phil was in bed after all.