After the divorce, Mum moved in with Uncle David and said she would send for John and Harry as soon as she had her own place. Aunt Louise, Dad's sister, comes by in the afternoons to look after John and Harry. One afternoon, John and Harry come home to find Aunt Louise on the phone. She hands the phone to Harry, who holds it up where John can hear.
Mum says, "Kids, I've found my own place! I want the two of you to come visit this weekend! I'll fetch you after school on Friday."
On Friday afternoon John and Harry are in the sitting room eagerly awaiting Mum. The two of them chatter about what her new flat is like and whether she will let them have a dog. After about an hour, they get fidgety and turn on the telly. Two hours pass and no sign of Mum. Aunt Louise tries to ring her, but there's no answer.
After three hours of waiting, Dad comes home. He orders pizza and lets John and Harry choose the topping. Harry sulks in her bedroom after dinner. John stays up well past his bedtime waiting for Mum and only goes to bed when Dad promises to wake him as soon as Mum arrives.
John's greatest fear is that Mum doesn't love him.
A/N: Unlike in America, British courts generally do not make decisions regarding child custody in divorce cases. Divorcing couples work out custody and visitation issues on their own. [Source: www . . uk /children. html] In a situation like this, it's conceivable that Dad forbade Mum to see John and Harry till she cleaned up her act, and she may have pretended that things were better than they actually were in order for a chance to see her children (which she blew).