The Fierce Brave Gang – Chapter Twenty Five
"I'm sorry, Taylor", Lofty said. Her heart sank until she looked back up at his face. He was all but glowing.
"I'm sorry I'm grinning like a Cheshire cat, but … a baby. I've always wanted kids."
She hugged him in relief.
"Even though this could disrupt your life?"
"My mum – God knows why I still call her that – made me feel I disrupted her life all the time. I want to give a child the love I never had until my dad adopted me – Dylan, that is."
Taylor snuggled her head into his shoulder.
"I'm lucky, Ben. I want this baby too, and I'm so glad you're standing by me."
"Well I should hope so!" he teased, and then a little later:
"Sweetheart, I think my dad should be part of this discussion. Is it okay with you if I text him, and he can bring Dervla back so we can all talk?"
She nodded.
"Will he be angry with us?" she asked like a scared little girl.
"He very likely will… at first."
Dylan gave them both one of his penetrating looks.
"I thought you were being careful, Ben?"
Lofty looked sheepish.
"So did I."
"It could have been me that was careless" Taylor said shyly.
"Well, lecture over. What are your plans? Bearing in mind that I loathe that phrase 'had to get married' being used in this day and age."
"Well, I do want to marry Taylor eventually" Lofty smiled, "But we can always make it a long engagement."
"Now that I like."
Dylan got up abruptly. Lofty was worried until his dad came back with three glasses and a bottle of Spring Water.
"I think a toast is due. To my first grandchild."
As Lofty sipped he thanked the powers that be that Taylor didn't go to Holby College. Louis would have had a field day. He also thanked whatever force was out there yet again for giving him Dylan as a father.
"Ruth, before I read you 'Harry Potter', Cal and Ethan have something to tell you" Connie smiled.
The little girl looked politely at her brothers.
"Did you see that 'Wicked' is coming?"
She nodded and made a little wish.
"Do you want to go instead of to the cinema on the first Saturday?"
"Oh please!"
"Do you mind if Louise comes with us? She likes theatre stuff, and it'd be nice for her to sit with us."
Ruth was suddenly as painfully honest as only a child could be.
"I was scared of her at first because she was a bit shouty. But she's kind."
"She is, isn't she?" Ethan smiled back at her.
"Now we'll leave talking about 'Wicked' for now or you'll miss Harry Potter and I think the Dursleys are going to be very sorry in this chapter."
Connie lifted Ruth on to her lap, and began to read to her. Ruth loved it when Mrs Beauchamp did this; she loved reading by herself but Mrs Beauchamp could do all the voices, even Lord Voldemort's.
"Wicked? Oh wow. I'd love to go, although I'll probably end up besotted with Fiyero" Louise grinned.
"And you don't mind Ruth going? She's really good in theatres."
"Caleb Knight, if we go to see a show like that, and you don't take your little sister, you're a ratbag."
Cal chuckled softly. Which Louise thought was quite nice, but somehow not as nice as the way Ethan grinned at her.
It was Forum day and Lloyd was distraught. He knew he'd be in trouble if he pushed in but he needed to talk to Lofty. Lofty understood about frogs being special. But supposing there wasn't time before the Forum was over?
Jamie stepped in.
"Please, I know it's bad Forum manners but can Lloyd go first? He needs Lofty."
Lofty got down from his stool.
"Ferderina?" he asked kindly.
Lloyd nodded unhappily.
Lofty took the little boy's hand and walked out of the room with him.
They went to the room where Ferderina had her tank. Lofty opened it and examined the little frog. His heart ached for Lloyd.
"I'm so sorry, Lloyd. I'm afraid Ferderina's dead."
Lloyd's eyes were wide and trusting.
"Too dead for you to save her?"
Lloyd had heard about pets being saved when everybody thought they were dead. But Lofty's hand was on his shoulder.
"It's my fault, Ben. I didn't see that she wasn't well and now she's died."
"She might have died very suddenly, Lloyd. It can happen to frogs. If you look closer – see? – she's a little swollen, isn't she? She might have had a blockage in her gut."
"Could you have saved her if I'd fetched you sooner?"
Lofty shook his head.
"I'd have only been able to take her to the vet, and he'd have had to give her an injection to put her to sleep."
Lloyd broke down, and suddenly buried his head on Lofty's chest, sobbing. The young man held him till he was quiet, then said gently:
"Come with me, Lloyd, I'll take you back to school and explain to Mrs Beauchamp why you're unhappy. She might not want you to go back to your class for a bit, and let you sit on your own."
As he led the sad little boy back to the Infants school, Lofty realised that when he was a father, incidents like this would happen all the time. There'd be tears, maybe tantrums, and he and Taylor would have to deal with all that.
"We can do it" he thought, smiling slightly, "We can be parents."
Once again he felt the excitement growing in him.
Mrs Beauchamp was very kind and understanding to Lloyd, and told him he could be excused lessons for the afternoon.
"Do you mind if I come to lessons, Mrs Beauchamp? If I'm on my own I'll think about Ferderina."
"Besides" Iain said, eyes shining, "It's Miss Freeman after playtime!"
Mrs Beauchamp looked kindly at Iain; she didn't want to tell him he was on a hiding to nothing as far as Mrs Freeman was concerned.
"That's right, and I think you all like the story she reads for you, don't you?"
Everybody nodded.
"Okay, then. Lloyd, I think you're being very brave and wise."
"You know what, Mrs Beauchamp, if – if I'd known Ferderina was going to die anyway I could have stood up to those big boys at the beginning of last term."
"Those two that threatened to hurt Ferderina?"
Lloyd nodded.
"I'll never forget the way Mrs Dixon saved me from them."
Mrs Beauchamp suddenly had an inspiration.
"Lloyd, do you think you could come and talk about that in class next week? Ella's back then and it might be good for her to hear about Mrs Dixon and what happened."
Lloyd nodded earnestly.
The next day Mrs Beauchamp came into the classroom with a basket.
"Gather round, class."
She moved the lid very gently from the basket. The 'oohs' and 'aahs' were very similar to the ones when she'd brought in another small rabbit all those years ago; the famous Flossy who survived a kidnapping attempt but later succumbed to the bad winter.
"This is Debbie Rabbit. I'm going to make a rota for you all to be in charge of feeding her. Nobody has to do it if they don't want, but if you do you'll need to come into school earlier and stay later. Now, Lloyd, I think you should be first on the rota from next week. Would you like to?"
Lloyd thought how no creature on earth could properly replace Ferderina, but he thought how horrible it would be if Debbie Rabbit didn't get fed.
"Yes please, Mrs Beauchamp."
The headmistress felt she'd had a successful day after all despite the Ferderina upset. And it was about to be an even better night, thanks to the tickets she and Miss Freeman had for the cinema that night. The back row there was wonderful when those lights went down.
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