Frankies kitchen was a mess. Boyd was sure he'd used every pan she owned, along with every sharp knife. Every benchtop had something on it, be it's a pan or food remains. The bologna's was in the oven cooking, the spaghetti simmering on the hob. Gathering up the remains of the fresh vegetables he deposited it all in the bin. One by one he washed up all the extra dishes he had used, drying them and putting them away when he was done. Wiping the benchtops over he surveyed the kitchen, Frankie would spot mess a mile away. Once he was satisfied it was clean, clean by Frankie's standards anyway, he wiped his hands on the tea towel and headed upstairs to check on Frankie.
Pushing the bathroom door open he stepped inside the steamed up bathroom. Frankie was still lying in the bath, head back with a flannel over her eyes.
"Hey." He called out before he approached the side of the bath, kneeling so he was level with her.
"Hey." Frankie replied, reaching up to remove the flannel on her face as she turned her head to look at him.
"You stay in there much longer you'll shrivel up." Running his finger up and down her arm as she rested it on the side of the bath.
"I passed that stage ages ago, see." Lifting her foot up so he could see the wrinkled skin.
"Let's get you out and dry. Tea will be ready in half an hour." Standing up and taking the towel of the radiator.
Frankie used the handles on the bath to sit herself up while Boyd threw the towel over his shoulder. Between them, they managed to get Frankie stood up in the bath. Boyd lifted Frankie's arm and draped it around his shoulder, letting her use him as support and leverage to bring one leg up and over the edge of the bath. Once Frankie was stood beside Boyd he wrapped the thick bath sheet around her shoulders, pulling it closed at the front. On the way out the bathroom, he got another towel and they both headed for Frankie's bedroom.
"You dry the top half, I'll dry the bottom half," Boyd suggested as they stood in Frankie's bedroom.
"Works for me." Frankie smiling as she unwrapped the towel from around her body and started to dry herself.
They both dried her, Boyd kneeling down as he dried her feet and legs. He knew she had already dried her bump but he dried it again, watching as the baby shifted around. He was mesmerised, even though this was his third child. With Luke, Mary had been very reserved and he was always working. Then with Jenny, he had to admit he just wasn't interested. Now though, he knew how fragile life could be, how quickly things could change. If Frankie allowed him, he would cherish every moment of her being pregnant.
Frankie watched as Boyd gently rubbed the towel over her bump, the baby moving about as he watched. He was besotted, his eyes fixed on their unborn child. He had missed so much and she was feeling rather guilty about that now. He wanted to be a father, be a part of the baby's life, she just wasn't sure if he wanted to be part of hers as well. Reaching out she placed her hand on the side of his head, fingers going through his silvery hair. He looked up at her, brown meeting brown.
"I'm sorry, Boyd." Tears threatening to fall as she welled up.
"What for?" Boyd momentarily surprised by her words.
"For shutting you out, for missing the first six months of her life." Seeing Boyd kiss her bump before standing up.
"How about you put something on, we eat, then we can talk about the last six month and what brought us to the here and now." Taking her hand in his.
"Christ, Boyd, you sound like Grace." Frankie smiling through the tears.
"Could be worse. Grace does make a lot of sense though." Seeing Frankie nodded in agreement. "I'll go serve tea and you come down when you ready."
Letting go of her hand and walking out of the room. Frankie pulled on knickers and a nightshirt, or what had once been a nightshirt. Now it barely covered her due to the shirt covering more at the front. When she arrived in the kitchen she couldn't help smile, domestic Boyd cut quite an impressive figure. He had served up the spaghetti bolognaise and the garlic bread lit two candles on the table and was pouring the wine.
"Who knew you had a romantic side." Eyeing up the candles as they flickered. "That smells amazing." Going to pull the chair out but Boyd stopping her.
Once she was seated Boyd sat opposite, watching as she tasted the first mouthful.
"A man of many talents, you're definitely worth keeping around. Cooking, cleaning, massager, towel dryer, and not to bad in the bedroom either." Smirking as Boyd nearly choked on the mouthful of food he had just put in his mouth.
When they finished eating Frankie went to clear the dishes away but Boyd stopped her.
"You go put your feet up, doesn't look like you've done that all day. I'll clean up and the come through." Taking hold of her hand as he helped her stand up.
Frankie went to protest but he silenced her with a finger on her lips.
"Go, now." Boyd pointing at the door.
He shook his head as Frankie waddled out the kitchen before he cleared the table and washed the dishes. After again making sure the place was spotless he switched the light off and went to joint Frankie in the living room. He was surprised to see she had done as he said, her feet up on the coffee table as she leaned back against the mountain of cushion with her head back and eyes closed. Taking a seat beside her he smiled when she opened her eyes and looked at him.
"You okay?" Seeing her nightshirt shifting around as the baby moved.
"Talk to her, she went quiet for you." Exposing her bump so Boyd could see it.
"Hey Princess, you working yourself for your mum." Placing his hand on the bump and rubbing back and forth gently. "We both love watching you but I think it's time you took a nap. What do you say, kid, fancying listening to your old dad and letting your mum have a little peace." His hand moving in soothing circles as he talked.
Sure enough within a few minutes, the baby had settled down, Frankie still watching Boyd as he watched the bump.
"She likes you, and less of the old when you talk to her, or me." Pulling her shirt down as best as she could to cover up.
"Well I am, no point pretending. When she starts school people will think I'm her grandad when I pick her up." Knowing his words were true as he watched Frankie consider what he had said.
"At least she'll have her dad there to take her to school, pick her up, take her to the park, play on the heath. She'll be one very spoilt little girl with her daddy wrapped around her tiny little finger from the minute she's born and placed in your arms." Knowing every word she said was true.
"And when will that be?" The first of the many questions he had to ask slipped into the conversation.
"Subtle, very subtle Boyd. Saturday, May twenty-fourth going on the dates the hospital gave me. Due to my age though could be sooner. Everything's going well so I can't foresee any problems. At the end of the day, it's up to her." Looking at Boyd as he did the mental maths, probably to work out if he could actually be the father. "Definitely yours, the night of Mel memorial service, or the morning after. Not like I had an active sex life, or a social life when you think about it. The only men I ever spent time with were Spencer, you, and a bunch of corpses. Wasn't like they were lining up." Boyd seeming to accept her response. "If you don't believe me," starting to say something but being cut off by Boyd.
"I believe you, have no reason not to. You're right, none of us had, or still have much of social life. If she comes out and she's got a tattoo though I'm gonna kill Spencer." Both of them laughing after Frankie hit him with a pillow.
"That's just wrong on so many levels, Boyd. It would be like shagging my brother." Hitting him again with the pillow for good measure. "Now we've started this conversation we might as well continue it. What else do you want to know?" Frankie attempting to turn sideways to face him but not being able to tuck her legs under her.
Boyd saw what Frankie was trying to do, her bump making it impossible to sit in her customary way. He patted his lap and pointed at her feet, letting her know she could use him a footstool. Frankie wasn't looking a gift horse in the mouth and turned sideways on the settee, her feet fitting perfectly on Boyd's lap. Without thinking Boyd automatically started to rub her feet, his hands soothing away the stress. He stared at her feet as he thought, trying to find a way to ask the next question.
"Why didn't you tell me back then? Why leave without letting me know?" Leaving the question there as he knew the rest of what he wants to ask was loaded and could lead to a disagreement.
Frankie sighed as she considered her answer, knowing the toughest question was still to come.
"How could I tell you? We had just lost Mel, you blamed yourself, Spencer was a mess, Grace was barely keeping it together. The whole thing was a disaster. We hardly spoke afterwards, both avoiding each other. It's not like I could just walk in your office and say "Hi Boyd, you know how we had sex after Mel's memorial service, well I ended up pregnant. Want to come to play happy families with me?" I thought by leaving I could get my head around it all, decide what I wanted to do." Chewing on her bottom lip like she always did when she was nervous.
Boyd had to admit she was kind of right. They hadn't spoken much, if at all on a personal level after he left her flat that morning. She hadn't mentioned it and neither had he.
"If I'd tracked you down, came looking for you like Grace did, would you have told me then?" Starting to edge nearly to the fifty thousand pound winner takes all question.
"I don't know, probably not. When Grace turned up I was still a mess. It wasn't until after Grace left that I sat down and thought everything through. It took a couple more days after that before I went to the doctors, go it confirmed officially. By then it was obvious you weren't coming to look for me so I just moved on." Regret hanging heavy in the air between them.
"If I hadn't seen you, hadn't bumped into you in the coffee shop, did you ever plan on telling me?" Finally asking the most important question of all.
Frankie didn't answer straight away, just sat chewing her lip looking anywhere but at Boyd. She knew he deserved an answer, deserved the truth. The problem was she knew the answer was not something he would like.
"You deserve a better answer than I can ever give you, better than I'm going to give you. I honestly don't know if or when I would have tried to contact you." Not missing the sudden change in Boyd's posture at her words. "I had never seriously considered contacting you after you never bothered coming to find me. I thought you weren't bothered that I'd left, so why show up with extra baggage attached. You had made your decision, so I made mine. Then when I saw you in the coffee shop, saw the shock and disbelief on your face when you saw me I knew I was wrong to keep this from you, keep her from you." Tears again running down Frankie's face.
Boyd didn't know what to say if anything. He sat still, Frankie's words playing over in his head. She had no intention of contacting him, of letting him know she was carrying his child. His hands were still on her feet, he had stopped rubbing them when she started to answer his question. Even over the roaring sound in his ears, he gently lifted Frankie's feet up and slid out from them, standing up and moving to the other side of the room. He didn't look at her, couldn't look at her, his heart hammering in his chest.
"I have to go. I have work in the morning and it's getting late. I'll be in touch okay." Not even stopping to say goodbye as he walked out the living room, into the hallway and headed out the front door.
He didn't turn around, didn't look back, just got in the car, put his seatbelt on and drove away. He had no idea where he was going, what he was doing, his brain still reeling from Frankie's confession. When he finally stopped the car he wasn't at all surprised to find himself outside a house that wasn't his own but that he knew very well. Getting out the car and locking it he walked slowly up the path, noticing there was still a light on upstairs. He knocked on the door three times, stuffing his hand in his pockets as he waited for an answer. He didn't get on straight away so knock again, harder than the first to make sure. He was about to all but break the door down when he saw the hallway light come on and a figure approach the door. The person on the other side of the door obviously knew who was there as he heard chains and locks being removed before the door open. He looked up from his feet, a sheepish smile on his face when he took in the other person attire before greeting them,
"Hi, Grace."