Expectations bring consequences…

June 11 2018

"Mum, Dad, this is Molly, Molly these are my parents, Penny and Bill James"

Molly

Well, that went well, not. His dad seems nice, well I would think that cos Charlie looks just like him, his dad is still seriously good looking for an old guy. When I shook his hand he looked a bit surprised that I have a firm handshake, it's one of the things we were taught, not to have a limp, drippy handshake, all girly and soft, but to grip firmly. I have got very tiddly hands so older blokes always look surprised. I noticed that he didn't look at my bump or my boobs once, he kept his eyes above my shoulders all the time and It must have been quite difficult cos he is even taller than Charlie so he had to look down a long way. Obviously where Charlie gets his gentleman manners from! We should have rehearsed what we were going to say cos I kept thinking of all the things I didn't want him to ask cos I didn't know what I was supposed to answer, so it wasn't exactly a relaxed conversation. I must have looked like the village idiot!

His mum is a whole different ball bag! What a miserable old cow. Oh, she's quite polite but she had a look on her gob like she'd been sucking lemons and my guess is that she won't be inviting the neighbours round to meet me any time soon, it was obvious that she was looking at me and wondering where he'd found the trollop he'd bought home. She's got a really posh voice, so she reminds me of one of those people off Sunday night tele, the one's that Nan calls 'all fur coat and no knickers'. Poor Charlie was mortified. He did his best to keep the conversation going but we ran out of things to say pretty quick, there were so many 'don't go there' areas that once we'd done the "how are you" and "pleased to meet you" there was nothing left! When I first met Charlie in Afghan and I hated him, I used to call him "Your Lordship", not to his face obviously, and his mum reminds me so much of the way he was then that I wonder if I should have curtseyed instead of shaking her hand. Something tells me that we are not going to be best mates! Strange, really, she's posh and horrible while my mum, who, let's face it is as common as muck, well we all are, would never be so shitty to someone she didn't know, especially not someone that means a lot to one of her kids. Nan might, but not with Charlie, she wants me to be happy, and she'd probably like her flat back! Dad wouldn't bother, he's too pissed most of the time to notice.

I am up in Charlie's room, cos I said I needed a nap, which I don't, I have just had one, but I don't wanna stay down there a minute longer than I have to. His room reminds me of a hotel room and this is a seriously posh house, more like a stately home than a house, but he keeps telling me to remember that it isn't his house, he just squats here when he's not on tour and sponges off his parents. It don't matter cos there is no way on this earth that I am going to live here, I'm not even sure I'll make it past tea-time tonight. I tried to make him feel better by telling him that it isn't his fault that his mum is a miserable old cow and laughing. He didn't laugh at first so I nudged him until he couldn't help laughing with me. He has gone down to get his kit and that out of the car, and to move his car to where he parks it, as a parking ticket would finish him off, or so he says, but I reckon he's gone to give his mum an earful.

I thought everything was going to get better when we got together yesterday, Jesus, was it only yesterday? feels like a lifetime, but who was I kidding? Nothing has changed, not really, I am still going to be his guilty secret and I am still going to have to keep who her dad is a secret but at least I can tell me mum and Nan. I have a feeling they are not gonna be exactly thrilled either but more cos he was my boss and cos I never mentioned that we were even friends, although Nan probably has a fair idea from things I said. So what exactly was the point of coming here, had he got some idea of us living here? I seriously wanna go home now, please.

Charles

I have just moved my car from outside the house to where we park so that I don't get a parking ticket on top of everything else, but what I really need is to get away for a minute to try to come up with a reason why my mother is behaving like the first class bitch from hell! What on earth does she think she's doing? And Dad is not much better, he was at least polite to Molly, but why on earth didn't he put a stop to mum's little performance? Molly being Molly tried to turn it into a joke to make me feel better and she showed remarkable restraint, something she is not normally known for, she must have been longing to put mum back in her box, I know I was. I feel very let down by them after the write-up I gave them and after dragging her all the way down here instead of staying tucked up in a 5* hotel with seriously good room service, I am ashamed of them, especially mum!

Just had the final straw, Rebecca just phoned to tell me that I won't be seeing Sam any time soon as she doesn't want him to end up sounding like someone from the cast of Eastenders as she is sure I don't, although from what she's heard I may not find it a problem. Bitch! Obviously in good company with my mother, when did they get so pally? Or is it just that they have combined to disapprove of a beautiful, warm hearted and kind girl who they don't even know and who I happen to love more than anyone else in the world, excepting Sam, of course, and that's different.

I have just confronted mum and dad in the kitchen, said that I wanted to thank them for making Molly so welcome in my family home, bearing in mind how important she is to me, and how grateful I was to mum for screwing up my visit with Sam, seeing that I haven't seen him for nearly eight months. I don't think Dad knew about that because I saw him glare at mum, but he didn't say anything. Mum started to say something about only wanting to protect me, to stop me getting hurt or something and that she was only worried about me, but I refused to listen and reminded them that I am 33 not 13 and that they had just forced me to choose and that we would be out of their way first thing in the morning. I told them that we would leave tonight but, in case they hadn't noticed, Molly is pregnant and has had a very long and tiring day already today and she needs a meal, which we are going out for, and a good night's sleep. Then I walked out, I'm good at that, ask Molly.

Penny

I may have made a misjudgement calling Rebecca, Bill certainly thinks so, but I thought if he had to choose between Sam and that girl, he would choose Sam every time! Apparently not! I just couldn't believe it when he brought her in, how old is she for goodness sake, sixteen? Okay, she must be older than that, she was in Afganistan with him and that was over four years ago. She is very tiny and was very crumpled, had obviously been asleep in the car, and she's definitely very pregnant and with a baby that can't possibly be his. She's roughly six months pregnant and he was deployed over eight months ago so that doesn't work out however you look at it. Bill says that as she is an army medic she may have been deployed with him, but I don't see that that would make a difference, sleeping together on tour would have been strictly against the rules and even if he had broken the rules, which I would find hard to believe of Charles, trouble would have hit the fan long ago if he'd got her pregnant, it's not as if she would be able to hide it, it's quite obvious.

She is a very, very pretty girl and he couldn't keep his hands off her while they were in the kitchen, holding her hand, putting his arm round her, cuddling her from behind and linking his hands under her baby so maybe the attraction is mainly physical and he will forget all this nonsense about choosing when the physical stuff wears off a bit, so I am just going to have to wait for him to come to his senses. I hope that that doesn't take too long, this is not like Charles.

Bill

I have no idea what Penny thinks she is doing. If she wasn't so convinced that she knows best about everything she would see just how much our son adores Molly and how happy he looks, an emotion that has been missing from him for a very long time, in fact, I can't remember ever seeing him look so happy and that's down to her. And, whatever Penny thinks she knows, that is definitely his baby, they were obviously sleeping together in Turkey when she got pregnant, how they've handled the army regulations end of things, I have no idea, that's their business, but I am sure they are both very happy about it, Charles can't keep his hands off her, it's almost as if he has to keep touching her to reassure himself that she's still there.

I remember what he said about her when they came back from Afghan before it all went badly wrong for some reason, that she is incredibly brave, that, apart from saving his life, she had won the Military Cross for saving some other soldier, and they don't give those away with cornflakes. I have the feeling that he has been in love with her ever since they were in Afghan together and Penny is playing a ridiculously dangerous game if she thinks that making him choose between her and Molly will result in her getting rid of the girl. I am not sure why she wants to. And as for calling Rebecca and stirring up difficulties with access to Sam, whatever did she think she was doing? Rebecca is a bitch who will use any weapon she can to hurt Charles and will be insanely jealous of the girl who has taken his heart away, the casualty is likely to be Sam….….. and us, Penny hasn't stopped to consider that we may not see Sam either!

I don't know whether Molly's accent is what they call estuary English, but there are far worse things you can do than speak with a different accent.

Charles

We popped out for a pizza, because Molly said that she doesn't want the baby to get too used to posh stuff, she has to live in the real world, not the room service one! The baby obviously didn't mind, she was wriggling about all over the place tonight. Pity mum isn't interested, I would have thought she would have liked to feel her moving about, but I'm not sure Molly would have gone along with that anyway. We agreed to get going in the morning, we are going to spend a couple of days by the sea before we have to go back, Molly back to her Nan's and me back to barracks, and as I said to Molly, it will be good for the baby to get some sea air, so she told me she could get seriously pissed off with me wanting to do everything for the baby and asked me if I was trying to make her jealous, so I told her that of course I was! What we are going to do after we go back I have no idea. That house is my home, all my life is there, or all that was my life, so it is easy to flounce out but a lot harder to organise moving out, always supposing we have somewhere to move to, without going back there first, but I know I will never live there again.

Authors notes: Glad that you are glad I decided to carry on with this, thanks so much for the reviews. I am not sure how far I will take it, suggestions are welcome.

To answer the question about why the army would need to know, I don't think they would necessarily, except for the issue of NoK and dependants, but they might be a tad interested to know how she managed to get pregnant on tour, especially as the dad was her CO!