This is set while Alfie was in Australia.
Kat Moon had never been one for getting out of bed much before 9am. 8:50 had been usual when they had lived and worked in the Vic, 8:00 at a push if it was her turn to drop Tommy at the nursery. Kat Slater of course had a far worse record, rolling up at work at such outlandish times that no reminder was necessary; if she had shown up at all of course. Today would see an exception; being up and in the kitchen at 6:45am was nothing short of lunacy, but an eleven hour time difference and continents separating them left her little in the way of alternatives.
Having flipped open the laptop, Kat prepared an extra strong cup of coffee as she waited for it to load up. Being so dazed at this hour, she had almost attempted to boil the kettle with no water in it; had searched the kitchen cupboards for the missing webcam, before combing the lounge again for the object. She wasn't entirely sure whether it just wasn't there or she couldn't see straight, but with less than ten minutes to go until Alfie would be calling her, she had little choice but to resort to the unthinkable; wake her Nan and ask her. It wouldn't be pleasant, for Kat could clearly see that this was where she had inherited her dislike of early mornings from.
"Nan!" she shouted from her place in the lounge. Although she'd probably pretend otherwise, Mo would hear, as she had been relocated to the downstairs bedroom. She had been reluctant to say the least toward the move, feeling as though she was becoming the spare part in her own house, moving into what had formally been the spare room. It hadn't taken long to convince her however; Kat and Alfie had argued that she would stand a better chance of not being woken up at all hours by their expanding family if she swapped rooms. "Have you seen the webcam?"
"The what?" Mo grumbled, rubbing her eyes and emerging from her new room looking not dissimilar to a bear with a sore head.
"The webcam. You know the camera on that laptop doesn't work! Alfie's signing up for Skype and calling me like now!" For something that was in no way life threatening, particularly time critical or otherwise urgent, she was making one hell of a song and dance out of it, Mo thought, as she shook her head in disbelief.
Mo faintly recalled having used the said webcam the day prior, but at that moment, she was in no mood to head upstairs and dig it out. "Can't he just call like a normal person? You know, with a phone? Marvellous invention!" she remarked sarcastically.
"It may have escaped your notice Nan but Alfie's gone to earn money, not spend it all on calling me," Kat objected, while trying to shoo her Nan off to search.
"I was using it with Fat Elvis…"
"Don't you dare finish that; I think I'm gonna be sick!" Kat announced, dashing in the direction of the kitchen.
"Morning sickness…" decided Mo, as she reluctantly headed off to retrieve the webcam.
Kat eyed the laptop screen agitatedly as she waited for it to sign her in. It was already five past seven, and with every passing second, she was growing more and more concerned that Alfie would believe that she'd slept through her alarm and go back offline. He had a shift starting less than two hours from now. Finally, the screen changed and a box popped up to inform her that she had received a request from katsotherhalf. With an expression covering her face that was a blend of happiness and amusement, she quickly accepted the invitation and with unparalleled haste, answered the call that followed.
"Alfie!" she squealed, with some evidence of her earlier worry still present.
With Kat looking panicked to a degree, Alfie's mind immediately descended into overdrive. Was she in pain? Was Tommy ill? Was she ill? Was she losing their longed for children? Each alternative was as unbearable as the one that had preceded it. "Kat? What is it? Is something wrong?" he asked, following with the next question before she'd had sufficient time to answer the one before it.
"I thought I'd missed you, I thought you'd have given up on me…" she began to trail off, before being cut off by her partner.
"Hey, don't upset yourself," he urged her. "I'll never give up on you, I'd wait as long as I possibly could for you," he continued reassuringly. "Where's all this come from anyway? You're only five minutes late; you wouldn't be my Kat if you weren't."
She couldn't help herself; before either of them could utter another word, Kat had burst into gentle tears.
"What's that for? It wasn't that bad was it?"
"Hormones," Kat shrugged, wiping the tears from her eyes.
Once Kat had composed herself, talk soon turned to Alfie's choice of username. It was on his prompting, in an effort to cheer her up. He only had to look at her for a second to realise that she was feeling down; just because everyone was okay, it didn't make it hurt any less that he was on the other side of the world.
"What do you reckon then? The username?" he hinted, with a mischievous glint in his eye.
"I think you're a soppy git but I wouldn't want you to be any other way," she sniffed.
"I just want the whole world to know that you're mine again.
Kat smiled at this. "I never stopped being yours."
"And it puts the birds off!" Alfie stated, without thinking.
"Alfie!" she spoke up worriedly.
"What?" he asked her gently, not yet realising the problem.
"You basically just told me that you're a babe magnet."
"Are you saying that you don't agree?" he teased.
"I'm gonna be as fat as a house soon, do you think it's helping knowing that you're over ten thousand miles away with women dropping at your feet?!" despaired Kat. She recalled the days that he'd become jealous when she'd so much as spoken to another man. How was she supposed to feel, pregnant and this time, not even there to pull out any hair extensions?
"Kat, I've told ya. I only want you, you and our family. Why else would I be doing this hey?" he tried to reassure her, while silently cursing himself for making her feel this way. She'd always been vulnerable because of her past, never really grasping how he could want someone like her, and though he had forgiven her for the whole sordid affair, he knew she hadn't forgiven herself and probably never would. It meant that her worries and fears were all the more intense than they had ever been before.
"Sorry," she spoke up meekly, fighting back the tears once again. "I'm a mess, I miss you so much."
"I miss you too," Alfie quickly reciprocated her feelings. "It won't be for much longer; if you are a mess you're my mess and I love you," he told her sincerely.
With this, Kat quickly hopped out of her seat at the kitchen table and made a grab for a box of tissues that lay nearby. "You could have left me an unlimited supply of tissues, not a flipping carcass Alfie Moon!" she called back, drying her eyes.
"How's that going?" he enquired, hoping that they could now get on with updating each other on the events of the past week. Meanwhile, Alfie made a mental note to be more careful not to stick his foot in it in future.
"I've got Shirley lined up as a buyer, she wants to make do pies for the Vic. Dropping it over there this afternoon."
"Told you it'd be a nice little earner for you," he replied knowingly. "You try and relax, take yourself off shopping with the money and get some things for the baby Moons."
"No," insisted Kat.
"Kat, it's only a few things while we can afford it. We could run into trouble if we have to buy everything in one go," Alfie reasoned. "You're not going to jinx anything, it's different this time," he finished gently.
"I want us to do it together."
"Mrs Moon putting off a shopping trip, this is a first," joked Alfie.
"Alfie, together yeah?" she pressed him.
"All the way," he smiled. "I can't wait you know."
"And it wasn't nice at all, that thing nearly made me hurl. I got Terry to chop it up for me and stood there singing Old MacDonald!" Kat added.
"Lazy as ever I see," smiled Alfie. She might be down, but she hadn't lost her spirit.
"So how are things going over there?" Kat asked, a part of her dreading his response. What if the bar wasn't going so well and he had to miss out on even more of the pregnancy? What if she had to cope alone for longer? What if it had all been a trap, and they'd gone through all this for nothing?
Alfie paused. Where should he start? The demographics of the local residents? The weather? The food? "It's not bad," he decided, leaving Kat wondering what it was that he actually meant. Granted she had a bit of a suspicious mind, but when something was 'not bad' it didn't exactly mean that it was good, did it?
Kat sat back in her chair and pulled her unimpressed stance as she waited for Alfie to elaborate. "Not bad?" she repeated.
"Well the kitchen staff still need whipping into shape, we'd be better off having your Nan as the chef at the minute!" he decided, pulling a face at the memories of Mo's curries, roast dinners and many of the other creations that he'd enjoyed; he used the term loosely; or rather endured over the years. The company on such occasions had been what had made the meals enjoyable. What had Sean been complaining about when he'd criticised Jean's sausage surprise?
"It must be bad," agreed Kat, craning her neck as she sought to check whether her Nan was in the vicinity. She knew their opinions were more than valid and was in no mood to spend her day justifying them. It would be like saying goodbye all over again when Alfie had to start his shift, and that fact alone would undoubtedly put a downer on the remainder of her day. In a sense it would be history repeating itself, not so distant history at that; goodbye was goodbye, whether it was over a computer or in person as the love of your life drove out of your life for a month. "Punters ok though?"
"It's a lot quieter than the Vic," Alfie announced, leading Kat to wince as if this automatically equated to a longer stay in a foreign country for him. "There's no Cora passing judgement, no Pat type character for you to fight with, no Dexters or Jays to keep the place young." Maybe Pat wasn't the most appropriate of comparisons, but he never wanted to mention Janine ever again.
"Made any friends?"
"Not really. Wendy I suppose."
"Wendy?" Kat repeated, clearly taking exception to him having befriended a female. She remembered what had happened with his last so called friend, and with her prior to that. She was of the belief that men and women could never be just friends.
"Kat she's about sixty! Why would I go playing pull a pensioner when I've got a wife and three kids at home?" he asked her. "Blokes go looking for younger women; I've got you."
"Don't you forget it either," she told him sternly.
"I might be stupid but I ain't that stupid. You're my life and when I'm out of here, I'm gonna spend the rest of it proving that to you," he assured her. "Trust me?"
Instantly nodding, Kat smiled a genuine smile at the screen ahead of her. "You're the only person I've ever trusted."
"I really want to kiss you right now."
"That all? I was hoping for a bit more than that," she replied suggestively.
"You're going to be the death of me Kathleen."
Kat and Alfie had been talking about nothing in particular for around twenty minutes when Spencer popped his head around the door of the lounge that Alfie was sitting in. He turned to his brother and then back to the camera. "Actually darlin'," Alfie interrupted her. "Spencer wanted a word. Is that alright?"
"Course," she nodded in response, slightly nervous. Spencer wasn't an intimidating person in the slightest, but the possibilities as to what he could actually want with her made her feel a little uneasy. She hadn't really had any option, but she couldn't help wonder what she had let herself in for as Alfie told the both of them that he was going to fetch a drink and would be back in five. It didn't take five minutes to go to the kitchen for a start. Would she be on the receiving end of a lecture on the Michael subject? Derek perhaps? Or might he act the tough guy and warn her not to put a foot wrong again? She didn't need the lectures, or the warning. Her beyond foolish actions had cost her everything and now that against all odds, she had it and more back, she wouldn't be revisiting that path to self-destruction.
"How's my favourite sister-in-law?" Spencer asked pleasantly as Alfie left the room and pulled the door to. Kat couldn't help but wonder if that was what people usually did when they had you in line for a grilling; did they lull you into a false sense of security first? "Fine thanks," she smiled back. Only time would tell whether she would remain touched by his sister-in-law comment. She knew that he had always preferred her to Alfie's first wife, but if the form of address had been all part of a plan to pave the way for the reading of the riot act, she wouldn't remain at all convinced that he meant what he said.
Kat had always been one for getting things out of the way, and it was this mentality which spurred her to press Spencer for his intentions. "So?" she questioned.
"Er… I was thinking about coming over to see you all after the twins are born. I just wanted to check that you were alright with it first before I mention anything to Alfie? Didn't want to get him excited for nothing and that." Spencer's words were a little on the rushed side and it was apparent that he was actually nervous of what Kat would think.
"I weren't always that unapproachable was I Spence?" she remarked light heartedly in an attempt to relieve any remaining tension.
"Nah," Spencer quickly informed Kat. "I just didn't know how you'd take it, you can be a scary woman when you want to be!" he admitted, hoping that she wouldn't take it the wrong way. "I haven't really spoken to you since… since Nana died I guess and all of a sudden I'm after a holiday."
"Phones work both ways Spence, I could have called you but I never. Of course you can come, we'd be glad to have ya."
"Really?" Spencer asked, a small part of him still doubtful. Three children under four years of age would be a challenge; did they really need him cluttering the place up?
"Really."
Spencer paused as he took this in, before speaking up again. "Don't say anything to Alfie, yeah? I thought I'd tell him when he leaves to help stop him getting all down about not knowing when he'll see me again," he revealed his intentions. "Don't get me wrong, he's itching to go home but it's just goodbyes, you know?"
"Yeah, he's always hated them," acknowledged Kat. "Spence?"
"Yeah?"
"Alfie was saying some stuff about how his username would keep the women away, and someone called Wendy. They don't try anything with him do they?" She trusted Alfie implicitly and had never worried for a moment that he would ever cheat on her again, but there was something about her predicament which made her doubt almost everything. It was the knowing she supposed; she wouldn't be able to cope as a single parent of three young children.
Looking away from the camera momentarily, Spencer finally noticed his brother's choice of username and let out a short chuckle. "Bless him," he commented. "They wouldn't even if they wanted to. He shows that scan picture off to nearly everyone that walks through the door you know," he reassured his sister-in-law. He hadn't thought much of it at the time, but having grown up a lot over the last ten years, he now recognised that maybe it had played a part in Vicki's abortion; it couldn't be a pleasant thought, bringing a baby into the world when you doubted that its father loved you, or wondered if he was only sticking around because he thought he should. "He spends about six hours a day talking about you, minimum; ten daydreaming about you and I can only presume the other eight actually dreaming about you."
"Alright darlin," Alfie greeted his wife as he sat back down and Spencer left the room. "What did Spence want?"
"You'll find out soon enough," she told him playfully.
"Plotting for my birthday are we?"
"We might be," she responded, the master of disguise. Her face was giving nothing away.
Alfie shook his head in defeat as he accepted the fact that he wouldn't be getting any information out of her ahead of time, whenever that might be. "So, how's things with the twins? Much sickness?"
"Too much," Kat mumbled back. "You know Nan was talking about Fat Elvis earlier; too much information, you know how she is. I said I was going to be sick and she even tried to blame them for that!"
"I should be there," Alfie muttered sadly, regretfully, even solemly. "It's not right, you're going through hell for our family, I should be there to help you."
"It's not your fault."
"Doesn't change anything though does it," he mumbled.
He really did take things to an extreme at times, it had to be said. "Alfie, I'd be throwing up whether you were here or not. I'd much rather have you here for me when I can't even put my own shoes on. You can't do that if we're still desperate for cash," she reasoned, hoping he would continue to see the benefits of getting it out of the way now. It represented quite a shift; she had been the one most reluctant for him to take up the job.
"You're right," he sighed, leading Kat to step in again to try and lighten the mood.
"So, Spencer says you've been showing a certain picture off to everybody."
Alfie nodded. Now that the whole of the Square knew, he wanted to shout their happy news from the rooftops. It wasn't as if any of them knew who Kat was anyway, aside from what he told them about her. "I might get it put onto mugs you know," he joked.
"Don't do that," Kat told him.
"Why?"
Smiling, Kat revealed, "I've had confirmation through of the twelve week scan. 11th February. Do you reckon you'll be back by then or shall I get them to change the date?"
"I'll be there," he immediately responded, before breaking into a rendition of I'm So Excited.
His singing on this occasion was terrible, but Kat didn't think she'd smiled this much since he'd left. "You wally," she giggled, having endured around half a minute of her other half likening himself to a strangled cat.
"I'm serious, Oz can like it or lump it. I can't wait to see our babies again."
Kat rolled her eyes. "I noticed," she stated flatly. "I knew I should have told you in a week or two."
"Tommy looking after you?" Alfie enquired, leaving the subject of the twins for the first time in a good half an hour. He'd asked about her thoughts on the name front, whether she was showing yet, who they should ask to be godparents, whether they should have different godparents for each twin; the list was almost endless.
"That would depend on your definition of looking after."
"Really?" he questioned her further, staring curiously at her.
Kat nodded. "He told the whole nursery that Mummy and Daddy were having two babies."
"Definitely his mother's son then."
"Oi!" she retorted, feigning offence. "Nothing to do with you I suppose, Mr Tell the Whole Bar."
"Is his lordship awake yet?"
"I'll just go and fetch him," agreed Kat, promptly making for the door. "Love you," she called back, as if it was goodbye. As she again turned away from the laptop, she almost bumped into Mo.
"Hadn't you better be getting Tommy to the nursery?" she reminded her granddaughter, full of the morning spirit.
"Can you take him today Nan?" I'm still talking to Alfie, I don't know when I'll get the chance again." Her tone changed to one of sorrow as she neared the end of her request. It wasn't often that Kat was for want of a better word; desperate for something so trivial as a bit of babysitting or little time, and it was this unfamiliarity that found Mo agreeing, despite her urge just to crawl back into bed and sleep.
Nodding, Mo spoke up again. "Why don't you go and get him dressed, I can say hello to Alfie, he can speak to Tommy and then I'll get him to the nursery?" It was a rare episode of good planning on Mo's part, who more often than not lurched from one hairbrained scheme to another, often associated with a brush with the law.
"Right," Kat agreed quickly, as she made her way up the stairs.
"Here he is," announced Kat as she returned to the kitchen, where there didn't seem to be a great deal of talking going on.
Mo looked to Kat as Alfie made himself known to Tommy. "Tommy!" he called out excitedly. "How's my little boy today ey?" he asked as Tommy's eyes darted confusedly around the room. Where was it that his Daddy's voice was coming from? He couldn't see him anywhere? Was it all a trick?
Gesturing out into the hallway, Mo silently communicated that she would be ready when Tommy was and left the room, affording the small but growing family their moment.
"Sit up at the table Tommy, that's it," Kat told her son as he pulled one of the chairs out with difficulty and started to clamber onto it.
With Tommy safely seated at the table, Kat returned to her seat, which stood half abandoned in the middle of the kitchen floor. "Say hello to Daddy," she instructed the three-year-old.
Alfie had taken to waving enthusiastically at the toddler, but Tommy was still struggling to grasp what was going on here. "There," Kat told him, pointing to the screen.
"Daddy."
"Hey little man, I've got you a great present."
"Dinosaur."
"It might be, you'll have to wait and see," teased Alfie.
"Cuddle," Tommy demanded, although at his age, it came across more as being adorable as opposed to bossy. The request saw Alfie lose his sense of composure to an extent, with Kat attempting to hide her true feelings from her son as she cuddled him to her.
"I'll be back soon and we'll have the biggest cuddle ever."
"Come on you, Nanny's taking you to nursery," Kat told Tommy, before Alfie asked him to say goodbye. Tommy did as he had been instructed to do, leading Alfie to blow him a kiss as Kat picked him up and passed him carefully to her Nan. Mo must have been earwigging as per, she concluded, for she had poked her head around the door at exactly the right moment.
"What did my Nan have to say for herself then?" Kat asked Alfie as the pair fell back into conversation.
Alfie chuckled at the memory, before proceeding to enlighten his wife. "Would you believe it, she only asked me where the payment was for that invoice she left me."
"Sounds like Nan," agreed Kat, breaking into a giggle too.
"Kat?" Alfie asked, stopping her in her tracks. She looked almost petrified, as if she seriously thought he would finish with her over the internet.
"What's she like ey?" Kat joked, seemingly in an attempt to divert the subject away from the alternative that she had decided ahead of time was just too terrifying to face.
"Kat, this scan…" Alfie started, prompting Kat to breathe a huge sigh of relief.
"Yeah?" she responded immediately, engrossed in the subject.
"Will they tell us the sex?"
Kat paused for a short while as she considered how best to put this. Would he think she was stupid? Paranoid for not wanting to know the sex this time around? A nutcase just like Ronnie? "Not this scan they can't, it would be the next one. Alfie…" she hesitated. "Alfie, would you be upset if we didn't find out what we're having?"
"Not upset no, I just thought it would make it easier; preparing and that," he told her quickly. Alfie had more than he had dared hope for in the last five years, with one on the way at last, especially after the miscarriage. Two was just… he didn't even have the words for it. He'd waited nearly forty years for the love of his life and fifty for a child of his own; he could wait a few more months to discover whether he would have sons or daughters.
"You're right," admitted Kat, referring of course to the planning element. She'd been the most apprehensive of the two when they'd discovered that they were expecting twins, so why was it that she couldn't get the terrible thought out of her head? "You're going to think I'm such a stupid cow."
"Kat you can talk to me about anything, you know that."
"I don't think I want to know. If I…If I hadn't been so impatient as to ask about Tommy, Ronnie wouldn't have been able to take our baby away from us. We wouldn't have drifted apart, I wouldn't have… we never would have split up!" she began to sob.
"Kat…."
"I'm sorry," she sniffed.
Alfie exhaled deeply, running his hands through his hair and tugging at it a little more than gently. This was bordering on the unbearable. She needed him and he was so far away that it would take him in excess of a day to reach her. "You don't have to be sorry for anything, not to me, not anymore," he said, while fighting to keep his own tears at bay. "Ronnie's not pregnant; no bloke except Jack would go for her after what she did."
It seemed that it had all been in vain; still her upset failed to subside. "If it makes you more comfortable then we won't ask," he finally agreed. "I'd do anything to make you happy, you know that."
"But the planning…" Kat voiced, continuing to doubt herself.
"This is us we're talking about here. We can do anything when we put our minds to it. We'll get a few unisex babygrows to get us started, then there's all of Tommy's old stuff if they're boys," he spoke reassuringly.
She nodded, but it wasn't long before the nagging voice in the back of Kat's head found another problem. "But the toys. Like you said, we can't afford to buy it all in one go once they're here," she trailed off.
"We're gonna love these babies so much they won't need toys." With these words, Kat was struggling to decide whether Alfie was in denial, naïve or just the soppiest individual ever to have lived.
"You can never be serious, can you?" she choked out, close to tears once again.
"Only about how much I love the four of you, and how you mean the world to me."
"Stop it, you'll have me bawling my eyes out."
"Seriously, we'll stick a hundred a month in a savings account starting from when I get back. There's no difference whether we do it that way or buy it bit by bit."
Kat smiled gratefully as she considered everything that she had; everything that she'd come so close to not having. He had the knack for turning anything and everything into a workable possibility, and did so without question for no other reason than it was what would make her happy at the relevant moment. She could barely comprehend why he would go to such lengths to ensure her absolute contentment; after everything that she'd done to him, the simple fact that he wanted to be with her at all was more than enough. She could have lost him in so many ways; Michael, Derek, encouraging him to leave her after the miscarriage, and that was just for starters. Their twins meant the world to her and were it not for a chance conception, they'd never have known the feeling of absolute bliss that both had now that their family was to be complete; all because she'd have been too afraid to try again.
In the market, Bianca was discovering that even a life juggling four kids, a boyfriend, a mother with a life threatening illness and a father on a mission to recapture part of his childhood had not been sufficient preparation for handling the early morning madness alone. She had Aleks breathing down her neck for something; what she couldn't say, although there was a good chance that it involved either some rent or Kat's lateness; school kids rifling through the clothes on their way, putting them back anywhere but a remotely correct place, and one or two passers-by taking their chance and attempting to lift stock. She'd have said customers, but to describe someone as a customer, they surely had to buy something, or at least intend to do so? This lot had made it more than clear that their intentions were the exact opposite. "Mo!" she called out desperately, eyeing her suspiciously as she strolled through with Tommy clutching onto one arm.
Seemingly unperturbed by Bianca's plight, Walford's most criminally experienced pensioner continued on her way, passing Kat and Bianca's stall without a word, and causing Bianca to shout her down with more vigour. "Mo! Did you not hear me or something? I'm dying here!"
"Can't exactly miss you with that gob, can I?" she moaned, turning reluctantly back.
Unsuccessfully trying to co-ordinate bagging a top with one hand and finding the correct size for another customer with the other, she asked, "Where's Kat?"
"I don't know," she responded unhelpfully, before continuing through the market with Tommy and leaving Bianca to deal with the wrath of the customer whose new purchase had dropped to the floor as a consequence of her multitasking.
"But you live in the same house!" she yelled exasperatedly, to no avail.
"I'd better go," Alfie told Kat morosely, having looked down at the time; his shift started in ten minutes. "I miss you."
"I miss you more."
"Not possible," Alfie countered. "I keep falling out bed you know, it's too big without you in it." It was Alfie all over; this goodbye would be just as painful as the one a week before and he knew it. He could always be relied upon to lighten the mood.
"I don't have that problem," joked Kat, winking.
"Oh really?" It was a sign of how well they knew each other that within weeks of reuniting, they could be this playful with each other.
"You might need a crowbar to get your bed back off Tommy you know," Kat enlightened him unnecessarily. He'd struggled to trust her at times in the past, but the past was exactly where such occasions were. Splitting up was probably the best thing that could have happened to them. She'd learned from her mistakes, and as a result, he didn't need to live in fear any more. From the moment the words had left her lips, he'd known without a doubt that it was Tommy she'd been referring to.
"I'm sure he'll give it up when I tell him he's not getting his presents if he doesn't."
"I wouldn't be so sure, he never lets go of me. Just like his dad."
"We know a beautiful woman when we see one." It was just as well that Mo had taken Tommy to nursery rather than standing around with her ear against the door. It could be fairly reliably predicted that at that point, she'd have asked for the sick bucket.
"Charmer."
"Love you," Alfie reminded his other half. He'd known when they first got together that she was a demanding woman, in more ways than simply wanting him to cook for her. Her self-esteem would never be the best; she'd had a nagging voice in her head since 1983 that told her she would always fail and would never be good enough for anyone; that no one would want her for more than sex. It was up to Alfie to remind her that there was no truth in this. She might have cheated on him but he would always take some of the blame for forgetting to do so. She had needed him to save her from herself and he'd failed. Never again would he make that mistake.
Their goodbye could be likened to a conversation with one of those relatives that you loved to hate; people who said the word over and over again, restating their love for the other also. But there was nothing dull or repetitive about the long parting in this instance. It was Kat and Alfie and nothing would ever be easily or quickly accomplished. The fact that they would be completing their family at the ages of forty-four and fifty respectively was evidence of that.
"Nice of you to join us," Bianca greeted her business partner sarcastically as Kat finally arrived at the stall, half-an-hour late.
"Didn't realise you were after Lister's job," quipped Kat, while tying her money belt loosely around her middle, mindful of her unborn children.
"What kept you? I saw your Nan with Tommy, she tried telling me she didn't know where you were."
Kat had acquired a reputation over the years, aside from the obvious one; for always remaining composed. She couldn't however maintain a straight face on this occasion. Her Nan had come out with some excuses in her time, she could do better than that. "I was skyping Alfie," Kat explained once she'd regained control.
"Since when did you have Skype?!"
"These two might have the oldest parents in the class, but we won't be the parents who act the oldest," she remarked, stroking her stomach lovingly.
Bianca nodded, understanding. "That's true. You should have told me, I wouldn't have minded."
"I didn't think, sorry," Kat said, smiling weakly. "On cloud nine wasn't I; silly cow I am."
"Talking of telling, I thought I should let you know because you're my best mate and that," Bianca suddenly piped up, speaking so quickly that Kat could barely separate one word from the next. It was as if she feared that it would otherwise become something unspoken for weeks, months; in the hope that not mentioning it would somehow make it not have surfaced. "My mum's got cancer."
What was the right thing to say? Did Bianca want her to say anything, or just acknowledge the fact? For all she knew, Bianca might have had people talking at her with stories of their experiences with cancer for weeks now. It might be a welcome change for a person to talk about anything but a terrible illness, an illness that had claimed her own mother. Kat simply took her friend in her arms, patting her on the back gently to let her know that she understood. "I won't drone on at you but I want you to know that if you ever want someone outside of the family to talk to about it all, I'll be there."
"Thanks Kat," muttered Bianca, unsure. She had a feeling that Kat's mother had died of the same; would it bring the reality of the predicament crashing down if she discussed it with her at length? For all she knew, she could be Kat in a year's time. "I'll let you know, I just want to think about something else at the moment, you know?"
Bianca certainly got her wish to have something else to think about that afternoon, whereupon Shirley cornered Kat for something that was as yet unknown to her. The possibilities were endless. Why are you a nicer person than me? Why does my hairstyle look like I've had an argument with a power socket and yours doesn't? How come you can get a decent bloke like Alfie to worship the ground you walk on, when I'm snubbed by Phil for a Rapunzel reject?
"What was that all about?" she wasted no time in asking as Kat returned to the stall.
"The meat," Kat confessed quietly, leaving her friend with a confused expression covering her face.
"What?"
"You know, the stuff Alfie got that me and Terry had to cut up; that I sold to Shirley. The meat that's in those pies they were offering us earlier." It was just as well that Kat wasn't presently being her usual loud mouthed self; she could have done a good job of implicating a number of the Square's residents had she been so.
It was a rare occurrence; Bianca said nothing. Kat had showered her with gestures to the effect that she keep it down, not realistically expecting her to do so. "Turns out it's dog," she added, delivering the punch line.
"I wondered where Roxy was lately!"
With Bianca's opinion of Roxy made public, it wasn't long before the two market traders were in hysterics, and Tamwar's plight lost in the ensuing madness. The departure of the Assistant Market inspector prior to his accomplishing anything was a source of much amusement for the two, who soon caught sight of Mo, wielding a rather thick notepad.
Sensing that Bianca fully supported this particular distraction from their daily business, Kat wasted no time in cornering her grandmother. "Take it Tommy got to nursery alright then?"
No response to this question was obtained, as the pensioner remained captivated by her latest scheme. The lack of recognition prompted Kat to make a grab for the book, which she wasted no time in sifting through. "She's only running a flaming book on the twins' birth date!" Kat called in Bianca's direction. Her opinion on this avenue was also as clear as mud. "Bit previous isn't it, I'm not even twelve weeks gone yet!"
The small matter that she disapproved of the concept was not sufficient to detract Kat from examining the object in its entirety, accompanied by one of her closest confidantes of course. "Someone's only placed October!" Kat announced, clearly outraged by the very suggestion. It was likely that even Mo had heard the comment, in spite of her diversion to the cafe.
"Probably Nikki," Bianca was quick to propose.
"What's she done now?"
"She's still breathing."
"Ouch."
"Ere Bianca, fancy a punt?" bellowed Mo, emerging from the café laden with three coffees and a sticky bun. Maybe she wasn't so bad after all; she actually had bought someone outside of the family a drink without expecting payment for it. Kat presumed so anyway; only time would tell.
"Pick the 18th July," Kat quickly instructed Bianca, who beckoned Mo over to them.
"I'll have a tenner on the 18th July."
"You can't be due that soon," Bianca whispered curiously, having double checked the Maths involved. She had to have conceived in November in the earliest, so it would be at least August. She wasn't the greatest with numbers; you only had to consult the stall's accounts on that front; giving birth three times had rendered dates engrained within her mind.
"Twins are always about a month premature; they'll be out then if I have anything to do with it," added Kat, with her grandmother safely out of earshot.
"Why?"
"It'll be the anniversary of the day that Alfie proposed to that peroxide cow."
It was a brilliantly evil sword with which to avenge; what? Kat wasn't the kind of person to inflict pain on another unprovoked, even if they were a Mitchell. "She holding up the annulment or something?" questioned Bianca, at a loss for what other objections Kat could have to the youngest Mitchell sister. Did Ronnie have a policy never to snatch other people's children on the 18th day of the month?
"Poison pen letter through international mail. I'm a slag apparently. Don't take a genius to work out who sent it."
"Does Alfie know?" Bianca eyed her friend concernedly.
"Are you joking?" Kat hissed, immediately jumping on the question. "I need him here with me, not serving time for assault in some Spanish nick," she managed, voice shaking and the tears beginning to cloud her vision.
"You know that's got to be the only time I've ever seen you proper vulnerable, you know?" spoke Bianca, her words more of a statement than a question. "You were a miserable cow when you were apart, but never scared."
"Thank you very much!" answered a faintly amused Kat. "I spent six months on my own when I was carrying Tommy, I couldn't do it again. Not with twins." She'd never been one to let her true feelings be known, but maybe it was high time that she did. Kat had always chosen her carefully when it came to who to trust, excepting Ronnie and a few others, so why shouldn't she? Bianca might rival her for the Square's biggest gob, but having been a single mother, she could appreciate the fear and see it for what it was; rational. If only she'd talked about her feelings more in the past, she could have avoided breaking her husband's heart and resigning herself to a life of misery.
"He's on cloud nine-hundred Kat, Alfie's not going anywhere," she chuckled at her own exaggeration, but it was true. "He'll be back soon then you can put this whole thing behind you."
"He's not if he has any choice in the matter," recognised Kat, a clear improvement on her state of mind prior to having been reassured by Alfie himself.
"Kat," Bianca spoke warningly.
"I can't help it," she protested. "When we were told we were having twins, I was petrified. But Alfie… he thought we'd won the lottery. He's the only person who can calm me down with just a cuddle, a kiss and a few words." It was clear to anyone with as little as half a brain cell that Kat adored him, irrespective of the mistakes she'd made in the past. That pretty much ruled Roxy out of contention. It was Walford; in throwing a stone you stood a good chance of hitting someone who had cheated on a spouse or partner in the past, and most of those with an in-law who ought to have been off limits. She herself had been guilty of the same.
"Soppy mare," decided Bianca, pulling her friend in for a hug as she did so. Partially, her sudden show of affection had been attributable to her friend's emotional struggle, but it was as fortunate as it was convenient that Tamwar happened to be passing at that moment.
"Soppy and silly, I'm not doing very well today am I?" Kat recalled, making light of the situation. It was this brave faced attitude which would have to keep her going until Alfie returned.