Page 71 of All We Want for Christmas
‘It’s true,’ Molly said, leaning back and looking at him. ‘You are my dad.’
His throat was clogged, so he nodded before saying, ‘I knew from the moment you told me.’
‘But it’s good to be sure, or you might always have wondered.’
‘You’re very wise,’ he said, smiling, as Molly wiped her face with a tissue.
‘We should open champagne or something, but I don’t have any and you’re driving.’
‘We definitely need to celebrate,’ he said.
‘I’ve got ginger beer. Nan likes it.’
Flynn laughed. ‘Go on, then.’
Molly collected Esme from her playpen and Flynn had found the bottle and two glasses from the cupboard when lights swept up the driveway.
‘Oh my God. Nan’s back.’
Hearing these words, you would have thought Brenda was a Gorgon waiting to turn Flynn to stone. His pulse rose, his palms were sweaty, and he had the urgent desire to leap out of a window, jump on his bike, and head straight for the Far East as he’d once planned.
‘Oh. Right. OK …’
‘You look terrified,’ said Molly.
‘Should I be?’
Instead of laughing as he’d expected, Molly suddenly burst into tears again. ‘I thought I wouldn’t be, but now I am. Oh … shaving cream and fluffing hell! Argh. That’s what I have to say now Esme’s around. Fluffing, fluffing, fluffing hell!’
Under other circumstances, Flynn might have laughed: the sheer surrealness of the situation had struck him so many times since he’d first found out about Molly.
‘I don’t think I can’t do this! What will Nan say when she sees you here? Hold Esme while I find a tissue.’
Esme was bundled into his arms like a parcel while Molly dashed into the loo.
Flynn was left holding the baby in every way possible,and Molly’s comments about her nan hadn’t helped his own nerves either.
Molly dashed back into the sitting room with a bundle of loo roll just as Brenda’s key scraped the lock and the front door opened.
‘Hello! I’m home. What’s that damp smell? Bloody hell! What happened to the ceiling? Molly!’
Brenda entered the sitting room and stopped dead. Her mouth dropped open and she looked from Molly to Flynn and Esme as if they were ghosts.
‘Hello, Nan,’ Molly said. ‘This is Flynn. He’s my dad.’
Brenda sat on the sofa with Esme on her lap while Molly made her a mug of tea.
‘I don’t understand,’ she kept saying. ‘How come you’re working at the castle? Did you come to find us?’
‘No, Molly came to find me. She found out that I’d moved up here and decided she wanted to meet me. I appreciate it’s been a shock.’
‘A shock?’ She fanned herself. ‘I thought I was going to have a heart attack.’
‘You say that all the time, Nan, and you never do,’ Molly said, walking into the room with a tray.
‘It’s a wonder!’ Brenda declared.
‘Drink this. I put sugar in it. Yours too, and a drop of whisky in Nan’s,’ she said to Flynn, who’d perched on the chair. ‘Let me take Esme.’
