Chapter 36

A loud knock on the door startles us both. Our friends have taken to texting us so they don’t wake Milo by just turning up.

“Are you expecting a delivery?” I get up to answer the door.

“Not that I can remember.” Ivan shifts Milo from his shoulder to his arms.

The knocking on the door starts again. “Okay, okay. I’m coming.”

“That’s not the way you said that last night.” Ivan laughs.

I open the door. On the doorstep stands a slim, tall woman, probably in her early sixties, with a neat blonde bob and minimal make-up.

“Can I help you?”

“Yes, hello, are you Brodie? I’m Sarah Machin. I’m looking for my son. I believe he lives here.”

She has the same shade of hair and bright blue eyes as Ivan and Milo. “Oh, oh yes, sorry. He does. Do you want to come in?”

She gives me a tight but not unfriendly smile as if she’s holding back some serious emotions—anger, some disappointment, and plenty of confusion. I move to let her pass and close the door behind me. “Come through to the living room.”

Ivan steps into the hallway without Milo. “Who is it?” He stops dead in his tracks. “Mum? Um, what are you doing here? I mean, it’s lovely to see you, but how did you find out I was here?”

I cringe at the stammering, uncomfortable way he’s talking to her. I have a feeling he’s about to find out exactly how and why she’s here. And that’s because she’s found out about Milo, and it didn’t come from him. Should I go away and let them deal with this alone? But no, Ivan will need my support, at least for a little while. Once the fireworks have stopped, I can sneak off and leave them to it.

“Hmm, let me see. I learned about you and Brodie, moving into this lovely home, and the biggest kick in the gut was discovering I have a grandson, all from your social media posts. What’s going on, Ivan?”

Ivan’s shoulders droop, and he shakes his head. “I’m sorry, Mum. I kept meaning to tell you, but honestly, it’s been a bit of a shitshow. Not Brodie or living here. No, he’s amazing. But Milo and everything have been a shock to both of us.”

Ivan holds out his hand for me. I step up to his side and give his mum a more welcoming smile than I did a few minutes ago. “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs Machin. Ivan talks about you all the time.” I offer my hand, which she takes with a friendly smile.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Brodie, and please call me Sarah. Unfortunately, I know nothing about you because my son hasn’t called me lately.”

“Mum, come off it. You knew I’d met someone, someone important,” Ivan says indignantly, but he knows he’s the one at fault for all of it. Now he has to make up for it and share all his news. Before he can say anything else, Milo decides it’s time to wake up. And from the sound of his cry, he has a dirty nappy.

Sarah’s eyes snap to the other side of the room and the swing Milo loves to be in. “I didn’t believe it, Ivan. How can you have had a child and not told me? Where’s his mother? Did you adopt him?” She turns to me. “Is he yours?”

“Um, no.” I glance at Ivan, whose jaw is tight, the muscle in his cheek flexing as he tries to control his temper. “I’m going to get him cleaned up.”

I squeeze Ivan’s hand, lift Milo out of his swing chair, and cradle him to my chest. “Shall we get you all cleaned up, precious boy?” I hurry out of the room and to the nursery. I could use the living room, where we have everything we need, but I want to give them some space. Plus introducing her grandson to her when he’s poopy isn’t a great idea. While I change him, I tell him what a good boy he is. He gurgles away, waving his hands.

“You’re too damn cute.” I pick him up from the changing mat and snuggle him, inhaling the baby soap and fabric softener on his clothes. “Are you ready to meet your grandma?”

He gurgles again. “Yep, keep doing that, Milo, and she’s going to love you as much as I do. Yes, she is. You’re too beautiful not to love.”

As I walk back into the living room, the tension hasn’t faded. It’s not as much as before, but Ivan is still on the defensive. “Here he is, all yummy and clean.”

I hand him to Ivan, who immediately hugs him close to his chest. Sarah relaxes when she sees Milo. He tends to have that effect on everyone.

“Oh, Ivan, he looks just like you,” she says, a tremor in her voice. She’s desperate to take him, to hold him close. I can’t blame her. He is adorable.

“Yeah, I get that a lot. When I saw him, I had no doubts, and the DNA test confirmed I’m his dad. It was tough the first week. Neither of us slept more than a couple of hours at a time. He was confused and unhappy. He’d only known his foster parents, Simon and Rachel.”

“The poor darling.” She stretches her arms. “May I hold him?”

Ivan bites his lip. We haven’t let many people hold him. He looks at me, and I nod. “Um, yeah, okay. He may cry as he’s due a feed soon.”

“I can manage a little crying,” Sarah says, and when Ivan passes him to her, she sniffles. “Maybe it will be me who cries.”

She handles him like a pro, as if she’s been doing this recently, not more than thirty years ago. Milo gazes at her with his brilliant blue eyes, and when she strokes a finger down his cheek, he gives her one of his smiles. “What kind of woman does this to her child? Who was it, Ivan?”

“It doesn’t matter. She didn’t want him. I doubt she even held him.” Ivan’s voice is firm, closing the conversation before it starts.

We agreed not to talk about Kate. She left without even a hint of where she was. When Milo is old enough, we’ll tell him a diluted version but wait for the full story when he’s eligible for his trust money.

“Can you make us some coffee, babe?” Ivan asks me.

“Of course. I’ll make his bottle too.” I’ll do this for them, then leave them to it and go to Merrick. Since Milo got here, we’ve talked on the phone, but I haven’t seen him in a while. The kettle boils, and I use the French press for the coffee and grab some milk. I finish getting Milo’s bottle, put two mugs on a tray, and carry it all in.

“Aren’t you having any?” Ivan asks.

“No, I’m going to let you and your mum spend time with Milo. It was nice to meet you, Sarah. I hope we see you more often.”

“You don’t need to do that, babe.” Ivan stands and puts his hands on my shoulders. “Are you okay?”

“I am. I just think this is the moment for you and your mum to talk and spend time with our boy.”

He kisses me. “I love you.”