The Heartbreak Factor - Part Four

Chapter Fourteen.

Sat on the park bench with mum, I sipped on my coffee as I looked at Katy, sleeping in her pushchair as the breeze rushed past us. The sound of children playing in the play area covered the sound of the cars rushing into London on the road next to the park. The September sunshine shone down as I continued to watch Katy sleeping, making her light brown hair look blonde. 

"She's beautiful," mum beamed as she also watched Katy sleeping peacefully. 

I nodded in agreement. "She's perfect."

"I am proud of you," mum smiled to me, putting her hand on my leg and squeezing it gently. "I'm proud of both you and George, and I'm proud of Katy. I'm lucky to have you three as my family." 

"Not as lucky as we are to have you in our family," I grinned. 

"I'm serious, honey," mum said. "I'm so proud of you. You've grown into this amazing young woman with a beautiful baby girl and now you're gonna make an amazing wife."

"That's if we even make it down the aisle this time," I joked.

"You will," mum smiled reassuringly. "Last time you had things to deal with.."

"Like Rio," I interrupted.

"Like Rio," mum said. "But nothing is going to ruin this as it's gonna be yours and George's big day and nobody will let anything get in between you two."

"Mum," I paused.

"What?"

"How did you know that dad was the one you wanted to spend the rest of your life with?" I asked. 

Mum looked at me and smiled. "Honey, it's just one of those things that you know when it happens." I nodded as she moved a strand of hair from out of my face. "Before your dad died, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with your dad within a month of meeting him. You know the story of how I met your dad, don't you?" she asked.

"No," I smiled. "Tell me."

Mum looked at the coffee that I was holding in my hands. "Let's go get another coffee."

I could tell with the look on my mum's face that she was a bit hesitant to discuss my dad with me as she usually did, but I reluctantly agreed to go get another coffee. 

*

Sitting down at a table at the front of the coffee shop, I stirred my latte as mum gave Katy her bottle. I couldn't help but notice mum's smile on her face as she grinned down at Katy, who was sat on her lap, suckling at the bottle in a sleepy manner. Her eyelids gently got heavier and heavier until she fell asleep, still with the bottle in her mouth. 

"You used to do that all the time," mum smiled, looking up at me as she removed the bottle from Katy's mouth. "You used to fall asleep on the potty too."

"Mum!"

"What?" she laughed. "I remember this one time I came home to see you and your dad flat out on the sofa with the football playing away to itself on the TV. You were forever falling asleep with your dad during football."

"It's boring," I grinned. "Can you blame me?"

"Better you than me, sweetie."

"So mum, how did you and dad meet?" I asked.

Mum smiled at me as she placed Katy back down in her pushchair, carefully making sure that she didn't wake her up with sudden movements. As soon as Katy was back in her pushchair, still fast asleep, mum looked at me and took a sip from her coffee. "I first met your dad at high school. We were in the same English class and our teacher had that strict rule of girl-boy seating. Luckily, I was sat next to your dad and we got on really well. We soon became best friends," mum began, smiling into her coffee as she reminisced. 

"Best friends," I grinned.

"I had a crush on your dad from the first time I met him but I didn't want it to ruin our friendship as he was my best friend. His mum didn't like me much," mum continued.

"Why?" I asked. 

"I don't know, honey," mum said, smiling a half-hearted smile at me. "She never gave a reason why she didn't like me, she just did. I suppose it was probably that I was spending so much time with her little boy."

"Didn't she put dad up for adoption when he was three though?" I asked. 

Mum nodded. "But she had her reasons, Sammy."

I rolled my eyes. "There's no reason for abandoning your child."

"Anyway," mum laughed. "Me and your dad only got together properly on the last day of high school. Your dad wrote me a letter and stuffed it in my locker. I remember it word for word - it wasn't long but it was the most sweetest thing I have ever read in my whole life. Dear my beautiful Jenny. I don't know how to say this. I don't suppose there is ever gonna be an easy way to say this but today seems like the perfect time to tell you. I love you, Jennifer. I always have and I always will. Some may say we're too young to know about love but I know love when I look at you. You're the most beautiful girl I have ever seen and you're my amazing best friend. Kevin."

Listening to mum and my dad's love story made my heart melt. I never really think about mum being a teenager once. She's always been young in comparison to all my friends' mums as she had me at eighteen but I never really think about her being my age once without responsibilities. I sat smiling at mum over my coffee. "That's so romantic."

"Your dad was," mum beamed. "He was the love of my life." 

"What about Michael?" I asked.

"Michael is the love of my later life," mum smiled. "He understands that I'll always love your dad. He gave me you and for that, I'm forever grateful. I lost your dad before we had chance to even start our lives together properly. Sammy, trust me though. When you find the one, you will know and when you know you’ve found that one person that you wanna spend the rest of your life with, don’t you ever let them go because when they’re gone, your world will shatter around you. I’ve been lucky enough to rebuild my life, but my life without your dad will never be the same.”

I stood up and walked around the table. "I love you, mum," I grinned, giving her a huge hug.

"And I love you too!"