Page 86 of Calling Frank O'Hare

‘Ellen, you need to be doing these things.’

Her jaw clenched. ‘What are you implying? Has Stella said something?’

‘No. I’m worried that you might be a bit down. I think maybe it’s worth seeing a doctor.’

‘A bit down? How very patronising of you, Frank. I think you’ll find it’s called post-natal depression, if I were suffering from it that is. In actual fact there is nothing wrong with me. It’s the child that’s the problem. She’s so damn needy.’

‘She’s a baby. Babies need a lot of looking after. You can’t just ignore her. Before we know it, we’ll have the social services round here.’

Ellen’s face softened ‘You’re right. I’m sorry. I promise you I’m not depressed. I’m just bored. I need more than this.’

‘Okay. What about going back to work? Could Gavin help with that?’

‘You wouldn’t mind?’

‘Of course not. We’ll make it work.’ Frank was thinking of a childminder or nursery. Anything would be better than the care their baby was probably receiving now. ‘Or there is something else that might help, if there’s nothing forthcoming on the work front. I spotted a house for sale the other day that might be worth looking at. It needs doing up. It might be a good project for you to get your teeth into.’

56

A new neighbour and an old problem – 1997

The removals men brought in the last of the boxes. Frank cleared a space for a rug and put Robyn down on it. She was six months now. That’s how long it had taken to look at the house, buy it, and turn it into something Ellen thought suitable. He’d taken out a mortgage to buy it in his name. Ellen could have bought it outright but he’d insisted on it. If anything went wrong between them, he didn’t want to be left homeless. Not now that he had Robyn to think of. As a compromise, he’d allowed Ellen to spend her own money on the refurbishments. He didn’t ask how much it had cost but he guessed it probably wasn’t far off what they’d paid for the house.

He sat down on the rug next to Robyn. ‘What do you think of our new house, Baba? Isn’t Mummy clever?’ he said.

Ellen’s face lit up. ‘You like it then?’

‘Very much. You’ve made it into a lovely family home.’ He’d half-expected the place to be completely child unfriendly but it had turned out comfortable, cosy and very much for all three of them.

‘Come and have a look at the garden.’

Frank picked Robyn up and followed Ellen out through the kitchen. The last time he’d seen the garden it had been a dumping ground for everything that had been ripped out of the house. Now it was all clear, he could see the rolling lawn with mature fruit trees and borders. Those things had been there before, but Ellen had added a new patio and a play area for Robyn, when she was old enough.

‘You’ve made an excellent job of it, if I may say so.’ Their new neighbour, a little, round old lady was on the other side of the hedge. ‘Edith Pinsent. How do you do. Friends and neighbours generally call me Edie. Oh what a charming child.’

‘Thank you,’ said Frank. ‘This is Robyn. And we’re Frank and Ellen O’Hare.’

‘I hope you’ll be happy here. I say, do you like jam? Of course you do. Who doesn’t? Hang on a tick.’ Edith Pinsent scurried off, returning a few minutes later with a jar of homemade jam. ‘I only made it yesterday. Please consider it a welcome gift. Anything you need, don’t hesitate to pop round. Can’t stop. Things to do.’

‘I think our new neighbour may be a little eccentric,’ said Frank.

‘She seems rather nice though,’ said Ellen.

Frank parked up on his new drive. He still couldn’t believe he was a man with a drive now. He was also a man who was back at work after the long summer break. The start of term had been a week ago and he’d just about got back into the habit of the school routine. He had some prep work to do for tomorrow’s lessons but he’d save that until after they put Robyn to bed. Before she was born, he’d do that work in school and then come home but these days, he got back as quickly as he could.

His parents had come over for a week in the holidays to spend some time with their new granddaughter and to see the house. Da had been very impressed by the decorating but Ma had let on that he’d been a bit hurt Frank hadn’t asked him to do it. Frank had to make some excuse about not wanting to eat into Da’s time. He didn’t want to say that neither Ellen nor he had considered it.

The house was silent and empty. He was about to call Adrian and Stella to see if Ellen was visiting them when there was a knock at the door. It was Edie with Robyn perched on her hip. Considering she didn’t have children, she looked quite well practised. ‘Hello, Frank. Ellen asked me to have Robyn. An emergency dash to London apparently. She said she’d call this evening.’

‘Ah! She has a brother in London and parents in Surrey. Hopefully, nothing bad.’

‘Yes indeed. Come along my dear. Time to go to Daddy.’ She kissed Robyn’s cheek and passed her over to Frank. ‘She’ll be wanting her usual feed in an hour.’

‘That’s very kind of you, Edie. Thank you. I’m so sorry for the inconvenience.’

‘Nonsense. I adore this little cherub. Couldn’t be happier when spending time with her, and she loves the dogs. I’m around all day tomorrow, if you need a babysitter. I’m usually up at six, so any time after then. Cheerio.’

Frank closed the door and checked Robyn’s nappy. It was dry. She looked clean and perfectly happy. Aside from some embarrassment on his part, no harm had been done, but where the hell was Ellen?

---