Something Else

Chapter 11 - Sorting Out

He shrugged his shoulders. 'I dunno, maybe I realise what a good thing we had at one time. Maybe I feel it's time to settle down a bit and make some kind of commitment.'

' ... And the baby?'

Lee gazed down at his hands for a moment, clasping them together in his lap, looking very much like a little boy suddenly, and then he slowly nodded. 'Yeah, I was a bastard to you the other night when I tried to say it was Pete's. But to be honest with you, it scared the shit out of me. I've never thought about being a father before, and like you, I should have thought about it before going off at you like I did.'
'And you're quite happy about this decision you've made?'
'More than happy.'

Claire had to fight back the tears as she threw her arms around his neck.

'So, do you think we can make a better go of it this time?'

'Oh yes, Lee, yes, I know we can!'

Lee held onto her as she cuddled into him.

'You'll never know how bad it's been for me since we split up. It's been a nightmare!' She let go of him and looked at him squarely in the face. 'God, I love you. I'm going to make you so happy, you see!'

Lee smiled. 'Well, all we have to do now is set a date, and I think we should do it soon. I know you'll want a proper church thing, and the last thing I want you doing is walking down that aisle looking six months pregnant.'

Claire felt triumphant! She'd done it! And how she had done it! It had turned out far better than she'd ever expected! She, Claire Warner, was going to become Mrs Lee Stevens! All her dreams had come true! Whoever would have believed it!

'Can we tell everyone?' she then asked excitedly.
Lee felt sick in the pit of his stomach, visualising with ease the general reaction. 'Yeah, of course,' he managed to say, smiling. 'But there's just one thing. However much you want a church wedding, and however much I respect that, I'd prefer we made it mates only.'
Claire frowned questioningly. 'Mates only?'
'Yup. No relatives.'
'But why?'

'Well, you know none of mine will be able to come out for it – not at such short notice anyway, and you know what yours think of me. It's all I'm asking, Claire. The rest of the arrangements are yours.'
Claire wasn't certain she liked that idea. How would her parents feel about being left out of their only daughter's wedding plans? It was a big ask. ' ... I haven't actually had the guts to tell them I'm pregnant yet,' she then admitted, thinking very seriously about what he'd said. 'I've been kind of too scared to.'

She thought about how they'd react to that in itself, let alone a shotgun wedding. They might even try to stop it, knowing how they did, in fact, feel about Lee. The thought of getting that gold band on her finger fast and without any interference from her family, brought her round to his way of thinking pretty damn quickly, and she nodded. 'Yeah, you're right. They don't have to know about it straight away. It'd cause all sorts of trouble.

We could go to see them afterwards and tell them we got married on the spur of the moment – surprise them, and then tell them about the baby.'

Nothing was going to stand in her way now she'd got this far – especially her parents, and she found herself nodding more vigorously. 'Yes - we'll do it without them. We'll have way more fun with just our mates anyway.'
With that settled, she examined her ring again and slid it off her finger. 'Go on. Put it on for me - that's how they do it in the movies, isn't it!'

Lee took it from her and placed it on her ring finger, knowing that the appropriate words at this point should have been, I love you, but his mind was elsewhere. They were three little words she'd never hear him say!
Much to the delight of the rowdy onlookers, Rat had managed to get Deb's knickers off.
'Christ!' exclaimed Claire, as they walked back into the room.

Debs was sitting on the floor trying to get up, modestly hanging on to the hem of her short skirt, while Rat, with her knickers between his teeth, had started to remove his own shorts and undies.
'Come on,' Claire said to Lee, 'let's tell 'em now - at least it'll save Debs.'
'No, they're having a laugh!' he said, wondering if Rat would really throw one up Debs in front of everyone. 'Let's see what happens.'

But Claire didn't want to and frowned, taking him by the hand and began pulling him through the room to the CD player. 'Hey, guess what, everybody...' she announced, turning the music down a notch or two. But it fell on deaf ears - they were all too engrossed with what was going on before their very eyes.
Claire looked at Lee for support and, reluctantly, he pressed the pause button, killing the music stone dead.

'Hey!' protested Dave, swinging round to see who had annihilated his beloved Carter.
Debs was grateful, and in the split second their attention had been diverted, she ripped her knickers from between Rat's teeth and shot from the room, taking refuge in the bathroom until she'd got them back on again.
'What's the story?' asked Dave, looking decidedly pissed off.
'Tell 'em, Lee,' said Claire, all smiles.

His smile didn't come as naturally as hers, 'no, you tell 'em.'
Claire beamed as she held her hand up to show them her engagement ring. 'Guess what! We're getting married!'
At first, no one said a thing, and a few eyes darted in Lee's direction, showing clearly that an explanation was in order, when Bob tactfully broke the silence by throwing up a cheer. 'Yeah! Celebration!'
It wasn't long before a few others joined in, grabbing some bottles of beer and emptying them into a football trophy Billy had on top of the TV.

'Hey, that's great news!' squealed Debs, rushing from the bathroom to congratulate her.
Dave glanced around, spotting a couple of other questioning faces as Bob continued to help Lee out of something that looked like an awkward situation.
'Here, knock that back!' he said, handing Lee the trophy.
Another cheer went up as he began to gulp down the beer.
'Skull! Skull! Skull! Skull!' they chanted.

He managed to skull at least three-quarters of the beer before having to take a breather and let out an almighty loud burp.
Bob threw in a couple more beers, then passed it around the boys.
'Huh, no wonder you knocked me back the other week,' commented Gayle, under her breath as she nudged Lee aside to get past.
He grinned as he took charge of the brandy bottle. 'It's never too late, Gayle love. We're not married yet.'
'Get lost,' she replied sourly. 'Claire's my mate.'
'Didn't seem to worry you before.'
'You'd split up then.'
Lee shrugged his shoulders and wandered off to the bathroom swigging from the bottle, then closing the door behind him, he sat down on the side of the bath and had a good laugh.