My wife and I were astounded! Fifty-year-old Rebecca recounted. What that young man did, letting her carry the pregnancy aloneits not a fairytale one tells, there are just no words… He sent her off to get an abortion, and threw her out of the flat they were renting. Told everyone the child wasnt hisa proper scandal. My nerves are shot, honestly!
I nodded, trying to understand. Towards the end, a few weeks before the birth, he seemed to have calmed down a bit. I heard he rang Alice and spoke normally, asked about her health, how the baby was, who it might look like, when it was due. But he never once came round while she was living with us; he didnt buy a single hat for the baby, not even an apple for Alice
Then, on Thursday, I got a grandson! Tomorrow theyll be discharged from hospital. My wife and daughter told me that Robert was coming to fetch them from there. We were utterly bewilderedafter everything, after the whole ordeal…
Well perhaps hes on the path to redemption? Is it worth giving him another chance? I dont know where hes off to, but neither I nor Alices father are for it. As I told you, he showed no support throughout the pregnancy. Where is he taking her and the baby? Alice says hes rented a one-bedroom flat Ridiculous, taking a newborn to some anonymous bed-and-breakfast, not even in London, but in some obscure town! Alices father saidif that wretch turns up at check-up, well turn around and leave, and she can carry on living as she sees fit…
Alice, Rebecca and her husbands daughter, is twenty-six. A lovely girl, a dear childtheir only one. About eighteen months ago, Alice started seeing Robert, who her parents didnt much care for.
He never got proper qualificationswent to school, but, according to him, just didnt bother to sit for his A-levels. Rebecca suspects he didnt pass his GCSEs either, but he wont say as much, so as not to seem a fool.
Robert works as a porter for a furniture company, hoping to earn decent money. For someone without a stitch of education, hes doing relatively well. His official wage is a joke, but most of his income comes from odd jobs and tips. Someone orders new furniture, he and the lads deliver it, and are often asked to dismantle the old stuff and cart it away. Sometimes the old bits are still quite decentcould be sold, the owners dont care: Take it, do whatever you like.
He manages, scrapes by, and somehow makes ends meet.
Alice has a university degree, works in marketing, was at a respectable advertising agency before maternity leavebusiness suits, high heels, mixing with similarly polished men. And then, out of nowhere, Robert crossed her path. Some piece of furniture arrived at her office, or something like thatand thats how they met.
They began living together, against all the odds! Rebecca tells me. All her friends were shocked, no one truly understood, I suppose.
Then, suddenly, Alice fell pregnant. Robert stubbornly refused to marry her, and for nearly nine months, drove the entire family up the wall. Alice returned to her parents, and preparations for the baby began. They refurbished Alices old room, bought bits and pieces for the baby, paid for a good birth at a private clinic.
And now hes turned up, wagging his fingerand everything weve done seems meaningless! Rebecca was near tears. Alices ready to leave us and go with him, into some unknown flat with the baby. Is this what good parents should dojust let her go and wish her happiness? Should we wait for the next time she comes home in tears, slippers in hand? And you know its bound to happen, sooner or later!
Do you think its right to give your daughter an ultimatum: If he comes, were out? Is it right to stand by your child, whatever their decision? Shes chosen to forgive and give her husband another chance, so thats that?
Or should the parents be understood?
