“Honestly, do I look like a grandma to you? Im only fifty-something. Am I really that old?” she grumbled, setting a bowl of soup and a bread basket on the table.
“Gran, put something on the table already. Im starving,” Michael announced as he walked in, hanging his dusty cap on the hook.
Tanya scowled.
“Honestly, do I look like a grandma to you? Im only fifty-something. Am I really that old?” she muttered again, arranging the dishes.
Michael washed his hands and gave her a playful smack on the backside as he passed by.
“Well, what else would you be? Youve got a two-year-old granddaughterthat makes you a gran. And Im a grandad, proud of it,” he chuckled, slurping his hot soup.
“Fine, call me that at home, but not in public. Yesterday at the shop, you shouted, ‘Gran, your wellies are here!’ Do you have any idea how embarrassing that was? Everyone burst out laughing behind my back.”
Michael snorted.
“They werent laughing at youthey were laughing at old Mr. Thompson. He dropped his change and made such a fuss, youd think he was about to get on his knees and scrape it off the floor.”
Tanya smirked.
“So thats why you bought him another round?”
Michael shrugged between spoonfuls.
“Felt sorry for him.”
Tanya rolled her eyes.
“Thats why you never have any money left. Too soft for your own good.”
After dinner, as Tanya cleared the table, she hesitated before speaking.
“Mike, theres something you should know. Anthonys comingand it sounds like hes not alone.”
Her husbands mood soured instantly.
“What does he want here? Remember what he said last time? ‘Get lost, youre nothing to me.’ Left poor Nadia right outside the registry office and drove off. Turns out shed met up with his mate before the wedding. The poor girl was in tears, swearing it was just about a cassette tape. But no, Mr. High-and-Mighty wouldnt listen. And now hes dragging someone alongprobably some posh city girl to wait on him hand and foot. Call him, text him, do what you like, but I dont want to see him.”
Tanya lowered her head guiltily.
“Im sorry, but theyll be here by tonight”
Michael slammed the door on his way out, muttering,
“Fine, deal with them yourself then.”
Tanya sighed as she watched him leave. Stubborn as a mule, all because of that Nadia. When Anthony announced he was marrying her, something hadnt sat right. She seemed polite, but there was a falseness about her. After the big row, Anthony left, and Nadia didnt waste time cryingshe married that very friend of his not long after. Where theres smoke, theres fire.
Tanya slid a pie into the oven. Mike would sulk, but hed come around. Shed missed her eldest son terribly these past eight years. Their daughter visited often, living close by, but Anthonyher firstbornhad taken a piece of her heart with him. She just hoped hed stay awhile and that he and his father wouldnt clash again.
Anthony arrived just as Tanya had given up waiting. Michael had spent the evening needling her.
“Keep staring out that window, youll wear a hole in it,” he teased.
“Anthony, love!” Tanya rushed to hug him, tears in her eyes. “Look at youjust like your father.” Then she noticed the little girl clutching a backpack.
“Oh! And whos this? Whats your name?” Tanya bent down.
The girl offered a small hand. “Im Katie. Who are you?”
Tanya straightened, glancing at her son. Who *was* she to her, really?
Anthony set his bags by the door and sank into a chair.
“Mum, meet Katie. My wife Olivias daughter.”
Tanya beamed and crouched again. “Call me Granny Tanya. Youre my granddaughter now.”
Katie looked at Anthony. “Uncle Tony, is that true? Is this lady really my grandma?”
He nodded wearily. “Yeah.”
Katie hugged Tanya politely. “Hello, Granny.”
Just then, Michael walked in.
“Hold onwhats this ‘Uncle Tony’ business? And since when do we have a granddaughter?”
Anthony stood and offered a hand. “Hello, Dad. And Im sorry about our last conversation. I was young. Didnt know how the world really worked.”
Michael smirked. “And now youve figured it out?”
Anthony sighed. “More than Id like.”
His father pulled him into a rough embrace. “Then welcome home, son.” Both men blinked back tears.
Tanya exhaled in relief. Theyd made peace.
Later, after Katie was asleep, Anthony explained everything.
“When I left, I was furious. There were things you didnt know, and I didnt want to shame Nadia. That night, I went to say goodnightlike an idiotand caught her with Vicky in the bushes. I wanted to teach him a lesson, but Nadia screamed that she loved him. So I walked away.”
Hed gone to London, crashing with his mate Paul until his money ran out. A security job at a supermarket led him to Oliviasmall, thin, working the till. One day, a customer yelled at her over change, and she fled to the stockroom in tears. Anthony found her there.
“Want me to sort him out?”
Shed smiled weakly. “If you did that for every rude customer, wed have no business left.”
“So why cry? Shouldnt you be used to it?”
“Its not that. My landlords evicting me and Katie. Nowhere to go.”
He asked how old her daughter was. Three, Olivia said proudly, showing a photo. A neighbor watched her during shifts, but she was moving away. Payday was a week off.
Anthony hadnt fallen for hernot then. He just pitied her. Some cad had left her with a child, and she was too trusting. So he offered his rented room. She hesitated but finally agreed.
They lived like flatmates at first. She cooked; he babysat while she worked. Katie was quiet, seriousnothing like Olivia. Six months in, they became a proper family.
Two years ago, Olivia fell ill. They fought hard, but she died six months back. A month before, Anthony adopted Katie so she wouldnt end up in care. She still called him “Uncle Tony.”
Olivia had been brutally honesther real father had abandoned them. Theyd fought over it, not speaking for a week until she explained: shed grown up in foster care, never knowing. At eighteen, she was swindled out of her council flat. After that, she vowed always to tell the truth.
Now, Anthony needed help. Paul had found him well-paid work, but he couldnt take Katie.
“Could you look after her while Im away? Just until Im settled?”
Tanya and Michael exchanged glances.
“Of course,” they said together. “But stay a week firstlet her get used to us.”
Katie slowly warmed to them, feeding chickens and “helping” Tanya. She was shy with Grandad Mike until he brought home a giant teddy bear.
“Now Ive got Grandad Mike *and* Teddy Michael!” she cheered.
When their daughter visited with her baby, Katie was the best little helper. And when Anthony returned three months later, she was the first to spot him.
“Grandad! Granny! Dads home!” She sprinted into his arms.
The adults wept. Katie had found her real family at last.
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