Free Home Truths by Freya North

between the master upholsterer and the tooth fairy,’ Zac said.
    ‘The tooth fairy never paid cash,’ Pip bemoaned.
    ‘Can I have some money?’ a flushed and rather breathless Tom jogged over to ask. ‘I'd like to buy the guys a juice. They're 50p each. I need about £2.’
    Pip looked over to where the other three boys were loitering by a spectacular G Scale display. ‘They seem nice,’ she said, ‘nice guys.’
    ‘They are,’ said Tom proudly. ‘They're coming againtomorrow. It's the last day of the show. There's a prize draw. A model of Lampton Tank. Can we come again too?’
    ‘Sure,’ Zac told Tom, and Pip took a deep breath. Hadn't they planned to take Tom to Tate Modern and then have lunch with Cat and Ben? Yes, father and son hadn't had a whole weekend together for three weeks but Tom had met Cat only a handful of times over the last four years. However, watching Tom belt off to buy refreshments for his steam gang, Pip let her breath and the objection go. He was a sweet, sweet boy.
    Again, the pang confronted Pip and she shuddered. Zac sensed it. ‘Pip?’
    ‘Do you think Tom minds?’ she asked Zac. ‘I mean, do you think he ever minds being an only child?’
    Zac looked at Pip and frowned into thought. ‘I don't think so,’ he said at length, ‘I mean, He's never mentioned it. He has plenty of pals and He's thick as thieves with his first cousin.’
    ‘I know,’ Pip rushed, ‘I just meant. I was just thinking about my sisters. Our closeness. I read a lovely saying the other day – Vietnamese, I think. Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet .’
    Zac kissed Pip. ‘Well, worry no more,’ he said, ‘because Tom isn't to be an only child for much longer. I mean, he may be our only child, but He's soon to have a sibling. June is pregnant. She told me this morning when I picked Tom up. He doesn't know yet – June wants to wait till the tests are all-clear. Rob asked me if we'd mind having Tom an extra night now and then while June is feeling ropy.’
    Pip was dumbstruck, felt flushed and suddenly light-headed.
    ‘Are you sure You're OK?’ Zac pressed. ‘You look a little odd, Mrs.’
    ‘I'm fine. Good for June. Great news. I'll call her later.Odd, though,’ Pip said, though she was aware that her thoughts were unreliably half-formed and should stay silent until worked through, ‘odd that Tom's being was the result of two friends getting drunk, feeling horny and being careless – yet his half sibling has been meticulously planned. I wonder how he'll feel about that later on.’
    Zac stopped. ‘What a weird take on it all, Pip,’ he murmured.
    Pip shrugged. ‘I used to wonder if I was planned, you see,’ she said. ‘I used to presume that I wasn't planned – because that meant my mother had some kind of excuse for buggering off.’ Pip linked arms with Zac. ‘But then I think of Fen and Cat and my theory goes out the window. No one could be that careless.’
    Zac slipped his hand into the back pocket of Pip's jeans and gave her buttock a light feel. ‘Well, I'm pleased for June and Rob. And I'm made up for Tom.’
    ‘Me too,’ Pip said, ‘me too.’ But she turned away from Zac to conceal the prickle of tears, feigning interest in a Hornby set-up, while trying to figure out the provenance of these tears. And whether they were happy or sad.
    Cosima was fed orange food, entertained, fed more orange food, played with, bathed, given some bosom, sung to, cuddled, cuddled some more and placed gently in her cot where She'd promptly fallen into a blissful sleep with the revolving night light and an Elvis for Babies CD playing softly.
    ‘Perfect perfect baby,’ Fen thought to herself as she padded out of the room. ‘Bloody awful day.’
    She went to the bathroom and tidied up, catching sight of herself in the mirror.
    ‘Yuk. You haggard old bag.’
    With a rubber duck in one hand and a Miffy flannel inthe other, she peered closer at her reflection. Sallow and saggy, limp