Please Don’t Take My Baby and I Miss Mummy 2-in-1 Collection. Cathy Glass

so you can come down now and talk to them. They don’t bite.’

      Adrian and Paula made no move to do as I asked. ‘Now, please,’ I said more firmly.

      Paula pulled a face but they both stood. Then, without their usual enthusiasm for spending time with new children, they followed me downstairs and into the sitting room. ‘Adrian and Paula have come to join you,’ I said brightly as we went in.

      Tyler and Jade looked at them blankly and Adrian and Paula looked back equally blankly. Usually when we fostered younger children Adrian and Paula suggested games or activities to ‘break the ice’ and make the children feel welcome, but I realized that they now felt a bit intimated and shy.

      ‘Perhaps you’d all like a game of Sunken Treasure?’ I suggested. ‘It’s a game for all ages.’

      ‘What’s Sunken Treasure?’ Tyler asked, reasonably enthusiastically.

      Seeing Tyler’s interest Adrian said: ‘I’ll get it from the cupboard.’

      ‘Thank you,’ I said.

      Adrian went to the cupboard in the conservatory containing toys and games and returned with the large boxed game, which he set on the coffee table in front of Jade and Tyler.

      ‘Cor, that looks good,’ Tyler said, taking off the lid and peering in. ‘We ain’t got nothing like that at my house.’

      Encouraged by Tyler’s enthusiasm and easy manner, Adrian and Paula pulled up a stool each as Tyler began removing the contents from the box: the board on which the game was played, showing brightly coloured underwater scenes in 3-D, a dice, shaker, various galleon boats and little treasure chests containing gold, sliver and pearls.

      Jade shuffled to the edge of the sofa so that she too could see.

      ‘How do you play?’ Tyler asked.

      ‘You all choose a galleon,’ I said, picking up one of the little boats. ‘Then you take turns to shake the dice and move the galleon around the board, like this. If it stops over the treasure chest, the chest rises from the bottom of the ocean and attaches itself to your boat.’

      ‘Wow! How does it do that?’ Tyler asked, the little boy in him surfacing.

      ‘There’s a small magnet at the base of the boat,’ I said, turning over one of the boats to show him. ‘And another magnet in the treasure chest.’ I opened one of the chests and pointed it out. ‘Magnets attract.’

      ‘That’s cool,’ Tyler said, impressed.

      ‘The person who has the most treasure wins,’ I said. ‘But you have to watch out for the killer sharks and giant octopus; they eat you and your treasure.’ I pointed to the little models of open-mouthed sharks with rows of vicious teeth and giant octopuses with long, thick tentacles. ‘Adrian will explain the rules while I make dinner.’

      Feeling the ice had been broken, I left the four of them grouped around the game while I went into the kitchen to cook the spaghetti and heat the bolognese sauce. Toscha, our cat, miaowed; her dinner was late too and I fed her before turning my attention to ours.

      My first impression of Jade and Tyler was that, while pleasant, they were young and immature and would struggle to cope with a baby. I didn’t know what involvement Tyler intended to have with his child but realistically – given that he was sixteen and still at school – he wouldn’t be able to offer much in the way of support. Whether or not Jade could cope alone with a baby remained to be seen and that wasn’t really any concern of mine. My role was to see Jade through the next month, after which she would go to a mother-and-baby placement.

      I thought it wouldn’t be long before Adrian and Paula felt more at ease around Jade (and Tyler) and vice versa. Excited voices soon rose from the sitting room as sunken treasure was found and then lost, which seemed to confirm my optimism for them all getting along. But as I lowered the spaghetti into the pan of boiling water, Tyler’s voice rose above the others: ‘Fuck no! It fell off. That’s not fucking fair!’

       Chapter Four

       First Evening

      Leaving the spaghetti boiling in the pan, I left the kitchen and met Paula who was coming out of the sitting room and on her way to me.

      ‘Mum, that big boy swore,’ she whispered, clearly worried.

      ‘I know, I heard,’ I said. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll deal with it.’

      While swearing might be acceptable in Tyler’s house and with his friends, it wasn’t acceptable in my house in front of Adrian and Paula. I knew from previous experience – with other children I’d fostered – that if I didn’t stop the swearing now it would escalate. And although Tyler wasn’t a child I was fostering I had a feeling we’d be seeing a lot of him, so I needed to put in place the ground rules straightaway.

      As I entered the sitting room Adrian looked up at me anxiously, aware the words Tyler had used weren’t acceptable, while Jade and Tyler were concentrating on and enjoying the game. Indeed, having got over whatever it was he thought was unfair, Tyler was happily telling Jade to hurry up, as it was her turn.

      ‘Er … Tyler,’ I said, taking a few steps into the room. ‘Please don’t swear. There are children present.’

      ‘Yeah, sure,’ he said amicably. ‘Sorry.’

      I smiled reassuringly at Adrian and Paula who, relieved that the matter had been dealt with so easily, returned to the game.

      I returned to the kitchen and ten minutes later called everyone to come, as dinner was ready. They must have been very hungry, for they didn’t protest at having to break off from their game, which wasn’t finished. I could see Paula was tired and 7.30 was late for her to be eating, so as soon as we’d eaten I would take her upstairs for her wash and to bed. Once everyone was at the table I served the meal. When Jade was seated at the dining table her bump was even more emphasized, as it stopped her from getting close to the table. I could see Adrian and Paula stealing surreptitious glances at her as we ate and I knew that certainly Paula would have questions later about bumps and babies.

      The first few meals – and indeed the first few days after a new child arrives – are often a little strained, with everyone reserved and not saying much. However, this wasn’t true of that evening, thanks to Tyler, who seemed very relaxed and at home and led the conversation. He began by saying how nice the spaghetti bolognese was, which immediately won him a place in my heart, and then between mouthfuls he talked easily to Adrian and Paula, so that after a while I asked him: ‘Do you have brothers or sisters? You’re good with children.’

      ‘Yeah, two,’ Tyler said, sucking a long piece of spaghetti into his mouth until it disappeared with a loud plop, making Adrian and Paula laugh. ‘I’ve got a brother and sister, younger than me. They’re great kids. I love them and me mum. She’s made a lot of sacrifices to bring us up and I’m grateful.’ Which I thought was a lovely thing to say, especially coming from a teenage boy. Tyler also said he didn’t see much of his dad, as he only appeared a few times a year – when he wanted a loan from his mum. So he didn’t really know him and he hadn’t been a ‘proper dad’.

      ‘That’s why I’m gonna make sure I’m there for my kid,’ Tyler continued. ‘I want my kid to have a proper dad. I’m gonna to do all the things dads should do and see my kid behaves proper as well.’ Highly commendable, I thought, although I did wonder how he was going to achieve this in practice, given that he was at school and didn’t have a job or home of his own.

      ‘Does your dad live with you?’ Tyler then asked Adrian and Paula.

      Adrian shook his head and looked embarrassed, while Paula looked at me to explain, as she usually did when her father was mentioned.

      ‘Sadly he doesn’t live with