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It was all Viv could do not to roll her eyes when Geraldine walked into the preschool room and stood beside her. Sorscha and Chloe were both occupied doing handover with other parents, one who was fretting about her toddler’s first day in the preschool room and the other who was having a conversation at Sorscha that the Irishwoman looked bored to tears of, so Viv wasn’t about to be spared the small talk.
“Hi, Geraldine.” She swallowed. “Nice weekend?”
“Oh, yes, it was lovely, thank you. Henry was with his dad so Roger took me away for the night.”
“Oh, really?” Viv managed not to let her face twist with disgust the way she wanted to, and forced a smile through gritted teeth. “I hope it was nice. You deserved a break after that graduation you put on. It was really brilliant, you did a great job.”
“Thank you.” Geraldine seemed slightly shocked by the compliment, probably because it was the first Viv could remember paying her.
There was a moment of silence, and Viv scratched the back of her neck before just deciding to come out with it. “So, uh, things with Roger going well then?” She winced, knowing exactly how Geraldine and Siobhan’s conversation on the subject had gone down. Bon had completely disassociated afterwards, had come home and barely spoken all evening until she’d had a break down and everything had come flooding out after Viv had tapped her on the shoulder to indicate it was probably time they went to bed.
“Oh, so well.” Geraldine said. “He really is the nicest man. Not that you probably would have heard anything like that given your choice in partner.”
Viv did her best to bite her tongue, but it clearly wasn’t good enough. “What do you mean by that?”
“Nothing.” Geraldine looked her up and down skeptically. “Just that the woman he left at the alter probably won’t have the most positive things to say about him. You know, that probably tainted the whole relationship for her, poor thing.”
“Well, you’re right on one count, at least.” Viv muttered to herself. “Out of interest, did Roger tell you he left her at the alter?”
“Yes, because that’s what happened.” Geraldine said as if it was obvious. “He left her because he found out the two of you were having an affair. He does feel sorry about the way that it happened, he knows he probably should have handled it a little more discreetly and he is sorry for embarrassing her in front of everyone, but I think she’s overreacting being this bitter about the whole thing. She moved on, why can’t he?”
“Not exactly the way I remember it going down. But what do I know? Not like I was there or anything.” Viv sighed, trying not to roll her eyes. “Has, uh, has Henry met him yet?”
“No, not really. My ex is being really difficult about it. Can you believe it? He says he will sue for full custody if I introduce anyone to Henry in the first six months of dating. Total overreaction if you ask me. But anyway, he is Henry’s father, and obviously it’s very important that boys have good relationships with their fathers.” She looked pointedly at Viv. “So, no, Henry has not been introduced to Roger as my boyfriend yet, but he has obviously met him as owner of the nursery.”
The way Geraldine was talking about her ex sparked an idea in Viv. “I don’t know, I kind of agree with your ex on this one.” She said.
“You do? But wasn’t Siobhan living with you pretty much as soon as Roger dumped her?” Geraldine asked.
“Yeah, she did move in straight away, but the alternative was her being homeless and we’d been talking for months before then.” Viv defended. “I will say, I can understand why he’d think it was, but even though our relationship was not the full blown affair that Roger seems to have told you it was, we did know each other really well by that point. So, yeah, I do think it’s sensible to wait a little while before introducing a child to a new partner. With Siobhan I even did all the police checks you can do on a new partner when introducing her and Jamie.”
“Seriously? Even though she works here? Seems like overkill.” Viv ignored the face Geraldine pulled.
“Oh yeah, it was actually her idea as well.” She nodded. “Obviously she did come and stay with us quite suddenly, but for those first few days I never left her and Jamie alone together because I was so uneasy as a result of everything that happened with Jamie’s dad. I mean, I knew I was being ridiculous but I still wouldn’t even leave them to go into the next room, I was that anxious about it. Bon realised I wasn’t comfortable, so she told me to do the checks for my own peace of mind.”
“Really?” Geraldine’s eyes widened.
“Really. Obviously nothing came up, but it was actually a good experience and something I’d really recommend doing for any new partner, no matter what you think about them.” Viv stressed. “Especially if there are kids involved. The peace of mind that a clean result gave me was a hundred percent worth the couple of hours it took to get it done.”
“Oh.”
“Seriously Geraldine, go and request a check under Clare’s law. I honestly think they should be mandatory for any relationship.” Viv told her. “It doesn’t take that long and it is so worth it. The police station in town is where I got mine done and they were brilliant.”
“But, what if Roger gets funny about it?” Geraldine asked after a moment. “I mean, to him it must feel like I’m accusing him of something that he would never do?”
“Why would he care if he’s got nothing to hide? Surely, if he has a problem with you doing the check, that’s a red flag in itself?” Viv asked. “Look, if you are worried about upsetting him, he doesn’t have to know. The police aren’t going to alert him the checks have been requested, and if it’s only for your peace of mind then what’s the harm in asking? You will only be told things that indicate you or Henry could be at risk. And if there’s nothing, you’ll be told that too.”
“I suppose you might be right.” Geraldine said slowly. “If I explain that it was just so I could prove he’s a good man to Henry’s dad, then surely he’d understand?”
“Sure.” Viv blinked. “Look, if I were you, I’d go today. Long as you don’t have plans, that is. Like you said, if nothing else, it’s reassurance for your ex that you’re treating his concerns seriously and if it comes back clean then it might soften him on the six month waiting period.”
“I don’t have plans now that you mention it, Roger’s in meetings all day.” Geraldine hummed. “And it would be so nice to spend time with both of my boys together… you know what? I am going to go now. Like you said, nothing will come up and Henry’s dad will have to agree to shorten his ridiculous waiting period.”
“Sure, that’s what I said.” Viv sighed under her breath as Sorscha came over.
“Sorry to keep you two waiting. I saw both boys run in, any messages for either of them?”
“Not for Henry.” Geraldine said. “He had breakfast at home. Have a great day. And thanks so much for the advice Vivian.”
“No problem.” Viv chuckled as she walked out the preschool room.
“Okay, what the hell did I miss?” Sorscha asked. “Because that didn’t sound nearly as sarcastic as something like that usually would coming from her.”
“I told Geraldine to do a Clare’s law check on Roger.” Viv said. “She seems to think it might change her ex’s mind and let her introduce him to Henry.”
“And I’m guessing you don’t?”
“No, because I know exactly what is going to come up in that check.” Viv said. “But Geraldine didn’t believe Bon or anyone else when they tried to warn her, so I figured if I gave her an innocent nudge in that direction…”
“Then she’d hear the facts from someone who is legally obligated to tell her what a scumbag he is and at the very least she’d know exactly what she’s getting herself into.” Sorscha clicked her tongue. “That is clever. Well done, I never would’ve thought of that.”
“Yeah, well, I might not be her biggest fan, but I wouldn’t wish being with a man like that on anyone.” Viv sighed. “And the hard part is getting her to accept the truth because, nine times out of ten, in a situation like that that the victim won’t be able to see it until it’s too late. And it doesn’t matter how clued up they normally are. Take me, for instance. I was with Jamie’s dad for years, and I was constantly making excuses for him and giving him everything I had because I just couldn’t see what he was doing to me. It took me getting pregnant to realise that I needed to leave. And with everything I know from Bon, Roger is far, far scarier than that waster. Nobody deserves being stuck with him.”
“Amen to that.” Sorscha nodded, then paused for a moment. “Can I just ask you something? I mean, we all kind of connected the dots that there was something pretty dodgy going on, given what we know about Autumn and Reece’s childhoods and the kinda extreme reaction that Mia has to him, but I didn’t think it ever got that far with Siobhan. I thought he was just a bit controlling and that she got away before anything escalated too far. But, you’re saying that the police have records they could warn Geraldine about his behaviour with. I didn’t realise it ever got to the extent that the police could get involved.”
“I know the police have stuff because I gave them very detailed information about him and what he did to her.” Viv looked around, and then lowered her voice. “Look, and don’t go spreading this around because Bon would absolutely hate me telling you, but I didn’t report anything to the police as a concerned friend, no matter how much I wanted to. Siobhan asked me not to and I didn’t want to breach that trust when I was quite literally the only person she could trust. The stuff I reported, and I’m not going to say what it was, but I will say that legally I had to report it in my capacity as a nurse.”
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph.”
“Yeah.” Viv sighed. “Wasn’t enough to get him arrested, unfortunately, but enough that they can pass concerns on to his new partner.” She looked out towards the car park to where Geraldine was climbing into her car. “I just really hope she’ll listen.”
“Don’t we all.” Sorscha agreed. “Just, out of curiosity, how did you convince her to do the check?”
“Told her I did it for Siobhan.” Viv shrugged. “People are more likely to take advice when you say you’ve done the thing and had a good experience.”
Sorscha’s jaw dropped. “Did you actually?”
“No, but like I told Geraldine, I was a bit uneasy about leaving Jamie alone with her in the first few days, and she realised and suggested I do it to give me some peace of mind.” Viv smiled softly to herself. “Ironically, it was actually that suggestion that that made me feel like I didn’t need to. Just the fact she wanted me to do independent checks about the kind of person she was reassured me that it wasn’t necessary.”
“You are crafty. I feel like you and Clodagh would get along like a house on fire. And that leaving the two of you alone together would probably be the worst decision I could ever make.” She shuddered.
“I’m going to go, Jamie’s fine, he’s already finished his breakfast from the looks of it, and I’m on nights for the next few days so Bon is going to pick him up this evening, but she’s got a late meeting so she might be cutting it a bit fine.” Viv told her.
“Ah, that’s fine, you’re paid up until six thirty anyway.” Sorscha waved. “I don’t even think we’re allowed to charge staff kids late fees if they’re late because of work. We had this whole issue come up a couple of months back when we had someone covering from one of the other nurseries, and I think head office decided that late fees wouldn’t be applied in those cases because they didn’t want to get sued.”
“Great. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“See ya.” Sorscha waved as she left the room.