A sudden crash made Abby’s eyes snap open. She sat bolt upright and surveyed the room through sleepy eyes. Glancing at the clock, she remembered that she’d forgotten to put new batteries in it last night but the bright sunlight streaming through the curtains told her it was pretty late in the morning. Sunday morning, the one day you’re allowed to sleep in.

She lay back down and rolled over to the other side of the bed. It was cold. She sighed, she knew it would be. Three weeks had passed sinse the man who was meant to be lying there had left. Carter went back to Africa at least once a year. The civil war in the Congo had calmed down now; she knew he’d be ok. It didn’t stop her worrying though. For herself and her children.

This time Carter had been away for his birthday. In their happy little family, birthdays were special. 5 days out of the year Carter and Abby both took time off work, the kids stayed home from school and they spent the day together, doing all the fun stuff that Abby never got to do. So many of her birthdays had been spent on her own. If Maggie was depressed, she’d go to the park with Eric and attempt to have fun. If her mom had taken off at that time, she’d spend all day wishing she’d come back. It was different in the Carter household. Birthdays meant family time.

There was another clatter coming from the kitchen and Abby struggled out of bed and reached for her bathrobe. “Kids, what’s going on down there?” Abby thudded down the stairs and nearly collided with her son on the way out the door.

“Bye, I’ll be back by lunch time.”

“Hey, Andrew.” The 15 year old stopped, hand on the doorknob and looked at her. “Where are you going?”

“I’m meeting Steve. We’re going skateboarding in the park.” He offered his mother a smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I think the girls are making a bit of a mess in the kitchen though.” He readjusted his bag on his shoulder. “Oh, and Mom. It’s Andy.”

Abby rolled her eyes as the door slammed shut behind him. Teenagers, more trouble than they’re worth. She headed towards the kitchen, focusing her attention on her two girls, not quite teenagers yet but just as much trouble. It turned out it was only her youngest making the mess, Nadine was nowhere in sight.

Abby lurched forward in time to catch a sealed tub of flour before it hit the floor and went everywhere. Joley was kneeling on the worktop with her head in the cupboard. When she saw Abby standing next to her, she ducked her head below the open door and grinned.

“Good catch Mommy!”

Abby couldn’t help but laugh. Her purple top was more a funny shade of grey as it had an assortment of cooking ingredients spilled down the front. “Sweetie, what are you doing up there?”

“Putting the flour away.”

Abby lifted Joley up and plonked her down on the floor. “Why do you need flour?”

“To make Daddy’s cake” she replied and wandered over to the large mixing bowl on the table.

“We made Daddy a cake already, honey. Remember, on his birthday.”

Her six-year-old little girl nodded. “That was last week. Andrew ate it all.” Abby nodded. She didn’t really expect a cake to hang around uneaten for more than a few days in their house. If one of the kids didn’t devour it, she was pretty sure she would.

“Why didn’t you wait to make it when Daddy got home?”

Joley shrugged. “I want it to be ready. Daddy said before he’d be back soon.”

Abby sighed. “I know but they had problems with the planes and he might not be able to leave for a while.”

Joley eyes began to well up. “But he missed his birthday. No one ever misses birthdays.”

Abby stepped forward and bent down, embracing her daughter in a hug. She stroked her soft brown hair and Joley wrapped her arms around Abby’s neck. “We can make a cake” Abby said, “maybe when he smells how yummy it is he’ll come running back.” Joley nodded. “I, er… Think we better clean up a bit first. Where’s Nadine? She can help.”

“She yelled at me” she said, dropping her head. “She said I was stupid and ran into the garden.”

Abby looked out the kitchen window and saw her 11-year-old daughter sitting huddled up by the playhouse. She turned back to Joley. “Listen, why don’t you find some sprinkles and chocolate bits to decorate the cake while I go and talk to your sister?”

“Sure.”

Abby walked across the lawn, down the garden to where the wooden playhouse stood by the hedge. It was beginning to fall apart, several slats on the roof had dislodged and it looked like it might fall down any minute. Carter had built it when Naddy was Joley’s age, almost 6 years ago. Carpentry wasn’t her husband’s strongest point but the girls loved it.

Nadine was sitting by the door hugging her knees but scuttled inside when she saw her Mom coming. She shut the door quickly. Abby stopped outside and crouched down. “Go away” came the muffled voice from inside.

“Sweetheart, let me come in.”

“No.”

Abby crawled round to the side window. “Please? Why won’t you talk to me?”

“You’ll shout.”

“No I won’t, I promise. Just tell me what’s wrong?” She was met with silence. “Ok, why don’t you come inside and help bake a cake?” More silence. “We need your help, we’ll probably burn it on our own. Besides, it looks like I might rain.”

Nadine still didn’t say anything; she just shuffled over to the other side of the hut and faced the wall, away from Abby. “It’s stupid making a cake, Dad’s not coming back anyway.”

Abby had started to stand up but stopped and stuck her head through the window again. “Why do you say that?”

“Andrew told me about the time Uncle Luka nearly died. I bet that’s happened to Dad.”

Abby didn’t really know what to say. “It’s a lot safer now, there are lots of people there to make sure Daddy doesn’t get hurt.”

“I don’t believe you.” Abby could hear Nadine’s voice beginning to strain and imagined tears were threatening to roll down her cheeks.

“I know you’re upset Naddy but there’s no need to snap at your sister.”

“She wanted me to help her make that stupid cake. I said there was no point then Andrew came in and told me to be nice.”

“He’s right.” Abby sighed, realising she wasn’t getting anywhere very fast.

“I didn’t mean it, I just want Daddy back. He never goes anywhere on his birthday, not even to work. It must be bad.”

“I miss him too. Nothing’s happened, I promise.” She cringed as she said that. She could only imagine what Nadine’s reaction would be like if something had happened and she found out Abby had been lying to her. “He just can’t get a flight, that’s all.”

“So why hasn’t he phoned?”

Abby didn’t know why. She thought it was a bit strange too. “Maybe there was a power cut. That happens a lot.”

Nadine had crawled out the door and timidly walked towards Abby. Abby opened her arms and Nadine leapt into them and wiped her face on Abby’s shoulder. “There could be a million reason why Dad isn’t here, it doesn’t mean the worst has happened” she continued.

Nadine nodded. “Ok.”

“Hey Mom.” They both looked up to see Joley standing on the patio with chocolate syrup down her front and all over her face. “I dropped the bottle.”

Naddy giggled. “And some of it happened to land in your mouth did it?”

Joley shrugged and quickly ran back inside the house. Abby turned to her eldest daughter. “How much of a mess do you think she’s made in there eh?”

Nadine rolled her eyes. “A big one.”

* * *

“How does that look then girls?” Abby stepped back from the kitchen table, careful not to slip on the remains of an egg Nadine had dropped on the floor.

Joley took the chocolate-covered spatula out of her mouth. “Huh?”

“The cake! How does it look?”

“Fab!” said Nadine, smiling. “I think it’s got one too many jelly sweets on though.” She plucked a green one out of the frosting round the edge and gave Abby a cheeky grin.

“Oi, there’ll be no decoration left.”

On the top of the cake the words ‘Happy Birthday Daddy’ had been written in smarties. Joley had pointed out that he wasn’t Abby’s Dad then Nadine realised that it wasn’t his birthday either so the cake now read ‘Happy sort of Birthday Daddy (Carter)’. Abby chuckled. Just in case ‘Daddy’ didn’t give Carter enough of a clue that it was for him.

Whenever he would eventually get it. It could be weeks. It didn’t matter, they’d had fun. Nadine seemed to have forgotten her worries from earlier and her and Joley were no longer fighting.

All three of them were standing in the mess that was their kitchen when Andrew walked in through the door. “Hey guys. What’s been going on here?”

Joley dropped the now chocolate-free spatula on the floor and ran to meet her big brother. “We made a cake.”

“Oh really.” She jumped up to give him a hug. “Hey, I don’t want to be covered in flour too. Looks like you made a bit of a mess as well as a cake. It looks even worse than it did when I left.”

Abby smiled. “Have fun with Steve.”

“Yeah, I guess. It looked like it was going to rain so I came home. Do I get some then?”

“No, silly” said Joley, “It’s for Daddy. You ate a whole cake before.”

“Not all by myself. I had a bit of help.”

Nadine was now hiding behind a chair.

Abby decided to ignore her. “I don’t think Dad would mind if we just had a little bit. We can always make another one. Maybe Andrew could help next time.”

Abby winked at her son. “Boys don’t cook” he told her with a glare.

Abby headed over to the draw to get out a knife. Joley began to follow her to ask for a drink but stopped. A huge grin spread across her face and it was all she could do to stop herself from squealing.

Carter closed the door quietly and put his holdall down on the floor. He put his fingers to his lips to tell Joley to keep quiet and she just stood in the kitchen silently smiling. ‘Wow’ he thought, ‘must be special’. His little girl never shut up.

“Do you wanna get some plates out Naddy?” Abby said without turning round. “We can have a little taste.”

“Do I get some?”

Abby swung round at the side of his voice and her eyes opened wide with happy shock. “John…”

“Daddieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” Joley yelled and charged to the doorway. “Happy sort-of birthday!”

“What?”

Nadine also ran to hug her father. “We made a cake.”

“We thought we’d have a belated celebration” Andrew told him, walking forward to join in the family hug.

“Without me?”

Abby stood still for a moment before slowly walking towards her husband. He released the kids and wrapped his arms tightly around Abby’s waist. He nuzzled his face deep into her hair and kissed her neck lovingly. “I missed you all so much. I’m sorry I couldn’t be here, I know how much birthdays mean to you.”

Abby said nothing, she just stood there never wanting to let go. She felt a small tug on her sweater. “Mom, can we have some cake now?”

Carter laughed. “It’s like I never left. Can I have a slice with orange smarties, they’re my favourite!”