The Borrowed Coat

Katie groaned as she heard rain bouncing against the window pane.
‘Looks as if it’s going to last for a while,’ grunted Arthur .
‘Typical. I forgot my jacket and I have to pick Liam up from school - I’ll have to set off in a couple of minutes, Dad.’
‘You can borrow your mum’s coat.’
‘No! I don’t want anything of hers. It’s difficult enough just being here.’
‘You’ll be no good to Liam if you make yourself ill, love.’
‘I told you, I don’t want it.’
Arthur gestured towards the sympathy cards lined up on the mantelpiece.
‘That coat’s no good to her now. Shame the pair of you never reconciled.’
‘She disowned me! Soon as she found out I was pregnant. Didn’t want to know her own grandson.’
Arthur lifted the coat from its hook and laid it across her knees.
‘Take it. Please. Afterwards you can give it to a charity shop or a homeless person, but don’t get soaked.’
Waiting at the school gates, swathed in the borrowed coat, Katie thrust her hands into deep pockets. She pulled out an envelope labelled, ‘My Gorgeous Grandson.’
Tucked inside were pictures of Liam, from babyhood to recent school photo.