# Chapter 19: The Wisdom of G-Ma
Hello everyone, it’s me again! How are you all doing? Today I will continue to walk with you and review Chapter 19 of "Married at first swipe free digital audiobook". Grab a cup of tea, settle in, and let me take you through a chapter filled with family warmth, hidden insecurities, and a little girl’s school project that carries the most profound truths about love. Shall we begin?
---
Hannah was very aware that Toby still hadn’t set foot inside her flat. And as the Saturday morning arrived for their trip to see her mum and G-ma, she decided that this was definitely not the day to change that. Toby’s house—while not as grand as she had feared—was still a proper two-bedroom period property in a nice area. Her place? A tired one-bedroom flat in a less-than-stellar neighbourhood, with a landlord who had clearly given up on the place years ago. She simply didn’t have the emotional strength to watch Toby’s face as he took it all in, not when she also had to survive a visit with her mother.
She fidgeted with her bag, butterflies swarming in her stomach, and sent a quick text to Jess to distract herself. Jess had been scarily angry when she’d found out Tom hadn’t been supervising Sam properly, and Hannah had learned to avoid the subject entirely. She couldn’t quite understand why her friend was so furious. Sure, Tom had been pretty crap, and Sam had been cheekily opportunistic in sneaking that banned violent game, but the poor man was knackered from working all weekend. And Hannah secretly had to admire Sam’s ingenuity—though she would never, ever say that aloud to a mother. What did she know, anyway?
What worried her more was that Jess seemed permanently on edge. With the news of the potential sale of their company, Save The Date, Jess should have been relaxing, but she was working longer hours than ever. It seemed almost as if she were willing her marriage to fail. And what hurt Hannah most was that Jess wouldn’t even talk to her about it. The reply that came back was bland: *All good, thanks, give Joan my love! x*
The doorbell gave its feeble call, and Hannah rushed to the door, shutting it firmly behind her before even saying hello.
‘Hi, sorry about that. That coat is nice, very cool.’ She smiled.
‘Another Melissa purchase,’ Toby said ruefully, scooping her into a warm hug. ‘It’s nice to see you, Han; I’ve missed you this week. Going back to work has been exhausting and I was wiped out by the time I got home last night.’
As they reached his BMW, Hannah spotted two enormous—definitely not supermarket—bouquets on the back seat. ‘Oh, Tobes, you shouldn’t have!’ she laughed.
‘I didn’t, I mean they’re not for—’
‘Don’t worry, I was only joking. But they are beautiful and Mum and G-ma will love them—and you.’ She grinned.
Once in the car, Hannah let herself relax a little. She told him about texting Dee, who was having the time of her life in Queensland working as a counsellor and a tour guide on boats to the reef, snorkelling and diving every day. She had been looking into PADI courses near Stockport, though they weren’t cheap.
‘Do it! I might even join you,’ Toby said.
‘Really? That would be brilliant, Tobes! We’ll have to book somewhere with amazing diving to go on holiday next year.’ She smiled at the thought, and Toby smiled right back at her mention of *next year*.
They talked about Jess and the possible buyout, and Hannah mentioned, almost dreamily, that Dee’s talk of the reef and the sunshine made her want to go back to Australia.
‘That would be a long commute from Manchester,’ Toby said tightly.
‘True, but I could totally see myself living out there again at some point. I’d hate to think I’ve done all the travelling I’m ever going to do. What about you? Are you settled in Manchester for good?’ She asked.
Toby replied thoughtfully. ‘Well, it makes sense when my parents and Melissa live nearby. And obviously my job is here. But I’d love to live near the sea at some point. There’s something so calming about it, I think.’
And then, in a moment of giddy playfulness, Hannah spun out a fantasy life for them. ‘Totally. Right, let’s move down to Cornwall and instead of doing my PADI I’ll learn to surf well enough to become an instructor. You can sort out all the iPad problems the wealthy people who live in Padstow and Rock have, and we’ll go and visit Dee in Oz on holiday and invite all our families down to our picture-perfect whitewashed house overlooking the sea. Deal?’
‘Deal!’ Toby laughed, his eyes crinkling. ‘Sounds like my idea of bliss, other than fixing iPads, but I’m sure we can tweak that bit. Oh, and we’ll need to get a dog. You can’t live in Cornwall and not have a dog—it’s basically the law.’
‘And it’s a law I’m very much on board with. What about a collie? Or even a Weimaraner?’ she said.
‘Are they the big ones that need loads of exercise but then come and put their head on your feet? Then I’m in! I think we’re nearly at your mum’s, do I turn right here?’ Toby asked, glancing at the road.
‘Yep, and then she’s just a couple of hundred metres down the road on the left. Perfect.’ By this point, Hannah felt almost giddy. She had decided to put that awkward night at Toby’s house behind her and simply try to enjoy things more. She even managed a grin as she said, ‘Right, you grab the flower garden and I’ll put on my best dutiful daughter face, and I’m sure we’ll be fine!’ They walked up the path, and Hannah’s energy immediately began to sag. But she forced a smile as Joan opened the door.
‘Hi, Mum, nice to see you. Mmm, something smells yummy! This is Toby,’ she said, stepping aside and nearly clocking herself over the head with the flowers he was holding. ‘Though obviously you know that as you met him at the wedding,’ she added awkwardly.
‘Mrs Edwards, lovely to see you again,’ Toby said with genuine enthusiasm, handing over a magnificent bouquet. Hannah watched, astonished, as her mum positively beamed and simpered.
‘Toby, they are gorgeous. Oh, you shouldn’t be spending all your money on me. But they are so beautiful, thank you. And I’ve told you, do call me Joan.’ Her mother’s voice had gone unnaturally high, twittering like a teenager. Hannah rolled her eyes as she followed them inside.
Then came the grand introduction. ‘And you remember Vera, don’t you. Mum, this is Toby,’ Joan announced, as if G-ma were a dignitary who needed impressing.
‘Of course, Joan, I’m old, not senile. I’m hardly likely to forget Hannah’s new husband, am I? Toby, it’s lovely to see you again, and these flowers are gorgeous, thank you.’ G-ma clutched her bouquet and smiled knowingly.
Joan bustled around, asking what tea Toby would like. ‘I’ve got English Breakfast, Earl Grey or chamomile.’ Hannah practically choked. ‘Chamomile? Earl Grey? Who are you and what have you done with my mum?’ she sniggered, giving G-ma a kiss on the cheek.
‘I’m quite partial to Earl Grey, actually, and Mary can only have chamomile now as the doctor says caffeine does something funny to her insides, so I have it to keep her company when she comes round,’ Joan sniffed, rather defensively.
G-ma winked at Hannah, and she stifled another giggle.
‘I’m happy with just normal tea, thanks, Joan,’ Toby said. ‘Would you like any help at all?’
‘No, no, you sit down. I was doing a bit of baking for Mary’s church sale so I thought I’d knock up a little Victoria sponge to have with your tea. You do like cake, don’t you, Toby dear?’ she asked.
Toby grinned. ‘I do. It’s like you read my mind, Joan.’ This time, Hannah couldn't stop herself from giggling. 'This special treatment is all for you, Toby my lad!' G-ma whispered loudly. 'I don’t usually get the home-made cake treatment.'
'And I never do!' Hannah laughed. 'Not even Jess does, and Mum never stops telling me how great she is, so she must really love you already.'
To Hannah’s surprise, she thoroughly enjoyed the next hour. The four of them chatted and laughed together. Joan was on her very best behaviour, positively flourishing under Toby’s praise of her baking. Watching her mum’s eyes shine as she chattered about going to the theatre with a group of women from Mary’s church, Hannah felt a deep wave of guilt. Maybe she didn't try hard enough with her mum. It wasn't that they didn't get on—it was more that Hannah always felt judged for her life choices, that she never lived up to the daughter Joan wanted. And Joan still carried the bitterness and anger of her failed marriage, even though it had ended nearly a decade ago. Looking at her mum’s smiling face now, Hannah silently vowed to visit more often, to maybe even suggest a day out together.
But she also noticed G-ma had been quieter than usual. As Toby and Joan chatted, Hannah squeezed her grandmother’s arm and whispered, ‘Are you okay, G-ma?’
‘Yes, lovey, I’m fine. I’m just watching your delectable husband charm the three of us women. He is quite a chap!’ G-ma smiled.
‘Ha! Glad you think so.’ Hannah grinned.
‘Well, it doesn’t really matter if *I* think so—it’s what *you* think that counts, darling,’ G-ma said softly.
At that moment, Toby asked to use the bathroom and disappeared upstairs. Joan barely waited for the door to close before she declared loudly, ‘You’ve done okay for yourself there, Hannah! As you know, I was less than happy about your and Jess’s ridiculous scheme, but she seems to have come up trumps for you with Toby there.’
‘I’m really glad you like him, Mum. It’s important to me that you both do,’ Hannah said warmly.
‘As I said, Hannah, it’s not about what we think,’ G-ma piped up again, with gentle insistence.
‘How are things going on the marriage front?’ Joan asked, turning on her familiar piercing stare.
‘Good. They’re good. It’s early days, obviously, but it’s nice to get to know each other properly,’ Hannah said, a little too quickly.
‘Nice? Good? Talk about damning with faint praise, Hannah!’ Joan scoffed.
‘Mum! What do you want me to say?’ Hannah protested.
‘Well, I don’t know what expressions young people use nowadays, but do you fancy him?’ Joan asked bluntly.
‘Mum, shh!’ But Hannah couldn’t help but giggle, especially when she caught G-ma's eye and saw her face starting to twitch too.
‘Come on, Hannah, I may be getting on a bit, but I do remember what being in love feels like, you know. The butterflies, the tingling, the passion...’ Joan said.
‘Mum, stop, please! Enough about the tingling, okay? Look, we’re just sussing this whole marriage thing out and I don’t want us to rush. We’ve potentially got the rest of our lives together for those butterflies and, um, tinglings to grow,’ Hannah said, her cheeks flushed.
‘I suppose you’re right.’ Joan’s smile faded, and she fixed Hannah with another piercing stare before speaking quietly, almost intimately. ‘Don’t forget, if it’s not right, there’s always a way out, Hannah. Don’t settle for second best if you don’t feel the way you think you should.’ She reached out and touched Hannah’s arm. ‘Believe me, it will only lead to unhappiness for you both. Ah, Toby, there you are, what about another slice of cake? And Mum, you’ll have one too, won’t you?’ And just like that, the serious moment vanished in a flurry of tea and cake.
Half an hour later, Hannah was putting her coat on and noticed G-ma whispering something to Toby. She turned to Joan. ‘Thanks for this afternoon, Mum. It was lovely to see you.’ She hugged her a little tighter than usual. ‘And, G-ma, I’ll pop round to see you during the week.’ ‘You’d better!’ her grandma wagged her finger.
Toby said his goodbyes, hugging Joan as well and joking, ‘Thanks so much for the tea and delicious cake, Joan. You’ll be applying for Bake Off next!’ Joan touched her hair, self-conscious. ‘Well, I hardly think so, but that’s kind of you to say.’
Back in the car, with the box of Hannah's old childhood belongings from the loft now on her knee, Hannah laughed. ‘You are such a suck-up!’ ‘No, I think you’ll find I’m just a model son-in-law,’ Toby said, smirking. ‘Otherwise known as a suck-up,' Hannah shot back. 'Anyway, what were you whispering to G-ma about before we left?’ ‘If you must know, I was just reassuring her that I would take good care of you,' he replied. Hannah felt a warm flutter, though she deflected it: 'I'm not sure I need taking care of, but you definitely managed to charm the pants off the pair of them, so you’re doing something right. Which means you’re definitely a suck-up.'
Back home, she shooed Toby away with a quick peck on the cheek and the promise of a late brunch the next day and a walk around Tatton Park if the rain held off. Then she poured herself a glass of wine, turned on *Strictly*, and settled onto the sofa, scrolling through the 145 WhatsApp messages that she knew would largely be irrelevant. She finally put her phone down and turned to the box of bits and bobs her mum had given her. Sometimes it felt like Joan was trying to erase all evidence of Hannah from her childhood home, though the bookshelves were still filled with photos of both Hannah and Scott as kids, and more recent ones with Julia and Leo. Hannah still remembered the strange feeling when she’d returned from travelling and found her bedroom cleared out. But since Toby was apparently such a hit with Joan, Hannah decided she’d get some wedding pictures framed to help bring the photos in her mum’s house up to date.
The box contained mostly old schoolbooks. She instantly threw away the maths and science ones, but she pored over the creative writing notebooks, laughing at the stories ten-year-old Hannah had written. There were old pens, including one of those four-colour clicky ones, which she saved aside because Jess had been obsessed with them. There was also an old homework diary. Flicking through it, she doubled over laughing at the inside back cover, covered in bubble writing: 'Hannah Edwards luvs Kiran Jones,' whoever he was.
And then, at the very bottom of the box, she found a small pamphlet. The title was written in different coloured pencils: *What We Can Learn From The Older Generation by Hannah Laura Edwards, aged eight and a half*. She opened it and began to read.
It was an interview with G-ma. A school project from a lifetime ago. In it, little Hannah asks Vera what the biggest thing she’s learned in her long life was. G-ma answers with gentle wisdom: if you’re a good person, good things will generally happen. And if you want to achieve something, you can—with hard work, dedication, and passion. She says the same could be said for a long and happy marriage. Little Hannah points out that G-ma and Gramps look happy, so they can't be working that hard, and G-ma explains that under the surface, they have been working hard at their marriage every single day. She talks about their rules: always being kind to each other, remembering you can afford to lose an argument, always talking to each other even about the difficult things, remembering you're a team and one half of a whole, and—most importantly—remembering to say 'I love you' every day. When you care so deeply about someone, you tell them how much they mean to you as often as possible.
And then G-ma tells little Hannah the story of the Ancient Greeks: how humans were originally spherical creatures, but the gods, angered, struck them with thunderbolts and split each one into two beings. That's why grown-ups spend their lives searching for their 'other half,' to make themselves whole again. When they find that other half, they never want to be separated. And she says, 'One day, Hannah, you’ll meet someone who makes you realise you were only ever half of a person before you met. And I can’t wait to be here to see that happen.'
At the bottom of the page, her teacher had written in wobbly handwriting: *What a brilliant interview, Hannah! Maybe you should think about being a journalist when you grow up! 10/10.*
Hannah gazed at the pamphlet in her hands, her heart heavy. Reading G-ma’s words about her love for Gramps was beautiful, but it also served to highlight just how paper-thin Hannah’s own relationship with Toby clearly was. Her grandparents had known immediately how they felt about each other and had built a marriage based on pure love. Hannah still had no idea how she felt about her husband. So where did that leave the foundations of their relationship? She read the words again—*work hard, dedication, passion, saying I love you every day*—and wondered if she and Toby even knew each other well enough to begin. Somewhere in her chest, the butterflies from earlier had turned into a quiet, uncertain ache.
---
**Reader's Impressions & Star Rating:**
This chapter was a beautiful blend of light and shadow. I adored the warmth of the family visit, the way Toby charmed Joan and G-ma, and the playful Cornwall fantasy that seems to hint at a genuine future. But underneath that warmth, there's a deep emotional undercurrent. Hannah’s vow to see her mum more, her guilt, her sudden awareness of how fragile her marriage really is—all of it feels honest and poignant. The discovery of G-ma's wise words from her childhood project is the perfect emotional gut-punch, a tender mirror that exposes exactly how far Hannah and Toby still have to go. It's a chapter that makes you swoon, laugh, and then sit quietly with your own thoughts. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 4.7 / 5 Stars.
**Next Chapter Prediction:**
Now that Hannah has been confronted with the wisdom of the older generation—the rules, the daily effort, the idea of finding your 'other half'—I predict she will start to question everything she and Toby have been doing. Perhaps she'll open up to him about her fears, or maybe she'll deliberately try to put G-ma's rules into practice, forcing moments of deeper connection. But with Jess’s marriage in turmoil and Hannah clearly afraid to acknowledge her own feelings, something is bound to crack soon. I suspect the next chapter might finally bring a heartfelt conversation between Hannah and Toby—or a moment where Hannah must confront whether Toby is truly her other half, or just a very charming man with a good coat.
To listen free the next reviews chatpers, please access website novelsaudio.com and search keyword: Married at first swipe free digital audiobook or click the link in the description of this video or if you want to listen or read full the Married at first swipe free digital audiobook please access website Novelsaudio.com