Prodigal Son (Jensen Family #1) (34 page)

“If I didn’t know better I’d
say that you were the one he was having the affair with.” John smiled at her
but he was watching Paul from the corner of his eye “You are after all, more to
his taste as far as I’m aware, my nephew prefers blondes and make no mistake
Paul,” he turned his attention fully on him “You are going home today.”

The silence was uncomfortable
while they waited for their drinks, neither woman making the effort to speak
but regarding each other closely, sizing up the enemy.

“I understand why you are
angry.” Carmen broke the ice.

“I wonder if you do.” Monica
replied.

“I’ve taken your son from
you.”

“You’ve done more than that.
I know Paul wasn’t sweet and innocent before he met you but he had never lied
to me or kept secrets until he got involved with you, my son has become distant
from me and that’s all because of you. What were you thinking when you agreed
to be with him?”

“I suppose I wasn’t thinking
clearly. I was highly flattered, Paul is a very attractive young man, he could
and did pick up absolutely anyone he wanted and he chose me. I shouldn’t have
let it continue, I know that. He is a very hard habit to break.” Carmen tried
to explain

“You should have sent him
home when he turned up here. I was worried sick but you won’t understand that
feeling until God forbid, something happens to your child, I don’t expect you
to understand the relationship between a mother and her son yet, perhaps if you
have a boy you will in time fully comprehend what it is that you have put me
and my son through. I don’t like you, I suspect I never will, as far as I’m
concerned, you molested my child and now you hold him to you with the child you
carry. Paul could go far, he’s intelligent and determined and level headed for
the most part, I want my son back to the focused boy he was before he met you,
I want him home and taking care of his business. How much can I offer you to
make you go away and disappear from his life?” Monica surprised herself with her
last question but she knew then that there was nothing she wouldn’t do for the
boy.

Carmen, momentarily stunned
by Monica’s last comment, took her time to mull over what the other woman had
said before letting rip, “How dare you try to buy me off?” she seethed “I tried
to break it off with Paul on several occasions, I didn’t even tell him I was
pregnant, he worked that out for himself. Nothing is going to keep me from
being with him; the age gap makes no difference to me what so ever. He may be
your son but he is my lover and I will not give him up on the whim of an over
protective mother. Whatever problems you and Paul have are for you to sort out,
my main concerns are having him in my life and having a father for my child, he
has no problem with supporting me, he hasn’t shied away from any of his
responsibilities. I would have thought any Mother would be proud of that,
whatever the circumstances.”

“Do you honestly think Paul
will remain faithful to you?” Monica questioned “Whether or not what he
actually feels for you is love, he is after all, a sixteen year old boy, his
groin rules his head and heart right now and when he comes to his senses he’ll
drop you like a brick. He has already made a name for himself amongst the girls
and young women who travel in the same circles as him, one of them will catch
him and as soon as that happens, he will turn his back on you and walk away
then it will be me who has to make sure that you and my grandchild are cared
for as I guarantee he will begin to question it’s parentage once he is involved
with someone new.”

“That simply won’t happen,
Paul may be many things but he is well aware of his responsibilities to this
child whatever happens between us. If it kills me, I will make sure he is a
good father to this baby.”

“At last, something we agree
on.” Monica conceded, she firmly believed in making her son do the right thing.

At his Uncle’s insistence,
Paul packed his things and waited for his Mother to return, his sullen mood
returned as he slumped on the sofa with Luke sprawled across his lap having
finally succumbed to his afternoon nap.

“How is he?” Monica asked her
brother after greeting Helen and thanking her for putting up her son.

“Brooding.”
John replied “Are sure this is the right thing to
do?”

“No.” Monica answered “I want
him home but whether or not it’s the right thing to do for any of us is another
matter, he seems to excel in causing trouble when he is unhappy and the last
thing I need is him facing off with Michael.”

“Then leave him here, he’s
not doing any harm, if anything, he’s doing a stellar job of taking care of
these two ladies and the boy.”

“So it would seem but he has
a business to run and there is only so long those men will organise themselves,
they are fine with the contracted jobs but the day to day maintenance and
gardening is suffering, Paul needs to come home.” Her resolve hardened.

“Do you want me to wake him?”

“Yes, I’ll wait in the car.”

Paul didn’t speak to either
of them during the long journey home, not even when they stopped for fuel and
something to eat. He sat up straighter in the back seat as they pulled up
outside John’s apartment building.

“Keep your head down mate.”
John told him “If it all kicks off Mon, he can come and stay with me.”

Monica thanked her brother and
drove off, glancing in the rear view mirror she noted Paul returning her gaze
levelly and her heart dropped, he was plotting, she just knew it, Paul was far
easier to deal with when he was ranting, his brooding silence and seeming calm
acceptance of things was a sure sign of trouble.

“You should unpack, then
perhaps you should let your staff know you are home” Monica told him as they
entered the kitchen, he didn’t reply, he simply turned his back on her and
headed for the stairs “Once you’ve done that, we should talk.” She raised her
voice so that he would hear her.

“I have nothing to say to
you.” He answered from the foot of the stairs.

“That’s fine.” Monica came
into the hall “I have plenty I want to say to you.”

“You can say what you like;
I’m done listening to you.” He shot back.

“We’ll see, I think you will
find my will is far stronger than yours.”

“Huh,
whatever.”
He took the stairs two
at a time and on reaching the top, turned towards his room, the door was open
and he stood for a while on the threshold, blood seething through his veins,
anger pulsing in his head. He hefted his bag and with a roar of frustration,
threw it across the room, it hit the wall above his bed, cracking the paint
before landing on his pillows, the zip of the bag bursting open and spilling
the contents.

Hearing the bang, Monica
rushed up the stairs to find her son gathering up his clothes by the armful,
the broken bag now discarded in the corner of the room where he had kicked it,
the crack in the paint and dent in the wall more than evident.

“You aren’t going to make
this easy are you?” she asked.

“Nope.”
He eased by her and dumped most of his clothing in
the dirty linen bin inside the bathroom door. “I want my phone back.”

“Sorry. No.”

“Fine, I’ll just go and buy
another one.”

“Look Paul, sit down and talk
to me, then I will give you back your phone.” She cajoled, sitting on his bed.

“Ok, but this time, I have
some conditions of my own, I’m open to compromise but if you want me to stay
here, there will be certain things I want to be able to do.”

Keeping her voice calm and
level, Monica told him of all her fears and worries for him, often harking back
to his childhood and touching on his time at boarding school which had him
absent
mindedly
touching the scars on his right arm,
that simple movement flooding her with guilt.

By the end of the
conversation, she had him in tears, huge racking sobs shook his body as he
responded to her gentle questioning with a long overdue outpouring of emotion
from the loving, sensitive boy she knew him to be. No-one would ever know the
content of their conversation but it would serve to cement the relationship
between Mother and son making an unbreakable bond between them.

Paul threw himself back into
the day to day running of his business and was welcomed warmly by his staff
when he arrived on site on Monday morning, each and every one of them stopping
to watch him saunter towards them, breaking into a chorus of “Why was he born
so beautiful?” As he got closer making the serious young face break out into a
smile followed by his contagious laugh.

“Cut it out guys,” he laughed
as he joined them “It’s good to be back.” He finished amongst massive amounts
of back slapping.

As Monica had returned his
phone, he was able to speak to Carmen several times every day and was doing
just that when he returned home that evening and began going through the ritual
of stripping off his dirty clothes in the utility room, bidding her goodbye and
hanging up as he hurried through the kitchen and into the hall which is when he
heard Michael bellow and Monica’s placating reply.

Indecision froze him to the
spot, he wondered if he should knock on the study door as the argument was
invariably about him or if he should simply stay out of the way until summoned.
The door handle to the study moved making him jump, he decided to wait and
quickly bolted up the stairs and into the shower.

After showering and putting
on clean clothes, he crept to the top of the stairs; the argument was still in
full swing so he returned to his room. He stood for a while looking at the
crack in the wall above his bed and thought perhaps he should do something
about it. Moving silently on bare feet, he made it, unnoticed to the garage and
gathered the tools he would need, noticing for the first time since arriving
home that there was nothing cooking in the kitchen signifying that the row had
indeed been going on for quite some time as Monica would never leave starting
the dinner this late.

Tessa found him in his room,
music playing quietly while he worked, humming along with the song, his bed
pushed into the middle of the room so that he could reach and repair the wall.

“What did you do now?” She
asked, her hip pressed to his chest of drawers.

Turning from the wall, he
replied “Nothing as far as I’m aware although I guess every breath I take is a
crime in Dad’s eyes.” He turned back to his work.

“Come on Paul, they wouldn’t
be arguing if it wasn’t for you.” She persisted.

“Agreed,” he answered over
his shoulder “They were at it when I got home, I honestly don’t know why; I
just thought it would be a good idea for me to stay out of the way.”

“Hmm, sounds reasonable. I’m
going out, see you later.”

Within moments of Tessa
leaving, Monica and Matt appeared in the room.

“I’m starving Mum, what’s for
dinner?” Matt asked as he threw himself on his bed.

“We’re getting take away, my
discussion with your father took longer than expected.” She replied.

“That doesn’t sound good,
what did you do now?” He threw his pillow at Paul.

“Why does everything have to
be my fault?” Paul asked.

“We were discussing you but
there was nothing wrong darling, we were just talking,” Monica stepped in
scowling at Matt and smiling at Paul “Do you think you could spare us a few
moments?” she asked him.

Paul glanced back at the
wall; he had nearly finished filling the crack “Can I just finish this? It’ll
take a couple of minutes max.”

“Alright, we will wait for
you in the study.” She shot him another reassuring smile before she left.

“You’re in the shit.” Matt stated.

“I don’t know
,
she didn’t seem too pissed off.” Paul shrugged “Not that
it matters, I seem to be in the shit on a permanent basis right now, I may as
well get used to it.”

Paul was subjected to an
intimidating question and answer session by Michael, not once did he meet his
father’s eyes and was only slightly comforted by Monica’s hand resting on his
shoulder.