The Geary Series Boxed Set (63 page)

Lilly, Jack, Olivia and Elijah started to clear the table of the dinner dishes and carried them to the kitchen counter. Ruth and Michael talked quietly while they loaded the dishwasher.

“Should we go too?” Olivia asked.

Ruth and Michael looked at each other for a moment and Michael nodded once.

“No, please go back to the dinner table, I’ll get the apple pie and ice-cream and Michael can talk you through what happened.” Ruth asked, the four of them dutifully went back and took their seats at the dinner table. Ruth and Michael joined them at their end of the table and handed out bowls and spoons.

Ruth went back to grab the tray with coffee and mugs and they settled down to hear Michael’s story.

“I was friends with Dylan during school, we were best friends. Jane and Gale were also good friends of mine, I enjoyed Gale’s company more than Jane’s because she was more sensible. Jane was a little too daring and reckless for my liking and I tended to steer clear of her. I spent every day with Gale, she was a great confidante and I could tell her anything. I knew she liked me, but I didn’t encourage it until the night of the party.”

“I’m sure you didn’t lead her on honey, you couldn’t help that you didn’t return her feelings.” Ruth offered her reasoning, but it fell on deaf ears.

“I should have talked to her and I shouldn’t have kissed her that night, she looked good, she had a makeover and she actually looked quite pretty. I thought if I kissed her I might feel different about her but when I did, the kiss got out of hand and she offered to take things upstairs to her bedroom after the party. I panicked, we had sneaked off to the field but soon went back to the party, she was a little dishevelled when she came back to the party and Jane had assumed that we had slept together in the field outside their house.”

Elijah poured the coffee for everyone and resumed his seat for the next part of the story. Michael cradled his mug and concentrated on the curls of steam circling up. Forming the words for the next part came more easily.

“I didn’t think anything of it afterwards, and we both dressed and went back to the party. It only had an hour or so to go until we had to finish the celebrations and remove the garden of the rubbish. Gale, Jane and I stayed apart from each other, as we had our separate chores to do. Dylan was our go-between and then the next week, I left the city, we moved away to the other end of the country and I didn’t give her another thought. I came back two months later and stopped by the house and was told that they had moved to Brighton to be on a specialist course.”

“When did you go to Brighton?” Olivia asked.

“I went about a year later, I had a phone call from Gale and she said that Jane had fallen pregnant. I got on a train the next day and she told me that there was a baby, but she got rid of it. She said that Jane couldn’t stand giving birth to my child. Gale said that Jane had gotten an abortion and I believed her, I had no reason not to. I was heartbroken, I left the house and took the train back home and blocked it out, I had to mourn in secret. There was no way I would have told my parents and there was no point talking to Jane, she had made her decision.”

“I’m so sorry dad, but now that means you have a son and we have a brother, we need to find out from Mickey, who he is.” Jack said, and he reassured his father that this story didn’t matter, he still respected him.

“Why would Mickey know?” Lilly asked the group.

“He’s in security, he is good at background checks, he did an excellent job searching your history,” Jack said and then regretted his words.

“You checked her out?” Elijah asked him, “Why did you do that?”

“I wanted to make sure she was the real deal and not a gold digger.”

“I think that’s really sweet, don’t be mad on my account,” Lilly said and kissed her husband’s cheek.

Elijah considered what he had just learned and let it go, if Lilly wasn’t upset then there was little point in him being upset, his brother’s heart was in the right place.

“So what happens now, dad?” Elijah asked him.

“I don’t know, your mum and I will need to talk this through and then we’ll make the next step.” Michael said and gazed at his wife’s face. She kissed him and attempted to reassure him that whatever he decided he wanted she would support him.

Mickey sent the message to Jane and waited for a reply, Lilly had been in contact with him over the last month asking him if he would meet her Aunt Jane. Dylan and Gale had gone away on an extended holiday to sort out their marriage and to see if it was salvageable. In the meantime Jane stayed in their house, she couldn’t face going back to Brighton just yet. Her assistant manager had her shop under control, so there was no real urgency to go.

She hadn’t had a drink since the dinner at the Geary household, she spent her days in the garden tending to the shrubs and bushes Dylan had slaved over. During the evenings she read books, she disappeared into a world far away from her current state of mind. In truth, she was waiting for her son to contact her. It was only a matter of time until someone forced the information from Mickey or Mickey volunteered who her son was.

She would stay until that happened.

She sat in the deck chair at the bottom of the garden deciding on which herbs to plant in the new pots she had purchased that morning when the message came through on her phone.

Mickey had told her he had set up a meeting with her son and he would be at the White Horse pub in three hours’ time. He would wait for her at the bar.

Jane hurried into the house and showered from her hours of digging dirt, she wanted to make a great impression with her son. It could be her only chance to meet with him. Dressing conservatively, she put on black trousers and a matching black blouse. It was warm enough to only need a cardigan. She skipped down the stairs once she was ready and borrowed Dylan’s car to drive into the city.

Once Jane had parked the car she hurried along the pavement to the pub, her excitement levels were high. She wanted a drink to calm her nerves, but this was not the day to break her sober run, she would be strong, she would pray that her son accepted her apology.

Pushing open the door of the pub, she removed her sunglasses and searched the bar for the man she had arranged to meet. There was only one man sitting at the bar, he nursed a glass of liquid, swirling it around.

Mickey entered the old ale house on Waterford Street in the west part of Edinburgh. He hadn’t frequented this ancient pub for many years, long before he joined the Navy. The low wooden beams and real ales threw him back to the 18
th
century and times of better manners and morals.

He had requested the meeting, only telling her that she would meet her son here. He hadn’t revealed that she would be meeting him. His nerves had overtaken his body and it had begun to shake. He needed a stiff whiskey to settle his mind. Taking a seat at the bar on a tall stool, he ordered his drink and toyed with the glass without drinking any of the contents.

He noticed her sit next to him at the bar on the tall stool, she placed her handbag on the bar top and searched for her purse.

“Thank you for arranging the meeting, when will he arrive?” She said and ordered a drink from the bartender.

Once the measure of vodka had been placed in front of her and the bartender instinctively left them alone the silence began to ring out.

“I’m a little nervous, to be honest, I didn’t expect this meeting to happen, I didn’t think I wanted to speak to you,” Mickey answered.

“Are you my son Mickey?” she whispered, not daring to look at him.

Mickey ignored her question, he wasn’t ready to answer her questions yet.

“How long have you known about me, before the disastrous dinner?” Jane asked.

“Two weeks, and yes, I’m your son.” Mickey advised. He still couldn’t look at her for fear of disappointment shining from his eyes. He had decided to meet her and now he needed her to prove her worth.

“I’m proud of you son.” She said, staring at his profile, willing him to look at her.

“The man that raised me passed away and left me a letter explaining who you are,” Mickey said, his eyes still fixed on his whisky, ignoring her compliment.

“Look at me Mickey.” His mother asked.

Mickey ignored the request and took a sip of his drink, he positioned his feet on the floor, getting ready to run.

“Look at me.” His mother asked more sternly.

Mickey moved his head to the side and looked at his mother. The resemblance in her features was an affirmation that they were related. Jane Spencer was his mother.

“Hello, mother.” Mickey said, he turned his head and he looked straight ahead at the rows of bottles. Jane reached for her glass of vodka and lifted it to her lips. As her lips touched the cold glass she placed it back onto the bar and tipped the contents into the drip tray sitting in front of her.

“Hello son, I’m sorry I abandoned you, will you ever forgive me?” Jane asked through her sobs. She had turned in her seat to face him. He still sat hunched over nursing his drink.

“That’s what I am going to try and do, why don’t you start at the beginning and help me understand why you gave me up.” Mickey looked at his mother, his eyes watering and a weak smile formed on his lips.

Angie watched from the corner of the pub and quietly left the building when she saw that they were talking. She had come for his moral support, but he didn’t need it.

“Round two, are you ready?” Angie asked him, she straightened his collar.

Angie had gone to sleep long before Mickey had returned home last night, he had spoken with his mother for hours. They had agreed to meet up regularly until she returned back to Brighton. The next step for Mickey was to tell Michael that he was his son.

“What if he doesn’t accept me?” Mickey said, he looked at his reflection in the mirror, hoping that he was good enough for Michael. He had loved and respected Elijah and Jack’s father for as long as he could remember. Meeting his mother was a different type of stress, he needed her to prove herself while with his father he already had proven his worth time and time again.

“He’ll accept you, he already loves you, that won’t change now that you are his son. Elijah and Jack already consider you their brother. This is going to be a grand reunion and you’ll have Jane there too, to explain.” Angie tried to reassure him, but she didn’t know how Michael would react. He had been lied to for a very long time and had only learned of his son’s existence a week ago.

Jack had asked if Mickey would come to dinner at his house and for Jane to come too. It would be a small gathering of Jack, Elijah, Michael and their wives. Mickey had agreed to come along and reveal who the long lost son was. He hadn’t seen any of them since the dinner at Michael and Ruth’s house, citing the painting case taking up his time. Mickey had reunited his client with his painting on the morning he had returned from Ireland.

He had spent his time with his mother, getting to know her and attempting to form a relationship with her. He had Beverly courier over the photo albums from his dad’s home and given them to Jane to look through. She had already seen many of these photos before from the annual letters she had received. Jane had the chance to ask all the questions she had year on year about his life.

She had agreed to come along to the dinner with Mickey to offer him support, she too was nervous that Michael would reject him.

“Shall we go,” Jane called from the other room, Angie raised her eyebrow waiting for Mickey to answer.

“Be there in a minute, just grabbing my coat.” Mickey called back and hugged Angie, he kissed her head and took her hand to leave his home.

Mickey pressed the buzzer to Jack and Olivia’s place and waited for entry, the door was immediately released and the three of them entered the townhouse. Jack and Olivia owned the entire building but only lived on the top floor. The rest of the building was rented out to other occupants. Mickey looked up the stairwell to the top and saw Olivia grin back down at it.

“Come on Mickey, you know the rules.” She commanded from her viewpoint. Mickey felt ease drip through his body, she was treating him the same and that was a relief.

He ran up the stairs in one go and kissed her cheek like he always had, he looked back down and saw that Jane and Angie were half way up chatting happily. He waited for them to reach the top and motioned for Olivia to go on ahead into the apartment. He needed a few minutes to gather his thoughts and decide on which words he would say. He had worked the different phrases over and over again, vetoing several options over the last twenty-four hours.

Angie and Jane had reached the top step and he moved to go into the flat, he waited for them to come into the apartment and quietly closed the door. He leaned against the back of the door and closed his eyes while stuffing his hands in his pockets. He was considering backing out, the cost of rejection would be too high.

“Come on brother, we won’t bite.” Mickey opened his eyes to see Jack leaning against the wall in the same pose as him. He kept Mickey’s gaze, telling him that he knew, silently.

“When did you work it out?”

“A few minutes ago when I saw your pained expression, Angie and Jane are tap dancing their way through small talk in the living room and you have yet to come through. One look at your ashen face is enough to realise that you are my dad’s son. It’s so obvious looking at you, it wasn’t until I asked myself the question that I saw the resemblance, you have his eyes and square jaw.” Jack said and moved to hug his brother. “Welcome to the family,” he whispered and then let him go. Jack sauntered down the corridor with his hands in his pockets whistling a happy tune.

Mickey found his courage and followed Jack and entered the living room to a sea of expectant faces. His throat had become dry, Angie handed him a glass of wine and stood next to him. She held his free hand and felt the regular squeezes that indicated his state of mind. They weren’t as forceful as the hand squeezes she endured during the funeral, but they were still firm.

“Hi everyone, shall I tell you now who Michael’s son is and then we can enjoy the lovely meal I know Olivia has made?” Mickey asked, looking everyone in the eye as he swept his head from left to right.

Before anyone could say if they agreed to his terms or not he blurted out the first words he thought of. “It’s me, Michael, I’m your son.”

“Oh, thank God for that,” Michael handed his glass to Ruth and hugged his son, tears fell from his eyes as he held on tight. “I’m proud to be your father, I just hope you’ll let me.” He said quietly.

The two men broke apart and looked as if they had only seen each other for the first time. Ruth came over first and kissed his cheek, welcoming him to the family. Elijah came next and told him that it didn’t make any difference to him, he always thought of him as a brother. The ladies in the room wiped away their tears and held on to each other for support. Mickey’s heart raced that he had been accepted and not shouted at for keeping them waiting. Jane stood quietly in the corner, looking at Michael, he smiled warmly at her and then resumed chatting to Mickey.

“It’s all going to work out fine Jane,” Ruth said and passed her a tissue.