Mum looked at her in wonder, tears brimming in her eyes as she called both of them closer to hug them. Her eyes never left their faces.
“Look at them, their beautiful, and they look so much…!” she smiled, her eyes darting to Lena for a second, and Lizzie nodded as she smiled back. “I know, I finally got something right!”
Mum hugged all three of them as tightly as she could.
“Thank you, Lillibet, thank you!” she murmured. “Your father’s in the back garden; he was playing cards with his friends last night and had a couple of glasses too many of Ouzo, so he’s feeling sorry for himself right now; I think that’ll soon disappear! I didn’t tell him about you, or the children, Lena asked me not to, I hope that’s all right with you…?”
Lizzie took her arm for a second, then looked at me.
“Darryl, you go through first, please; I know how much you wanted to see him again, I can wait a few minutes; Lena and I will come in shortly; go on now, I know how long you’ve waited!”
I swallowed, trying to dislodge the massive lump in my throat as I walked through the house to see my dad again; subconsciously I was expecting him to have deteriorated, to look somehow smaller or diminished as his sickness took its inexorable course, but he looked the same, a little more colour in his cheeks than the last time I’d seen him, but his weight seemed good, and his breathing was almost inaudible; being here obviously agreed with him. He was dozing, a copy of the Cyprus Mail newspaper on his chest, and I stopped to grin, he looked so familiar in that pose, something I’d seen nearly every Sunday morning of my childhood when he settled down in his favourite armchair in front of the TV to read the papers, usually lasting about half-way through before dozing off. I must have made a sound, and his eyes flicked open.
“Darryl, hello son!” he smiled, and I moved across to hug him, so glad I had my dad back. After what seemed like an eternity he pushed me away so he could look at me.
“You’re looking well, Darryl, very well; work must agree with you. Where’s Lena?”
I pointed at the front of the house.
“She’s talking to mum, she wanted to give me some time alone with you. How are the meds? Have they still got you on Formeterol?”
Dad nodded. “It seems to work better than the Salbutamol, and for longer, so I’ve stuck with it, and the Chief Physician here agrees; no need to change if it works.”
I made to go and get Lena, then the doctor took over, and I checked his temperature, his pulse, and listened to his chest, and yes, I had my stethoscope with me; most doctors would rather travel without their trousers than leave their most fundamental diagnostic tool behind, and I’d inherited that instinct from my peers and mentors. All seemed to be well, and just as I was helping him button up his shirt again, Lena came into the room. She immediately hugged him fiercely, almost smothering him in her enthusiasm, dad laughing and spluttering as he fended her off. And then he looked at the door and saw Lizzie. His eyes opened wide in astonishment and his face paled.
“Hello daddy!” she murmured, while dad’s mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. Lizzie came closer, to kneel next to him and take his hand. “I’m so sorry daddy, so very sorry, please forgive me for taking so long, I was wrong to leave, and then I was afraid to come home because I didn’t know how to put it right!”
Dad took her hand in his, then suddenly pulled her close to him, hugging her while he whispered in her ear. I looked away, otherwise I was going to start bawling; Lena was already there. A movement caught my eye, and I looked over to see mum and the kids standing in the doorway. Dad also caught the movement, and as he registered what he was seeing a look of complete astonishment came over his face. Lizzie looked up and saw the direction of his stare, and smiled happily.
“Daddy, this is Allie, and Marcus. Babies, come and say hello to your Granddad!”
Now the family was complete.
*
We stayed for a week; I would have like to have stayed longer, but the children had to go back to school, and I had to go back to work. Mum and dad had twigged that Lena was expecting; the morning visits to the bathroom and the loud retching sounds soon gave that away, and mum went from being a calm, efficient, Nursing Supervisor to the psycho-neurotic mother of an expectant mother. Dad, Allie, Marcus and I stayed out of the way while mum, Lizzie and Lena banded together. Eventually they calmed down, the women taking long shopping and sightseeing trips while Marcus, dad and I hobnobbed with the RAF staff and flight-crew he’d befriended in Akrotiri; the look on Marcus’ face the day he got to sit in the cockpit of a Tornado was worth the price of all the airline tickets, his seven-year old face glowing as he got to be what every little boy wants to be; the pilot of a jet fighter. We did lots of family things too; as mum and dad lived on the Sovereign Base Area of Kolossi, we got to use the RAF facilities, which meant a certain amount of time sunning by the pool while RAF Flight Crew ogled Lena and tried fruitlessly to pick her up, and Allie flirted outrageously with, and broke the hearts of, every boy her own age from the RAF families stationed there.
Dad was completely bewitched by his grandchildren, and both Marcus and Allie had fallen in love with him within minutes of meeting him; it quickly became normal to knock on his door first thing in the morning with his meds and find both of them already there, sitting on his bed, while he told them stories of their mother, or his life in the RAF before Lizzie was born, and the two of them invariably sat either side of him at lunch and dinner, both of them never more than a few inches from his side and always ready to pass him the salt, the bread, a napkin, anything. Lizzie glowed to see her children bonding so closely with her family as they discovered their grandparents. Mum took to the role of grandmother as though born to it, just as Lena had predicted; she was utterly besotted by both children and their astonishing resemblance to dad and Lena; it was easy for her to relate to them because of that resemblance; anyone who looked so like her own child was always going to find a special place in her heart.
In turn, I’d never seen dad so relaxed or at ease; perhaps coming here had benefitted him; he certainly thought so. I still wasn’t completely convinced; I didn’t like the idea of them being marooned in a foreign country, but I’d seen the facilities at the hospital, and been impressed at the standards of palliative care, so I couldn’t in all honesty object on quality of care grounds. My objections were far baser; I wanted my dad near me, but I had to admit; being here was probably best for him. I shuddered to think what one more English winter would have done to his lungs; at least here, he could grab a few more precious handfuls of life than he could ever hope for in the damp and cold of England. Lena in turn was never more than a few feet from him, and it became usual to see him with his arm around her as she stood next to him, his ear pressed against her abdomen as he tried to detect any sign of his grandchild, or sometimes just to feel the nearness of his daughter.
All too quickly, the week was over and we had to leave. I was quite prepared for Lena to tell me she was staying a few more weeks; not only would I not have objected, I would have agreed wholeheartedly. She needed to be near mum, she needed that older female companionship as her pregnancy progressed, but Lena seemed quite happy to come back with me, which puzzled me slightly, then I got it; she had Lizzie now, and she had Marcus and Allie; Lena had family to fall back on; she was part of a clan now.
Leaving was a wrench, even though I knew we’d be coming back in the spring, if not before; more than anything now I wanted to take that picture of my father with my baby, and I wanted to come back at least once more before then; being separated from them for six weeks had been almost unbearable, and this week had helped to sponge some of that away, but I couldn’t bear the thought of another seven or eight months or so before we saw them again, so perhaps Christmas would be a good time to visit; if we worked it right, we could maybe bring Lizzie and the children again during their school holidays so we could have a last family Christmas together…
Saying goodbye was the hardest part; mum and dad couldn’t come to the airport with us, and the children had grown so attached it was distressing and upsetting to watch them cling to mum and dad; hell, I almost jumped out of the bus and waved it off, but sense prevailed and I left with my family, watching mum and dad dwindle in the distance until the bend in the road cut off our view. Lena was snuffling against me, and I wasn’t far behind, and Lizzie, Marcus and Allie were all shiny-eyed as well. It was a sombre group who boarded the plane, Allie pre-empting the seat next to me so she could huddle up against me and cry, Marcus doing the same and holding Lena tightly, with Lizzie holding Lena’s hand the all the way home.