“Son, what are you not telling me, about Casey and you, I mean? He asked, softly. “I get the feeling I’m missing out on something here, something important, and it’s about you and your sister…”
“Mr. Novak, may I say something please?” interjected Casey, Frank replying “Please do, Casey, and it’s Frank, OK?”
Casey smiled gratefully at him. “Thank you… Frank. You probably know what I did, Sarah must have given you all the nasty details. I was such a poor excuse for a sister I made my big brother leave, I drove him away, and I lost the most precious thing I had. I only realised what a gift I’d been given after I’d thrown it away. I tried and tried to find him, and all the time I was trying to find him I was terrified that he was alone, and frightened and someone so much worse than me was hurting him more, that all the evil that people can do was being done to him. I was so frightened for him, the way I should always have been, the way he deserved.”
“I searched for him because I needed to say I was sorry for all the terrible, hurtful, spiteful things we’d done to him. I know that I’ll pay for what I did, I should; some sins can’t be wiped away with words or tears, but I found him, and I found I loved him more than anything in this world. All I want is for Robbie to be safe, and protected, and I swear to God I will be the one to do that for him — I’ll never let him go again, for as long as I live!”
Frank looked long and searchingly at her, at the tears standing in her eyes, at her hand holding Robbie’s and his arm around her, gentle and protective, and suddenly he knew what had happened between them. He looked at them in wonder, moved by the sincerity in her voice, but also understanding what kind of obstacles they were going to face, and feeling a sudden rush of deep sympathy for what was heading their way.
“Casey, I believe you, and I’m glad that you and Robbie found each other at last, and I can only wish you luck, you’re going to need it. However, Robbie has three very vocal champions in my home, my wife Caitlin, and Moira and Morag, good luck convincing them, really! You’re going to have to be as honest and sincere with them as you just were with me, because they’re going to take a great deal of convincing. I love Robbie like a son, I’d be proud to call him son, but the girls all adore him in a very special way, and they’re not going to let you off easy. The twins aren’t going to be particularly happy with anyone taking Robbie away from them, and when they find out who you really are, well, just be prepared for fireworks when you tell them. For what it’s worth, I’m on your side; Robbie’s happy so I’m happy, and I’m pleased he’s finally found a girl who’ll care for him as much as you obviously do.”
“Caitlin, however, is going to be something else. Robbie lived with us for a couple of years, and Caitlin took him in and made him hers, just like the twins. When she thinks of her kids, Robbie sits in there as naturally as Moira and Morag; he’s one of hers, and she’s going to do or say anything she thinks fit to protect her boy; if she thinks she needs to, she’ll stand over him and maul anyone who gets too near, make no mistake. Think of getting between momma bear and her cubs, and you’ll have an idea of what she can be like when it comes to Robbie and the girls! Convince her, and you’re home free, so make sure you’re completely honest with her.”
Frank stood up, smiled, and gently patted her shoulder. “It’s nearly time for lunch, kids, so we’ll leave this alone until Caitlin gets back; as far as the girls are concerned, for now you’re just Robbie’s girlfriend, OK?”
Casey and Robbie nodded, and Frank left to go and order pizza.
Lunch was noisy fun, the twins Moira and Morag, loud, brash, leggy 14 year old identical green-eyed red-heads, arguing with everyone and each other, disagreeing with the pizza choices, generally causing trouble, by turns fractious, adorable and just plain annoying; in every respect, a typical boisterous Sunday afternoon in the Novak household. The girls were ecstatic Joey had brought Robbie, they loved to pester him to take them cruising in the Bentley so the neighbourhood kids could see them being driven around in such a hot car, tugging and pulling him every which way, giving him no peace, trying to hit him up for new games and game handsets, and coercing him into digging into his wallet and passing them a few bucks that Mom didn’t need to know about. And he loved it, this was his family, this was how it should be. The girls were curious about Casey, and Robbie introduced her as “my new girlfriend, Case”, waiting on tenterhooks to see if they’d make the connection; they didn’t; as usual, they weren’t really paying attention to what was going on around them, deeply involved as they were in one of their own interminable cryptic squabbles.
At last, Caitlin arrived home, seeing Robbie’s car in the drive and calling out for him as she came in, hugging him tightly, then Joey and Karen, and looking curiously at Casey, huddled in Robbie’s arm. She was an older, taller version of the twins, slender and motherly, Casey noting how she linked arms with Robbie and held him close, protectively, obviously unaware she was doing so.
“Aunt Kat, we need to talk, all of us,” said Robbie, his face sombre and serious. Caitlin pricked up her ears; she’d never seen Robbie like this before; something was up.
“OK, in the den. Girls, we need to talk for a while, grown-up stuff, we’ll tell you about it later,” shooing the two teens outside, ignoring their protests that they were grown-up’s too.
Once they’d all filed in and sat down, Caitlin looked at Robbie and Casey.
“OK, baby, what’s this about, and who’s this young lady?”
Robbie braced himself, began speaking.
“Aunt Kat, you know all about what went on before, my… family. This is Casey, my sister, she came looking for me, she’s been looking for me since I left, and we found each other by chance a couple of days ago in Sacramento.” He waited apprehensively for the explosion, but, apart from a slight hardening of her eyes and a faint line appearing between her eyebrows, she just nodded, saying “Go on.”
Robbie continued. “We spent a long time talking about what happened, and she told me about how she felt about me, about what she’d done, and how she was trying to make it right; I don’t blame her, she was only a kid and did what she saw everyone else around her doing. She apologised to me, and to Joey and Karen, she’s made it right with me, and now we want to make it right with the rest of my family, finally put this whole thing away forever. Aunt Kat, I finally found my little sister, and she found me, and we discovered something about us both. I love Casey, and she loves me, like brother and sister, but also the… other way. For me, that wipes out the past. Can you understand that?”
Caitlin was thunderstruck. Here was Robbie telling her that his sister, the girl who’d cost him so much, had come looking for him, had found him, and now he was in love with her!
She looked searchingly at Casey, noting the way she sat as he spoke, not defensively, leaning into him, passively accepting him as her protector, her eyes on his face as he spoke, her hands showing no flinching or drawing away when he took one of them, all her body language confirming what he was saying.
Caitlin finally spoke. “And you…. Casey, just what have you got to say for yourself?” Her tone took away any sting her words might have had, and Casey lifted her eyes to look at her.
“Mrs. Novak, everything Robbie, Joey and Sarah have told you was true. I made poor Robbie’s whole life unbearable, I cost him his big chance and took away the future he should have had. I have no excuses, I was old enough to say ‘no, no more’ and I didn’t, it was just easier to keep on hurting him. We ground him into nothing, and threw him away. When he left, that was when I realised what I’d really lost, what I should have held onto. Robbie is my big brother, and I should have looked up to him, let him be my hero; instead, I drove him away, and that will always weigh on my heart; that I made him leave, alone and with no-one to care for him; it took strangers to be the family he needed, his own family weren’t worthy of him. Now that we’ve found each other, I won’t let him go again; I found him, and he let me back in, and I found a part of him that I need more than I can ever say. I love Robbie, in a way that you probably won’t approve of, nor understand, but seems so simple to me. I couldn’t be his sister when he needed me, but now I can be more than that for him, and he feels the same way, and wants that same thing from me.”
Caitlin watched the tears roll down Casey’s cheeks, saw Karen hold and squeeze her hand, and watched Robbie brush her hair with his lips as he smoothed it back from her forehead, noting the tears glimmering in Joey’s eyes, and sighed.
“Casey, for years now I’ve wanted to give you a piece of my mind, and then the flat of my hand, and now I’ve got you here, I find I can’t! Are you sure this is what you want, both of you? Because Robbie is an important part of this family, I love him like he was my own son, as does Sarah, and we look after our own, always. Will you promise me, with all of your heart, never to hurt him, to never do anything to make the hurt come back? Because if you can’t swear that absolutely, you should leave, now!”
Casey looked directly at Caitlin, noted her pale, fixed features, her flared nostrils as her emotions got the better of her for a moment, all her protective instincts crowding together to defend one of her own, and said “Mrs. Novak, Robbie means the world to me; I will never hurt him again, ever. I’ve done enough of that, and I would die before I ever hurt him again. Now I just want to keep him close to me!”
Caitlin nodded, satisfied.
“And Joey, what’s your part in all this?”
Joey looked nonplussed. “Aunt Kat, until last night I knew nothing of this; when we walked into Robbie’s place last night and saw Casey, you could have knocked me down with a feather! But I believed her then, and I believe her now, and Robbie’s happy, so we worked it out. Yeah, I welcomed her in, so did Karen, and you know what happened last time they met in a confined space!”