I was grinning like a Cheshire Cat. “David’s still here!”
She bolted upright.
“NO! Really? Oh my God!”She picked up her cell.
“What are you doing, baby?” I asked, although I had a fair idea.
“Calling Judy, this is big, this is real big!”
She spoke for a few seconds and hung up.
“She’s on her way over; she wants to see for herself!”
Ten minutes later, Judy was sitting cross-legged on the end of our bed, grinning like a pumpkin.
“I told you, I fucking told you!” she crowed, “pay up, Lowry, you lose, I win, Oh yeah, I am so smart, you’re not, ha ha!” She was obviously enjoying herself immensely.
Ashley looked at me with her hand out.
“Nick?”
I handed her my wallet and she pulled two tens out and handed them to Judy, who gleefully snatched them and took her time putting them away, smirking cattily at Ashley. I sat there wondering how it came to be that Ashley lost bets but I had to pay up; must be a relationship thing…
We heard mum stirring around in her room, so we all quietly hustled into the dining room and sat around the table waiting for her to show up. When she walked in we all grinned at her at once, big, insincere, happy, innocent grins, and watched her slowly go beet red.
I decided to put her out of her misery.
“We don’t mind, mum! We like David, Judy likes you, if you guys want to be… together, no biggie, honest!”
She stared at us, and smiled guiltily, then looked back over her shoulder.
“Sweetheart, can you come here please?” she called, and he appeared at her shoulder, wearing just pyjama bottoms and smiling slightly sheepishly at Ashley and me; then he spotted Judy. His expression was priceless; I wish I’d had a camera!
“Hi dad!” she piped up, giving him a small wave and grinning slightly maliciously, “What are you doing here so early, and where’s your clothes?”
Ashley stood up and hugged mum.
“I’m so happy for you, Mom, for both of you!”
Mum looked relieved, and then sat down.
“You’re sure both of you are OK with this? Really?” we both nodded, followed by Judy.
She smiled. “Good, because we were wondering how to tell you, but as all three of you are here, now’s as good a time as any.” She looked at David who nodded and put his arm around her shoulder.
“Kids, all of you, David and I love each other, and we want to be together. David has asked me to move in with him. I told him I’d only do that if all three of you agreed. I didn’t want anyone to feel I was leaving them behind, or,” glancing at Judy, “invading their home, so I want to tell you, and ask you how you feel.”
Ashley leaned over and kissed her.
“Nick and I are fine, Mom, honest; if it’s what you want, do it, David’s one of the good guys, so go for it!”
Judy tapped her father on the arm and hugged him, then hugged Mum, before grinning at them both.
“One up-side I can think of springs to mind right away; at last, someone will be there who can actually cook, no more dinners with microwave cooking times printed on them, oh boy, I can hardly wait!”
Mum, David, and Judy soon settled in as the nuclear family, while Ashley and I remained at the house, which I slowly began to renovate; I wanted a nice, cosy, secure home, as we had plans, and we needed our home ready for that part of our life. However, David and mum surprised us with an announcement; they were getting married. Not that surprising, you may think, but part two was; mum was expecting. Ashley was in a haze when she heard, Judy more so. They were both getting a sibling, and they would be step-sisters. Judy asked Ashley if that meant she was entitled to take a run at me, as they were going to be sisters, and Ashley’s reply was short, pungent, and to the point;
“Stay away from my man, you bandy-legged little trollop, or so help me, I swear I’ll teach you the true meaning of the word ‘pain’!”
Judy just grinned; she was still being bent double and pummeled by Leon at every possible opportunity, she just wanted to see the expression on Ashley’s face when she asked her…
I had become Senior Technician at Mark One, and as word got around that they had someone on-board who was actually certified for the various specialist cars from Britain that came in, their owners kept coming back. Mark got his Lotus dealership, and the look on his face when the first tranche of Exige’s and Elise’s were delivered was a sight to behold. They were sold off the trailer, people were so eager to have them, and because we were a proper Lotus dealership, people knew they had the full warranty and service backup those kind of cars demand.
The day Mark told me he wanted to sell up and live a little was a sore blow; I’d been busily building a relationship with every customer, and with jobs so hard to find, all that would be gone; there were no other places like Mark One; I was sunk. Or so I thought.
I got a call one day to come and see David right after work, so I collected Ashley and went to see my parents, as I now thought of them. Mum was looking radiant; she was nearly seven months along now, and was absolutely beautiful, and David had that soppy ‘expectant father’ look permanently pasted on his face, but he was still rational, thank God.
After the usual family courtesies, mum went off to make dinner with Ashley in tow, leaving David and me alone. David got right down to business.
“Nick, I heard from Mark what his plans are and I think you and I could do something there. I’m seriously considering buying the business and I’d like you to run it; when Ashley finishes college, she may want to step-in on the business side, I know Judy’s not interested, she’s finally decided to study medicine, so I need someone who knows what they’re doing to be the one to move the business forward; are you interested?”
Of course I was; this was a God-send!
I gabbled out my thanks, but David waved them away.
“Nonsense, this is to do with family, so I’ll have a meeting with Mark tomorrow and see if I can’t beat him down a little on his price. Now let’s go and see if the ladies need a hand.”
There was one other piece of good news, and I saw it quite by accident, as I happened to pause my TV channel hopping on CNN one evening two years later.
My father had been fighting extradition for almost two years now; he and Michael Czyzyck had been very naughty boys, selling black market computer chips and special solid-state batteries, the kind used in cruise missiles, to Iran, through a dummy company based in Odessa, on the Black Sea coast.
The Court of Appeal in London had finally decided that he had committed an offence against the United States; under the USA PATRIOT Act that constituted grounds for granting the State Department’s request for extradition.
The bastard was coming here, and with any luck they’d stuff him in a cell with a huge rapist where he’d spend the rest of his miserable life being Bubba’s gang-bang bitch. I could hear Barbara’s laughter as I watched the news segment, seeing that face I’d honestly hoped I’d never see again collapse as the judgement was given against him.
The next morning, I was woken by the sound of Ashley being noisily sick. I immediately jumped out of bed to see if she needed help, but she waved me away as she wiped her mouth and rinsed with mouthwash.
“Baby, are you Ok? What’s wrong?” I asked, hovering over her.
“Nothing baby, I’m fine, everything’s fine, this is normal!” she smiled.
I was still worried. “You don’t sound fine, you sound terrible, healthy people don’t yark like that…!”
She turned and smiled at me, then laid her head on my chest.
“Nicky, we’re fine; both of us are fine, honest!”
Now I was puzzled. “What do you mean both of u… Oh, OH! Oh MY GOD! You’re pregnant!”
She smiled shyly at me and nodded. I was shaking, I was going to be a father, we were having a baby, OMIGOD!
“Nicky, Nicky, NICKY!”
Eventually I calmed down enough to realise she was talking to me.
“Calm down, baby, we’re not having it today, relax! Call Mom and Dad, call Judy, and then get dressed. Move, baby!”
I was floating; after the initial euphoria, all I could think was ‘I’m going to be a dad; I’m going to be a dad!’
I never saw or heard of my father again. Much as I had wanted to push him off someplace high with a stout rope around his neck, I knew that was not the way to deal with someone like him; his greed, his contempt for the law, for his fellow man, and for his beautiful, wronged, wives had brought him to this, but I wouldn’t rejoice in his punishment; Barbara had brought me up better than that. His punishment was just and fitting, that was good enough for me. The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small…
++++
I knelt by the grave in Stanwix Cemetery in Carlisle, on a cold late-November morning. The wind coming in from the highlands of Scotland, and frigid with the promise of early snow, blew leaf litter and small twigs around me as I finished clearing the gravesite. I dusted a few more away, and then I could finally cry.