Leon got that, and grinned.
“I don’t blame you, man, she’s a real babe! How ’bout you, Rick?”
Rick kind of grinned too, all the answer Leon needed. With that we headed back to rendezvous with the girls and go back to the house for lunch. After lunch, Judy excused herself, saying she had to get back to Albany, urgent family business, but that she’d see us soon, and left us to sit and talk with the family, Kathleen and Maria filling us in on Leon’s past; we learned he’d grown up wanting to be a fire-fighter, like his father and grandfather, but after his father was killed in New York, the family had moved back to Oneonta and Kathleen had made him promise not to join the Fire Department, so his other great love, cars took over.
At that point he took Rick and me out to the garage and pulled a tarp off his pride and joy; a black 1967 Chevrolet Impala he’d first seen in a TV show called “Supernatural” and had scrimped and saved until he could finally get a broken-down example, which he’d then spent several years restoring. It was a beauty, glossy black paintwork and sparkling chrome, and to my eyes, used to the compact cars of Britain, it looked big as a ferryboat and sleek and menacing as a torpedo.
Dinner was once again a happy, relaxed affair, Kathleen pulling out all the stops, as we’d be leaving the next day to go back to Albany; we’d decided we really should be back there in case the private investigator had any more information. We were just passing round dessert when the telephone rang. Leon took the call, and then called Kathleen out into the hall for a quick, whispered conversation. They both came back in, Kathleen giving us us an odd look, before exchanging glances with Leon and nodding to him, so he turned his attention to us.
“Guys, I’ll be taking you back to Albany once we’re done here; Judy’s in Albany with someone there she thinks you need to talk to, so once we’re done, we’ll get your stuff together. I wish you could have stayed longer, but Judy says this is real important!”
Rick, Yaz, Shari and I exchanged puzzled glances; what was going on here? Leon wasn’t saying anything more, so we finished dinner in awkward silence. Once we were done, Rick and I went and got the bags while the ladies hugged and promised return visits as soon as possible.
Conversation during the drive back was limited, as Leon seemed to have no wish to discuss where we were going; all he would say was that Judy had asked him to bring us back to Albany as quickly as possible, and that it was important. To be honest, I was feeling a little embarrassed at the abrupt way we’d finished our visit, eating and running like that, so I was not entirely comfortable on the 90-minute drive back to Albany.
Eventually we began hitting the off-ramp signs for down-town Albany, and we took one, driving through what looked like very nice housing developments and older neighborhoods, lots of green spaces and lawns, large, elegant houses set well-back from the road, with large gardens to the front, and wide, sweeping roadways.
We eventually pulled into the gravelled drive of a large, red-brick house with tall, white-framed windows, and a large Weeping Willow in the centre of the lawn. As we rolled to a stop, the front door opened, and Judy came out with a tall girl with striking red-bronze hair, almost the same titian-red as Shari’s, and smoky emerald eyes. She stared wide-eyed at Rick and me, and turned back to Judy.
“Jude, look.. they’re so much like… it’s amazing, look at them!” she whispered, while we looked on uncomprehendingly. Judy grinned.
“I know, told you so. Guys, this is my sister, Ashley. Ashley, this is Bobby, that’s Ricky, and these are their girlfriends, Shari and Yaz. Shall we go in?”
Ashley led us into the house and into a large, comfortable family room, with big couches and a bright fire, where she indicated that we take our seats. I was at a complete loss to understand why Judy had brought us here, and was just about to ask her, when a little girl, maybe no more than 18 months or so, came running down the passage and barged into Judy’s legs.
“Judeejudeejudeejudee!” she crowed, laughing as Judy picked her up and nibbled her neck, making her laugh and giggle even more, before settling her on her hip. She saw the puzzled look on our faces, and grinned.
“This is my niece, Babs; say hello to the nice people, poppet!”
The little girl grinned happily, and flapped a pudgy little hand.
“This is Ashley’s baby, her husband will be along shortly, he has some things he wants to tell you; in fact, here he is now.”
I was just turning to see this “husband” who wanted to talk to us, when he spoke, freezing me in my tracks.
“Hello Robert, long time no see! You too, Richie! I hear you want to talk to me!”
Rick jumped spinning around, his expression probably mirroring mine, because there, framed in the doorway, looking just as I remembered him, was Nicky, the same tousled dark blonde hair, the same tawny-brown eyes, the same lopsided smile, a little taller and somehow more “grown-up”, but still Nicky.
“Nicky… oh my God, Shari, look, it’s… it’s Nicky, look!” I whispered, shock, relief, guilt, and sorrow all battling for control of me.
Nicky walked into the room and took the little girl from Judy, grinning fondly as she reached up and pulled his nose, then kissed her and passed her to Ashley, kissing her as she took the child from him. He then turned back to face us, his expression quizzical, but not hostile.
“Judy tells me you came here looking for me, which was kind of a surprise, but here I am. Now you’ve found me, what can I do for you?”
I was utterly dumbfounded; I’d resigned myself to weeks, maybe months of waiting for news, and yet the people we’d bumped into by the sheerest stroke of luck had led us right here to him. My mouth worked as I tried to say something, anything, but I was struck speechless.
“Speak up, Robert, you never had any problem before!” he grinned, his expression robbing the words of any sting, although, in truth he had every reason in the world to be bitter and hostile, and not one reason in hell to listen to anything we had to say. Shari looked up at me, her expression unreadable, realising I was trying to say so many things that nothing could come out, so she plunged ahead.
“Nick… Nicky, you don’t know me, my name is Shereen Shahida, and my sister Yasmin and I are the daughters of Robert Davies; we’re your sisters, you’re my big brother, and we’ve been looking for you. Mummy told us everything she knew about you, what our… what that man did to you, how he hurt you. She didn’t know where you were, or what happened to you, but I promised myself that we’d try and find you, because you’re my big brother, and I need you as much as I need Bobby and Ricky!”
Nick put his arm around Ashley and squeezed her, smiling at Shari as she stood looking at him, her face pale and drawn, and her eyes glittering.
“So you’re my little sister? Hello sis, and hello even younger sis!” he grinned, smiling at Yaz.
Yaz stared silently at him, her eyes shining, breathing out in a gusty sigh that somehow became a sob. Nicky cocked his head and winked at her, and suddenly Yaz was hugging him, babbling into his chest.
“We looked for you, we tried to find you, we all did, oh Nicky, we didn’t know where you were, I heard so much about you, mummy said you were badly hurt, I’m so sorry, so sorry…!”
Nick hugged her, grinning at Shari, as she too moved in to share in his hug.
“Sshhh, it’s okay, it’s okay, shh now, is that any way to say hello to your big brother? Who knew I had such beautiful little sisters!” He held them both away a little and studied them, his old grin very much in evidence, that charming, lopsided smile of his that had always irritated me so much when I was younger.
“Judy said you were beautiful, but she was only half-right! All my sisters are knock-outs, just look at you! And now I think you should meet the rest of your family. This beautiful girl here is my wife, Ashley, and this is our daughter, your niece, Barbara.”
My heart lurched as he said her name, wonder, guilt and loss warring in me all over again. Nick saw me start at the name, and nodded slightly, obviously guessing exactly what had jolted through me on hearing my mother’s name again.
Nick pulled Judy closer and hugged her tightly.
“You’ve met Judy, my sister-in-law and my best friend, and Leon, my soon-to-be brother in law you already know. My mother and her husband are waiting for us to get acquainted, you’ll meet them later. So now, talk to me, Robert, tell me why you needed to see me so badly. I wrote to you, I asked you both to meet me in Carlisle last year, I heard nothing back, so I assumed that was it. So, why are you here, now?”
Shari looked up at me again, checking if I was up to this now, and I nodded, letting her know I was ready for this. We all sat down as I began to speak.
In a low voice I told him what had happened after our father was arrested and extradited, the way we’d been stripped of everything, how we’d lived, then Rick’s disappearance and re-appearance two years later with two sisters in-tow, sisters we’d grown-up completely unaware of.
Rick took up the tale, how he’d pieced together enough hints and clues to convince him that he’d found something, and how he had indeed found Shari and her family, and learned what our father had put her mother through. He glanced at Shari, who took it up from there.
“Our mother was beaten and abused, raped and mistreated by our father for so long, but she couldn’t do anything about it, because he threatened us, Yaz and me. When we were old enough, he was going to sell us to his friends!”
Nicky’s look of shock and outrage was echoed and magnified on Ashley and Judy’s faces. Nicky pulled her close and held her while she trembled, the remembered fear and terror reverberating through her all over again, and it felt right to watch her be held and take comfort in the arms of her big brother.
“Where’s your mother, Shereen, what happened to her?” he asked her softly.