“You drag me out of my nice, warm bed at some ungodly hour and then expect me to thank you by getting wet and wild with you? I don’t fucking think so, Bobby!” she gritted while my eyes bugged out of my head.
“Remember one thing, Bobby; if you want a long and peaceful life, Shari sleeps late, got it?”
I closed my eyes as I nodded; disagreeing with her right now seemed foolhardy, seeing what she was holding. Shari waited for a few more agonizing seconds, then let go of me.
“See Bobby, that’s what you need to learn; in any negotiation-type situation, always make sure you negotiate from a position of strength; mummy taught me that! Now, let’s go and have a nice shower, eh?”
I couldn’t help but grin as she led me to the wet-room; Shari was always so compliant, always happy to let me take the lead, but, when she really needed to make her point, she had some pretty persuasive techniques to enforce her will, and the willingness to use them when needed. Luckily, by the time I got around to soaping her back she’d forgiven me for rousting her out so early, and promised me a treat later to say sorry for threatening my best friend.
By the time we were dressed, had made up the bed again, and were ready to order breakfast, Yaz and Ricky had joined us, so we called down and ordered a light breakfast, then sat around chatting while we waited for Room Service. We also had some things for Nicky, so Shari and I checked they were to hand, and Shari gave me another long and tender kiss to apologise for earlier, this time with extra squeezing, which meant I had to wait before rejoining the others, as I refused to walk around in front of Yaz with a tent in my trousers…
We were at the coffee stage when there was a knock at the door. Rick answered it, and ushered Nicky and Ashley into the room. Once the niceties were dispensed with, we sat around the table, six of us, all family. Nicky poured Ashley a coffee, and one for himself, then leaned back in his chair, that trademark grin and slightly raised eyebrow so much in evidence.
“So Bobby, I hear tell you guys have something for me, so tell me, I’m agog here!”
Shari left the table to pull something out of her case, and came back to the table, handing Nicky a photograph album.
“We found this in the house, stashed in one of the attics; I think it belongs to you, Nicky.”
Nicky opened it, his eyes widening as picture after picture of Barbara was revealed, each page filled with his memories of his mum. His face remained expressionless as he leafed through the album, but his eyes filled, a tear eventually spilling out and running unheeded down his cheek to drip from his chin. Finally, he came to the end, and closed the album, passing it to Ashley, who looked at me in enquiry. I nodded, so she opened it, seeing for the first time images of Nicky’s beloved Barbara, and pictures of Nicky as a toddler, a little boy, a schoolboy. Her lip quivered as she looked through the album, her eyes flicking occasionally to Nicky, who sat impassively until she’d finished leafing through it, finally passing it back to him.
“Thank… Thank you for this,” he faltered, “it’s …” he broke off, swallowing several times, his throat clicking dryly. Yaz passed him a glass of water, which he accepted gratefully.
“Thank you, all of you; I never had anything of her, now I have this, thank you…”
Ashley pulled his head down into the angle of her neck and shoulder, her hand stroking his hair while she held him, her own eyes bright with unshed tears. Both Yaz and Shari were similarly affected, their eyes also brimming with tears in sympathy for their big brother’s pain and loss. Nicky pulled his head away from Ashley and looked at us, all four of us, as we waited for him.
“Thank you, I don’t know how to thank you, really…” stopping as Shari held her hand up.
“Nicky, there’s more, and I don’t know how to tell you, so I’m going to let you read it; then you’ll know, and maybe you’ll know what to do next. I wish there was another way, something other than this, but it’s all we have. Nicky, mummy wants to talk to you, will you let her?”
Nicky looked puzzled, uncomprehending, but nodded. Shari went back to her case, and pulled out a thick buff envelope, which she brought back to the table and handed to him.
“Nicky, this is an affidavit my mother swore out a few days before she died. It concerns you; please read it.”
Nicky looked at all of us, then opened the envelope and pulled out the thick sheaf of documents. We all watched as he unfolded the papers and began to read, watching his face alternately pale and darken, his jaw muscles bunching as he clenched and unclenched his teeth, and the occasional tremor in his hand as he read page after page. I knew what was in that terrible document, I had read it, and it had made me sick, and outraged, and deeply grateful that Robert Davies (or Brian Davis, or whoever the hell he really was) was caged up 24 hours a day in a super-maximum security federal prison, and would stay there forever. Just remembering what I had read in that affidavit made the rage churn and roil in the pit of my stomach all over again, but I knew I must be feeling only a pale shadow of what poor Nicky must be feeling right now.
We sat in silence, hardly daring to move, as Nicky read each page, finally folding the document and pushing it back into the envelope. He sighed, a deep, tremulous sigh, then stood up, motioning us down when we would have stood as well.
“No, guys, please, I just need some air, I…” he paused; his mouth worked, then he turned and walked out of the room. I knew Nicky’s expressions of old, and right now he was furious. I made to follow him, but Ashley shook her head.
“No Bobby, leave him, he’ll come back when he’s ready; he just needs to think, he’ll be okay, don’t worry about him. Do you mind…?” she asked, picking up the thick envelope. I shook my head.
“No, not at all; you’re family, so this concerns you too.”
Ashley began reading through the document, her face paling and her eyes hardening as she worked her way through it, finally folding it and pushing it back into the envelope, then drummed her fingers for a moment on the tabletop, her face pale and angry, before looking at Shari, her eyes once more bright with tears.
“Shereen, Yasmin, can we talk? Somewhere private?”
Yaz indicated the connecting door into her suite, and led the way, Shari trailing a hand across my arm before following the other two girls, and closing the door behind her. Rick and I sat and looked at each other; no conversation seemed appropriate, and I had nothing to say; crunch-time was here, maybe soon we’d find out if we really had Nicky back, or if he was lost to us forever.
There was no sound coming from the other suite; with the door closed, it was effectively soundproof, but we listened-out anyway, to try and maybe get a hint of what was being said; they probably weren’t arguing. Ashley had looked like she needed a shoulder, not an argument, as did the girls; seeing Nicky so affected had obviously reached into them as well, and they probably needed some girl-time right now. Rick and me sat and waited, silent and thoughtful, wondering if we’d see Nicky again today, or any time soon.
After what seemed like several eternities, but was probably no more than 15 or 20 minutes, the door to Yaz & Rick’s suite opened and the girls came in, looking like they’d all had a good cry, but also calm, and oddly, upbeat as well. Whatever had been said had obviously done all of them some good. As they seated themselves, there was a knock on the door, and Yaz opened it, to find Nicky there, looking pale and drawn, but no longer furious, no longer expressionless. Yaz slipped her hand into his, and he patted her hand and smiled distractedly at her as she led him back to the table. He’d obviously been thinking and he began speaking almost before he’d sat down.
“Thank you, all of you. I wish I’d come here better prepared for all this, but now I know, that’s the main thing. There’s just one thing I have to know, Shereen; why did you show me that thing? I was starting to get past all that; going to see her helped me start to let her go; why did you bring this all back to me?”
Shari shared a quick glance with Ashley, who nodded.
“Nicky, we brought you this because I thought you’d know how to get that fucker to pay for everything he did; the authorities in England didn’t do much, they just handed him over like he wasn’t any concern of theirs, and that’s just wrong! Just like you, Bobby and Ricky need closure too, and they need justice, so do I, and Yaz, and Ashley, and I thought this was the place, and you were the one to help. You helped get that filthy bastard caged-up in the first place; please help us find a way to make him pay for everything else; he killed mummy, Nicky, he has to pay, he hurt her, and he hurt her, and she died!”
Nicky started at that, his hand going out to take Shari’s hand as two tears ran down her cheeks, pulling her close and holding her against him as she cried silently, stroking her hair as he soothed her. When she’d recovered somewhat, he fished out a handkerchief and dried her eyes, Shari smiling wanly as he did so.
“You’re right, Shereen, he did, and I forgot that, I’m sorry, I won’t let that happen again! All my sisters have reason to make that bastard pay, so let’s do just that. David, Doctor Nixon, has an old friend with the FBI here in Albany, maybe he can somehow use this to put that bastard back to trial, this time on murder charges; he killed Barbara, he caused your mother’s death, he did… what he did to Ashley, you’re right, he should pay!”
Shari wordlessly hugged him, then gently kissed him on the cheek.
“Thank you Nicky, thank you for being my big brother! And Nicky, my family calls me “Shari…”
Nicky grinned, his face losing some of its pallor, suddenly looking again like the Nicky I remembered.
“I’m sorry… Shari, and what should I call you, little-little sister?” he grinned at Yaz.
“Everyone calls me Yaz, so should you… bigger Big-Brother!” she retorted, grinning cheekily.
Ashley cleared her throat.
“Actually, Yaz, you’d be little-little-little sister; I’m older than you, you know!”
Rick looked puzzled, then understanding flared in his eyes.
“You mean…?” and Nicky nodded.
“That’s right, Ashley’s also my sister, my half-sister actually, which sort of makes her your sister too, although I’m buggered if I know how; I think we need a new word in English for ‘the wife of my brother who is also my brother’s sister, but is no relation of mine; “sister-in-law” doesn’t quite seem to cover it…!”
Rick leaned back and grinned.