The Garden on Sparrow Street: A heartwarming, uplifting Christmas romance

by Tilly Tennant

  ‘Right.’

  Colm turned back to the road, his non-committal reply giving no clue of whether he approved or not of Nina’s actions, and in the end, she could stand it no longer. She did what she’d always do, no matter what else was happening. She couldn’t leave Robyn hanging. Her friend knew she was out with Colm tonight so it stood to reason that if Robyn was calling now, she must have really needed to.

  ‘Hey…’ Nina said. And then she frowned as Robyn began to talk. ‘Oh,’ she said finally, a weary resignation to her tone. ‘We’re probably about half an hour away… no, no, it’s fine, we weren’t doing anything in particular. We’ll be over as quick as we can.’ Nina ended the call and looked across at Colm. ‘I’m sorry – could we detour to Robyn’s house? I promise to try and keep it short.’

  ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked, and if he was irritated by the change of plan he didn’t show it.

  ‘You know I told you we found what looked like a piece of coat at the garden last time it was vandalised? Well, Robyn’s figured out where it came from, and let’s just say if we don’t go over and stop her, she might just kill her son when he gets home.’

  Chapter Twenty

  When Nina and Colm arrived at Robyn’s house, Nina turned to him as the car came to a stop at the kerbside.

  ‘You don’t need to wait for me if you’d rather go straight home. I’m sure Robyn can give me a lift once we’ve worked this out.’

  ‘You want me to go home? But what about—’

  ‘No.’ Nina smiled ruefully. ‘I don’t want you to go home at all, but this is hardly your problem and it’s not fair to ask you to stay while we work it out. I don’t really know how long it might take.’

  ‘That doesn’t matter – I can wait.’

  Nina raised her eyebrows. ‘I know you would, but I feel it’s a lot to ask.’

  ‘You never know – I might be able to help.’

  Nina didn’t see how Colm could help with this situation. He didn’t know Robyn that well and he didn’t know Toby at all. Apart from his connection to the garden it really wasn’t his problem. But maybe it was his subtle way of saying he wanted to stick around because he thought their night might not be completely lost just yet. Nina couldn’t tell but secretly she hoped so too. And maybe he wanted to stick around to show Nina that what mattered to her mattered to him.

  ‘It might be useful to have a man around,’ he added. Nina looked at him with a silent question. ‘All I mean is that I was once a teenage boy. It was a long time ago, granted, but I still kind of know how they think.’

  ‘I’ll bet you were never this much trouble.’

  ‘Ah, well, you’d have to ask my mam that but I’ve a feeling she’d tell you otherwise.’

  Nina gave a vague smile as she looked towards the house. The front downstairs window was lit but the curtains were closed so she couldn’t see if anyone was in there.

  ‘Poor Robyn,’ she said quietly, undoing her seatbelt. ‘She doesn’t have it easy.’

  ‘I know something of that, to be sure,’ Colm said, unclipping his own seatbelt and following her out of the car. They walked the path to Robyn’s front door together and Nina rang the bell. She shivered; she wasn’t really dressed to be out and the night air was colder than she’d anticipated. Colm instinctively reached to put an arm around her, and she found herself wishing for so much more as they waited for Robyn to let them in.

  A moment later, Robyn opened the door. She looked slightly taken aback to see Colm, and Nina wondered whether she’d imagined he would have dropped her off and left. On any other night, perhaps he would have.

  ‘You don’t mind me being here?’ he asked. ‘I thought perhaps… well, I didn’t want to…’

  ‘Of course not.’ Robyn forced a stiff smile as she ushered them in. ‘Any help is greatly appreciated.’

  ‘Where is he?’ Nina asked.

  ‘Still out with his stupid, no-good mates.’ Robyn looked as if she’d been crying. It wasn’t what Nina had expected to see – Robyn had been raising Toby alone for a long time now and she always seemed to take it in her stride, no matter how much of a handful he was. It looked as if she’d finally reached the end of a very long tether, though. She flopped onto the sofa with a heavy sigh. ‘I’m just so ashamed of him right now. I don’t know that I’ll be able to look him in the face without slapping him.’

  ‘When’s he coming back?’

  ‘I phoned him just before I called you and he said he’d come back straight away, but…’ She lifted a hand to indicate the distinct lack of Toby. ‘I could tell he was with his little gang so I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t turn up anytime soon. He’ll be showing off somewhere, telling them he doesn’t give a shit about my phone call. That’s if they’re not wrecking someone else’s property.’

  ‘Did you tell him why he had to come home?’

  ‘No, because if I did he wouldn’t come. He knew I wasn’t happy, though, and he knew it was something serious.’

  ‘And you’re sure it was him?’ Nina asked. ‘I mean, that bit of cloth…’

  Robyn pushed herself up from the sofa and retrieved a mud-stained coat from a hook behind the kitchen door. She returned a second later and laid it out so that a tear could plainly be seen at the hem, and then she slotted the scrap they’d pulled from the railings on Sparrow Street into the gap. It fitted perfectly, but even if it hadn’t, the coincidence would have been too great to ignore.

  ‘Oh,’ Nina said. She glanced at Colm, who simply looked on with a grim expression.

  ‘Maybe he ripped it somewhere else and the scrap just happens to look like it belongs?’ Nina suggested helplessly. ‘Or maybe he was messing around on the railings at Sparrow Street but it wasn’t him who did the damage in the garden?’

  Robyn raised her eyebrows and Nina had to admit it was a long shot. She’d just hoped there was another explanation because she knew how much this was hurting her friend and how hard this was going to be for Robyn to address.

  ‘He could be a good boy,’ Robyn said as she sat down again. ‘That’s what’s so frustrating about all this. Give him the right company and he could be brilliant. He doesn’t have bad bones; he’s just a bad judge of character and so bloody easily led.’

  Nina sat beside her and patted her hand. ‘I know. He’s always been lovely whenever I’ve spent time with him. I’ve never thought he has bad bones, and I doubt anyone else does either.’

  Robyn looked at her. ‘What the hell am I going to tell your neighbours? They’ll hate us.’

  ‘No, they won’t. Besides, I’m not going to tell them.’

  ‘Won’t you have to?’

  ‘What good will it do? It’ll cause a lot of upset and make things twenty times more drawn out and difficult. As things are now, they’ll forget in no time once the garden is fixed, and, presumably, when you’ve spoken to Toby about it he won’t do it again.’

  ‘But he has to learn that I can’t cover for him. He has to understand that his actions have consequences. If we gloss this over and he thinks he’s got away with it he won’t learn that.’

  ‘There may be other ways of teaching him that lesson without the likes of Ron getting involved,’ Nina said firmly.

  Colm spoke now. For the last few minutes he’d been listening closely, still and silent, taking it all in.

  ‘I’d say that’s a good call. Nobody has any proof anyway so why stir up this hornets’ nest?’

  ‘Toby will quickly realise there’s no proof too,’ Robyn said. ‘Especially if we’re not telling anyone – he’ll think that’s because we can’t prove it.’

  ‘Unless we make some proof up,’ Colm said.

  Both Robyn and Nina frowned at him.

  ‘For instance,’ he continued, ‘how’s your wee man to know there was no memory card in the CCTV camera?’

  Robyn was thoughtful for a moment. ‘Good point,’ she said finally.

  ‘Give him a choice,’ Colm said. ‘Tell him you have CCTV footage. Tell h
im he either stops seeing the boys who are getting him into trouble or you’ll take the video to the police and have every one of the gang identified and slapped in a young offenders’ centre. I guarantee he’ll play ball because he won’t want to get them all dropped in it.’

  Robyn nodded slowly. ‘You know, that could work. Of course, the big problem is that Toby could promise whatever I ask but I can’t keep an eye on where he is twenty-four-seven and he knows that. He could easily slip off and spend time with them and I’d never know.’

  ‘Then limit the time he has to spare,’ Nina said. ‘I’m sure the offer my dad made would still stand. Make it part of the deal that he has to go and work for my dad for so many hours a week. That way, he stays out of trouble, learns some valuable skills and makes a little pocket money into the bargain. If we can make him see that’s all a good proposition then it might just tip the balance in our favour and help him start to turn things around for the better.’

  Robyn was thoughtful, taking in everything that Nina and Colm had said, but there was no time to discuss it further because the sound of a key turning in the lock of the front door reached them and a moment later Toby appeared. He looked at Nina and Colm in some surprise and confusion.

  ‘Hey,’ he said, greeting Nina uncertainly. Then he turned to his mum. ‘What did you want me for?’

  ‘I see you’ve got your old coat on tonight,’ Robyn said in a deceptively even tone. ‘I thought you didn’t like that one any more.’

  ‘I changed my mind,’ Toby said evasively, his gaze travelling to the damaged coat still sitting on the sofa where Robyn had left it. It was obvious that he was already working things out, guessing what might come next.

  Robyn held up the coat, the ripped hem clearly on display. ‘Care to explain how this happened?’

  Toby licked his lips. He glanced at Nina and Colm, and then turned back to his mother. Perhaps he was wondering what Nina and Colm had to do with it, but there could be no doubting that he knew his mum was onto something.

  ‘Must have done it on a nail or something at college,’ he said. ‘Didn’t even realise I’d done it.’

  Robyn folded it up again with very deliberate care. ‘So you didn’t… I don’t know, maybe catch it on some railings when you escaped from a garden you’d just trashed…?’

  Toby coloured, and in that moment Nina couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him. His face told the truth, even if his words didn’t, and to his credit, showed a little shame too.

  ‘No,’ he said despite this, the lie coming with little conviction. He was going through the motions, like there was a system to this, one where he got caught but he lied anyway, because that was how these things worked. He didn’t look like a boy who thought for a minute the lie would be believed.

  ‘Don’t, Toby,’ Robyn said with a calmness that must have been taking superhuman strength. ‘Don’t take the piss. I know what happened. In fact, it was me who pulled the bit of coat from the railings. As soon as I saw it I had a feeling I might know where it had come from, but I didn’t want to believe it. Not him, not my Toby – he wouldn’t do something this shitty. Imagine how I felt then when I saw this…’

  Robyn held up the coat again for a second before letting it drop back to the sofa.

  ‘It wasn’t me…’ Toby began, red blotches climbing his neck. ‘I was on lookout; I didn’t do it!’

  Robyn narrowed her eyes. ‘You think that makes it better? You think that’s OK?’

  ‘Well, no, but I didn’t do any of the bad stuff—’

  ‘You let the bad stuff happen! You helped the bad stuff happen! And I’ll bet you had a good laugh about it afterwards! Why should anyone have anything nice, anything that matters to them? Why shouldn’t we ruin it? And it’s not the first time, is it? Tell me, Tobe, were you on lookout the first time too? Or did you get stuck in that time because nobody caught you?’

  Toby’s gaze went to the floor but he said nothing.

  ‘Even after I told you how upset everyone had been,’ Robyn continued, her voice simmering dangerously to breaking point now, ‘even after I told you that, you went back to have another go? You disgust me. I thought I’d brought you up better than that. Right now, I don’t even know how I can call you my son without feeling sick.’

  ‘It’s just a garden,’ Toby muttered savagely. ‘Nobody got hurt.’

  Nina glanced at Colm, half-expecting him to say something, but he didn’t.

  Robyn shot to her feet.

  ‘Just a garden? How dare you! I worked hard on that garden! Nina and Colm worked on that garden! That garden meant a lot of things to a lot of people and they all gave their time and money to make it nice. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?’

  Toby dared to raise his eyes, but at the sight of his mother’s fury, he quickly dropped his gaze to the floor again. He was sorry – Nina could see it, but Robyn wasn’t finished with him yet.

  ‘I’m ashamed to call you my son,’ she said. ‘Your dad would have been too. We can only be thankful that he’s not here to see this now because it would break his heart.’

  Toby looked up again, and this time there were tears of defiance and rage and hurt in his eyes. When all was said and done, he was a seventeen-year-old boy, still finding his way in the world, still figuring out how to get by without his father. Nina’s heart went out to him, and a small part of her had to question if perhaps Robyn had gone too far. She glanced briefly at Colm and wondered if he was thinking the same thing. She also felt that this was more than they needed to see, despite Robyn having asked Nina to be there. This was something for Robyn and Toby to sort out in private as mother and son, and she thought that she and Colm ought to say their goodbyes and leave them to it. The problem was, there didn’t seem to be an appropriate moment to jump in and say so.

  ‘I’m glad Dad isn’t here to see you messing around with that dickhead from the council,’ Toby fired back, and it was all Nina could do not to suck in a sharp breath of shock.

  ‘Peter has nothing to do with this!’ Robyn yelled.

  ‘Yeah? Well why do you think I have to be out all the time? You think I want to sit around here and watch him try and get into your knickers?’

  Robyn stepped forward, her hand flying. Before anyone could stop her, she’d slapped Toby across the face. Toby recoiled in shock, hand clamped to his cheek.

  ‘You were making trouble long before Peter started to come over,’ Robyn said, struggling to control her rage. ‘How dare you blame this on him!’

  Toby stared at her. He looked again at Nina and Colm, and then he turned back to Robyn. ‘I hate you!’ he hissed. ‘I wish you’d died instead of Dad!’

  Robyn opened her mouth to reply, but before she could, he stormed out of the room. A second later they heard the front door slam.

  ‘Shit…’ Robyn started after him, but Colm pulled her back.

  ‘You’re too close to this – let me try. Man to man, you know? He might talk to me.’

  ‘Colm’s right,’ Nina said. ‘You’re too close and too emotional right now. Let Colm go and fetch him back.’

  Robyn looked uncertain, but she was close to tears again, and maybe she felt she’d run out of options, because she finally nodded agreement. Colm strode out without another word. Nina put her arm around Robyn and the tears she’d been holding back began to fall.

  ‘Why does it have to be so hard?’

  Nina rubbed her back. ‘I can’t imagine how tough it must be but you do a brilliant job. God knows how useless I’d have been if Gray had left me with a child to raise alone.’

  ‘If I’m doing such a brilliant job then explain the spawn of Satan out there.’

  Nina couldn’t help a little laugh. Things would have to be dark indeed for Robyn’s spirit to desert her completely.

  ‘He’ll come good in the end – you said it yourself; he just needs the right guidance.’

  ‘I don’t know who the hell can give that, but it’s not me.’

  ‘One day,’
Nina said softly, ‘he’ll realise just how amazing you are and how lucky he is to have you. It’s just that he hasn’t quite got to that day yet.’

  Robyn shook her head. ‘Maybe I ought to get the police involved after all. Maybe the short, sharp shock method is the only way – terrify him into taking the right path.’

  ‘Maybe, but wouldn’t that point the finger of blame at the other boys too?’

  ‘I expect it would eventually, but it would put a stop to their association.’

  ‘And it might also make Toby some nasty enemies in the process. Do you know much about these other boys – who else they know, what they’re capable of, how they might react to being implicated?’

  Robyn nodded. ‘You could be right.’

  ‘Though,’ Nina added slowly, ‘there’s no reason why we can’t use it as leverage.’

  ‘Go on…’

  ‘Just like Colm said before – tell Toby that if he doesn’t cut ties then we’ll send the video of them all vandalising the garden to the police.’

  ‘You mean the video we don’t have?’

  Nina nodded. ‘As we also established before, Toby doesn’t know that.’

  Robyn gave her a watery smile. ‘You’re a bloody genius.’

  ‘Well, it wasn’t really my suggestion, was it?’ Nina’s phone bleeped and she pulled it out to see a text from Colm.

  We’re going for a burger and a chat. Don’t worry; be back soon.

  Nina turned her phone to show Robyn the message; she blew out a long breath.

  ‘Wow; he’s got hidden depths, that one. I don’t know anyone else who could have got around Toby like that so quickly.’

  ‘It must be that legendary Irish charm,’ Nina said. ‘Works on everyone.’

  ‘It certainly worked on you.’

  Nina gave a rueful smile as she recalled the plans that now looked well and truly thwarted. Even if Colm wasn’t out long with Toby, Robyn would probably need a little extra support. And even if Robyn didn’t need Nina to stay, the night’s events were hardly conducive to further romance. Still, she couldn’t help but feel proud of Colm for the way he’d stepped in so selflessly.