by J. R. Bonham
A second later, Wendy appeared in Mike’s office and closed the door behind her.
“Well?” she enquired with one eyebrow raised, smiling.
“Well what?” he teased. “I don’t know what you mean!”
“I heard you talking about going to meet a certain someone on the train.”
“Do you always eavesdrop my conversations?”
“Of course! Come on,” she urged him. “Spill.”
“We’re going for mid-September and I’m buying a flat for us. I just hope she can go through with it, again. She’s a Libran you know; they can never make up their minds! It’s so frustrating. I have a good feeling this time, though. At least I’m keeping positive, and all my fingers crossed too.”
“I do hope it works out for you this time.”
“Thanks.”
Jan decided to take one of the jobs in a hotel or restaurant for the next few weeks in order to keep her mind occupied. She went to the Job Centre to check if there was anything else more suitable. When there wasn’t, she told them she would do waitressing, as she had done that before and enjoyed it. She heard that the café where she had worked many years before actually needed staff. She took herself to the café and saw that it was the same people running it. They were delighted to see her and gave her the job on the spot. She told them she was available until mid-September and they were happy with that as it got quieter then and they could manage.
One day as Jan was washing and ironing the family laundry, she came across her passport just by chance. It was at the bottom of Steven’s top drawer where his kept his pants and socks. She hadn’t started looking in earnest but was pleased to come across it. She took it and put it away in a safe place – but never said a word to Steven. She wondered how long it would take him to realise it was missing from his drawer.
She went back to playing tennis and badminton on a regular basis and all her friends there were really glad to see her again. Their words to her from a few weeks before, when she first came back, were still ringing in her ears. They thought she was mad to return to Devon when what she really wanted was to be with Mike.
“You might be surprised, but I’m going back to Mike again,” she told them. “I took on board all you said when I first came back. You asked what it was I wanted and to go for it. Geoff would survive. The kids too. They’d all get over it and everything would settle down. And I think you’re right.”
“I’m so pleased for you,” said Margaret. “I think I can speak for all of us but we all wish you well. Whenever it is you go, please keep in touch and let us know you’re OK.”
“I will,” Jan replied. “Thank you so much for all your help. It means a lot to me. I shall be gone in a few weeks, probably mid-September.”
Mid-September arrived and all arrangements were in order. Jan packed her car, just like she had done six months earlier. She said goodbye to Hamish and it was just as hard for her this time around.
Mike duly caught the train to Devon and Jan picked him up at the station. They embraced and were so glad to see each other again after all this time. The old feeling came back in an instant. That electricity between them.
“How was it this time?” he enquired of her leaving again.
“Oh, just as bad as it was the first time! Poor Hamish didn’t know what was happening with me putting a load of stuff in my car. I left one message to them all this time just saying how sorry I was. No more details, apart from saying I would contact them by phone.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll all be fine. We need to buy some things for our new flat,” he couldn’t wait to tell her. “I signed for it yesterday so now it’s ours. We’ll have a few more days at the cottage and then we’ll move into the flat. I’ve bought a bed and some bedding, sheets, duvet covers and pillows and they’re being delivered the day after tomorrow.”
“That sounds good. In fact, that sounds fantastic. I can’t wait!”
“We’ll need loads of new stuff for the kitchen, but I thought you’d like to choose your own saucepans and things. The wardrobes are already fitted and I want you to choose a three-piece suite with me. And anything else you think we’ll need. I’d really like a television with a big screen. What d’you think? Rosemary would never let me have one.”
“In that case, how can I say no? Anyway, I’d like a big screen too and we’d probably need a video recorder too. I think it looks like we’ll need a big shop. We’re going to be busy in the next few days just with shopping.”
“I’m so happy,” he confessed.
“Me too.”
Chapter 43
They arrived back at the cottage. As soon as they were inside, Mike took hold of Jan in a bear hug and swung her around.
“I’ve got a surprise for you!” he announced.
“Now, now, you’ll just have to wait! Be patient, young man!” She wagged a finger at him.
“No, no. Not that! You’ve got a one-track mind! I’m not complaining by the way,” he confessed. “If you’ll just let me finish! I’ve got a surprise for you, but you’re going to have to wait ’til your birthday.”
“I can’t wait that long! Tell me, tell me.”
“I wish I hadn’t said anything,” he smiled at her childlike ways. “First things first – we must go to the police station to make a statement. I was really worried when you said Steven might buy a gun and that he and Geoff were going for target lessons.”
They went to give their statement which included the threats from Geoff and the gun.
“Well, that was fairly painless,” said Mike as they came out of the local police station. “At least now if anything happens to us, the police will know straight away who to go after and prosecute. Now we can relax and look forward to our new life together. I’m so happy and I hope you are too, now you’ve made the right decision.”
“I’m ecstatic! No, honestly, I mean it. I couldn’t be happier.” She hugged him and kissed him. “Now are you going to tell me what my surprise is?”
“I could tell you but then it won’t be a surprise, will it? I suppose I could tell you what it entails.”
“Tell me, tell me.”
“Patience is a virtue. OK, I’ll tell you a little. Give you a taster. It means you’re going to have to pack a bag on the weekend of your birthday and be ready to go somewhere very early Saturday morning. Your birthday is on the Sunday, so you’re going to have to wait until then for your main present. I’ve got the Monday off, so we’ll be travelling back then. So, two nights away. OK?”
She was mystified – but knowing what a romantic he was, she knew it would be somewhere nice. She would just have to wait. It was only another three weeks.
“OK,” she agreed. “I must go and say hello to Joan and tell her I’m back,” Jan announced. Joan lived three doors away and had been so kind to them when Jan was ill, earlier in the year, before she went back to Devon. She never had the chance to say goodbye to Joan properly. Although Mike had seen her about, it was Jan who wanted to thank her properly.
“Oh hello,” Joan was delighted to see her. She gave her a hug and invited her in for a cup of tea. “I’m so pleased you’ve managed to get back here, I’ve really missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too! I just wanted to thank you for looking after me so well.”
This was the start of a wonderful friendship spanning many years, even though the age difference was quite wide as Joan was old enough to be Jan’s mother. Joan’s eldest son was born in the same year as Jan and his siblings had the same names as Jan’s siblings. Jan couldn’t resist but to ask Joan if she could adopt her. To be her adopted mum. It was she who taught Jan how to show affection by hugs and kisses. Joan herself was a very touchy feely sort of person and she showed Jan how it was done. Nobody else, apart from Mike, had ever shown Jan much warmth and affection. For this, she was very grateful.
The bed and bedding which
Mike had ordered were duly delivered and they went shopping to buy many other articles needed for the flat. There was nothing to sit on, so they went to a furniture store and bought two chairs that were in stock and could be delivered straight away. A three-piece suite would take a little longer, so they chose one and awaited delivery. Meanwhile, they moved into the flat as they had most things they needed, including a large screen television – something they had both coveted. They agreed on nearly everything they chose.
“Everything’s coming together now. I only came so I would get new furniture!” Jan smiled and he grabbed her for teasing him.
“Now look here, young lady!” he exclaimed. “Any more of that talk and I shall have to put you over my knee!” She ran away and he chased her. Anyone watching would have thought they behaved like teenagers. But they felt as young and free as teenagers. It showed how happy they were and easy in each other’s company. But actually, they hardly knew each other. They had had a few weeks together earlier that year but that had been fraught with stress culminating in Jan’s contracting glandular fever and Mike having to work such long hours. Before that, for six months, only really meeting up once a week for a few hours.
“I have to phone the kids to see how they are, but I’m dreading it.”
“Just do it and get it over with and then you’ll feel better. Tell them you’re very sorry. They’ll get over it. And Geoff too. I’ll go out while you do it if that’s easier for you.”
Jan took the bull by the horns because the more she thought about it the worse she felt. With a heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach, she dialled her home telephone number. Geoff answered with no intonation in his voice.
“Hello, it’s me, Jan. I just want to say how sorry I am,” she began before he was able to say anything at all, apart from ‘hello’.
“Oh, well, what can I say? You’ve made your choice now and that’s it. I’m obviously very sad but I can do nothing more about it. So I wish you well. I won’t say the best man won, but all I know is that I didn’t. Louise and Steven both want to have a word with you, so I’ll pass them over.”
“Hello?” it was Louise first.
“Hello, Mum here,” Jan began.
“I haven’t got a Mum anymore. She left. Remember? Don’t ring again because I don’t want to have anything more to do with you. While you’re with that man, I never want to see you again. OK? Here’s Steven now.”
“All I have to say is we’re very disappointed in you. You said you were coming back to us, but you didn’t give us a chance. If we ever get married and have children, you will not ever be invited to meet them or have anything to do with them.”
“Oh, Steven, don’t be like that. Please! I’m really sorry in the way I left again. It wasn’t fair to you I know, but you need to know why. If I had sat down with your Dad and told him I wanted to leave, he would have locked me up and thrown away the key.”
“That’s a bit melodramatic. Let’s face it, you didn’t want to be with us anymore. You bottled it and we paid the price. You can have most things in this life, but you can’t have everything. You’re going to wind up a very lonely old woman. That’s all. Goodbye.”
Jan sat back in the chair and cried. She felt shell-shocked. Like a bullet had gone right through the centre of her body. Mike returned and noticed she had been crying.
“What did they say?”
“Well, there wasn’t a lot said, I can tell you. They told me in no uncertain terms they want nothing more to do with me. Very sad, but that’s it.”
“I’m sure they’ll come round after they’ve had time to think about it. It might take time, so you might just have to be patient. You can keep trying. Bide your time. Did you speak to Geoff?”
“Yes. He was very magnanimous in defeat. He didn’t say the best man had won, even though that’s what I think. He actually wished me well! The kids were pretty nasty to me, though. Said that if they ever had children, I would never get to meet them or have anything to do with them! Said they were really disappointed in me. That’s what parents say to kids, not the other way round!”
“Come here,” he went to comfort her and cuddled her for a long time as she sniffed away her tears. “It’ll all come out in the wash. You see if I’m not right.”
“No one wants me! My parents didn’t want me and now my kids don’t want anything to do with me. They hate me!”
“Well for a start, I want you. And just so you know, my parents didn’t want me either.”
“How d’you know that? They didn’t tell you that, surely?”
“My mother probably wanted me, but my father definitely didn’t. He was horrible to me when I was little. One day, after I had done something quite minor (something like watching the television when he wasn’t there, something I wasn’t allowed to do), he hit me and then threw me across the kitchen floor. I was only about seven, I think. I stayed where I was and kept very still. My mother came rushing over to see if I was OK. She told him never to hit me again or there would be consequences. He never spoke to me again. That is, not until I was about 25 and he was on his death bed.”
“Oh, that’s awful. Poor you. At least it looks like your mum wanted you.”
“That reminds me, I must give her a ring and go and see her,” said Mike. “Do you want to come with me?”
Jan had only met his mother once before and that was earlier in the year when they first got together.
“I’ll come with you if you want me to. I’m not sure if she likes me. She seemed to just ignore me last time.”
“She’s very deaf, so she doesn’t hear everything we say to her. You just have to humour her and let her do the talking and then just nod!”
They went to visit her and nearly every weekend subsequently.
In Devon, Geoff took Louise and Steven to see Betty and tell her that Jan had left again.
“Well, I hope you tell her where to get off, if and when you speak to her,” she began. She could hardly contain herself with fury.
“Yes, Mum, we’ve already spoken to her; she rang us yesterday,” Geoff explained.
“As long as I have breath in my body I don’t want to hear another word about that woman. Do you hear? I think you should cut her out of your lives and never have anything more to do with her.” Betty, the hypocrite. Her shameful secret that she hoped beyond anything would stay that way, that her son might have been the result of a liaison with an American after the war ended. She had no idea who the father was, the American or her husband. If ever her secret came out, she felt that she would die of shame. But she felt fairly safe in the knowledge that there was no one else who knew.
“We’ve already told her that, Gran,” Louise explained.
“Yes,” added Steven. “I told her that if we ever have children of our own she wouldn’t be allowed to meet them or have anything to do with them.”
“Good. Well, you must keep your word on that. As long as I’m living and spared, I shall hold you to that. Do you hear? Don’t let that woman anywhere near you. She’s pure evil.”
“Yes, Gran,” the two of them said in unison. They had heard their grandmother’s expression many times in the past – ‘If I’m living and spared’ – and now knew exactly what she meant – that while she was alive and had breath in her body she will make sure they carried out her wishes.
“And what about you, son? What are you going to do now?” she enquired of Geoff. He had been sitting quietly, listening to the venom spouting out of his mother and was somewhat surprised and shocked.
“I shall just have to rebuild my life without her. I shall have to steel myself and carry on.”
“Well done, that’s being very strong. You keep it up.”
“What would you like for your birthday?” Mike asked Jan.
“I thought you said we were going away for the weekend? That would be enough for my birthday, just to be with
you. Anywhere.”
“Yes, we are going away. And I do have something for you already but I just wanted to ask you if there was something you really wanted. So if I choose a present for you, you won’t be disappointed?”
“Of course not. I like surprises.”
They packed small suitcases for a weekend away.
“Don’t forget your passport,” he told her.
“Oh! Are we going abroad somewhere? It’s a long way to go for just a couple of days. Where are we going? Can you tell me now?”
“Paris,” he told her in one word.
“Oh, wow! How fantastic. I’ve never been there.”
The day before her birthday they caught the train to Waterloo in order to board the Eurostar train to Paris. Jan felt very special. No one she knew had been on this train. It was so new. The Channel Tunnel had been groundbreaking technology and they were both so excited to travel on the new, fast Eurostar train.
They arrived in Paris in what seemed like no time at all. Mike had booked a lovely hotel, quite near to The Avenue des Champs-Elysées. They wasted no time in looking around the area and visited the Arc de Triomphe which dominated the western end of the Champs-Elysées. They were interested in learning the history behind it and seeing the tomb of the Unknown Soldier with the eternal flame.
Next they visited the Louvre, but only had time to see a very small part of it.
“We can always come back. I’ve never seen such a huge art gallery,” he said.
Jan just thought, ‘I don’t think I’ve ever been to an art gallery in my life! I’m really getting some culture here, and I’m loving it.’
Next day was Jan’s birthday and she was looking forward to her surprise present. Mike woke her in time to receive a special breakfast that he had ordered the night before with room service. They enjoyed croissants and delicious, hot, freshly ground coffee while they languished in bed with their breakfast.
“This is the life. It’s the best birthday I’ve ever had!” she exclaimed.