by J. R. Bonham
“Oh, that’s a relief,” Jan said to Natalie before she dashed off to tell others the good news. By way of an explanation to Anita, she continued. “Tania is John’s daughter-in-law, Dan’s wife. She’s diabetic, and so, as I believe, there can be problems with carrying babies. She’s nearly 40 and she miscarried the first time. I’m so pleased for them. Clare asked them to tell her what name they were going to give the baby. They knew it was going to be a boy. She promised not to tell anyone and she took the secret with her to the grave. But I guess we will all know soon enough now. Natalie, who came just now with the news, is John and Vera’s daughter and she has already given them two grandsons!”
Jan left Anita to go in search of a drink and some food. On the way, she found John and Vera and went to congratulate them on their third grandson. Someone had already mentioned to them, ‘one out of this world and now one in’.
“Your eulogy to Clare was very good, well done,” Jan congratulated John. “There was a lot I didn’t even know! Did you talk to her beforehand, to see what was appropriate?”
“Oh, yes,” John admitted. “There was quite a lot I didn’t know either. She was very good, she wrote it all down for me and I had to put it in such a way to be interesting to the assembled throng.”
“How did you keep it together? You did it in such a professional way. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.”
“I said it over and over to myself, and to Vera. She knew it off by heart in the end, she could have done it. I was glad to be able to do it, as the last thing I could do for our sister.”
“Mum and Dad would have been proud,” Jan told John.
“Thanks.” He smiled.
Chapter 55
“How did it go? Were your kids and Geoff there?” asked Mike, concerned when he saw Jan looking so exhausted after her return from the memorial service.
“Yes, they were there with, it seems, a hundred of Clare’s friends who I didn’t know. It all went very well on the whole. John did a wonderful eulogy and then Jamie’s sister-in-law read a poem that she had written. It was all very poignant.”
“Did Geoff speak to you? And the kids?” Mike asked.
“Geoff was perfectly amicable. It was just like we were old friends. No animosity at all. But the kids couldn’t have cared less if I was there or not. Complete apathy on their part. I’d love a cup of coffee after that long drive.” She wanted to change the subject from the upsetting thoughts of the way her children had treated her.
“You go and sit down and I’ll make it for you.”
“Thanks.” She just wanted a hug so she went to Mike and he obliged.
By the time he came into the sitting room with her coffee she was asleep. He waited by her side, watching her sleep. He loved to watch her sleep. It was only a nap and she soon woke up.
“Oh, thank you. Lovely coffee. I feel a bit better now and can tell you how it went.”
She proceeded to tell him everything from start to finish.
“I’m glad that Geoff was friendly even if your kids weren’t.”
“So now you know why I told you before that I’m going to write to Jake. He’ll know about me one way or another. I shall tell him that I have put money aside for him for every birthday he’s had and that it’s turned into a nice little nest egg for him. It will help him for when he goes to university. I’m sure he will go there because John and Vera have told me he’s very bright. I know I should really wait until he’s an adult at 18, but he might have left home by then. At least I know he should still be at home when he’s 17 so I shall write to him then. Apparently, he’s very grown up for his age so maybe he will understand.”
“I do hope so.” Mike sympathised as he had done all the time that he’d known Jan. He knew how difficult it had been for her to come to terms with the estrangement of her children and also never having had the opportunity of meeting her grandchildren. He thought it a very strange thing for her kids to not let her meet them. Maybe they would relent now that they are older.
“In fact, I’m going upstairs to the computer to start the letter right now. I can add stuff as I think of it, as time goes on. I know I have over a year before I can send it but there’s no time like the present.”
“Oh, OK. By the way, I’ve got an appointment to go and see the hip surgeon. Will you come with me?” Mike asked Jan as she was disappearing up the stairs to use the computer.
“Of course I will. You’ve been limping long enough. It’ll be good to see what he says. If you got a new hip you’d be able to get back to playing tennis again. I can’t play with my back problem, but at least you could.”
He had given up tennis years before through hip pain.
They went to see the surgeon a fortnight later. He sent him for an X-ray and then spoke to him again with the X-ray result on the computer in front of him.
“Have a look at this! It definitely needs doing. I’ll book you in for a new hip right away.”
“Hang on a minute,” said Mike. “I’m not in too much pain at the moment. Surely I can get through the summer first. I have so much to do in the garden and my wife can’t do it with her bad back.”
“It’s your choice. That’s fine with me. You can book the surgery later on in the year and then you’ll have the winter to recover. Then by next summer, you’ll be right as rain again. As a proviso, I will say that you can come in anytime between now and then. If you’re worried, I can do it anytime you want. OK?”
“Thank you, that’s very reassuring.”
Mike limped out of the hospital. Jan was worried in case he’d made a big mistake. ‘The surgeon said he needed it done straight away. Surely he knows best.’
“Are you sure you can cope with the garden? The surgeon said it really needs doing urgently,” said Jan, very concerned.
“I’m fine! Look, I can still walk OK.”
“But you’re limping!”
“I have been for ages. A few more months won’t hurt. Anyway, the grass won’t cut itself, will it? And you can’t do it. I’ll be just fine. And he said I could have it done any time I want. Good old private insurance, but we pay enough for it! Another thing, you wouldn’t like if we couldn’t go to Eastbourne for the tennis in June, or to Wimbledon if I was laid up. Now we know that we’ve got some tickets in the ballot, it would be a pity not to use them. They cost enough! That’s to say nothing about our holiday to America all booked and paid for! We’ve been really looking forward to going back to where we first met.”
“OK, I understand all that. I was only thinking of you.”
“Thanks, but I’m fine. No more to be said about it, OK?”
It was never mentioned again until the end of the summer. Mike booked it for the end of November, making sure that nothing else was in the diary. They were going to be home for Christmas anyway for the first time in years. Mike knew it wasn’t Jan’s favourite time of year so he suggested that they invite friends over to stay.
“Yes, that’ll be OK. I can look after you and cook for them and then I won’t have time to think about the kids or anything. We’ll have a great time and we owe George and Eleanor for having us to theirs two years ago. I don’t know if I can compete with what they gave us, though.”
George and Eleanor lived in Suffolk. They had become good friends after meeting on a holiday a few years beforehand and they had met up several times a year since then.
“It’s not a competition as to who does things better!” Mike was getting exasperated.
“No, I know but Eleanor is a much better cook than me,” Jan pouted.
“No, she isn’t! As long as the food comes out cooked properly and we can all eat it, that’s good enough for me. So it should be good enough for you, too.”
“OK, we’ll invite them. I hope they haven’t arranged something else already. Their boys are very good to them and always make sure they’re OK. I’ll give th
em a ring.”
Jan rang and spoke to Eleanor who was delighted to be invited.
“We haven’t anything else arranged, no. Our young ones always leave everything to the last minute. You know what they’re like! Especially having four boys, they leave it all up to their wives to arrange things. We always come second to the women’s own families. We’d be delighted to accept but we will contribute to the food.”
“No, you won’t! You wouldn’t let me bring anything when we came to you!” Luckily Jan knew Eleanor well enough to be able to speak her mind.
“Well, we’ll see,” said Eleanor with every intention of taking some goodies to help Christmas along. Also, she knew they would take a bottle of cherry brandy as George would insist upon it. They always liked a little tipple on Christmas morning.
“That’s all arranged then,” Jan told Mike when she got off the phone. “No need to think about that anymore, they’re coming. Luckily it’s a long way off so they hadn’t arranged anything else with their boys.”
“That’s good.” Mike was relieved that Jan would be happy at Christmas. “How’s your letter to Jake coming along?”
“Oh, I’ve got a bit stuck at the moment. I’m trying to explain everything in such a way as to not put any blame on anyone. I know Louise will jump on it if she thought I was blaming her.”
“Well, she’s the one who has stopped you meeting your grandchildren all these years! Whatever is the matter with her? I really don’t understand it. Has she really not got over you leaving her father? It’s not like you left her and Steven! Just because they were still at home. Most kids would have left well before then. After all, they were grown up, not exactly babies!”
“No, I know all that,” Jan demurred. “She’s always said that while I’m with you there will never be a reconciliation with them! ‘I’ve made my bed so I should lie in it.’ That was a famous quote by Clare on my wedding day the first time around, in case I haven’t told you that already. I’ve always said that I wouldn’t have left if they had still been dependent on me and I meant it. So, I am with you – for richer, for poorer. But hopefully more for the richer bit!”
“Yes, hopefully not poorer. Anyway, I hope you haven’t regretted being with me. I know I rather coerced you all those years ago, but I didn’t exactly force you, did I? Your marriage was dead in the water from what you told me at the time,” Mike said.
“I couldn’t wait to get away. You saved my life! Honestly, if I hadn’t met you, I don’t know where I would be right now. In the loony bin probably! The kids would have expected me look after their kids as they came along one by one. Geoff would probably still be moaning and refusing to let me do anything I wanted or go anywhere I liked. Still being in Devon would have been a nightmare. I’m sure people wonder when they know how we met, how it has all worked out so well for us.”
“We’re just lucky I guess. I love you, you know. Always have, always will.”
“I love you too.”
Chapter 56
The holiday to America was to celebrate twenty-one years since they first met. They were going back to do almost exactly the same tour around the mountains and canyons on the west side of America that they did when they met all those years ago. This time was going to be so different, they were actually going to be together instead of with their other partners.
It was mid-September and they hoped that the weather was going to be perfect. They had met in the month of June all those years ago, but this holiday was later because in June it could be cold in the mountains. Also, June meant tennis in Eastbourne and then Wimbledon – which they both enjoyed – so that was not a good time to go abroad. They looked forward to the grass court tennis season every year. Everything else stopped for them when the tennis was on.
They joined the holiday coach tour and enjoyed meeting the people with whom they were going to share the next three weeks. They told their tour manager that they had met on a similar trip twenty-one years before and she was surprised.
“We don’t get many like you, although it’s been known to happen occasionally. It’s nice that you’ve chosen my tour to retrace your steps,” said Maureen.
They went up the same mountain where Jan remembered that Geoff had said that he had altitude sickness. It was only because he had been told to be prepared for it. Jan knew at the time that he was bound to get it. She could laugh about it this time.
The day drew nearer to when they would be able to see the place where they first met properly. It was called Artists’ Point in Yellowstone Park. A most beautiful spot. They had, of course, met the day before but it was fleeting and they preferred to say it was at Artists’ Point.
They got their fellow tour mates to take pictures of them with their own video camera and iPad. Everyone knew the story by the time they got to this destination and they all congratulated Mike and Jan for twenty-one years together.
“There we are,” said Nigel, “that should do you. There are about twenty photos of you on your iPad. I’m not used to using one of these and I wasn’t sure when to stop clicking! At least you can choose which ones to keep and which to delete.”
“Many thanks, that’s great,” said Mike. “At least we have pictures of ourselves here together now, instead of with our other halves like last time!”
They visited Denver, Bryce Canyon, Zion Canyon, Mount Rushmore and to see the memorial monument to the Indian called Crazy Horse. This is a mountain which for the past sixty years had been carved out in the shape of a Red Indian riding a horse. It was nowhere near finished but it was very interesting to see.
Mike took some wonderful footage of their time there on the video camera. On their last night, they were going to a proper cowboy’s Steak and Burger Bar. Jan wore a dress which was probably a mistake because in order to get into the place they had to slide down a slide. She tucked her dress into her pants and slid down with all the rest. She wasn’t going to be a cissy and go in the lift.
What a great time they had there. They found their places at the long table which were laid out for them. The drinks flowed all evening and the food just kept on coming.
There was good country music and they were encouraged to join everyone doing line dancing. Mike wouldn’t join in as he never liked dancing but Jan was game for a quick twirl. She found it quite difficult at first to keep up, but soon got the hang of it and thoroughly enjoyed dancing with all the other people in her group.
Next day, they took their leave of the party and left for the airport. Mike and Jan had an extension to Las Vegas. No one else on the coach tour was going there; they were all leaving to return to the UK.
Mike had been to Las Vegas many years before, with his second wife, but Jan had never been there. He wasn’t looking forward to it; he found it very brash and pretentious. Jan, however, was very excited to be there. They stayed at The Bellagio, the hotel with the fabulous fountains on a huge lake fronting onto the Strip. They had booked a front room which overlooked the fountains.
They only had three days there so they made the most of it by going to a show every evening. They looked around all the sites in the daytime and realised it was definitely a place that comes alive in the night time.
“This is fabulous. I can’t wait to come back here again!” Jan said to Mike at the airport.
“Yes, it was very enjoyable, I must say. There’s just so much to see and do. When I was here before, I’m sure there wasn’t so much available. We could have got married by Elvis in that little chapel. But we didn’t! We decided all those years ago to get married in Sri Lanka which was quite special, wasn’t it?” He was recollecting and becoming sentimental.
“Of course. It was fabulous. Never regret one moment.”
The day of Mike’s hip operation was getting ever nearer. They arranged for someone to come to the house to see that everything would be OK for him to come home afterwards. They had to arrange a higher toilet se
at and raised chair for him to sit in.
Jan had to take him in early for preparations for the operation. He was going to be first to the operating theatre, so it was all a bit of a rush. Jan left him there after making sure that he was OK. He rang her when he was out of surgery and had come round sufficiently. She returned to see him later.
“How did it go?” she asked him.
“All seems to be fine. The surgeon has been in to see me and said that it definitely needed doing. He’s very pleased with how it went. I’ve had a meal and a cup of tea and the physio will be in soon to help me out of bed to do my first walk.”
“Heavens! That’s a bit soon, isn’t it?”
“Apparently not. They get everyone up and about the same day of the op,” he said.
“Well I never,” she said, and with that, the physio arrived.
“Come on, Mr Mills, time to get up. No more lazing around here!” The physio smiled.
“I think I’ll leave you to it,” said Jan. “I’ll just go and get a cup of coffee.”
Jan went downstairs to the hospital café and sat in the lounge where there were newspapers. She went back after half an hour. She stayed with Mike for another hour and then went home saying she would visit again the next day. He was booked in for four days and so she visited every day until the day arrived to take him home.
“D’you realise that’s the longest I’ve ever been on my own. Apart from odd times in hospital of course, mainly with childbirth,” she told him.
“Lucky you. Some people are on their own permanently. How are you doing with your letter to Jake?”
“Oh, it’s coming along. It’s a really nice letter. I’ve told him I’ve been putting money away for him every birthday and that it’s built up a rather nice nest egg. I’ve said I would pay for driving lessons for him too.”
“I hope he appreciates all that. All you wanted to do was to meet him, I thought!”