All the Fun of the Fair

by Jamie Sinclair

  Loriana sprang to her feet and hurried into the corridor, following the signs to the day room.

  * * * *

  Alfie sank to his knees as his mother reached for him, clasping her frail hands in his. He cried, allowing decades of tears to fall unchecked down his face onto her lap.

  ‘I’m so sorry, mum, it’s been so long. I’ve missed you so much.’

  Mrs Gorman wiped away her son’s tears as she’d done so many times when he’d been a child, when they’d been a family.

  ‘I knew you’d come. I always knew, my Alfredo, my most precious boy.’

  Alfie looked up at his mother and saw her smile warmly, an expression full of love and finally he recognised his mother, a scene recreated from his childhood, familiar despite the years.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Mrs Gorman said. ‘Sorry I left you. It is unforgivable but I always felt you would be okay, that you would survive.’

  She held Alfie’s hand to her breast and closed her eyes much as Loriana had a matter of hours earlier.

  ‘Ho trovato il mio figlio. La mia vita ora è completa.’

  ‘I have found my son,’ she said. ‘My life is now complete.’

  In the hall outside, watching through a glass panel in the door, Loriana smiled. She had been determined to tell Alfie the truth, that Frank was not his brother but his father. But seeing him now, so happy, so complete with his mother, she realised that he did not need to know. Alfie had found his truth, had been reunited with his mother, his journey was at an end. Looking through the glass at the man she loved so completely Loriana knew she had exorcised her own demons and that she too had found what was missing from her life.

  Table of Contents

  Number Seventy-Three

  The Disillusioned Parkie

  The Affairs of Tania Streatham

  Ice Cream War

  Sharada runs into her first Relationship

  Life on the Spectrum

  Sharada is forced to share

  Tv Dinner

  Mrs Hird considers her worth and Gerald hears from a friend

  Secret meetings and a secret language

  The hopes and dreams of Mr Bhumbra

  Night life

  Nights at the Narracott

  A Festive pregnancy changes everything

  Two contrasting Christmases

  The fall of the house of Etchman

  Camping in Bluebell woods

  Etchman hits rock bottom and Alfie decides to leave

  Alfie gets everything he wants, and is found out

  The fall and rise of Lee Etchman

  A shift in the balance of power

  A tale of two sisters

  Back to square one

  Loriana pines for Alfie and meets an old love

  Mauro and Sharada visit the funfair

  Mrs Hird’s final curtain

  Chiara refuses to give up

  In search of happiness

  Last minute preparations and a last minute reprieve

  In the end everyone gets what they deserve

  A muted farewell and Alfie tells the truth

  A fitting tribute

  A family reunited