by A D Tether
'I wish Veronica was here with me' he thought, but he knew she was with Belle, she was at another home that soon would be pulled apart.
As if reading his thoughts and need for comfort, Julian Speaksafe arrived at his side, Ralph relaxed a little, he needed company and someone he could talk to on an equal level, it had been so difficult to keep up a strong persona with Henderson and the Grafflins.
'Greetings Julian my good friend, I can tell by your face that you do not bring me good news, but come let us sit down together and you can tell me all.'
The two men sat on the garden lawn, Julian having to move a few of George's toys to find enough space by Ralph's side; Julian kept hold of a bright yellow plastic ball, it seemed to help his anxiety as he started to speak.
Ralph shook his head as he listened to Julian repeat the conversations relayed to him by Bertie and Rupert, 'So soon, so soon, such a shame.'
'I know my Lord, but do you think I should grant Bertie and Rupert's wishes to return to Grafflin, there was no guidance on this to be found on the frescos, none that I can remember' questioned Julian.
Ralph fell silent for a few moments and pondered the question in his mind, 'I believe you should, they have done their duty well, they called on us for guidance, and then there is nothing to prevent them from visiting their friends on Earth is there, unless of course you find other charges for them.'
'You are so wise my Lord, that makes such complete sense, maybe they can be of help in Shenka as well, yes you are right, I will pass it by Lord Albion, but he will agree with us for sure, I know it is breaking their souls to be parted from their Earth families, yes let it be so' confirmed Julian.
*
Jack was awake early on that Friday morning, he'd packed the night before and had loaded his car with his belongings, telling Marie that he needed an early start and didn't want to disturb her or George. Marie had taken no part in the packing, leaving her husband to sort his own stuff out, she not realising that this was exactly what Jack had hoped for; that she would still be mad with him and leave him to his own devices. He took one last look around the home that he and Marie had been renting for the past six years, was there anything he had forgotten, anything that was his and his alone that could not be replaced, he had taken his favourite CD's from the cabinet under the television, well he would take them with him on his travels anyway, no he thought, there was nothing he cared about here, nothing at all. Jack opened the front door and stepped outside, the early morning air was already warming up, he looked up and down the neat terrace of houses, whose curtains were still drawn blocking out the early sunlight to the sleeping occupants inside, 'Goodbye to all of you' he whispered, 'I am now free', took a few steps to the end of his drive and looked right, there waiting at the end of the road was Stella her blonde hair gleaming in the morning sunlight, she was wearing a white cotton dress, and at her feet were two large suitcases. Jack opened his car door, sat down, started the engine and slowly reversed out of his drive, within two minutes they were on their way, music blaring from the open car windows. On the back seat two new Grafflin lights sparkled in the sunshine.
*
Pete woke up at 8:00, he could hear Joni giggling and chuckling in the bedroom across the landing, he rubbed his eyes and looked at the empty space in the bed next to him. Then he remembered that Stella had chosen to sleep in the spare room, she said she didn't want to disturb him as she was getting up at 6:00am; even as late as last night he thought she might change her mind and stay for Joni's birthday, but that wasn't to be. Slowly he sat up and stretched his arms and yawned, he hadn't slept well, he couldn't shut his mind down, there were the voices in his head, whispering secrets that he couldn't quite hear, but he knew that those voices were talking about him and Stella, trying to tell him something.
'Come on, get up lazy bones', he said to himself, as he pulled his legs out of the bed, stood up and reached for his black denim jeans that lay on the chair next to his bed. It was an effort to dress, already the heat in the bedroom was suffocating, he knew he should have slept with the windows wide open, but he also had an irrational fear of moths entering the bedroom and last night he could for once shut the inviting windows; usually Stella had her way and called Pete a baby for being so irrational.
Now dressed in his jeans and canvas sneakers Pete considered should he wash first or get Joni out of bed, his mind was confused, feeling something was very wrong but didn't know what. A voice in his head said 'Go and have a cool wash, wake yourself up, Joni is fine, can't you hear her laughing.' He shook his head and made his way to the bathroom, undressed and stepped into the shower cubicle, he set the water to warm and stood in the cascading spray. For reasons unknown he had an overwhelming sense of sadness descend over him, tears flowed down his face. Then from nowhere a beautiful aroma of flowers filled his nose, a smell he first encountered on the day Belle entered his garden, but this was stronger and sweeter, he sniffed the bar of soap in his hand, no it wasn't the soap, he was puzzled but at the same time started to relax. He showered the soap suds from his tall body and stood under the clean spraying warm water and let all doubts and concerns flow away from him, if he had looked harder he may just have glimpsed a man standing in the bathroom, a man with black hair and a golden face, wearing a gown encrusted in sparkling jewels, but Pete hadn't learnt to look yet.
He stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his naked body, dropped his clothes into the washing basket that stood next to the bath, crossed back over the landing and into the master bedroom. He opened the long built-in wardrobe which he shared with Stella, to find a row of empty coat hangers, most of Stella's clothes had gone, save for a few old blouses and jeans which she only wore around the house, 'Just how many clothes does a woman need for a few days away' he thought as he pulled on a clean pair of jeans. His eyes were drawn to the dressing table under the bedroom window, a thin layer of dust covered the surface, but in the centre of the dressing table was a space, an oblong of space that had no dust, a space where something was missing. He scratched his head trying to think what was missing, then hit his forehead with the palm of his hand, 'The bloody musical box, why has she taken her musical box, what the hell is going on.'
The musical box was the only object that Stella had kept from her childhood, a thirteenth birthday present from her first boyfriend, a white box decorated with pink roses, inside a tiny ballerina pirouetted in front of a mirror to the tune of The dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Inside the box Stella had kept a sterling silver locket, she never wore it as it made her skin itch, but had refused to throw it away, it was she said kept for sentimental reasons.
A child's voice called out 'Da Da Da', Pete shook himself and quickly finished dressing.
'Coming Joni, be there in a minute' he called.
He bounded into Joni's room to find her bouncing up and down against her bed rails, when she saw her father she gave him a big grin and opened her arms, 'Da Da Da Da, ook, ook ' she said pointing her outstretched arms in the direction of the Lady Veronica and Belle who were sitting with their backs against the bedroom wall singing sweetly to her.
Pete picked up his daughter and gave her a kiss, 'You are happy this morning sweetie, come on let's get breakfast.' Joni wrapped her baby arms around her fathers neck and kissed him back on his cheek.'
'Oh you clever thing, that is my first kiss from my little girl, thank you Joni I needed that' he cried.
Joni looked back at Veronica and Belle and smiled, 'Told you so' said Belle, 'he really needed that kiss, you clever, clever girl.'
*
Marie had overslept, it was well past ten o'clock when she was awoken by a loud banging on her front door, George who was sleeping next to her, stirred and let out a little whimper. Bang, bang, the knocking was more furious, Marie rubbed her eyes, got out of bed and leaned out of the open bedroom window. Below was a man pacing up and down the front garden driveway, he held a child in his arms and was anxiously looking up at the house.
&n
bsp; 'Can I help you' she called.
'Are you Jack Rose's wife', the man called up.
'Er yes, why what's up' she replied.
'Please, I need to speak to you, it is very important, please open the door' he called back.
Marie wouldn't normally open the door to strangers, but she felt this man's face looked familiar, she couldn't quite place it, but she knew she had seen him before; and he did have a child in his arms, and it was so hot, too hot for a little one to be outside and the child was not wearing a sun hat.
'Give me a minute to get dressed, and please wait in the shade, it is too hot for that little girl' she called.
Pete felt Joni's head, yes she is right, it is far too hot, and so stepped into the shade of the front door porch, within three minutes Marie, with George in her arms, opened the door to Pete and Joni. Above his head three sparkling lights bounced up and down, neither Bertie or Rupert had yet returned to Grafflin but instead were staying for one more day, a young Shenkan woman with blue hair gave George a big smile, the Lady Veronica stood a little way back, her Shenkan heart was beating fast at the excitement of seeing Lord Ralph and Julian's eyes shone as he viewed Marie again.
'Sorry to call on you unannounced, but I really do need to talk to you, by the way my name is Pete Masters and this is Joni, we have met before, we met in hospital, you were in the next bed to my wife Stella' said Pete.
'Oh yes I remember now, I knew I had seen you before, I am much better at remembering faces than names.' replied Marie.
She hesitated for a brief moment, should she let this man and child into her house, but George soon changed her mind, it was he that held his arms open wide to Pete, it was he that welcomed Pete and Joni with a big grin. Joni returned his smile, she in turn opened her arms to Marie.
'Well it seems our children want to make friends, so come in, please make yourselves at home' smiled Marie as she led them into her cool living room.
'Please sit down, see Joni you can sit on the carpet and play with George's toys, he won't mind, will you George?'
George struggled to get out of Marie's arms so he could join Joni on the carpet, Marie laughed as she sat George down next to Joni, 'Well it seems they are friends already.'
'It does' replied Pete, who was starting to relax a little.
'Look, please excuse me for just a few minutes whilst I get George changed and get him some breakfast, we overslept I am afraid, my husband is away, the house was so quiet this morning, well I don't usually stay in bed so late' said Marie.
'Please sort your son out first, what I have to tell you will wait, please do what you have to', replied Pete.
Marie was now starting to feel anxious, her hands shook as she prepared George's breakfast, she was having a job concentrating, 'Pull yourself together' she muttered, 'Would you like a tea or coffee' she called from the kitchen, 'and would Joni like a drink of juice.'.
'Black coffee would be lovely thanks, two sugars please, oh no, I came out so quickly I seem to have left Joni's trainer cup behind, I am such a dope' Pete called back.
'No worries, George has more than one cup, be with you in a second.'
Marie returned to the living room, she carefully placed Pete's coffee on the window sill away from the reach of the two little children and handed Joni a yellow trainer cup full of refreshing baby orange juice.
'Talk to me please' requested Marie, as she lifted George up and put him in his highchair 'I will listen as I clean George up and give him his breakfast, I guess Joni has eaten this morning?'
'Yes I didn't forget to do that, she wouldn't let me anyway' smiled Pete.
'Just tell me straight what is wrong' pleaded Marie.
'Well where do I begin, look I am just going to cut straight to the chase, your husband and my wife have, it seems, run away together.'
Marie carried on feeding George his breakfast oats, she pretended not to hear what Pete was telling her, it wasn't true, how could it be true.
'I am just so sorry to be the one to tell you, but I thought you needed to know,' said Pete whose voice was shaking.
'How can you be sure, Jack told me he was away working' said Marie quietly.
'It is no co-incidence that Stella is away also, and I bet you any money that your husband has been going out on Wednesday nights' replied Pete.
He had Marie's attention now, Jack never missed his Wednesday nights out, never, even when Marie had the flu he still went out, even in bad weather he still went out. She had finished feeding George, quickly she washed his hands and face, checked the nappy she had changed a few minutes ago, then satisfied he was clean and dry she lifted him out of his high chair, and sat him on the carpet next to Joni. The Lady Veronica and Lord Ralph stood in the living room doorway watching the events unfold, Veronica lay her head on Ralph's shoulder, she had missed him so much the past few days, and Ralph felt his strength gather force, he could do anything with Veronica at his side. Belle and Henderson sat with the children, distracting them from the conversation in the room, whilst Bertie, Sydney, Rupert and Denis hovered overhead; Julian on the other hand sat on a vacant armchair, watching, observing and taking notes.
'Okay, just give me a few seconds to take this in, you I believe are telling me that for months your wife and my husband have been having a sordid affair' said Marie angrily.
'Yes sorry to say they have, and they are not coming back' replied Pete.
'But how do you know that' asked Marie.
Pete explained how he had noticed most of Stella's clothes had gone, but the first sign that something was seriously wrong was when he realised she had also taken her musical box. He then proceeded in telling Marie that he had hacked into Stella's email account, it was an easy thing to do, for him a software engineer. Pete had known that Stella had set-up a hotmail account, he noticed it on her laptop some months ago, at the time he asked why and she had told him it was for her book club; Pete had thought no more about it. Stella was very lazy regarding email addresses and had written them down in a notebook she kept in her desk drawer, and although she hadn't written down her password he was able to crack it with a simple piece of software he had designed for a government agency some years ago. The evidence was all there, the constant emails between Stella and Jack, the plans, everything.
Marie listened, slowly taking in the betrayal, when a whiff of perfume flooded her nose.
'Can you smell anything' she asked Pete.
Pete smiled 'Like the smell of sweet flowers?'
'Yes, just like the smell of beautiful flowers' she replied.
'And I thought it was me imagining things' grinned Pete.
'Jack never smelt it' sighed Marie.
'Nor Stella' said Pete.
'Maybe it is our guardian angels' smiled Marie.
'Maybe it is, and we need them now don't we' replied Pete.
'Sure do' sighed Marie.
Marie insisted on Pete and Joni staying for lunch, she didn't want to be on her own with no adult company, the children were playing together and seemed so happy and oblivious to all that was happening, that is seemed right somehow. Pete readily agreed, he too didn't want to leave just yet, didn't want to return to a cold empty house that was never his anyway. They made light conversation for a while, trying to avoid thinking about what the future was holding for them, not thinking of how they would manage with practical things even, then the chatting was interrupted by both George and Joni bursting into tears at the same time. Belle and Henderson were saying goodbye, 'Just for a little while sweet one' whispered Belle, and 'I'll be back sooner than you know' comforted Henderson. The Shenkans had been on Earth for a year and now was time for them to return to Shenka, so they could revitalise their bodies, take proper food, return to flesh and bone; as on Earth they had been merely spirits.
Pete and Marie both went to pick up their infants, but before they could the tears had stopped and now both children were waving and blowing kisses in the air, such strange behaviour had both parents confused.
'George too, I am sure he sees things I don't' replied Marie.
'Well they seem happy again now, so best to leave them to their games' said Pete as he leaned forward and stroked Joni's hair.
If they could have seen more they would have witnessed Lord Ralph and Lady Veronica sitting on the carpet next to the children, Veronica was singing a sweet song and Ralph was pulling funny faces, pretending that the Lady Veronica's voice was hurting his ears.
'Oh no, Margaret, I had forgotten about Margaret, I guess I should phone her', exclaimed Pete.
'Who?' asked Marie.
'Sorry, Margaret Haywood is the Mother-in-law, see if she knows anything' answered Pete.
'Do you think she does' enquired Marie.
Pete shrugged his shoulders, 'Not a clue, but I'd be surprised if she did, to be honest she hasn't visited for months, I thought she would be around every couple of weeks, smothering her grandchild with gifts and telling us how we were not doing things right.'
'Ah, at least I won't get so called advice from my in-laws whilst they live out their boring lives in the Spanish sunshine' Marie said bitterly.
'What about your own parents, have you told them' asked Pete.
Marie sighed, 'Can't do that, they are both dead.'
'Oh sorry, there I go again, putting my big foot in it.'
'It was a long time ago, it's okay, I have got used to it now' smiled Marie 'What about you, do you still have both parents.'
'I never knew my parents, not my real parents anyway, I was shoved around from one set of foster parents to another, but that's life I suppose, all I ever wanted was a family of my own, guess that plan has gone out of the window now too' moaned Pete.
'Ah, so we are both orphans in a way' sighed Marie.
'I guess we are' Pete replied as he stood up, 'but needs must, do you mind just watching Joni for just a few minutes, I 'd better phone the Mother-in-law, I'll do it outside, cos to be honest I really need a smoke.'
'We are fine, aren't we' Marie asked the two children who were playing happily on the floor, Joni smiled at Marie and waved to Pete, George pulled himself up and toddled over to Pete, he wrapped his baby arms around Pete's legs, laughed, released his hold and toddled back to Joni and sat back down with a bump.