by A D Tether
Pete laughed, 'I'll go and make that call then, won't be long.'
Pete left the living room with Denis hurrying along behind him, Rupert watched as his friend disappeared into Marie's back garden knowing that in just three days they would be parted.
'You can come and visit often' spoke Julian softly.
'I know' sighed Rupert, 'and that is with grateful thanks to you my Lord.'
Marie sat down on the floor with the children, they were playing with a bag of wooden coloured bricks that Pete had dropped into a bag along earlier that morning together with Joni's nappies and change of clothes, slowly Marie stacked them up, red, blue, yellow, green and orange; Joni watched intently, Marie winked at George as she gently knocked the brick stack over.
'A'gen, gen, gen' giggled Joni.
'Gen, gen, gen' laughed George.
'Clever children, my we know a lot of words don't we, well one more time, let's make a bigger stack next time' Marie whispered.
Marie started to sort the bricks into individual colours, but before she could finish the children had seen what she was doing and started to help her, she sat back and watched as the two baby children were able to sort all the colours without assistance.
'Such bright children, aren't they Ralph' the Lady Veronica remarked.
'But of course they are' said Ralph cheerfully.
'I never doubted it for one moment' said Julian.
Pete re-entered the living room, holding his mobile phone in his hand, 'It's on mute' he said as he pointed towards his phone, 'Margaret is on her way, couldn't stop her, anyway I know it is a bit of a cheek, but er, well she wants to know if she can meet us here, sorry but she seemed sort of anxious to meet you.'
Marie looked up from the brick sorting, 'Sure, why not, I think I have enough food in for us all, just haven't been to the shops yet.'
'Ah, well Margaret thinks of everything, she said she will bring us a picnic lunch, and food for the children too' Pete replied.
'It's not a problem, yes of course, tell her she is welcome.'
'Right, will do then, be back in a minute' Pete puffed.
Pete did take a little longer than a minute, he took advantage of being able to have a cigarette, whilst he continued his conversation with his mother-in-law. Denis lay on the grass pondering Rupert's return to Grafflin, he knew his friend was tired, worn down by Earth matters, maybe he did need a much earned rest after all.
Marie's knees were aching from kneeling down with the children, she slowly stood up and caught her reflection in the mirror that hung in the hallway, it was only a partial reflection as the door between the hallway and living room was half shut or half open, depending on your view of things. The reflection disturbed her, she didn't look like herself, maybe she didn't feel like herself, where had the old Marie gone. Instead she could see a woman who had let herself go slightly, no this will not do, she is expecting a visitor, she has a visitor, George has a guest too, what must they think of her.
'Sorry for being so long' apologised Pete as he returned to the living room that was filled with the sounds of children's laughter.
'Your turn' said Marie, 'Sorry that I look such a mess, what must you think of me, so it's your turn to watch the kids, I really do need to tidy myself up.'
'You look fine to me' Pete replied, 'but take your time, I like playing anyway.'
Marie took a quick glance around the room, it could do with a quick clean but she convinced herself that it was too hot for housework anyway, she picked up George's night vest that she had dropped on the floor earlier and left Pete to the child minding.
*
Henderson and Belle arrived back in Shenka, the same way as they had first departed, when they opened their eyes they saw they had returned to the Portal Room in Lord Ralph's stately home. Belle pressed her hands on her face, she could feel her skin, Henderson blew gently onto the palm of his hand, he could feel his breath, they were both very hungry. Over the next few days they would live normal lives and although that was such a great pleasure, they both agreed that they were missing their Earth bound families.
*
CHAPTER TEN
Margaret Haywood
Marie took her time, she showered, washed and blow-dried her hair, applied a little make-up and pulled on a long cotton dress, that she hadn't worn since before she was pregnant with George. She viewed her reflection in the full length mirror that hung on a wall in her bedroom, 'mm that is better, now I am ready to face the world.' Sydney had covered his eyes whilst she had been undressed, but on opening them he saw a different woman, someone who knew she had to take control, maybe she was stronger than he had anticipated. Taking a deep breath she opened Jack's wardrobe, here too was a row of empty coat hangers save for a winter's dressing gown and two cotton shirts that Marie had recently bought him. She slammed the wardrobe door shut, next she pulled open the bedroom cupboard drawers where Jack kept the rest of his clothes and underwear, a pair of lonely sports socks lay in the first drawer, in the second was a lavender tie, the tie he wore on their wedding day, blinking back the tears Marie opened the third drawer, a white envelope lay there, an ordinary white envelope that bore Marie's name. Slowly she removed the envelope from the drawer, held it in her hands for a few seconds, taking a deep breath she walked over to the bed and sat down. 'Right here we go, let's see what he has to say for himself.' With shaking hands she tore the envelope open and took out a single sheet of paper and read it's contents.
Dear Marie,
Sorry I have taken the cowards way out and just left, but it was easier this way, guess I couldn't face you.
You will find out sooner or later that I have been seeing Stella Master's for months now, you may remember she was in the next bed to you when George was born. All I can say is that if her family hadn't have moved away when we were teenagers, well we would never have parted. But as soon as we saw each other again we both knew we had to be together.
I have taken £2000 from our bank, you keep the rest.
Jack.
Marie read the letter again, she was confused, what did he mean by the words 'but as soon as we saw each other again', she had never heard of Stella Master's before, he had never mentioned her. She held on to the letter, carried it downstairs and handed it to Pete, who was sitting on the sofa with Joni and George by his side, both fast asleep. Pete gently extracted himself from the sleeping children and stood up, 'What's this?' he asked as he took the letter from Marie. He stared at the letter, his head was aching and he felt the start of a migraine, the words bounced around and blurred into each other, from the corner of his right eye a kaleidoscope of colours spread across his vision, unable to read the words he handed the letter back to Marie.
'Sorry seem to have the start of a migraine, I can't read a thing' he mumbled.
'Is it the light, would you like me to draw the curtains?' asked Marie, forgetting about the letter for a moment.
'It might help, this always happens when I am stressed, trust me' replied Pete.
'No problem, and don't worry, it's not your fault is it' said Marie as she gently pulled the living room curtains shut. 'And have some peace and quiet, I will take the children upstairs, they can sleep together in George's bed, I'll take George first then come back down for Joni.'
'Thanks Marie, I would help you but I can't see properly, it won't last long though, never does.'
Marie gently removed George from the sofa, taking care not to wake Joni, and carried him upstairs to his bed, she quickly returned and picked up Joni who carried on sleeping in her warm arms. Joni was bigger and heavier than George, but Marie gathered her strength and before long both children were stretched out in George's comfortable bed lying side by side, sleeping peacefully. Marie crept down the stairs and into the darkened living room, Pete was lying back on the sofa, his eyes were closed and she could tell by his relaxed breathing that he too had fallen asleep.
She stood silent for a moment or two, contemplating what to do, she didn't wish to
wake anyone up, glancing at the clock on the fireplace she realised that within the next hour Margaret would arrive, 'Oh well take us as you find us' she convinced herself looking around at her living room that hadn't been cleaned for the past few days, her heart hadn't been in it and anyway it was far too hot. Marie took a deep breath, sat down in the armchair under the curtained windows, reached down and took her purse from the handbag that was lying on the floor next to the television, picked up her laptop and turned it on. She watched as the screen ran through it's normal functions of checking some files or other until it was ready for her to insert her password. For a brief moment her mind had gone blank, she couldn't remember her password, she scratched her head and thought hard. 'I bet if Pete was awake he could tell me within a few minutes' she thought, remembering how he had told her how he had hacked into Stella's email account. A voice whispered in her head '54' Marie closed her eyes, 'Oh silly me, I remember now', quickly she typed her password in the little box, '54nan72' the screen flashed and her homepage was displayed. She then reached across to the tall four sided CD cabinet that stood next to the television and pushed, the cabinet twisted twice, three empty shelves shouted at her, 'He has taken all his CD's', Marie shrugged, she had her music and Jack had his, he could keep his Heavy Metal, she though. On the bottom shelf was a white box that contained her pin reader, she stretched down and picked it up. She typed in the website address of her bank, inserted her bank card into her pin reader, and within two minutes was viewing her bank statements. First she checked the joint account, the balance was a little under £5000, the statement showed that yesterday Jack had withdrawn £2000, a further £1000 had been withdrawn a few days earlier. Next she checked her own account, money that her Grandfather had given her before he had entered the retirement home and other savings she had made whilst working. Jack had always said that he wasn't bothered about that money, she could do with it as she pleased; Marie had planned to keep adding to it, maybe save for a deposit for a house of their own, or maybe now that George was here she could save for when he was older. The balance was a little over £12,000 enough for now. A voice in her head said 'But what if Jack takes more, what if he empties your joint account.' Marie shook herself, calmly she transferred the total balance in the joint account into her own personal account and shut the joint account down. 'Now try it' she said out loud.
'Did you say something' mumbled Pete as he stirred from his sleep.
'Oops sorry, didn't mean to wake you' apologised Marie.
Pete sat up and rubbed his eyes, the migraine had gone, his vision returned.
Marie handed Pete the letter, he read it quickly, then he read again, slowly and carefully, taking in each word. 'I wonder if it was Jack then who gave her the precious musical box, bet it was you know, she never told me who it was, but there again I suppose I never asked, just thought it was a childhood memory, something that she wanted to cling on to, guess I was wrong.'
'Probably' said Marie as she opened the curtains, letting in the late morning sunshine, 'which school did Stella go to?'.
'Estelle's High' replied Pete.
'Thought as much, same school as Jack then, same posh old school' said Marie.
A child's voice called from the room above, 'Da, da, da, up,up' then another child's voice called 'Mom, mom, mom', the slumbering infants were wide awake.
'My turn, I'll get them up' smiled Pete.
'Upstairs, second door on the right' grinned Marie.
Some thirty minutes later with the children both washed and changed the door bell rang. Marie took a deep breath then opened the door to Margaret Haywood, at her feet were two bulging shopping bags and in her arms she carried a large bunch of summer flowers. Lionel hovered in the sunshine, anxious for a catch-up with his fellow Grafflins.
'You must be Marie, please call me Margaret, and these are for you my dear' said Margaret Haywood as she pressed the flowers into Marie's slim arms.
'Oh thank you, they are beautiful, please come in, you shouldn't have, but they are so lovely, oh I must put them in water, come in' welcomed Marie as she showed Margaret into her home.
'Oh Peter my dear boy, what a to-do, how are you, I am so sorry, but I am here now, here to help' gushed Margaret as she crushed Pete in her heavy arms, dropping the shopping bags on floor beside her.
Pete was taken aback, Margaret had never shown such emotion towards him before, he felt a warmth in her arms that he had never experienced before, maybe she wasn't as cold has he believed. Joni eyed her Grandmother, Veronica bent forward and whispered in Joni's ear, 'Nana, Nana' she cooed.
Margaret's arms fell away from Pete, she turned and faced her granddaughter who was toddling towards her, 'Up, up' laughed Joni, Margaret obeyed Joni's command and lifted her up in her arms.
'Come on then, let's sit down, my you are a heavy lump', smiled Margaret, as she dropped herself down on the armchair closest to the hallway door, and sat Joni on her right knee.
Not to be outdone, George stood up and toddled over to them both 'Up, up' he said.
'Come on then' grinned Margaret as she gently lifted George onto her other knee, and there they sat, two children and a Grandmother, giggling together, playing pat-a-cake and making friends. After a fifteen minutes or so, Margaret lifted the children off her knee, 'I need a rest now, you two can play with each other for a while, I need to chat to your Daddy and Mommy, down you go.' She watched as Joni grasped George's hand and lead him back to the rug where they had been playing earlier, back to the Lady Veronica and Lord Ralph.
All this time the Grafflins had hovered around the room as tiny lights, Lionel was happy to be back in the company of his fellow beings, Julian was watching events unfold from the comfort of the remaining armchair, whilst Pete and Marie had occupied the sofa.
'Marie, I think I have bought us enough food, didn't want to think of you having to manage to feed us all' said Margaret as she handed over one of the bulging carrier bags, 'It is all cold stuff as well, too hot to cook, isn't it'.
'That's very kind of you, thank you, I'll just pop it in the fridge, are you hungry yet, oh sorry I haven't even offered you a drink' said Marie.
'A glass of water, tap water would be lovely, no lunch can wait a little while longer, I'll give you a hand with it' replied Margaret.
Marie carried the bag into the kitchen, and carefully removed it's contents of cold chicken, salad, fruit, fresh bread, different cheeses, a quiche, pickles and a bottle of white wine. For the first time in days Marie felt hungry, a bright light flashed across the room, and she glimpsed a faint shape, a shape of a man, but like no man she had ever seen before; strangely Marie was not afraid although her heart was racing, she was excited. She returned to the living room, handed Margaret a large glass of cold water and sat back down next to Pete, 'Thank you Margaret, the food is lovely, I actually feel quite hungry.'
'It's the least I could do, now just one more thing before we get down to the matter in hand' said Margaret as she reached down to the remaining carrier bag by her side, 'Just a few little things for the children' she said, 'a white cuddly rabbit for Joni, a cuddly elephant for George, oh and a little dolly for Joni, a push along train for George, what else have we got, a set of sorting bricks each, that should keep them quiet for a little while, here you go little ones' she said as she passed the gifts to the children.
Joni picked up the rabbit and held it in her arms , 'Ta, ta' she said, George copied his new friend as he picked up the big grey elephant.
'Now' said Margaret, 'let's sort out this whole sorry mess.'
Sometimes people surprise you, Margaret Haywood surprised Pete, he was to learn that she would be the one who was strong enough to take charge, but sensitive enough to understand his emotions. What neither Pete or Marie knew then was that Margaret could see all, she had communicated with Lionel since she was a child, but Lionel had been sworn to secrecy for now over the prophecies that lay in the Shenkan Tower.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Seven years later
. EARTH YEAR 2016
Sometimes in stories the narrator has to skip several years in the tale, and although I too have chosen to do that, I will of course fill in this long passage of time as quickly as possible. Jack and Stella moved to Spain where Jack's parents were living, and they are still there, after the divorces they settled down, had two children and neither have been back to England since. Stella sold the house and split the proceeds with Pete as promised, this was all done via solicitors and estate agents, Pete and Joni moved into a rented home close to Marie and George in Lembury. For the first four years Marie acted as a child minder to Joni so Pete could continue in his job, the extra money came in useful as Marie was unable to work having George to care for. Margaret Haywood who was a constant visitor and support, became a surrogate Grandmother to George, he called her Nana Maggie. The children started school and Marie returned to work, during the school holidays when both Pete and Marie were at work, Margaret would come and stay and look after the children.
The garden in Shenka continued to grow more beautiful each passing day, gradually the grand archives were sorted, noted, filed and read. Lord Ralph made several more visits to the tower, the red mists grew darker in places, the Earth bound screams louder, but sometimes he felt an anticipation of optimism, each day he knew that George and Joni were getting closer to fulfilling the prophecies, each day getting closer to calming the sobbing and sorrow. Lady Veronica continued her duties and the land and pastures of Shenka flourished, but closer to the mountains the earth lay barren as the red mists encroached further into her kingdom.
Lord Albion had grown weaker and now never leaves his bed, he is attended daily by Bertie and Rupert, who had become the most loyal servants a Grafflin lord could wish for. Julian was happy and relieved, he now was spending much of his time flitting between Grafflin, Shenka and Earth, his heart torn between those three places.
Henderson and Belle grew even closer to their charges, by the time she was five years of age Joni could see Henderson as clearly as she could see Belle, and with George's help she learnt also to see and communicate with all the Grafflins including of course Julian Speaksafe.