You Got It Wrong - Part Eight

Chapter Eight

A/N Sorry at the delay again. Trying to get this introduction spot on, watch out for sparks flying!

Nina looked between the two men, suddenly the similarities obvious, except that Mansell looked pale, whereas his grandson looked flushed, angry...but fortunately concerned. The younger man was still sending daggers of hate in her direction and she wasn’t about to take that blame.

                “Calm down, or I will chuck you out, I don’t care who you are.”

That made Mansell chuckle out loud, and Theo’s fury to move up a notch, “can you get out of my way?” He snarled through gritted teeth.

She shook her head, “you burst in here, all angry and shouting. Who do you think you are?”

That made his nostrils flare, eyes widen in contempt, “I am the man who has been looking for the man that you have abducted, now...” he grabbed her upper arms in his hands, “GET out of my way!”

With that he physically manhandled her out of his path and then ignoring her, walked up to Mansell, “what the hell are you playing at?” She was glad to hear his anger had reduced when he spoke to his grandfather, “I’ve been worried sick...”

Theo was more than relieved to see that his grandfather looked well. He’d not had an idea of what he was walking into, but to find the old man stood laughing at him was infuriating. He glanced to his right, he’d not really registered the woman he’d just shifted out of the way...he didn’t want to think about how he felt about her, some...words failed him, he had no idea what was fuelling her need to help Mansell, but he had a good idea. He’d deal with her when he’d finished with his grandfather. And that would be one hell of a dressing down.

                “Don’t you dare move me...push me aside. And don’t you dare insinuate that I have dragged Mansell over here. How dare you!”

His glance became a study as he stared at the woman protesting, she was five foot three at most, dark unruly short hair, dressed in an old scruffy hoodie, soaking wet patches over her shoulders and breasts, she was also barefoot...bare legged...did she even have anything on under the hoodie? He almost asked her, but bit his tongue. She was curvy, more curvy than he liked, and tiny...dark, and the way she was sparking in his direction he immediately responded without a second thought, “calm down Pocket Rocket, I’ll get to you once I’ve sorted my grandfather out.”

He literally saw steam pour out of her nostrils, then he spotted her blue eyes, flashing angrily, and he was intrigued...which meant he missed the hand that lashed out and slapped him across the face.

Reaching for his stinging cheek, wishing he could massage his more severely bruised ego as easily, he glowered at her, “as you’re a female, I’ll ignore that.” Then he looked back to his grandfather who had the audacity to be laughing at them. Shaking his head in frustration, he asked, “can we talk Granddad?”

Mansell smiled then looked at Nina, “It’s ok, you can trust him not to hurt me.”

She gave a curt nod, “I’ll just be upstairs.”

Both men watched her depart before Theo turned back to the older man, “what the hell is going on?”

                “None of you could bring me. I asked...she could. It’s important.”

Theo ran his fingers through his hair, “you said you wanted to come to France, but Dan’s in the US, I’m up to my eyes...”

                “Which is why Nina brought me!”

He shook his head, “Nina.” There was animosity in the word, “you never said HOW important this was.”

Mansell moved into the lounge, and Theo watched him lower himself into a chair, “you never asked. I have never been back to France, not since the time I came here as a young soldier.”

Theo felt shock, his eyes widening, “you were here on D-Day?” Suddenly things were starting to make sense. “You never said!”

Mansell gave a knowing sigh, “again, you never asked.”

That gave him food for thought, he tried desperately to find something to say, but was failing badly.

                “Look Theo, we’ve had a strange relationship...you came into my life as a teenager, there’s been a lot of standoff, a lot of self protection...”

Theo gulped, “I thought we’d got past that. We’re good aren’t we?”

Mansell laughed reaching out to lay a hand over his, “we are. I think that things have become good between us. I look forward to seeing you every time you visit. And I LOVE my great granddaughter...that’s not what I meant. I mean that we didn’t have your childhood together, maybe that would have been the time that my past life would have come out. But it’s not something I discussed really, not for a long time.”

Theo felt dreadful, he may bit have shared his past, but sitting here in a small house in Normandy, it was more than obvious that it was important to him, and he had no idea about any of it.

                “Will you tell me? About what happened?”

Mansell smiled, “you want to know?”

Theo nodded, “of course...when you asked to come here...I didn’t know it was so important to you.”

                “I’m not always as honest and open as I could be.”

Sighing Theo ran his fingers through his hair, “and maybe I’m not as receptive. I get that.”

Mansell hauled himself to his feet then entered the adjacent kitchen, “beer?”

Theo nodded enthusiastically, “I need something.”

Nina had showered, washed her hair three times and was now dressed in her favourite t-shirt, a red “Vamos España” number that she bought in Madrid during a previous World Cup, and a pair of shorts, after all, it wasn’t cold. She could hear voices travelling up the stairs from the two talking and had delayed things in the hope that the younger man, the ‘grandson’ disappeared, but it was no use. She was going to have to front up to Mansell and the grandson she’d just physically assaulted. Not that he didn’t deserve it, the cheeky...

Shaking her head, she ruffled her hair; it was still damp from the shower. Taking a deep breath, she made for the stairs. The voices getting louder as she got closer. Mansell sounded relaxed, so she let out the breath she was holding, but the other man, he wasn’t happy.

                “But you never SAID how important this is...I mean you said ‘I want to go to France’. Nothing else.”

                “You brushed it off immediately, there was no chance.”

She heard the grandson huff, “we would have worked it out, I’m just stunned that you ask a stranger to bring you here...like some unloved bloody loner.”

                “Nina has been amazing; she dropped everything when I asked her to bring me here.”

                “I bet she did, free bloody holiday, free loading...”

As Mansell made to protest, after all Nina had paid for everything so far, she stepped into the room, “I’m not free loading...for your information. But your grandfather had a real desire to be here, and I made that possible. Too little too late from you. So don’t try and throw your guilt on to me.”

Mansell again tried to speak, but again, she silenced him with her eyes, then marched past them into the kitchen. She was cracking open a small bottle of beer when Mansell appeared behind her.

                “I promised you dinner.”

She gave him a smile, “You need to spend time with your grandson. I’ve got a pizza in the fridge, and I’ve got some work to do. You two head out, I’ll see you in the morning for our full day?”

                “I don’t want to abandon you...”

                “Mansell, I’m twenty eight years old, I hardly need babysitting. Now go, have some food, but don’t go too easy on him, ok?”

Giving a nod he was chuckling as he walked away.

Theo had stayed in the spare room, when he’d travelled to France luckily he’d grabbed a bag with a change of clothes in it, and he was able to shower and dress in something fresh before encountering the day. Talking to his grandfather the previous evening, he was stunned to hear his history, the past, his brother, his own encounter, then there was Hélène, the love he’d lost. Suddenly he was starting to realise how important and life changing these events were for him. It explained a lot that he’d observed, his attitudes, his behaviours, and his avoidance to mention both the past and family. Mansell rarely talked about his father, and definitely never talked about his grandmother. He’d thought it was strange, now he realised that is was defensive, his way of protecting his fragile heart. Could he feel any more of a bastard?

Yes, you were hard on the girl.

He dismissed that thought quickly, there was no way he as apologising to her, or changing his opinion. Who the hell gave up their week to take an elderly man on a road trip if they weren’t after something else? His grandfather had money, he was a well known name in the world of manufacturing, he’d run several huge factories in the south and had developed negotiations with China back in the sixties and seventies, before a huge influx of manufacturing headed out that way. He was by no way a multimillionaire, but he had money, and as he got older that made him vulnerable. That was his concern.

Barefoot in jeans and a t-shirt, he made for the kitchen and ogled the coffee machine in the corner; he couldn’t function in the morning without at least one mug of coffee. Fortunately there was a bag of French ground coffee next to the machine, and within moments the aroma was filling the room.

As he waited, he pulled out his phone and checked his messages. But there was no reception. Before he’d driven to France, he’d asked Tony, his friend and colleague to check on Melody for him, because whilst he was there sorting out his grandfather, he was leaving his equally vulnerable daughter at the mercy of her uncaring vindictive mother.

He’d promised him that he’d stay, that he’d go to this meeting today with the sister of the woman he’d met all those years ago. But he needed phone reception too.

The back door opening pulled him from his reverie, and he came face to face with the woman who’d hit him the previous day, and his opinion of her hadn’t changed for that. She was wearing a faded old t-shirt and shorts, and trainers that had seen better days, and she was flushed and sweaty.

                “Been running,” she mumbled as she reached for the fridge pulling out a bottle of water then draining it completely.

Theo was still looking at her, he couldn’t help the contempt that he felt for her, interfering in his family for what reason? He was studying her intently when she looked up and met his eyes.

                “What?”

He shrugged, “just trying to work out what your game is.”

He could see the anger slide over her at that, “really? You should be grateful that I’m helping him. Instead you’re resentful. You are the most obnoxious man I have ever met. I’m here helping a man...YOUR grandfather realise a dream. You couldn’t be bothered to bring him yourself, now you have the audacity to speak to me as though I am the enemy. You should appreciate Mansell for the gent that he is, but you don’t, so don’t take the guilt out on me.”

With that she stormed out of the room.

No amount of hot water would calm her down, Nina was furious. Today she’d planned to drive Mansell to meet Ines the sister of Hélène, which was fine...but now they had that angry bastard in tow. She wasn’t looking forward to things half as much. In fact, if he was staying, then she could step back leave them to it, couldn't she? She wasn’t about to be exposed to more animosity from a man who clearly was feeling that he hadn’t done enough.

After her shower she dressed, she’d not brought anything smart with her, not that she normally wore smart, but there was something about this grandson that made her defensive, instead she pulled on a pair of shorts, a layered vest and her Converse. She never wore make up, and she rarely tamed her hair, it was naturally spiky and she’d never worried. But his words, ‘pocket rocket’ came to mind and she hated that it hurt. She was short, five four, and she was too big for her frame,, Lilah convinced her she was admirably curvaceous, but she didn’t see it that way, and now this man had brought those insecurities to the surface.

She took a deep breath, she’d had worse, she’d been through more.  She wasn’t about to let this man destabilise her psyche that was for sure.

Downstairs she found the two men at the kitchen table eating croissants. Nina felt ruffled, that this man was so at home eating the food she’d bought without a second glance. But Mansell looked happy, she wasn’t about to upset him.

                “You ok Mansell? Sleep well?”

He nodded, “great thanks. You?”

She gave a shrug, he didn’t need to know that she had tossed and turned all night then been up at six am. The only option had been to go for a run, and that didn’t help. “Not bad. Was thinking you guys don’t need me today. So I’m going to go see some family maybe.”

Mansell dropped his knife, “of course you’re coming, this is all thanks to you!”

Nina was pleased to see that the grandson looked as awkward at the thought as she did, “but you’ve got your grandson now...”

                “I don’t know where the house is, neither does Theo...you’ll have to come.” He gave her a dazzling smile, “we should leave early. I’ll go get ready.”

Left alone Nina walked out to the kitchen and filled a mug with coffee, then searched for something to eat, all the croissants were gone, so she grabbed an apple and was attacking that when the man she now knew was called Theo appeared carrying the dirty dishes. Leaning against the counter she watched him run water at the sink and start to wash the plates. She wasn’t about to strike up conversation the hatred between them was palpable, she despised him for the way he treated or rather DIDN’T treat his grandfather primarily, though his frosty attitude towards her was more than annoying. He seemed to hold her in a similar regard. Yet they barely knew each other. Nina chuckled to herself; Lilah always told her she was someone who put a lot into first impressions.

Rather than deal with her, discuss things, he disappeared once the dishes were washed and that meant that Nina could scoff like a pig in private...she was starving.

Half an hour later she was leaning against the bonnet of her beloved Beetle, face upturned to the warmth of the summer day when she heard a voice cut through the serenity.

                “We are not travelling in THAT!”

With a sigh, but inside a little jolt of pleasure at the impending battle, she straightened up and faced the two men with a fixed solemn stare.