Chapter
Forty
Sorry, hit a brick wall with this story, was about to abandon it...never done that before, but think I may have salvaged it. Hope so. Sorry for the delay, x
Lilah was
sunning it up in Cyprus, Theo was busy working. Nina groaned, she’d never been
lonely in her life before, but suddenly she was. So she set off to visit
Mansell, he’d appreciate her company, and maybe stop her from going insane. And
on the flipside she might stop him from going mad too.
He was sat
outside, it was a cold day, but there were a few chairs set out overlooking the
sea view. He smiled as she approached, “Nina! How great to see you!”
“You look a little more chipper
than the last time I saw you!”
He grinned,
“and I hear that is due to you...that it was your idea.”
She looked
at him quizzically, “me?”
“I’m moving to London tomorrow.
To live with Theo and Melody, he told me you suggested that.”
She shook
her head, “no, I told him that he and Daniel needed to pull their fingers out
and start looking after you. That’s all.” She accompanied the words with an
elaborate wink, and that made him laugh out loud.
“Ahh, a woman’s gentle
pressure?”
Nina sat
beside him and laughed too, “something like that. So you excited?”
He nodded,
“I haven’t been to London in ages...I want to try and go to the National
History museum, not sure I’ll manage it, but just being back in the City will
make me happy.” He looked out over the sea at a ship chugging along on the
horizon, “I know that I’m going because I can’t live alone...”
She covered
a hand with hers and gave it a squeeze, “don’t beat yourself up over THAT.
You’ve given those boys everything, from what I can see, about time they gave
something back.”
“They’ve got someone to look
after me, from an agency. I think they think I can’t wipe my own backside!”
“They want you to be
safe...that’s all.”
He pulled himself
to his feet, “I suppose that’s true. Now I have to go change, did I tell you Hélène is coming to visit? My
granddaughter...” he stumbled over the words, then looked up with a sad smile,
“she’s bringing her to see me.”
“Wow,
that’ll be amazing.”
He nodded, “it’s a long time since I saw her...though don’t
know what she’ll make of this.” He threw his less active arm out in front of
him and she sighed.
“She
loves YOU, she won’t care if you’ve got NO arms, ok?”
He sighed, “this bloody happens JUST when I’m starting to get
to know her again.”
“Well,
you can’t help that, but think how much more appealing visiting you in London
will be compared to Brighton!”
That made him smile, “you’ll visit me too? Not just Theo?”
Grinning she patted him on the back, “you try keeping me
away!”
As she was leaving the centre, a black cab pulled up almost
in front of her, and out stepped the regal looking Hélène, and her face broke
into a smile, “how wonderful to see you again Nina. You look well.”
Claudine stepped out next and smiled too.
“I could
say the same to you Hélène; I only hope Mansell’s blood pressure is up to it!”
It was a poorly timed joke in view of his fairly recent
stroke and the three grimaced a little awkwardly, “sorry, that was...”
The two delicate French women chuckled, and Claudine added,
“once they get old...” she nodded in her grandmother’s direction, “then even
mentioning the weather can have a double meaning.”
Hélène swatted at her arm playfully, “the cheek of today’s
youth! How is Mansell? He seemed sad on the phone two days ago.”
“He’s much
better, but I’ll leave him to tell you all that’s happening. It was good to see
you again.”
The two women smiled, then moved towards the rehab centre
that housed Mansell.
“Come to
London?” She’d barely got back to the house when her phone rang. Theo didn’t
introduce himself, just demanded that of her.
She grinned, “what’s it worth?”
A laugh came down the phone line, “dinner...a movie...and all
the pleasure you can cope with!”
She should be angry at the lack of finesse, but the
desperation, the promises all made her tingle from head to foot. “Mmm, as
tempting as that is, I really have to wash my hair tonight!”
That made him laugh again, “how about I throw in a foot
massage?”
“Oooh,
I’m so easy to please. How come you’re free?”
She could hear him relax as he replied, “well, I’m almost
moved into Dan’s house...and he’s taking Melody to pick a new duvet and
curtains for her bedroom...he felt maybe I needed a break?”
She smiled, even though he couldn’t see that. “I saw Mansell earlier;
he’s really excited to move in.”
Theo
sighed, “it’s not ready for him really, we have to do a lot of cosmetics, but
I’ve got some of the boys in on the weekend. Hopefully get him up here after
that. Longer than he’s hoping, but it’s the only way.”
“Sounds like you’ve got it all
sorted.”
“Yep, all bar who I want to
spend the rest of the day with.”
Nina
looked up at the click, three o’clock. “There’s a train in about forty
minutes.”
“Can you make that?”
She
laughed, “I am never going to need four hours of pampering before I can leave
the house. Where shall I meet you?”
“I can pick you up.”
“Don’t worry, meet me at
Victoria. I’ll be there in an hour and a half...”
“Can’t wait. Decide where you
want to eat. Ok?”
Giggling
she loudly pondered for a moment, “mmm, wonder where I can get you to part with
the most of your money...let me think on that.”
Theo
hugged Daniel; he’d been the greatest brother the last few months. Having a
night without Melody, having the chance to spend time with Nina made him
content. He loved his daughter to distraction, but the thought of some grown up
time was priceless.
“You are taking Mansell on, full
time. How the hell can I begrudge you a night with your girl? And,” he ruffled
the hair of Melody stood beside him, “I get chance to spend the evening with MY
girl, what do you say?”
She held her arms up to him, and he scooped
her up in a hug, “now give Dad a big hug, cos we have some SERIOUS shopping to
do. You ready?”
Melody
was nodding enthusiastically as she hugged her father, then clutching her
overnight bah, she disappeared with a wave.
An
hour later he was sat next to Nina in a pub in the centre of town, beers in
front of them, debating what restaurant to eat in, and how long they could
manage to avoid rushing back to his to be truly alone.
The
next few days were hectic for Theo and he had little chance to see Nina, but he
over saw conversions, painting, furniture removal...the lot. And Sunday
afternoon saw him and Melody heading to Brighton to collect Mansell. On the way
there after several songs sung at full volume, mainly of the Frozen variety, Melody
fell asleep. So Theo called Nina.
“On our way to the coast. Can we
meet for a quick lunch?”
He
heard Nina chuckle “is today the day then? I bet Mansell is ecstatic.”
“He’s called me fourteen times
this morning all ready!”
She
laughed, “lunch sounds amazing. How about the Sea View Cafe? It’s walking
distance of Mansell’s rehab centre; I can collect him and meet you there.”
He
closed his eyes for a moment, a dangerous thing whilst driving on the motorway,
but he loved how she included his grandfather, she didn’t expect to dominate
his time and attention. She was perfect.
“Brilliant. We’re forty minutes
away.”
After
a lovely lunch and supervising the removal of Mansell’s things from Oakdale,
they hit the motorway back to London, and within an hour both Mansell and
Melody were both fast asleep.
“So what have you got to do when
we get back?”
He
manoeuvred the car through the heavy traffic for a moment, then glanced at her,
“settle Mansell in, settle Melody in...then maybe make you dinner? Will you eat
with us?”
She
nodded, “sounds nice, I can get the late train home.”
HE
shook his head, “stay. I have a spare room now...for propriety’s sake.”
Pondering
that for a moment, her silence caused him to look at her, “you will?”
She
nodded, “just on this one occasion.”
Grinning
he reached out and put his hand on her thigh, “I have to blur the lines a
bit. You ok with that?”
“Melody’s got a mother, I’ll
never be that.”
He
nodded, “I’m not expecting you to be anything like that...but I am struggling
to keep you both separate. Does that bother you?”
She sighed, “she’s
a lovely girl, but I worry that it’s an added pressure...it’s hard enough when
there’s just two of us...”
“I promise that it won’t change
things, I promise.”
Nina turned
to him with a grin, “you’d promise anything to get your own way!”
Melody was a
delight and DID make things easier, particularly for Mansell who had to deal
with the reality that stairs into the house, and the layout of the house made
his mobility an issue. For a proud man, that was so obviously difficult until
Melody in her sing song voice took over. He made it to his bedroom holding her
hand and feeding gratefully on her enthusiasm, it broke Theo’s heart to see the
independent and strong man looking so weak and vulnerable.
“What do you want for dinner
then old man? Whatever you want...”
Mansell was
testing out the new armchair, and looked up with a smile, “anything Theo. I’m
just SO glad to be out of that bloody hospital!”
Nina moved
to look into the room over Theo’s shoulder, “you are NEVER so laid back over
food, I remember your demands when we went to Normandy!”
They all
paused for a moment as they remembered that trip for very different reasons; it
had seen Nina became part of Mansell’s life, through her actions, but then part
of Theo’s too.
“Six months, what a turn around, hey?”
Mansell looked between the two of them poignantly, then said, “steak, chips and
pepper sauce.”
Nina elbowed
Theo in the ribs, knowing he’d have to make a trip to the supermarket for that
and giggled, “well why don’t I get us a drink, while you play hunter and go get
us some steak?”
Poking out
his tongue he found Melody in the lounge, “you want to come to the supermarket
with me?”
She wasn’t
convinced, and when Nina entered the room, she looked up and smiled, “can we
make biscuits?”
It was now
Theo’s turn to laugh, knowing it was the last thing that Nina wanted to do.
“Not got the ingredients, how
about...we watch Nick Junior? You can tell me ALL about your favourite shows.
Sound good?”
Melody
beamed then skipped off to the lounge, and Nina turned to Theo, “some of us got
it, some haven’t. Hope it’s stopped raining.”
He was still
grinning from her cheek when he climbed into his car.
A couple of
hours later he had delivered. They had eaten the greatest steaks she’d ever
tasted, Melody was having a bedtime story, Mansell was in his room watching a
movie. Nina had kicked her legs up on the sofa, glad for the time alone. But
the calm and serenity of the evening, was disturbed by her phone ringing.
Reaching for it she saw Lilah’s name and smiled, she hadn’t called from Cyprus.
“LILAH! How was the sun?”
But she was
met with silence. Eventually she spoke, “I’m at Amelie’s house. Can you meet me
there? Please. I wouldn’t ask...” The silence that followed was only punctuated
by a sob, and Nina was suddenly scared all over again.
She was
pulling on her boots when Theo came downstairs, barefoot, relaxed, beautiful.
“What’s wrong? Where are you
going?”
She
shrugged, “I’m not sure, Lilah’s back from Cyprus...she needs me.”
Nina knew
she couldn’t reveal much, it wasn’t her story to tell, so instead she offered
an apologetic smile.
“Will you be back?”
Again she
shrugged, “I don’t know. Don’t hate me, please?”
“I don’t hate you...I’m just
disappointed.”
Smiling she
reached up to cup his cheek, “I’ll make it up to you.” Then after a brief kiss
she headed out into the rain.
I only just watched Frozen about a week ago so I'm finally understanding Melody's love for it! Worried about Lilah, it did seem a bit too idyllic her dealing with everything from denial to acceptance seemingly quickly. Love that Mansell gets to be home, the part about his mobility was a bit sad but it's kinda bound to happen isn't it.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great work, MZ :D And thanks for persevering with the story, I understand the hitting a brick wall feeling, so in my opinion you'll be grateful you pushed through in the long run - I know I am!
xx alisonwonderland
I still haven't seen frozen but would do that today.
ReplyDeletereally worried about lilac, hope she is okay.
Annie
I meant Lilah not lilac, damn auto correct
DeleteAnnie
I've watched too much of Frozen... I even know the songs off by heart!
ReplyDeleteI wonder what has happened with Lilah. Feel bad for Theo but I hope he understands.
Thanks for the chapter :D
Samaira T
So have you abandoned the story ? I wasn't liking it that much and you were sort of struggling with it ! But as you're an AMAZING author I'm sure you'll find some way to resurrect this don't give up just yet !!
ReplyDelete