The Geary Series Boxed Set (48 page)

Elijah kissed his wife and strolled back to Gale’s hospital room. The efforts his mother had gone to get him out of the room hadn’t been lost on him. He obliged his mother on the basis it was for a good reason. He would want to know what that reason was when he returned.

Standing at the closed door he watched the group of five adults in the room. Lilly had gone to fetch the nurse and Elijah waited outside the room. Dylan paced back and forth on a three-foot square space. He waved his arms around, gesticulating at Jane and then at Gale. He threw an irritated glance at Michael and Ruth. Ruth raised her palms in defence and took a step back. Jane continued to hold Gale’s hand, she had fallen back asleep and Jane’s shoulders shuddered at an even rhythm.

He didn’t appreciate the rising anger in the room, he could see it in all of their body languages. Turning the handle with trepidation, he then pushed open the door. He had become a participant in their argument. He closed the door behind him and leant against it.

“We are not going to tell them about the baby, Gale, and that’s the end of it,” Jane said, her weary voice faltered on the last two words. The fatigue of keeping the secret slumped her shoulders in defeat. Dylan had spotted Elijah in the room, he was the only one.

“What is going on?” Elijah asked. Jane, Ruth and Michael turned to him, their faces full of guilt. And then Gale woke up again.

“Where is my baby? What happened to the baby, Jane?” Gale cried out.

“He wasn’t ever your baby, Gale, I know you wanted it but it was my decision to get rid of the baby. This is not how I wanted Michael to find out about the baby” Jane said, tears streaked her face.

“I know there was a baby, Jane,” Michael said quietly, his words fell on deaf ears.

“Is anyone going to tell me what you are all arguing about? “ Elijah asked again.

“I’m not sure what is happening here and why Michael and I need to hear any more of this. Dylan, why are you directing your anger at us, we are not involved. Jane made that decision a very long time ago.” Ruth said.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that Ruth, I’m sure Michael can fill you in on some of the details and my darling sister can reveal the rest. If she doesn’t, then I will.” Gale warned.

“Shut up Gale, this is none of your business, and leave the past alone, nothing good will come of it,” Jane said. The threatening growl alerted the others to stay out of this particular conversation.

Jane let go of Gale’s hand, dismissing it from her reach. Every time she thought her sister would change she would come back worse than before. There had been thirty years where they hadn’t contacted each other, Jane stopped writing to her sister when she married Dylan, she didn’t know her sister’s new address. She took it that she had been entirely cut off when she hadn’t received an invite to the wedding or subsequent christenings of Lilly and William. She simply stopped trying.

She shared her life with a bottle of wine most evenings while she built up her candle business. Jane poured all of her sober hours into the shop. She had an online business as well as the shop, her assistants took care of the day to day running. All the while Gale gave up on her future when she married.

“Why didn’t you study to be a lawyer Gale?” Jane asked pointedly, she couldn’t understand why Gale had wasted her life and not become a lawyer, Dylan wasn’t so old fashioned that he would have made her stay at home. He would have let her do anything she wanted, he adored her.

“Because, Jane,” She paused for Jane to look at her, “I chose to be a mother instead.” She answered instantly.

The words sliced through Jane’s heart.

“You’re such a bitch Gale,” Jane replied and she ran from the room crying, pushing past Elijah to get to the door.

The rueful smile playing on Gale’s lips angered Dylan, he sat back down in the armchair and rested his head against the cold radiator. He hated that Gale still harboured bitterness over Jane’s decision, he hated that she had nightmares and screamed Michael’s name during the night. Dylan had played second fiddle to Gale’s love for Michael and a baby that never happened for all of his married life.

“If I ask a third time, do you think I could get an answer? Why is everyone looking furtive?” Elijah asked, short on patience.

“Michael fucked Jane and then she fell pregnant, I protected her from our parents and then she got rid of it.”

“Gale.” Dylan scolded, “That’s enough, these are not your secrets to tell.” He said and stood, looking at his wife and demanding she behaved.

“Ok, well, that is newsworthy but not really any of my business, I’ll leave you all to it.” Elijah said quietly and looked at his parents, his dad pleaded with him to understand.

“Son, I’m sorry that you found out this way, but it was a long time ago.” Michael reasoned.

“Dad, it's fine, I didn’t expect you to have been a virgin when you married mum. I did think that you couldn’t have children, looks like Gale was right with what she said at the wedding.” Elijah said.

“Why, what did she say?” Ruth asked it was clear she knew of this news, she clung to her husband’s arm, smoothing his forearm.

“She forbade Lilly from marrying me and somewhere in the conversation she assumed me and Jack were your natural children. She then said that you could have children when I said you couldn’t,” Elijah said.

“I never said any of the sorts Elijah,” Gale replied hoping she could lie her way out of this conversation.

“Yes you did Gale, I was there on the other side of the conversation, you might be sick but don’t make it worse for yourself. I don’t like you at all right now, don’t make me hate you.” Dylan reprimanded.

Gale huffed in her bed, opening her mouth and closing it, choosing not to say any more words. She pressed her call button and within a few minutes of silence in the room a nurse came in to see what was wrong. Elijah wondered what had happened to Lilly.

“Can you ask these people to leave, I am getting pains in my chest and their arguing is not helping. I don’t think I should have any visitors for a while, nurse.” Gale said, her voice whimpering with her speech.

Michael, Ruth, Dylan and Elijah didn’t waste any time in leaving to room.

Once they were all assembled in the corridor, they saw Jane, crumpled in a seat sobbing. Lilly had an arm around her, consoling her. Lilly’s mutterings indicated that the reason why Jane was upset was because her sister was ill. She had no idea that there was a secret baby. They all knew better but didn’t interrupt.

“Look, Elijah, there is a lot to understand, I’d prefer to explain it to both you and Jack at the same time. We would like to explain,” he said indicating Ruth too was involved.

“Darling, it’s a long story, why don’t you come for dinner one night next week and we can explain it all.” Ruth said, she wanted to calm the room and offer a kinder way of revealing the past without getting everyone upset. Michael had told Ruth what had happened in the first week they were dating, he didn’t want any secrets between them. Ruth was supportive to Michael and wished for his sake that the baby had lived, especially after Michael’s illness that prevented him from having any children of his own.

“Of course, if that’s what you want. Mum, Dad, whatever happened in the past, I still love you. Whatever you did was for a good reason and I won’t think any less of you for what you may or may not have done. I suspect there is a lot more to this story than any of us know. I think you all know a part of the story, but only one person knows all of it.” Elijah said.

“I think so too, she always changes the subject when I want to talk about what happened when she spent the year down in Brighton. Perhaps we should all have dinner and put it to bed once and for all. I can then decide if I am going to divorce the bitter woman.” Dylan said and stalked down the corridor out of their sight, leaving them no choice to object.

Gale’s actions had decided that they were going to find out the truth, once and for all.

Late 1970s

The large yellow tents loomed high on the horizon, the four of them strolled through the high street. The late evening sun had started to disappear over the hill top. Dylan had driven them to a neighbouring town in his new car. He was the first of the four friends to pass his driver’s test and had been nominated as the group’s taxi driver. Michael, Jane and Gale shared the cost of the petrol and took turns in who sat in the front seat of Dylan’s tiny blue car.

Michael ran ahead to speak with Jane and Gale strolled side by side with Dylan. His hand brushed the back of Gale’s, she responded by pushing her hands into her pockets of her pinafore dress so that it didn’t happen again. Dylan made small talk as they walked, but Gale’s attention was on Michael’s back and straining to hear what he was saying to Jane.

“Gale, are you listening to me?” Dylan complained and stopped in the street, Gale didn’t hear his question and carried on walking.

Dylan had been discussing going to the movies the following night and had asked her on a date. He stayed silent, waiting for her answer, but it never came. She didn’t see that he was no longer by her side. He hoped that he could win her heart but knew she liked his best friend, Michael. He hadn’t told her that Michael wasn’t interested in her, it seemed a cruel conversation to have. Michael would soon be gone from Edinburgh and then Dylan would console her. When Michael had told him he was leaving, permanently, he didn’t think that she needed to know. He would soon be gone and then he would have his chance. Gale was the girl he wanted to marry one day.

He jogged along to catch up with the three of them as they crossed the road and turned left onto the bridge. The cars slowly edged their way over to the field and all had music spilling out of the windows. Radio 1 played on all the cars that had stereos built in, it was easy to sing along to the tunes as they passed the cars. The warm day had turned into a sticky evening and Gale fanned her face using the top of her dress to cause an updraft. They neared the field on the other side of the bridge and were met with a barrage of light and sound. The cheers and screams from the participants on the funfair rides mixed in with the rings and chimes of the slot machines.

Queuing up at the kiosk, they waited their turn to pay for the entry. Dylan insisted on paying for Gale. She refused many times but gave up when the people behind started complaining about the wait. She didn’t want Dylan to think it was a date.

Michael and Jane paid their own way to enter the travelling fun fair. The paper wristbands were attached which meant they were allowed to go on all the rides as many times as they liked. They only needed to pay for any refreshments from the myriad of food stalls that were littered around the field.

The travelling funfair came every year at the end of the school year, the same rides and stalls. Each year there would be a new addition for the youngsters to try. Jane and Gale’s parents didn’t know that they were coming to the town with boys. They were both banned from having boyfriends until they had finished their education. For Gale that would be another two years and for Jane it would be a year. University would follow and then their chosen professions would have training too. They weren’t prepared to wait that long to avoid any male company.

“Come on the ride with me,” Michael begged Dylan, “it will be great fun.”

Dylan folded his arms and shook his head rapidly from side to side. Michael turned to Jane, hoping she would say yes, but she didn’t, she stood behind Dylan for protection.

“Well, Gale, it’s just you and me,” Michael said and waved his arms towards the funfair ride.

Gale beamed and clapped her hands and ran over to where Michael stood. The pirate ship ride was her favourite and it also meant that she would be sitting next to Michael for the five-minute ride. The funfair arriving in the neighbouring town was the highlight of the year for the teenagers in the area. It had become an annual tradition that the four of them to come. They visited the funfair rides and ate chips.  This would be the fourth year and the final year they would be there as a foursome. Jane and Gale didn’t know this yet.

Gale climbed up the steps and sat on the plastic seat next to Michael, the breeze blew her long hair into her face. While she swiped at the strands of her hair, the hem of her skirt lifted up to her thighs. She didn’t see Michael staring at her legs, by the time she had tied her hair back with a band she kept on her wrist he had resumed his control.

“Is this a scary ride for you?” Gale asked.

“Nah, it will make my stomach drop when it gets to its full height but not scary. In any case, I’m here to hold your hand to get you through the ordeal.” Michael said and looked out across the field.

Gale waited for him to take her hand in his but instead he reached forward and around her body to wave at Jane and Dylan standing on safe ground stuffing their faces with a fresh, warm doughnuts. When he sat back, she waited again for him to hold her hand. The ride controller sounded his horn, closed the gate on the queue forming for their turn. The pirate ship had 12 rows of excited people. Six rows facing the other six rows, the yellow bench seats sat eight across. Gale had the side of the ship as her companion and she waved at her sister Jane who was busy licking her fingers. Backwards and forwards the ride went, gaining height with each turn. The wind caught her skirt each time they dropped, and she attempted to tuck her skirt under her legs. As the ride swung higher still her feet lifted off the floor, releasing her skirt and again she showed Michael her legs and now her knickers. She frantically fought to regain her composure but lost the fight. Michael hastily took off his jumper and laid it over her legs. The heavyweight knit jumper rescued her dignity and slowly the ride came to a stop. The hand that she desperately wanted to hold stayed in his lap. The missed opportunity devastated her, this was her chance to have uninterrupted time with Michael, to sit closely with him. She hoped he would put his arm around her shoulders, but the offer of holding hands exceeded her expectations. Once the ride had completely stopped, Gale left the seat as soon as the door was released. She gruffly muttered words to Jane and headed straight to the doughnut van. Her sister didn’t understand what she had said and called after her, but she wasn’t listening. Gale needed to get away from Michael and her stupid notions of a romance between them.

“Hey Gale, have one of mine, I saved you one,” Dylan said after racing to catch up with her. She stopped and turned, eyeing the white paper bag that had grease smudges.

“Is it still warm?” She asked, well aware of how ungrateful she sounded.

“Yes, it should be, eat it quick.” He said.

Gale opened the bag and lifted it out, it didn’t take long to eat and her mood lifted. She had been mooning over Michael for too long. He had announced last week that he and his family would be moving away. He had asked her to keep it a secret. It had taken a few days to get used to the idea that she wouldn’t see him again. When she started college in the autumn, he wouldn’t be there and that mere fact deterred her from being excited about starting her further education.

At that moment while she ate the last piece of the sugary treat, she vowed she would kiss him before he left. She just needed to come up with a situation that would enable her to do this.

The evening passed quickly, Michael and Gale were the only two to go on all the rides, Dylan and Jane choosing to stay on solid ground and pushing two pence coins into the slot machines.

Jane and Gale’s parents had given them a strict curfew of being home before it was dark. The drive home took ten minutes, but Dylan would need to drop them off a few streets away so that their parents didn’t hear a car approach their house.

Dylan dropped Michael off first, he had the front seat. When he got out, Jane called out that she would have the back seat and encouraged Gale to sit in the front. Gale used this as an excuse to have a personal goodbye from Michael as they were both going to be out of the car at the same time. Michael held the door open and pulled the seat back for Gale to get out of the car. Once she had stood upright, he pushed the seat back into place and gestured for her to get back into the car. She did so obediently and he closed the door and waved goodbye as Dylan wasted no time and pulled away.

Her disappointment of another lost opportunity to have a cheek kiss from Michael. She stayed silent for the journey back to their house, Jane and Dylan chatted away and left her out of the conversation. She planned the party that they could have in her head, blocking out their laughter. She would suggest the party to Jane when they got home this evening.