Big Girls Don't Cry Ch. 04

I slid back up next to her and held her close while the aftershock tails of orgasm whipped and curled through her, her body quivering and twitching as the adrenaline overload gradually dissipated. Finally she drew a ragged breath as she turned to grin sleepily at me.

"Bloody hell, Dar, if I could bottle however you do what you do to me I'd make a bloody fortune! Thank you baby, I needed that, now I can rest tonight. Love you, Dar!"

I squeezed her close to me as she reached out to adjust the baby's blanket in his cot next to the bed, and fell asleep almost immediately. I held her while I breathed the scent of her hair, remembering our days together when we were younger, and the workings of fate that had put her here, with me, right now. Thinking of Lena, I fell asleep, and dreamed of dad, and mum, and Lena when she was small, when we'd still been close, before my thoughtless immaturity had almost destroyed that closeness forever.

*

Before we left for home, I had one more conversation I needed to have with mum; actually it was one we all needed to have with her. Lena eventually cornered her and led her to the sitting room where the rest of the family was gathered; I love that word; family; so much weight of meaning in one small word.

As duly elected spokesperson I was shoved forward to speak for the group.

"Mum, now that dad's gone, we, none of us, want you to stay here alone; come home, mum, you have a home and a family, we need you, the baby will need you, I know Allie, Marcus and Lizzie need you, and I will always need my mum. Please come home, I know I speak for the whole family when I say we can't bear the thought of leaving you here alone."

Mum looked at us, at all the faces waiting for her answer.

"Darryl, I have a job here, I can't just leave...what about your father, I can't just leave him here alone...!"

Lena spoke up, cutting across her objections.

"Mum, I know daddy's here, and he's among his old friends, and I know you don't want to leave him, so we'll leave him to rest until the time is right, and when you're ready, we'll bring him home so he can be near us again."

"Sweethearts, I appreciate what you're saying, but your dad's here, my job and my home...!"

I spoke again, and I had a special surprise for her.

"Mum, if you're worried about your job, your old one is waiting for you back at in Bristol; I spoke with the Senior Registrar, he's not happy with the Agency staff who've been running the Renal Unit, and if you're willing, he's happy to put you back on staff, with your time away listed as Illness Leave of Absence, so you'll never actually have left. How about it, mum, come home, please, you have a home with Lena and me, with all of us, not here by yourself!"

Mum looked down for the longest time, while we looked on and waited for her answer. At long last she raised her head and smiled, even though her cheeks were tear-stained.

"All right, children, I will; just promise me that we'll bring your father home as soon as possible."

FINIS.

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Footnote:

We brought dad home six months later, and he was finally laid to rest in Arnos Vale, so now both my father's slept near each other. We had a proper funeral, so Doreen and poor Aunt Min were able to say their final farewells to their baby brother. Lena and I had decided to get married, but we couldn't do that in the UK; luckily a solution presented itself when friends got married on holiday in Las Vegas, so we made a lightning visit to Reno, where we were legally married in the courthouse on Court Street.

Mum took care of David while we made our whistle-stop visit to America, but I will admit to not being completely happy and at ease until I had my son in my arms again. Lena was even worse; we'd been gone four days, but to Lena it had felt like half a lifetime away from David, and she was wracked with guilt for leaving her baby behind; she almost snatched him from mum when she picked us up at the airport and spent the journey home crooning and crying over him; David just watched her in what I felt sure was genuine puzzlement; while we were away I'm sure mum would have spoiled him rotten, something she won't admit to under torture.

Now that we were legally married, we could have the white wedding Lena had always dreamed of and mum had almost given up on. We were married in church in Clifton, our home, with the white dress for Lena, the cake and Reception, Allie was her bridesmaid, Lizzie was Matron of Honour, and Marcus was our page-boy, all the trappings of the classic White Wedding. All my family was here, Aunts Doreen and Min, Emma and her family, and I even received a congratulatory telemessage and a wedding gift from my aunt in Australia, Emma's youngest sister. The only people missing were the other part of my family, my aunt Lois and her children Julie and Mark; I'd not been able to find out anything more about them apart from that snippet about Julie being injured when she was thirteen, but I promised myself; one day I would make a proper, concerted effort to put my family back together; Julie and Mark must have medical records somewhere, one of the National Health Trusts in London must be responsible for their care, I promised myself I'd dig a little deeper once we had everything back to normal around here; I cared for Emma, and she was hurting for those two lost kids, maybe one day I would be able to do something about that.