First Love

Sarah and Simon were not far behind. All present and accounted for, the party kicked on in earnest.

"Michelle," James asked, "Tony tells us that you were his first love, you'd know better than anyone, was he the same miserable bastard as he is now?"

"No, when we were together he was the nicest, sweetest, most loving person. It was only after I'd left that he became a bastard." She kissed me to let them know that she was joking. "But look at him now, he's back to what I remember. The transformation is all up to me coming back into his life." She kissed me again.

"Stop it you two, you're behaving like a couple of teenagers." James' wife Penny said. She turned to James, "I hope you're taking notes."

It was around ten when the last of them disappeared, Julie had gone to bed leaving Michelle and me happy and alone. "I had thought of trying to convince you to move to Perth with me, that's not going to happen, I can't drag you away from your friends and family."

"I suppose we could visit, I'd like to meet your kids."

"But you draw the line at an introduction to Graham."

"I can't see that happening, anyone that treats people the way he treated you is not on my list of people to meet."

Michelle's mobile rang, she looked at the screen. "Speaking of, Hi Andrea, how are you?" She put the phone on speaker.

"Mum, where are you?"

"In Sydney."

"What are you doing there?"

"Getting as far from your father as I can."

"He's been looking for you."

"Has he told you why?"

"No, but I don't think that things have worked out as he expected. I get the impression that he's regretting his decision and might be looking for a reconciliation."

"He's got no chance there. One of the reasons I came back here was to explore the possibility of moving on with my life by moving back"

"What do you mean?"

"I've moved back with my first ever boyfriend and it couldn't have gone better. We had a party today and I got to meet his work colleagues and I've already met his family. Andrea, I couldn't be happier than I am right now. Look, with the time difference it's very late here, past my bedtime and I have this wonderful man waiting for me to join him, call me tomorrow."

"Mother! I've never heard you speak like this before."

"I wouldn't be at all surprised if," she said to me, "Graham wasn't standing next to her. If he was, he's not going to be at all pleased."

"That's a problem for tomorrow. I am about to show you how much I appreciated the way you mixed with my friends from work." The appreciation began at her lips and moved slowly down her body until she convinced me that my cock was feeling left out, so I put him in. Life doesn't get much better than this.

Sunday was spent in relaxation, we cleaned up the remnants from yesterday, lunch was leftovers and in the afternoon we chilled.

"Tomorrow I have to go back to my place and pick up some more of my things and then I have to arrange for a crate to be taken out of storage and freighted over."

"What's in the crate?"

"That's going to be a surprise, you'll find out when it gets here."

Monday at work, everyone commented on how wonderful Michelle was, how lucky I was and there was a suggestion that I might be taking a few more personal days in future.

Our home life went from strength to strength and it only got better when Michelle's crate arrived. She waited until I got home from work to unpack it. She is a talented artist. "I had to do something to keep myself occupied seeing as how I was not permitted to have a job. I took up portrait painting to make money and landscapes for pleasure. I made money from them but they didn't bring as much as commissioned portraits. This is how I could afford to move over here, I have money that Graham knows nothing about."

"Aren't you the clever one?"

"Just you wait, I have a special portrait to show you." She sorted through the paintings until she found the one she was looking for. "There, just for you."

I stood open-mouthed and stared at it. It was a portrait of me, a younger me, her memory of how I looked when we had parted. "Come here." She came into my arms and kissed me. "I don't know what to say." I don't normally get emotional but I couldn't help myself, to think that she had painted this portrait from memory and had managed to get it so right.

I took a picture from the wall and hung the portrait in pride of place in the living room. we stood back and, with arms around each other, admired this illustration of her love for me.

We were still admiring it when Julie arrived home from work. "Hi you two, what are you doing?" She turned to see what we were looking at. "Oh my god. Did you do that?" She asked Michelle.

"Yes."

"When?"

"About ten years ago. I had painted a few portraits of friends and got a sudden urge to paint one of your father, as I remembered him."

"I've seen photos of what he looked like years ago but they do not do him justice but this, his personality leaps from the canvas in a way that photos don't often achieve. If I had any doubts about your love for Dad, they are now gone. Thank you, Michelle, I hope that he has expressed his thanks."

"Not yet, but I will." I said, kissing her.

Julie rang Ben and Sarah. "You guys have got to come over. You will not believe what Michelle has just unveiled."

It took all of fifteen minutes for the troops to arrive. "This is amazing", Sarah said, "when did you do this?"

"Ten years ago."

"No way." Ben said.

"I would like to paint all of you." Michelle said.

"Would you?" Ben asked.

"Of course, this can be my gift to all of you for accepting me so readily."

I set up a disused bedroom as a studio for Michelle. It had a large window that let in plenty of light.

By the time I got home from work, Michelle had completed rough sketches of all five. Even at this stage, their personalities were there to see. I couldn't wait to see the finished portraits.

Julie came in and looked at the five sketches. "How do you do that?"

"A gift I think, I can look at someone for a while and commit what I see to memory and then to canvas."

"By the way, I hope you don't mind, but I spoke with Grandma, she and Granddad are on their way back from their annual three months in sunny Queensland, they'll be home on the weekend. When I told Grandma of meeting Michelle she seemed unsurprised, she said something that I never expected to hear her say, she said, and I quote, 'It's about time they got their shit together.' She can't wait to meet Michelle."

They arrived a day ahead of their expectations, and it was just as well. Michelle answered the door to them, "Welcome back, I was happy that Julie had spoken to you."

"We are also happy. Let me look at you," Mum said, "You are lucky that you've managed to grow old gracefully. What brings you back to Sydney, and don't say you've walked out on your husband to be with Anthony?" Mum could never bring herself to call me 'Tony'.

"No, I didn't walk out on him, I was made redundant, so I grasped the opportunity to come back here to see Tony. I knew that his wife had died, I wasn't going to intrude on his marriage."

Dad had been looking at my portrait. "Is this your work?"

"I wouldn't call it work, more a labour of love."

"I can see that. When did you paint it?"

"Ten years ago."

"You did this from memory?"

"Yes, the memories were never lost. I was so much in love with him, and then I had to move to the other side of the world. I hated my father for breaking us up."

"You could have come back when you graduated high school, we would have supported you while you went to Uni here."

"Now you tell me. No, that couldn't have happened, my father told me that I would get no financial help to study anywhere other than at Perth Uni. I had no choice. He was a very controlling person and my husband is the same. He worked with the same company as my father and, if I didn't know better, I'd think that they compared notes on how to control wives."

"So, what happens now?" Mum asked her.

"I wait for the divorce to go through and then Tony and I are going to get married, the kids agree that we should."

"I'm, we're, happy for the both of you. Now Julie mentioned something about you painting their portraits."

"Yes, come with me."

She was just about to lead them to her studio when she saw a car pull up out front. "No, how the hell did he find me?"

"Who?" Dad asked her.

"My husband." She picked up her mobile and hit speed dial 1. "Darling, your parents are here and we've been having an interesting chat. The bad news is that Graham has just arrived and is standing at the front gate looking very angry and getting up the courage to come to the door. I'm scared."

"Don't be, Dial 000 and ask for the police. When you get through to, them explain where you are and the situation then, leave the call open and set your phone to voice record and put it somewhere out of sight. This will help the police to find you and also record everything that has been said if we need it."

Michelle watched through the front window as, on the third attempt, Graham headed for the door.

He rang the bell. "Yes, who's there?" Michelle asked in as normal a voice as possible.

"Jehovah's fucking Witnesses. Let me in!"

"I think you should go."

"Are you going to open this fucking door or not?"

"Not sounds good."

"Stand back!" My front door was never designed to withstand the force of an angry man. It flew open, the lock flying across the room. "you're coming home with me!"

"I think not, you told me that you wanted a divorce and I took you at your word. I have moved on with my life and there is no reason that I can see for me to go back with you."

"I made a mistake, okay. I want you back." He had quietened down a little.

"I do not want to go back to a marriage that was never happy. I am happy here, and I'm staying."

"You're coming back with me, now!" His anger returned. He grabbed Michelle's hand and began to drag her to the front door.

"Wait a minute mate. You listen to me. I have spent a long time listening to you, now it's time that you listen to me. You are angry, I get it. But in true Graham fashion, you are transferring your anger to someone else, in this case, me. You're angry that you got sucked in by some manipulative bitch who managed to get you to do something that you would not normally have done. You should go home and sort out your own mess, I'm not going with you, end of story."

Dad intervened, placing himself at the door. "You heard her, she doesn't want to go with you. She is not going with you."

"Out of the way old man!"

Dad braced himself at the door. For an older man, he had a strength born of desperation.

The sound of a police siren split the air and Graham realised that his chances of dragging Michelle past my father and to his car, before the police arrived, were slim and getting slimmer. He let go her hand and made a dash for the door. Dad let him past. He didn't make it to his car.

"Sir, we would like a word with you."

"What about? I've done nothing wrong."

"If you've done nothing wrong then you have nothing to worry about. Why don't we all go inside and sort this matter out."

As they entered the house one of the policemen pointed to the damaged door frame. "Your handiwork is it Sir?"

The second policeman looked from one to the other. "Who was it that placed the emergency call?"

"I did," Michelle said as she picked up her mobile and cancelled the call. "I had it on record, you can, I hope, hear everything that was said."

"Oh. we've already heard it all, your call was patched through to our squad car. we were getting here as quickly as we could without using our siren until he began to get really angry then we got a wriggle on. I think we timed it pretty well."

"Thank you for that."

"We've got the gist of what was happening, Why don't you fill in the details. Who is this and why is he so desperate to get you back?"

"This is my husband. He recently told me that he wanted a divorce so that he could marry his Secretary. Now it seems as if this has fallen through and he wants me to come back to him. That is not going to happen. I am happy here. These two are my soon to be mother and father in law."

"You didn't waste fucking any time, did you?" Graham said.

"I wasted twenty-five years. I never wanted to marry you in the first place, but I was pressured into it. Now that it's over I will never contemplate a return to you."

"Sir, I would suggest that, before this matter escalates any further you pay these people enough money to repair the damage that you caused and then go home. It is obvious that you are not welcome here."

"I will have to find an ATM, I don't have any cash on me. Is that okay?"

"I think that will be okay. We'll wait here while you go and get, will a hundred dollars be enough?" He asked Dad.

"That should do it."

"There's an ATM down the road. you turn right at the end of this street, the shopping centre has several so finding the right one shouldn't be a problem. If you're not back in ten minutes, we will find you and we will arrest you over this property damage."

Graham, realising that he was being let off lightly, left in search of money. He made it back in just under ten minutes.

"That saves us having to arrest him now and charge him with property damage. Chances are that, having been allowed to return home we wouldn't see him again and you'd have to pay for the damage yourselves, it's hardly enough to trouble your insurance company over, the excess will cost more." They left.

I arrived just as the police were leaving. Michelle ran into my arms, "Thank god you're here now. That was scary. The police were good and your father was even better, standing up to my ex as he did."

"The very least I can do for you and this wonderful person. I couldn't allow some crazed ex-husband upset her."

"Thanks, Dad. I'm glad it got sorted without anyone getting hurt. I think a cup of coffee should help us all calm our nerves. I was panicking all the way home hoping I wouldn't be too late." I put the kettle on and found a packet of biscuits (cookies).

"I think that I'll ring Andrea, just to let her that he's been here and that he should be home in a day or so." She used her mobile. "Andrea, it's Mum, your father was just here and he wasn't happy. There was some trouble and the police were called. He's okay, he caused some damage and scared me and Tony's parents. What is going on with him and the love of his life?"

The conversation was one-sided, we couldn't hear what Andrea was saying, but from Michelle's responses, it didn't sound good. "She did what?" "He did what?" "The police are looking for him, why?" "You have to be kidding, you're not." "Let me know what happens when he gets back, will you?"

"Well, that's a turn up for the books. It appears as if his new lady wanted a large amount of money for some reason or other. He didn't have enough so he borrowed some from the company, he just neglected to ask for a loan, or tell them that he'd taken it. He will be arrested on his return to Perth."

"It must have been a large amount, I would have thought that having a well-paid job, he should have enough stashed away to cover any contingency."

"She, it would appear, has expensive tastes in presents and a voracious appetite for them. This little episode has cost him a fortune and probably his job. I can understand why he wants me back, this way he can take out a mortgage on the house to cover his debts. As it stands now, what he will get from the split-up of the joint property will not be enough."

We sat at the kitchen table. "I'm glad that you're well." Mum said to Michelle, "I think Anthony should consider himself lucky that you have found each other again. The two of you were inseparable there for a while. you did cause a few concerns like the time that you thought that you might be pregnant."

"You knew about that?"

"It wasn't hard to guess that something was wrong, and then when you decided that you would run off together we put two and two together and came up with the answer. We knew that the two of you were intimate, that didn't bother us as long as you were sensible about it."

"Yeah, we had been but one night we didn't have any condoms and I thought that I was on the safe part of my cycle, so we did it. I was almost looking forward to having to get married, but nature had other ideas."

"How are your parents?"

"They both died. Dad had a huge stroke that he never recovered from while Mum suffered from early-onset dementia."

"That's so sad for her."

"She didn't know much about it, she didn't even recognise me in the end."

"What are you two doing for dinner this evening?" I asked Mum and Dad.

"What with one thing and another, we haven't given it much thought. Why?"

"Time for a big family get together. I'll call Ben and Sarah and get them to meet us at that new restaurant in town as soon as Julie gets home."

We were the happiest group in the restaurant. Other patrons kept staring at us, probably envious. we weren't distractedly loud, just having a good time with good food, wine and family company.

Michelle and I were eventually in bed, "Well," I asked, "how does it feel to be with your first love?"

"You mean my only love, it feels great, I could not be happier."

"Me neither." I kissed he lips, her neck, her lips again before heading south. I hope that we didn't make too much noise, Julie will start complaining.

I wish I could say that we all had a happy ending. Two days after Graham's visit Andrea called. "I'm worried, Dad isn't home yet, He called after the drama at your place saying he'd be home yesterday."

"I'm sure that he'll be okay, don't worry." Michelle told her.

"I'm not so sure, he's been acting weird lately, and when he got sacked he went right off the rails. I'm scared that he'll do something to himself."

"I hope not," Michelle said. "Will you call me when he gets home."

"Sure." She ended the call.

Two hours later she called again. "Mum, they found Dad."

"Is he okay?"

"No, he's dead. According to the police, his car ran off the road, down a long slope and ended up on its roof in a river. A farmer found the car and called the police. According to them, he either couldn't, or didn't, try to escape."

"I was afraid of that," Michelle told her. "How are you coping with the news?"

"Not well at all. I need you, Mum, can you come home please?"

"Only if Tony can come too."

"Do you think that's a good idea?"

"Either he comes with me or I don't come at all. I know that sounds heartless, but I won't have it any other way."

"Something isn't quite right." She said to me. She dialled the police enquiry number. "I understand that there has been an accident where a car left the road and ended up n a river. The driver was killed, that driver was probably my ex-husband. My name is Michelle, Jackson was my married name, my husband is Graham Jackson. I understand that he is wanted by Perth police over missing funds from his work. The car that he was driving is a rental car, the police that attended an incident here the day before yesterday may have a record of it."

"They're going to check on it and get back to me." She said as she ended the call.

An hour later we received a visit from the police. "Mrs Jackson, we have no record of any incident involving that or any other vehicle fitting the information that you gave us. We checked and discovered that the vehicle your husband was driving had been returned to the rental company within hours of the incident here. He flew back to Perth on a flight later that day and arrived safely at Perth airport. We spoke with Perth police about that other matter that you mentioned, they had no record of him being wanted in connection with missing funds, but on investigation with his employer, some financial discrepancies have been found. This matter is now being investigated."