Growing Pains: Redemption

"Hello," he said jovially and passed him four banknotes. The pizza delivery guy had not quite shaken himself to the present and then took the money being tendered. "Keep the change."

"Cheers. Wow."

Andy went to close the door but the guy asked. "Did Lee put you up to this?"

Andy stared at him confounded and the guy bit his lip and a smile appeared over his face. "He did, didn't he. I'll see him later, awesome eighteenth birthday present," he called and walked back to his moped.

"These are so naughty, Andy. So unhealthy," Rhea thundered but Andy just shrugged his shoulders and smiled at his naked sister.

"Naughty? So flashing a teenage boy isn't naughty then. You've made quite an impression on him," Andy teased and she laughed.

Chapter III

Zoe opened the patio door and stepped into Andy's garden. "Rhea said you were out here," Zoe muttered and Andy sat up. He was only wearing boxer shorts, but Zoe had seen him in far less so he wasn't overly concerned at a false attempt at modesty.

"Oh I see the tents gone. Simon in spare bedroom now then."

Andy grinned. "The shed."

Zoe laughed. "Well it serves him right. How is he?"

"He is fine. Rhea has had him doing all the cooking, washing, menial jobs and the like. Oh, and a tattoo."

"A tattoo?" Zoe replied shocked and Andy smiled. She picked up a stone from the lawn and threw it onto the rockery as she meandered over to him and sat down opposite.

"Yeah. It was Rhea's idea. To remind him who his girlfriend is. So he has a tattoo of her name on his arm." Zoe raised an eyebrow and Andy smirked. "So are you having Ezra inked on you? How about 'Ezra forever'?"

"No thank you. I don't like tattoos, one bit."

Andy smiled. "Neither does Simon, but he did something he didn't want to do. For someone he loves." Andy bit his lip and looked out over the garden. He watched a bird swoop onto the flowerbed and remove a worm.

"It's a nice garden in Summer, isn't it?" Zoe asked and Andy gave a wry grin.

"Yeah. Very private. Ideal for nude sunbathing, if you fancy it?"

"Ezra will love that won't he?"

"I am sure he will," Andy joked and they sat down on the bench with their drinks.

"I came round to ask you a small favour."

"Sure, it's no problem. I just wish you hadn't been so stubborn," Andy replied immediately grinning. "I'll go get my chequebook."

Zoe took a deep breath and screwed up her face into a frown. "No, Andy not that. Will you let that drop? No I want to ask you if you will come with me to the prison when John is released. He is out next week and I don't want to go on my own and Ezra can't take that day as holiday."

Andy smiled, the memories of Zoe and Simon's brother made him smile: he was a natural comedian and didn't take life too seriously. "Yeah, of course."

Zoe let out a relieved sigh. "I wanted to speak to him before Mum sees him. She has barely spoken to him in three years and is still very angry with him. He could do with having this spelt out to him before he puts his foot in it."

"Yeah, sure," Andy said dismissively. "It ain't a problem. But about the other thing ..."

"Andy! We have been through this."

"Well Ezra is happy to take it. It is your birthdays coming up. Let me right you a nice cheque that will make your dreams come true," Andy pleaded and Zoe shook her head.

"No Andy. You have lots of money and that's great for you but you can't buy me happiness. Hell, you can't even make yourself happy."

Andy exhaled deeply and Zoe put her arm around her friend. "Ezra and I will do this. And it will mean more to us that we did it ourselves. I promise, you will be a godfather before you are thirty. Assuming you don't kill yourself beforehand."

"I'm not gonna kill myself," Andy snapped.

* * * * *

"But I don't want to," Izzy replied defiantly at the dinner table. "Why can't I still go to school with Ellie and Jacob?"

"Because it is a long way away darling," Rhea soothed and Izzy folded her arms up.

"But I don't to go to it. It's a small, crappy school," she started and was reprimanded by her father for her choice of language. Certainly the village school down the road was a lot smaller than her old school, but Simon and Rhea were impressed with it, even though Izzy certainly wasn't.

"We have no other choice," he soothed. "They have a place for you and it is just down the road."

Izzy scowled and pushed dinner away. "Don't want it," she spat at her father and crossed her arms. "So Daddy spends all the money so I cannot go to school," she asked and Simon looked at Rhea for help.

"No," Rhea replied firmly. "Because we are living with Uncle Andy you need to go a nearer school."

"But I want to go to school with Ellie and Jacob," Izzy shouted and tears welled up in her eyes. "And its your fault." Izzy pointed at her father and hit him on the arm.

Andy was closest and he put his arm around his niece. "Hey," he muttered. "It's your birthday coming up. Why not invite them to your party?"

"I don't want a party," she squealed. "I want to go to my school."

Rhea and Simon looked at each other and then at their distressed daughter.

"What about a magician," Andy suggested. "Or a bouncy castle? Or a clown? Or a ..."

"Circus? I want lions and tigers and monkeys that would eat people," Izzy finished her hands waving to mimic the ferocious behaviour of the animals.

Andy grinned. "Lions and tigers might be hard, but we could certainly get in some birds of prey from a local falconry centre. Or maybe a visit to Whipsnade?"

Rhea glanced at her brother. "I am not sure taking kids to the safari park is a good idea."

"Well whatever Izzy decides, right? You let your uncle Andy know and I'll organise it."

Rhea shot her brother a look of annoyance but was secretly quite relieved that they navigated the change of primary school without too much trouble. Just.

* * * * *

"Mr Williams. Long time no see," the solicitor airily greeted the smart gentleman sauntering into her private office. He shut the door and raised his eyebrows.

"Jessica, I thought it was. Sorry, didn't recognise you out of suspenders."

The solicitor pouted and smiled. Her long blonde hair framed her cute face and her smart suit on her curvy body made her look incredibly sexy. Andy appreciated her body, just as he had done all those years ago when she was just his then best friend's sister. "Education doesn't pay for itself. I don't need to be stripping any more."

"I can see. Mrs Jennifer Murray, I didn't get an invite," Andy teased and they shook hands.

"I didn't invite any of my ex-es, especially one night stands. So what can I do for you," the sexy solicitor asked, steering the admiring Andy onto the reason for his visit.

"I need to give some money to someone without them knowing it came from me. Legally. Like a fake lottery or something."

Jenny stared at the nervous man in front of her and gave him a doubtful look. "There will always be a paper-trail and I can't be involved in money laundering."

"It's not money laundering, they just won't accept the money."

"Well maybe, that's not such a bad idea. If they don't want it ..."

Andy sighed. "Right, I have two friends that got married. You might remember Zoe but got together with Ezra, a Uni mate of mine. Now they want to have kids, and they are struggling to conceive and are on the list for IVF. But it could take years and five grand will solve everything for them. But Zoe, being the obstinate bitch that she is, refuses to accept my cash that will pay for them to have kids."

Jenny listened and smiled. "Well what about Ezra?"

"He is fine with it but convincing Zoe to is a problem."

"And you have five grand?"

"I have millions," Andy replied instantly and stretched.

"So this is you not getting your own way. Why am I surprised that this a problem for a Williams child?" She smiled at Andy who just shrugged.

"Zoe doesn't like how I made my money, she said it was immoral. And I think I could have broached it better."

Jessica Murray sneered and pursed her lips. "I don't want to know how you made your money, as long as it's legal. So what do you want me to do?"

"I need a way of getting twenty grand, maybe twenty five to Ezra and Zoe without Zoe knowing I was the source. Or had anything to do with it 'cause if she comes into a sum of money she's going to put my bollocks in the blender."

"And I remember that you were very fond of your bollocks."

Andy smirked. "And your underwear."

"Quite."

"So how do I do it?"

Jenny smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "What you are asking for is to fabricate some legal documentation, really. I can't do that." Andy's face fell but Jenny smiled. "But I do have a way you might be able to do it, but it'll cost you lunch though."

Andy nodded. "Certainly," he said generously and smirked tapping the table. "But first I have a question, a very personal question."

"Black ones," she told him. "Silk."

* * * * *

Rhea looked at the array of bills on the dining room table and looked over at Simon. After they had paid for van fuel, market pitch, cost of the goods and their lunch, the market trip had increased their liquidity by forty pounds, which wasn't as much as either of them had hoped or felt they deserved.

"It's a mess," she said calmly and he nodded. They had contacted all of their debtors and tried to arrange payment plans but they were demanding all sorts of agreements and it was taking a lot longer than they thought necessary. "Of course, I could go on the game," Rhea said airily and Simon's eyes widened.

"No Rhea," he said quickly but Rhea shook her head. "I mean, couple of hundred quid for lying on your back. How hard can it be?"

Simon buried his head in his hands and shook it. He was clearly shocked by Rhea's proposal and would not want his girlfriend to become a whore because of him. It would be disastrous, the thought of someone else having sex with Rhea.

"But you're pregnant," he told her and she gave a grin.

"I know, niche market. Charge more."

"Rhea, please. You don't have to do this."

"So you'll be a rent boy then?" Rhea asked sarcastically and Simon gave a sigh. "Right, well we know a couple of women who used to do it, I'll speak to them. A couple of Andy's old flames used to, I wonder if he still has their numbers?"

Simon pleaded with Rhea, but she was adamant, she would ask Andy for their contact details to talk to them and then they could make a decision. Simon's rapid dismissal of her money-making scheme irked her; after all, these were debts that he had run up.

"I will see about being a rent boy then," Simon told her and she laughed. "I'm serious. I can't allow you to prostitute yourself if I don't do the same."

"No Simon. It was you having sex that caused this problem in the first place."

"If you are going on the game, then so will I," Simon replied firmly and Rhea snorted. She had only said it to get a reaction from him but the more she thought of it, the better it sounded; if she worked a few punters a week then maybe should could have their debts cleared in under a year.

The idea definitely had legs. She briefly thought of Simon being buggered and then dismissed it. It might drive home the reality of their debts but Simon was not gay and he wouldn't be able to cope with it, whereas Rhea thought that Miss Rhea Katerina Williams was made of a far sterner stuff.

Chapter IV

Zoe wanted Andy to come with her, and with trepidation he arrived at the prison ten miles outside Aylesbury. Zoe and Simon's youngest brother, John, was set to be released and Zoe wanted to meet him and take him to dinner.

John Matheson, horrendously immature during his formative years, had run an elaborate fraud in his late-teens that netted him over œ300,000 by falsely submitting invoices to his employer, the Council from a fictitious company and managing to fabricate their approval. It was a scheme so clever that it took the Council two years to spot it and another six months to unravel the complex tissue of lies and deceit John had built in.

John was arrested at Gatwick Airport, days after Zoe returned through the same terminal from her honeymoon, attempting to flee to South America and while he maintained his innocence throughout, he was found guilty and sentenced to over five years in custody. He served half of it, and had almost all of his assets seized to repay the money he stole.

Zoe fidgeted in the car park and strummed her fingers. "He said he would be out," she muttered and Andy shrugged. Zoe had barely been to see him, the sight of him in prison depressed her and although she was not close to him in the same way she was to Simon, she still felt a sense of loss when he was sentenced.

"Mum isn't looking forward to seeing him again. She said Dad went up and he was excited about getting out," Zoe whittered while biting her nails in the car. "But she is still angry with him."

Andy hummed and stared out at the grey building. He hoped he would never have to come back, it looked soulless and depressing. "How is the whole pregnancy thing?"

Zoe sighed and sucked in air through her lips. "Not good. I am still not pregnant, but we have to keep trying."

"Ezra said you had a demanding schedule."

Zoe hummed and rubbed her nose. "Yeah, well. He shouldn't be complaining, to be honest."

"Look Zoe. I know what this is doing to you. And I know I broached the subject badly before, but let me pay for your IVF. Just let me fund one set of cycles for you," Andy suggested, his voice soft and calm.

Zoe brought her hands up from the Nova's steering wheel to her face and shook her head. "No Andy. I know you mean well but Ezra and I both earn decent money. We are not your charity case."

Andy sighed and stared at a battered blue Vauxhall Cavalier pulling in and a downtrodden woman getting out and slamming the door. "If I could get Rhea to accept my money, would you?"

Zoe shook her head slowly, her eyes fixed on the stationery speedometer. "No Andy. Now please. Drop it," Zoe said firmly and Andy threw his hands up in surrender. "Not today."

"Do you know what it does to me to see the people I care most about in world struggling for money and refusing to accept my help, you, Ezra, Rhea. You know Simon got a tattoo to please someone he loved, Zoe. He made a sacrifice to make Rhea happy?"

Zoe took a deep breath and glared at Andy in the car. "Don't you dare compare me to that," she thundered. "This is totally different."

Andy rocked his head for a moment and stared at the gate in the corner of car park. "How about if I give up alcohol for a month. You want me to cut down, so if I stay tee-total for the month, will you let me help you?"

Zoe sighed and smiled at her friend. "Andy there is no way you could stay off the booze for a week, let alone for the month. Now drop it!"

"But ..."

"Drop it!"

Andy grunted and wiped his chin looking out over the prison car park, why was Zoe so stubborn?

* * * * *

"Two dozen roses," Andy said to the female cashier in the florist. She had a charming smile and he leaned over to talk to her while she arranged the roses at the table adjacent to the counter. "That's a very pretty necklace."

The girl grinned and blushed. "Thank you."

"Present from a boyfriend?"

"Ex," she replied. "He cheated on me."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I know what it feels like and it's not nice, is it?"

The girl bit her lip and nodded. "No."

"When my girl did it to me, I went off the rails a bit. Drugs, alcohol, one-night stands. You name it."

The girl smiled and touched Andy on the hand. "How long did it last?"

"It was nine years ago and probably a week or two," Andy admitted and Rhea snorted behind him.

"It's alright," Rhea added. "He's is going from one bender to another until I kicked him into gear. Big brother moping round making everyone miserable."

"I thought you were looking at plants for my dumping ground," Andy told her sharply.

"It's a rockery. Or it will be," Rhea replied indignantly.

"Those Armeria's are good for a rockery," the girl told Rhea and pointed to a small tray of little pink flowers, each around a small cushion of green leaves.

Rhea walked over and Andy turned his attention back to the girl: she can't have been more than twenty, and had well defined, smooth curves. She looked at Andy checking out her ass as she turned with the flowers and gave him a grin.

"Are you finished?" Rhea asked and Andy nodded, paying for the roses and leaving with a smile. "Could you be any more lecherous?" Rhea asked as they walked down the road.

"I'm sure I can try," Andy replied flippantly

* * * * *

"Oh they are wonderful," Zoe exclaimed as Simon, Rhea, Andy and John entered their front room, with Rhea presenting a bouquet of flowers. Andy carried two large bottles of wine, that drew a disapproving glance towards Ezra and John threw himself onto the sofa.

John was dressed in a faded blue tracksuit, while the other guests were wearing suits or evening dresses. "Well you said come in a suit," John argued. "I did."

"It's a tracksuit," Simon told him with a sneer in his voice.

"Hey. I had all my clothing nicked when they nicked me. I don't have two hundred pound suits lying about," John replied aggressively and Rhea stepped in and told them both to calm down.

"Well he is getting on my tits," Simon retaliated and Rhea shot him a dirty look, and he withered instantly.

"Do as the little woman says," John taunted and Rhea shot round and gave John a warning finger, telling him to "shut the fuck up."

John and Simon squabbled or avoided each other for most of the evening, and Zoe separated them in the end. Andy mused that John had changed with his spell inside, becoming more aggressive and colder in the intervening years.

John had been to see his parents and was staying in his old bedroom, but his mother was not overly pleased to see him, embarrassed about the sentence her son had received, and had taken the first hour of him being in her house to lay down the "ground rules."

He was therefore delighted that Zoe had organised a "coming out meal." Simon suggested that this meant his little brother was admitting to the world he was gay which drew a sharp rebuke from Rhea and a volley of swearing from the butt of his joke.

"Very quick denial, John. Prison showers and all that," Ezra teased and received a sharp kick from his wife the moment he said it.

"Oh very good," John responded aggressively. "So every prisoner is a homo now."

Ezra opened his mouth to speak but was cut short by the look Zoe gave him.

There was a few minutes awkward silence until Rhea taunted Andy about the girl from the florist with "I think she likes you" and referred to her as "jail bait."

Simon had not had alcohol for several weeks, and John had not had any for over three years, so the wine and beer that Andy had bought for the occasion had a drastic effect on the two brothers. Rhea noticed it and removed the alcohol from the table after the main course. This would normally have annoyed Andy but as he was driving, he couldn't really complain.

Zoe served a strawberry cheesecake that was devoured rapidly by the six guests and they retired to the lounge. Andy offered to do the washing up but both Zoe and Ezra dismissed the offer of help immediately and they sat on the two sofas and carpet, chatting.

"You're just as unemployed as me so don't go getting on your high horse. We ain't so different," John replied to Simon who had suggested that this brother would have to take whatever work he could find.

"I am not. I have a job lined up. Just waiting for CRB. You know, to show that I am not a criminal and will go nicking things."

Rhea took a sharp intake of breath but John leapt to his feet. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I can be trusted. Trusted not to defraud my employer. You can't."