Father & Son: Book two of the Jensen Family Series (46 page)

Paul called Helen from the car. He wasn’t
quite sure the information from the hospital had been correct but when she
confirmed that Carmen had gone out early that morning and had yet to return he
had to face the fact that the hospital had got it right. The line went quiet
for a few moments before Helen said she’d meet him there.

True to her word, she was waiting for him
outside Carmen’s room. Paul took in her paler than usual complexion as he took
her trembling body in his arms.

“It’s really bad Paul. They don’t think
she’ll last the night.”

“Shit. Helen, you need to pull yourself
together. I’ve sent a helicopter for Gavin and Luke. They will be here soon.
Gavin is not going to take this well.”

Nodding, drying her eyes and visibly
giving herself a shake, Helen straightened her clothes and looked him in the
eye. “This will need careful handling. None of your bombastic parenting ok?”

“Are you trying to tell me how to handle
my son?” Paul bristled.

“No, I’m trying to tell you how to handle
this situation so wind your neck in.”

Normally Paul would have snapped out a
reply but this was neither the time nor the place. They waited patiently, clock
watching and glancing down the corridor for the imminent arrival of the boys.

Gaining access to Carmen’s bedside, her
injuries were described as not conducive to life. The accident involving her
car and an articulated vehicle although described in loose terms still sounded
horrifically graphic, very little was left of the car after the crash and even
less after the fire brigade had done their bit and rescued Carmen from it. Her
beloved pet dog was dead.

Currently breathing for herself albeit
with assistance from an oxygen mask, even the layman could see her body had
been severely crushed. She had been in and out of consciousness for several
hours now and the hospital staff expected her to lapse into a coma before the
reaper came for her.

Carmen’s eyes widened briefly when she saw
Paul standing next to her. Her voice barely above a whisper so that he had to
lean close to hear her, she begged him to take care of their boy, a promise he
easily made as that had been his priority since the day he was born. Her words
making it evident that she knew her demise was inevitable.

She started to say no when he told her
Gavin was on his way. No, she didn’t want him to see her this way but she went
quiet when he responded that their son needed to see her, he needed to say
goodbye.

He didn’t think he’d be affected by this
at all but it seemed Suzanne had been right when she’d said a part of him still
cared. Taken completely unawares by the emotion that swamped him, he took a
step back from the bed and made brief eye contact with Helen. Taking a deep
breath, he excused himself from the room.

Leaning against the wall outside the room,
he bent over, bracing his hands on his knees as he sucked in and blew out deep
breaths, trying to calm his emotions, feeling sick and at that moment in time
he would give anything not to go back into that room.

Seeing his father bent double as he turned
the corner in the corridor made Gavin stop. The simple fact that they had been
directed to the intensive care unit was a bit of a giveaway as to the severity
of his mother’s injuries but seeing the person who he considered to be an
emotionless narcissist having a clearly physical reaction had caused his
forward motion to cease.

Novak’s hand on his shoulder, pushing him
forward was the only thing that made him move. He had an overwhelming urge to
run away and not deal with anything concerning his parents.

“Dad?” He stopped a few feet away, not
saying anything else. Just waiting.

Walking his hands up his legs purely to
give himself a little more time before he had to face his son, Paul finally
made it to a standing position and pushed off from the wall. He made no move to
embrace his son knowing the boy would push him away but there was no way he
could let Gavin into that room unprepared.

Stoic silence greeted him when he’d
finished explaining what had happened and what to expect on entering the room.
He’d done his best act in tactfulness, not something he was known for and
glossing over some of the more gory details as had been told to him.

Gavin stood staring at his father,
unbelieving, still hoping that he was wrong, that he’d misunderstood what he’d
been told but his stomach was in knots and he was in desperate need of
comforting. The only person capable of doing that was about to exit his life.
“I need to see her.”

Nodding, Paul opened the door and ushered
the two boys inside. Novak moved to Helen’s side, wrapping an arm around her
shoulder, not going for an all-out hug as he was aware his friend wouldn’t be
able to do that to his own mother, not now or ever again.

Putting a chair by the bedside, Paul
stepped back as Gavin’s legs gave way. He missed the grateful glance the boy
shot him as he joined the others on the far side of the bed. He watched as his
son gently slide his large hand beneath Carmen’s and began talking softly to
her.

Ever since hormones had become a factor
which had guided Gavin, with Novak’s help down what Carmen had considered the
path of degradation, their relationship had become strained as at best. Gavin
was argumentative beyond the realms of the normal teenage strop and his ability
to dream up ways to irritate his mother was nothing short of genius, it was
clear to all present that the angst was just surface tension and there was
genuine deep feeling between mother and son that could not be rivalled.

Helen stepped forward to dry her friends’
tears as they streamed down the sides of her face. Paul turned away, trying not
to watch the room in the reflection of the glass.

Suzanne woke to the insistent and rather
irritating noise from the buzzer connected to the electric gates. Mumbling
promises of injury to the person who had disturbed her already restless
slumber, she reached over Paul’s empty side of the bed to lift the receiver.

“What?” She scrambled out of bed, pressed
the button to open the gates and threw on a dressing gown, running down the
stairs when her father told her the shit was about to hit the fan.

The gates were closing and her father was
waiting on the doorstep by the time she’d unlocked the door. Over his shoulder
she could see the same person who had been hovering when Paul had left the
previous day. What the hell?

As he closed the door, he unfolded the
newspaper in his hands and held it in front of his face. The reason for his
agitation became abundantly clear as she read the headline.

MARRIED LESS THAN A DAY. PAUL JENSEN
LEAVES THE MARITAL HOME.

The words, accompanied by a picture of Paul’s
Porsche pulling out of the driveway screamed at her. “Shit. Paul will freak if
this reaches him.” She ushered her father through to the kitchen and filled the
kettle as she explained what had happened. “That person lurking outside is a
journalist?”

“Seems so.” He re-read the small article
beneath the headline. “You need to issue a statement and forewarn Paul.”

“Dad, if I go out there, I’m likely to
reach through the gate, grab the man by the collar and squash his face
repeatedly and with some force against the bars.”

He had to chuckle. Suzanne was his middle
daughter and the one with all the sass and feistiness the other two lacked. He
positively adored her no backing down attitude. It was very much like his own.

Sipping his tea as Suzanne called her new
husband, a man he very much disapproved of, he wasn’t surprised when Paul’s
initial reaction was expletives he’d rather not repeat. Paul agreed that
Suzanne should stay silent and he was generous in his thanks to his father in
law when he offered to handle it.

The journalist practically stood to
attention when he was confronted with Suzanne’s father. His statement was short
and simple, stating simply that Paul was dealing with a grave family matter and
would be returning to his wife when a resolution was released. He went on to
demand a retraction and a very public apology for the evening addition of the
paper and was very precise in the measures he would take if his daughter was
not left alone.

Carmen lingered for a further three days.
As predicted by the medical personnel, she slipped into a coma within hours of
Gavin arriving.

The tension in the room was palpable.
Gavin swung between silence and rage. His anger misdirected and even Novak
failed at reasoning with him. When Carmen drew her final breath and she was
officially pronounced dead, a reverent hush fell over the room.

That only lasted until the doctor left
them alone to say their goodbyes. Gavin launched himself at Paul, fists
flailing as he screamed that this was all his fault. The noise quickly brought
hospital security to the room. It took four strapping men to restrain Gavin. A
doctor arrived shortly afterwards, quickly jabbing a needle into Gavin’s arm
with Paul’s full permission, sedating the raging teenager.

Gavin remained sedated through the
planning of the funeral and the decisions that were made about the house.
During the two week gap between Carmen’s passing and the funeral, they had
tried reducing his sedation several times. Each resulted in a violent outburst
making further sedation necessary.

He appeared calm as he stood next to Paul
at the grave side but from the slight sway in his stance and the unblinking
stare, it was clear he was totally out of it. There was no wake.

The following day, Suzanne arrived. After
several long phone calls discussing the logistics of things, she had agreed to
drive up and swap cars with Paul. Gavin was coming home with him, for good. She
would have to step into the role of step mother whether she liked it or not.

Carmen had left everything, including her
share of the house to Gavin. As his surviving parent and as he was under the
age of eighteen, it fell to Paul to ensure her wishes were upheld. This of
course meant the house would have to be sold as there was no way Helen could
afford to buy him out and Paul found his usual generosity severely lacking with
the need to protect his son.

Art, Helen’s beau stepped forward and
seized the opportunity by offering Helen, Luke and her foster children a home
with him. He freely admitted his house was on the compact side and initially
there would be no room for Luke.

Paul’s offer to take Luke with him was met
with vehement protestations from Helen. She quickly shut up when Paul pointed
out that her son was now nineteen years old and capable of deciding for
himself. He expected Luke to jump at the chance but he had shaken his head.

“I’m building a career and name for myself
here Mr J. I appreciate your offer but I think I belong here.”

When Suzanne caught sight of Gavin’s
zombie like state she was shocked. It sparked a three way argument between
Helen, Paul and herself about the level of sedation needed to keep him calm but
at least coherent.

She intervened when the doctor came the
following morning and she smiled triumphantly at the tutting Helen when the
doctor agreed with her. Gavin was to remain sedated until he had control of
himself but Suzanne’s very valid point of he would never regain that control if
he was permanently out of it was what made the doctor change his mind and use a
different medication.

Leaving early the following morning, she
encouraged Paul to stay strong and to come home soon. He in turn encouraged her
to take it easy in his beloved car and to call her when she got home.

It took a full forty eight hours for the
majority of Gavin’s deep sedation to wear off. Although quiet, he helped with
packing up the house and moving his friend into the room above the garage at
Arts house that had been hastily constructed as a private space for him with
further alterations planned to convert the garage into a fully contained
apartment for him.

Novak stashed his surf boards and wet
suits in one corner of the garage and turned to see Gavin standing there
holding his own board.

“I don’t think I’ll need this.”

Taking the board, giving it a quick look
over, Novak stashed it with his own boards. I’ll look after it until you come
back.”

“I don’t think I’m ever coming back.”

The day finally came when Paul would have
to tackle Carmen’s room. It had been left until last as no-one had wanted to
deal with it but the time had come and helped by Helen, they set about packing
away her clothes and personal possessions.

Her clothing was put into black bags and
ear marked for charity shops and there was certainly a lot of bags piled in the
corner of the room by the time the wardrobe and drawers were emptied. The few
bits of jewellery she had were packed into a box, Helen insisting that Paul
should take them and keep them for when Gavin was ready to go through the box.

There was a further box of school reports
and newspaper clippings that also got loaded into Suzanne’s Volvo along with
Gavin’s clothing and guitars. It was decided that the dressing table and chest
of drawers could be utilised by Helen and she had expressed an interest in
having something of her friend to hang on to and Paul was happy to give that to
her.

Coming out of the bathroom, heading for
his room, Gavin paused when he saw the door to his mother’s bedroom standing
open. He hadn’t ventured down that end of the hallway yet. Partly due to the
fact that he’d had trouble just standing due to the drugs and partly because he
hadn’t wanted to see her empty room.

His father and Helen were working away,
sorting through his mother’s things, putting the majority of them in black bin
bags and discarding them in a corner. The room still smelt like her. He
swallowed down the tears that threatened to spill. His fists clenched and
unclenched and all it took was a small chuckle from Paul to have him stepping
into the room.

“No!” He bellowed snatching a bag from Paul’s
hands. “No. No. NO. You aren’t just going to throw her away like this. Her life
is here. Her memories are here. You can’t do this. I won’t let you do this.”

“Gavin….”

“Shut up! This is all your fault. The way
she was is your fault. She only ever wanted you but you couldn’t even give her
that. You pushed her away then came back and fucked her again. You screwed her
up. You hurt her. You always hurt her. You always put yourself first. All you
ever had to do was love her.” Rant over, panting heavily, Gavin threw the bag
in his hands directly at Paul before turning on his heel and bolting down the
stairs.

Hearing the thump as Gavin took the stairs
two at a time, Paul got to the top in time to see Novak pick himself up off the
floor. Starting down the stairs, fully intent on going after his son, he was
stopped when Novak shook his head.

“I’ve got this. I know where he’ll go and
I’ll bring him home.”

The End

For now.