The Geary Series Boxed Set (55 page)

Gale tiptoed down the stairs, she didn’t want to bump into her sister. She never wanted to see her sister ever again. She needed to formulate a plan to get back to her parents house now that the baby had been born. Her father had said that she was welcome back, but he still hadn’t told her when she could return.

She used this time to find out where the baby had been sent. Jane wasn’t telling her where the baby was and she desperately needed to find out. Gale had decided that she wanted to raise Michael’s baby. It was on that morning that the postman gave her an answer.

She picked up the letters from the mat behind the door and opened the large brown envelope that was addressed to both of them. It had an Edinburgh postmark across the stamp on the top right. She tore open the end and looked inside. It was too dark in the hallway to see what was in the envelope. She moved into the living room and emptied the contents onto the table. It was a single envelope, pale blue with scrawled writing on the front. A blue ballpoint had written their names and address almost illegible, it was a wonder that it had ever arrived.

Over the past twelve months, they had received random envelopes, at Christmas it was full of Christmas cards from their friends. There hadn’t been a card from any other of their family from Edinburgh. Birthday cards arrived for each of them but again not from their family.

She opened the smaller envelope and pulled out the single piece of paper, it was from Michael. He had chatted about his new life and that he would come and visit them next month. When she noticed the date on the letter, it was written a month ago. In a panic, she ran to the phone and dialled the number on the piece of paper.

She waited for the phone to be answered, and it rang for a full three minutes until she heard his voice.

“Hello?” He said.

“Michael, is that you?” Gale asked.

“Yeah, who’s this?” He asked abruptly.

“It’s Gale, how are you?” Gale said cheerily, she twirled her braid in her hand as she smiled down the phone.

“Oh hi Gale, yeah I’m good thanks. Hey, I went to your house but your parents said you moved away. I thought you were going to college.”

“It’s a long story, Jane got pregnant and we had to move away, our parents didn’t approve,” Gale said she didn’t bother to mask her disapproval of the events.

The silence at the end of the phone had Gale repeatedly calling hello down the phone line. After the tenth time, she asked if he was still there, and he finally spoke.

“I have to go Gale, but I’d love to visit soon before I start my new job. Can you tell me where you are both living now?” He asked.

Gale hastily gave him their address and hung up the phone. She danced in the hallway and ran up the stairs. She made a silent prayer that her father didn’t demand her home before Michael came to visit.

She would keep the phone call a secret, it was at that point that she remembered the letter in the morning room. She raced down the stairs and slid into the room. When she thought, no one was looking she slid around on the wooden floors in just her socks and pretended she was a world famous ice-skater.

“You look happy today, what’s going on, I haven’t seen you for a week,” Maria asked from the doorway. She saw Gale hide a letter behind her back but didn’t mention it. She was more concerned with Gale’s change in personality.

“Nothing’s going on, I’m happy, is that a crime around here?” Gale said.

“No, it’s not a crime, don’t act like a child, I have clothed and fed you for a year, I deserve more respect than you show me,” Maria told her.

“Well I won’t be around for much longer, mum and dad have said I can come back.”

Maria narrowed her eyes at Gale and assessed the merit in what she had announced. She knew her brother too well and he never went back on his word.

“Be careful Gale, there will be a price to pay for your return, think about what you actually want.” Maria said, “Is that the letter behind your back, is that why you’re so happy?” She asked.

“Yes, I confess it is their letter. Can I go up to my room now Aunt?” She asked sweetly.

Maria nodded her approval and left Gale in the morning room and went to her workshop. Something was not right and she feared for Jane.

Michael showed his train ticket to the inspector, it was clipped and given back to him. He hadn’t been to Brighton before and didn’t know what to expect. His parents had moved him to Portsmouth the previous year, the journey wasn’t too arduous along the coast. He spied a taxi rank and asked the driver at the front to take him to the address he had on a scrap of paper. The taxi driver told him it wasn’t worth his petrol and gave him directions to the house as it was close by. Michael thanked the driver and climbed the steep hill to where Jane and Gale were living.

He removed his jumper and tied it around his waist before he started the climb. He took his time, trudging up the hill, he had no idea who would be at the house and took a risk coming unannounced. He didn’t have much time until he started his new job in the government.

Reaching the top faster than he wanted he checked the numbers of the large houses that stood before him. To his dismay, the house he wanted was in front of him and he was out of time.

Michael hopped up the steps and knocked loudly on the black front door, waiting for it to be answered. He wasn’t sure who he needed to respond to the door until he faced Gale. He knew he didn’t want to see her face. They had left things awkwardly at the party and he never did get to tell her he wasn’t interested in her romantically. He panicked when she offered to sneak up to her room and couldn’t get back to the party fast enough. The kiss was a mistake, his moment of weakness, silently telling Ruth that he preferred another girl. He had felt nothing when he kissed Gale, he tried to get wrapped up in the passion of their kiss, but he regretted it as soon as she wrapped her leg around his body.

The last thing he expected that night was to have sex with her sister. He liked Jane, but not enough to have a relationship with her. His foolish, drunken brain wanted to have sex, Jane was making advances and he didn’t put up any fight. He wanted Ruth and if he couldn’t have her, he took the next available body.

He had snuck off to the field again to smoke a cigarette that his mate had given him. He wanted half an hour on his own to work out how he was going to stay in touch with Ruth when he moved away. Finding out that Ruth had a boyfriend had devastated him and he wasn’t prepared to go away without a promise to keep connected.

The orange glow of the cigarette turned into a beacon as he took a drag, which alerted the lone walker to his location. When Jane came into view, he breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn’t her sister. Jane plonked down on the grass next to him and leaned back on her elbows.

“Did you fuck my sister earlier?” Jane asked.

Jane took the cigarette from Michael and took a long draw and then handed it back.

“Don’t be ridiculous, why would you think that?” Michael asked and chuckled humourlessly.

“Oh, I don’t know, you both came out here and when you returned she had a grin on her face, showing her bra and you were boasting to your mates.”

“We were talking about the college football match where I scored the winning goal, it had nothing to do with Gale.”

“Oh, my mistake, I kinda assumed you had got your way with her,” Jane confessed.

Jane grimaced and shrugged before falling to the ground. She looked up at the stars and pointed at each one and started to name them. She mapped out her future while she heard the chatter and laughter of the party she had escaped.

Michael stubbed out the cigarette in the grass and then flicked it into the darkness. He lay back in the grass and joined Jane looking up at the stars.

“Do you want to fuck me?” Jane suggested.

“You’re crass, Jane.”

He turned his face to hers and burst into giggles, he sounded like his dad and he never wanted to be prudish like his dad. She turned her head to Michael at the same time he did and their noses were an inch apart. After a few moments, their lips crashed together. It didn’t take long for them to remove their clothes and have sex under the stars. Once it was over, Jane dressed and disappeared from him and the party. He never saw her again.

Facing Gale at this moment brought back his guilt of his one night stand. He hadn’t had sex before or since that night. He should’ve told Gale how he felt about her, he should’ve told her he liked her as a friend, but that was it.

He should have exercised control, then there wouldn’t have been a baby created.

“Hello Gale, can I come in?” Michael asked politely.

Gale moved to the side and gestured for him to enter the house, she told him to take his first left and she would make some tea. He declined her offer of tea, but she didn’t hear him. She headed to the kitchen, over the moon that she saw Michael once more. She was elated that he had come to see her.

Michael sat in the armchair by the window and watched the pedestrians wandering up and down the road. He marvelled at the tall ceilings of the room, the ornate coving and real fireplace. The ancient furniture was comfortable and homely. He felt at home in a stranger’s house.

“Why are you here Michael?” Gale asked as she entered the room. Gale stood in the doorway with the tray, a pot of tea and two mugs with biscuits. She placed it on the table and she took the armchair opposite him.

“I’m here Gale because you told me Jane got pregnant and that’s why she moved here. Is the baby mine?” Michael asked.

“Yes, the baby was yours.” She said, emphasising her words.

“Was?”

“Yes, was, she had an abortion, she couldn’t stand the thought of giving birth to a child of yours. I can’t blame her really, you are a sad excuse for a man.” Gale announced, she didn’t know where her spite came from, she was so happy to see him, but her mouth took over.

Michael stared at Gale, not knowing what to say. Finding out Jane was pregnant yesterday was one thing but then in one sentence knowing that he was the father, but she got rid of the baby threw him into a quiet rage. He would have insisted she have the baby and they raise the child together. He would give up Ruth and give the baby father. He would have married Jane and provided a home.

“You’re bitter Gale, you have no idea what kind of father I would have made, hell, I don’t. You have no right to reveal her secret Gale, if she has decided on an abortion, then it should’ve been her that told me. What are you getting out of this dramatic reveal of secrets?” Michael questioned.

He stood over Gale waiting for her to answer, she didn’t say a word. She stood and left the room, walked up the stairs and out of sight, Michael could see through the banisters that she had walked upstairs, but he didn’t know if she was coming back.

He sat back down in the armchair and drank the tea he didn’t want. He waited for two hours in the chair, waiting for Jane to come home. When she didn’t, he left the house with enough time to catch the last train home.

He’d left it to fate that if he were meant to know the details then Jane would have come back before he caught his train home.

Maria carried the cloth shopping bag along the street and slowed as she saw a young man leaving her house. She knew Jane was at Leslie’s cafe planning the layout of her new shop. She assumed that Gale had invited the man into the house and watched as he crossed the road and disappeared down the hill.

She opened the door and dumped the bag at the foot of the stairs and poked her head around the door to the morning room.

Gale was carrying a tray and she almost bumped into her.

“Who was that man, Gale?”

“He was a Reader’s Digest salesman,” Gale answered and tried to walk past, but Maria blocked her way.

“Where is the sample?”

Gale looked panicked.

“He didn’t have one, I kicked him out when he didn’t have anything to show me,” Gale said, thinking quickly.

“Why did you let him in the house in the first place when you knew you were on your own. You never know who these strange people are. Please don’t let strangers in here again.” Maria told her.

“Don’t worry Aunt, I’m leaving tomorrow so you won’t have any further issues,” Gale announced.

Gale didn’t let her reply and ran up the stairs.

The front door slammed and Maria walked out into the corridor, Jane stood breathing heavily with a face like thunder.

“Gale,” Jane shouted from the door, she moved forward to the bottom of the stairs and shouted her name again, over and over until Gale came into view at the top of the stairs.

“What are you yelling for? You’ll wake the dead.” Gale said with her hands on her hips.

“Did I just see Michael at the train station?” Jane asked.

“I don’t know, did you?”

“I’m asking you, Gale, did I see Michael walk into the station? I could only see the back of him, but I’m pretty sure it was him.” Jane asked again.

“Answer her Gale, because I think the man I saw leaving wasn’t a Reader’s Digest salesman.”

“He was here?” Jane screeched, why didn’t you say?”

Jane scrambled to the door not waiting for an answer and ran down the hill towards the station to see if she could catch him before he boarded the train.

Maria ran after her leaving Gale standing at the top of the stairs. It took her longer to reach the station platform that it took Jane, but she spotted her.

Jane didn’t know which platform to look on, she didn’t know where he lived. He could be on either of the two trains that she could see, they were both pulling out of the station and she stood there with her hands on her head, lost.

“Come on Jane,” Maria said, “Let’s go home.”