Chapter 16: School Days

"What about us?" Megan asked. "Are we staying? I mean, school will start in a week."

They were having supper, and the events of the day were weighing heavily on them. Ellen had stayed to give moral support.

"Give me the address of your school. I'll send a note that your mother had a medical emergency in Europe and that your return will be delayed," Henry answered.

"Mr. Jennings will go ballistic," Pat threw in. "I can already hear his rant. 'No extra tours, young ladies, just because your mother owns a few radio stores!'. We'll have marks against us before the year even starts."

"Georgina says her head mistress is so cool," Megan added. Georgina was one of the girls from the boat club.

"Which school does she attend?" Ellen asked.

"St. Ursula's."

"I went to St. Ursula's too. Our head mistress then was anything but cool! Believe me! Do you know the name of the new head?"

"Miss Leitch. We saw her in Maidenhead while we were having ice cream. She's pretty too."

"Charlene Leitch is the head mistress?" Ellen marvelled. "You're right, she is cool. Do you remember her, Harry? She caught us making out behind the shed on the rugby field."

"Oh yes," Henry laughed over the memory. "She slipped me a condom, saying, 'Better be safe than sorry, my lad!'. I thought I'd die from embarrassment. I was only fifteen and it was the first condom I had ever seen. Believe me, I had no designs on Ellen that involved the need for birth control."

"She slipped you a condom?" Pat gasped. "She must be way cool!"

"Couldn't we, like, go to school here?" Megan blurted. "I mean, look at it! We're in Gainesville anyway. Mom's so busy, and it's hard for her to make those trips every two weeks. And we could ... Oh! I guess that's kind of asking a lot. Never mind, Harry," she ended looking dejected.

Henry thought about what she had said. It would not bother him at all to have the girls around. The last two months had been nothing but delightful and the way the girls blossomed had been fun to watch. There was no way however that Josie would allow this and to even encourage this idea would drive a wedge between the girls and their mother. To his surprise Ellen followed the lead.

"Why on earth not, indeed? Harry, you wouldn't mind the girls, would you? I'm sure we can talk Josie into it as well. It wouldn't make much difference for her. After all, she never visits you at school, does she?"

Henry sighed. This was getting out of hand.

"Let's not get unrealistic, shall we? We cannot decide such things. It's Josie's call where she sends you girls to school. After all, she is your mother and just because she works a lot does not mean she does not care about you. She visits you regularly, doesn't she?"

The girls nodded.

"See! Let's focus on realistic goals. I will offer to take you again next summer and we'll go from there."

"But that's almost a year!" Megan whined but Pat had understood him.

"Meg, if we push Mom too much she'll be jealous of Harry and Ellen and then she won't let us visit again. Let's not be too greedy."

Henry and Ellen exchanged a look. Pat was the reasonable of the twins, but Megan was not easily daunted. She was more emotional than her sister.

"We could at least ask Mom. Think of rowing too. We can't do that in Gainesville. We'd have to transfer to St. Margaret's or another school."

Pat thought about that. "If this is to work at all we have to make it sound positive. And we can't bring it up right away. I mean, she's really sick right now. We can't just tell her we'd rather go to school in England and away from her."

"Why don't we wait for your mother to feel well again before asking her a question of this impact?" Ellen suggested. "I will bring it up to her and you two hold your horses. Is that agreeable?"

The grateful hugs she received told Ellen that her suggestion was indeed appreciated.

On the next morning and right after breakfast, Henry dropped off the twins and Ellen at St. Mark's Hospital and watched them enter. For one reason or another, Ellen had been rather frosty towards him and she had told him in no uncertain terms that his presence in the hospital was not wanted.

Deciding to make the best of his time, he went to shop for a few items. It was almost noon when his cell phone went off and Ellen asked him to pick them up. He watched the girls as they scrambled into the Rover's back. To his relief, there were no red eyes.

"How is she doing?" he asked Ellen only to receive an exasperated 'Hrmph!' for an answer.

"Now, what did I do?" he asked innocently.

Ellen turned on the seat and faced him.

"Did you really tell her that she looked like shit? Because if you did you are the most insensitive lout on the face of the earth!"

Henry felt uncomfortable, even more so because the twins giggled from the rear.

"It's not funny!" Ellen snapped at them, but it was to no avail. It only caused the twins to double over in laughter. "Am I the only person who feels some compassion with your mother?"

With an effort, Megan controlled herself.

"We weren't <hick> laughing about Mom <hick>, we're laughing be<hick>cause this is so typi<hick>ical for Harry."

"And she did look like shit," Pat maintained and dissolved in laughter again.

Ellen was ready to pop a safety valve.

"Give the girls a rest, Ellen. They need to vent their relief," Henry said reasonably. "I take it she looks better already?"

This caused another outburst of laughter and Ellen had difficulties maintaining her angry facade. She nodded. She was not done with him however.

"Do you have any idea why she went through with this stupidity?"

"Vanity?" Henry hazarded. "A twenty-something junior executive she has the hots for?" There was the bitterness in his voice again.

"No, you imbecile! She was overworked and stressed out. Add to that that she has three failed relationships on her record. She felt used, she felt old and rejected. And then she is supposed to come here and see you again of all people. She did it so she'd look good. For you, you lout!"

"But that's insane!" he protested. "Why would I care about a few wrinkles?" He realised the trap he'd stepped into. "Besides, why would she want to look good? So she could rub in her good looks and show me what I'm missing?"

Ellen threw up her hands in despair and turned to the twins.

"Girls, take a leaf out of Christina and Milena's book. Men are just not worth the trouble!" Then she checked herself. "My goodness, I can't believe we just had this conversation in front of her daughters!"

"Oh, come on, Ellen," Pat objected.

They rode in silence for a minute or two whilst Henry digested the news.

"All right, I'll send a get well card and apologise," he said after a while.

"And flowers!" Ellen demanded.

"And flowers," he sighed. "Did Andrew come?"

Ellen nodded. "It's good that I brought her briefcase along. She could give him all the documentation for this meeting. I think they are still conferring."

Both then followed their own trains of thought until Henry dropped Ellen off at Woodbridge. At home, Milena was already waiting with their lunch and the twins filled in Christina with the news. The swelling of Josie's face had receded, but it would be several days for the paralysis of her facial muscles to subside. She'd been on an IV drip over night, but she was alert and clear.

In the afternoon, Henry did an internet search for the contact information of the girls' boarding school. He placed a phone call while the twins were listening in on the phone's speakers. Identifying himself, he asked to speak with the headmaster. A few minutes of negotiations later he had convinced the secretary at the other end that he really needed a person of the headmaster's intellectual weight to solve his problem.

"Principal Jennings here," the voice boomed through the speaker.

"My name is Henry Ruiz-Costa, Mr. Jennings. I am a friend of Mrs. Maxwell. Her daughters have spent the summer break in England with me. Mrs. Maxwell came yesterday to pick them up, but she fell severely ill and was hospitalised. She will be unable to fly back to Atlanta for at least another week and her daughters won't be able to return to school in time. I would just ask you what kind of documents you require of them to show that they are delayed by a medical emergency."

"It's those Maxwell twins, isn't it?"

"Indeed."

"And you are, what, their uncle or some relative?"

"I am a friend of the family."

"This sounds just like a ruse. You tell those girls to get back to school in time or face the consequences."

"Mr. Jennings, I was asking you what sort of documentation you would require of the girls and their mother. Surely, a written statement from the staff of St. Mark's Hospital should put your doubts to rest?"

"Where is this St. Mark's Hospital anyway?"

"In Maidenhead, Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, England."

"In England? What were they doing in England?"

Henry's patience was running out.

"I don't see how that concerns you, Mr. Jennings. Could you just tell me whether a written statement from Mrs. Maxwell's attending physician will suffice?"

"Don't you get fresh with me, young man!"

Obviously, Mr. Jennings was not the most patient man in the world, nor was he the brightest bulb in the chandelier. Henry struggled for control and failed.

"Mr. Jennings, fuck you! Since you don't understand politeness if it's shoved up your constipated arse, I will speak to you in common English. The girls' mother is sick and cannot make the trip. The girls stay with me until this changes. If you then dare to give them any hardship, I will personally come to pay you a visit. When that happens, you will neither speak nor smile for a month, because your mouth will hurt too much. Do you understand the gist of my talk or do you need it explained in monosyllables?"

"This is..." Jennings sputtered at the other end.

"Oh, get stuffed!" Henry spat and hung up the receiver.

He looked around and the whole room looked at him as if he had grown horns.

"Did you really say 'Fuck you' to Mr. Jennings?" Meg squeaked.

"You did not make it any easier for the girls," Christina admonished him.

Pat broke into a wide smile.

"We can never go back to Gainesville, that's for sure. Harry, you're really the best!"

Comprehension dawned on Megan's face. "You're right, Pat. Even Mom will see that. She can't even blame us!"

Henry smiled ruefully. "She'll blame me. I'll better tell her about this myself. That fool really grated on my nerves."

"Let's see if I get this straight. You are meaning to tell me that you insulted the principal of the school my daughters have to attend? That after making it known that you called on my behalf? Is this your sick way of exacting revenge on me, by messing up my life?"

This was going better than Henry had feared. Oh, she was exasperated, but she had not thrown any of the things in her reach.

"Well, he was insulting first. You can ask Christina. He's a blathering baboon anyway."

"So you said the f-word to him and threatened him? That's smart, Henry, really smart. He'll make their life a hell. Didn't you go to a boarding school? Don't you know how a principal can make a student's life miserable?"

"No, I went to day school in town. My parents didn't mind me mingling with commoners."

"Cut that nonsense! It's a good school, it took a lot of work to get the girls in there, and even more to keep them in."

"Then why do they hate the place so much? They're good girls and smart. Why do they hate their school?"

"How would I know?" Josie snapped back.

"You could ... ask them? Oh, I'm sorry, that's probably too much involvement. Perhaps one of your personal assistants could check the validity of their complaints? Then you could rectify the situation? Josie, did you ever ask them how they liked their school? And if you did, did you listen long enough to hear their answer?"

"All right, all right, here we go again. I'm the bad mother."

"No you're not! Remember, I was there when you were ready to give your life for them!" He whispered urgently. "I was there when you held them in your arms, gave them hope and encouragement. Damn it, that's what made me fall for you so hard! But now, look at you. You see them for a total of four days per month! When was the last time you hugged either of them?"

"Who are you to talk to me like that? I gave birth to them, I raised them, I protected them against their father."

"So why did you stop? Don't you forget that I did a little of the protecting too. I protected you as well because I thought the world of you. If I had known that you'd turn into a Maxine Maxwell..."

"Then you would have killed me?"

She looked straight into his eyes. Her eyes were still expressive, even if her face was not. After a few seconds, he gave in.

"No, I could've never done it. Sorry, I got carried away."

She nodded. "That Maxine Maxwell shit was uncalled for too. I sent them to a school they picked themselves. I didn't order them killed."

He did not speak.

"Look, Henry, this isn't really about the girls, right? This is still about us. Now, I am aware that I made the biggest mistake in my entire life when I dumped you. I was still recuperating mentally. I was under an enormous pressure and I wasn't ready to trust a man again."

"You must have healed real fast then. You got engaged, what, within two months?"

"That, yes, that was the third biggest mistake, almost up there with saying yes at my wedding. I thought I'd have a normal relationship for a change. Not a sadistic prick, nor an ex-mercenary and hit man, just some straight guy who goes to work in the morning and does not have blood stains on his cuffs when he returns. Normal! I could use some normalcy!"

Henry did not say anything.

"No gloating?" she asked bitterly. "No 'I told you so'? Do you still hope to get me on the rebound? Do you want me? Looking like shit?"

Carefully choosing his words, he answered in a voice so low that she could barely make him out.

"Josie, if I could only believe that you cared for me, really cared for me, I'd take you in a heart beat. But that means no, I don't want you. Because you stopped caring for anybody when you let that company eat you up."

He stood up and went to the door.

"That's it? You're just walking away from the mess you made?"

He turned. "Which mess?"

"The Gainesville mess. Summer break is almost over and the girls need a new school. I won't have a home to speak of in the next few months, so the school has to come with boarding, and it better be with somebody they trust."

Understanding dawned on him and his mouth fell open. There was mirth in her eyes when she continued.

"Just one year, you hear? After that I'll take them to my new home and I'll have time for them again. You go and find them school and board for a year."

He smiled weakly and he could tell that she wanted to grin.

"I should have known that they would try this. Only if you are really okay with it. Believe it or not, I don't want to be a wedge between you and your daughters, ever."

She nodded solemnly. "I know that. That's why I'm okay with it. For one year."

Two pairs of big blue eyes hung on him as he entered the dining room. He was late for lunch, but there had been things to take care of after he left Josie's room at St. Mark's.

First he had gone to St. Ursula's School. He had been embarrassed like hell seeing Charlene Leitch again. She remembered him and gave him a conspiratorial smile. He stammered like an idiot when he explained his wish to enrol two visiting students from America at St. Ursula's.

He obtained the paperwork to register Patricia and Megan Maxwell and made an appointment for an interview of the girls with the teaching staff. On the headmistress' urging, he also enrolled them into the rowing programme of the school. Lastly, he received a list of the items they would need and the address of a tailor who made school uniforms.

The next stop was the local Land Rover dealer. Driving the girls to school in his old battle horse was out of the question as he well knew. That car lacked all safety features and the heating was non-existent. He settled for a deal on a Defender 110 Station Wagon that sat in the showroom collecting dust. They let him drive it away with dealer plates. He left the old Land Rover with them to be retrofitted with rear seats and safety belts. He loved the old monster and he would keep it for his personal use.