Chapter 38

It was on the train that he began to have mixed feelings about the trip. He remembered their last meeting at the house, and for the life of him he could not remember exactly what Cassie had said to him when she left three weeks before. He thought she said she needed a break; he hoped so. Then he remembered her previous response to his effective proposal of making their relationship permanent, and her reluctance to commit.

Then he realised that it was his mother and hers that had arranged this between them and he kicked himself for not taking charge and phoning Cassie. Now he felt he had to go along with their plan and trust them. After all, he thought, his mother had turned him round. Eventually he mentally shrugged: it was too late to change now.

He emerged from the station, rucksack on his back and pulling his suitcase behind him. It had been a rite of passage dealing with his baggage on the train with one effective hand. He now made for the taxi rank, with its row of waiting cabs.

"Ged!"

The shout came from the car park, and turning, he saw Joe, Cassie's father, waving at him with a wide smile on his face. He duly turned and made for Joe's car.

Joe held out his hand for a handshake, and Ged was non-plussed. This was the first person who had held out a hand for a handshake. After the momentary hesitation he offered his left, and shook backhand. Joe's face creased with compassion and a touch of anger.

"Sorry Ged," he said. "It really comes home when you see what those bastards did."

"Thanks, Joe. There's little pain now, and I'm learning to live with it."

They were driving to the house when Joe brought the matter that had festered in his mind for months.

"I don't know how to thank you for what you did for us, You saved our lives, and I don't know how we can ever repay you."

Ged had been ready for this: he knew Joe's pride.

"Joe, there are two things you should know about that. One, you have already given me more than I'll ever have in the bank: you've brought Cassie into the world. Two, when we get to the house I'll show you something on my laptop."

"Don't know about that, she's led you a merry dance, the silly girl. Here we are. Cassie isn't here, we thought we'd settle you in first and then get Dollar to bring her over."

He pulled the car onto the drive and took Ged's bags ahead of him into the house. There was Mairead and Marie waiting for him on the step.

Mairead hugged him first. "At last, Ged! Welcome. We've waited to see you too long."

Marie followed, hugging him close, making sure he felt every nuance of her young body.

"Hi, Ged again! I'm so excited! It's going to be so romantic!"

He said nothing, but smiled. Then the two females wanted to see his hands and exclaimed at the damage, and the two hugged him again.

"Hey," he said, feeling quite overcome, "if I get this treatment I'll get them back to do in the other hand!"

Then disengaging, he turned to Joe. "Joe, can you go into my rucksack and get my laptop out."

The older man did as requested, and they set it up on the wi-fi.

"Now, Joe, these are my accounts. This is the instant access cash savings."

The two women craned over Joe's shoulder, and there was a collective gasp when they saw the balance.

"And this is the account all my royalties go into."

Another gasp. "There are other accounts and stocks and shares investments of some more millions. I'm showing you so you can see that paying off your accounts made no impression on my resources. I bought my own six bedroom house with ready cash!

"Please let go of any worries about paying me back. You can see I don't need any more money, but it keeps flowing in. Every time somewhere in the world someone sings one of my songs, the cash register chings. That's every day. In any case you are family to me.

"I would like to sub Marie at university – pay off her tuition and give her an allowance. She's the real heroine here: it took a lot to come to me for help."

There was silence. He saw their faces and laughed. "I'll take that as a 'yes', then."

"Now to business," he said, hurriedly changing the subject. "Has your music player got a USB port?"

It had. He took the pen drive from his pocket and fitted it and switched on the appliance.

"This is for Cassie when she gets here. You seem to be in charge, Mairead, how are you going to organise this?"

"We'll bring her in here and then leave you two alone, will that do?"

"Very nicely."

"You have the remote for the music?" Mairead asked. He had.

"I'll phone Dollar," she said.

"You're a lot better?" asked Marie.

"Yes, thanks to my mother. I was pretty low when Cassie left."

"I'm not surprised," said Mairead, "I don't know how you coped."

"My mother got me out of the pit I was in. She just gave me so much to do I hadn't time to be sad, and she showed me that there was plenty I could do. She burst in suddenly one day, and I was so amazed I just did what she told me. That reminds me, I have a letter for Cassie." He reached into his jacket and brought it out.

"But you're here!" said Marie puzzled.

"It's hand written, Marie," and he waited.

Then she saw the point. "You wrote it with your left hand! So romantic!" and she looked at him dreamy eyed. He laughed loudly, and so did everyone else. Then he sobered up.

"I don't think I laughed at all while Cassie was looking after me. She had a hard time, a very hard time. I really put her through it."

"Well, you're here now, and I'm sure she'll forget all about that," Mairead said, patting his shoulder. "Oh, there's the car arriving. Everybody out! Disappear!"

Ged was left alone. It was not excitement he felt, it was fear. So many times they had parted only to get their reunification wrong and end it in a shouting match.

He heard the front door opening and Mairead's voice.

"Hello Dollar. Oh Cassie, there's a visitor for you."

Then her voice. The sound of it hit like a hammer, and his breathing quickened.

"Who Mum?"

"In there. Dollar, let's go and make some tea for them."

The door opened and there she stood, so beautiful it hurt him. She looked at him and she gaped.

"Ged? What... ?"

He said nothing but stood and handed her the letter. She gave him a puzzled look and opened the envelope, dropped it on the coffee table and unfolded the letter.

The writing was not pretty: it resembled the writing of a very young child. She glanced at him and raised an eyebrow. He nodded, and she began to read.

She looked up as he pressed the remote and his song of love and appreciation filled the room. Her look of surprise turned into one of amazement, as she took in first the fact that the accompaniment was so full, and that he was singing, then listened to the words. He had lost none of his poetic ability nor is skill in setting the words to music.

She knew then that something had changed radically since she left him. Then the second song was one of regret and loneliness and sounded as if he was accompanying it on the guitar until she realised it was the guitar setting on his keyboard.

When it finished, all he said was, "So sorry," and stood penitently before her. Her eyes filled with tears and she ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him vigorously, all over his face then open mouthed on his lips pushing her tongue into his mouth. He felt her tears.

She laid her head on his chest.

"No," she said. "It's me who's sorry. It's me who couldn't get you better, and it's me who ran away and wouldn't phone you even after I knew you had reconnected them.

"You worked so hard, my love," he said. "You waited on me, you put up with my constant silence and sullenness. You couldn't have done more."

"It wasn't enough."

"It was. Not your fault – mine. It was what you could do."