Chapter 4

They awoke the following morning in a tangle of arms, legs and sheets.

“Good morning darling,” Karen greeted him, as he planted a gentle kiss on her nose.

“Good morning sweetheart. Sleep well?”

“As well as anyone can when their beast of a boyfriend makes then sleep on the wet patch.”

“Hey, that wasn’t my fault, you dragged me over to that side.”

They both laughed.

“Come on,” Jon said, slapping her on the backside, “time to get this in gear. We need to shower, get dressed, have breakfast then go say goodbye to your parents.”

“And Garry, don’t forget your new fan club.”

“He did seem to take to me didn’t he?”

“I think it’s probably because you treat him like a small person, rather than a child.”

“Well that’s what he is, a small person.”

“Yes but Mum and Dad, and I suppose I do too, treat him like a ten year old boy. You treat him like he’s one of your friends, not your girlfriend’s little brother.”

“That’s because I want him to be my friend.”

“Oh he is, believe me.”

“That way, he’ll tell me all your secrets.”

“I don’t have any secrets.”

“Then he won’t have anything to tell me will he?”

She stuck her tongue out and climbed out of bed, standing beside it and stretching languorously.

“Sure you don’t want a few more minutes in bed?” he offered.

“What I want is to spend all day in bed with you. What we need is to get moving, come on lazy bones.”

She dashed into the bathroom and Jon got out of bed as he heard the shower running.

Ten minutes later, they were both sat on the bed, Jon towelling his hair dry, while Karen was brushing her long dark locks.

“Jon, about last night.”

“What about last night?”

“What I said.”

“You mean about being in love with me?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not taking it back are you?”

“No I’m not. I am in love with you. But I can’t put aside my slight impediment.”

“Impediment?” Jon queried, “I don’t follow you.”

“My bi-sexuality. You know that I like to play with another girl. It’s part of who I am, not a big part, but it is my natural self.”

“Are you asking my permission to have flings with other girls?”

“Not as such, just reminding you of my nature, and wondering what your attitude to it will be.”

“Well first of all it is your nature, and it is you I love, you, as you are, together with any warts or other blemishes you come by, whether I know about them now or not.”

He lifted her chin and kissed her lips gently.

“Can I accept your bi-sexuality? Yes, I knew about it from the start, and I didn’t back away. So, no you don’t have my permission to have flings with other girls. You don’t have my permission because you don’t need it. You are who you are, and who you are is the girl I happen to be in love with. So if you meet a nice girl, who you’re attracted to, then go for it. So long as you’re happy doing it, and so long as you don’t sneak around behind my back doing it. Look at it this way, if I know about it, it’s not cheating. We’ll talk about rules when we get home, but there will be two very firm ones. Firstly like I said, if I know about it it’s not cheating, so rule number one is, no cheating. Rule number two is unless it’s arranged beforehand, you sleep at home. I’ll let you decide whether that’s alone or with me, or with another girl, so long as I get to meet her. Do you think that’s fair?”

“I think so yes. Jon.”

“Yes?”

“Thank you for understanding, and for loving me.”

“I couldn’t do anything else.”

“And Jon?”

“Yes?”

“You know, if you want the same arrangement, it’ll be OK with me?”

“I don’t think I’ll be having a fling with another man anytime soon, or ever.”

“No, but what about another girl?”

“I can’t see me wanting that, but I’ll accept the offer just in case. Will it make you feel better if I do accept?”

“Not better, but at least then it’s evenly balanced.”

“OK, now come on, let’s get dressed and get some breakfast.”

After breakfast, they packed, said goodbye to Aunt Belle and drove the short distance to the Manchester, parked in the back yard again and let themselves in.

Frank was replenishing the bottle coolers, while Irene was busy cleaning the lounge tables.

“Good morning kids,” Frank greeted them

“Morning Frank.”

“Morning Daddy.”

“Have you had breakfast?”

“Yes thanks,” Karen answered, “we’re about to set off, and just stopped off to say goodbye.”

“Not goodbye, I hope, just ‘Do zobaczenia’.”

John looked puzzled

“That’s see you later in Polish,” Karen explained.

“Yes, that,” Jon agreed.

Frank laughed.

“I’ll have you speaking Polish before I’ve finished young man.”

Irene came in, having recognised the voices.

“Are you kids leaving?”

“Yes just popped in to say tarrah.”

It was Frank’s turn to look puzzled.

“I’ll have thee talking Yorkshire afore I’ve finished,” Jon said, smiling, and putting on his best Yorkshire accent.

“Have you time to stay for a coffee?” Irene asked.

Jon and Karen looked at each other, and communicated with their eyes.

“OK Mum? Upstairs or from the machine down here?”

“Can you still remember how to do that?” Irene asked.

“Of course I can Mum. Come on Jon, I’ll teach you how to be a barrista.”

They went off behind the bar, and Karen set about making four coffees using the big Gaggia machine. Five minutes later they were all sat round a table, sipping their coffees.

“Jon,” Frank began, as he placed his mug on the table in front of him,” I want to apologise again for Friday night.”

“Not necessary, Frank,” Jon replied, “you were a father protecting his daughter, perfectly natural.”

“Nonetheless, I was wrong, so once again, I’m sorry.”

“Ok, apology accepted, again. I’ve enjoyed this weekend, and meeting you, and Aunt Belle and Garry.”

“Ah yes, Garry,” Irene said, “the Jon Todd fan club. You really made an impression on him. He’s even announced that when he grows up he wants to be a doctor, ‘like Jon’.”

“He could choose a worse profession,” Jon said, “he could want to be a dentist like Karen, spending all day messing about in other people’s mouths.”

“In contrast to spending all day messing about in other peoples’ guts,” Karen objected.

“It could be worse, I could become a gynaecologist.”

“And I think that’s where we’ll end that topic,” Irene said, firmly.

“You must both come down more often,” Frank said, “and next time, stay with us. We’ll even replace the bed in Karen’s room with a double.”

“Daddy,” Karen hissed, “you’re embarrassing us.”

“We’re not blind darling,” Irene said, “and I do speak to Belle. Ok, so you have your own room up there in Edinburgh, how many nights a week do you intend sleeping in it.”

“Mum!,” Karen protested.

“Karen, you’re 19, you’re an adult, you make your own decisions. And besides, we like Jon, and he obviously cares deeply for you. Just remember though, that we aren’t quite old enough for grandchildren yet.”

“Ok Mum,” Karen agreed, looking down into her mug.

They spent the rest of the time just chatting, and Jon and Karen finally left just before twelve, after refusing lunch before they went. Irene however, presented them with a picnic basket to eat on the way.

On the way back they stopped again at Gretna and ate the picnic Irene had done for them. While they were eating, they realised that they had never showed her parents the photo that they took on the way down of the pair of them at the wedding anvil in the blacksmith’s shop.

“We’ll have to show it to them next time,” Jon suggested.

“No, it won’t have the same impact.”

They finished their lunch, packed the picnic things back in the basket, and set off back to Edinburgh. They got back to the flat just before 5 p.m. After dropping their bags in their rooms, Jon checked the answerphone for messages, there were two. The first was from Jon’s mother, confirming that Karen was now insured to drive his car. He paused the tape, went to the drawer in his desk, took out a key and ceremoniously handed it to Karen.

“What’s this?”

“A car key, you are officially insured to drive my car.”

She took the key, kissed him, said “Thank you” and went back to unpacking.

He returned to the phone to listen to the second message.

“Mr Todd,” a voice with a pronounced scots accent said, “this is Sergeant Lomax of the Edinburgh police. We’ve had a complaint about you, involving assault on a lady. Could you please call and make an arrangement to come in and be interviewed?” The voice then left a number.

Jon noted the number down and walked over to where Karen was unpacking.

“What is it?” She asked.

“A message from the police, they say someone has complained I assaulted them, and they want to interview me about it.”