Chapter 9: At Home With the Browns

Carla was waiting in the driveway, leaning on her car. She looked cute in his oversize sweats, he thought, thinking with a chuckle that he better consider them ‘her sweats’ now as he kissed her in greeting. He wanted to kiss her every chance he got. They walked holding hands round to the back of the house and into the kitchen together. Her Mum and Dad were sitting at the kitchen table with a mug of tea each, and Brie sitting with them eating a bowl of cereal.

“Hi Mum, Dad,” she said as she breezed in, and squeezing Brie in a warm hug and kissing the top of her head, “hi Poppet. This is Bryan. I think he wants a quiet word with you, Dad.”

With a chocolate ringed mouth, Brie waved her spoon at Bryan, “Bryan, Daddy.”

“Oh, hi, beautiful,” Bryan smiled at Brie.

“Oh, right, yes,” blustered her Dad into his tea, “I suppose we better go for a walk around the garden then, all right with you, Bryan?”

“Yes, er, thank you, Sir.” Bryan said nervously, seeing his future father-in-law get up. He wasn’t as tall as Bryan but was definitely a lot wider and looked like he was built out of all muscle.

“Mum,” Carla continued as she moved towards the doorway leading deeper into the house, “do you want to come upstairs ... for a conference?”

“Yes, sure Sweetie ... what about Brie?”

“She can come up too, this affects her as much as me.”

“Yes, of course.”

The three females trotted out of the room. Barry raised his eyebrows expressively to Bryan and led him back out of the kitchen into the garden.

“OK, son, the floor’s yours, fire away,” Barry said as they reached his tiny patch of weedy lawn.

“Mr Brown, I am formally asking for the hand of your daughter in matrimony, and request further that you will do us both the honour of walking her down the aisle on our wedding ceremony. I would add in mitigation of this request, that I have been in love with Carla for many years, almost since we first met as kids, in fact, and she has lately confessed that she has had similar feelings for me for a long time.”

“So, this is not at all as sudden as it sounds?”

“No, Sir, it is something I have wanted for years, that I didn’t think was possible, and I’m delighted that she has accepted, with your blessing, of course.”

“Mmm, tell me, Son, if you and Carla married, what do you intend would happen to my granddaughter?”

“I only found out yesterday afternoon, Sir, that Bryanna Myra Brown is my natural daughter, and I want to do my level best to make her happy and regard me as her Dad in time. She doesn’t know me at all yet, but I will be building bridges with her from today.”

“So what brought you back into our daughter and granddaughter’s lives after all this time?”

“It was my father’s girlfriend Sadie Forrest that let me know that she retained your Brown surname, after seeing her at the doctors’ surgery last winter. She didn’t know I had feelings for her but remembered that she was in my year at school. Sadie couldn’t remember Carla’s surname during their conversation, but the nurse called out ‘Miss Brown’, when it was her turn. Sadie then remembered her and tied more than a few things together. A lot of people think Sadie is a dizzy-brained blonde, but she is pretty sharp, so she also remembered her brother working with you that same year-”

“Yeah, Glen Forrest, he’s a plasterer now, does a good job, he’s the first guy I go to for that. Glen’s the same as he always was, looks slow on the uptake, but a good worker, cute with his pricing and earns a good living.”

“Well, Glen saw me force Cox to apologise to Carla, but that was five years before Carla and I went on our only date. Sadie put two and two together and realised that I must’ve had feelings for Carla way back then otherwise I wouldn’t have got involved. Anyway, I thought Carla had gone straight back to going out with Cox, but with so many couples never actually marrying or keeping their names as I was sure Cox was the man she wanted-”

“Huh! That Gary Cox is a complete waste of space, Carla was never serious about him. Look, Bryan, Mrs Brown and Carla talk about their personal lives to a much greater depth than I ever could with my boys and, very recently, Myra has spoken to me about some of it, and I know for a fact that Gary Cox was never a serious contender for her heart.”

“It was Sadie persuaded me to spend some leave time up here and see if I could see Carla and find out what her feelings were. Sadie didn’t even mention Brie, I think she must’ve thought that if I knew she had a child I would not want to interfere. I must admit, when I saw her unexpectedly, with a kid in tow and a ring on her finger...”

“Yeah, I can imagine. You know she only wears the ring-”

“Yes, she said, so did Mrs Kingstone who was working the tills. Anyway, I had all that leave time and unspent savings and wanted somewhere so I could put down roots. I couldn’t afford a place near where my Mum lives now, so I bought online that house in Cooper’s Meadow, because this is where I grew up and still had old friends that I wanted to remain in contact with. This was where I wanted to settle down when my Army career ends.”

“So what are your career prospects, because a birdie told me you were heading for a manager’s job at Tanner’s?”

“That is a temporary job that my father arranged for me, as they have already made a permanent appointment, but he can’t start for three months for contractual reasons. It all worked out very well for me. As for my career path, my prospects are very good, Sir, excellent in fact. I am presently a Captain in the Household Cavalry, the Life Guards, stationed at Windsor Castle, Berkshire. It’s the first battalion in the Army and attracts the very best of the very best. I have seen action, mostly in Afghanistan, the Middle East and North Africa, in command of a light tank squadron. However, in October I start a three-year secondment to the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst, teaching cadets on their 44-week course leading to a commission. I am very good at my job, Sir, and been advised that I could consider at least achieving Lieutenant Colonel rank by the time I retire.”

“Why buy the house in Cooper’s Meadow, son, if you are moving out and by your own admission, will be living in Berkshire for the next few years, possibly until you retire?”

“I needed a house to come back to when my family are ready to settle down, Sir. Houses are still a good investment and my savings were earning almost no interest sitting in the bank.”

Barry nodded in agreement. “I’ve got to ask this son, what will happen if, on active service or through an accident, you don’t make it to retirement?”

“The mortgage is insured, so if I die or even unable to work, it is paid off immediately. I also have separate ‘death in service’ cover which would provide my next of kin with a lump sum or an annuity, currently an eight-figure total, which will rise as I progress through the promotion cycle. I assure you that my family will be well provided for, with me or without me.”

“All right, Bryan, I suppose you better start calling me ‘Dad’ now instead of ‘Sir’,” Barry smiled as he extended his right hand to Bryan to shake, which Bryan readily took. “Why not ring and invite your Dad, Sadie and the baby to the BBQ, Carla bought a lot more food than usual. Maybe she had a premonition.”

“She did see me in the Fisherman’s Thursday night.”

“That might’ve done it then,” Barry laughed. “So ring your Dad, yes?”

“I’m sending him a text now, rather than ring him,” Bryan said, grinning, looking up from his phone, “he likes to sleep in Saturday mornings, Sadie allows him that little luxury. My Mum is also driving up here with her boyfriend from Sussex-”

“Invite your Mum, son, we’re all one big happy family here, but you better come back and help me with the grilling.”

“Thank you, I will.”

He sent off a second message, including the Brown’s address, he knew it by heart after entering it in the sat-nav on Thursday.

“So what are your plans for today between now and our BBQ?” Barry asked, “you must have a lot you want to do to make this early a start.”