Chapter 5: From the Isle of Man

Sunday morning, Lewis got a text from Jeff the manager of a local factory whose daughter Isla he had helped some time ago. ‘Hi Lewis, let me know when it’s convenient to ring you please.’

Lewis rang him back right away. Jeff told him, ‘My favourite cousin Sandra is staying with us until next Wednesday. She’s twenty-two and lives on the Isle of Man.’

‘Last Friday night, as per our agreement, Jack didn’t stop over because we had a visitor. When Jack came round Saturday morning, I’d arranged to take Sandra into the City for the day. She wanted to go shopping and I had a few things to do.’

‘I asked Isla and Jack if they wanted to come but they chose to stay at home. When Sandra and I met up again later that afternoon I invited her to have a meal out with me before we went home.’

‘As we chatted over our meal, she said what a nice lad Jack seemed. ‘Yes, I said, they’ve been together for about a year now.’ ‘They seem devoted to each other,’ she said, ‘Aren’t you worried about leaving them at home alone?’

‘I guessed what she meant but I acted dumb. ‘I think they’re old enough to look after themselves now.’ I told her. ‘But what if they had sex and Isla got pregnant?’ she said.

‘Oh, that’s ok, it won’t happen.’ I told her. ‘But how can you be so sure?’ she persisted. ‘I know Jack loves Isla and would never put her in that position,’ I said, ‘He always uses a condom.’

‘I’d have loved to have seen her face when you dropped that on her.’ Lewis said laughing. ‘It took a few moments before it registered,’ Jeff said, ‘Then she looked at me in horror.’

‘You approve?’ She said sounding amazed. ‘I do now,’ I said. ‘I admit I wasn’t sure about it to start with. But then a friend of mine pointed out that whatever I thought about it wasn’t likely to stop it happening. By accepting it, they could do what they wanted in comfort and there’d be less likelihood of any mishaps.’

‘It’s also made me closer to both of them. I already think of Jack as a son.

Of a weekend when Jacks with us, we’re one big happy family. On the weekends they go to Jacks, the house is dead.’ ‘You mean he stops over when you’re there?’ she said sounding amazed. ‘Yes, often.’ I told her.

‘I half expected her to start telling me I was wrong, but she suddenly started crying. She sat there with tears pouring down her face sobbing quietly. I reached out and took hold of her hands across the table.’

‘I had no idea why she was crying, so I just sat silent holding her hands. When she stopped, she wiped her eyes and said, ‘That’s lovely to hear, they are so lucky to have you.’ I was taken aback, she clearly approved, which was not the impression I had got.’

‘I wish you had been my father,’ she said, ‘Then I might have had someone like Jack in my life. I don’t suppose I’ll ever enjoy that sort of relationship now.’

‘You’re still young,’ I said, ‘There’s plenty of time yet.’ ‘No, it’s not that.’ she told me, ‘There are problems from the past which will never let it happen now.’ ‘Can you tell me about it?’ I asked, we had always been very close, ‘Perhaps I can help.’

‘I’m sorry,’ she said, ‘I’ve said too much already, I could never talk about it to anyone, even someone as close to me as you are.’ ‘Then there’s another answer,’ I told her. ‘Talk to a complete stranger.’

‘No,’ she said sharply. ‘I tried asking my doctor once, ages ago. But he just wanted to send me to a psychiatrist. I refused and I’ve never mentioned anything to anyone again, before tonight.’

‘I know a young man,’ I told her, ‘Who I know for a fact has counselled people of both sexes who have suffered all sorts of things including rape and sexual abuse. He is the soul of discretion and has an amazing success rate.’

‘He’s very young, but he is wise beyond his years. I’m going to arrange for you to meet him. No wait,’ I said as she opened her mouth to object. ‘I want you to go and meet him for my sake.’

‘Have a coffee with him, hear what he has to say about how he works, then if you don’t want to stay, you can just walk out if you want to.’ ‘I don’t know if I could,’ she said. ‘Although it would be wonderful if he could sort it.’

‘Well, he might not be able to see you before you go home anyway,’ I told her. ‘In the morning, I’ll ring him and see if he can see you, then you can decide. We left it there. I think she was just hoping you would be too busy, so she didn’t have to refuse.’

‘We finished our meal and went home. On the way she suddenly asked, ‘Why didn’t Jack stay over last night?’ ‘We have an agreement,’ I told her. ‘Because some people wouldn’t approve, neither of them stay over if either family has visitors.’

‘Now I feel awful,’ she said. ‘Please tell him he can stay tonight.’ When we got home Jack and Isla came to greet us. They both looked radiantly happy, they had obviously had a good day.’

‘As they hugged us both, Sandra said to them, ‘You two make a lovely couple, I’m so happy for you.’ She looked at me, so I said, ‘You can stop over tonight, Jack.’ As they looked at us both in surprise, she smiled at them and told them, ‘Nothing should stand in the way of true love. I apologise for keeping you apart last night.’

‘Jack and Islas faces said it all. They gave her another hug and a kiss. Jack rang his parents to let them know and I took Isla into the kitchen to make us coffees.’

‘I told her that I was going to ring you today as I had discovered Sandra had a problem. But I said I wasn’t sure if I’d convinced her enough to go and see you.’ ‘Let me try.’ she said.

‘I’ve no idea if or what she has done, but when I said I was about to ring you this morning, Sandra didn’t object.’

‘Well, if she’s going home on Wednesday,’ Lewis said, ‘I can be at the shop in half an hour if you want to bring her over now.’ ‘I’ll just check with her,’ Jeff said, ‘I’ll ring you back in a few minutes.’

Going into the other room he said, ‘Lewis will open up specially and see you in half an hour.’ he said looking at Sandra. To his surprise she just said, ‘Thank you,’ and smiled at Isla. ‘Tell Lewis we’ll all bring her over just to say hello,’ Isla said. ‘Then when you decide to stay, we’ll leave you to it.’ she added to Sandra.

Jeff passed the message on to Lewis and they got ready to go. Lewis had texted Mike out of courtesy and got his usual ‘Thumbs Up’ back. Then he had cycled over to the shop. Opening up he wheeled his bike into the shop, then went through to the back room and put the kettle on.

He’d just put five mugs out on the table when he heard a knock on the shop door. Going through he let them in. Jeff came in first, shook his hand and then gave him a hug. ‘Thank you for this,’ he said. ‘This is Sandra,’ he said introducing her. ‘Welcome Sandra,’ Lewis said shaking her hand, ‘We’ll talk more in a moment.’ Then Isla threw her arms around him and gave him a kiss, followed by Jack who gave him a big hug.

Going through to the back Lewis made them all a coffee. As they sat around the table Lewis explained to Sandra, ‘I work in the shop on a Saturday.’

‘After I solved some problems for Mike the managers relatives, he has let me use this room after hours.’ ‘Ella told me you had delivered a baby.’ Isla said. ‘Ella’s Lewis’s girlfriend,’ she explained to Sandra. ‘Yes, Mikes wife went into labour,’ Lewis told them. ‘The ambulance was held up, so Mike rang me.’ Sandra looked impressed and Jack added, ‘Lewis is hoping to go in for medicine.’

They all chatted happily over their coffees and Lewis explained to Sandra that if she wanted to leave at any time all she had to do was get up and go, no explanations. As he finished his coffee Jeff caught Sandra eye. She gave an almost imperceptible nod, so Jeff stood up.

‘We’ll leave you to it,’ he said, ‘Let me know when you want collecting.’ He thanked Lewis again and Jack gave him another hug. Isla, who had hung back until last gave him a hug as she whispered in his ear, ‘Sandra knows about what happened to me.’ Then she kissed him, told Sandra they’d see her later when her problem was solved, and they all left.’