Chapter 7: Ernie Becomes An Uncle

‘We can be pretty certain that Ray will plead guilty,’ Lewis told the Jeffersons after Rupert had gone. ‘So, no one is likely to question him as to how he came to be here.’

‘In his statement to the police, Rupert said that Ray was staying here overnight with his relatives. So as far as anyone else is concerned, you were both here all night and he just slipped next door without you knowing.’

‘That was his idea.’ he added. ‘Rupert said you were a lovely couple who looked after everyone very well. He didn’t see why Rays actions should affect your job.’

‘Why didn’t he tell us the first time it happened?’ Mrs Jefferson asked. ‘Ray had a weapon,’ Lewis told her. ‘He had a wooden handle with a large needle sticking out of it. He threatened Rupert that if he didn’t do what he told him or if he told anyone, he would stick the needle up under his toenails. He also threatened to stick it in his testicles. So, he was frightened of repercussions from Ray. He was also too embarrassed to tell anyone what he had had to do, or what had happened to him.’

Mrs Jefferson looked sick as she heard what Lewis said. ‘The poor lad,’ she said, ‘It must have been awful for him.’

‘Earlier you told Rupert if there was anything you could do for him, just to ask?’ Lewis said. ‘Yes, definitely.’ she replied. ‘Well, there is,’ Lewis said, ‘But as Rupert doesn’t know anything about it yet, I’m going to ask you on his behalf.’

‘Whilst I have been counselling him, he has met my girlfriend’s uncle and his fiancé,’ Lewis told them. ‘They are past childbearing age and they both love Rupert. Rupert has got on very well with them and it is their intention to apply to foster him. Then should anything happen to his mother, they will adopt him. Assuming Rupert agrees of course. Although I am sure he will.’

‘What I’m going to ask you for, is for any help they might need in getting themselves accepted as foster parents, then picking Rupert as their foster. Also in the meantime, stretch a few rules slightly and allow him some overnight stays with them.’

‘They are taking him over to visit his mum tomorrow. I expect he will probably stay with them for tea, so I will tell them to call in and introduce themselves to you when they bring him back tomorrow evening. They do not know anything about what has happened,’ Lewis told them. ‘Rupert would prefer it stayed that way.’

‘Of course, I can understand that.’ Mrs Jefferson said. ‘It would be really lovely for him to have a proper home. We’ll look forward to meeting them. And yes, we will do everything we can to help.’ As Lewis got up to go, Mrs Jefferson said, ‘Thank you for everything you’ve done for him.’ ‘My pleasure,’ Lewis replied. ‘As you said, he’s a lovely lad.’

When Lewis got home, he rang Ernie. ‘Can you have Rupert for the day and take him to see his mum tomorrow?’ he asked. ‘Of course,’ Ernie replied, ‘We kept it free in case.’ ‘You can pick him up outside the home at ten o’clock. But when you take him home in the evening,’ Lewis said, ‘Drop him off, wait until he’s gone in, then knock on the front door to the other half of the house.’

‘Mr and Mrs Jefferson the homes managers are expecting you around eight o’clock. They will do everything they can to help you become foster parents and take Rupert. If you want to, they will also bend the rules occasionally in the meantime and allow him to stay with you overnight. But discuss that with them. I would suggest you don’t do that until after the wedding and you’ve got your new home.’

‘Can we invite him to the wedding?’ Ernie asked. ‘I don’t see why not.’ Lewis said. ‘I’m sure he would love it.’

‘I made some enquiries during the week,’ Ernie said. ‘Apparently it can take up to six months to be approved. I’ve sent off for the application forms but that’s all so far.’

‘I had no idea it took so long.’ Lewis said. He did a bit of rapid thinking. ‘Rupert needs you now, not in six months,’ he said. ‘So, here’s my idea. You don’t want him to be waiting six months so how about you suggest to him that you become his aunt and uncle as of right now.’

‘That would allow him to spend time with you, have people close to him and explain your invite to the wedding, plus having him to stay on occasions. You might also be able to do a holiday, you’d need to speak to the Jeffersons about that.’

‘I assume you will be able to get far enough through the application process to be sure of success, before you need to involve Rupert. At that point you can tell him you want him to live with you permanently.’

‘That’s a brilliant idea,’ Ernie said, ‘We’ll talk it through with the Jeffersons tomorrow. Susan wants to do a dinner on Sunday at hers,’ he said. ‘We’re inviting Rupert, Julie, Ella and Gemma, can you come too?’ ‘I’d love to.’ Lewis said, ‘Thanks.’

SATURDAY

After a busy morning at the shop, Mike and Lewis were sitting having dinner at the table in the back room. ‘I see the radio has returned,’ Mike said. ‘Did it work?’ ‘Brilliantly,’ Lewis said. ‘A young lad got saved from pain and distress and Aiden got another arrest under his belt.’

Just then his phone rang. It was Aiden. ‘Hi,’ he said, ‘Just to let you know, when we charged him last night, Ray was claiming that Rupert forced him to do it. Then I took him into an interview room and showed him the video. Boy did that take the wind out of his sails.’

‘In court this morning he pleaded guilty. As expected, the magistrate sent him to the Crown Court for sentencing. I objected to bail on the grounds that he had threatened his victim with violence if he was caught. As soon as I showed the magistrate the weapon that I had taken off him, he was remanded in custody. I’ll let you know when I have a court date.’

As he hung up, Lewis told Mike, ‘Remanded in custody, Crown Court for sentencing.’ Mike grinned. ‘Have you thought about becoming a policeman?’ he said. Lewis grinned back. ‘To many rules for me.’ he said.

RUPERTS SATURDAY.

At ten minutes to ten, Rupert was hovering by the front door. He spotted Susan’s estate pulling up and went out to the pavement. His heart was thumping with excitement and happiness.

Ernie and Susan had got out of the car to meet him. They both gave him a hug and as they got back into the car they told him, ‘We’re going to look at a couple of houses first. Then we’ll have a snack for lunch before we go out to the nursing home.’

Rupert didn’t care where they went. Just being with them was enough. Susan had selected three properties from the estate agents list that she liked the look of. The plan was they would go and have a look from the road today. Then any they liked they could arrange a full tour during the week.

The first one was a detached house with a small garden. It looked ok. It didn’t have a garage, so Ernie said. ‘If we buy that one, I’ll build a double garage on the side.’

Next, they looked at a slightly bigger house which had an enormous garden. ‘I like it,’ Susan said, ‘But I can see the garden being a problem as we get older.’

As they pulled up at the third property Ernie got a shock. It was a three bedroomed bungalow with a nicely laid out medium sized garden. Susan clearly liked it immediately. Ernie didn’t look too sure. ‘I don’t know,’ he said, ‘Let’s think about it first.’

‘Well, it won’t do any harm to look around it,’ Susan said, ‘I’ll arrange something for during the week. We’ll look round this one and the first one. Look she said, it’s already got a detached double garage.’ She was puzzled why Ernie didn’t look keen but hoped he’d change after seeing inside.

‘Right, let’s go for some lunch,’ Ernie said. ‘How about McDonalds?’ he said to Rupert. ‘Ooh great,’ he replied, ‘I love their thick milk shakes. Do you usually go there?’ he asked. ‘No,’ Ernie admitted, ‘But we thought you would prefer it.’ Rupert felt bad about putting them out, yet strangely pleased that they thought enough of him to do so.

They placed their order in the machine. After Ernie had tried a couple of times and given up, Rupert had to operate it. Then he had to explain what some of the meals where. Eventually they were sorted and took an order number to a table.

As they were sitting down, a young lad came past and said, ‘Hi Rupert, don’t usually see you in here.’ Rupert turned to Ernie and said, ‘This is Roger, he’s in my class at school.’ Turning to Roger he said, ‘This is... ‘ and as he got stuck, Ernie realised and jumped in with the first thing he thought of. ‘Hi, Roger,’ Ernie said shaking his hand, ‘I’m Rupert’s Uncle Ernie and this is his Aunty Susan.’

‘Nice to meet you,’ Roger said. Then spotting someone waving across the shop he said, ‘Sorry, got to go, mum is calling me.’

As he moved away, Ernie turned to Rupert and said, ‘I hope that was ok, I could see you were struggling.’ Rupert had a big smile on his face. ‘That was lovely,’ he said, ‘I can’t ever remember having had an aunt and uncle before.’

Ernie and Susan looked at each other. Susan nodded to him. ‘Rupert,’ Ernie said, ‘We’ve never had a nephew before either. We’d love it if you would think of us as your real aunt and uncle.’ Rupert’s face lit up. His heart felt like it would burst. He got up and went to Ernie. Giving him a hug, he said, ‘Thank you, that would make me so happy.’ Then he went to Susan and gave her a hug too, which she returned plus a big kiss.

‘That’s settled then,’ she said. ‘You’re officially part of our family now.’ ‘You know we are getting married in a few weeks.’ Ernie said to him. ‘Yes,’ Rupert said, ‘I’m sure you’ll be very happy together.’ ‘We’d be even happier if you would be a guest at our wedding,’ Susan said. ‘After all, we couldn’t not invite our nephew now, could we?’