Chapter 17

Life was turning around for me. My grandparents put everything on hold in their life. Moses eventually gave me a week off instead of one day to spend some time with my family. My Grandmother insisted that I stay with them, but I didn’t want to intrude into their life so suddenly. I used the excuse that I had already prepaid a week in advance at the hotel.

Every morning after having breakfast, I would go straight to my grandparents and spend the day with them. I would see Jade at the restaurant to have my full English breakfast and late in the evening. During the day, she had her studies and university.

My grandparents were both retired, but they were very active pensioners. They helped at the local church with charity work. My Grandmother, Maria, assisted at the food bank with families who needed help. Grandfather, Michael was a professional photographer before he retired. He has a shop in Brentwood, which was his studio. Now he uses it as a workshop to teach amateur photographers the trade—all free of charge.

This week was an extension to the month they had in Spain. We would sit and converse for hours. I had so many questions to ask them about them. The feeling was mutual; they wanted to know more about my mother and me. I told them all the positive things about my life, leaving the part with Frank, as I didn’t want to distress them. I guess this is something they would find out about shortly. They were eager to go to Enfield to see mum, but mum and I kept stalling it. We all chatted every day on Facetime. I agreed with mum to call her in the morning before she went to work. It was good because, at that time, Frank was at work. I think they have suspicions about what’s going on, but they haven’t said anything to me yet.

My Grandmother always tells me to respect Jade and any other young lady and not to mistreat women. They are very fond of Jade; they adore her. She is always helping them with chores around the house and shopping journeys for them.

On one occasion, the three of us were in the kitchen. My Grandmother was chopping up some greens, prepping them for boiling. I was sitting on one of the kitchen stalls near her. Grandad, buried behind his newspaper, was busy reading.

Out of the blue, I said, “Jade stayed at the hotel last night. I don’t know.” before I could finish my conversation, my Grandmother cut me off.

She turned to me, putting the kitchen knife down on the chopping board; she pointed her index finger at me and said. “You respect that young lady, young man.”

Still, behind his paper, grandad responded, “You listen to your grandmother, Michael.”

I looked at both of them in turn first before I answered. “What I was going to say. I don’t know if Jade feels the same way I think about her. What do you think, Grandmother?”

“What do you think? You men are all the same, blind to what is going on around you.” my Grandmother responded.

My Grandfather folded the newspaper and put it down on the kitchen table. He said, “Here we go, you’ve triggered her off now. She’s going to tell us one of her stories when we first met.” He chuckled. Grandmother and I joined in.

The week was over. I went back to work. Moses was glad to see me, as the business had picked up. My grandparents insisted I stay with them. They made a few changes in the guest room, making it more homecoming for me. When I moved in, they fitted a flat-screen tv on the wall while I was at work. I protested, but it was a no-win challenge. Grandad went to the workshop with his students and Grandmother to her charity responsibilities. She would make sure when her two favourites males finished work, they would have a lovely hot meal waiting for them at home.

Three weeks had gone by since I met my grandparents. Life was good. The only thing that was missing was mum. I couldn’t bear the thought of how much mental abuse she was subjected to by Frank. I’m sure my grandparents saw the sadness in my eyes when they mentioned her or when we called her. The final straw came when mum stopped calling us or answering her Facetime. She would telephone us instead, claiming that she dropped her Ipad and the screen cracked. The telephone calls went on for a few days; my grandparents insisted on visiting my mother, but on the other hand, they didn’t want to be forceful towards her.

I had to say something, talk to someone. I was going crazy from worry. It was late on Saturday night when I broke down. Jade and I were out for a drink. It was late; I was very reserved towards Jade all evening, but not with the alcohol in my glass. It was after midnight when we left the bar. I insisted on driving us back home. Jade commanded on taking a taxi after seeing how much alcohol I had consumed. I tried to win the argument, but I gave up when I noticed I was wrong. Jade kept her distance from me in the taxi ride back to her house. I would spend the night at Jade’s tonight as her parents and sister were away for the weekend. When we got home, Jade paid the taxi driver before I could respond to pay him. She got out of the car and marched towards her front gate. I jumped out behind her.

“Wait, let me talk to you!” I called out as I was staggering to keep up with her.

She turned and looked at me before she talked, “Look at you. You can barely stand.” She took a deep breath. “All evening, I was invisible to you because you were busy cradling your drink, and now you want to talk.” She turned, opened the gate and started walking to the front door. “It’s better you go home. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“Please, Jade,” I responded in a whisper.

She heard me in the quietness of the night. “This better be worth it, Michael.

Ten minutes later, I was sitting at her kitchen table with a cup of black coffee in front of me. I had both my hands wrapped around the cup, feeling the warmth of the porcelain, looking at my reflection in the brown liquid.

She stood at a distance from me, besides the counter, with her beverage in her hand. “I’m all ears, Michael!” She came straight to the point.

That is when I revealed my life story to Jade. The only thing that was missing was the violin music in the background. I didn’t notice her near me. That is until she sat opposite me and put her hand on top of mine until I finished talking.

“You have to tell your grandparents as soon as possible,” Jade said.

“I can’t now. It’s two in the morning.” I responded.

She got up, strolled over and sat on my lap. She wrapped her hands around my neck and kissed me on the lips. “No, silly, you tell them in the morning.” She then looked up at the ceiling. “Now we go upstairs.” She bit my bottom lip giving it a little tug.

The next day we were having lunch at my grandparents. Once lunch was over, Jade kept on looking at me and gesturing with facial expressions to say something. My Grandmother saw her first, and then my Grandfather caught on as well.

“Is everything OK, Jade,” my Grandmother said.

“Are you going to say something, Michael!” Jade screamed.

“Say what?” my grandparents said in synchronisation.