Chapter 13

"I've got something to tell you mum"

"I kind of thought you might have" she smiled, "I would hate all this secrecy to have been for nothing"

She pulled the car out into the traffic and waited for me to continue, but I was thinking of the right way to tell her.

"I think I'll wait until a see a big truck coming the other way" she said quietly,

"And I'll drive towards it"

"Sorry?"

Behind me Sarah giggled, leaving me with the distinct impression that I was missing something.

"And just before it smashes into us, I'll ask you what it is, you have to tell me" she continued,

"Or maybe I'll just carry on driving until I find a cliff to drive over instead"

Sarah leaned forward and laughed,

"Jamie, we both love you to bits, you know that, but honestly at this kind of thing you're bloody useless, you really are!"

"Oh look" mum said, "Here comes a truck"

"All right, all right" I said, "I'll tell you now for God's sake"

"I'm waiting"

"If you still want her too, Sarah wants to come and live with us, here at the villa, permanently"

I really thought she intended to hit the bloody truck, she turned to look at me to see if I was serious and forgot all about steering the car.

Sarah yelled in alarm and mum turned back round just in time to avoid the lumbering giant, she was laughing and crying at the same time,

"What do you mean, "if I still want her too?" she laughed.

"It had to be asked mum"

She pulled into the driveway of the villa and getting out, stood with her arms outstretched waiting, for me and Sarah to join her in a huddle of kissing, crying and laughing.

I still remember that day with a great deal of sadness, but with some pleasure too,

Mum phoned dad and told him what she wanted, at first he just laughed, but then she said, she wanted the villa, half the cash from their mutual current account and five per cent per annum of the company's net profits put in a trust fund for me until I was twenty five.

"Yes"

"No"

"That's right"

It was hellishly frustrating, just being able to listen to half a conversation that was going to change our lives completely, but finally she switched her phone off and told us he'd been surprised at the leniency of her demands and had agreed immediately.

"He'll be here tomorrow afternoon with all the relevant documents, the company lawyer will draw them up today and we'll have a quickie divorce by the end of next month, he knows if I tried hard enough I could get evidence of his adultery and that would damage the company, so we'll go for mutual consent, it'll be all over in less than a month"

"What about you Sarah, how are you going to do it?"

Sarah shook her head,

"I haven't got a clue baby" she said and took mum's hand, "Let's go into the garden and sit in the sun, it'll inspire me.

The landline telephone rang as the girls went into the bedroom to change and a strange voice asked if he could speak to Mrs McPherson,

"She's indisposed at the moment, I'm her nephew can I help at all"

"You must be Jamie"

"Yes that's right, but who are you please?"

"My name's John Terry, I'm the rig master where your uncle John worked"

"Worked?"

I went cold, a shiver ran down my back,

"You said worked"

"Jamie" his voice was soft and I remembered meeting him once, a big bear of a man, who kept order with his fists, a man amongst men if you like, but a man who dried like a baby as he held his baby daughter in one great paw.

It had been at her christening that we'd met and I'll never forget that moment,

"I made this, look at her, just look at her, the most beautiful baby in the world and I fucking made it!"

The vicar had coughed politely and my uncle John had led him outside for yet another wee dram from his hip flask, while he got his emotions in check.

"Never be afraid to cry laddie" he'd said later, "It takes a man to show his emotions"

He was showing them now, or at least displaying them as his voice cracked over the phone,

"I'm sorry Jamie" he said softly.

The bedroom door opened and the girls came out naked, arm in arm, they saw the expression on my face and stopped in their tracks.

"John, wait a minute please" I held the phone out to Sarah,

"John?" she said in alarm, "My John?"

But she knew from my face that it wasn't,

I gestured her to sit down and said softly,

"It's John McPherson Sarah, from the rig"

I walked outside and rolled three joints, I needed one and I felt damned sure that Sarah would too,

"My mobile rang and dad's voice said "Jamie, who's on the landline?"