2. Max
CHAPTER 2
MAX
I stared at my youngest brother as he flexed his biceps in the speckled mirror of the changing rooms, wondering just how he’d managed to find someone to marry him.
Some things were incomprehensible.
“How does Georgia put up with you?”
He smirked at me through the mirror. “I don’t behave like this at home. I save it for my eldest brother, the person who wiped my arse when I was a baby.”
He wasn’t wrong. I had changed his nappy a few times and was pretty sure that was why I had a poor sense of smell.
“I’m not sure if to be grateful for that or not. If you didn’t have Georgia, you’d probably be at our house all the time.” Seph and my wife, Victoria seemed to rather like each other. I could totally understand why Seph adored Vic, but I had no idea why she was so fond of him.
“Or Mum and Dad’s.” He sat down on the bench opposite me, the flexing having thankfully finished. “Why do you think they’re having us all round?”
I shrugged, pulling on a fresh T-shirt. We’d finished rugby practice and I’d already showered, while the rest of the team were still fannying around. I’d promised Vic I would get people back to ours for a reasonable time and in a reasonable state for a barbecue. The weather was forecast to be good all weekend and our house had the biggest garden out of everyone’s, so the plan was for some of the kids to camp in the garden.
“Maybe they’re going to spend more time in Toronto or New York.” I was just relieved that it had nothing to do with ill health. They’d both had a couple of scares in the last few years but recently had been fit and well.
Seph shook his head. “I think I know what it is.”
“What’s that?”
He leaned closer to me and kept his voice low. “I think they’re selling the house.”
I frowned, shaking my head. “There’s no way Marie would leave that house.”
“I disagree. And I think I know who’s buying it.” He looked tense, which was unusual for my brother. “Want to start walking over?”
Clearly there was something he wanted to tell me.
“Sure. Let me just yell at Cal and Jacks to hurry up.” I went and did that, unsurprised that both of them were sitting in just underwear – thank fuck – on one of the benches with a can of beer.
Rugby brought out the worst in us, apparently. But that was according to Claire.
We headed across the field to a gap in the fence that was a thistly shortcut in the direction of our parents, slightly overgrown due to a warm wet summer. By the time we got to November, it’d be a more obvious path, trampled down by both the death-knell of autumn and feet.
“What’s up?” I asked Seph after a pointless conversation about training during the week.
“I think the house is being bought by Rose’s new surgeon.” His voice was emotionless.
I stopped walking. “Did you just say Rose’s surgeon?”
He nodded, stopping a few steps from me and turning round. “Rose’s surgeon. Her new one. The old one’s retiring, which is a bit of a pain, but the new one – the one who’ll carry out the surgery – will do it.”
“I’m sorry. I think I’ve missed a key bit of information here.” The world was spinning and I had nothing to hold on to. Rose was Seph’s step-daughter, twelve years old and bright and brilliant. She hung around our office more than any of the other kids, partly because she was older, but also because her mum worked there as well as Seph and it was on her way home from school. She’d sometimes hide in my office to do her homework and help herself to the snacks I hid in there just for her.
Seph took a long, slow breath. “Callum and Wren know, but Georgia didn’t want to tell anyone at work yet because Rose didn’t want people to know. She doesn’t want a fuss made and she knows what you’re all like, so don’t be pissed off that you don’t already know.”
“I’m on worst-case scenarios right now so start talking.” Else I was going to tackle him to the ground, which wouldn’t be in anyone’s best interests.
“It isn’t life threatening as long as it’s treated. Which it will be in five weeks so she’ll miss the start of school, which she’s not happy about.” He managed a smile. “She was getting really breathless, weirdly so, a few weeks ago so we took her to a doctor’s. They picked up on heart arrhythmia, so we went to a cardiologist and it turns out she has an atrial septal defect, which is basically a hole in the heart. It isn’t huge but it’s not small enough to just monitor it, so she’s scheduled for cardiac catheterisation.”
“Is that where they do the surgery through a vein in your leg?” I was no medic but I read a lot of shit on the internet.
“Yeah, it’s mad how they do it. Georgia researched surgeons and she wanted this bloke who’s retiring, so we’ve got his nephew, who’s apparently better. We saw the old surgeon this week who was going on about his nephew moving here and described the house he was hoping to buy and it sounded just like ours.” Seph ran a hand through his hair. “Mum and Dad don’t know about Rose, so I’m going to tell everyone today.”
“Good. And no one will fuss over her if she doesn’t want that.” My eyes felt hot and I blinked back tears which rarely fell, unless it was something to do with the kids. I had countless nieces and nephews as well as my own boy and girl, plus the children of the cousins we were closest to and I’d happily go to prison for any of them. Or give them an organ, my blood – whatever they needed.
“She won’t want that. You’ll have to pretend not to know. But she is going to be okay, we know that, and we know the operation will be fine.” He spoke to the air rather than me, as if he was telling himself.
I knew that no operation was failsafe. There was risk with the anaesthetic, risk of infection, risk it wouldn’t work. If I was Seph I’d be a nervous wreck rocking in a corner, and later I’d probably be doing just that, even though Rose was my niece and not my daughter.
“It will.” I paused, taking a deep breath of my own. “Are you okay?”
He looked at me with eyes that hadn’t seemed that fearful since he was seven and a boy at school was picking on him. I’d sorted that easily. This wouldn’t be the same although if I could I would.
“No, but I can’t let Georgia know that.” He stared at the floor. “She’s worried but she’s trying to hide it from Rose, who knows anyway because Rose always knows everything. Georgia’s not sleeping well, she’s really out of sorts even though we’ve been told the same from three different doctors that Rose will be okay. They’re going to check the other kids in case it’s genetic, and Georgia’s worried about the others needing surgery, plus then we’ve had all the stuff about whether it’s from Rose’s dad and should she get in touch with him. Yeah, it’s been fun.”
“You’ve been okay at work.”
Seph nodded. “I’ve needed an escape, but apart from that you haven’t seen either of us for the last two weeks.”
He was right and I hadn’t noticed. “I wished you’d said.”
“I probably would’ve if Georgia hadn’t been so against it. And she’s not thinking straight.” He slapped my back, a little harder than brotherly. “We should get walking. Game face on.”
“Promise me you’ll tell the rest of us after Mum and Dad have announced they’ve spent the inheritance on a trip to the moon or something.” I slapped him back, but not as hard, then pulled him into me for a hug.
“I will. Georgia knows I’m telling everyone.” He pushed me away. “Did you wash properly because you still stink.”
I sniffed my armpits. “I smell amazing. What the fuck are you talking about?”
We congregated on the landing of the second floor, which had been the shared space for me, Jackson and Callum. It was the space where I’d had my first blow job, although no one actually knew that. Claire’s little legend about who my first time was with was nothing more than a story spread by a girl she knew, and I’d left it at that, even though it did my reputation no favours.
It was also the space where plenty more memories had been made, right from when we were in single digits of age and had just moved to the city, the house in Oxford not a great space for us for a period and we’d needed to be closer to Dad when he was at work, It was where we’d first properly lived with Marie, and where they’d both gotten ready for their wedding.
If Seph was right, and there was always the chance that he wasn’t, then my siblings were about to launch into meltdown.
“Thank you all for cancelling your busy diaries to gather here today.” Our father, his hair now more grey than dark, and a portent to what I was going to look like in another twenty or so years, looked round at us like he was a deacon about to administer his teachings.
Jackson spluttered. “You realise we’ve all got kids. Our diaries only have work stuff and kids’ parties written in them now. And medical appointments. My chiropractor’s my Monday evening date each week.”
“You should’ve said,” Callum chirped in. “I could sort your back out. I’d take great pleasure in it.”
“You just did. That last fucking tackle’s wounded me.” Jackson rubbed at his back and looked offended.
“Language.” That was Marie.
“Pot and kettle,” I couldn’t let that one go. One of my earliest memories of Marie involved her swearing when she dropped a hairdryer on her foot.
“You could put the kettle on,” was her response. “After. We have wine and beer in the fridge for after.” She sat up a little straighter. “And champagne. We have that too.”
“Are we celebrating?” Ava, my littlest sister who could do no wrong apart from having married my friend and one of the other partners in the firm, asked.
Seph almost toppled off his seat. “If we’re celebrating whatever you’re telling us, I need to give my news else it’s going to put a dampener on it.”
Some insight from the boy. A rare thing.
I gave him a slight nod when he looked at me. This was the right thing to do for everyone’s sake, especially him.
Everyone quietened. They already knew this wasn’t good news.
“The first thing you need to know is that everything’s going to be okay. This is a thing we have to fix, but after that, there are no predicted issues. Please don’t bombard me with questions after I’ve told you or ask why I didn’t tell you straight away. I just want to tell you this and then have a good day with everyone being together.” He looked like he was trying to relax and doing a bad job of it.
“Get to the point, Joseph.” Marie tapped him on the shoulder. “The anticipation’s going to make it worse.”
“It’s Rose. She needs heart surgery.”
For the next five minutes he explained what he’d told me, Callum the only other person speaking, explaining terms we weren't familiar with and assuring us that this was a pretty common malady, mainly because he was a vet and had a better grasp of anything medical than the rest of put together, and even then it was usually to do with big cats and farm animals.
“I know two children who’ve had this done,” Claire said, when Seph had finished. “And both are doing brilliantly now. They have a check-up every year or so, but one of them’s just hit the top of her age group in the county for long distance running.”
Seph laughed and it didn’t sound forced. “I think Rose is hoping this gets her out of any form of running.”
“Unless it’s to a bookshop. She was messaging Owen last night about getting a certain author into one of the stores and there was some serious emotional and financial blackmail going on.” Payton was a bookworm and she’d happened to meet her husband, Owen, in a bookstore which he actually owned. Owen was the only human on earth with enough patience to manage Payts’ neuroticism.
Seph smiled at his twin. They’d never lived in each other’s pockets but they’d had something different than the rest of us. “Tell him to book that author.”
“I will.” Payton left her seat and jumped on Seph, pulling him into a huge hug.
Seph buried his head in her shoulder, obviously upset, wanting to hide some of it although none of us needed him to hide it. He was the most emotional of all of us to start with and rarely kept his feelings hidden, never understanding why he should keep them buried, which was healthier than the stiff upper lip I used to practice.
Someone had the sense to go and get some beers and the champagne and bring them upstairs, a few questions floating round and I explained why he hadn’t told us until now, because Marie had ushered him away into his old bedroom for a moment.
“I think we should open that champagne now.” Claire reached for the bottle, the corkscrew next to her.
Dad grabbed it before she did. “I’ll do it. You’re mum’s coming back now and I think we need to get this over and done with.” He shot Marie a look that worried me.
“This really isn’t bad news about your health, is it?” Unless they’d lied to us, it wasn’t. All of us had ended up messaging Marie separately, seeking reassurance that they were both okay.
She’d gotten pissed off and sent a group message asking if we wanted evidence and would Dad’s latest letter about his prostate help.
We’d all stayed quiet.
“No. We’re both well and Rosie will be too.” He sounded so confident about this even I felt better. “Come on, Marie. Claire’s about to open the champagne.”
We were mainly stood up when Marie got there, Seph with her and looking brighter. She viewed us all, assessing the situation and what was going to be a bomb dropped, which felt obvious now.
“We’re selling this house. We have a buyer who wants a quick move – he wants to move in here in a few weeks.” Marie was still intently watching us, gauging our reactions. “So the champagne’s to celebrate new beginnings.”
There was a pop and our dad opened the champagne, passing the bottle to me to pour before opening a second. One bottle wouldn’t be enough.
The seven of us were quiet. Seph caught my eye, a quick glance reminding me that he was right.
In this case.
“Why didn’t you ask one of us if we wanted to buy it?” Callum accepted a glass and sat down on Marie’s chair. “We grew up here. Maybe one of us would’ve wanted to stay in it.”
Marie smiled, sipping the fizz. “What if two or three of you wanted it? There'd have been fallings out and we’d have had to choose and the place would’ve ended up with bad memories. You all have your own families and houses, and I’m sure none of you want the same bedroom as where we made three of you. Would you like more details about the memories that were created in that room?”
“And the lounge,” Dad gave Marie a wink.
I smothered a groan. This was being done deliberately to wind Seph and Payton up, who returned to being toddlers occasionally.
“I think you’re doing the right thing,” I needed to make sure this stayed on the right track. Seph and Payton, Ava and probably Callum, would be upset about the move but there were more important things to be concerned with right now, like Rose. “We aren’t here as much now, and when we can all get together we take turns. It’s a big house to feel empty.”
“But we could’ve bought it between us,” Payton sat on the arm of the chair where Seph was, her hand on his shoulder. “Still used it.”
I shook my head. “For what? It would’ve been a waste and we’d only be doing it to be sentimental. It’d be odd as well if Mum and Dad weren’t here.” I glanced at Marie. I knew she couldn’t help but smile when I called her mum.
There was more discussion about the principals of it, which petered out into furniture and things we’d left behind when we moved out, some of us more than once.
“What’s happening to the bookcase?” Payton asked. “The really big one in the snug.”
“You need to let us know what you want – and we’re not getting involved in any arguments, act like adults, please – and then arrange collection. The family buying it wants us to leave some things for them.” Marie sat down in her favourite chair. “I haven’t decided what I do with this chair yet. But anyway, cheers.” She held up her almost empty glass. “Here’s to Rose getting better and to new beginnings.”
“Cheers.” There was a resounding clink of glasses, an accusation of Callum pinching Claire’s glass which she said had more champagne left in it, and then the tour of the house began, supported by the beginnings of memories that wouldn’t be sold with everything else.