Chapter Twenty-Six
Grabbing the morning post, Hal headed to the local station and jumped on a train to London. There was a landholders association meeting and whilst it was a long way to go it was important that he kept up to date and start to build contacts across the country. He couldn’t rely on his father’s contacts, he needed new blood and new ideas. He himself was going to be a father and it was about time he grew up and started planning for the future.
One of the envelopes was handwritten and based on the premise that they are always the most interesting, he left it ’til last. The other was a confirmation of the cancelled honeymoon. He had spoken to Bianca the day after the charity function and had warned her against doing anything stupid like running to the press about Paddy. God knows there wasn’t much he could do to make amends to the two women, but he could protect Paddy’s privacy and he could stop Bianca by paying her. He had asked if she would be prepared to sign a non-disclosure agreement. In return he would transfer ￡10K to her account. It wiped out all his savings but it was worth it to make amends to Paddy. Bianca agreed instantly and again he wondered what he had narrowly missed.
He opened the next envelope and found a letter and a sonogram inside. He had never looked at one before but he knew he was looking at an image of his child. He touched the child’s face with his finger and stared at it in wonder. Carefully he placed it back in the envelope, then moved his coffee cup onto a table on the other side of the carriage. Only then did he take the picture out again; this time he also read the brief note from Paddy.
Dear Hal,
I wanted to take the time to apologise for leaving your event so abruptly and to apologise for everything really. I am staying with my sister in Norfolk and am well. I wasn’t sure if you would be interested but I am including a scan of Baby. The nurse says they are fine and all is progressing well. I know you have your own life to lead but I want you to know that whilst I don’t require anything from you, I will never stop you from seeing your child. Should you wish.
I hope you and Bianca were able to patch things up and I wish you both well. Once again, I am sorry for my part in your problems.
I shall let you know when the baby is born, but other than that there is no more to say.
Yours sincerely,
Paddy
Hal folded the letter carefully away into the envelope and continued to look at his child. Well, its mother may not want him, she had made that perfectly clear, but he’d make sure his child always wanted him and that he would always be there. He wondered if he had a son or a daughter but he didn’t care. He had a child and he needed to get his life in gear. He had a purpose.
As the train pulled into Paddington, Hal had formulated a few ideas and set off ready to put the first into action.
***
‘Excuse me.’ Getting no response Hal bobbed down to the hunched-over figure. ‘Hello, excuse me.’
The young man looked up at him warily.
‘Ah yes. Hello, it is you. Last time you had a dog? Good. Um. A friend of mine shared some Burger Kings with you a few weeks back. She had red hair. I wonder if I could share mine with you?’
The lad’s face broke into a smile. ‘The good-looking one? Yes. Here, have a bit of cardboard. For the pavement. You don’t want a wet backside. Trust me.’
Hal sat down alongside what he now decided was a youth, little past his childhood. In fact Hal thought he might still be a teenager. God, to think when he first saw him, he had thought he was an old man. With his back leaning against the wall he started to pull items out of the fast-food bag.
‘Now, I had no idea what to order but I picked out various things and I thought that if I’ve over ordered you might have some friends you’d like to share it with? Mind you, it will be a bit cold. I don’t know what they do to their chips but, they can go from burning hot to stone cold if you so much as take your eyes off them.’
‘Best eat them hot then.’
For a few minutes the two ate in happy silence. It was an odd view of the world sitting down here. No one paid him any attention and if they did, he didn’t notice as they were so far above him. He was busy watching the view on the other side of the road.
‘You see a lot more down here, don’t you?’
‘Like you wouldn’t believe. You see a lot more kids too. It’s like we are all existing on our own planes. Walking around you are looking above everything, or directly at it. The amount of times I see kids getting their faces bashed by other people’s shopping bags is ridiculous. But the kids see me. I think they envy me. Sitting down, not being dragged from shop to shop. Sometimes they wave.’ He looked sad. ‘But then they get yanked along by some terrified parent. Sometimes I wonder if they think I have rabies or maybe just fleas.’
Looking across he saw Hal recoil. ‘Nah mate, don’t worry. I don’t.’
Hal grimaced. ‘God no. I was just trying to work out how to ask how you cope with it. I was trying not to be rude and I managed to cause offence anyway.’
‘Seriously. Offence is the least of my concerns. If you live like this what is the point in worrying what someone thinks of you. Trust me, you’ve got much bigger fish to fry.’ Licking the salt off his fingers he grinned at Hal. ‘So tell me? How do you know that gorgeous girl? An ugly mug like you?’
Realising Hal was being teased he relaxed into the banter. ‘That sir, is no girl, that sir, was my wife.’
‘How’s that?’
‘Actually it’s a bit of a mess but we got married by accident and then it turns out we weren’t.’
‘You jammy bastard. I swear to God, anyone who ever tries to tell me that the rich aren’t born lucky needs their head examining. How the hell d’you get married by accident?’
Hal began to explain, until the lad was almost crying with laughter.
‘No wonder she hates your guts. You get her pregnant when you’re engaged to another woman. Man! What are you going to do about it? You’re going to be a dad. Mate, you’ve got to step up.’
Hal was prepared to take offence and then felt the air deflate out of his response. The simple fact of the matter was that he did indeed have to step up.
‘I don’t suppose she told you where she lives when you were chatting?’
‘Yeah, hold on it’s in my address book!’ Leaning over the boy patted a worn and dirty rucksack. ‘It’s in here somewhere next to my fountain pen and family silver.’ He laughed. ‘And I thought I had problems. At least I’m not an idiot.’
Hal raised his coffee in acknowledgement of an insult well landed.
‘All right, your turn then. How did you end up here?’
Sam shrugged and shrank a bit. ‘Usual story. Family problems. Got thrown out. Came to seek my fame and fortune. Ended up living on the streets. Game over.’
Hal took another bite of the burger that, like the chips, had also gone cold. The chill from the hard pavement was radiating through his body and a light drizzle had begun to form. He couldn’t even begin to work out his problems but he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he could fix some of Sam’s. Sitting here with a total stranger seemed entirely natural to him. As a captain in the army he was used to leading groups of young men. Sitting with them and making sure they worked as a team, as well as seeing how they ticked as individuals. It was a talent of his and he was surprised and pleased to see it hadn’t been something that had been left behind on the battlefield.
‘Can I help? I mean I know I can. But will you accept it?’
Sam looked at him warily. Did this burger come with a price tag?
‘What I had in mind was this: I live in Cornwall. I can offer you employment and accommodation. It will be labouring work until we figure out what your skills and talents are but you’d be paid the national average and until you are on your feet, your accommodation would be rent free.’
‘Why would you do that?’ Sam’s suspicions hadn’t lessened one jot. He had got a safe vibe from this bloke, but now he wasn’t so sure.
‘Because I’ve got the money and it would be easy. A better person than me showed me how to be a human. It’s not a solution to poverty or homelessness or anything else like that, but it could help you. What do you say?’
Sam raised a knowing eyebrow and Hal recoiled in alarm.
‘Christ no, you don’t owe me anything.’ Hal paused, clearly he hadn’t thought this through and this lad had no reason to trust him. ‘Look, I imagine over the last few years you’ve had few options. So I’m going to leave this in your hands. Give me a minute.’
Sam watched as Hal clambered to his feet and then headed off down the street. It had been an odd event, but his life was full of odd events these days. At least this one had included hot food and an enjoyable conversation. For the umpteenth time he wondered if he should get a dog; people always gave food to a dog and he’d have someone to talk to. He’d taken care of Old Tom’s dog the other day and he’d loved it. The rescue centres would never give him a dog, but sometimes people on the streets would give their dogs away if they went into hospital or rehab. Or, if they passed away, their dog would move onto a new owner, He’d seen enough dogs pass hands that way. Tom’s dog was a lurcher-lab cross who had now passed through six or seven hands, and had developed something of a bad reputation for outliving his owner. Sam thought it was hardly the dog’s fault. Only the weakest now wanted him, so inevitably they didn’t last long anyway. Sam thought he may go and have a word with Tom. Maybe he’d let him know that he’d be happy to take care of him whenever.
‘Hello again.’ Sam jumped. He’d been so lost in thought and he wasn’t used to people sitting down next to him.
‘Here.’ Hal handed him a piece of paper with his name, address and phone number on it and ￡200 in cash. ‘This is for you. Do what you want with it. But if you use it to get a train to Cornwall, there’ll be a house and a job waiting for you, with no strings attached. If it doesn’t work out, move on. It’s your money, spend it how you want. When you get to Cornwall, call me or just turn up.’
Shaking the lad’s hand, Hal stood up and walked away wondering if he would ever see him again.
***
James looked up in surprise as his son bounded into the study. He wasn’t certain when he had last seen him this energised. There was no tell-tale shadow of pain. No glimpse of sorrow.
‘Father, I know what I’m going to do!’
James raised an eyebrow. For the past year Hal had drifted in and out of schemes with partial interest. He knew his son had wanted to do more around the estate but if he was honest, James resented Hal’s interference. When Hal had returned from the army, James had been grateful for his help. A minor heart scare had caused him to slow down and things had begun to pile up on him. Now he was annoyed by all the changes. The old ways were best because they worked. Why fix what wasn’t broken? It had caused friction between them and, whilst one day all this would be Hal’s, it wasn’t yet. James was relieved he was finally going to have the young lion out from under his feet.
He had thought marriage might be the solution, but on meeting his future daughter-in-law he wasn’t convinced. If anything Hal had seemed happier after the end of the engagement. He had come back from London a week ago and Odette had mentioned that Hal was brewing something.
Now, opening his laptop on the table, Hal began to pull up various projections and spreadsheets, explaining his idea for a new charity. He was going to help the young homeless. The charity would give them a permanent roof over their heads and a mentoring scheme and he was going to get them working. They would each have a mentor who would get them back on their feet. It was going to be financed by backers but he hoped his father would consider renting Mellowstone Grange for small breaks or a week’s holiday, when the youths were resettled.
James raised his eyebrows. ‘I’m not sure you’ve thought this through, m’boy. They’re on the streets for a reason. If their parents didn’t want them and no one will give them a job, you have to ask yourself why.’
Inwardly, Hal groaned. He knew he was going to face this sort of prejudice; better that he started to learn his arguments now, here at home, before he began to talk to backers and fundraisers. Hal went on to explain his meeting with Sam and his upbringing, but James remained unconvinced. He tried again.
‘What these young people need is a support system. Some will need a lot of support, some only need the smallest bit of intervention to get them back on their feet. Whatever the need, we will provide it. It will be labour intensive and it won’t be cheap but it will be worth it.’
‘I don’t know, Hal. It still sounds like you are rewarding laziness.’ James leant back on his chair. It was a new treat to himself, a leather Chesterfield that tilted backwards. It was pricey but he loved the comfort it provided. What was the point of having money if you couldn’t treat yourself now and then? He returned to his line of thought. ‘And what about you? You experienced a terrible event. Worst thing that can ever happen to a boy. And yet you picked yourself up, got into Sandhurst and went on to serve your country.’
James’s voice was tinged with self-reflected pride and Hal wondered if he would ever be able to make his father see the world from someone else’s point of view.
‘Look, Dad, when I was in the army, we often saw young recruits who were there because they had no one and nowhere else to go. For some of them it was a complete saviour. You could see them grow physically and emotionally, as they found somewhere to belong. To be where they were wanted and valued. But the army isn’t the right place for everyone, and there were those who should never have been admitted. They experienced horrors heaped onto immature psyches, that had already witnessed huge traumas in their childhood. Those individuals leave the army even worse than when they went in.’
‘I can see you mean well…’
Hal was beginning to lose his patience. ‘And losing a mother is not the worst thing that can happen to a boy. Not by a long shot. What I saw whilst I was on service and what I have researched over the past few weeks has shown me that for all my grief, I was actually lucky.’
James rocked forward on his chair, furious at Hal’s thoughtless words. ‘Lucky! How can you dare to sit there and say to me that you were lucky that your mother died!?’ Leaning forward he jabbed his finger in Hal’s direction. But Hal was used to his father’s temper. An easy-going man until anything or anyone disagreed with him and then it was all fury and bluster.
‘Yes, I was lucky. I was lucky because I still had a father who loved me and helped me. Because I still had a home. Because I still had food. Because no one abused me, or beat me, or sold me. And if you ask me, I reckon Mum would be one hundred per cent behind me on this.’
James’s fury deflated. The idea of his child facing any of those injustices made him feel sick. But still, the idea of using Mellowstone was ridiculous. He would humour his son and wait for him to tire of the idea. It wouldn’t do for Hal to start poking around in the family finances right now.