Chapter 2 #2
‘Out of the question.’ Hugh squeezed Danny’s shoulder. ‘And don’t insult me again by mentioning it, or we’ll be falling out.’
Danny attempted a smile. ‘We never fall out.’
‘So don’t break tradition now.’
Danny swallowed hard. ‘Thanks again for helping us. As soon as the house in Henley sells we’ll look to buy somewhere locally.’
‘No rush.’ Hugh eased Danny to face him, holding him by the shoulders.
‘And no thanks required. You’re family. Not by blood, but in all other aspects.
I cleaned up enough toddler accidents to warrant being an honorary uncle.
You’re doing the right thing. A change of scenery will do you both good. He’ll bounce back soon enough.’
Danny hoped so. The last eighteen months had been agony.
Moving area was a desperate attempt to draw a line under everything that had happened and enable them to move on.
He knew persuading Connor to return to uni wouldn’t help things, even if his brother quitting before taking his final exams was heart-breaking.
But Hugh had been right. Connor’s mental wellbeing was more important than obtaining a degree.
Hopefully a new start away from anyone who knew what had happened was the key to them both recovering.
Danny met Hugh’s watchful gaze. ‘He’s lucky to have you in his life. We both are.’
Hugh tilted his head, a questioning look on his face. ‘Not sleeping?’
Danny frowned. ‘Why d’you say that?’
‘You only get sentimental when you’re tired.’
Danny pushed Hugh away. ‘Bugger off.’
His friend laughed. ‘Spoken like a true Brit. It’s only taken two decades, but we’ve beaten the Americanisms out of you. If I can just get you to use a knife and fork properly, I’ll be a happy man.’
Danny rolled his eyes. ‘I’ll never understand your obsession with cutlery. You’re the only person I know who owns a scallop fork.’
‘Etiquette, darling. It’s not a proper dinner banquet without a cucumber server and grape shears. Have my parents taught you nothing?’
Danny grinned, appreciating his mate’s efforts to lift the mood.
Hugh picked up a gadget and aimed it at the huge glass doors, which slowly began opening.
‘Besides, you’re not the only person who complains, James hates it too.
He’s never recovered from my mother mistaking him for staff when they first met.
It was the veterinary van that confused her, she thought he’d been hired to geld the horses.
It was quite the mix up. He still feels the need to lower his eyes and curtsey whenever he sees her. ’
Danny followed Hugh onto the veranda. ‘Poor man had no idea what he was taking on marrying you, did he?’
Hugh grinned. ‘He knows now.’
Smiling, Danny looked over the edge of the veranda. Cushioned below was one of London’s hidden gems, a secret walled garden enjoyed only by the residents of the mews. A canopy of large trees and the sound of running water from the fountain added to its tranquillity.
A beat passed, before Hugh asked the inevitable. ‘So, how are you doing? And don’t insult my intelligence by telling me you’re fine. You couldn’t possibly be fine, so don’t bother lying to me.’
Leaning on the railing, Danny stared into the pond, watching a bird flapping its wings. ‘I guess that’s the downside of having a shrink as a best mate.’
Hugh smiled. ‘I prefer to think of it as a bonus.’
‘I know. And so do I, really.’ Danny knew things would have been much worse without Hugh’s support. ‘I couldn’t have coped these last few months without you. But it means I can’t pretend everything’s okay. You know me too well.’
Hugh’s arm slid around Danny’s shoulder. ‘There’s nothing you can say that will shock me, so don’t hide. It’s important Connor seeks help from an independent practitioner, it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to treat him, but it’s different with you.’
Danny frowned. ‘How so?’
‘Because I know darned well you wouldn’t see anyone if it wasn’t me, so you’re stuck with me. The good news is, I’m free of charge, discreet, and non-judgemental. Plus, I love you, so you know I have your best interests at heart.’
Danny eased himself away from his friend’s hug. ‘Right.’
Hugh laughed. ‘Poor Danny. Still suffering from intimacy issues and you’re almost forty.’
‘I blame my parents. And I’m thirty-six.’
‘I blame your parents too. And yet the metaphorical umbilical cord was severed eighteen years ago when you left the US.’
‘Only because they died.’
Hugh shrugged. ‘True.’
Danny often wondered how things might have turned out if his parents had lived.
Would he have returned home to the US? Made amends with them?
Healed the rift? He certainly wouldn’t have become a surrogate parent at age nineteen and swapped partying with uni mates to making school runs and visiting dinosaur museums. He’d still been a kid himself, forced to grow up too soon and take responsibility for caring for another human being.
He’d never resented Connor or regretted becoming his guardian, but he still mourned the loss of his youth and being able to have fun and be reckless and free.
All that had changed overnight. One day he was lying in bed recovering from a hangover, the next he was answering the door to social workers and receiving the news that would change his life forever.
Hugh’s tone turned sombre. ‘Either way, you can’t blame your current aversion to relationships on your parents’ influence, it’s your own choice entirely.’
‘Don’t I know it.’ Danny’s body stiffened, as it always did when thoughts of Maisie Marshall seeped through the gaps in his carefully constructed defences. ‘Love is dangerous. People get hurt.’
Hugh let out a lengthy sigh. ‘You love Connor.’
Danny turned to his friend. ‘And look what that’s done to me.’ He rubbed his chest. ‘I’m an emotional wreck.’
‘And yet when faced with the scenario of potentially losing him, you went to extraordinary lengths to save him. You need love in your life as much as the next person.’
‘Connor is enough.’ Danny felt himself flush. ‘And you … of course.’
‘You love me?’ Hugh feigned shock. ‘The impenetrable Daniel Jackson loves me? No, stop, I can’t deal with this outpouring of emotion. Reign it in, for goodness sake, you’ll have me in floods.’
Danny turned away, embarrassed. ‘Stop taking the piss. I’m trying.’
‘I know you are, and I love you for it.’ He kissed Danny’s cheek. ‘Even if you are infuriating.’
Connor appeared behind them.
‘Ah, the man of the moment.’ Hugh turned to smile at him. ‘Like what you see?’
Connor nodded eagerly, looking a lot younger than his twenty-two years. ‘There’s a swimming pool in the basement.’
Hugh tutted. ‘Well, of course there is. We’re not savages.’
Smiling, Danny shook his head. ‘Prick.’
Hugh grinned. ‘Spoken like a true Brit.’