Chapter 30 - A Family Affair
On Sunday morning they woke, but rather than the usual playtime they often enjoyed whilst lounging in bed, Julian was up, showered and dressed like a man on a mission. He was practically falling over himself to get them out of bed, breakfasted and ready.
“What is going on, Julian?”
“Just a little surprise.” Julian was being mysterious and definitely up to something, Callum could tell. But he had no idea what.
He ate a quick breakfast of cereal while watching Julian, who was sending and replying to various messages on his phone. Callum tried to grab it off him at one point, but fat chance. Julian was quicker.
“Get ready, handsome, and wear something nice. Maybe one of those new T-shirts. Be ready for 10:30 a.m.”
The plot thickened.
Callum went to shower and get ready, selecting one of his new T-shirts and skinny blue jeans from his ever-growing collection of clothes now residing at the penthouse. Julian’s outfit was no clue: similar casual gear, jeans and a formal white shirt, so they couldn’t be doing anything too posh.
Just before 10:30 a.m., Julian came back to the kitchen with a gift bag that had a large bouquet of yellow roses poking out of the top and something else inside he couldn’t see, maybe a bottle of wine?
“Right, come on then, surprise time,” he said, gleefully taking Callum’s hand.
He led him downstairs and through the business centre, to the lift at the far end.
OK, thought Callum, where on earth are we going?
Maybe the main lift was broken, and he hadn’t noticed?
Julian called it, and the doors opened. They stepped in, and Callum assumed they would go down, but Julian pressed the button marked ‘HP ’, which was the top of the list. What does HP stand for, Callum wondered?
The lift ascended, and as it rose, Callum heard a loud shuddering noise, causing him to flinch.
What the hell? He looked to Julian, who just smiled.
The lift stopped, but the noise continued.
The doors pinged open onto the roof of the building and framed in front of them, a large black helicopter sat with blades spinning, noise deafening and gale-force wind blowing.
Julian took Callum’s hand, who was now in a state of shock, indicating to keep his head down as they walked together to the helicopter.
Markus was standing by the door and helped them in.
Callum just went along with it, wondering whose helicopter this was, why they were getting in it, and where they were going.
A million questions whizzed through his mind as Markus belted him in and handed him a headset, indicating he should put it on.
The noise-cancelling was an instant relief from the deafening whirring of the blades above them.
They were the only two in the main cabin, which had seats for eight people in two facing rows of four. Through the partial partition, Callum could see the pilot as Markus got into the other front seat.
“You can speak, Cal,” Julian’s voice came through, as he indicated a mouthpiece that flipped down on the headset. He pulled his down.
“What are we doing?”
“We are going somewhere for a nice lunch, Cal.”
OK, thought Callum. He doesn’t want to tell me. I’ll go with the flow.
He sat back and relaxed as the helicopter took off.
Ascending slowly, they left the pad, and he saw they were at the opposite end of the building from the penthouse.
As he looked down, he saw a retractable roof, much like the swimming pool one.
As they circled, the helipad platform lowered slowly, and the roof started to close over it.
Callum just rolled his eyes… Bond was back.
The views of Manhattan were fascinating as they flew over the city.
Callum had never been in a helicopter before, and it was amazing to see things from above that he recognised.
They flew north where he saw areas of midtown, Central Park, including the fountain, and then upper Manhattan, with the huge skyscrapers bordering the park.
They left Manhattan, travelling along the coast past Stamford and Bridgeport towards New Haven.
Where on earth were they going? Somewhere along the coast perhaps?
But then the helicopter turned inland, and Callum lost track of where they could now be headed, not recognising any landmarks, but still fascinated by the sights playing out below.
Julian reached for his hand, and he turned to kiss him. He had no idea what was going on, but he just knew it would be something special.
After about an hour, they started to descend.
Callum could see they were coming into land at a very small airfield, with just a few tiny planes, definitely not any main airport, and nowhere he recognised.
They seemed to be on the outskirts of a small town.
He spied the G-Wagon waiting for them, with Ben in the driver's seat. They exited the helicopter, Julian holding Callum’s hand, Markus with the gift bag.
In the G-Wagon, Julian handed Callum a black blindfold that was sitting on the seat.
“Please put this on. All will become clear.”
“OK, kinky,” Callum said, laughing, but did as he was told.
The car was soon moving, and Callum sat tight. He could hear Julian texting on his phone next to him, occasional pings, then the warmth of his hand giving Callum’s a squeeze.
Callum listened intently, but all he could hear was traffic as they drove.
This went on for a while before they finally pulled to a stop.
He heard the door open, and Julian let go of his hand.
Cool air entered the car before he felt Julian’s smooth hands reaching in, guiding him out, still blindfolded.
He could hear street sounds, but nothing to give him a clue where he was.
Julian’s warm hands guided him forward, and he sensed grass underfoot, then a hard surface like pavement or road. He felt hands on his shoulders, slowly turning him to face a certain direction.
“Cal, I’m going to take the mask off in 3, 2, 1,” Julian shouted, ripping it off.
“Surprise,” yelled a chorus of voices. His eyes took a split second to adjust to the brightness, but he saw his parents in front of their house, his brother and sister-in-law and most importantly his two nephews who were now sprinting towards him, rapidly shouting his name, followed by the biggest hugs ever, which knocked him down and all three of them ended up in a happy pile on the grass verge. Julian reached to help them all up.
Callum had tears in his eyes. How had Julian arranged all this without him knowing? How did he even know who Callum’s parents were and how much he missed them?
“This is the best surprise ever, thank you,” he said, giving Julian a huge hug.
It ended up being a very emotional day, all told.
Callum hugged and kissed his parents, and his brother, his sister-in-law, Virginia, but mostly the boys whom he loved, and they in turn adored him.
He’d just not been able to get to see his family for a while but kept in touch by text and phone.
They lived in Springfield, which was a three-hour train ride each way for Callum, Something he just couldn’t fit in very often because the journey took a whole day.
He missed them terribly and felt guilty for not seeing them more often, but ongoing issues with the Iron Works and his new relationship had kept him busy recently.
He introduced Julian. “This is my mum, Veronica, my dad, Peter, my slightly older brother by two years, Andrew, his wife Virginia, and their two sons, Rufus, who is now … eight?”
“Yes, I’m eight,” chirped Rufus.
“This is Max, who we usually call Maxi, because he’s maximumly naughty, who is now twelve, I reckon. Right, Maxi?”
“Yes, Uncle Cal,” Max said in a fed-up-of-this-nickname tone.
Callum’s family were on their best behaviour, shaking Julian’s hand, but his mom couldn’t resist giving him a big hug, whispering in his ear, “Thank you for doing this, Julian, and bringing our boy home to see us.”
“You’re very welcome. I can’t wait to get to know you all better,” he replied.
What followed was a lovely Sunday family day.
Veronica had cooked a large pot roast with all the trimmings, which was served at the extended dining table.
They were a traditional family, the house clean and tidy, simply decorated with homely furniture, lots of knick-knacks, photographs of the boys growing up, wedding pictures, and special moments from family life.
Julian noted a picture of Callum and Jack outside The Iron Works on its opening day.
He took photos with his phone of some hideous childhood pictures of Callum, including one of him just in his underwear on roller skates in the backyard, vowing to get them blown up onto a canvas to hang in the penthouse.
Callum rolled his eyes but couldn’t help smiling.
Everyone fussed over Julian, who coped well. Callum couldn’t have been prouder.
Julian was coerced into basketball in the yard with the boys and Andrew, which gave Callum and his mom time to chat in the kitchen as she made last-minute preparations for lunch.
“Julian seems lovely, Cal. I can see why you like him.” She was clearly fishing for more information.
“Yes, he is. We get along very well, Mom,” he replied, still wondering how the day had all come about. “How did this get organised? I knew nothing about it until I opened my eyes out front.”