15 comments/ 26981 views/ 4 favorites Game of Life Ch. 05-06 By: Denham_Forrest Copyright© 2008 by Denham Forrest, The Wanderer Chapter 5: Lost and found I was over in Denmark for a few days when Vivian disappeared, or I suppose I should say that it was noticed that she was missing. It wasn't a secret that she was going away on holiday, I believe Katie probably knew more details than most of us, because she had been at home the weekend before Vivian was due to go and had actually seen the tickets for the coach trip. Kate didn't panic that her mother wasn't home when she called until a fortnight later, because she assumed that she'd made a mistake and her mother's trip must have been for longer than the seven days she thought she remembered Vivian saying she was going for. But she did panic when she could not reach her mother the following weekend. I suppose she tried to call me but as I've just said, I was over in Demark with Semine. Yes Semine and my friends with benefits relationship was still going on, we'd see each other about once or sometimes twice a month, one of us flying over to the others country for a few days at a time. Anyway when Katie couldn't get me on the telephone, she'd called her brother and Liz. Liz hadn't wanted to disturb my weekend away so she'd started the investigation; meeting Kate and later James at the house. Both Katie and James were away at college at the time. Liz found some paperwork regarding Vivian's trip to Rome and called the tour operator for more information. They weren't particularly helpful, but informed Liz, that Vivian had apparently left the coach tour in Lido di Jeselo on the morning of the fourth day. She hadn't been on the list of passengers who travelled on down to Rome with the rest of the party. And she hadn't used any of the accommodation booked for her for the rest of the trip. The person Liz spoke to seemed to think that it wasn't a particularly unusual thing for someone to leave a tour halfway through. Liz had pumped them for more information but was told that the only person who would possibly know why Vivian left the trip was the tour guide, but he/she was away on another coach tour and it would be difficult to get in touch with them at short notice. However Liz did manage to get the name of the company whose coach the tour company had used and Liz had set about tracking down the driver in case he knew anything. When I arrived back at my flat late on the Sunday evening, I found a note from Liz and Katie pinned to my door briefly explaining that Vivian was missing, so I went straight to Vivian's house where I found Liz and the two children. Although James was annoyed that his mother hadn't got in touch, he was of the opinion that Vivian had just gone off on her own somewhere, but Katie was convinced that something was terribly wrong. Katie, I think, was closer to her mother than anyone by that time and she tended to speak to her mother on the telephone several times a week, besides going home every other weekend when her studies allowed. It was apparent to me that Liz was very worried and she pointed out to me that Vivian hadn't called in at the office to join us for lunch in several months. She had been getting curious about Vivian's unexplained absence for some weeks. I think I made some quip about Vivian getting on with her life and maybe finding another man, but all that brought me was a withering look from both girls. I don't recall that James made any comment. Liz informed me that she had managed to get in touch with the owner of the coach that Vivian had been travelling on, but he — for the sake of the driver's privacy - wouldn't give Liz the driver's phone number. He hadn't ignored Liz's request for information though and must have called the driver himself, because he called Liz back just after I arrived and told her that the driver remembered Vivian. The coach's owner arranged to have the driver in his office at a prearranged time on the Monday so that Liz could speak to him personally. There was very little else that could be done that evening so Liz went home and I bedded down for the night at Vivian's house with the children. But not before I got my ears chewed off from Semine for not calling her earlier when I had first arrived at my flat, as was usually my habit after coming back from Denmark. Semine, like Liz and Katie was also more perturbed about Vivian's apparent disappearance than either James or I was. Although James appeared to be getting more perturbed as the women expressed their worries. To be perfectly honest, I very much suspected that Vivian, had just got lost on one of her history gigs. You've got to understand Vivian, show her a museum or an old building, like a church, castle or cathedral and well she'd be in her element for hours; time meant nothing to her. Personally — and having been to Venice once or twice on business myself — I figured she'd just got lost in the beauty and history of the place; I could imagine Vivian spending a month or two just visiting every nook and cranny. Monday morning I was awoken early by Liz — god knows what time she returned — and Katie cooking breakfast. Then Liz insisted that I called the police and reported Vivian missing; they didn't seem drastically perturbed either, once I'd explained the situation, but asked me to call in the station to make the report official. Then after we had eaten all four of us set off for the coach operator's depot in Essex. Liz apparently having already called Marsha who acted as secretary to both of us and told her to handle or reschedule anything that came up that morning. The driver was a nice guy and — as I suspected he would — he told us that Vivian had been fascinated by Venice. So much so that she was late back to the coach to return to Jeselo, having missed — like some of the other passengers - the waterbus she should have travelled back across the lagoon on and consequently missed the coach; it apparently isn't an unusual occurrence for passengers to miss the coach and return directly to the hotel under their own steam. Although the driver considered it bad manners for the passengers not to inform them or the courier what they were doing, because it delays the coaches departure unnecessarily. A little group of them returned to the hotel later in the evening by taxi; some of them — including Vivian - apologising to everyone for keeping them unnecessarily hanging around at the waterbus stop. The following morning when it was time for the coach to leave for Rome the driver had seen Vivian getting into a taxi — possibly the same one she'd returned to the hotel in the evening before — and the courier had told him she'd left the tour; but didn't enlighten him as to the reason why. I got the impression that there was some ... animosity between the drivers' — there were two of them, but we only met one - and the courier and mentioned the fact. The company owner butted in at this point and said that that wasn't an unusual occurrence on the cheaper coach tours where the courier is picked up on the other side of the channel. The drivers - who meet the passengers' first, as they go around collecting them all from near their homes - generally have a pretty good rapport with them before the couriers get on the coach. The couriers then see the drivers as the enemy in the gratuity stakes at the end of the tour. There's also the problem of what the courier would like the drivers to do, and what the drivers are legally allowed to do as far as driving hours go as well. The driver told us that he thought the courier was a complete tosser and rip off artist as far as couriers go. But didn't enlighten us on what kind of rip-off's he was pulling. From personal knowledge though I'm aware that he probably insisted on stopping at places where he would get a kickback or commission on any cash that the passengers spent. It's fairly standard procedure in the holiday industry. Anyway as it turned out the driver had no real idea as to why Vivian had left the tour or where she had gone. But he did remember the name of a couple who had returned from Venice with her that evening, and as she eaten breakfast with them the following morning, they might have had some idea of her plans. Liz was already calling the tour company again before he finished speaking to get their home phone number, when the coach operator told her not to bother; they would most likely refuse her request anyway. But then - after looking through his files - he produced a copy of the passenger list that the coach had been required to carry and which contained their details. Liz was on a roll by then and she was soon speaking to the wife of the couple, who informed her that they'd run into Vivian as she was coming out of a small hotel and she'd told them she had decided to stay over in Venice for the rest of the week. We thanked the coach operator and the driver for their help and headed back to my flat via my local police station. I thought that we'd kind-a solved the mystery, but both Katie and Liz pointed that a week isn't a fortnight and they were sure that Vivian should have got in touch with one of us by then. So the missing person report was made official. There was really nothing more any of us could do, so the children stayed another day and then went back to their colleges. They couldn't afford to sit around waiting for news; they had their education to think about. Liz had gone back to the office on the Monday afternoon and I returned on the Tuesday after I'd dropped the children at their respective railway stations. Nothing much else happened for the rest of the week. That's if you don't count plenty of phone calls between the children and Semine, and Liz and myself. Janice and Vivian's parents I discovered later were calling Liz regularly as well; it seemed as if every other call we got in the office was from someone enquiring if there was any news. It was the following Monday before we heard from the police. The officer who called me back - after I'd been prompted to call him yet again — told me that the Italian police had traced the hotel in Venice that Vivian had stayed at. But after staying there for five days she'd left again. They'd tracked her to the railway station where she'd apparently cashed a couple of traveller's cheques, but they could not discover where she'd gone from there. There had been some hearsay from the hotel where she'd mentioned the Eurostar and that suggested that she had been heading for Paris. But apparently she'd possibly mentioned Monaco and Nice as well. Apparently Vivian had paid for her train ticket in cash, and because of that fact and the time that had passed, they could not find out where she'd purchased a ticket too. It was all I could do to stop James from dashing off to the south of France to look for his mother. James by then had — like myself — begun to get really worried as well. It was unlike Vivian not to let someone know where she was. By the end of the third week it was becoming obvious that the British police had begun to take Vivian's disappearance a bit more seriously as well. I knew that when they turned up at my flat and requested details of my movements around the time she disappeared. An ex-husband it appears is a likely candidate for inclusion in the suspect list if anything untoward happens to his ex-wife. Even Semine got a visit from her local police to confirm that I was with her the weekend we reported Vivian missing. Oh and they didn't just take Semine's word for it either the Danish police questioned several people we saw that weekend. It wasn't until the French newspapers picked the story up that Vivian turned up again, she was in a clinic somewhere in the middle of France. All the police could — or would - tell me, was that she was physically fine but somewhat confused. Confused was to turn out to be a massive understatement. After a lot of telephone conferencing it was decided that Vivian's parents along with Janice would go down and bring her back to the UK. But as I said, there had been a little bit of understatement going on, or maybe the details got lost in translation. Anyway they did not return the following day with Vivian as I'd expected. "Jim this is serious, Vivian's lost her memory and has no idea who she is. She didn't recognise any of us, not even mum or dad." Janice blurted down the phone line at me. Janice - as you might expect - isn't one of my most favourite people in the world, and that telephone call was the first time I'd spoken to her in person in a few years by then. But the news she gave me pushed all the animosity I felt towards the woman aside. "Why not; what happened to her?" I asked. Now that was a pretty stupid reply really, when you've had time to reflect on it; but it was the first thing that jumped into my brain at the time. "No one knows, Vivian was found by some farmer wondering across his fields. She had no recollection of how she got there and had no idea who she was. She's lost her memory completely, Jim. The people at the clinic here actually thought she was Canadian; honestly Jim, Vivian's in a terrible state, she couldn't even recall her own name." "But surely she must have got there somehow. Someone must know how she ended up wandering around in the middle of France." "The middle of nowhere Jim, this place is about as far from civilisation as you can get in France. Strangers' stand out like a sore thumb around here, but the local police can find no one who saw her before the farmer found her in his field. They have no idea what happened to her; except..." "Except what Janice?" "Except they think she was attacked and robbed ... Possibly raped as well, but they can't be sure. The doctors and police over here think that she'd been wandering around for a couple of days until that farmer and his wife found her. God knows how they got it into their heads that she was Canadian, but it meant that they didn't do the obvious thing and get in touch with our police. Not that that would have done much good because you hadn't reported her missing at the time they found her." "Oh Christ what's the prognosis, have you any idea?" "Not really, we're in rural France here and there's a bit of a language problem; I never did do French at school. I gather that the doctors believe that Vivian's still in too much of an emotional condition for us to bring her back to the UK yet; well that's what I think they are trying to put across. Not surprising really Vivian has no idea who we are and she's only just got to feel secure with the French staff here. I never realised that my sister is almost fluent in French, did you know?" "Well I knew that she could speak the language; we went over there a few times on holiday. But I didn't think that she was fluent." "Neither did mum or dad, but she sounds pretty fluent to me. Jabbers away to the nurse two to the dozen. Jim, I don't think she believed us when we told her who she really is. I was wondering if Katie could come over; she's speaks French better that any of us and maybe James as well. I think the doctor said Vivian's mind needs prompting to remember things; surely she can't forget her own children." "I'll speak to them and see if they can get away from their colleges for a few days." "And, Jim, is there any chance you can come over? You were the main person in her life for such a long time." "I don't think so, Janice, not at the moment; I'm caught up in something pretty important here. After what she did, I don't think it would be sending out the right kind of signals anyway." I spoke to the children during the morning and they both expressed a wish to go out to France. After talking to Liz, she agreed — or rather suggested - that she take a couple of weeks holiday to drive the children over and act as my representative. Vivian had known her quite well and the two women had always got on okay. Honestly, I would have liked to have gone over myself; I was worried about Vivian. But, - call me a pessimist if you like - I still wasn't completely convinced that Vivian wasn't trying to pull some kind of a fast one. You know, once your trust in someone has been broken, you can never be sure what kind of a game, they are playing. Katie was really upset when she called me from France two days later. To find that your mother has no recollection of you at all and treats you with suspicion must have been quite a shock for the girl. James was a little less upset, being a little older, I think he'd had a little more insight into what to expect. "Crikes Jim, its difficult to explain, Vivian appears to have really lost it. I've never seen anything like it in my life. You know that when they first found her, everyone assumed that she was French; it was only her accent that told them she wasn't. She really can't recall anything at all. Although she's apparently accepted who she is now; she still doesn't recognise anyone, but she appears to be accepting what she's being told." Liz told me when she came on the line. Liz's knowledge of the French language was to prove a boon. Katie's French was good but she was young, and being upset about her mother's loss of memory and general condition, she was pretty emotional about everything. Liz informed me that when she was found, Vivian had all the signs of having been beaten up; she still had some bruises on her face and body when Liz got to see her. But the police had changed their minds on what had actually happened and were now under the impression that Vivian had been in some sort of an accident. The latest suggestion was that she might have fallen or possibly even been pushed from a train. A suggestion, that I thought unlikely but not impossible when I first heard it. But I was to learn later, that it had happened several times in the past. And the French police eventually appeared to settle on the scenario that Vivian had accidentally fallen from a Paris bound express train when by lucky chance it hadn't been travelling very fast. Their argument was that if someone had been trying to kill Vivian, they would have pushed her out when the train was travelling very quickly and there'd have been no chance of her survival. So their assumption was, that she'd fallen from a relatively slow moving train and by lucky chance landed in some bushes or something similar beside the track. It was suggested that the bushes cushioned her landing and were also responsible for her torn clothes, which had first led them to believe that she'd been sexually assaulted. It was also suggested that she'd been knocked out for a while and that was the reason that she was still suffering from concussion when found several days later. The doctors as they expected they would, had found signs that she'd received a significant blow to the head, besides the bruises all over her body, which it was suggested were as to be expected after such a fall. The blow to her head they also suggested was responsible for her loss of memory. Later back in the UK, some suggestion of a hairline skull fracture was spotted by the doctors at the private clinic in Hertfordshire that she was eventually moved to. The fact that a few weeks later it was discovered that several of Vivian's travellers' cheques were cashed in Paris and several more in Holland about a month after that. The police put down to an opportunist amateur thief having found her abandoned luggage on the train. They appeared to base that assumption on the fact that apparently no attempt was ever made to use any of Vivian's credit cards. Liz's presence at the clinic in France proved to be very useful, because it was she who organised for Vivian to be transferred to a private clinic near St Albans in Hertfordshire, less than a week later. It was some way out for us to drive, but it was far closer than the middle of France. Liz's organisation also surprised me when I learnt that she and Katie had picked up some clothing for Vivian to travel back in, from the house before they had gone out to France; I hadn't - and I don't suppose anyone else either —thought of doing that. Game of Life Ch. 05-06 Liz's conviction that Vivian wasn't playing some kind of weird sick game, led to me visiting the clinic the day after Vivian arrived back into the country. I arrived early and was led up to her room where she'd just finished her breakfast. Immediately she spoke I was sure that she genuinely had lost her memory. "I know who you are, you're my ex-husband James." She'd said the instant she spotted me walking into the room. Never in her life had Vivian — nor had anyone else (and got away with it) for that matter — ever called me James. My given name is Jim or Jimmy and not James. I have no idea why my father had been so insistent about the difference, but my mother told me it had something to do with his experiences in the Far East during the Second World War. Mother wasn't even sure that I was named after a man, but she was sure that I was named for someone who was very close to my dad when he was in the jungle and cut off from his unit for a very long time. Dad hadn't talked very much about his war experiences, but he stayed in touch with a small group of friends and they always drank a toast to someone - variously and very fondly - referred to as either, Jim, Jimmie or Jimmel, when they got drinking together. After my father had passed away, my mother suggested that whoever Jim was, my father owed them a great debt. Mother thought it was most likely to have been a native girl that she heard them mention had brought them food from a Japanese occupied village. The inference being that my father and this native girl were very close friends, and that possibly, she didn't survive the war. Otherwise - mother inferred - my father might have never returned home and married her, had the girl still been alive. How she knew this or repeated it after my father's death I never did discover. Anyway that's digressing, but the fact is Vivian had never, ever, made the mistake before and I'm pretty sure at that time that she didn't make it deliberately. "The children and my parents have brought me all these photographs of you and I together. There's no way I could mistake you, James." Vivian had gone on to say. Out of habit I corrected her to Jim. Well, if she'd always called me Jim or Jimmy, it wasn't going to jog her memory calling me James, was it? "I know we were married a long time Jim, but no one will tell me what went wrong; why did we divorce. On that paper there, it says irreconcilable differences, what did we do, fight a lot or something? Everyone clams up when I ask them about it, even the children." "You had an affair, Vivian." I told her maybe a little brutally. But what was the point in beating about the bush, I thought the idea was to prompt and maybe shock Vivian into remembering. "Oh my god, I didn't, did I? "Yep you sure did; with your sister Stacie's husband." "Oh god no! But it must be true, that would explain it." "Explain what?" "Well my other sister Janice has been to see me several times. But when I asked about Stacie, she's in some of those pictures; everyone kind of went quiet. My dad said that she's too busy to travel down here or something." "I think she bears a bit of a grudge, Vivian." "I don't blame her, what kind of a woman am I; what kind of a woman cheats on her husband with her sister's husband? "One like your sister Janice. She was having an affair with him at the same time." "Oh my god no! Please tell me you're joking with me?" "No, I'm deadly serious girl. And what's more, both you and Janice were aware of each others liaisons with the bugger." Should I have hit Vivian with these revelations as I did? Well, I'm buggered if I know. But I figured that she might as well hear it all up front. What was the point in not telling her the nasty bits about her life, you never know it might be the recollection of rolling around in the hay with Billy Banks, that was going to trip the switch that turned her memory back on. "Oh my, it's no wonder my mind's decided to wipe my memory from my brain. It's like a horror story. Am I that evil?" "No Vivian you weren't evil, you just ... I don't know, I think you convinced yourself that you were doing the right thing at the time. Plus the fact you were always attracted to the bugger." Vivian was suddenly scrabbling through the great pile photo albums and pictures scattered across the table in her room; eventually she found the one she was looking for, it was of the family at Stacie's wedding. She sat and stared at it for a long time before she turned and looked at me again. "He's nowhere near as handsome as you!" "He had a golden tongue, girl and from what I can understand he was sex mad. But to be honest with you I'd prefer not to go into the details." "I'm sorry, I just can't understand why I would do such a thing; we were happy weren't we. We must have been we were married for so long. And we had two such beautiful children." "I though we were happy, but I guess I'll never know what you really thought. Suddenly I discovered that you'd been bedding the bugger for several months." "Oh god, Jim, I'm so sorry." "Vivian I forgave you a long time ago, but it isn't the sort of thing I'm built to forget. We got divorced and went our own ways; actually I thought you were doing pretty well in your new life until this happened. Can't you recall anything about what happened?" "No, everything is a bit crazy until I woke up in hospital in France. I can remember waking up in the middle of a field and that's about it. Then there were faces and French policemen, then an ambulance then the French doctor. They though I was Canadian you know, something about my accent or something. Anyway then Janice and my mother and father were there, but I didn't recognise any of them." "Then Liz arrived with Kate and Jamie, with all these people telling me my real name was Vivian and that I was English, I had to believe them. But after hearing what you've told my I wish I hadn't. It doesn't look like I have much to come back home to." "Don't be silly, Viv, the children love you and you were building up a pretty hectic social life for yourself from what I hear." I might have been stretching things a little here but Vivian wasn't looking too enamoured about anything by this point. "Oh god, I don't think I want to know about that, thanks!" On reflection, probably of my own doing. I had to wonder whether I'd said too much. "Come on, Viv, life has to go on. Besides the children need you at home for when they come home from college. They need to know there's a loving mother waiting for them. And what's more I do believe that when Jamie finishes college next year you're going to become a mother at least. Maybe even a grandmother before too long." "I've met Frankie, she's a nice girl. But maybe a little manipulative." "What do you expect she's been playing her divorced parents off against each other for donkey's years. They've taught her to be manipulative, now she needs a nice stable mother she can rely on and keep a friendly eye on her. She's always had a soft spot for you, you know. Even when ... Well, she's always liked you." "And what about your life, Jimmie, are you going to marry that so called assistant of yours?" "Liz, oh my god no. She's my PA and confidante in many things but there's not what you might call an intimate relationship between us." "You could have fooled me." "What do you mean by that?" "I've lost my memory Jimmie, not my common-sense ... Although from what you've told me, I suppose you could say I lost that years ago. Anyway, whenever that woman mentions your name she all but sings it out. If she isn't in love with you, then I'm definitely not Vivian Sanders. You know, I'm beginning to feel very jealous of Liz." "Why's that?" "Because your eyes light up whenever you mention her as well." "You're reading far too much into a good working relationship Vivian. Anyway we are not here to talk about me we are here to try to get your memory back." "I'm not sure I want it back, I must have been a real bitch." "I'd say more like a naive bitch for a while, but for many years you were a faithful wife and a brilliant mother to our children." "How do you know that? I could have had a whole string of lovers from what you tell me." "I have to believe that you only strayed once, Vivian. For my own sanity if nothing else." "God I must have been off my head to have cheated on someone like you." "I hope I can take that as a complement." "You can, it was the way it was intended. But, Jim, do you mind if I ask. I'm not the same woman now; I can't recall a single detail of our life together. Is there any chance ... once we get to know each other ... That we might? You know we must have been in love once." "I really don't think so, Vivian. You might not have the memory, but I always will have." "Sorry please forgive me for asking, but I think it's better that we know exactly where we stand. Now, have you any ideas about how one goes about getting their memory back. The doctors here are quite vague." "I've been looking on the Internet, and there doesn't seem to be a particular method or treatment. As I understand it, little bits of your memory will or can return when they feel like it. Doing once familiar things and going to familiar places is supposed to help; but it basically seems to be down to patience. You may never recall everything, you know." I think after a tricky start the meeting went off amicably. At least Vivian didn't get any ideas like we'd be getting back together, although over the following months as she began to be able to recall more and more about our life together and we talked about it; I'll admit, that I did almost weaken. But eventually I knew she'd recall what she'd done with Stacie's husband. I've got ahead of myself again. After a lot of heated discussion with all the family present except for Vivian, i.e. her mother, father, Janice and even Stacie, plus our own two children it was decided that it was best for Vivian to move back into what had once been our house. Her parents wanted her to move north to be near them, but a new environment wasn't going to help her recall her old one. Hilary - the divorced mother of one of Katie's friends — who had become Vivian's best friend moved in with her for a long time, just to keep a friendly eye on her whilst the children were away at college. I called in regularly and took them both out for dinner etc. nearly always to places that Vivian and I had gone to when we were married. Oh, often Liz came with me as kind of back-up and Anna too when she paid an unexpected call to the country again. Well not completely unexpected and she did lodge with me for a few nights during her stay. Janice came down often to spend time with Vivian as well. Slowly at first, Vivian began to recall her memories, but later they came as a bit of a rush. They were a lot of tears when she recalled our married life together, and the children's birth's, christening's etc. -------------------------------------------------- Chapter 6: The Last Waltz Then came the day Hilary called me at work and told me that Vivian had tried to kill herself. Well, she'd emptied the medicine cabinet of just about every pill in there; not that I think there was enough of anything to be fatal. But in combination, who knows? Anyway Vivian's stomach had been pumped — an experience she later informed me, that she'd prefer not to be repeated — before I arrived at the hospital. "I'm sorry Jim, it was a really stupid and thoughtless thing to do. Haven't I caused you and the children enough problems already?" "The children don't know, Vivian, they've had their education buggered up enough as it is. Hilary and I figured we wouldn't tell anyone. The story is, that you took a nasty tumble." "Thanks I never realised that I could be so thoughtless, I had a revelation during the night and it shook me to the bone." "Up to date are we?" I asked after giving her a friendly cuddle. "Not quite, but I was lying in bed during the night and suddenly remembered being in bed with him!" "I see!" "I must have been mad." "No comment!" "No honestly Jim, as a lover he totally stinks. What the hell I thought I was playing at I don't know. Maybe I'll remember how I ended up in bed with him one day, but it's not an experience I'd like to repeat." "Pleased to hear it, but you did several repeat performances by all accounts." I'd have preferred to have relived some of them on those videos and DVD's." "Oh shit, you found them. God I'd forgotten all about them." "I'm disappointed, I thought we did well together. A damned sight better than Stacie's husband could do anyway! They were in the back of the wardrobe; I suppose it was lucky that the children never came across them. Anyway I like to watch them sometimes, in the evenings when I'm alone." "Oh Christ Hilary hasn't..." "Don't be daft, Jim, they are our memories; private and personal to you and me. I just wish there was some way ... But I know that's never going to happen, is it?" I chose not to go down the road Vivian was hinting at, so I replied. "You've got most of your past back now, Viv, I think you ought to stop thinking about the past; think about getting out with Hilary a bit more and finding your future." "I will try, Jim, but I must thank you for being so patient with me." "I'll always be here if you need me Vivian, but we are divorced and there's no going back." "Well, I'd say that you'd better look to your future as well then, Jim." "What's that supposed to mean?" "I've told you before that I think that Liz is waiting for you to ask her to marry you." "Both Liz and her sister Anna are dedicated businesswomen Vivian; I doubt either of them will ever get married." "I wouldn't be so sure, identical twins they might be, but I can see them falling out over you. And what about your Danish friend, you don't seem to have seen much of her lately?" Who the hell had told Vivian about Semine, I had no idea. I'd thought I'd kept her out of the equation where Vivian was concerned. I had to assume that Katie or Jamie must have mentioned her to Vivian. "There was a time when Semine and I could have got together, but I don't think that will happen now. She's met up with a local guy over there and I do believe they are getting pretty serious, or so her daughter told me when she was over a few weeks ago." "You never told me, about her." "I couldn't see much point Vivian." "Yeah, I understand your life is your own now." For some weeks after that Vivian apologised for the pill episode almost every time we saw her; the we, being Liz and I. It was shortly after the same incident that Vivian returned to work part time at the same insurance office where she'd been working before her disastrous holiday. She seemed to take my advice to look to her future to heart, because she and Hilary started going out together fairly often. Although because the insurance office wasn't very far from my office she did join Liz and I for lunch every so often and, from what I heard, Liz when I was out of the country. I suppose a year must have almost passed before Katie dropped the first hint that there was a new man in her mother's life. Jamie had finished his education and had moved back home with Vivian and Hilary; but I never saw very much of the lad because he and Frankie were ... Well I suppose they were doing what most engaged couples do. Anyway it wasn't going to be very long before Frances conned the biggest wedding in Christendom out of her still warring — or trying to out do each other - parents. Anyway Katie had come home for the weekend and on the Saturday morning she had turned up at my place with a questionable looking young man; I believe she'd dragged him along for my inspection. Well what could I say; what father ever finds that his daughter's suitors measure up to the mark? But he seemed a personable enough young man, so I didn't come on all that strong. But it was while we were eating lunch that Katie mentioned Grif. When I asked who Grif was, poor Katie took on the expression of a rabbit caught in a car's headlights. After a short period of um's and ah's from Katie that left me smiling, she blurted out that Grif was a friend of her mother's who she'd met for the first time the night before. Actually I believe Katie's trip home had more to do with Grif being presented for Katie's approval than it had the young man who was accompanying Kate, being presented for mine. "He's very nice, dad, if a little on the shy side. He's quite funny really although I don't think intentionally, never been married and gets all tied up in knots when he tries to say things to women." "Sounds like a bit of a geek to me." I commented. "Yeah I supposed you could call him a geek. But he's crazy about mum and that's what's important. Grif's not the sort of bloke to mess her around." "Glad to hear it; where did she meet him, do you know?" "At some work do, I think. Birthday party or something, everyone was dancing, mother took pity on him and dragged him out on the floor. I told you he's very shy, I doubt he'd have had the nerve to ask Mum to dance. Apparently they went out on a date with Hilary and his friend a few days later and he's been sending her flowers and things ever since." "Hilary and his friend, have a real hot romance going and I think that could be helping them along a little. You know what mum's like, she's a little reticent to get involved too much." "What do you mean, she isn't as keen on this Grif bloke as he is on her?" "Well not exactly, mum still worries about what you'll think. She likes Grif a hell of a lot, you can tell that when she talks about him. But you're still not hooked up with anyone are you dad?" "God she's not waiting for me to get hitched before she gets involved with anyone else, is she? "I don't think she's doing it intentionally dad. But you know mum, she was hoping that one day you two might ... So really, it's any excuse she can come up with not to get involved with anyone else. I think she's worried about what you're going so say." "Oh shit, what are we going to do about that?" Katie grinned back at me. "Well, we're all going out for a meal this evening at the Checkers with Jamie and Frankie. Wouldn't it be a coincidence if you turned up there, maybe with Liz and joined us? If mother saw that you didn't get all out of shape over her being with Grif, then ... Well who knows?" "Or it could scare the pants off of the poor guy; he might run a mile!" I replied. "No, you'll be your most charming self; magnanimous in the extreme." I will? "Yeah, if you like him. But remember dad, he's mother's boyfriend, not yours. It's mum he's supposed to make happy!" "On my best behaviour Katie, I promise." Katie called Jamie the moment we were out of the restaurant and cleared things with him. I had a little chat with him and gathered that he also approved of Grif. Apparently he could talk "networks and servers" and I think that puts just about anyone on Jamie's good guy list. But hearing that Grif passed muster with Frankie meant a lot more to me. Frankie was never going to be anyone's fool I knew the people at the Checkers, so it wasn't too much of a hassle for me to change the party's reservation. I'd told Jamie I'd slip him my credit card and he should insist on taking care of the bill with it, but without letting on to anyone who's credit card he was using." Liz and I were waiting for Jamie and Frankie when they arrived from their flat and I slipped him one of my charge cards. Then Liz and I stayed out of sight until Katie, the gooey eyed young man I'd met earlier, Vivian, Grif, Hilary and her heartthrob turned up. Then Liz and I, as subtly as we could, appeared. Game of Life Ch. 05-06 I got the impression that Hilary had been tipped off that we'd be there. Vivian got a little flustered for a few minutes; but maybe because the children acted as if our presence was the most natural thing in the world, she seemed to settle quite quickly. I was aware of Grif giving me sideways glances for most of the evening. Jamie and Frankie rose to the occasion very cleverly though. We hadn't been seated for more than a few seconds when they announced that their wedding date had finally been set for the following December. A rather clever move because it gave the excuse regarding Liz's and my presence; and it took the wind out of the "which parent do they tell first" argument. I tried to play the whole evening as coolly as I could, but I did find myself appraising Grif's worth as a husband for Vivian, whether I wanted to or not. Liz had to kick me in the leg a couple of times when I asked what she considered to be too probing questions. Look, a lot of guys have been there, when some young suitor turns up to court their daughter. Well, can I help it if I had the same fatherly instincts about the guy who was — or at least trying to — court my ex-wife? On the whole, I think the evening went off quite well. Jamie paying the bill - although both Grif and Hilary's guy wanted to argue the toss — didn't make it look like I was lording it over everyone. Whether they ever worked out that it was my card Jamie was using, I don't know. As Liz had predicted she would, Vivian turned up to join us for lunch on the following Monday. I know what she wanted to ask, but she didn't. Liz and I acted, as it was no concern of ours — as it wasn't - that she'd found herself a boyfriend. In the end, I think Vivian chickened out, because Liz and I - when we mentioned him - said that he seemed like a very nice guy. I can't quite recall exactly how Liz managed to bring the subject around to Grif without making it seem too obvious. My spare time over the next few months — when I was in the UK — seemed to be taken up with plans for Jamie and Frankie's wedding. Considering that I really had nothing to do with the actual planning - that was all down to Vivian and Frankie's warring parents, Vivian I think had been playing piggy in the middle for most of it — I was surprised at how much time I spent on it ... But I had to be kept up to date — by Frankie and Vivian — so that I could step in as the big gun when Vivian couldn't get them to come to an amicable conclusion on some innocuous detail. Eventually - with Frankie and Vivian standing behind me - I was forced to turn up at one of the planning get togethers and announce that Frankie had had enough. If the two warring parties couldn't bury the hatchet, then Vivian would organise a wedding that I would finance completely without them; what's more they wouldn't be invited. From then on Vivian was able to control things quite successfully, so that Frankie and Jamie got the wedding that they wanted. But along the way I picked up from Jamie, Frankie and Katie, that Vivian and Grif were going strong. I figured that it wouldn't be too long before they announced their own up-coming wedding. I think I assumed that they were waiting for the marriage in the offing to be out of the way before they told everyone; because they didn't want to steal the children's limelight. September that year saw another company soirée down to the Palace Hotel in Torquay. It was much the same kind of junket as we'd had two years previous. The difference this time being that I - and just about everyone else - was aware that Anna was going to be there from the beginning. For appearances sake, Anna officially shared Lizzie's room again, but she spent most nights with me in mine. For the kick, most of the time the two girls dressed identically; except for the evenings when one of them would wear something to differentiate between the two of them and we ran the "guess which is Liz" sweepstake. By the end of the week the girls had accumulated almost a thousand pounds for charity. I diplomatically threw my money in the pot every day, but I never won because I always bet on Anna. Apparently the girls still hadn't worked out that Liz had that habit of calling me boss when we were alone - usually when we were dancing - so I always knew which was which before the evening was out. Well, that's what I thought anyway! In the privacy of my room, Anna and I did talk a lot about Liz and my feelings towards her. You can't work together as closely as Liz and I did, without an emotional relationship of some kind developing. But Liz had always been adamant — as was Anna — that she wanted to "make it" — as both girls so succinctly put it — in her chosen profession, before she settled on a life partner and got married. "Raising children and doing a high-powered job at the same time, can't work. Something has to give and it's inevitably home life and the children." Appeared to be both girls oft repeated maxims. I was to learn later that their mother had been a businesswoman who took over the reins of their father's company when he died at an early age. They had first hand knowledge of the repercussions that had caused in their own family and upbringing; Liz and Anna had no intentions of neglecting their own children, as they believed they had been. I'll add that neither of them blamed their mother, they knew she had done what had to be done at the time. Where was I? Oh yeah Anna and I in my room. Yeah well, we won't go there, suffice to say Anna tried to kill me most nights. Still it was fun; I was lucky to have a friend with benefits such as Anna. I was really sorry to see her board that plane to fly back to Canada. "Ask her nicely, and I'm sure Liz will keep you warm at night!" Anna had whispered in my ear as I kissed her good-bye at Heathrow. "You've got to be joking Anna. Liz is far too important to me to risk doing anything like that with." "Silly boy!" She replied, then she turned away and walked through the departure gate. After that seminar I spent some time in Sweden, flying backwards and forwards several times during the month. I managed to nip over to Denmark to see Semine and her son Jahn a couple of times. But by that time Semine was hooked up with a really nice local guy. I did wonder if he realised just how close friends Semine and I had been at one time; but if he did he showed no sign of the knowledge. He didn't even blink an eyelid when Semine enthusiastically kissed me at the ferry terminal. I tended to use the ferry when I could because I always enjoy a boat trip. We'd arranged for Semine's daughter Edla — Ed or Eddie to most people when she was in the UK - to do a one-year internship at my company, lodging with Vivian whilst she was in the country. Oh yeah, Vivian had always known all about Semine, she'd met her and both of her children as well. Of course I'd been making a point; it seemed the most sensible thing to do at the time. Maybe a little hard on Vivian, but it had helped to drive home the point. Katie was home most weekends and she and Eddie went out together a lot; the girls always had seemed to get on well with each other. But, although she had never actually said anything, her body language - when he was around — had told me that Katie would have preferred it if Edla's brother Jahn had been doing the internship. It was pretty obvious that Jahn had the hot's for Katie as well, what with all the excuses he found to visit his sister. Semine told me that they'd never been that close when they were younger. Eddie — who was of course assigned to our department, seemed to be both fascinated and perplexed by Liz. As I've said before there always has this air of chaos around Liz, she still liked to play the dizzy blond all the time. But at the same time she'd amply demonstrated to everyone that she was not the fool she acted and she had her finger very firmly on everything that happened in the department. I think Eddie couldn't get her head around Liz at all, but she'd try to spend every spare minute she could in her company. I'm not sure what happened when I was away, but every lunchtime - when I was at the office - Eddie joined Liz for lunch. At first I'd put this down to Liz keeping a friendly eye on Eddie. But, you could say that Vivian was doing the same because she and Grif took to meeting us in the café we used for lunch as well. From what Eddie and Katie told me, it was unusual to find Vivian without Grif being around somewhere by then. It was Eddie who told me that something needed doing about Vivian and Grif; well I think that's what she was surreptitiously trying to tell me. Why else would Eddie tell me that Grif was carrying an engagement ring around in his pocket all the time, and that she'd overheard Grif asking Vivian, but she'd never given him a straight answer. "I think that if Katie's mother doesn't make up her mind, Grif might give up eventually." Eddie informed Liz and I over coffee one afternoon. "Well?" Liz eventually asked, after looking at me for a few seconds. "What the hell can I do about it?" I replied. "Jim if she's prevaricating, then you know why she is more than anyone else; or at least you should do!" "Bleeding hell Liz, what more can I do?" "I don't know; you're the one with all the ideas around here. But I think you'd better come up with something pretty sharp-ish." Liz insisted. "The wedding's in a couple of weeks, we'll see what happens after that. It could be Vivian is too wrapped up in that that to think about anything else at the moment." I suggested, hopefully. Neither Liz nor Eddie looked convinced, but they let the subject drop after that. Jamie and Frankie's wedding day dawned sunny, but cold. It was the extravagant affair that I'd predicted; what with Frankie's warring parents trying to out do each other. It was who was whose escort that I found interesting. Jahn and Eddie had been invited because they had got to know Jamie and Frankie well over the years. Jahn arrived with a guy in tow who spent nearly the whole time drooling over Eddie. I learnt later that he had been Eddie's boyfriend of sorts for donkey's years; I'd seen the bugger with Jahn on my visits to Denmark, but I'd never spotted that he'd been sweet on Eddie. Although Eddie was no relation to me, I think I looked at the guy with a father's quizzical eye. Anyway Jahn was never more than a few feet from Katie all the time he was in the country, except at night; he and Eddie's guy were camping out at my place. But anyway I realised I had been correct in spotting that little romance before it had even got off the ground. By the way, Jahn and Katie are married now but only after a lot of discussion on where they were going to live. I suppose that Brugge is about as half way between, as you can get. Vivian of course had a very smart looking Grif in tow. Christ, really we all looked like complete wanker's dressed up in those top hats and tails; but that's what Frankie - and I suppose Jamie - had wanted. I kind-a got the feeling the lad just stood back and watched things happen a little. Where was I? Oh yeah, my escort for the day. Well it had to be Liz; she was like a surrogate mother to my kids in a way. And well ... she out-did herself. Okay the dress wasn't white, but it was as near as damn it to that famous white dress of Marilyn Monroe's, although Liz kept a cardigan or wrap around her shoulders for most of the day. Only divesting herself of it and displaying her bare shoulders and cleavage, later in the evening. I was to learn much later that Frankie had been a little embarrassed about the rather revealing wedding dress she'd chosen. Apparently it had looked great on the model in the bridle shop, and parts of it could be removed. The train, the attachment of which also covered her shoulders, and even the outer long skirt part, so as to convert the dress into a rather swish-looking little cocktail type number; albeit flared out some, to make it more comfortable to dance in. The whole ensemble removing the need for Frankie to disappear later and change into something comfy to dance in. But the dress did display rather a lot of bare skin and cleavage. Apparently once Frankie got the several thousand pounds worth of wedding dress home, she'd begun to chicken out of wearing it, because she thought it revealed a little too much bare skin and cleavage. Liz and Katie had come to her assistance and promised they'd wear something just as revealing. Hence the Marilyn Monroe number on Liz and a few dirty looks from her father to Katie - who smiled back at me sweetly - over her choice of evening attire. I suppose I'd better add that Jahn beamed from ear to ear most of the time as well. The only times he wasn't beaming were when some other guy asked Katie to dance, and that included her father when he chastised for her revealing attire. I also had a go at Vivian and Liz because I was fairly sure that they'd both supposedly vetted Katie's dress for the occasion. Both quietly informed me, that I could be an old fuddy-duddy on occasions. The day had gone off pretty well, all things taken into consideration. Frankie's parents had even had a few nice things to say about each other during their speeches; a worrying time for poor Frankie. I said my bit, telling everyone that Frankie had often seemed like she was my own daughter, she being the focus of Jamie's affections for so many years. It was pleasant dancing with Frankie and feeling so proud that my son had captured her eventually; it hadn't always been plain sailing between them. But whilst I was dancing with her, Frankie asked me a question that I wasn't expecting. "So dad!" The emphasis really being placed on the word dad. "When are you going to make an honest woman out of Elizabeth?" "Sorry daughter" Frankie asked for it, she was going to learn I gave as good as I received. "I have no idea what you are talking about." "Oh come on, Jim. There's no way in the world that Vivian is going to marry Griffith until you're married off. Have some pity on the poor guy, can't you?" "Frankie before I can marry anyone they have to want to marry me. Liz is set on joining me on the board of directors; maybe even becoming chairman, or should that be chairwoman one day." "Chairperson I think, dad. I'm not so sure she wouldn't jump at the chance if she had it." "Well I think she's going to get her chance sooner than she expects. We were only talking about offering her the sales director's job last month. But for god sake don't say anything to her about it. "No silly, not the directors job; we're all pretty sure she wants the job of being your wife." "Now you're being silly, Frances, Liz and I have never even so much as kissed each other. We're just good friends with a brilliant working relationship." "You think?" "I know, Frankie. Look both Liz and her sister know where they're going and no matter what I think or would like, they are going to get there. Now let's not talk about me, how's it feel being a married woman?" "I'll let you know when we get back from honeymoon." "I'm not sure that's a good idea, well not the details anyway." I grinned at her. Suddenly Frankie took me by surprise she pulled me close and kissed me full on the lips. She'd often given me a peck on the cheek over the years, but that was the first time she'd kissed me on the mouth. "You're a married woman now Frankie, you shouldn't go kissing dirty old men like that anymore." "Shame on the Romans." She said nonchalantly. "What the hell have the Roman's got to do with anything?" I replied, confused some by the girl's statement. "Didn't you know that before the Romans came along, the British guys were supposed to have shared their wives with their fathers." "Where to hell did you hear a story like that?" I asked in disbelief. "I can't remember now, some Roman historian wrote about it, I think. I can remember reading it when I was at school and being jealous of them. I had a real crush on you back then, you know." "You flatter me Frankie." "It's true, I'm sure Jamie and I wouldn't have lasted if you hadn't been there. I always thought that Jamie and Katie had the most perfect father. Mind I thought Vivian was the perfect mother as well, even if she did ... Well what I mean is even after ... you know; you didn't fight with each other all the time. My mum and dad can't say a civil word to each other most of the time." "They did today Frankie." "Only because I threatened to publicly disown them in front of everyone if they said a cross word to each other. I even insisted that I wasn't coming unless they promised to have one dance together, which they did. What surprised me was that they were smiling as well." "Yeah, I noticed that. Vivian and I had been ready to step in and run interference." "See what I mean, you and Vivian planning what you intended to do if my parents kicked off at each other again? But you're both divorced as well." "What can I say, Frankie, some people can't get over the hate. It's a very short path between love and hate. The trouble is some people let the hate eat away at them instead of getting over it and getting on with their lives. Life's much too short to waste hating anyone. Except for maybe Billy Banks, I make an exception for him. I'm pretty sure I'd deck that bugger if I ever ran into him somewhere." "Billy who?" "Don't ask Frankie, I haven't been there in years." "Oh him. I'd give him a kick or two myself, if I got the chance." The number we'd been dancing to ended, and Jamie joined us on the floor to reclaim his bride at the same time. And he stood there grinning like a bleeding dummy, as his new wife gave me another kiss before releasing me from her arms. A little later after dancing with Liz, I slipped out into the hotels conservatory for a quiet cigar, only to find a rather depressed looking Grif sitting out there all on his own. "What's up mate, Vivian worn you out; she loves dancing doesn't she?" I said, trying to make it sound as if it's normal to talk about your ex-wife with her suitor. "Tell me, Jim, did you have this trouble with her when you asked her to marry you?" Grif asked. "Sorry mate, not quite with you." I replied. "Look, Jim, I've asked Vivian to marry me god knows how many times, but she just won't give me a straight answer." "She hasn't said no, has she?" "And she hasn't said yes either. She just sort of changes the subject; I can't pin the woman down." "Ah now, she always was pretty good at that little trick. Try asking her what she wants for her birthday or Christmas. I found it was easier to ask Katie once she was old enough." "That's fine, but I can't really go asking your daughter if her mother will marry me can I?" Grif replied with an even more dejected tone to his voice. I had to agree with the poor bugger. "Yeah you got a good point there, perhaps we'd better pin her down." I suggested. "Oh and how do I do that? I've asked her until I'm blue in the face and I never get a straight answer out of her." "You got that ring I've heard so much about in your pocket?" I asked. "Yeah I've always ... how did you know?" He asked, obviously taken by surprise that I knew about the ring. "Not very much about Vivian doesn't reach my ears eventually, even if I didn't want to know. And some that I'd rather not have known as well!" I mused. "Anyway, you stay sat-sitting there and we'll see what we can do to get a straight answer for you." Yeah well, as the father of the groom I had imbibed a little that day. Possibly the reason Frankie had been so forward; she knew she could get away with it. I'm one of those people who get merry when I've had a few. It didn't take me long to track down Katie, I asked her to find her brother and mother and bring them both out into the conservatory. Katie arrived very shortly with not only Jamie and Vivian, but Frankie, Liz and Jahn as well. Game of Life Ch. 05-06 I instructed Vivian to sit beside Grif, which - somewhat surprisingly — she did without question. Then I told Grif to get down on one knee and do his thing. Which — also surprisingly considering the audience he had — he did without argument, almost pulling the little ring box from his pocket with obscene haste. Vivian sat there not speaking and looked from Grif to all the others present in turn. Finally her eyes met mine. "Well if you don't grab the bugger whilst you got the chance, don't you dare come crying to me in the future." Was the best little line that I could come up with. "Go for it mum!" Katie added. Vivian didn't say yes in so many words — well not to start with anyway - she just held out her hand and said, "Thank you," when Grif slid the ring on her finger. There were no worries about it being the right size, Katie had borrowed her mother's wedding ring from the draw in my flat when Grif asked her if she knew what size ring he should buy. Oh, apparently Katie helped him choose the ring as well; I've always wondered what the jeweller made of that one. "Can we have an engagement ring to fit the lady who used to wear this wedding ring please?" I'm digressing again, sorry. We all did a disappearing act back into the reception rooms then and left the newly betrothed alone for a while. But Jamie stationed himself beside the stage so that he could nip up and make a public announcement when they decided to reappear. I think, much to both Vivian and Grif's embarrassment. Two weeks later, Jamie and Frankie had returned from their honeymoon. "How'd it go, Frankie?" I asked when she called me at the office on the following Monday. "Great, dad" - the heavy emphasis on the dad again - "You did a great job of raising your son." "Thank you daughter, I'm pleased he comes up to your expectations." "Come on, dad, we've been living together for nearly a year; I knew what I was buying. Anyway, I'm not sure that I like the daughter bit." "That's what you are sweetheart. My legal daughter now, whether you like it or not." "Oh, I like it all right dad, especially the nights." "Now Frankie, watch your tongue young lady, or I might have to take you in hand." "Ooh, that sounds like fun, but I've got someone keeping me very busy at the moment." "And if he hears you talking like that, I'm pretty sure he'd soon have you over his knee and give you the spanking you deserve." "Now you are talking!" "Come on, cut it out." "Okay sorry, dad, but you are so much fun to talk to; much better than my father. And a damn sight more understanding. Anyway I didn't call to spar with you, I wanted to invite you and Liz to my first dinner party on Friday evening." "Dinner party eh, we are moving up in the world. Does Jamie know yet?" "Providing he gets his stomach filled, I don't think Jamie much cares. But he's promised to be on his best behaviour. Wasn't so keen on the dinner jacket idea though." "Oh, going all formal, are we?" "Yeah, come on, dad, this is my first big dinner party, I want it to be really special." "I'm sure we'll be there, I'll ask Liz what she's got on when she reappears." "Yeah Liz is coming, I've already checked that she's free. I just wanted to make sure that you'd be her escort." I kind of got the idea that my input on the dinner party was just a formality. Frankie had obviously spoken to Liz, who would have checked with our secretary that we were both free. Therefore Frankie's call had been a polite formality. Liz or our secretary — as they usually did - would have just told me what to wear and when to be there anyway. Frankie had gone all out. Their flat wasn't very big but it sure looked the part that evening. I was somewhat surprised when Katie turned up with Jahn in tow, he - and Eddie's guy — had flown over especially for the occasion; or so they claimed. So that was it the eight of us sat around the table. During the meal, photographs of the wedding and the kids' honeymoon were passed around the table. They were all very nice, but considering the fuss Frankie had made about that low cut wedding dress ... Well, put it this way, there weren't much of the bikini she wore on the beach. "No matter, I didn't have it on very much. Jamie kept dragging me back to our room." She replied with a cheeky wink, when I commented on its lack of material. "Too much information, Frankie!" I used the stock answer in reply. "Anyway I borrowed it off of Katie, didn't I Kate?" She added with a grin. Katie avoided my eyes when I looked at her in shock at hearing that piece of news. But everyone else was grinning at me like Cheshire cats so I let it slide, because I realised they were taking digs at me. After eating Frankie's superb meal, we were all settling around the TV to watch the video of the wedding when Katie asked the question. "Have you told him yet, Liz?" "Told who what?" Jamie asked loudly. Maybe a pre-planned response to draw attention to Katie's question, I never have been too sure, but Jamie isn't usually that quick. But Katie didn't reply, she sat there staring at Liz. Then I realised that almost everyone — including me was doing the same, with what can only described as expectant expressions on our faces. But Liz was looking straight back at me with that "deer in the headlights" expression on her face. "Well have you?" Frankie asked this time. Liz didn't reply, she opened the small clutch bag she'd been nursing all evening and produced a sealed letter from it, which she held out, obviously for me to take from her. Breaking the seal, I realised that there was complete silence in the room and everyone was watching my every move intently. The letter was extremely brief. To put it succinctly, it was Elizabeth's formal resignation from the company. A rather odd situation for Liz to choose to give it to me in, I thought. Besides not being able to fathom why she would want to quit, because she was just about to be promoted as sales director. Something she'd been hoping would happen for years. "I don't understand." I said, looking up from the letter to Liz. "I'm surprised, I would have thought you at least, would have noticed." Frankie commented. "Noticed what?" I asked. I do hate when women beat around the bush and don't explain what they are really talking about. My god, dad, to anyone who's known Liz as long as we have, it was showing at the wedding. Don't you ever open your eyes?" Katie commented. "Maybe not where I'm concerned." Liz entered the conversation. "Look you've lost me, what are you girls on about?" I demanded. Katie held up an enlarged picture of Liz and I dancing together at the wedding, it was taken broadside on, and Katie's finger was pointing at Liz's waist area. "Notice anything-unusual dad?" She demanded. Well to be honest I couldn't see or understand what Katie was referring to. Liz had always had a pretty lithe figure; I noted it many times over the previous few years. I supposed there was a chance that she might have put on a pound or two ... My conscious mind locked up at the realisation of what Katie and Frankie could possibly be inferring. All sorts of thoughts, were racing around my unconscious mind at the same time, and probably causing the overload. She couldn't be! But that would explain Liz's resignation. She and Anna had always been adamant that babies and high-powered jobs don't mix for women. But if she was, then who could possibly be the father? I thought that I knew where Elizabeth was and whom she was with, almost twenty-four hours a day and I had done for years. Oh no, of course there was Torquay. I had no idea what Liz had been getting up to or with whom whilst I'd been ... er, otherwise occupied with Anna. But I couldn't recall any hint that Liz had teamed up with anyone in particular during the week. "Who?" I mouthed at Liz. Not daring to ask the question out loud. "You!" She mouthed back at me. Maybe also not daring to say the actual word out loud. "But we never..." I replied, out loud this time. "Anastasia soon picked up on the boss habit, didn't she?" Liz smiled. "Are you telling me?" "Yeah Anna and I are identical twins and for a while there, there was absolutely no one in the world who could tell us apart. And that included you Jimmy!" "So when I thought I was...?" "Yes, after the second night when you told Anna that you were attracted to me." "Oh my god, every..." "Dad, I really do think you two should have the rest of this discussion in private." Katie interrupted. "But you can ask Liz to marry you now. We're all waiting!" I glanced around at all the smiling faces staring back at me, then back at the tentatively smiling Elizabeth. "But, I haven't got a..." "Yes you have, and it fits!" Katie said, producing the box that contained the engagement ring I'd given to her mother many years before. "Mother said she couldn't think of a better use for it. And she hopes Liz will honour it better than she managed too." Liz was smiling at me by then, but I wasn't too sure that using Vivian's ring was such a good idea. Liz must have read the thought in my face. "Vivian and I have discussed it Jim, she's happy with the idea." "Oh you have, have you; has everyone been conspiring behind my back?" "No just Mum and Katie; Vivian was the first to realise that Liz was carrying. Actually whilst you were twisting her arm to accept Grif's proposal. She told us that she thought she'd be pushing her luck a little too far, had she pointed it out at the time. But this evening was all her idea." Frankie informed me. "So get on with it dad, we've got the Champagne Grif bought, on ice in the kitchen. Liz had tears in her eyes as I got down on one knee and asked her to be my bride. Yeah, I still had reservations about the ten-year age gap, but I think I was alone in that worry. Then things got really out of hand the Champagne flowed and a real party kicked off. Although Liz took a few minutes to make an international telephone call. Life goes on.