CHAPTER 7
As soon as the indecent requests and instructions from upstairs had died down, I busied myself noisily in the kitchen, calling loudly out to Pete to ask if he wanted a cup of tea.

My subtle hint to the loving couple that the house was now occupied fell a bit flat when Pete shouted up the stairs “Do you want a cuppa, Dad?”

The two appeared looking a little sheepish, in the case of Dad Pete, and rather smug in the case of my mother. She looked at me, and with the usual facial twitch said

“Darling, we have the same taste in shoes, and Pete was always happy to follow instructions”

That got me chortling, while both men looked puzzled. My Pete was the first to twig, and then had to explain it to his father, and suddenly my mother was crying, and I was holding her as tears ruined my blouse. Harriet’s question about Pete having a friend came to mind, and I realised that he did, and it was his father. I resolved to look up the song in question.

“Mum, we have all wasted so many years, can I begrudge you doing some catching up? We have lots to tell you about today, and then I need to run that question past both boys, and I must have a little chat with my Pete”

I went through the events once more, with laughter at the appropriate places and frowns at others, and my mother got very pushy about a defamation suit against the girl. I pointed out that she was likely to have her studies terminated, which was something that would follow her around for life, and that I myself just wished to close the chapter.

“Pete, Mr Hall, sod it, Peters both, I have something I wish to ask. I will be going this week to swear a deed poll at mother’s solicitors, and I will thereafter be Laura Evans for all legal purposes.

“Would either of you object if I took Elspeth as a middle name?”

Nem con, and it was Dad Pete’s turn to cry.

We did indeed have time for a wander along the front, and Dad Pete drove us out towards Stokes Bay for some fresh winds and a sight of the many yachts that use that part of the Solent. I was touched by the gentle way he lifted his son into his Discovery, and how he seemed proud to be pushing him with my mother on his arm. This is my son, and my woman and I love them both.

We stopped at the café by the nature reserve for more tea, and I got a few moments alone with my Pete.

“Love, what did you think of Harriet?”

“Out of ten, I’d give her one OUCH”

“No, Pete, as a person, not whether you think her legs are better than mine”

“How could that possibly be?” (he was clearly learning) “Seriously, she seemed nice, if a bit intense. A bit like you used to be, in a small way. Why do you ask?”

“How are you off for single friends?”

“Oh no, you’re the English prof, you must’ve read ‘Emma’!”

“Of course, but I was thinking more of simply letting the dog see the rabbit than pushing people at each other. That never works. It was also for me”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you have met my friends, my colleagues, and John being as he was he didn’t make many of the former. I just think that it is time I started meeting some of yours”

Pete looked a little apprehensive at that point, and I realised that one thing his friends would bring with them was memory. Could he cope? Then, of course, I realised that it was ‘could we cope’. I reached across to him.

“You are not alone now, you know. I understand what you are afraid of, but I am going nowhere without you.”

“Yes, I know you say that, but what have I got to offer you?”

“Are you taking the piss, Hall? I wouldn’t even have a life if it wasn’t for you! I thought we’d got that clear! What the hell has got into you?”

“Shit, love, can’t you see? Can’t you tell? What do you think I see when I look at you? No, shut up for once, since you came back you talk far too much, and that’s just like a bloody woman, ’cosi fan tutte’, yeah? Look, I love you, so much it hurts. Do you understand that?”

I went to speak, and he put his hand over my mouth.

“Just answer. No speech, no lecture, answer the question”

“Yes I understand”

“Do I see you as a woman?”

I thought on that one, and all my inner arguments came back to me. “Yes, I think so. I am a woman, and I hope, I trust you see that”

“Oh, love, I do, I do. Now, do I want you in my bed?”

“I hope so. I hoped you would last night”

“That should be an easy one for you to answer, but yes, I did, I sleep better by far when you are there to catch my nightmares for me. But there is more to sharing a bed than a cuddle and a good night’s sleep. Just think how your mum was screaming earlier.”

“Pete, I know, but….”

I had to take a number of breaths to sort my thoughts and next words. “Pete, I want you to make love to me,I want you to be my man, for your woman, I want what my mother has, but I can’t just now. I haven’t got the bits, and I have thought about the alternatives, but, that, after, well”

I couldn’t help it. I blame the hormones, the same ones that make my chest itchy; I started into tears.

“I want you, Pete, but my body is still wrong”

He was still holding me. “I want you love, but my body just won’t”

I pulled away slightly, just so I could see him. “The…injuries?”

“No, nothing there or then. More of an impotence. Before,I would look at a girl, like that one at Bovington, and it would be phwooar, look at the legs, tits, whatever, and Soldier Blue would be up for it without a second thought. Now, you come in dressed like that, or you slip into bed with me, and nothing. Not a stir.

“What can I offer you if I am not a man?”

I kissed him, hard, and repeated my earlier words. “Listen, stupid. No you, no Laura. You think I expect more? We will do as my mother says, find our own way. You do NOT get away from me without a fight, I intend to be like bloody Colditz with you. It has taken me all these years to get you back, to fucking get myself back, you are NOT running off, got me? You are MINE, Peter Hall, you bloody well proposed to me!”

I paused, whether for breath or dramatic effect, I am not sure, then added “Do you think you could bring yourself to do it properly? We have some witnesses….”

Pete suddenly started laughing. “I suppose you’ll want me to go down on one knee!”

At that joke, I realised I had broken the bleak mood that had taken him, but I made a sudden and thrilling decision for that evening. Impotent? Not if I could help it. On the other hand, I wanted to push the point about the “proposal”

The other loving couple were returning. I waited till they were back at our table, and looked at my mum, who had clearly spotted the puffy eyes. I raised an eyebrow of my own, and in a moment of simple telepathy she simply nodded. Pete sighed, and turned to his dad.

“Can you help me out of my chair please, Dad?”

As Dad Pete lifted him up, he whispered in his ear. The older man smiled, and kissed his son on the cheek. With amazing gentleness and care, he knelt with him till my Pete was balanced on his intact knee.

“Laura Elspeth Evans, will you marry me?”

I screwed everything down tight. “I suppose I could check my calendar….oh, my love, of course I will!”

Dad Pete hugged his son, then looked at Mum.

“I’m on my knees as well, Lucy. I ran away, and left you in pain. We wasted a lot of years because I was stupid and a coward. Can I now make it up to you? Will you….?”

I hadn’t realised that we had gathered an audience with our gymnastics, but when my mother said yes the round of applause let me know.