The Weekly Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3329 by Angharad Copyright© 2021 Angharad

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This is a work of fiction any mention of real people, places or institutions is purely coincidental and does not imply that they are as suggested in the story.
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Ten minutes after the fracas Sergeant Bond was taking statements from a rather shaky Peter Dominic, a distressed Sarah, a calm Simon and a shocked me. while we were waiting for them to arrive, Peter had simply sat on the floor after Simon had put him there with a short, but I suspect, hard punch which had caught him on the jaw and he went down like a stone.

Sarah had rushed to me, "Don't let him take me away, Mummy," she said giving me the wrong appellation, but given the circumstances I wasn't going to say anything. Two of my girls also witnessed what happened, Danni and Trish and they were horrified that Peter had tried to remove Sarah against her wishes and that their dad had had to hit him.

Danni, pushed Trish back into the room and then stopped the others from becoming embroiled in something which concerned no one else. By the time Andy Bond arrived with a colleague, Sarah had stopped shaking and Simon had helped Peter up off the floor and to a seat, he still looked pale and I sent Sarah to get him a glass of water. Thankfully, there were no teeth or blood lying on the carpet.

I explained what had happened and that Sarah was employed by me and was an adult being over eighteen, she was therefore not obliged to go with her uncle if she didn't want to and if Simon hadn't intervened, Peter would have been guilty of abduction or wrongful arrest.

Simon said he'd been reading the paper when he heard the raised voices and came to investigate and he found Peter shouting abuse at me and trying to grab Sarah who was resisting. He told Andy that he asked Peter to calm down and go and have a chat over a beer but Peter wasn't having it, so he told him to go home and come back tomorrow after he'd calmed down whereupon he took a swing at Simon and missed but Simon's short, sharp response didn't.

Sarah told the same story as I did and was equally horrified by the change in her uncle, especially his sudden transphobia. She told this to Andy who alternately nodded and shook his head, making notes the whole time.

When it came to Peter's turn to talk he still looked out of it and I'm not sure if he could tell what day it was let alone an accurate record of events. He sipped the water that Sarah had brought him but said very little.

"Do you wish to press charges?" Andy asked the rest of us. None of us did. "I'm going to arrest you, Sir, he said to Peter, because you committed several offences but I'm also going to have the police surgeon examine you because I suspect you may have a concussion. Would you please come with us," he helped Peter up and walked him out to the car.

"Do you have to arrest him, Andy?"

"If I do, he'll see a doctor whether he likes it or not. If I just let him go and he has an accident while driving..." he shrugged, "besides he is guilty of several things including breach of the peace, attempted false arrest, abusing you and Sarah. It'll be up to a senior officer to see whether we just caution him or he's charged."

"Will you let his wife know where he is or would you like Sarah to ring her?"

"We'll do it. Good night Lady Cameron, your lordship, young lady," he said keeping things formal in front of his colleague."

We watched as the police car drove down the drive and out into the traffic, Sarah tucked under my arm sniffing back the tears. "We'll sort it out tomorrow," I said giving her a gentle squeeze.

"I don't understand, I thought he accepted me as a girl and he called you a boy as well, I don't understand, I thought he liked you and respected you. What was he on about you wanting to keep me?"

"Let's go and have a cuppa and a chat, okay?" she nodded and we walked into the kitchen where all the others had eaten, except Sarah and me and neither of us felt much like doing so now. Danni had put the meals in the cool oven of the Aga so they'd keep for a little time before they dried up and ended up in the dog.

"You okay, Mummy?" asked Danni accompanied by a deputation of daughters. I nodded and went to put the kettle on but Trish was there warming the teapot and she gave me a quick hug. "You okay?" Danni asked Sarah and she started to sob again and they had a little hug.

I hugged Simon who decided that something stronger than tea was required and thanked him for protecting us. "That's what I'm here for, babes, to protect my girls, besides if you'd hit him they'd have taken him off in an ambulance, so it was safer for me to do it."

I shook my head, "Honestly, Si, the way you about me, you'd think I was some sort of dangerous monster."

"So if I hadn't intervened, you'd have let him take Sarah away with him?"

"I didn't say that, Si."

"No you didn't, but he wouldn't have listened to reason from you or Sarah and I know you'd have prevented him taking her, wouldn't you?"

"I don't know, Si, thankfully it didn't happen."

"I do know, and you'd have hit him a lot harder than I did." I shrugged and accepted the mug of tea from Trish before sitting at the kitchen table where Sarah and Danni joined me each holding a mug of tea.

"You'd have hit him, Auntie Cathy?" asked an astonished Sarah.

"It has been known," said Danni smirking, "the female of the species is more deadly than the male," she added and she and Simon chuckled.

"She's a veritable tigress when she's roused," said Simon, "especially if she thinks her cubs are at risk."

"Goodness," said Sarah sipping her tea, "I'd never have guessed."

"I'll show you my scrapbook," offered Trish making Sarah nod at her as if to confirm the offer would be taken up.

"So what caused all the problem?" asked Danni who had heard the disturbance but not what was said.

"I don't know, but Peter accused us of trying to entice Sarah to join the family by giving her the car at Christmas, which we thought would be useful for her seeing her mum and possibly for her work. I tried to explain that Daddy got it for a very good price and it was no big deal. He then seemed to lose it and he tried to grab Sarah and Daddy asked him to calm down, he took a swing at Daddy who defended himself and all of us."

"I saw that bit, Mummy." said Danni draping her arm around Simon whereupon she said, "My hero," in such an affected manner that we all fell about laughing.

"Tell you what, kiddo," Si responded to his daughter, "next time I'll let you do it."

"Uh no thanks, Daddy, I'm not after your job or Mummy's, I'm quite happy to remain as a mere footballing superstar phenomenon, as the press called me."

"Did you win then?" asked Simon.

"Natch," she replied sipping her tea.

"Who did you beat?" he asked.

"Chelsea," said Trish before Danni could swallow her tea, "three one, and yes she scored two and made the other."

"Well done, Kiddo," said Simon putting his arm around her shoulders and squeezing her. Danni smiled and blushed with pride.

"I scored two for school today as well, you know?" said Trish trying to edge into the acclamations.

"Well done, you," I said to her although I knew it to be the case because I stood in the rain watching her. Trish looked back at me and winked before beaming a smile at her dad - little flirt.

"So why the change in character of Peter?" asked Simon.

"I can only surmise he's been talking to someone who seems to think they know about our family but obviously they don't and are going on surmise and prejudice or even gossip. I suspect someone from the university may be involved, but don't know who let alone why."

"So he thinks we got all the children by bribery and enticement?" Simon looked disgusted.

"Seems like, which takes no concern for consideration of the children's needs into account."

"Best thing I ever did was having you adopt me," said Danni and Trish agreed emphatically.

"I wish you could adopt me," said Sarah, "you're more like a mother than the woman who gave birth to me."She frowned, "I'll bet he's been up to see her." With that, her mobile began to ring and she answered. "I need to take this," she said and trotted up to her room.

By this time I was feeling more than a bit hungry and kept hoping she'd come down so we could both eat. She appeared ten minutes later, "That was my auntie, she wanted to know why Uncle Pete had been arrested and why Uncle Simon had hit him, so I told her, she was horrified but she confirmed he'd been up to see my mum earlier on."

"Perhaps we need to go and see her to set the record straight," I said looking at Sarah.

"I'd rather not, she might try to stop me coming back with you."

"She can't, you're an adult and thus able to make your own mind up about what you want to do and where you want to live."

"You don't know my mum, she's an expert at moral blackmail and she'd also try to stop me associating with you because this being a girl business is obviously just a fad and you're encouraging me, so setting a bad example."

"What?" gasped Danni, "I hope I never meet her, I'll soon put her right, stupid woman."

"I'm afraid she isn't very clever and she is also a bit trans and homophobic, you know typical Daily Express reader, lots of opinions but few facts, so lets gossip and innuendo take their place."

We all nodded including Trish who I doubt has ever read the Daily Express as I won't allow it into the house.

"What if she goes to the press, Mummy, I mean Auntie?" blushed Sarah, "she could make life very uncomfortable for you."

"Not as much as we could for her, if she says anything deprecatory which isn't true, I tend to sue and I suspect I have more resources than she does, which means she can only lose."

"Against the newspaper?" gasped Sarah.

"Daddy's loaded, remember we own a bank," said Danni quietly.

"I must try and speak to Uncle Peter, make him understand that you are just being very nice to me not trying to entice me into anything..."

"Nah, that's next week," said Trish and ran off from the table before anyone could say or do anything.

"Blessed teenagers," sighed Simon.

"Hoy," said Danni, "I'm a teenager, remember and apart from being an amazing footballing phenomenon, I'm also very nice and loveable."

"You are," said Sarah and they high-fived.

Sarah and I finally ate our evening meals at nearly nine o'clock, far too late to enjoy. I left half mine and Simon finished it off, he's as bad as Kiki, she got half of Sarah's who'd also lost much of her appetite.

"So what do we do next?" asked Sarah.

"We clean up the dishes and go to bed, I think, I'm exhausted."

"I'll do those," said Danni who was living up to her self-declared, 'nice' reputation, which at that moment I thoroughly agreed.

"I still think I should talk to Uncle Peter and put him right."

"Let's all just sleep on it and see how we feel in the morning," I suggested putting my cup in the sink and wishing everyone a goodnight, I went up to bed. "Make sure Trish and Livvie don't stay up too late will you?" I asked Danni and Sarah and they said they would send them up to bed at ten. Sarah also said she send up the little ones now and went off to do so.

"She's a nice kid," observed Simon, "let's hope this business doesn't affect her too much."
I yawned and went up to bed, I was asleep moments after getting into bed and as far as I know, stayed that way until about seven the next morning. I awoke feeling much better but I was still aware that the business with Peter Dominic wasn't quite over yet and I wouldn't relax until I knew it was finished.

I couldn't see how he could do much more than annoy or inconvenience me. Everyone who needed to know about my past already did so and most were okay with it. Sarah was another matter, but surely it would take a very sick person to use her to try to get at me, especially as she could get very hurt in the process. Surely, a close relative wouldn't do that to her, would they? Wouldn't they love her and want to protect her or could they be full of the sort of love that burns people at the stake to save their souls? That sort of individual is really difficult to deal with.