CHAPTER 34
She simply stared at him for a few seconds, then tears started to flow, no fuss or noise as she wept. Neil kept his arm out to her, smiling in as gentle a way as I could ever imagine possible.

“That’s your name, isn’t it?”

She nodded slowly, then took a couple of steps forward until she could wrap herself around him, which she did as a spasm rather than a simple embrace. Neil rested his chin on top of her head, almost whispering as he spoke.

“Uncle Mike here gave me a little word about what’s been happening, and there are no problems for either of us, so shall we get settled and a glass in my hand so the evening gets improving. That do you?”

She nodded, and he squeezed her once again.

“Now, beer and other treats are in my two hard cases by the stairs. Need transferring to the kitchen and some pouring to be done. Here’s the key”

They released each other, Enfys grabbing her friend and pulling her into the hall. Neil looked around at the rest of us, eyebrows raised.

“Well? Mike and I had a chat, and found rather a lot of common ground. I’ll have the armchair for now, I think, The OP will do me for a first drink, I believe. Make it so, Hiatt”

As he settled into the chair, Nansi stepped up to hug him and kiss his cheek before turning to us and announcing that the meal was a joint production of Little Plum and The Three Bears. It took a little time to click on the reference, as two children relayed beer and the promised treats into the kitchen.

“Pen?”

“Mike?”

“I’d have guessed porridge without the ‘Little’. Mountains and links?”

“Exactly, though probably not so much of the mountains”

She was referring to a couple of strips in the Beano, or maybe the Dandy, where the celebratory feast of choice was almost always, ‘bangers and mash’: a conical heap of mashed potato with multiple sausages pushed into said pile. It was eaten by every character, whether a slightly racist ‘Red Indian’ or a family of anthropomorphic ursines, all except Desperate Dan. He was a cowboy. Who lived in Scotland. His usual meal was a cow pie, which was exactly what it said on the (pie) tin, being a pie containing a cow.

I realised the stress was catching up at last, so confined my reply to “Comfort food”. Pen’s smile quirked slightly.

“More like ‘nursery food’, love, at least in this case. Here’s your beer coming. You didn’t specify, so it’s pot luck, I’m afraid. Or not: see what you think”

As the evening proceeded through the meal and the sweet treats Neil and I had provided, I was watching Alys closely, and it was a while before I worked out what was different about her apart from the dress she was wearing, and the answer was a simple one.

Nothing at all important had altered in her speech, her mannerisms or, indeed, anything I could spot. Shaun had been far more accurate in his assessment than I had realised, for the only change in manner wasn’t a change, but a reversion, from the moodiness of the last year or so back to the happy laughter I had always heard from her years before.

That thought of happy kids, of course, brought a surge of painful memories, but I slapped them down hard with a reminder of who exactly was just out of hospital.

“Mike?”

I realised I had missed some of the conversation, so gave an all-purpose grunt as a response, and Neil was the one to pull me back to the room.

“Girls, younger ones, have got a request for tomorrow, Mike”

“Which is?”

“Group trip to Rhosneigr”

So soon? I looked across to Nansi, who started to over-explain everything, right up to the point where Penny shushed her.

“It’s got a long, long beach, it’s got chip shops, it’s got birds, it’s got jet planes taking off, and it’s far enough away from here for Alys to be safe. Shorts rather than dress, for the beach, but she’s not hiding indoors her whole life. That trip up to the bridge, that was a rush job. This will be a full day”

I looked over to our newer girl, and she was nodding.

“Uncle Mike… Dad says, like nofio, swimming. In at the deep end, but someone with me”

It made sense. I looked over to Keith and he shrugged.

“Two cars will cope. You up for this, Neil?”

“Don’t know the place, mate”

“Ah, loooooooong sandy beach, rock outcrops in the sea, and we could spin by the old royal palace at Aberffraw. Beach is next to the aerodrome the Red Arrows are based at. Lots of photo ops, including a burial mound, barrow, whatever”

He nodded.

“Sounds fine by me. They got ice cream there?”

Keith grinned.

“They have pubs, mate”

Neil sighed with obvious contentment.

“I suppose, if I really must, I will be able to manage…”

My first day back at work led to an insistent Betty dragging me off to a private room for what she called ‘the full SP’, but she did it by way of our little work kitchen so that we each had a fresh brew to hand. Once we had closed the door, ‘busy’ sign in place, she settled herself across the table from me, and simply said “And?”

I did the usual displacement/hesitation thing with my drink, before simply jumping into that deep end Alys had mentioned.

“She’s called Alys, and she bloody well hurts, and has been hurting for a very long time, and I am doing my best to help. That’s it, really”

“And her family? They on the cool side or the shitty one?”

“Bets, be honest. You’ve met them; what do you think? Really?”

“Yeah, suppose…”

“Keep supposing. Her Dad took a little bit of thinking time, and to be honest so did her Mum, but in the end, well, what a friend said. They get to meet their daughter, she lives to meet them”

“Hell, Mike: bit blunt today, or what?”

“Yes I am. Sorry, but seeing a kid in a hospital bed hurts, and from what I’ve heard about how she was treated at school, I understand why she’s not going back”

“Home schooling stuff?”

“Yes, exactly that. Me and the Hiatts, we have some friends who do all that sort of thing, so I’ve tapped them up for the ins and outs and advice”

“And senior school? What then?”

I rubbed my eyes, suddenly tired, as the strain of the last few days caught up and then overtook my reserves of strength.

“Got just short of two years before that, Bets. Get her settled, comfortable in being herself in the open…”

I found myself laughing.

“Bets, a friend of mine went down that route years and years ago. Told me she used to sneak out late at night, not exactly conforming to conventions of masculine sartorial elegance”

“You what?”

“Her words, not mine. Just taking the chance to dress more girly. Then she goes off camping in a dress. Alys likes using that image, jumping into the deep end. We did that just before I rode back here”

“Where did you go?”

“Far side of Anglesey. Lovely beach, rock outcrops in the sea, ice creams and chip shops”

“Pubs too?”

“I wasn’t driving that day, so yeah”

“Child in a skirt?”

“Nope. Pink shorts and a unicorn T-shirt, that’s all”

“Not much”

“Yeah, but it was the name, Bets. People see what they expect, and at that age, a child called Alys, what else could they see other than two little girls? Shaun made that mistake---no. Rewind. Not a mistake, was it? Anyway, Vic and Nansi found a kite from somewhere, and Neil— you’ve not met him; sound bloke--- Neil had several cameras, and so did Vic, so most of us had a distraction to hand, and two little girls running screaming up a beach trying to get their kite to fly is as bloody normal as a normal thing”

I found myself laughing once more.

“Sorry, Bets, just tickled at using the words ‘normal’ and ‘Neil’ in the same sentence”

“How’s he not normal?”

“Well, you know what I do for fun?”

“Yeah, bloody daft things on cliffs. You can get hurt that way”

“Yup, but if I do, I can get put on a stretcher or picked up by a helicopter. Not so for Neil”

“Why?”

“I go up, he goes down”

“Bugger caving for a game of soldiers”

“Indeed. Especially under the water”

Her mouth fell open, until she managed to get out pretty much the same words I had used myself.

“No. Just no, all right? Anyway, two questions for you”

“Go ahead”

“Is the little lass going to be okay?”

I took my time weighing my answer, but in the end it was the obvious one.

“In truth, well, yes. Vic and Nansi really love their child, and they seem to have come down on that side of things, sympathy and love rather than resentment at some perception of betrayal by her. Not my thoughts, those, but what Alys was dreading. It’ll obviously take a long while for things to settle down, a reintroduction of people that thought they already knew each other”

“Putting a lot of thought into this, Mr Rhodes”

“Hard not to, Bets, with something this big. Like becoming… Like becoming a parent for the first time”

She winced slightly.

“I’ll give you that one, love. Anyway, the second question. Kul’s been working up a storm while upside down, so the big moment is heading our way”

“When? I trust you are talking about the Aussie job?”

“I am that. You are number two in the queue, behind me, and, well, we discussed that ages ago. I’m still pretty sure of the answer, so it’s now down to you. They are looking at a lead of around eight months from now, so plenty of time to get your ducks in a row”

She reached across the table and took my hands in hers, giving them a little squeeze.

“Plenty of time to get to know that little girl as well, love”