“Yeah, Tasha's mum told me. Dan was there and didn't dispute it, but he looked really uncomfortable.”
“Have you seen much of him?” Tasha’s worry was increasing with each new detail.
“Not really. After you got married and he came back home I saw him socially about once a month. I had a show at a museum and asked him to help with setting it up and introduced him to the chef who was catering it. The chef offered him some help and guidance and he worked with him for about six months and then he became unreliable and the cheflet him goand that coincided with him always having an excuse or other plans when I asked him to come out. I was worried about him, I even wondered—”
“Gerry!” interrupted Kara with a warning tone.
“Kara!” he snapped back. “I told you I’d tell Tash when I saw her and to be honest I didn't want to do this over the phone, but I met up with Pip a few weeks ago and she was worried too. I was going round to see him next time he was at your mum's and then I was going to call you,” he said to Jim. “I was worried that it might be drugs or something, Princess,” said Gerry sadly.
“Fuck!” cried Tasha, ignoring Gerry's term of endearment.
“Tasha, there's no need for that in front of children,” Jim chastened making Gerry smile.
Tasha continued, “He became friends with Travis, who works for Jim and is kind of extended family. Travis is worried about him and reckons he's disconnected from everything. That he doesn't feel as though he fits in anywhere right now.”
“I'd say Travis is spot on from what I've seen and heard and you're really not going to like this, Liam is another regular visitor.”
“Baby, I think our conversation with your brother is more necessary than we thought.” With a rough push of his hand through his hair, Jim sighed.
“Sorry I can't say something you want to hear. He and Deb remained in touch, didn't they?” Gerry looked across at Kara.
“Yes, she was genuinely fond of him and they got along well, even after they decided to cool things before he came out to visit you,” Kara said with a sincere smile. “Deb knew you disapproved of her because of me and Dan didn't want you to feel awkward or uncomfortable so suggested they had a break, but stayed friends which seemed to suit both of them. When he came back from America they reconciled briefly, but Dan had changed, grown up a little shall we say and Deb found it hard to juggle Dan, college and her part-time job, especially when Dan was intent on partying hard every weekend. He was still meeting with Jake until he moved away and he and Gerry met up every couple of weeks. Deb and Dan decided what they'd had was probably over but still maintained a friendship and at that stage Dan was essentially still the same Dan. He changed a little after you were hurt and was so angry with your parents and the world in general which made him become a bit more of a loner.”
Gerry nodded and interjected, “We went out when he first came back and he was wound so tightly he was just waiting for an excuse to explode and that excuse came in the shape of a guy in a club who was rucking with his girlfriend. Dan intervened and pummelled this guy to shit, but it wasn't him he was punching it was your dad and Liam. The things he shouted at him weren't about him they were about you, your parents, Liam and Dan's own guilt and it was only Jerome Stewart that kept him from being charged.”
“James,” whimpered Tasha fighting her desperate urge to cry for the pain and suffering her brother had endured, endured alone and without her even knowing about it. “Did you know?”
“About the charges?” he asked with a confirming nod of his head. “But I wasn’t going to worry you until I knew there was something to worry about and courtesy of Jerome Stewart and one of his colleagues there was nothing to worry about,” he told her flatly.
“You still should have told me,” Tasha insisted but one look at her husband’s face suggested he disagreed. “What are we going to do with Dan?” The wobble had returned to her voice.
“Hey baby, we've got this, okay?” Jim knelt at his wife's side. He brushed the hair that had fallen from her ponytail behind her ears and kissed her gently before turning to Gerry and Kara. “I can't say I was thrilled to bump into you guys initially, but I’m very glad we did.”
“Understandable.” Kara smiled a little awkwardly. “We kind of share a pretty mixed up history,” she added as she agreed with her daughter that Connor was indeed ababy.
“Then you went and got yourself held bloody hostage and I think that was the final straw for Dan.” Gerry sighed. “He came back after your wedding and knew you were safe and happily married and then pregnant, but he couldn't get beyond all you'd endured from birth right up until that point.”
“What do you mean, couldn't get beyond it?”
“Every time we spoke he would talk about you. Kara and I and Deb would ask how you were doing, how your pregnancy was, anything and everything, and even if you and I had been in touch I'd still ask Dan and Pippa. Pip would be all gushing about everything, but Dan would revert back to everything you'd been through. He was melancholy and volatile, but still the same Dan we all knew and then he went to see your mother. I think to get some answers...”
“And?” asked Jim taking a seat between Tasha and Gerry.
“It went downhill from there. Within days he changed and removed himself from us all, the people who cared and his contact with her increased before your dad was sent home and since then Liam has reappeared on the scene,” Gerry said with dread in his voice. “I tried my damnedest to keep him safe, Tash, but somehow I let you down, again, sorry,” he said with just sadness now.
“Hey,” Tasha reassured him as she moved so she was kneeling on the hard floor at Gerry's feet with her hands holding his that rested in his lap. “You have nothing to be sorry about. You did everything you could, and it was never your responsibility. Dan was never your responsibility and neither was I but you got me out of there and contributed to them financially to ensure I stayed free of them. You loved me, even when I was pregnant with another man's baby. You paid for an abortion, and you held my hand, literally and metaphorically,” she said, and then laughed quietly. “You even endured the disapproving looks and comments at the clinic when I just cried and they took that to mean I wanted your baby and you were forcing me to get rid of it. You did more for more than was reasonable to expect and I am grateful. I will remain so, eternally.” There was a break in her voice and both her and Gerry seemed oblivious to the presence of Kara, Lottie, Connor and Jim.
Chapter 30
Returning home, Tasha was relieved to find that the house was empty.
“I think the zoo has worn our boy out.” Jim smiled down at his son who was lying in his father’s arms sleeping soundly.
“I think it has.”
“I’ll take him up.” Jim headed straight for the stairs.
Tasha watched him leave and wondered whether she should bring up the topic of their son’s name. Her choice of name. A name it turned out was one she shared with Gerry. A shared name she had no idea existed until earlier that day. With a deep breath and a shrug, Tasha followed Jim, stopping at the threshold to the bedroom where Jim was lying their son down gently as he spoke to him.
