Jon smiled at her and wondered about her mum and what she’d meant earlier when she said she’d felt guilty about her dying, specifically her and Jason. He allowed his thoughts to drift; what had Mrs Pryor looked like, sounded like. Was Steph like her? He realised that she most probably was because she didn’t seem to follow after her father and although there was a sibling similarity between her and the other Pryor children, some of them looked more like Roger.
Steph continued, “I woke up about two in the morning and could hear some strange noises and I’d had enough sex at that point to know what sex sounded like. I assumed Jay must have done the same as me and come home early for the Christmas holiday with a plus one. I was just about to go and tell them to shut the fuck up, literally.” She laughed. “When Mum woke up and said,leave them, he deserves some comfort and happiness. To say I was confused was an understatement because my mum would never have tolerated any of us shagging in the house. They went quiet, doors opened and closed and then I heard voices, hers mainly, speaking his name,Roger.”
“Bloody hell, Steph! Your dad and Janice? In the house? While your mum lay there dying?” asked Jon shaking his head in disbelief.
“Oh yes. Mum told me that she’d known that they’d grown close, encouraged it and she was glad that he would have someone after she was gone. That I shouldn’t judge him harshly or tell the others and that side of their relationship had been non-existent for a long time. Jason came back the following morning before Dad or Janice were around. Mum was sleeping so Jay and I were sat at the breakfast table when they appeared looking like any other couple the morning after the night before.Our presence was quite the shock for them, but I didn’t need to tell Jay, he saw for himself. He flipped out at Dad initially and I just asked Janice to leave, very calmly and without swearing, you would have been very impressed,” she told him with certainty.
Jon shook his head, hoping to clarify his thoughts on the scene Steph was painting for him but also he was preventing himself from imagining how he would have reacted in the same position. With a frown, he realised that he would have reacted like Jason, with anger towards his father.
“Jason and I talked about it and he could see that it hadn’t been as much of a surprise to me and I told him what I’d heard and what Mum had said, which really upset him, but we both went to talk to Mum and she made us promise not to be horrible to Dad for it, which was easier for me because I was always ‘Daddy’s little princess’.”
“Pumpkin.” Jon grinned thinking about the name he’d heard Roger call Steph by.
“Anyway we never mentioned it again to Dad, but it carried on, they at least became more discreet but there was no doubt in my mind that it continued. It was the night before I went back to uni, Dad went out, and without being told as much, we knew it was with Janice, so I sat up all night with my mum. She was really, really poorly and I just knew that when I went back to uni I would never see her again, not alive, so I wanted to savour my time with her. Dad had suggested staying in, we all knew this was the end, but Mum insisted he went out and it was just me and her for the night. It was lovely,” Steph said with a smile that contradicted the tears welling in her eyes. “She talked about when I was born and that she knew that it would cost her everything eventually, but that she had never regretted me or Jay. She talked about all the dreams she had for us all; to be happy and successful and she made me promise to work hard and find a nice man who would treat me like a princess.” Therealisation that she was crying now at the memory of that night hit Steph hard. “I think I may have fucked that bit up . . . I have always seemed to have the knack for attracting the wrong sort of man. Chris was nice, and Charlie, but the others, not so much so.”
“Thanks,” muttered Jon as he pulled her closer to his side.
“Well shagging a married man who makes jobs up for me and pays my wages isn’t exactly going to rank up there with my finer moments, is it?”
Jon opened and closed his mouth several times, unsure what to say because based on what she’d already shared about her mother, Mrs Pryor would not have considered this situation to be one where her daughter was being treated like a princess, nor would it reflect Jon in a ‘nice man’ light.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean that to sound how it did,” she said sniffing back a torrent of tears that wouldn’t take much tempting to fall.
“Oh, Steph, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to get upset, but I just thought that we don’t really know that much about each other.” Jon handed her his very expensive hanky from his suit pocket.
“It’s okay, you’re right, we don’t actually know anything about each other do we, not really?” she asked seriously.
“I wouldn’t quite go that far, darling, I think I know every inch of you,” he said with a wicked glint in his eye and then winked at her making her hungry for him, but also making her laugh.
“I thought you were talking on a deeper level than that,” she chastised him.
“I was, but not if it makes you upset,” he said draping an arm around her shoulders gently. “I’m happy to get shallow in the gutter with you if it makes you happier.”
“No, you’re right and I’d like us to know more about each other,” said Steph and continued. “I woke up the next morning still lying with my mum, but as soon as I looked at her I knew there was something wrong. When I tried to wake her, she was so cold . . . I knew she’d gone. I just screamed and screamed. Jason came in first and as soon as he realised what had happened he was as hysterical as me, then Dad appeared with Janice. Maybe she’d stayed over, or perhaps she’d made an early start for work. Dad hadn’t got a clue what to say or do. Janice, on the other hand knew exactly what to do and phoned all the relevant people. All the others came over and it was Eddie that noticed the way Janice kept touching my dad; a stroke of the hand, a pat on the back and then the day of Mum’s funeral it was obvious, but we’d all been left a letter and all of them said that we were to take care of each other with no recriminations or judgements and to respect Dad and any decisions he had made, or would make in the future. She also told us how much of a friend Janice had been, that she had been so much more than a carer and supported Mum in ways we would never know or understand, so we tolerate Janice and all that she represents to us.”
“Jeez Steph!”
“Quite,” agreed Steph. “So, what about your family?”
“Oh now there’s a question,” he said as the lift doors opened and several nurses appeared prompting Jon to look at his watch. “Over breakfast. I will nip back to mine and shower and change and bring you some things back and then we can have breakfast before we meet with the consultant. I will call Eddie and Janice to let them know what sort of night Roger’s had, okay?” Jon was up on his feet, bending down to kiss Steph as Dr Patterson passed.
He called to Steph, “He’s still stable and had a comfortable night.”
“Thank you,” she called back as she got to her feet and hugged Jon tightly. “I don’t know what I have done to deserve you, but I am glad you’re here,” she told him as she moved her arms beneath his jacket and ran her hands across his back through just his shirt.
“I don’t know about that, but if you don’t stop moving your hands under my clothes I may not be able to stop myself from returning the favour,” he grinned, wiggling his brows, hoping to lighten the moment and make her smile.
She grinned back. “That sounds pretty tempting.”
“At home, in the car, hotel rooms, my office, your office, all options, darling, but not a hospital waiting area. Now what clothes do you want me to bring you?”
“Something to change into when I get into work, and deodorant, oh and if you bring a skirt or a dress I’ll need some shoes, please,” she said to a disbelieving Jon.
“So, you will sit up all night on damned uncomfortable hospital chairs, but then you plan on going into work?” he asked bemused.
“I am nothing if not professional and I have a new job to get my head around.” Her expression and tone were serious.
“It can wait,” Jon said equally as serious, but as he saw the look of determination spread across her face he relented slightly. “Okay, I will be back as soon as I can, then we’ll grab some breakfast before speaking to the consultant, and after all of that we will discuss work, okay?”
