The drive seemed to be getting longer; Declan had been making this drive for the last 7 yrs. every other weekend when he could. The drive from London to his home in the country; he was lost in his thoughts, his 4 children all at Oxford University now his youngest the twins following in the family footsteps passing the entrance exams for Oxford and scoring very high at age 15. They all tested out of high school early, his thoughts turning to the last meeting with the Dean of Admissions when the twins applied they requested that there be no more McCrea's attending Oxford after these 2.
His daughter Margaret now 19 was a bit of a handful blowing up chemistry labs; his wife would just write a check to cover the damages and make a donation to keep Margaret there. He knew her plans after graduating she was heading to the military although her mother was not pleased with this decision. He was heading home now to smooth things over with his wife and try to bring her round to Margaret decision. Margaret was his girl, so very much like him and always at his side from the moment he arrived home to the tearful goodbyes. Michael the oldest was his mother's son he was going to be a doctor just like her, they shared so much. The twins well they were just the twins they had each other, they were planning on being writers and poets. Declan and Gwen were just fine with them, they were the unexpected children and because they were identical twins they shared telepathy where as Michael and Margret's gift was they were very in tune to people's emotions and a very uncanny gift for reason and deduction. Declan and Gwen once joked that somebody had to receive something of James and it not all be from Beatrix.
His thought drifted back and forth to things going on in London and other problems he needed to handle at the Sanctuary. Recently he had been thinking about James and Gwen and the fractured relationship his wife had with her father. He spent the first 3 yrs. working at the Sanctuary as James protégée but at a cost; his wife was so angry with him she filled for legal separation, served him with the papers which he refused to sign. When he finished with his military career she had wanted him to come home and take up with her in her medical practice. But he insisted on honoring his promise to James to come work at the Sanctuary.
He was finally starting to feel at home in a house he had gone back & forth to for the past 20 years. He felt a little guilty admitting it to himself but being in a house with 3 telepaths and 2 empaths it took all his will to keep his guard up and his thoughts to himself. He admired his wife for her endless work with the children teaching them about their gifts and to not let on to ordinary people that they were a little different.
His wife Gwendolyn was a telepath of the highest degree she was the daughter of Sir James Watson and his wife Beatrix Bertrande. Beatrix was a telepath who ended up living in the London Sanctuary from when she was a small child being rescued by James from a circus. She attended college and upon her return to the London Sanctuary after graduation James became very smitten and they married. They had 3 sons who all died soon after birth, after many years Beatrix well into her late forties announced to James that she was in fact pregnant again. They worried about this child but Beatrix assured James something was different and she had a premonition that this child would live. As Beatrix's pregnancy advanced she became very ill, no one could figure out why she was so fatigued. Helen came over from the US and ran every test imaginable but they found nothing. The day arrived and Beatrix gave birth to a very healthy baby girl and soon died after the birth. James was inconsolable and Helen was at wits end as to why Beatrix died.
After the funeral James beseeched Helen to take the baby girl back to the states with her and raise her for he felt he could not do it. He was so distraught he could not even look at or hold the baby. Helen agreed to his request with much reservation and she told James she would only take the child for a short time and that he had better step up to the plate in a few months. James halfheartedly agreed and as the months turned to years he found every excuse not to take the child and allowed a nasty bitterness toward his daughter to fester in his heart.
Helen wrote letters of progress to James and he showed limited interest in his child. He did not even name her and chose to not refer to her by name in his correspondence.
When Helen finally returned to her Sanctuary in Old City with a 2 week old baby in her arms she was met by her devoted servant. He took the child into his large hairy arms and cuddled the sleeping babe, Helen had called home and told him of the new arrival, he took the small bedroom next to his and converted it to a nursery. He asked Helen the baby's name and she shook her shoulders and told him of James distraught and how he refused to have anything to do with the babe. He told Helen he wanted to name her Gwendolyn and Helen agreed. The baby girl became known as Gwendolyn Bertrande Watson and that is what Helen wrote on the birth certificate and then mailed it back to the registers office in London.
The Big Guy treated her as his own and spent all of his time caring for her and teaching her his ways with herbal and holistic medicines. She named him Poppy and they were very close, she knew she was different; she would often walk into Aunt Helen's office and begin to pepper her with questions about whatever Helen was thinking about. Helen worked very hard at teaching Gwen why it wasn't a good thing to read people thoughts. Gwen was a bright and precocious child; she spent a great deal of time in Helen's library reading everything she could get her hands on.
When Gwen was 10 years old Helen took her back to England to an exclusive all girls' boarding school. Gwen tested high and they immediately accepted her. Helen tried to get James to attend the interview at the school but he found an excuse to be out of the country. Helen was quite vexed with James and told him so upon their next meeting. Gwen did well and made many friends during her time at boarding school she wrote to Poppy and Aunt Helen every week and visited back to the Old City Sanctuary every holiday. She tested out when she was 15 years old and was accepted to Oxford, and still James made to move to come and see her or have any contact with her. She tamped down her seething anger at him by promising herself that she would be a better doctor than he ever would be and a better scientist. But mostly she would be a better person and someday a better parent. Upon her eighteenth birthday she legally changed her name to Gwendolyn Bertrande .
When Gwen was 22 she and some of the other residents from the hospital she worked at went to a local pub, Gwen had the most peculiar felling upon entering the pub and quickly glanced around. Her gaze took her to the bar where a tall blonde soldier stood drinking a beer and chatting with the bartender. She joined her friends at a table near the bar but was distracted by his thoughts. They were ringing in her head as hard as she tried to not listen in she found herself getting up and walking to the bar to get another beer. She stood rite next to him, he towered over by at least a foot. She beat him to it and told the bartender she was buying the soldier a drink. He thanked her and was wondering why she bought him a drink she turned and smiled a mischievous smile at him. He's learned since then that that little smile screams I know what you are thinking pal….
Gwen was engaged in conversation with Declan and wasn't paying attention. Luckily he was, just behind her two guys began to have words and things took a nasty turn when one raised his glass to strike the other. The other fellow ducked; Declan suddenly grabbed Gwen and pulled her into him shielding her head with his arm. She felt the thump on his hand and something hit her back and run the length of her leather jacket. In that split second she realized what had happened and knew he was cut, he released her and she immediately went into doctor mode. The pub brawl was ragging around them as they made their way out Gwen leading the way only they didn't stop outside the pubs door she dragged him down the street to where her car was parked. She dug in her pocket for her keys and out the trunk she pulled a doctors bag, it was dark and she handed him a torch to hold which he did as she examined the cut. There was a large piece of glass in the wound and it was bleeding heavily she thought a vein might be nicked. She informed him she was driving him to the emergency room which he protested he didn't want this being on his record even though he was a innocent victim in the mess. She wasn't arguing with him just then her friend Jaclyn arrived and together they inspected his arm, in Jaclyn opinion the vein was fine but they needed better light, Gwen decided to take him back to her house to do a better patch up job. There was no room for Jaclyn in Gwen 2 seated sports car so she bid them goodbye winking and giggling at Gwen who shook her head in annoyance at her silly girlfriend.
Declan was shocked when they pulled up a long driveway to a large Edwardian Manor house, she lived on an estate. She interrupted his thoughts telling him she had inherited the estate from her mother and she had only recently come to be living there. She led him through the house to the kitchen where he took a seat at the table while she busied herself getting what she needed to stitch him up. She went through the routine asking about allergic reactions to meds, how much had he actually had to drink that night and so on. She was finished in no time, Declan was fascinated watching her work, turns out the glass weren't as large as she first thought it was and the wound not as deep. While she cleaned up she instructed him on caring for it and again suggesting he have the base doctor look at it and remove the stitches in 15 – 20 days. Now what does she do with him she thought, she smirked to herself because he was thinking the same thing what's next.
Declans' drive was coming to an end he was nearing the house and turned onto the long driveway; the house hadn't changed much he thought since the first time he'd been there. He looked up to see the front door open and his wife step out to greet him, when they stood face to face she reached up to touch his face and said "Declan my dear, the past is the past leave it there" she smiled at him with that same old mischievous smile.
He bent down and kissed her…. He was glad to be home…