My past is haunting my future
Brodie: *Notices audience* Oh, it's you. So I should tell this from the beginning…
"Elaine and I were happy. With Elaine being pregnant with a baby boy, and everything being set up for his arrival, we had picked the name Mycroft because of Elaine's love for the modern TV series Sherlock"
"Mycroft is Russian for Michael in case you were wondering… And a couple days later I had a phone call while I was working two weeks before our son was due; from Barts "Mr. Murphy, your wife has gone into labour… I fell of my chair, and rushed to Bart's as soon as I could… Mycroft was what she'd managed to utter as a name before she left…"
"I had gained two sons which I was surprised with as Elaine didn't look like she was carrying two. But the two baby boys had lost a mother. It was that moment exactly that I promised myself I would live for my family first before anything else. I named Mycroft Percy Murphy and the younger baby boy Timothy Sherlock Jordan Murphy. The younger baby boy struck me because he had lavender eyes like his mother but, he had symptoms of Elaine's genetic disorder, Central heterochromia …"
I was getting tense so, I made an excuse to nearest nurse and went outside, saying to myself "I haven't done this since coming back… I exhaled my cigarette and promised the skies -and Elaine- that "I won't smoke around the children."
I went back inside and asked "How long do the boys have to be in hospital for?"
The nurse I spoke to introduced herself "I'm Kirsty, and the babies don't really need to be here much longer, the important checks have been done… So they can go home. Kirsty looked at me, and asked "Is there a problem, Mr Murphy?"
"Erm, well, yes. We were expecting only Mycroft so, I'll need to go shopping because…" I stopped Kirsty was chuckling "You're quite the excited father aren't you? The hospital has dressed the boys basically and will allow you time to go shopping."
If anything I think I might have brought too much… layettes, two rear-facing car seats, one crib(I had my own ready for one of the boys), baby bath kit, and cloth nappies… everything I didn't buy Elaine had already brought.
Once I had collected the car from our flat, and gone shopping I returned to Kirsty who was feeding Tim, after having fed Mycroft. "He has the most amazing eyes," I remarked. "Central Heterocromia isn't it? His mother had that." Kirsty nodded as she said "I'll help you with getting them ready to go home." When I got home I told our neighbour Mr Jacob about everything and he said "I'm always here to help, I'm downstairs in the next flat."
When the boys were five I hired a tutor to home-school them until they were nearly thirteen…
I was forever troubled by the fact the boys might know something was wrong once they went to Harrow, had already started asking questions…"
Tim (innocently) "dad, why do the other boys have two parents and not one like us?"
Mycroft (crossly) "Come on Sherlock, father won't tell us. It hurts too much…"
Tim (confused) "Why did you call me Sherlock? That's one of my middle names, my first name is Tim…"
I stared at Mycroft slightly fazed… but shook it off and said in my best fatherly advice voice "Well, now you're nearly old enough to go Harrow, You might meet other boys called Timothy so you might have to use your middle name."
Tim:(wondering) "…But what does Sherlock mean, dad? " "Well Sherlock roughly translated means fair-haired or bright haired and you have fair hair like your mother did, and Mycroft your name is Russian for Michael, and also because you're mother loved the TV program "Sherlock" and finally, I will tell you sometime but when you are older…"
That week I went to the Harrow parents' evening with Sherlock (He now wants to be called that instead of Timothy) and Mycroft.
The master of the house that the boys would be in was very helpful to stop me worrying, "Well Mr. Murphy we at Harrow have shepherds in each double dorm room so the new shells can be have someone to help and there's always the Matron who won't mind being woken up if any boy has a problem." And I thought I'm going to miss the noise in the mornings and everything until they're back… "Finally, Shells have an email address so that they can email you." I was convinced I had made a great choice that day because the boys looked happy and had said "See you in the Exeats and in the Half-term!"
