Next day, 2nd November, 4 pm
"I'll get it," he calls as he moves to answer the door.
"Hi, Dad," Catherine smiles when the door opens, and stepping forward, she embraces him and kisses his cheek.
It seems that his reaction yesterday to the news of her pregnancy has unlocked a warmth towards him that she's kept in check for years, and he returns her embrace gladly. "Hello, Catherine," he says as he releases her and steps back to let her enter his home.
She steps through the door and is closely followed by a man of about the same height as Harry. With an efficiency that he's perfected in his years as a spook, Harry takes in everything about him at a glance, from his dark brown hair, swept back in a pony-tail, and keen, chocolate eyes, to his strong, though rather slim, athletic build. Aside from the long hair, Harry likes what he sees. The man his daughter has chosen has character. Time will tell if he's the right choice for her, but as first impressions go, it's a good one.
"Dad," Catherine says, "this is Richard. Richard, my father, Harry."
"Pleased to meet you, Harry," Richard smiles and extends his hand towards him.
He's hiding his nerves well, Harry observes though he can easily tell that he's tense. Harry knows that he can be intimidating, and having only been retired a week, he doubts that he's lost any of the aura of power that he knows surrounds him. He shakes Richard's hand and is pleased to find that he has a firm grip and he meets his eye squarely. "Likewise," he replies. "Come in. Ruth's just checking on Fiona."
Richard helps Catherine take her coat off, much to Harry's approval, and stepping forward, Harry takes it from his hand and hangs it on the hook behind him. Richard murmurs his thanks and proceeds to remove his own coat, which he lets Harry take from him also.
"I'm sorry, Dad," Catherine apologises. "I have to take my shoes off; my feet are killing me."
She slips out of her shoes and leaves them under the coats as Harry frowns and murmurs, "Hang on. I'm sure we have some slippers you could borrow. Your feet will freeze."
"I'm fine, Dad," Catherine objects and turns towards the sitting room, pulling Richard with her.
Harry, however, is not to be deterred, and moments later, he enters the room carrying two pairs of slippers, one blue and fluffy and the other grey and practical. "Which do you prefer?" he asks.
"Dad!" she sighs in exasperation. "I don't need any, thank you."
"Right, blue and fluffy it is then," he winks and puts them down by her feet as she sits on the sofa.
Richard chuckles, and when Harry turns to look at him, he murmurs, "Sorry, it's just that she never listens to me when I ask her to wear footwear either. You'd be surprised how many arguments we have on the subject."
"She's never liked to wear shoes," Harry confides. "It was a source of constant battles when she was little. We'd force her to put the shoes on, but the moment our backs were turned, she'd take them off and run around barefoot." Catherine watches him, a fond smile playing on her lips. Then turning to her, he asks, "I remember one time I asked you why you didn't want to wear shoes. You were probably about three or four at the time. Do you remember what you answered?"
"No," Catherine shakes her head.
"You said that they were too heavy, clunky, pinchy and ungrippy," he smiles.
Catherine and Richard laugh. "I get heavy," Richard says as he turns to Catherine and rubs her knee affectionately, "but clunky, pinchy and ungrippy?"
"They got in my way," she explains. "They pinched my toes and didn't work nearly as well as my bare feet for climbing, my favourite occupation at the time." She turns to look at Harry and says, "I didn't know you remembered that."
"I remember a lot of things, Catherine," he smiles, his eyes twinkling at her in pleasure.
A soft clearing of the throat has them all turning their attention towards the door. "Hello," Ruth smiles and steps into the room. Richard gets up straight away and turns to help Catherine to her feet also. "Oh, no. Don't get up," Ruth objects as she comes to stand next to Harry, but they ignore her.
He turns and his eyes soften like they always do when he looks at her. "Ruth," he says, "this is my daughter, Catherine and her partner, Richard. Catherine, Richard, my wife, Ruth."
Ruth shakes hands with Richard first, who's standing closest to her, and she's pleased to see the sparkle in his intelligent, brown eyes. She's a firm believer that a person's eyes can tell you a lot about them, and she likes Richard already. They murmur 'pleased to meet you' to each other and smile before Ruth turns to Catherine and offers her hand in greeting. Catherine, however, steps forward and wraps her arms around Ruth in a warm embrace, taking both Ruth and Harry by surprise. "I'm so pleased to finally meet you, Ruth," she smiles.
"Finally?" Ruth asks in an effort to distract as she's momentarily overcome by Catherine's affectionate greeting.
"Dad's mentioned you before. He was pretty cut up about it when you left a few years ago," she admits with a quick uncertain look at her father.
Ruth smiles and glances at Harry. Catherine's admission has made him quite uncomfortable, she notes though she's sure no one else is able to tell, so she replies lightly, "We both were, but luckily we were given a second chance."
Wisely Catherine refrains from making a joke about their 'second chance' and says instead, "Is Fiona sleeping?"
Ruth nods. "I'm afraid she is. I thought we could give her a little more time and see if she wakes up on her own, but I promise to get her before you leave even if she doesn't."
"I'll go put the kettle on for tea," Harry murmurs, and touching Ruth's elbow lightly as he passes her, he leaves the room. He and Catherine already caught up yesterday, and he knows that he needs to give Ruth and Catherine a chance to become acquainted. At the same time, he also knows that Richard needs to relax a little in order to open up and give him a glimpse of the man he is, which means leaving him with Ruth also. Harry knows that he can break even the toughest of men, but his interrogation techniques, he's sure, wouldn't meet with the approval of either his daughter or his wife. Subtler methods are needed, and Ruth's perfect for the job even if she doesn't know she's doing it. She probably suspects what he's up to though, he thinks with a smile as he flicks the kettle on to boil and turns towards the fridge. She's good at figuring these things out, and especially at figuring him out.
Same day, 2nd November, 5 pm
They're having a good time. She's found plenty to talk about with Catherine, particularly about her pregnancy and travels. Richard has also relaxed somewhat and has shared quite a bit about himself and his interest in photography, and he's offered to take some pictures of her and Harry with Fiona, which Ruth's delighted about. He's a good man, she's decided. Steady and caring, and deeply in love with Catherine; it's obvious from the way he looks at her.
"Are you using cloth or disposable nappies, Ruth?" Catherine asks as their conversation drifts back to babies.
"Disposable at the moment," Ruth replies. "I did read about cloth nappies though and was thinking of trying them, but things have been rather hectic since Fiona's birth and I haven't had the energy to try something new."
"You should definitely look into them," Catherine says eagerly. "They make potty training much easier later and they're healthier for Fiona; no chemicals. And they're much better for the environment, even if you take into account all the water that you use for washing them. Plus I've always thought it's disgusting how disposable nappies result in raw human waste going directly into landfill without being treated. With cloth nappies, the poo ends up in the sewage which is where it belongs."
"Catherine," Richard murmurs quietly, "I don't think that this is the best time to discuss this, do you? We are eating after all."
"Oh, right," Catherine laughs. "Sorry." She glances at Harry who's looking distinctly unimpressed with the turn the conversation has taken, and gaves him a sheepish grin. Then she turns to Ruth and asks, "Does he change Fiona? I bet he doesn't."
Ruth smiles and glances at her husband. "No, he doesn't," she admits, "but he's great when Fiona wakes up at night and won't go back to sleep. I'm sure he'd walk with her for hours in she needed it, and I confess that I don't mind the nappy changing if I can get a good night's rest."
Harry smiles at her softly. "It rarely takes more that a few minutes," he confesses. "She's an easy customer, unlike her big sister. I seem to recall spending hours trying to get her back to sleep at night."
Catherine laughs and replies, "I'm sure that it has nothing to do with me being difficult and everything to do with your technique, Dad. After all, you have much more experience with getting babies to sleep now, thanks to me."
"Very true," Harry chuckles.
"You need to tell Richard your secret, Dad," Catherine smiles. "I'm sure I'll need a good night's sleep too once your grandchild's born."
"It's a closely guarded secret," he teases, "but I'm sure I could bring myself to share it with my grandchild's father when the time comes... as long as he promises to guard it well."
"I will, Harry," Richard smiles. "After all, I wouldn't want to outlive my usefulness, would I?"
Harry laughs, much to Richard's delight, and replies, "No. That would not be wise."
Fiona chooses that moment to wake up and they all hear her gurgling to herself through the baby monitor. Ruth goes upstairs to get her, and after changing her, she carries her into the sitting room and comes to sit down next to Catherine.
"Hi, Fiona," Catherine coos and takes her into her arms when Ruth offers to hand her over. "I'm Catherine, your big sister, and this is your uncle, Richard." Fiona studies them intently with her big, blue eyes and then smiles as she makes a gurgling noise in her throat. "Oh, Dad, Ruth, she's adorable," Catherine grins in delight as she looks up at both of them.
"I know," Ruth replies with pride.
"She has your eyes, Ruth," Richard comments as he presses his finger into Fiona's hand and feels her grab hold of it with her little fist.
"And Dad's hair," Catherine teases. "Blond and not much of it."
Ruth begins to laugh and Harry rolls his eyes and shakes his head in mock exasperation.
"What?" Catherine asks, sensing that there's something she's missed.
Ruth says nothing, but Harry eventually volunteers, "Ruth said the exact same thing just after she was born."
"Oh," Catherine laughs. "That's funny because I said the same thing to Graham..." she tails off at the look on Harry's face and quickly turns back to Fiona.
"Graham?" Harry asks in a deceptively calm voice. "How is your brother?"
Catherine lifts her eyes to him briefly before looking back down at her sister. "I saw him yesterday actually," she replies. "He seems fine. He's working hard, really hard. He has two jobs at the moment."
"Really," Harry replies sceptically and is rewarded with a frown from Ruth. She's picked up on the falsely cheerful tone in Catherine's voice and knows that something's going on that Catherine doesn't want to talk about. She knows Harry's picked up on it too, and her frown is a subtle reminded to him to pull himself together so that they can figure out what's wrong. Harry takes the hint. "I'm glad to hear he's doing better," he says, his voice soft and gentle. He is glad to hear it.
"Actually, he isn't," Catherine replies, and seeing her father's face darken, she hastily adds. "He's clean. He has been for more than two years now. But he could use some help getting a better paid job with better hours. He... um..." She turns her eyes towards Richard in a silent plea.
He nods and clears his throat. "This should really be coming from Graham," he begins and a dark shadow crossed his face momentarily. "He shouldn't be leaving Catherine to say this."
"Richard," she pleads and places her hand on his arm gently.
"Fine," he nods. "I'm just saying..."
"What's going on?" Harry asked, his face a mask of calm control though there's an edge to his voice now.
Richard turns to him and replies. "There's no easy way to say this... Graham fathered a child about a year and a half ago." Harry stares at him and Ruth gasps. "He's a nice boy. His name is James, James Edward after two of his great-grandfathers. When Graham's girlfriend discovered she was pregnant, she turned to him for help, and to give him credit, he pulled himself together pretty quickly. He made sure that both he and Claire checked into a drug treatment program and they remained clean once they got out. He got a job and worked hard, and when the baby was born, he took to being a father like a duck to water. Unfortunately for him and Jamie, Claire didn't do so well. She lasted about eight months before she went back to drugs. Graham found out quickly and gave her an ultimatum. She moved out the next day and left him to take care of Jamie on his own. He's done remarkably well considering, but I still think he should have told you this himself."
Harry had got up while Richard was speaking and walked over to the window. He stares out of it now, lost in a tumult of thoughts and emotions. Ruth watches him, her heart breaking for him. He's been a grandfather for more than a year without knowing it. She can well imagine the turmoil inside him. Catherine's also watching her father anxiously, leaning into Richard's side as he slips his arm around her shoulders in silent support.
Fiona begins to whimper, sensing the underlying currents of emotion in the room, and Ruth turns to Catherine and gives her a small encouraging smile before taking Fiona from her and sliding her into the sling she nearly always wares around her shoulder. Then, leaving Catherine in Richard's capable hands, she walks over to stand by Harry, slipping her hand from his right elbow down to his forearm and squeezing it lightly. He turns his head towards her slightly, and she can see the sheen of tears in his eyes. There's no wind to blame it on today, she thinks as she rests her head lightly on his shoulder. Fiona stares up at her father from her place in the sling and gurgles at him, giving him a gummy smile.
"Hi, beautiful," he murmurs softly and turns his body towards her to give her his left, index finger. She grasps it in her little hand and after a couple of failed attempts, she brings it to her mouth where she attempts to chew on it. "You need some teeth first," he comments with a smile. Then he reaches over and pulls his youngest daughter out of the sling and cradles her in his arms. Ruth squeezes his arm once more and he understands what she's trying to say. He needs to reassure his other daughter too. So turning around, he walks back to his seat and sits down, saying lightly, "Christmases should be fun again with all these babies around."
"Yes," Catherine replies from her place in Richard's arms.
"Do you think your brother would welcome my help if I looked around for some jobs for him?"
"I think he'd appreciate it," Catherine smiles, pleased that Harry's not angry at her for keeping her brother's secret. "Yesterday I asked him if I could talk to you about him when I saw you today, and he said I could tell you what I liked. He needs help, Dad. He's working himself to death and poor Jamie doesn't see him as much as he needs."
Harry nods slowly. "I'll see what I can do."
