Chapter Fifty-Nine
Manpreet was currently sitting at her desk in work, she was rushed off her feet at the surgery. Even with Wendy's help. She had been trying to get back into contact with her old colleague Liam for ages and today he finally answered. Manpreet didn't know why he just left when he did, nobody beyond Bernice, Diane and Gabby knew that. Though after the man heard about Bernice going to Australia to help her youngest daughter Dee Dee look after her father Charlie. He and Leanna took their chance to return. Things needed to be sorted, the surgery and Leanna's schooling for example. So after a rather long break away from the village, they returned with two suitcases. They nervously walked into 'The Woolpack'. Graham's death overshadowed their return. Which was fine by them as Liam hardly wanted people to make a big fuss. Nor did he wish for them to question his motives for leaving. So he just ordered two orange juices.
"Oh...Welcome back" Charity spoke up as she served them.
"Can I go and see Noah?" Leanna asked her.
"Not really, he's not great at the moment, he's been through a lot since you left. How about you wait until tomorrow? Yeah? He needs his family only right now, Graham died and he's a bit upset over it" Charity began to explain.
Leanna seemed rather upset to hear the news. He didn't mention anything to her in their text messages. He said he was fine. After everything she told him too about how she saved him from Maya's grips. Now he was keeping her in the dark, she hoped now she was back in person that things may go back to how they were.
"Well we are sorry to hear that, Leanna will see him tomorrow" Liam piped in, giving her the money.
"Don't be sorry...Graham was a useless waste of space and I'm happy he's gone" Charity simple remarked.
Moving swiftly onto the next customer. Liam giving his daughter a small look of puzzlement before retreating to the seats on the far corner. They come back at a rather bad time for the village then (though he supposed it was a good distraction). Leanna just giving her father a big sigh.
"So daddy...Looks like I got to go back to school, which is unfair by the way as I'm suppose to be doing my A-Levels this year; not my GCSE's" Leanna complained.
"Well I'm sorry Leanna but things got in the way"
"You mean Bernice got in the way!" Leanna paused slightly as she didn't mean to shout it out like that, so in a much quieter tone; the girl said "It's okay though because I'm back and I'm no going to let any of your bitchy girlfriends...Dead or alive; halt my life"
"What have I told you about calling Bernice names? She had every right to dump me, I did an unforgivable thing"
"Well I forgave you so she should have done too...It's okay though, we can do better"
"We? I didn't realise you had any say in my love life, Leanna" Liam jokingly commented.
Leanna just rolling her eyes at him. The only thing she was worried about was bumping into Gabby again. She now knew pretty much everything about her life before Emmerdale, things she rather not anyone know. It wasn't like they were close friends anymore so she could easily just blank her or even worse, tell people why she and Liam left in the first place. It wasn't a good look for anyone to have.
"Does Diane know we're moving back into the cottage?" Leanna questioned her father. That sudden thought came to her.
"No but if I explain Manpreet needs me at work and that I'm only staying so you can finish your exams, she will understand"
"She hates you though"
"I know...Which is why I have to try and make an excuse. It's not like we're even lying, we really are back for work and school"
"Us not lying? What a novelty" Leanna joked.
"Don't even joke about it" Liam scolded.
He really hated it when she joked about it. Liam was disgusted at himself for years, he did nothing to help Damian. Maya just sold him a sob story about how she was abused at thirteen and that she would never dare do that to somebody else. That Damian kissed her first and in a moment of madness, she reciprocated. The lad was fifteen she said, do you think I'm that sick? She asked. Liam didn't want to believe she was that sick so he brought her tale despite all his instincts telling him otherwise. Thus the move to Emmerdale to make a fresh start. After discovering her cheating with David, he buried his head further into the sand. David was a grown man and thus she must have been telling the truth. He was a coward, he knew that.
"Sorry" Leanna replied with another sigh.
"It's okay...Let's just try and make the best of what we got left"
...
"You alright?" Chas asked casually as her brother Cain walked into the pub living room.
He just gave her a small nod. He left Henrietta's house hours ago, he was just thinking about how useful it was that he spent that one final night there. Not because he cared or anything but just because the police cannot question him about Graham, he has an alibi. Apart from that though, he didn't feel anything else. He had no intention of going back to her, he got everything he wanted. It was fun until it stopped being fun. Bear Wolf was also in the room as he was sat the table.
"Yeah I'm fine...Henrietta turned out to be a bit of a nutter so I dodged that bullet" Cain spoke in jest.
"Really? The mother of the dead pervert is a bit of nutter? Colour me surprised" Chas sarcastically replied.
Bear giving a slight laugh in the background.
"Wouldn't put me off" Bear insisted; still chuckling in the background.
Chas just tutted, what he could do with women he fancied was constantly on his mind. Cain just giving a slight laugh in return. He didn't exactly like Bear but he did agree with him on some things.
"You sure about that? I woke up to use the bathroom, right? And I went in one of the rooms to have a look around, turned out to be Maya's old bedroom and I kid you not...The room was kept like a shrine, it looked like bloody Debbie's room when she were a teenager. You know what I mean? Just weird because Maya didn't die in 1992 or whatever year the room was left" Cain explained.
"Preserved?" Bear questioned.
"Oh yeah, properly preserved...And then she went mad at me, saying how I wouldn't like it if she went into one of my children's bedrooms. Talking like she wasn't dead. I don't get it honestly, even if she left home at 15; it doesn't explain why she left it like that, does it?"
"I don't know...Still, I wouldn't say no"
"You wanna wake up with an axe in your head? I know I go to some lengths to get some women but it's okay to say no sometimes"
This made Bear give another chuckle. Chas rolling her eyes at the exchange however yes she too had to agree, it was a bit odd. Even Jacob thought the same thing when he stayed over at the house for a couple months. Henrietta had her own reasons for keeping it that way, it was her way of coping with the fallout. Though still, she was glad her brother finally dropped that fling.
"I once went out with a woman who had a room full of porcelain dolls...I hated it because I felt like I had a hundred eyes on me every time I stayed over" Bear remarked.
"That's another thing, Henrietta's bedroom looked like some old lady's room. It would make Pearl's room look modern"
"To be honest Cain...None of what you just said would bother me"
"Well you know what they say...Beggars can't be choosers"
"Oi! I had way more women then you...And that's true since some of the so-called women you had were girls" Bear declared
Referring to Amy Wyatt, Jasmine Thomas and Ollie Reynolds (whom he heard about through local gossip and tales).
"That's a really low blow" Cain simply replied; knowing what he was talking about.
"Can we stop talking about how many women you both had? It's making feel right nauseous" Chas interrupted.
Making Bear just put his hands up. He felt like he won that argument anyway.
...
"Thank you for coming at such short notice...Though as you understand, we are going through a rough patch at the moment" Kim began.
She had invited Henrietta back to 'Home Farm' to discuss the business as per usual. Al tried to convince her it would be wise to drop her now however Kim was convinced it would look suspicious if done today and now. So instead, she asked her to stay the night at 'Home Farm' in the spare room. Saying about how Graham's recent death has truly shocked and upset her, how it made the business more difficult to run and how he got a load of paperwork left over. She needed legal advice on how to deal with it, that was the story she was peddling to her.
"It's okay and I do give my condolences" Henrietta spoke softly; placing her overnight bag down.
"Thank you...It's very difficult, I didn't even know if I should call you; do you even do this sort of thing? It was just so unexpected"
"Yes of cause, legally; you're Graham's next-in-kin. If I can work on some of the paperwork tonight, it should be done by morning"
"That's why I suggested you stay here overnight...Because it's such a big job isn't it? So much paperwork. And once this is over, I won't need your services anymore. I will give you a good reference to your law firm though, so don't worry"
Al was standing at the side while this was going on, Kim was putting on a good act for sure.
"Thank you very much but I think this may be one of my last cases" Henrietta commented.
"Oh yes, I forgot...you're on boring early retirement"
Henrietta just gave a small smile at this.
...
TBC