Chapter Sixty-Eight
A loud thudding on the back door woke up Liam. As the man groaned, he barely got any sleep once again due to Rosa's constant questioning to who he was. This knocking woke her up once again and he didn't think it was worth the hassle trying to go back to sleep. So Liam just forced himself up, telling her everything is fine and that's it's just somebody at the door. Which seemed to calm her down as she watched him wander over to the back door in annoyed confusion. The silhouette of John making it clear who it was, Liam wondered why the Hell he was playing at...
"What?!" Liam snapped at him as he unlocked the door. Moving to the side as he felt the man shove past him.
"Ethan!" John called up the stairs; ignoring Liam.
His voice echoed through the household as he kept yelling the man's name. Sounds of footsteps was now heard as a confused Leanna came downstairs. Her father quickly grabbing her towards him. John however wouldn't stop demanding the man to come downstairs, no response came and so the old man began walking up the stairs. Liam telling his daughter to stay there while he went to sort this out. Ethan finally showed his face after hearing his old step-uncle's voice and steps getting closer.
"John...What are you doing?" Liam asked him as he watched the man stare Ethan down. He wanted to hurt him badly.
"I want him to pay for what he has done!" John shouted in a bellow of rage.
"I don't know what he's on about, all the drink must have gone to his head" Ethan insisted.
This finally got him a well deserved punch from John. Though he didn't fight back this time, he had to keep up his false image in front of Liam. So he just let John lay into him again and again. Liam trying to pull him off him as he shouted...
"John! Stop this!"
"No I won't stop! Get off me!" John hissed as he tried to shove Liam away. Though he wasn't able to.
Liam wasn't a fighter but he was still able to overpower John with ease.
"You're mad!" Ethan spat out as he watched Liam take him away.
Taking him outside despite being in his pyjamas. Though that was the least of his worries right now, he just wanted the fighting to stop. Leanna was downstairs, he didn't want her to witness or hear that. He was still curious however and wanted to know why John just did that, what was his problem?
"Get you and Leanna out of this house...He's no good!" John tried to tell him. Not willing to tell the truth, not even now.
"What has he done?" Liam demanded to know.
"He...He's just not good"
"John, you can't just come inside and beat him up because of some family issues. Leanna doesn't want to see that" Liam spoke.
The girl now standing at the front door as she watched the exchange.
"It's Leanna I'm worried about...I would never wish any harm to come to the girl, she's the closest thing I had to a granddaughter. I'm sorry for doing it in front of her and I'm sorry if I scared her but trust me on this" John replied, calming down slightly.
"We got nowhere else to go and I know Ethan has some problems with you and Henrietta but we really do have nowhere else to go right now" Liam explained.
The man in question now coming down the stairs as he walked past Leanna. Giving John a subtle smirk. Purposefully trying to rile him up again and this worked as John went to lunge at him again. Though Liam had to pull him away quickly, pleading with him to stop whatever feud this was. Telling him to go and calm himself down, he knew there was a feud between Ethan and John but he didn't know what it was. Maya use to claim it was just something petty and that her father was making a mountain out of a molehill.
"He's a freak, Liam! Please trust me on this...You and Leanna can stay with me or Henrietta if you want somewhere to stay" John tried to say.
Doing everything to try and persuade them to leave without telling the truth. Without a valid reason however, Liam had no reason to want to leave. He just thought this was the mad ramblings of an alcoholic with a grudge. Leanna however seemed to grasp a little bit of what he was implying.
"Just go away John...You're causing trouble, you did it at your own daughter's funeral. So just go and calm yourself down" Liam spoke, making the man scoff in despair.
He watched his old son-in-law walk back into the house. Leading Leanna back into the living room, telling her not to worry. Ethan looked over at him again as he gave him a slow sarcastic clap.
"Well done Uncle John, looks like you made a complete fool of yourself once again" Ethan mocked.
"If you touch one hair on that girl's head then I will tell everyone what you are"
And he went to take his leave however Ethan had one final jibe to throw his way. By this point, the scumbag thought he was untouchable. He never once got caught for his actions and Maya's parents let him get with it. He thought he could say anything and nothing would come of it.
"Sure Uncle John...You might be able to protect Leanna but that doesn't change that you never protected your own daughter, no. I took everything away from her and you know what?" Ethan began to say.
This made John turn back around. With another subtle smirk, the man answered the question...
"I think she enjoyed it more then I did"
It took all his willpower but John actually carried on walking away. Making Ethan laugh, he thought that was the end of that.
...
"Daddy!" Amba called excitedly as she ran towards her father. Giving David a hug, he really needed it.
Priya heard about everything now from Eric. She brought Amba over for some much needed cheering up. Though Rishi had also tagged along, they were over here for dinner. Eric was cooking, thinking it would be nice to have a small family dinner. Wanting to make things just seem normal again. It was around tea time now and they were going to have Sunday roast dinner.
"Oh no...If Eric is cooking, I think we are all in trouble" Rishi joked as he entered the house with Priya.
"What?" Eric piped up as he suddenly turned around.
"I said I love your cooking!" Rishi yelled over.
Making Priya give a small smirk as she walked towards the table. David and Amba not far behind as the little girl rushed into her father's home. Sitting herself down at the table as she held onto two dolls she brought from home. Rishi taking his seat besides his granddaughter as he gave the dinner a quick glance over...
"Thanks for this...I didn't expect it" David spoke to Priya.
"Well your dad invited us and Amba really wanted to see you. She missed you these last few days. And it's okay, your dad told me everything. You don't have to go through it alone any more, okay?" Priya assured him.
"Okay"
She gave him a small smile before pulling him for a hug. He was just wondering if Tracy, Leyla and Alicia would be just as understanding. They still haven't shown up yet, they wanted to give him some space. Priya however was the mother of his child and so she would always be there for him. He couldn't have hoped for a better ex-girlfriend to be stuck with really, she was a good friend. They looked over towards the kitchen by this point, Rishi was telling Eric to give him the most mash.
"I love mash, it helps with my bones" Rishi was overheard saying.
"Does it though?" Eric asked rhetorically.
"Yes...Manpreet would back me up on this"
Priya rolled her eyes slightly at her father's remarks. As she sat on the opposite side with him, David sitting besides her. The dinner smelt good if nothing else, Rishi was tempted to say something to David about the unborn child but didn't know how to word it. What could be said about it? So fearing he may say the wrong thing and ruin the dinner, the man just kept his mouth shut. Trying to keep the dinner light-hearted for everyone, his granddaughter was next to him anyway.
"I haven't had a roast dinner for ages" Priya remarked.
"I haven't had a proper dinner for days" David piped up.
"Well that changes now, you're going to get through this. We just want you to go back to your normal self"
"Yeah...Well it's a lot easier now I no longer got to pretend I'm okay"
Though he didn't say that was conviction. He was still thinking about the baby scan. He saw everything, the head and the body. It just brought him to the realisation that it was actually a baby and it could have been his. Though he doesn't regret seeing it despite how difficult it was. David did have plans for what he wanted to do however he didn't want to spoil the current mood so he didn't mention it.
...
It's been about two months now and spending time at his real father's was still strange. Jacob was still not prepared to admit anything, just that she made a 'mistake'. He had an unhealthy way of dealing with life if things got too hard. He kept going back to Maya's grave these last few months. Nobody had any idea he was still going back there, they thought that part was over but it wasn't. The lad just kept spending what little money his father gave him on things for said grave. His college was alright though, he enjoyed speaking with his fellow students because they didn't know his past. Therefore he could be his old self with them. Though he refused to speak to the girls much, if he thought any of them were getting a bit too comfortable with him then he would drop them as friends. Even the female teachers barely got word out of him however they were told about what happened to him, thus they were not confused like the girls his own age. Maya was still in his head despite being dead, he felt like if he got serious with another girl then he was insulting her memory. It was a sad side effect of it.
...
TBC
