Chapter 8
"Harry." Dempsey says tentatively, offering her a cautious smile. The girl shuffles shyly into his side. He looks down at her, "Can you see Thelma anywhere?"
Harry can't help but look around, wondering then if she's also roped into finding the mother of his child. A pneumatic blonde or brunette with an NY accent, ready to drape herself over James. How could he..?
"I'll leave you to it." She says, trying to leave with her dignity intact. She hopes he won't try to follow her or stay in touch.
To her horror, he does just that. Asking her where she's going and then he seems to have a moment of clarity. "Emily, meet Harry. Harry, this is my niece, Emily is over here from New York, we've lost our aunt, Thelma."
Dempsey looks down at the child whose pressed further into his legs with a grin, "You've been tearing my apartment to pieces, woke me up at 6 and now you're shy?" He lifts her easily into his arms as Harry gathers herself together and Emily looks at her wide-eyed wonder. With a grin, he pretends to whisper, "Harry works here with all the dinosaurs."
Harry is grateful for the out, a chance to compose herself. "Hello, Emily."
She's none the wiser to the voice she heard, but he's here and any thoughts she had that he was married, blatantly lying disappear. Freddy told her that Spikings had said he was reliable if not a little unique and she reminds herself to trust a little more. He deserves that much. All of a sudden the world around her seems a little brighter. She really wants to say she sorry, hug and kiss him but frustratingly she can't in the current circumstances.
Instead, Harry rummages in her pockets, "I have little dinosaurs too.." Often she goes home with a plastic toy that's T-Rex related. There's a small army of them on her kitchen windowsill that make her smile, they look so strange against the furniture that has come from the hall. She hands a plastic purple model to the child. "There, you can have this. It's a Triceratops, have you seen one yet?"
"Thank you," Emily says in a broad Brooklyn accent and then shakes her head, no, she's not seen one. Then she looks up in astonishment as Harry points out the giant model hanging from the roof above them. She tells them what rudiments she knows, thankful that fate was kind enough to her today to give the brain space to remember her stuff in the face of seeing James again. She wasn't sure she remembered her name five minutes ago.
"Do you know everything about dinosaurs." Emily asks now leaning from the safety of Dempsey's arms, her eyes wide with curiosity.
"Not everything, but I know people who do if you have questions." Harry says, "Do you like them?"
Emily nods and then frowns at Dempsey, before confiding in Harry, "Uncle James said they're for boys, he's wrong."
"Hey, I never said that," James laughs, "I said I thought your brother might find it fun, but he likes the living stuff."
"He's gone to the zoo with my mom and dad." Emily says rolling her eyes. "He's two and a boy." She says with as much enthusiasm as any weary older sister can muster. Then she adds, "It's my uncle's birthday today."
Just as Harry wants to wish him a happy birthday, a grey-haired woman appears with a broad smile. "Auntie this is Harry, she knows Uncle Jim." Emily announces. "Isn't Harry a boys' name?"
"Short for Harriet." Dempsey tweaks her nose, 'Y'know, like I call you a monster 'cos that's short for Emily. As Emily debates this, Thelma and Harry find themselves amused and then catch each other's eye and take the opportunity to introduce each other properly.
"I'm Jim's Aunt Thelma, just call me Thelma," Her accent is transatlantic which surprises Harry. Thelma laughs, "I lived in London for a few years with my late husband, the accent stuck itself to me a little."
"Oh I see, it's' lovely to meet you." Harry finds her hands wrapped Thelma's warm ones.
"Likewise! Did you ring last night?" Thelma asks, a twinkle in her eyes, "I swear it was your voice, you're so well spoken, I never forget a voice."
At this Dempsey looks up from where he's still teasing Emily, in astonishment. Thelma raises an eyebrow at him, "C'mon honey, let's go and find another one of these dinosaurs."
"It's a trica…tree tops." Emily says taking her great aunt's hand and but not before turning to her uncle to declare that, "I like Harry, she's pretty."
"So that's not awkward…" Dempsey addresses his feet, clearly embarrassed by this sudden arrival of his relations in her space, but when he hears Harry giggle, he has to look up in surprise. The first time he's really seen her smile and he lights up too, "She's right. you look great."
"So do you," She observers gently.
"It's good to see you. I've been worried even if I did what you wanted. I'm sorry if me being here ain't right, I figured you might not work at the weekend…Emily, y'know wanted to come here… but I still kinda hoped you'd be around." Goddammit, he's rambling, he needs to stop talking but she's here. Really standing in front of him and the worry he has felt since Emily said she wanted to come here, have settled down. He's been walking around on his nerves, akin to the prelude of a gun shootout on the docks.
Harry takes a deep breath, "I want to say I was sorry for what I said and did…."
Dempsey shakes his head, "…you never have to say you're sorry to me."
His heart leaps when she takes both of his hands, squeezing them tight, "You didn't do anything wrong, in fact you did everything right. It was bad timing for me, I had to work through all the damage."
"I know you had good reasons." He says quietly. "Did you ring last night?"
"Yes." She watches his face break into a smile, "I thought you had a date."
"I don't really count my aunt as a date. She nags a lot an' I've heard it's wrong." He rubs his thumb over the back of her hand. "I'm glad you called but you should have said who you were. I would have loved to speak to you, I've been in the company of jet-lagged children for days."
"I lost my nerve a bit. Thought you'd moved on, met someone else." She recalls her sleepless night, "I'm glad you didn't."
"You underestimate yourself." Dempsey tells her quietly, "I'd have turned up here sooner than later to check in with you."
Harry looks gratefully at him and he feels that there's an understanding between them. That they could move forward. He feels her gaze on him again, looking up and down his body. He rewards her with a gentle smile, letting her indulge. Then she realises how blatant she is and catches herself and exclaims; "Happy Birthday."
"Sure is now." He laughs.
"You're been entertained by your family?" Harry looks vaguely at the direction they were headed, but can't see them.
"Yeah, they've been worried about me." He shrugs. "My aunt was coming over anyway for a reunion. Then my sister and her husband haven't been before so they all turned up with Emily and her baby brother, Tom. They're all staying in a hotel when Em isn't camping out doing apartment life with me."
"She adores you. I thought she was yours and you'd, well, I wasn't sure what I thought really." Harry looks embarrassed. "Not that I don't want children, I do, but you never said about your own….Oh I'm rambling now!" She smiles nervously.
"I'd have told you something that big." Dempsey nudges her and then dares himself, "She's a great kid, good training for the future."
"Is that so?" Harry remarks surprisingly unfazed at the turn of the conversation. Then she sits down on the bench that's become free beside them. He pauses and then drops down next to her. She moves closer so her legs are against his. Her behaviour has changed, he notices. "Do I need to worry about you?"
"You've enough to think about." Dempsey says, aware of the warmth of her next to him. He wants to wrap his arms around her for simply caring about him.
"That's up to me to decide, remember?" She says with a gentle smile. He contemplates this for a moment and she waits for him to speak.
"Your case, what you've been through, it felt personal." He explains, tentatively at first, and he carries on when she nods encouragingly. "My old man. He got violent. Used to throw stuff around the house. Nothing too physical with my mom but he never liked me that much, we fought a lot. He died from liver cancer before the laws came in to deal with him. I have a reputation for being the muscle at SI-10 which never bothered me that much until lately. Maybe I worry I'm my father's son sometimes."
"I'm sorry about your father, that sounds awful." Harry says softly and then after a moment, she asks, "What's your mother like?"
At this question, his face lights up, "She's the person everyone turns to when life goes wrong, worked her ass off trying to bring us up good and got me through some rough stuff when I got into gangs. She's amazin'."
She rests her hand on his arm to get his attention, "You're your mother's son too, you know."
Dempsey wants to crumple at her kindness, instead, he gruffly nods.
"I wasn't expecting the calvary, I gotta admit." He can't speak for a moment, aware of how dammed lonely life has been without her. When he finds his voice, it is gravelled with unexpected emotion. "I'm not trying to be your guardian angel, or make amends for what I couldn't do."
"Thank you for telling me." She says softly and then frowns at him. "You are a guardian angel, I have to disagree with you."
"Are we gonna argue over that?" Dempsey says, trying to lighten the mood as he sees his Aunt and niece return.
"Probably, but that's okay, I trust you." Harry says and God, that gets him. Now he does want to gather her up but he remembers patience. He do that with any other woman, but he realises he's never had this conversation with any other person. Even a year ago, he'd have run for the hills.
"Uncle Jim!" Emily launches herself at Dempsey. "We saw another tree tops."
"Triceratops." He corrects her as Thelma looks on fondly, "and if you don't say it right, I'll feed your breakfast pancakes to one tomorrow mornin'"
"They're extinct," Emily says, giggling at him, "You're so silly."
"Says who? I might have one in the trunk of my car." Dempsey disagrees playfully. "Might put him on a plane and send him to your house."
"Harry says so." Emily grins.
"In that case, it's all true and I'm very silly." Dempsey agrees easily.
"Is Harry your girlfriend?" Emily asks. "Can she come to your birthday party today?" She turns to Harry, "We're watching The Muppets, he's got a video player."
Dempsey looks at Harry who is blushing, but she rallies fast, "I suppose..well…if he agrees?"
"Sure you are," He replies easily but inside his heart is thumping. "We're doing popcorn and nachos… I think it's turned into Emily's party, but you can meet my sis and her fella."
"If there's room for one more, I'd love to, thank you." Harry says and Emily is gleeful wriggling down from her uncle's arms and taking Harry's hand as they walk downstairs. She tells her all about her Uncle's flat and looks at the other exhibits, pausing only to share nuggets of information with James and Thelma when she's not awestruck by her uncle's real-life girlfriend.
Thelma observes, "She's great with Emily and strong too, you can tell. There's steel in those bones."
"Yeah," Dempsey is lost in thought as he looks ahead, he's hopeful for the evening ahead. "Hell, I'm nervous though."
"That's love for you. When I met Herb, I didn't concentrate for days. It's a good sign. " Thelma tells him, and then to his surprise, she ruffles his hair, "My favourite nephew is growing up."
"I'm your only nephew." Dempsey grumbles affectionately watching as Thelma rescue Harry from Emily under the huge skeleton whom he has learned is called Dippy the Diplodocus. A great name for their first dog he thinks, as Harry comes over to say goodbye.
"Pick you up?" He says as they watch Thelma and Emily buy some postcards.
"Are you sure? They're your family, you'll want to spend time with them." Harry replies, hesitantly.
"I offered and I'd like to." Dempsey asserts quietly, in truth he just wants to keep her close and safe now he's found her again, which is crazy because she's got to leave the museum alone as she has for weeks.
"Okay. Do I need to bring anything?" She's crept a little closer to him.
"You, just you, that's perfect."
There's an intimacy in this exchange and Dempsey watches as she takes a breath and nods. Harry must feel it too because she lifts herself up on her heels and kisses his lips. It's brief, a mere brush, but it does things to his soul that he's never felt before and judging by the look of happiness on her face, hers too. "Happy Birthday."
"You said that already." He murmurs as her hands hold onto arms, keeping her balance.
"Yes, but it didn't come with a kiss." She says seriously and then for good measure she does it again. "See you later."
Then Dempsey leans back down, returns the gesture, "Third time for luck." And grins as she blushes.
"'bout five?" He asks and is pleased that she nods with a smile. Then Dempsey gathers his family together, lifting Emily onto his shoulders, who waves an enthusiast goodbye.
She's slightly terrified now he's left. Meet his family. What on earth was she thinking?