Chapter 9
Thomas hesitated for only a second before running up to Spot and wrapping him in a hug with a choked shout, "Sean!" Dave took this as his cue. He briskly walked to the door and ushered Blink, Mush, Les and Race, who's jaws were scraping the floor, out of the Lodging House.
"C'mon guys," he said in a low voice, "let's go to Tibby's. We'll catch the others on the way."
"But--" Les began to protest.
"C'mon Les," Dave whispered more forcefully, "I'll explain everything, or at least what I know and was able to gather, when we get to the restaurant."
Back in the Lodging House, Jack's eyes were wide with shock while Becca was doing her best not to join her grandfather and Spot in the hug. Instead, she walked over to Jack and spoke very softly into his ear. "Don't worry, I know what's going on. I'd explain it to you, but I think it's going to explain itself in a few minutes. Let's just go sit down." Jack, still having trouble processing what had just happened, merely nodded and followed Becca like he was in a daze.
***
Spot couldn't believe it. It wasn't possible. But he knew the face before him, and he knew the arms that were wrapped around him. Like a flood, a cascade of memories splashed into Spot's mind. Memories of his childhood appeared--nights in front of a toasty oven while his grandfather wove tales of mystery and suspense. Cool early summer evenings on the Brooklyn Bridge or Central Park skipping stones across the water or watching his grandfather wave a stick about like a sword as he told his young grandson stories of knights and musketeers.
Once Spot recovered from the initial shock, he returned the hug. Questions could come later. And even the mighty Spot Conlon could not prevent a few tears from squeezing out of his eyes, only to be quickly absorbed by his grandfather's shirt. Only Thomas, Jack, and Becca would ever know of Spot's one, brief moment of emotional vulnerability. And that was how Spot wanted it. (Dave, coincidentally, managed to steer Les, Blink, Mush, and Race away from the scene before Spot returned the hug.)
Slowly, Spot and Thomas, his Grandfather Conlon, pulled back. "I thought you (ya) were (was) dead!" they both cried. Realizing they both said the same thing, Spot and Thomas halted and looked at each other in wonder and puzzlement.
"I think I know what happened," Becca piped up from the back of the room. She got up and stood next to Spot and her grandfather. "You," she pointed to Spot, "came back from our apartment that night to see your building in flames. Being only 8 years old, you fled as soon as you heard that there were no survivors. When, a few years later, you did some follow-up just to see if your parents had or hadn't been in the building when it burned, you found that they had indeed perished. You assumed that your grandfather died as well, when he evidently did not.
"You," Becca turned to Thomas, "came back from wherever you were that night and stuck around the building to see if any of your family made it out alive. Since many of the bodies were burned beyond recognition and they never found your grandson's body, you assumed that he died along with his parents. Your grandson, however, did in fact survive." Becca looked over at Spot and was tickled to see a twinkle of joy in them that she didn't think she'd ever seen before.
"Grandpa, yoah alive, t'is is great!" he cried. Thomas, however, was glancing in confusion back and forth between Becca, Spot, and the still befuddled Jack on the couch. (okay, I take the whole Davey thing back, it's fun confusing ALL the newsies *grin*)
"Wait…" he uttered gradually. "You said," he indicated towards Becca, "that Sean was over your house? The only person's house Sean ever went to was Frankie's." Jack visibly winced when he heard the nickname. He rose and joined the others in the middle of the room.
"I hated, still hate, t'at name," he muttered. More clearly, he added, "call me Kelly, Jack Kelly." Jack stuck his arm around Becca's shoulders. "And t'is is my baby sistah, ow!," he yelped in pain when Becca elbowed him in the ribs, "excuse me, sistah, Becky." A wide grin appeared on Becca's face.
"You realize what this means, Spot. This means that I'm related to you." She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Ew. Maybe that's not such a good thing. Spot's eyes glowed menacingly, but they didn't lose their sparkle from earlier.
"I'll get ya foah t'at," he growled, and began tickling her side furiously. Becca reacted instinctively (while giggling) and grabbed his arm, flipping him to the floor. When she realized what she had done, she knelt down beside him and began apologizing profusely.
"Oh, Spot, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to, it was reflexes." Spot wasn't paying any attention, for something had finally sunk into him.
"Yoah what? But how?" Jack, too, realized what Becca had said.
"Becky, what are ya talkin' bout…how?"
"I think I can explain," Thomas vocalized. All heads turned to him as he began. "Sean, I do not know if you remember or not, but your father, Lawrence, had a sister who was only a year older than he was: Samantha."
"Yeah…I thinks I remembah hearin' 'bout hoir sometimes, how she ran away with HIM." Spot enunciated the last word. "No one evah mentioned who HIM was, t'ough."
"Your aunt truly was a good person, but she was blinded by love. The HIM you heard referred to so often was Rhys Sullivan." At this, Jack's draw dropped wide open.
"So ya mean ta tell me t'at as t'is time me'n Spot, n'Becky too, was cousins?"
"Yup," Becca stated. "Ironic, isn't it?"
"Ironic?" Spot and Jack chorused. Thomas chuckled.
"Ironic. It means something that is paradoxical, or puzzling. For example, if you were reading a story, and you knew something important about the story that the characters didn't, that would be ironic." He heaved a sigh. "All this time, the Frankie and little Becca that my Sean went to play with everyday were my grandchildren that I never knew I had. Everyday he saw the daughter that I hadn't seen in 9 years. It was right in front of our noses all along, and we never knew."
"Oh, sweetest irony," breathed Becca, then stopped. "Only it's not so sweet, is it? If we had only found out earlier…" she brightened. "Oh well, at least things are better now."
"Yes, yes they are." Thomas gazed around at this long-lost grandchildren, all three of them. "To think if I hadn't decided to take a different way home for a change of scenery, I would have never heard Becky singing…"
"If Dave and I hadn't gotten bored…" mused Becca.
"If, if, if," Thomas replied, "hundreds of little decisions and happenings that change our lives in the most enormous of ways, but now we're together."
"I've got a Grandpa," Jack pondered quietly. All of a sudden, he beamed and exclaimed, "I've got a Grandpa!"
"Yes you do," Thomas replied. They stood there for a moment before Becca nudged Jack, who didn't hesitate any longer. Grandfather and grandson hugged. When they pulled apart, Thomas spoke.
"Now, you have to tell me all about this name-changing business. Jack Kelly, hmm…though I must say that this "Spot" is most intriguing." The remark received full-throated laughter from Becca, Spot, and Jack. Becca took her grandfather's arm.
"C'mon, I'll explain it to you on the way. I want you to meet our friends." With jubilant expressions, the reunited family made their way to Tibby's.
ahh, I could end it here and it would be such a happy ending…oh well. Tell me what you think, and I'll work on the next chapter.