A Homecoming of Sorts

Geoff Maynard stood, shuffling foot to foot and feeling decidedly out of place in the arrivals hall of Zurich airport. He wished, not for the first time, that his father hadn't received an urgent call from the San. He wished, not for the first time, that his mother wasn't running around like a headless chicken -- again. He wished -- and oh how he wished -- that Phil, at least, had opted to come with him.

But no.

Old Frau Eissen had taken a turn for the worse. Mother was panicking -- again. As for Phil, she and Cecil had made a last minute foray into Interlaken after something or other -- and what exactly it was, he had no idea, but it had been the subject of much giggling.

Would Reg recognise him? Would he recognise Reg? What was Maddy like? Questions and worries buzzed around Geoff's mind like angry bees and set him to frowning so hard that people around him were giving him a very wide birth -- not that he noticed.

Over and above the main anxieties was a sense of nervousness. He hadn't really known Len's husband all that well -- if you came to that, he hadn't really known Len. It was one of the hazards of being the youngest in a lengthy family. Len, Con and Margot had been more like young aunts than older sisters, given the near-fifteen year age gap. He'd only been nine when the accident had happened and barely ten when Reg and Maddy had left for England. The Reg he remembered, hazily, was a tall, sombre and silent man who had somewhat scared Geoff the child. Was that what he would be like now?

"Der Flug BA 19 aus London ist gerade gelandet." The announcement jerked Geoff from his thoughts. It came again, this time in English, "Now arrived, flight BA19 from London."

This was it. The nerves and butterflies all collected in Geoff's stomach and started vigorously looping the loop. With a grimace of irritation at his own reaction, as the first of the passengers started streaming into the arrivals hall, he made sure he was positioned so that he could see and be seen.

He needn't have worried about recognising Reg and Maddy, as it turned out. A man travelling alone with a young girl, even now, still stood out like a sore thumb, even allowing for the very obvious paternal relationship. Geoff was willing to bet that Reg had probably endured numerous sideways glances during the flight, particularly from some of the elder passengers.

Dismissing that musing as irrelevant, Geoff stepped forward to meet his brother-in-law, who stopped and frankly goggled at him. There was a moment of awkward silence.

"Great Scott!" Reg finally murmured.

"Daddy, who is it?" Maddy murmured, now turning her curious but tired gaze on Geoff.

"You must be Geoff," Reg continued, looking stunned.

"Yes -- sir," Geoff answered, feeling very uncomfortable.

Reg did a double take at that and then looked apologetic. "I'm sorry -- it's just...a shock. I was expecting to see your father..."

"He was called to the San, urgently," Geoff put in by way of explanation.

Reg managed a faint chuckle. "Plus a change, mais plus reste le même chose." Geoff smiled a little. "And the last time I saw you..."

"I was younger than Maddy," Geoff finished.

"I was going to say you were knee high to a grasshopper," said Reg.

At that, Geoff laughed. "Certainly not that now."

"Daddy?" put in Maddy a little more plaintively.

"This is your Uncle Geoff," Reg answered. "He's come to take us up to the Platz."

"You mean we're not there yet?"

"It's another hour or so from here," Geoff explained and Maddy's face fell. "So we'd better be going." He eyed the cases Reg was carrying. "Do you want me to take those?"

Reg smiled and shook his head. "No -- I'm fine."

"OK -- this way." Geoff offered his hand to Maddy, who nervously took it. Offering her a reassuring smile, he led the small family out into the late afternoon sunlight and across the car park to the Maynard family run-about. Unlocking it, he said, "Climb in -- soon be home."

~*~

The nearer they got to the Platz, the more nervous Reg felt. A glance at the back seat told him that Maddy had long since fallen asleep.

"It'll be all right, you know," said Geoff as they finally pulled onto the road up to the Platz from Interlaken. "Mother really is better."

Reg smiled wanly. "I know. But they say you should never go back."

"But you're not going back," Geoff pointed out.

"Everything's changed."

"My point exactly," said Geoff. There was a brief pause while he negotiated a hairpin bend. "Everything has changed. The Platz that you left isn't the one you're coming to -- so you're not going back. Besides," another pause for another hairpin bend, "you can look at it another way: Staying in Plas Gwyn wasn't getting on with your life, it was keeping your life on hold."

Reg cast Geoff a sidelong glance and realised his brother-in-law was blushing a little bit, possibly at the concept of 'cheeking an elder', but Reg knew it wasn't intended for cheek. More, there was an echo of something Jem Russell had said when he had told his employer of the job offer and had formally requested the time off to go to Switzerland for the interview.

Jem had, naturally, already known about the job offer.

"I shall be sorry to see you go, Reg," Jem had said. "But I think this will be good for you." Reg had opened his mouth to protest that he hadn't accepted the job but Jem had shaken his head and peered at his junior over the top of his glasses. "I know you haven't accepted it. Yet. But I think you will. I think you need to. I think, these years in Wales, you've been hiding. It's time to stop hiding, Reg. The world doesn't stop when you lose a loved one." More gently, the older man continued, "You needed time to heal; to recover. That's natural. And I know that it still hurts. It always will hurt, truth to tell. But it's time to start again. Time to live again." Jem had smiled. "If nothing else, you'll have a holiday that Maddy will talk about for years to come."

Now, here, in the car, completing the last lap of the journey back to the Görnetz Platz, hearing the same message from Jem's youngest nephew, Reg nodded to himself. They were both right. And there was one thing that neither of them had said -- for which Reg was eternally grateful -- but that was no less true for not having been said: This, or at least this attempt, would be what Len would have wanted.

As they reached the level of the Platz shelf itself, Reg said, "You're right, Geoff. Things have been on hold. It is time to start again."

More than that, neither of them could say as at that moment, Geoff pulled into Freudesheim's wide drive. A moment later and he came to a stop immediately in front of the welcoming family home. At the sound of the car's engine stopping, Maddy awoke.

"Where are we?" she asked, blinking owlishly.

"We're here," said Reg, smiling.

"Welcome to Freudesheim," added Geoff. At Maddy's confused frown, he added, "It means happy home."

"Is that German?" Maddy asked. Geoff nodded. "First word, then, daddy!"

It was Geoff's turn to look puzzled. Reg took pity on him. "She's never learned any German before, so I've told her to make a note of each and every German word she learns and what they mean."

Geoff grinned. "Well she'll certainly learn several more this evening." He started to climb out of the car.

As he did so, the front door of the house opened and out came a welcoming committee. First was Cecil -- at least, Reg assumed that was who it was, although she looked so grown up and sophisticated. His memory supplied the detail that she was well into her twenties and, like her eldest sister, she had gone into teaching -- so she was bound to look older than the leggy teenager he remembered. Next was Phil, who was perhaps the least-changed of all. She hadn't grown all that much from the ten-year-old who'd sobbingly tried to console him the ghastly day he and Maddy had departed from the Platz; in fact the only change was that her hair was now swept up into a very stylish twist. With her was someone that, Reg thought, might be Claire Mabion, but he wasn't entirely sure. Bringing up the rear of the party was the lady of the house.

Like her daughters, Jo had changed in the intervening time. Her hair was stylishly bobbed -- he remembered she'd lost the great shells of plats not long before he and Len had been married, and she hadn't opted to grow them back -- but streaked with grey threads, and while she still had a youthful cast to her face, the sadness around her eyes marked that the passage of time had left its tracks behind.

"Geoff Maynard where have you been!" exclaimed Phil as she neared the car.

"Flight was delayed," Geoff answered succinctly.

"You might have phoned," said Cecil severely.

"Sorry." Geoff didn't sound it in the slightest.

As the squabbling siblings moved to one side, Joey stepped forward and Reg realised, she was as nervous about this meeting as he was.

He offered a smile. "I..."

He found himself being wrapped in an effusive hug. "Reg, I'm so, so sorry," Joey murmured. "And so pleased you've decided to visit."

"It's all right," he answered, returning the hug. "It's past and done. New start."

As Joey stepped back, Reg realised that not only were there tears in her eyes, there were a few in his own. He hadn't realised how much he'd missed being here and being with the family who'd so thoroughly adopted him.

"Now then," said Joey. "Where's my grand-daughter?"

Shyly, Maddy stepped forwards. Her expression told Reg she wasn't entirely sure what to make of everything so far.

With a glance at Reg, Joey wrapped Maddy in a tender embrace. "Hello, Maddy. Welcome home." She released Maddy and stepped back. "Welcome home, both of you. For as long as you want."