In Love and Peace
Part FourCharles knocked on Father Mulcahy's hotel room door. He knew Mulcahy would be expecting him – and Kyung Soon – as they had promised to call by on their return from lunch.
The door was flung open and there was a cheer from the people within – which died away the moment Charles stepped inside. Alone.
"Charles." He heard the concern in Mulcahy's voice as the priest took his arm and led him across to an armchair. "What happened, my son? You look terrible. And where is Kyung Soon? We thought she'd be here with you."
Charles took a couple of deep breaths, and a large swallow of the scotch that Margaret had wordlessly pressed into his hand. "I… um… I don't…" He drained the glass, waited while Margaret refilled it. "It was just awful," he said.
He couldn't bring himself to tell them any details, but the scenes replayed over and again in his head as he sipped the scotch. Mother had asked Sooni to wait in the Library while they "discussed a few things with Charles." He was glad Sooni had left the room though. If she had heard some of the things his parents had said, she would have been even more upset than she already was. What had really distressed him had been remembering the awful things he had written to Honoria about her Italian fiancé – and hearing those same remarks coming at him from his parents. In vain had Charles pointed out that Sooni had her own land, her own money, was descended from an ancient and respectable family. His parents were implacable in their opposition, and just before he had stormed out, Charles had voiced what they would not: "What you mean is, you don't want any half-Asian grandchildren!" he'd yelled, "Why don't you just say it?"
Then he'd turned on his heel and stormed out, collecting Sooni from the Library en route.
Behind him, his mother had called: "If you marry her, Charles, you can forget about Boston Society, and you'll not come here again."
And Charles had shouted – dear God, he couldn't believe he had actually said it – "Screw Boston Society!"
He gave a kind of choking half-laugh as he remembered, then realised his friends were still patiently waiting for him to explain. "My parents really liked her," he said, hefting the glass for a refill, "Right up to the part where we told them we're engaged to be married. Then everything fell apart." He looked across at Pierce. "Go on, tell me it serves me right, after the way I reacted to my sister's engagement."
Hawkeye shook his head. "You learned your lesson, Charles, and I know you apologised to Honoria." He made a pathetic attempt to lighten the mood. "Maybe we could try a grenade with your parents, what do you think? Uh, no, sorry – not funny, I know."
Amy spoke up. "You still haven't told us where Kyung Soon is, Charles."
"Oh. Yes. Sorry." He had another drink before continuing. "We had a long talk in the car, but she's still very upset and angry. She said…" He bit his lip. "She said that rather than cause me so much trouble, she would get the next flight home and we need never see each other again. I… didn't want her coming back here, within arm's reach of her passport, so I took her to my sister's apartment. I'll go back and talk to her again later, and in the meantime I hope that Honoria will be able to persuade her that I'm not the only Winchester who cares about her."
"I don't understand," said Doug Heisel, "Kyung Soon's a beautiful, intelligent, classy dame. What's to object to for Chri'sake? Uh – pardon me, Father."
Mulcahy waved away the apology while Hawkeye answered the question. "I guess Mr and Mrs Winchester just never expected their son would fall for a foreigner. Right Charles?"
He nodded, knowing that if he tried to say anything, the little self-control he had left would dissolve and he would start crying. He wasn't going to do that, not even in front of friends as good as these. Margaret had gone to sit back down on the sofa beside Doug, leaving the Scotch bottle on the table beside Charles, and he helped himself to another drink to give himself something to do.
When he felt he could trust himself to speak again, he put down the now-empty glass and got to his feet. "I'm sorry, I have to go back and find Sooni. I know you two are leaving early tomorrow," he said, glancing from Pierce to Margaret, "I'll – we'll – be at the airport to see you off. I don't think we'll be able to face the meal this evening though, if you don't mind."
"Charles, you just make sure you don't lose that gorgeous girl," said Margaret, standing up and kissing his cheek.
"Listen, we'll all be back for the wedding, okay?" said Pierce, shaking his hand and clapping him on the shoulder as Charles moved to the door.
If only it was as simple as Pierce made it sound, thought Charles. But… his parents' opinion mattered to him. They mattered to him. How was he supposed to choose between them and Sooni? How could they ask him to?
While he fretted over the dilemma, Father Mulcahy had got to the door ahead of him. "Uh, Charles, you're not intending to drive to your sister's are you?" he asked.
"The Father's got a point," said Pierce. Before Charles could react, he'd pulled the car keys from Charles' coat pocket and thrown them to Margaret, who immediately dropped them down the front of her dress.
Charles glared from one to the other, though he knew they were right. "You don't play fair," he said.
"We never did!" laughed Hawkeye. "Go take a walk, it'll do you good. And we'll see you in the morning to give you your keys back. Right now, you've got more important things to sort out."
Charles nodded. "I'll see you all tomorrow then," he said, "Goodnight."
The doorbell rang just as Charles and Lilian Winchester were finishing their soup course.
"If that's Doctor Charles come back," said Lilian to the butler, as the man exited to answer the door, "He can wait in the drawing-room. He knows what time we dine."
"Very well, madam."
"Really, I don't know what the army did to that boy, but he hasn't been the same since he got back from Korea," she tutted.
A moment later, the door opened and the butler returned. "Excuse me sir – madam – there's a police officer asking to see you both. I asked him to wait in the drawing-room."
"A police officer?" said Charles senior, "Did he say what he wanted?"
"Only that it was urgent, sir."
"Oh, for heaven's sake. What has he done now?" He threw down his napkin and proferred his arm for his wife to take as they followed the butler through to the drawing-room.
"Sir, ma'am – I'm Lieutenant Gianelli from Boston PD," said their visitor, flashing an ID card and indicating a uniformed officer standing beside him. "This is officer Daniels. Uh, you may wish to sit down, ma'am, I have to tell you some news about your son."
"Charles?" Lilian clutched her husband's arm, "Is he alright? What's happened?"
The young detective shuffled his feet and twisted his hat in his hands. "He's been taken to hospital, ma'am, I'm afraid he's been hit by a car."
To be continued…