Chapter 3
Firstly, thank you to Serenbex, Persiankitten and Guest for you lovely reviews!
Secondly, I think I should point out before you start reading that the narrative moves from Harriet to Callum in the second half of this chapter as poor Harriet's quite overwhelmed and in shock… for obvious reasons. So it isn't a mistake, I've purposefully changed it slightly for this chapter only.
Harriet stared at the small suitcase that was sitting beside the door and wrapped her arms around herself. She could feel her stomach knotting as she thought about the day ahead and she took a deep breath to steady her nerves.
"Right, I think we're ready to go." Callum pulled his jacket on quickly and pulled a scrap of paper out of the pocket of his jeans. "Tanya gave me this address for your mum's place in Barnsley." Harriet blinked and snatched the scrap of paper out of his hand.
"Barnsley… Mum left Barnsley when she walked out on my dad and me. Last I'd heard she was living in Bradford somewhere."
"She must've moved back before she died." Spotting the tears in his girlfriend's eyes, Callum sighed deeply and wrapped his arms around her. He knew that even though she hadn't seen her mum since she was fourteen, finding out about her death had shaken her up.
"I thought I'd put all this to bed, Callum;" Harriet pressed her face into Callum's jacket and clung on tightly. "My mum, my dad, everything, I thought I'd moved on from it all, put it behind me."
Callum stroked Harriet's hair gently, soothing her until she stood up straight. He had to admit, this had all come as a shock to him too. When Sally had told him about the mystery visitor, he'd made his way straight to the front desk.
Smithy had immediately granted Harriet compassionate leave, as well as giving Callum some time off to spend with his girlfriend, drafting in two temporary replacement Uniform Sergeants. It had left the station in a bit of a mess, losing their only two Uniform Sergeants but Callum couldn't have cared less. He was more worried about how his girlfriend was coping.
Grabbing her bag from the table, she sniffed and wiped her nose roughly. Callum stepped forward and kissed the top of his girlfriend's head gently. "You're not on your own, babe," The man whispered into her ear. "I'm gonna be beside you every step of the way."
Smiling weakly, Harriet nodded and followed the man out to the car. Settling herself in the passenger seat, she stared out of the window at the sunrise happening over the city and tried to fight the fatigue she was feeling as Callum started the drive up North to the place where she'd grown up.
X-X
Harriet had fallen asleep not long into the drive and Callum, knowing his girlfriend hadn't slept at all the previous night, left her to it. As the man signalled to pull off the motorway, he sensed the woman stirring beside him and he took his hand off the gear stick and squeezed her knee gently.
Harriet blinked before realising where she was and staring out of the window at the passing buildings. As Callum made to move his hand from her knee, Harriet grabbed it and squeezed it tightly. The past twenty four hours had been a rollercoaster and Callum was the one thing she needed to keep her going.
"We're nearly here," The man glanced at Harriet's face which had changed colour to a sickly white. "You alright?"
Harriet didn't respond; instead she focused on staring out of the window at the houses as they moved into the residential area and keeping the already limited contents of her stomach down. She hadn't seen her family in twenty years and a lot had changed. The last time she'd seen her brother he was seven and adored his big sister. She wasn't sure how he'd react to seeing her again after so long.
Harriet snapped out of her thoughts as she felt the car stopping. "We're here." Callum smiled weakly as he slid out of the car. Harriet followed him out of the car, unable to drag her eyes away from the long row of rundown terrace houses. It was a far cry from the house she'd grown up in as well as the one her and Callum currently lived in.
Spotting her boyfriend stood at the end of the path leading to one of the houses, she took a deep breath before following him up the path and to the front door. Harriet chewed her lip nervously as Callum pressed the doorbell. Sensing the brunette's nervousness, Callum interlinked his fingers with hers and squeezed her hand gently.
The door opened to reveal a tall man with dark hair and brown eyes that reflected those of the woman stood on the doorstep. It took a second for Callum and Harriet to realise that the man was Harriet's younger brother, Jack. Glancing at his girlfriend, who appeared to have gone into shock, Callum turned back and smiled awkwardly at the man.
"Hi..." Callum trailed off, feeling incredibly uncomfortable at the way the man was staring at the two officers on his doorstep. Before Callum could say anything else, however, Tanya appeared in the hallway behind her brother.
"Jack, come on, let them in." Silently, the man stepped back and let the couple into the house. As the door slammed shut behind the four of them, blocking out the outside noise, a deafening silence fell over the house. "Come through to the living room, everybody else is in there."
Callum glanced at Harriet and reached out to squeeze her arm tenderly. Following the brunette's younger siblings into the room, Callum furrowed his brow as he spotted a man stood by the window alongside a redheaded woman and two children.
"D'you want some tea? Coffee?"
"Tea, thanks." Callum smiled weakly as Tanya gestured for the two officers to sit on the sofa and Jack disappeared into the kitchen.
Glancing round the shabbily furnished sitting room, the man's eyes landed on a photo of three young children sat on the mantelpiece. Recognising the familiar brown eyes and dark hair that Harriet, Tanya and Jack all shared, he realised that it was a school photo of the three of them. Harriet and Tanya in matching secondary school uniforms and Jack in a different uniform, which Callum assumed was a Primary school uniform.
Tanya followed the man's gaze and she smiled softly, moving to sit beside her sister and her boyfriend on the sofa. "That photo was taken on my first day at secondary school," Callum sensed Harriet tensing beside him and he squeezed her hand gently. "About a month before mum left dad."
The living room door opened and Jack appeared, balancing mugs of tea on a tray. He placed the tray on the coffee table in front of the sofa and held out two mugs to Callum who took them gratefully. Handing one of the mugs to his girlfriend, he smiled softly at her as she wrapped her hands around the mug tightly.
"I suppose we should introduce you to everyone;" Tanya stood up and Callum glanced over to where the younger brunette was stood. "That's my husband Anthony;" She pointed towards a man who looked only a couple of years older than Callum and Harriet. The man glanced up from where he was entertaining a fair haired young boy, who Callum guessed could be no more than two, and smiled awkwardly at the strangers on the sofa. "And those are my children, Amelia and Lucas."
The small girl, whom Callum estimated to be around five, turned at the sound of her mother saying her name and Callum couldn't help himself smiling. Whereas Lucas appeared to have inherited his father's fair hair and blue eyes, Amelia was the double of her mother and aunt. The same thick, dark hair and big brown eyes that were so familiar stared across at him.
"Oh and this is Laura;" Callum turned as Tanya pointed towards the redhead stood next to Jack beside the fireplace. "She's Jack's girlfriend." The redhead smiled brightly and Callum returned the expression weakly.
Before Tanya could say anything else, they heard the front door slam and Callum felt Harriet flinch. Glancing over at his girlfriend's siblings, he narrowed his eyes suspiciously as they shared a worried look before cautiously glancing at the eldest Barclay. Meeting Callum's eyes, they looked away quickly as the living room door opened and a young man and woman entered.
Harriet and Callum shared a confused glance as the pair who had just entered the room stared expectantly at Harriet's younger siblings. Tanya wrung her hands awkwardly, struggling for what to say to explain who the two were. Jack, taking sympathy on his older sister's uncomfortableness, stepped forward.
"Harriet, this is Luke and Kimberley;" There was a tense silence as Jack glanced at Tanya who nodded reluctantly. "Our brother and sister."
THE FINAL SURPRISE: Harriet's got ANOTHER younger brother and sister that she never knew existed!