"You did what with our daughter around?" Neil angrily asks his ex-wife. She says nothing in reply. "Sophie, please tell me what Kate has just said isn't true." He says again to her and no response comes from her. She just looks at the group. Neil starts to pace the room trying to get his head around what Kate has spilled out to all of them in the room.
"Hang on Kate, you have just said all this personal stuff in front of everyone including these two officers, who I take it going by rank are higher up the chain than you."
"Yes, they are higher ranked than me. I take orders from both of them." Kate replies back.
"Kate, I take it from the lack of reaction from the two, they already know about this?" Helen asks her gently.
"Yes, they both already know." Kate replies back with. Realising now what she has just said out loud not only to her mother but her father. Mike already knew about her past and what it was like and how bad. Steve also knew she didn't have the best upbringing, but didn't know as much as he does now. Some of the information Kate had left out when telling him.
"Look, if you want to have a go at her over it you can, but could you do it later please, or I can leave and go finish off filling in paperwork for my new XO. While the two of you have it out." She says to the group.
"No I'm here to see you Kate. She can wait." Neil says to his daughter as he moves over to her and pulls her in for another hug.
"I'm sorry sweetie." He whispers quietly to her. Mike watches on as the two share a hug.
"So anyway you told your uncle that there was someone special in your life. I would love to know more about the two of you." And Kate panics internally before turning and looking at Mike.
Their gazes lock and they have one of their private non-verbal conversations. They are known for these conversations by their crew and those close enough to the two. Steve sees Kate turn to look at Mike and he knows they are doing that thing of theirs, but what is really being said is beyond him.
"I think it is best if that waits for now. We need to spend more time getting to know each other before I talk about him." Kate says, but Helen has already picked up who it is that is her partner. "As you know I work for the Navy and that is all I did after leaving school. I've worked my way up the ranks to be where I am today. One thing about the Navy is that it is no easy road, especially not for female officers. It is easier than it was years ago, but we have to work twice as hard to prove we can do the same job that the male officers do. They have plenty of regulations that we have to follow that are there not just to protect to them, but to protect us as well."
The group is interrupted by Mike's mobile going off and he answers it. He talks for a few moments, saying a few things.
"Sorry, but I'm needed."
"How bad Mike?" Steve asks.
"A situation has come up with HMAS Bundaberg and I need to find out if a medevac is available." He says before leaving the room. As he walks back to his office to deal with the situation that has arisen, he sends Kate a text.
'The Navy has no sense of timing. Sorry, I'll talk to you later.' Kate reads the message before she gets back to talking to her family
An hour later
"Mike, what is the problem that you need me to deal with it?" Steve says as he enters Mike's office.
"That Sir." He says as he points to one of the live feeds of the Navy headquarters gates.
"Just great." Steve says as he watches several reporters and news crews standing outside the gates waiting to get a look at Kate and her family.
"It was bound to happen Steve, but what are we going to do about it?" Mike asks him.
"That is going to depend on Kate and her father. This story is taking an international interest due to her father's wealth plus having two countries involved."
"Maybe we should get them to make a statement or something to keep those vultures happy for a short period of time." Mike says to Steve
"Good thinking. I shell go inform them of the unfolding events. Did you get everything sorted with Bundaberg?"
"Yes and no. They are en-route to HMAS Melbourne to transfer their patient. Melbourne will bring them here." He replies back. Steve leaves the office, allowing Mike to sort out the patient that is being brought in via the Melbourne.
"Kate, Neil, we have a few issues. There are news crews sitting out at our gates waiting for you guys."
"Just damn bloody great!" Comes from Kate and Steve looks at her.
"Sorry Sir." She quickly says back to him.
"Mike suggested and I do think it is a good idea that we do up a press release for them. It can be given by me, yourselves or on paper to them. What do you think?" He says as the group think about it.
"I think we should give them a written statement for now. Hopefully that will hold them off for now." Neil says.
"Why are they doing this?"
"They are doing this because of who I am and the fact it's been over twenty five years since we last saw each other. How often does this sort of thing happen?" Neil says back to Kate
"I like my privacy. I hate my personal life being known by all; even some of it is not known by my crew. There is only a hand full who know most of it and still then it wasn't easy to do. I would really love to be able to keep it that way." Frustration coming out as she speaks.
"Kate honey."
"Don't Kate honey me! There is more than just me involved with all of this." She gets up out of her chair. "There is you guys, then the Navy, my partner and his family, who have no idea yet of all of this. Then there is his son and that young man's mother. If they are going to be doing this to me and you guys, what are they going to do to them? Are they going to go digging around in their pasts?"
"Sir, can you inform them please that at this present time I Lieutenant Commander Kate McGregor wishes for her privacy to be respect and that when I feel ready I will provide them with a statement. And if they cause problems just have them arrested." She says before leaving the room and heading towards Mike's office.
"Is she like that often?" Neil asks Steve.
"Not that I am aware of. Normally she is under control and focused. I would put it down to all of this. She's not had much time to get her head around it all with you guys coming over so quickly."
"See Neil, I told you we should have gotten in contact before coming over. We have just turned her whole world upside down all because you were inpatient to wait." Helen says to him. "And you Sophie! How could you bring you child up in that sort of environment; bringing men home to your house a house with a child in it? That is just not right. When you left, you know I defended you to all of them, your parents, his parents, friends, and co-workers. If I had known that this was what you had planned and were doing, I wouldn't have. I thought so much more of you then than I do now." Helen says to Kate's mother.
"If you hated things so much, why not say something or go back to your parents? Why move all the way to Australia to get away from me? All you had to do was say something and I would have let you out of our marriage."
"Like hell you would have! It was an arranged marriage by both our parents. They would never have allowed it."
"They would have as it would not have been their decision to make. It was only ours. I still can't get my head around the fact you did those things in the same house as our child." Neil says still trying to process everything that has been said.
Meanwhile Kate goes' to what was Mike's office and doesn't find him in there. In fact she finds him in Maxine's office talking on the phone to someone. He notices her entering and he waves her in to inform her it is ok for her to come in.
Back in the conference room
"She's not even your child anyway."
"Excuse me Sophie, what did you just say?" Neil says angrily to his ex-wife.
"Kate may not even be yours." She says again to the room.
The room is silent, no one is saying anything and you can feel the tension rise in the room as it stays silent.
"Steve, is it possible to have our children moved to another room?" Neil asks breaking the silence. Steve just nods his head and goes about moving them. He then gets hold of a free Sailor to keep an eye on the three.
While Steve is out of the room Neil speaks again.
"So those rumours are true then." He says, his heart breaking at the thought that his oldest child isn't his by blood.
"Yes." Sophie says to Neil.
"Why?" Helen asks and Sophie says nothing.
"Was that why you ran? Were you so worried that someone might claim her as theirs? Or was it that you couldn't face it any longer?" Neil asks her.
"Yes and no. The opal miner I followed back here well I was seeing him when I got pregnant with Kate. He was an Englishmen who travelled back and forth often. He asked me to come over here with him and I did. We had been seeing each other off and on for ten years before I left."
"So the whole time we were engaged and married, you were sleeping with another man?"
"Yes." Neil starts to pace again trying hard to keep his frustrations and temper under control.
"Why were you not open with me over this Sophie? We would have worked something out? God I would have even kept it quiet for you. You knew how much I loved Kate from the moment you told me you were pregnant."
"Neil honey, it is probably her way of having some control over this. We all know Kate is yours. She has your stubborn streak. She used to be so pig headed just like you. You look at her and you see your eyes in her. She may have most of her mother's looks, but those eyes you can't miss them. They are the same eyes all three of OUR children have." Helen says trying to defuse the situation as she walks up to Neil and places her hands on his forearms stopping him from pacing the room. "I also see your nose on her. She use to have straight hair, just like you have. When she was in here with our children you could see things in common with all four of our children. Don't let Sophie get to you over this. Kate is yours and I bet a DNA test will prove she is. Oh and then there is that smile of hers, now that can only have come from you. Oh that smile she used to have as a child when something had gone just perfect for her and you been there watching it would light up the room. You used to wear the exact same smile at the same time." Helen says as she herself smiles at the memories of Kate as a child, smiling and being ever so proud of her-self.
"Sophie, you may of being sleeping with some guy behind Neil's back, but don't you ever tell him Kate is not his. You can see that they are related."
"Sophie, you had everything you ever wanted. Money was never an issue. Why run? You were set up for life, even Kate was."
"Brought up to go to posh parties, talk a certain way, and eat a certain way. Don't get too dirty. People were always expecting so much from you and never being able to be just yourself. I hated it right from day one. I know Neil for you it was different. Your family works hard for its money; for its place, but mine they just expected so much from you. Ben, he gave me that little side of fun. He never expected anything from me. I could be myself, more than I could be around you. You know our parents arranged the marriage because they thought it would look good me being married to a hard working family that is rich. It was all about their image never about anything else. They never really cared about me. They started grooming Kate to be something I never wanted her to be, something I never wanted to be. When Ben said I could come back to Australia with him, I did. I wanted a normal upbringing for Kate, one where she didn't have to meet standards set by our parents, their parents and so forth. Maybe…. no not maybe. It was worse than I expect it to be, but I had to do something anything to keep a roof over our heads. It meant I was out of it during the day so I could work at night. Yes I had to do things I never really wanted to do, but I couldn't come home. I couldn't come back and face you all. I felt bad enough as it was." She stops and stands up from her chair and walks over to get herself a drink.
Neil and Helen stay quiet. Steve hasn't returned to the room yet having decided to do a few things first, but there are people stationed outside the doors should they move off without his knowledge.
"It was several years after she left that I got my life back on track and found a proper job. I moved from the place we had been living and even though she says I never contacted her, I did try and find her. I had no idea where to look. I did contact the place where she was studying, but the letter was returned. After that I decided that maybe she didn't want me in her life and to respect that decision, so I moved on."
"So why are you here now then?"
"Well I read in the paper what was going on. It told me where she was so I decided I would come and see her, talk to her, and see if there was any chance of the two of us forming some sort of relationship. Plus I thought that I should come and talk to you and explain myself. Try and mend some bridges with everyone."
"Why didn't you send her letters?" Helen asks her.
"At first I didn't want Neil and my family to know where I was. After that I was too worried about her sending them and telling him what it was like. I was ashamed of what I did, too ashamed to return back to England with her." Sophie says and as she speaks, the two can tell this is emotional for her, just as it is for them.
"Sophie, honey I would never have cared about it. If you had returned, I would have been happy you and Kate were back. That you two were alive and safe. You know I would have done anything for you. I told you so many times that you could have anything you wanted and do what you want. I didn't care. All I cared about was your happiness, which I knew over the last couple of years you weren't. Why do you think I keep asking you questions all the time? I asked if you wanted out of our marriage. I knew you weren't happy. I could tell, but you told me everything was fine." When Neil calls Sophie honey, Helen doesn't even react to it. She knows Neil will always love Sophie, but not in the same way that he now loves her. Sophie was his first love; his first wife and they will always hold that special spot in your heart and she accepted this when they first started dating.
"So what do you do now then?" Helen asks her.
"I'm a registered nurse now. It took some time to do the studies I needed to do and work as well, but I got there. It took about six years for me to get it all done and I've been registered for seven years now. " She says.
"Well you did a good job. At least Kate has a successful career in something that she wanted to do." Neil says to her. "Even if some of the things you did were not right, she seems to not have allowed it to affect her."
"I'm going to need time to get my head around all of this. You could after she left get your head sorted, no life sorted, but with her living with you, you couldn't?"
"Neil, some of the things I did weren't right. I know that, but she needed a bed, clothes, food and a roof over her head. Would you have preferred she lived on the street and not had clean clothes for school or food to eat? Sorry if I thought those things were important to have for our daughter." She says back to him with some force.
"But..."
"No Neil you weren't here. You were not the one that was walked out on and left to cover the costs of living without any warning. Ben walked out as soon as my funds dried up. Thank god I basically owned the house we lived in, but there was power, food, insurances, rates, water and everything else that comes with it. Yes I came home drunk a lot and brought men home, but I had to do it. In that town there wasn't much choice for work and a number of those guys paid you well for your services and even more if you could do it in private away from everyone and their families. Some had no choice as they shared accommodation. Yes it was hell and I will admit to that. But do not ever say I was not thinking of our daughter because if I had had the choice, I would have preferred not to. And guess what that house still has not sold and it's been on the market for twenty odd years and still not sold. So now I rent it out to other to woman who have been kicked out or left by their mining partners so they can have somewhere to stay till they can sort themselves out." She gets across to him. Neil is left stunned by her approach to him. Anger at times was evident in her voice, but also the remorse for having to do what she did to make sure Kate had the most important basics of life. Something he is pleased her mother thought about and made sure she had even if it wasn't by the best of means.
"So how did you get here? There were no records of the two of you leaving the country."
"That is because we took a boat to France then flew to Australia."
The three sit there in silence thinking about what has been said between them all.