Episode SIX – Cries for Help
He knows it's fruitless, but he can't help thinking, what if he had insisted on entering the Butler's home, what if he had checked, if Gemma had been still in the office? What if he had taken things more seriously... would things have turned out differently? Or wouldn't it have made any difference at all, because Bridget had unwittingly signed her death sentence the moment she had told Gemma who she really was? No matter how hard he tries, Gemma was a very good friend after all and she truly didn't deserve to die, but he can't make himself regret her death too much or feel too guilty, if it means that his family stays safe just one day more. After all, Gemma knew too much... she had been colleratal damage.
He didn't realise how late it had become, when he finally got home. He felt tired and there was a nagging feeling at the back of his mind, that he SHOULD have taken his time to go to her office and see, if Gemma was there after all, but Juliet was waiting for him and the aspirin. He was anxious to take care of her. But he needn't have to. Bridget closed the door behind her and put a finger against her mouth, indicating that Juliet had fallen asleep. Temporarily placated, the Butler's weird behaviour took priority again and he asked Bridget to give Gemma a call in the morning to see, if they could help in any way or at least to learn what was so urgent or secretive that she called him in the middle of the night – and not Siobhan. After a brief check on Juliet, who was tucked in and deeply asleep, he fell exhausted into bed; the emotional fallout of Catherine's little revenge had taken finally a toll on him.
The next day started equally taxing as the night before had ended. What did Juliet think public high-school was – a party? Her skirt was way, WAY too short for even a party. Her entirely inappropriate outfit just screamed Andrew Martin's daughter was easy and issued invitations to over-hormonal teenage boys left, right and centre. He would not have his daughter gain the reputation of the school's slut. At last resort he turned to Bridget for help. Maybe she could reason with their daughter. And indeed she found the words that got through to Juliet and she conceded defeat. He was so happy that he gave her an impromptu kiss on her head and called the driver. He really, really didn't want his beautiful daughter on display for lewd fantasies. And he hoped her new school would make her happier than her old ones and she would calm down and turn again into his sweet girl.
So he gave her hand a last squeeze and an encouraging smile and watched her getting out of the car. Starting at a new school was always frightening, but he would not have done her any favours, if he had accompanied her to administration. She was old enough to make it on her own and he didn't want to come over as too clingy and overbearing.
He was right in the middle of a very controversial meeting to set targets for 2012 with Olivia and the heads of M/Cs various branches, when Claudine interrupted. His immediate presence was requested at Juliet's new school. A glance at his watch told him, it was only three hours before he was called to the school. A new best mark for Juliet. For a moment he considered having Bridget go over and sort things out, but then he hesitated. In all probability an emotionally charged scene awaited him, so it would be the wrong signal to Juliet to send "Siobhan" over to deal with the mess. He didn't want to reinforce her perceived image as the evil stepmother. And it wasn't fair to Bridget either to let her deal with the messes in his life. She was not his maid to pick up after him and he didn't want to give her the impression that he dumped all the nasty stuff on her so that he could concentrate fully on his job without a care for his family's problems. He had vowed to treat Bridget better than Catherine. She deserved more consideration and not only because she was pregnant.
On his way over he mused what it was this time: Repeated interruption of the class, disrespecting a teacher, not doing her home-work, skipping school, fighting with her peers, disregarding curfew, drinking, having sex on the school's premises or abusing drugs again...? He was so sick and tired of her behaviour. Only three hours... He loved Juliet to pieces, but right now if he could he would put her onto the next flight to Sydney - without a return ticket. Let Catherine have her.
He entered the principal's office with a heavy set in his shoulders. He'd been far too often in their offices in the past years discussing Juliet's misbehaviour, smoothing things over, explaining her difficult home life and pleading for understanding and certain lenience towards her. Had it been a mistake to try to protect Juliet from the consequences of her deeds? Besides he had the rather sad suspicion that Juliet tried to get out of public school in order to get back with her friends on Wessex Prep by breaking rules that would result in her getting kicked out of her fourth school in three years. Well, no more! Immediately Juliet tried to claim innocence. And he would be all too happy to believe her, but her track record argued against her. She needed to learn that she had to obey the rules and that the principal was God in her school. He would not undermine her authority by challenging her request for Juliet to step out. She would not be able to play them off against each other like in the past. Sitting down in the vacated chair he waited to hear what had happened and what punishment for Juliet the principal had in mind. They agreed that Juliet would do some cleaning work on the premises and ended up discussing her previous behaviour and what they could do to keep Juliet in line, help her overcome her antagonistic mindset and how they could support her in finding her place in this school coming from a vastly different background than the majority of the pupils.
When they left the office, a teacher stepped up and explained what really happened. Juliet had NOT started the fight. His girl had told the truth. She had understood that this school was her chance for a fresh start and she wanted to take it. Being very proud of her at this moment, he tried to convey to her that if she adhered to the rules, then she would have his unconditional backup by demanding an apology from the principal. When they said goodbye, he had taken her into his arms and had given her another kiss on her head, asking if she would be okay for the rest of the day and how she would like it, if they did something together on the weekend, like riding on the beach if the weather would kept up, which they hadn't done for ages. Siobhan had been allergic to horses so that had been their special time together without her. Smiling happily Juliet had nodded and left him to enter the school building again, while he had tried to shift gears into business mode again. His meeting hadn't been concluded, only interrupted and he wanted to have the strategic planning done by the end of the week.
And if this day hadn't been trying enough, late afternoon Henry called to tell him that the police had picked him up for questioning on the disappearance of his wife. Henry seemed to be very confused up to the point of being nearly incoherent. There had been an anonymous phone call from a woman to report Gemma gone missing. There had been found some bloody rags and broken pieces of something made from ceramic and now the police connected these two facts and came up with the insane idea that something might have happened to Gemma since last night. Andrew had expressed his heartfelt worries over Gemma and promised Henry to call him, if he or "Siobhan" learnt anything.
He should have prepared for his telephone conference with Tokyo. Since the earthquake and subsequent tsunami and damage to the nuclear power station in Fukushima Japan held it admirably together, but voices grew louder to step away from nuclear power and turn to alternative energy resources. Andrew wanted to be kept regularly updated to learn what Tokyo and the stock exchange were thinking in the aftermath and in the light of these ideas. But he found he couldn't concentrate on business. He sat on the sofa, watching the sun going down and thought about what he was supposed to do about Gemma. Had she really gone missing or was the police clutching at straws? From what Henry told him there was no evidence to connect a couple of rags with Gemma. For all they knew she could have checked into a hotel in Jersey to get away from it all for a couple of days like Bridget thought and he was inclined to follow her suggestion, if only to dim his instincts that something might have happened to Gemma on top of everything and that Bridget had a finger in the pie.
Andrew knew he had...issues...with trust and control. The family therapist they had unsuccessfully consulted had made a real case out of it. He grimaced. The good lady knew a lot about dysfunctional families, but nothing about running a multi-national company. Being the big boss he could rely on one fact: Subordinates lied. It was in the nature of their relationship. They lied for various reasons and not all of them were ill-intended. They lied because they wanted to spare him unpleasant news, they lied because it was just small things and not worth mentioning them to him, they lied to save face, they lied because they wanted to clean up their messes by themselves, they lied to avoid his wrath, they lied because they didn't want to disappoint him, they lied to keep their jobs and they lied to make themselves look better than they were: they lied because they felt it served their own interests better than telling the truth. So it was of vital importance for him to know what was really going on in his company, and a certain caution towards what he was told came with the position he held. He had already been made aware of these facts at the tender age of 14, when he was the captain of his local football team and he had gleaned a deeper understanding with the passing years and growing responsibility.
So he had sat in his office and struggled with himself. Should he take out the small device of truth or should he trust Bridget to tell him what was going on? Hadn't he euphorically vowed to himself to stop controlling her and start trusting her? But how could he protect her, when he didn't know what was going on and if he couldn't be certain she told him the (whole) truth? Eventually he just went home to escape the temptation. But Bridget hadn't been in.
So he had confined himself to waiting. By the time she finally came home, he was coiled up. Resisting the urge to jump up he folded his hands in his lap and tried to contain himself. He would trust Bridget. He would trust her that she hadn't done something to jeopardise her sanctuary and shelter. He would trust her to care enough about him and Juliet to not have done something stupid like inviting the police to snoop in their lives, when she had done everything to keep the FBI at arm's length. He wanted to believe this was all some misunderstanding and that Gemma was fine. But with every word he spoke, it got harder to remain detached from her. Her sadness overwhelmed him to the point that he HAD to take her into his arms and try to comfort her. And when she let him touch her and relaxed in his arms for the first time, he knew he had to get away before he did something stupid.
When he returned from his phone call to Olivia, he had composed himself to the extent that he felt he could take Bridget into his arms without succumbing to the temptation to assault her. Carrying two mugs of tea, he watched her taking a look at Siobhan's overlarge portrait. But as soon as she saw him, she gave him a tentative smile and the look of sad and worried determination vanished as if it had been a figment of his imagination. Taking her by her hand he led her back to the living-room and sat down in one corner of the sofa, while encouraging her to sit down and lay back against him. It pleased him that she relaxed fairly quickly and they discussed Juliet's latest escapade and what they should do – take the proactive approach and tell the police about Gemma's odd late night phone call to Andrew or wait passively for the police to come to them, which they agreed on after weighing the pros and cons.
And eventually they just sat on this sofa for the longest time while sipping their cooling tea and enjoyed the closeness and each other's body heat that they both eventually started to nod off. These had been trying days for them and Andrew was especially concerned about Bridget and the baby. She needed rest and some peace. Realising that they both were too old to fall asleep on the couch that had been designed for the sole purpose of sitting on it, they got up and went to bed, and this time Bridget made him very happy by returning his hand's squeeze in the darkness. He felt he was making progress with her.