"Oh Alistair. Thank you so much for coming to get me." Judy kissed his cheek as she climbed into his car.
It was nearly one o'clock in the morning, but he had come for her when she called him.
"What is the prob? Everything was fine at dinner."
"Mum told us something." She said quietly.
"Oh, I know."
"You know?"
"Well, I don't know, know, but I know."
"What?"
"Meaning that I knew she had something to tell you; but I didn't know what that thing was."
"Do you now?"
"No." He said as he stopped the car. He made an attempt to get out of the car, but she grabbed his arm, forcing him to stay.
"Here's what Mum told us. To put it short and sweet, Sandy is my little sister."
"You're kidding I could actually see that."
"I'm serious Alistair."
"I know you are, so am I. Don't you see the resemblance?"
"Huh?" Judy asked, slightly shocked by Alistair's last remark.
"Don't you see the resemblance between your mother and Sandy?" Judy gave him one of the saddest and defiantly one of the most confused looks he'd ever encountered.
"Oh Alistair, hold me." She said, falling into his arms as she began to sob uncontrollably.
"Shu, it's alright love." He said, running his fingers through her hair.
"Mum used to call me love." She cried.
"You know, she doesn't love you any less. Besides, you're the one that she kept, right?"
"She said it was only because I was older."
"I know, but she knows you better." He added, as he would do anything to make her feel better.
"Of course she does, that's only logical."
"Listen she loves you…I love you."
"You do Alistair, really?"
"Yes, I do." He kissed her forehead softly.
She smiled at him but couldn't do anything but keep crying. In fact, she cried herself all the way to sleep, and Alistair kissed her goodnight after he tucked her in bed.
As Judy drifted off to sleep, she began to think. And she started to dream. What would it have been like if they had grown up together? And suddenly, she was eight years old again.
"Shu, calm down loves, this won't take a minute."
It was a cold, wet, rainy day. Judy and Sandy each held their mother's hand as she pulled them through the busy London streets. They were just little girls after all. As of late, their mother had been trying to get her business started, and they followed her from place to place all day after school, every day. Needless to say, the two little girls were quite tired of walking of listening, and especially being quiet. Sandy was only five and a half after all. Their mother sat them down in a chair of a lobby.
"Stay right here, alright?" She told them. They nodded forlornly. Judy and Sandy sat together very silently, neither of their feet even reaching the floor. They remained quiet, for they wished to mind their mother so much that they dared not speak, even to each other. The rain pitter-pattered outside.
Judy sat quietly, staring off into space. She was tired. It was Friday and she was sick of school lessons, sick of homework, sick of running errands after school, and very sick of watching Sandy.
Thankfully she wasn't too much younger. She was old enough to be a friend, her best friend, in fact, and a playmate. But she was young enough to be irritating at times and to need some help from her big sister.
"Judy, where's the bathroom?"
Judy sighed and looked about her, wondering what to do.
"Alright." She said, "Come on." She took her school bag and her sister's hand and they walked off.
Jean was preoccupied when she came out of the office where her appointment had been. She wasn't really looking where she was going, just thumbing through her stack of papers when she ran into someone.
"Oh I'm sorry." She looked up and was rendered speechless once she recognized a familiar face from long ago. The man recognized her too but merely apologized and the two backed a way from each other.
Jean was a bit shaken once she reached the place where she'd left her daughters, and became overwhelmingly shaken upon discovering that they were not there. She became even more alarmed once she discovered that they were nowhere to be found. Loosing her nerve, Jean promptly fainted.
"Judy, where's mummy?" Sandy asked after they had been out of the bathroom for quite a while. Judy didn't want to admit to her sister that they had gotten lost, and it was her fault. She was too old to have gotten lost!
"It's alright Sandy." She said motherly as she held her hand tighter.
"No it's not!" She cried. "You're only eight! You don't know anything!"
"Shu, shu Sandy, it's alright. We'll find Mum."
"I want my Mummy!" She said as she began to cry.
"Don't cry, it's alright love." She sighed as she got on her knees and gathered her little sister into her arms.
It was then that a rather stern looking man about their mother's age passed by them in the little vacant hallway. He stopped and looked calmly at the little girls, and Judy looked into his eyes.
"Sir?" Judy asked. "Do you suppose you could help us find our Mum?" This was her way of admitting that she couldn't handle this situation by herself.
"Um…of course." He replied hesitantly. He had no experience with children, especially little girls. He got to his knees to address them. Even though he had a supreme lack of experience with children he couldn't stand to see this little one cry.
"It's alright." He told the small blonde-haired girl as he offered her the tissue that he happened to have in his pocket.
She sniffled as she clung tightly to her big sister. She smiled just a little. She liked this man, and she didn't know why.
"Anyway, can you help us find our mum?"
"Of course. Where did you last see her?"
"In the lobby I think…"
"In that big room with the swinging door." Sandy replied.
"Alright. To the lobby it is."
By this time, Jean had woken up, but now she was in a hospital. She sat straight up.
"What is it? Why am I here?"
"You're fine, you just fainted, but just to be sure." The nurse answered her.
"Can I leave now? I fainted because I lost my children, and I really urgently need to find them."
"Excuse me. There's a call for Ms. Pargetter." Another nurse came into the room. "Line two." And she left.
Jean hastily picked up the phone.
"Yes. Yes, they're my girls. Of course, I'll pick them up. Oh…th..thankyou."
Jean was released from the hospital, and not at all happy to hear that her young daughters were walking home alone. They'd been lost in an office building for crying out loud! How were they supposed to find their way home from there? When Jean got back to the house she paced in the hallway, back and forth between the front door and the kitchen. She grew more and more nervous by the second. Suddenly the doorbell rang, and she rushed to answer it. She flung the door open and gathered her daughter's into her arms.
"Oh loves, you're alright!" She sighed with huge relief as she kissed the tops of their heads and held them tight. It would have been an understatement to say the least if one suggested that the girls were just plain happy to see their mother. Thrilled would be the word.
Jean looked up, for she knew someone was there, she'd seen the figure briefly. It was that man! The one she'd thought she'd recognized.
"Girls, go change, okay?" She instructed as she ushered them into the house and rushed them up the stairs. "Thank you for bringing my girls home." She said to the man. He felt like he knew her too.
"Won't you come in?" She asked. She felt that it was strange to ask a stranger into her house, but he had brought her children back to her, hadn't he?
"Yes. Thank you." He accepted, only because he needed to know who she was.
………………..
"Would you like something to drink?" She asked, as they sat down in the living room.
"No thank you."
"Thank you for finding them, my girls."
"There's no need to thank me. I stumbled upon them in a hallway; they were clearly lost and needed help. Your littlest one was crying and I couldn't stand it, so I helped them."
"Well even if it doesn't mean anything to you, thank you. Thank you very much. Those two are all I have."
"You're welcome then, I guess. My name is Lionel by the way, Lionel Hardcastle."
Jean was taken a back. The name, the face, it was him!
"I'm Jean…" She stopped.
"My lord, it is you."
"Yes, it is me. You never wrote back."
"What are you taking about, you're the one who never wrote back."
"Oh never mind, we stopped talking."
"Well I should be going."
"No…wait…You don't have to. Will you stay for dinner?" She really wanted him to.
"Oh I don't know I really should…"
"I've been very lonely since my husband passed away."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." He stopped and seemed interested in her again.
"I told you the little ones were all I had."
"How long?"
"Just before the little one was born, about six years now. Speaking of which, her birthday is soon. So, will you stay for dinner, now that you and I know each other again?"
"I'd love to."