ROLE CHANGE CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Sophia tried to reason with Ethan:
"Ethan, we both care about you. You know we wouldn't push you out when the baby comes."
"You say that now…" Ethan snapped.
"Don't speak to Sophie like that; she's being more than patient with you, you little git!"
"I've had enough of this! I think Sophie should leave" Ethan glared at Sophia, who was slightly offended but understood the unease he was going through.
"Don't tell my fiancée to leave! She'll stay here as long as she wants to. I think you should take your arsey little self to bed."
Ethan didn't even whine for Cal to help him; he steered his wheelchair out of the room and down the corridor.
"I'm so sorry" Cal said to Sophie, hugging her close.
"Don't be. He's confused and upset right now; we need to make allowances."
"Christmas is going to be a bugger though" Cal sighed, "Dylan still not talking to Ben and rejecting every attempt at reconciliation;Ethan thinking the world revolves round him…"
"And us with something very special to look forward to" Sophia soothed Cal, stroking his face.
Soon they were at the stage where, even if Ethan had come back into the room, they couldn't have stopped what they were doing.
"It's supposed to be good for the baby anyway" Sophie murmured into Cal's chest.
"Up on the sofa, my darling, if we both go to sleep you need to be as comfortable as possible."
He steered her gently so she was sitting on the sofa.
"Can I speak to Ethan please?"
Cal was tempted to say "Are you sure you really want to?" but restrained himself.
"Ethan! Phone!"
Ethan deliberately took his time, and then was sorry as soon as he took the call.
"Hi, Jon! Sorry I took my time…" Ethan listened for a while and then said:
"Really? Well, that's – that's wonderful. I'm stunned. Thank you! Yeah, just in time for Christmas, too. Coming in the post? I'll keep a look out."
Cal pretended he couldn't care less though he was really wanting to hear what had put his grumpy brother in such a good mood.
"Well, aren't you going to ask?"
Cal glared at Ethan.
"I thought you'd disowned me for getting my girlfriend pregnant and wrecking your life in the process."
"I ought to let you know this. The full compensation cheque's coming before Christmas."
"Brilliant. You can start to think about moving out."
Ethan looked thunderstruck.
"You don't mean that?"
"You really hurt Sophie, even if she never said anything about it. I'm pretty much in tune with her thoughts by now."
Ethan said in a small voice:
"I was out of order. I know Liza was a little shocked when I spoke to her on the phone; she said with some sensible planning, it would all work out."
Cal remained silent.
"And I really want to be an uncle."
Stony silence.
"I'll open an account for the baby."
That loosened Cal's tongue.
"You'll do no such thing! Sophie and I can manage, which is what we were trying to TELL you, stupid!"
Ethan asked almost humbly:
"Can you ask Sophie round for dinner tonight so I can apologise to her?"
"I can ask. But she's very upset with you."
"Please?"
"YOU can invite her round."
Cal passed the phone over to Ethan, who looked terrified.
"Hello?"
Ethan prepared for a tongue-lashing.
"Ethan, great to hear from you! How are you?"
"Ashamed."
"Ah, no need. I know you must have been worried but things will work out."
"They will now; my cheque's due."
"Even better news."
"Th-thank you. I want to invite you and Cal out to dinner tonight."
"We're not going to that place where you got a free feed for pretending to be gay, are we?"
They settled on an Indian restaurant that all three of them liked. Sophie reluctantly went without her favourite Korma dish and chose a cheese omelette instead.
"I'm glad men can't get pregnant" Ethan grinned, looking at the size of Sophie's omelette and comparing it to his and Cal's plates that were piled high.
"I'll make up for it with a dessert. I'm really happy that you two have settled your differences, not only for myself but because it'll be a nicer atmosphere at Robyn's on Christmas Night."
"Depends on Dylan, doesn't it?"
Robyn passed the star to Ben, who was perched on a small set of steps near her Christmas tree. It would be ironic, he thought, if he were to fall off and hurt himself and not be able to return to Corvaine immediately. God knew, that was the last thing he wanted. He was already missing Sara with the old, familiar ache. For that reason he was extremely careful as he placed the star at the top of the tree.
"Hey, well done" Robyn beamed when he descended, "At one time we could have taken bets about your falling off. Don't take this the wrong way, Ben, but you seem to be more – um – agile since you were away. I suppose that would be the lessons."
"Lessons?" he asked, uneasily.
"With Nicky Lascalles. Ben, are you okay? You seem a bit distant. Look, don't let Dylan get to you, he's only happy when he's sulking about something. You wait, once he gets Dervla over here tomorrow night, and he's gone all misty-eyed about her gobbling up her Christmas dinner, he'll thaw out."
Ben smiled, but doubted that anything would bring his friendship with Dylan back to where it used to be.
"Right, who's sitting where? And before anybody starts, we don't need to have a man at the head of the table in this day and age, do we, Sophie?"
Robyn, playing hostess the following evening, was in her element.
"In that case, Robyn, it should be you. You cooked all this lovely food." Ben smiled at his friend.
"Shame Connie isn't here to sit at the head."
Robyn pulled a face at Zoe.
"No Connie talk on Christmas Day, please!"
Later, Ben would remember the atmosphere when the evening first started and how good it had been to relax and laugh with friends.
"Dylan, how about Ben sitting next to you?"
Dylan glared at Robyn.
"Ben can sit where the hell he likes."
"Okay" Ben said easily, sitting between Dylan and Robyn. Dervla, knowing Ben was a soft touch where scrounging was concerned, stationed herself at his feet.
Ben tried to behave civilly although some of Dylan's muttered comments did hurt him. He gladly absented himself with Robyn to help her wash up later.
The announcement that shattered everybody's evening occurred just after they'd almost all been laughing at a repeat showing of 'Only Fools and Horses'.
"Might as well keep the news on" Robyn said, not wanting to get up from her comfortable position on the sofa.
They watched the news, and at first there were no major disasters or conflicts reported. Ben would never forget the order in which the news items were given out. Just after the one about Madonna making a return to cinema the following year, the newsreader announced:
"There was tragedy today in the small Mid-European country of Corvaine when Princess Sara was shot to death by an assassin. Her killer died instantly at the hands of an expert marksman but the Princess died on the way to hospital. There has been unrest in the background in Corvaine for…"
Everybody was looking in horror at Ben, who had moaned out:
"God, no… not my Sara…" and had collapsed, weeping brokenly, in Dylan's arms. Dylan, now anything but hostile, realised where Ben had been for the past few months, and this was confirmed when a grainy photograph of Prince Stefan was shown on screen.
For the friends sitting in that room, Christmas was over.