The Sins of a Father Part I.
Warning. There are events in this chapter that some will find upsetting...
When Owain's name had come up on the list of students that would be starting their first year of medical training at the hospital, Ollie had smiled to himself, glad that the personable young man he had met at his brother's funeral was going to be amongst that year's cohort. When he had then heard from Nick that the young man was already in town and looking to start his shadowing early, he had decided to volunteer for the role of his mentor without a moment of hesitation. "I will admit that I am acquainted with him," he had told the student liaison officer with a smile. "He was one of my late brother's students at Dalton Academy, and I met him at Thad's funeral. It would make me more than happy to take on the role of his mentor…" The liaison officer had nodded, fully aware that a lot of the new students felt lost in the city at first, so the connection to his school life would be an invaluable one for Owain…
It therefore came as no surprise to Ollie Harwood when he arrived at his work on Tuesday morning to discover Owain sitting on a chair outside his office, wearing his first set of scrubs and with a lanyard with his ID attached around his neck. Ollie smiled as he saw the words Medical Student above Owain Davies, something that made him recall his own time as a medical student so long ago…
"Good morning, Owain. It is always good to see punctuality in a medical student, as that is not something that all of your fellows will be observant of. I do hope that you haven't been sitting here too long…"
"No, Dr Harwood. I have only been sitting here for five minutes or so…"
Ollie nodded, then said, "Whilst it is just the two of us, feel free to call me Ollie, which is something that future colleagues should do; however, when we have company, I trust that you will continue to call me Dr Harwood. Now, my first job each day is to review what happened in the emergency room overnight; after that, we will head into the E.R. itself. I warn you now that this could well end up being a baptism of fire, as we never seem to have a quiet day in emergency medicine. Obviously, you are just here to observe for now and then only if the patient allows it…"
"Of course, but I don't mind wielding a cloth or a mop to help keep the E.R. clean and hygienic if there is nobody else around to do so…"
"Noted," replied Ollie, more than pleased with that attitude from the younger man as well; he had seen too many students in recent times that seemed to regard such essential tasks as below them. As far as he was concerned, the cleanliness of the emergency room was the responsibility of every member of staff, and Lawrence had understood that too. He looked over at Owain and decided that he would also allow him to push wheelchairs and even fetch things; most important of all, he would encourage him to talk to the patients, as that helped to distract them from their injury and pain, as well as allowing the medical team to get on with their work…
By the end of their first three shifts together, Ollie could see that Owain was a natural. He had a perfect bedside manner, able to put patients at their ease in just a few words, and then explain what was about to happen in the simplest of layman's terms. He was not in the least bit squeamish when faced with blood or the terrible injuries that could resort from vehicular accidents. One moment stood out most for him; the young man's ability to calm a gang member about his own age who had been stabbed; he let him know that it was alright to feel worried and afraid. He then returned to speak to him again after the procedure to stem his bleeding had been completed, chatting to him quietly even as a cop sat at the other side of the bed…
The rest of the staff in the emergency room had taken a shine to him as well; his often grumpy but efficient head nurse liking him immensely the moment that he had offered to go and fetch them all coffee after a particularly hectic first morning. "I swear that boy is a younger version of you," she had stated to Ollie later that day as they observed Owain calm a frightened elderly lady with warm words of comfort and a smile. "In fact, are you sure that he isn't, because now that I look closely, I can see similarities in your faces as well…"
"No, he is just blessed to look like me, or cursed, as you might wish to see it," replied Ollie, who had suddenly seen the similarities she referred to for the first time at that moment…
The final test would come on the last of Owain's three days in the department that week, when a woman that was heavily pregnant was brought in, having been involved in a road traffic accident. As well as the minor injuries she had sustained in that, she was exhibiting all of the classic symptoms of labour… A quick call upstairs brought the redoubtable Nurse Crane hurrying down; she immediately judged that there was no time to take the lady upstairs to the labour suites…
Not for the first time, a baby was therefore born in the emergency room, and Owain was there to witness that moment with the permission of the mother that he had been comforting. It had been Owain that had run off to fetch all that Nurse Crane requested, and she had admired his competence; she was therefore shocked to discover afterwards that he had not even officially started his medical training…
"I may try to steal him from you as I did with young Lawrence," the senior midwife said, only partly in jest; Ollie had shaken his head at that and with good reason. He had been looking at all of the medical students over the last few years to find one that could eventually take over from him but had not found anyone suitable; in just three days, he knew that Owain might well be the person he had been looking for….
As for Owain himself, his three days had confirmed to him that a career in medicine was definitely the right choice for him, and that the Emergency Room would be his preferred choice of workplace. He had found something so rewarding in being able to help such a wide variety of people. True, that might well change when the department was filled with dozens of casualties after a major traumatic event, but he could not know that until such an event took place…
His work at the Spotlight Diner would also help to keep him busy as he waited for his fellow Dalton alumni to arrive and move in alongside him; they did not include another Warbler that year, the majority of his group of seniors moving on to the trifecta of Harvard, Princeton and Yale. Nonetheless he would know all of his new housemates and could be comfortable with them all. He was most grateful that he had something to occupy his time as the following week the house next door would also fall empty as the Sterling-Duvals and Tim headed off to Europe on vacation.
He did feel settled in now in the West Village street and talked warmly about it when he video called his mom and grandmother back in Ohio after his third hospital shift. He also talked about his experiences in the Emergency Room. "If I turn out to be as half as good a doctor as Dr Harwood, I will be very pleased," he had said to them both. What he had failed to notice was the way that his grandmother's face suddenly paled when he mentioned that name, as if it brought back bad memories for her…
The following weekend brought with it the departure of the Sterling-Duvals and Tim to Europe. There had been one last minute change to their plans, however, thanks to the UN; Nick now had to attend an emergency conference at the headquarters in Geneva on the Wednesday of the second week that they would be away. At first he thought that he would have to leave the family and travel alone, but that was before his ever resourceful spouse made contact with Nick's relatives in Baden Baden, and made arrangements for them all to stay there on the Tuesday night.
"We will be in Paris at the time, so we can leave there late morning on Tuesday and get to Baden Baden in the middle of the afternoon. Yes, you will have an early start the following morning, but the meeting not starting until 1pm is a blessing there. We can take a train back to Paris at lunchtime and you can get one directly back from Geneva after the meeting finishes. This way we can show Tim a little bit more of France and a small part of Germany too," Jeff had said at the dinner table on the Friday evening.
"Plus he gets to see the Duval family bakery," said Wes, who had been listening in to the conversation, and whose eyes had lit up at the prospect of seeing his father's family's baking heritage once more.
"I suppose that could work. It might be easier to hire a car in Baden Baden though and drive directly to Geneva if the trains are too awkward…"
"The trains will work, Nicky; I checked them out first. As we will be staying with your family there will be no extra costs, and that will get you brownie points with Miss Worthington."
"I think the only reason that she is sending me is because I will be in Europe already, so it reduces her travel budget, so you are probably right about that one…" Nick replied with a chuckle, and so the matter was sorted. Of course, about an hour later in his study, Nick realised that he could just have travelled from Paris to Geneva and back in the same day thanks to the TGV, but all of the arrangements had now been made.
Wes was already waxing lyrical to Tim about the delights of the bakery and telling him how his father's cousin Fritz had just completed his formal baker training and could now call himself a konditormeister in his own right. There was also talk of him marrying his long-term boyfriend Matthais now that he had finished his classes, and that would mean another trip to Germany if that occurred. It would therefore be a good chance to catch up with them all for an evening as they were passing through, so to speak…
When Nick overheard the end of that conversation, he had a slight concern in how much his son seemed to be delighted by the fact that Fritz was now a professional baker, to the point of sounding jealous. A career in baking was something that he had almost embraked on when he had thought his law career to be over after the issues with his first employer in the weeks after Wes had been born, but he would still have had the law to fall back upon had his venture into baking not succeeded. If his son did want to become a baker full-time then he would of course be as supportive as a parent should be, but he would insist that he went to college and obtained another qualification he could fall back on first…
There would be no trip to the markets of Union Square that Saturday, but they still headed to the supermarket in Brooklyn for those non-perishable goods that they required, along with a few other items for the meals they would eat before they flew on Sunday. They would leave the house in the care of Mike, as he had a set of spare keys anyway, but they entrusted Owain with a set as well, along with the code to the alarm system. "It makes sense for you to have them as you are right next door," Nick said to the slightly surprised younger man. "It also gives you access to anything that you might need when the other housemates start to arrive. I know that none of them are scheduled to arrive until after we return, but you weren't meant to be here yet either…"
Owain realised that Nick had a valid point and so he accepted the set of keys with a nod, knowing that he was then most trusted of the new residents moving in next door. He had an early shift at the Spotlight on Sunday morning, but he was still back home in time to see the group of four heading off to JFK, giving Tim an encouraging smile and a wave, as he knew he had some nerves about his first overnight flight. His heart still ached for Tim at times, knowing that he had been expecting to spend his summer vacation at home with his parents in South Dakota and now he was off to Europe as an orphan… He did seem to be handling it all remarkably well, but he was never sure just how much of that was an act for the benefit of everyone around him.
If Owain was entirely honest, he was actually a little jealous of the fact that Tim was now off to London and Paris; he had never been outside of Ohio for more than a few days until he had come to New York for college. He knew that there would be plenty of time for him to go and explore those places he wanted to after he had graduated from medical school; the images that Thad had sent to them all from India had spoken to him the moment he saw them and that was a destination on his bucket list.
Having seen the group off, he headed for home again, glad he had eaten at the diner before he came home as he didn't feel like cooking a meal for himself that night and he was trying his best to avoid takeout food. He would spend his evening on a three-way video call with the other two former councilmen from the Warblers, both of whom were preparing to head for Princeton and it was great to catch up with them. However, when he headed for bed that evening, he could not shake off the feeling that there was something going on somewhere that would affect his life greatly…
When he woke up the next morning, Owain still had the same sensation that there was some unknown force that was going to impact his life, but he also knew that there was nothing that he could do about it. He got up and prepared his breakfast, his morning free before an afternoon shift at the Spotlight; then he would spend the following three days shadowing Dr Harwood once again. He checked his phone as he waited for the coffee to be ready and saw that he had a missed call from his mother; he tried calling her back but there was no answer, so he decided that the call couldn't have been all that important, especially as she had also not left him a message.
As he ate his breakfast, he checked his Facebook feed and he smiled as he saw a photo of Wes and Tim with a Welcome to London sign in the background, and he wondered how they were getting along, particularly Tim. This would be the first time that he had to cope with a big time difference and he assumed that could be a killer… He placed a like on the image and then went on with his morning, making a start on the necessary daily chores in the house…
Meanwhile, across town, Dr Oliver Harwood was in his office, catching up on the never-ending paperwork, glad that for once the E.R. was much quieter than normal. Admittedly, that also worried him, as it would not be like that for long. He had just finished dealing with the largest of the reports when there was a knock at his office door, and the department secretary came in. She smiled at him then informed him that there was an older lady downstairs that was looking to have a private conversation with him. "She isn't a patient, she just states that it is vitally important that she speaks to you," she continued.
Ollie sighed, as such conversations often turned out not to be good when you worked in a busy hospital; then he nodded, handed the secretary the now completed report and asked if she would be good enough to have the lady sent up…
Ollie awaited his visitor patiently, mentally preparing himself for the possibility that she might be a lawyer, sent by a previous patient or their family to announce that they were to take legal action against either himself or the department for an alleged incident. Thankfully, such visits were rare in the Emergency Room, most people grateful for the often life-saving treatment that they had been given; there had been an incident a few months ago when they had been sued for damages to a designer outfit, but that legal action had soon come to nothing when the hospital's lawyers had pointed out to the litigator that their client had needed to be cut out of the garment so that they could receive treatment after their severe injury in a car accident…
Alternatively, his visitor could be a sales rep from a pharmaceutical firm, trying to convince him to try a new range of drugs that were always world beating and revolutionary, but usually just did the job that an existing drug already did for half the cost. He knew that they were just trying to earn a living, but he would much prefer it if they would go and earn their money away from him…
He was greatly relieved when his visitor did finally appear, as she was an older woman in smart but very casual clothing, which almost immediately ruled out her being either lawyer or sales rep. She seemed to hesitate for a moment on the threshold of his office, almost as if she was having second thoughts about being there, so Ollie decided to stand up and welcome her in with a smile. "You have managed to catch me on a relatively quiet morning," he said as he guided her towards a chair, "but obviously, given that this is the E.R., that can change in a heartbeat."
The lady nodded, as if she understood, then said quietly, "I am sorry that I felt the need to intrude here at all, Dr Harwood, but the truth is that I wanted to see you with my own eyes… That does sound a little strange, I must admit, but once I have explained everything to you, I hope that it will become much clearer…" She paused, then went on, "I am sorry, I am feeling rather anxious at the moment to be honest. Firstly, can I just confirm that you are Oliver Harwood and not some other member of your family?"
"Yes, I am," replied Ollie, thinking to himself that this was one of the strangest encounters he had endured for a while, and that perhaps the lady might benefit from a chat with the team in psychology.
"Good, I am glad that I have the right place. My name is Arwen Griffiths, and my grandson is Owain Davies… He does not know that I am here yet, but I will be speaking to him after we have concluded our conversation. I am so proud of him getting into medical school, moving to New York, but then he mentioned that you were his mentor, and just hearing your name brought back some traumatic memories for me. The funny thing is that I was okay about it all when his housemaster was your late brother, a man that Owain talked about with such happiness. I can only think that it is the addition of the word Doctor before your surname that triggered something off inside me…"
Ollie nodded then, although he had to admit that he was no less confused about what was going on, even if he now knew who she was; hopefully what she went on to say might clarify things more…
"You see, I used to work under your father, Dr Benjamin Harwood Snr – although he wasn't called Senior then; it was almost fifty years ago now, when he and your mother just worked at the hospital in Columbus that he would eventually take complete control of. At that time, everyone I knew said that I was so fortunate to have the opportunity to work in the operating room alongside one of the best surgeons in the United States, but well… Those people did not witness his almost constant mood swings, nor did they have to stay silent for their own sake when they realised that something untoward was happening…"
Ollie suddenly burst out laughing then, earning himself a disapproving glare. "I am sorry, Ms Griffiths, it is just that nothing seems to have changed in nearly half a century…"
She smiled at him then, before saying, "I did hear those rumours, but now he has been removed and from what I hear, your older siblings seem to know what they are doing. The funny thing is that your big brother is a part of all of this in a way… When your mother fell pregnant with him, some of us felt that your father's attitude might soften just a little, but it became worse if anything; the rumour mill suggested at the time that your mother had placed an outright ban on your father touching her now she was pregnant, and that could well be true; she was considered by everyone to be something of a cold-hearted bitch… I am sorry if that offends you, but it was what was being said…"
"Oh, that is perfectly fine," Ollie replied with a wry smile. "The statements that you have made about my parents are true, as far as I am aware, given that they would go on to dismiss my brother from the family when he refused to kowtow and be a doctor like the rest of us, and then threw me aside when I reconnected with him…"
"Your younger brother made an excellent teacher; without his guidance and support I doubt that Owain would have changed from the shy and introverted boy that he was before Dalton. He would not be here in New York, a kind, caring and confident young man who is on the cusp of a brilliant career in medicine. He will be an excellent doctor in my opinion, but most would say that I am biased…"
"From what I have seen so far, I think you are correct…"
"I did consider at one point going to Dalton to see your brother and then telling him what I am about to tell you, but by the time that I had gathered the courage to do so, he had fallen ill… The truth is that Owain looked up to him so much; his decision to come here to New York and undertake his medical studies was at your brother's advice. I wonder if he thought you might become involved in my grandson's life and carry on where he left off? In any case, whilst I trusted his judgement in that, when I heard that you had indeed become Owain's mentor, I felt uneasy. My fears there were not justified now that I have seen you…"
She paused, then apologised. "Forgive me, I have an unfortunate tendency to start rambling when I am nervous… I said that your big brother was linked to all of this, but the truth is that he wasn't even born; your mother was at the very end of her last trimester when the issues came to a head. She and your father had a very tactile relationship before her pregnancy, but all of that stopped; no hugs, no kisses and I would assume that there was certainly no love making any more. That loss of an outlet might explain why your father's outbursts of rage increased and his mood in the O.R, became much more morose. However, for some reason, I did not seem to provoke those rages as much as most of my colleagues. At the time I felt safe, but of course, that couldn't have been further from the case…"
"I can recall the night that your elder brother was born so clearly even now… We were in the O.R. and a call came through, to let him know that your mother had gone into labour. The phone ringing in the O.R. annoyed him at the best of times and even this message only earned a terse nod. He declined to let one of the other surgeons in the room take over the procedure he was engaged in so that he could go to her in her time of greatest need. He acted as he always did during the surgery, calling out those that annoyed him or did not meet his expectations. For whatever reason, the operation ended up taking longer than he had planned; thus, when he had completed the job most of the other staff in attendance headed out, all having other places to be. I ended up being left alone to clean things up, which I did not object to, as I always felt in such a wonderful task to perform, getting everything in order once more; the key role of a theater nurse…"
"I had expected that your father would hurry off too once he had cleaned himself up, but he didn't, and suddenly he was by my side as I worked, talking to me as I collected the last of the instruments and placed them in the steriliser. It all seemed so routine. I had no inkling what was about to happen next…"
At that moment, Ollie had a good idea as to exactly what had happened next; he hoped that it wasn't the case, but unlike some children, who would not even imagine their father doing such a thing, he had no problem in thinking it… He listened as the woman in front of him told him how she had been grabbed from behind, how she had tried to fight him off, and how in the end she had been unsuccessful. The fact that this had all happened in the hospital was bad enough; the fact that at that precise time and no great distance away, his mother had been giving birth to his elder brother made him feel sick to the stomach…
"After it was all over, he just walked away without so much as a backward glance. I went into autopilot; I finished the tasks I had to do, then left the premises, telling the senior nurse that I felt ill and needed to go home. She wasn't happy about that at all, but there was nothing she could do to stop me. I considered heading straight to the Sheriff's office to report what had just happened, but there were no witnesses to the event, and he was a respected surgeon with a history of good work, whilst I was just a nurse. In any case, the Sheriff was a friend of his, so it was highly unlikely he would believe me. So, I just went home, washed and went to bed. A week later I found a letter in my locker when I arrived for my shift, asking me to report immediately to the personnel officer. The upshot of that meeting was that despite the fact I had an exemplary record, I was being dismissed. Fortunately, the personnel officer had found a position for me at one of the other major hospitals in the city, so at least I wasn't unemployed…"
Ollie shook his head sadly, but then Arwen went on. "About four months later, I realised that your father had given me an unexpected gift. I returned to the hospital and confronted him about it, but he said that I had no proof that he attacked me and no proof that the child I was now carrying was his; after all, I could have had numerous boyfriends since then… I informed him that I was not afraid to take him to court and claim support payments – or that I would just go and visit your mother and see whether she believed my sordid little story or not. I left without waiting for a response, but it rattled him. A week later I had a visit from his lawyer, offering me a substantial cheque if I said nothing, made no further claims and left the Columbus area before the child was born. I took it, as I knew that my parents would not support me as an unmarried mother. Nine months more or less to the day after your brother was born, I gave birth to my daughter…"
Ollie sat in silence, still dealing with it all; that his father had taken advantage of a colleague was bad enough, but that she had been left pregnant was horrendous. He had to process the fact that he had another half-sibling out there, but he knew what he had to say there and then. "I can only apologise for my father and his actions; they do not surprise me in the least I am pained to admit…"
Arwen nodded sympathetically, then went on, "The money that he gave me to keep quiet, along with my savings, allowed me to resettle in the town of Xenia. I had a friend there from school that was in charge of the nursing staff at the city hospital, so I was able to get a job. It wasn't an easy life, but I managed to raise my daughter on my own. I never married, nor did I have any other children…"
She stopped then to give Ollie a moment, but he had already done the math. "Owain is my half-nephew, isn't he? He is my family… It is strange, but Thad used to say to me that he felt closer to Owain than any other boy he had ever taught; it is almost as if somehow his mind knew who he really was…"
"Owain used to say the same thing about your brother, that he was almost a father figure in his life… You see, my daughter did marry Owain's father, but when she was eight months pregnant, he left her. He went back to Wales, and effectively vanished off the face of the earth at that point; it is easy enough to do that in a country where there are thousands of people with the surname Davies. It was a tough time all over again, but we managed to raise him between the two of us. I had my savings and the moment that I saw Owain, I knew that he was special. We brought him up to value kindness and honesty and to care for others. He was always a quiet boy with a great passion for music. He used to play the violin beautifully, but he stopped doing so just before he won his scholarship to Dalton. By that time, we had left Xenia and were living in Wooster Heights, near Mansfield. When he took his exam for the Dalton scholarship, he was worried he wasn't good enough, but in the end, he came out top of all the applicants that year. The good thing about Dalton is that no-one there knew that he was a scholarship boy. There, under the watchful eye of your brother, he grew so much; he gained much more confidence in himself and his abilities. I like to think that his uncle was largely responsible for that…"
Ollie smiled at that, thinking how proud Thad would have felt about that too, but then he asked his next obvious question. "Why are you telling me all of this now?"
"Most schools have no issue with a student being related to one of their teachers, but I believe that it is a different story once college age is reached. My daughter and I had always agreed that he would tell Owain the truth about his grandfather once he was an adult and our intention was to do so this summer. When the time came, however, my daughter was reluctant to stir things up and then it was too late. Owain had been unhappy with life in Wooster Heights before he went to Dalton, but now it was so much worse. He went out in search of a summer job, but he couldn't find one, despite the fact that there were numerous vacancies in the local stores and restaurants. He just announced one morning that he was going to go to New York early and by the next day he was gone. That was not an issue, but then he called and said that you were going to be his mentor at the medical school; I knew what needed to be done. I don't know what the rules are on family relationships between students and their mentors, but I would have hated for Owain to get close to you and then been forced away…"
"I am not entirely sure myself if I am being honest," replied Ollie, "but I can endeavour to find out. I think that the fact that I did not know until now would be taken into account. If you can give me a few minutes, I can call the liaison officer at NYU right now and see what the official line actually is."
"It would be a weight off my mind to know that it wasn't breaking any rules. However, if it does happen to be the case that he cannot be your student as a result, I will feel so guilty about it. Whatever the case may be, I came here to New York with the intention of telling Owain everything and I wish to do so today."