Prodigal Son (Jensen Family #1) (30 page)

“I’m sorry, I promise, I will
tell you everything from now on. I love you Mum.”

“You break my heart, do you
know that?” She responded unable to stop the tears gathering on her lashes “I
love you so much and yet around every corner there is some problem or other
waiting for you, you used to come to me.”

“I’m growing up,” he reached
for her hand “I know I can’t make this right Mum but I can make it better for
you and Carmen, I just need time.”

“You are going to be a good
father to this child whether you want to or not.” She told him. “You do know
there’s no future in this relationship of yours?”

“Don’t say that, it feels
right when I am with her, it’s everyone else’s reaction to it that makes it
seem sordid and dirty.”

“It is sordid and dirty,
there are no two ways about it. Paul, you will have to behave yourself when you
come home, you will have to obey the rules that will be set out for you.”

Paul sighed “I know,” he
looked down at his hands “I’d better go and pack.”

She watched him walk away,
his head bowed but his back was straight, his shoulders squared. She admired
him for facing his responsibilities; she just wished that trouble and problems
weren’t his permanent companions. He was such a loving soul, kind and
thoughtful, his anniversary gift bore testament to his thoughtfulness. She
shook her head, she had firmly put herself between her son and her husband,
a
place she didn’t want to be but the son needed protection
from the father and from his own quick temper which would flare at the
slightest provocation from Michael.

The atmosphere in the Jensen
house could be cut with a knife. Tessa had up until now, denied all knowledge
of her fathers’ treatment of her brothers’ and Michael’s attack on Paul had
chilled her to the bone. Admitting that although Paul had provoked the
reaction, the fact that Michael had continue to beat him once he was
unconscious made her feel sick every time she thought about it. She had never
seen her father quite so angry and focussed and Paul had been defenceless, her
sympathy and understanding were now on the side of her brother.

While Paul unpacked his bags
and reacquainted himself with his siblings, Monica and Michael discussed what
they should do with their wayward son and built their own bridges towards
forgiveness and understanding.

Sitting opposite each other
on their beds, Matt and Paul listened to the raised voices coming from the
study. Paul jumped when their bedroom door opened, relaxing at the sight of his
sister. Tessa sat on the bed next to Matt, leaning her back against his muscled
bicep as she lit three cigarettes, passing her brothers’ one each.

“You’ve really done it this
time.” She said, glancing sideways at Paul.

“Yeah I know. I’m sorry guys,
I realise that you are going to get some of the backlash.” He replied.

“What are you going to do?”
She asked.

“I think that’s being decided
for me.” He inclined his head towards the voices of his parents.

“I can’t believe you will go
along with everything they decide.” She scoffed.

“I probably won’t in the long
run, there’s only so much time they can dedicate to watching me and as far as
they are aware, I work all day and that gives me plenty of opportunity to make
my own plans.”

“You aren’t even going to try
are you?” Tessa accused.

“Of course I am, if I’m going
to get Mum’s help, I have to but they have to realise that just because they
say something, doesn’t make it so. I have things I need to discuss with Carmen
and there’s the purchase of a house which is going to happen whether they like
it or not. What it all boils down to is I got my girlfriend knocked up, in
reality, it wouldn’t matter if she were my age or not, they would still have
reacted the same and so would I , I’m going to take care of Carmen and the
baby, they can’t prevent that no matter how much they try.”

“I have to admire you for
taking reasonability.” She conceded.

“I can’t just walk away from
this Tessa, you know me well enough to know that.”

“I think you’re stupid” Matt
blurted.

“Thanks Matt,” the sarcasm
was thick in Paul’s voice

“Face it Paul, you’ve ruined
your life, you are sixteen and you’re thinking about raising a kid, seriously
stupid. If I was you, I’d insist she got rid of it, cut all ties with her and
get a life.”

“You aren’t me. We discussed
our options, adoption isn’t one of them and neither of us could come up with
any real reason to get rid of it and I haven’t ruined my life. I’ll admit that
this is a setback in the grand scheme of things but my life is in no way ruined
and I will make sure that my child has a good life too just you wait and see.”

The house phone stopped their
conversation as Tessa bolted into the hall, returning and telling Paul the call
was for him.  The resulting conversation couldn’t have come at a better
time for him; he was smiling and already forming plans in his head when he hung
up from speaking to the local council. He had completely forgotten submitting
the quote for re-designing areas of the local park over the winter in
preparation for it re-opening in the spring; it was a massive undertaking and
one that would keep his work force busy over the winter months and make him an
awful lot of money along the way.

Upon his summons to the
study, Paul studiously kept his gaze from meeting Michael’s for fear of what
might be misconstrued in his own eyes. He sat and listened to the rules laid
out to him with which he was expected to comply without protest or complaint.

Having owned up to the
purchase of another phone, this was the first thing that was taken from him
although he was told he would be allowed to speak to Carmen but only in the
presence of one or both parents. He would not be permitted to socialise for the
foreseeable future either after work or at weekends, he was expected to fill
this time helping around the house and learning aspects of Michael’s business,
further restrictions were placed on the amount of time he would be permitted to
watch television or listen to or practise music. They recognised that he was
now a young man and did concede to one outing a month for him in which he would
be allowed to see his friends but there would be a strict curfew to be adhered
too.

Michael and Monica had
decided that he should no longer pay rent, that money would be put into a high
interest savings account and he was expected to honour his commitment to the
child by adding to the account each month, the account would be held in
Michael’s name, the money would be returned to Paul for him to pass onto his
child upon reaching the age of twenty one provided Paul hadn’t sired any
further children outside of marriage. If however, more children were born, the
money would be split equally between them.

Paul felt he had little
option but to agree to the terms, he did however, ask to put on hold joining
Michael even part time at Jensen’s, all Michael’s protests were put on hold
when Paul explained about the prestigious job he had won for the local council,
pointing out that the park was within walking distance from home and therefore
they would easily be able to check up on him. He also asked to be allowed to go
to the gym three times a week under the guise of working out, he had made a lot
of friends at the gym and the time spent there would kill two birds with one
stone. After a brief discussion, he was given permission for this but informed
that he should go straight from work on the agreed nights and under no
circumstances was he allowed to be out after seven o’clock.

Within a few weeks, Paul
found that playing by the rules made life at home surprisingly pleasant, not
that he had much time to dwell on it, the work in the park was extensive and
exhausting and, given the current horrendous weather conditions, extremely
messy. Monica refused to let him in the house wearing his work clothes,
insisting that he strip down to his boxer shorts and put his soiled clothes
into the washing machine before being allowed upstairs to shower. Shivering
from the icy air in the unheated utility room, he adhered to this rule every
night before making a mad dash for a steaming hot shower.

Monica was especially
impressed with his behaviour. Not once had he complained or sulked at the
restrictions placed upon him, in fact, he seemed to be positively thriving under
the circumstances, making her wonder why she hadn’t been stricter with him
earlier.

She allowed him to hold his
meetings with his staff at the house, letting them use the kitchen and making
sure they had a healthy supply of sandwiches, impressed with the way her son
conducted himself with these much older and far more experienced men. She
watched their faces as he talked and saw not one hint or resentment that this
mere boy was running this business and taking home more than each man present.

As the meetings became a
regular occurrence, she learned the names of Paul’s workers, she heard them
talking and discussing ideas when Paul had left the room to take a call or to
fetch some plans and with a start realised that these men held enormous respect
for her son and the more she listened the more she understood why. Paul
listened to his men, often implementing their ideas alongside his own and
freely admitting when one of them suggested something, that he had no clue
where to start with that and would they teach him. She realised Paul had the
potential to be an extremely successful business man and made it her personal
goal to make sure she helped him every step of the way.

“He’s a good kid Mrs Jensen;
maybe you could lighten up on him a little.” Phil, Paul’s foreman commented as
he left the house one evening after handing in that week’s time sheets.

Secretly, Monica was inclined
to agree but succinctly informed the man that rules were rules and Paul had
done his fair share of breaking them in the past for which he was now paying
the price.

A week previously, Phil had
listened to Paul’s explanation of his drunken stumble down the stairs, the
reason for the bruises on his face and his stiffness in moving, the bruising
over his ribs jabbing him each and every time he stretched.

“Come on lad,” Phil cajoled
as he and the rest of the men warmed their hands on their plastic cups of tea
on a break from digging “It’s well known that your old man is harsh with his
discipline, you don’t have to cover it up, we know he’s knocked seven types of
shit out of you.”

Paul looked into the murky
brown liquid squirming over the serrations in his cup, for some unfathomable
reason, he felt ashamed, he couldn’t admit that Michael had done this to him,
not meeting Phil’s eyes he simply replied “We’d better get this finished”
neither denying or confirming their suspicions.

He was allowed a phone call
to Carmen once a week, during which both Monica and Michael were present making
conversation between them strained and stilted, only once did Carmen crack,
asking quietly when she would see him.

“I don’t know
,
they have me locked up tighter than a nun’s arsehole so
it’s anyone’s guess when I will be allowed out into the big wide world again.”
His comment earning him a scowl from Monica, Michael was unable to suppress his
smile.

“I want you.” Carmen
whispered.

“Oh God.”
Paul groaned, closing his eyes. “I have to go.”

The news of Carmen’s affair
with a student hit the Gloucester papers like an atomic bomb once she was
officially sacked from her job. There had been rumours of course, but it was
only when the school confirmed her dismissal and the reason behind it that she
began to be hounded by the local press. It wasn’t long before the news went
national and from there it took very little time to connect Carmen to Paul
thanks to one or two of his previous girlfriends.

“Mum!” Paul shouted as he let
himself into the utility room and began to strip “There’s press everywhere.” He
finished as she opened the door into the house.

“Haven’t you seen the paper?”
She asked, Paul shook his head.

Clothed only in his shorts,
he stood by the breakfast bar and began to read the article, “Shit, how did
this get out?” He asked then groaned as he read the names of the girls who had
eagerly parted with information. “Has Dad seen this?”

“I would expect so judging
from the phone call I had from him” she replied, and there it was, that flash
of fear in her son’s eyes “He’s furious but it will be alright, you should stay
out of his way for a few days.” she placated.

“A few
days?
Mum, Carmen’s’ not due for
another few months, this isn’t going away any time soon.” He answered, his mind
was reeling, he suddenly felt trapped and wanted to run “He’s going to kill me
this time” he had spoken quietly, more to himself than her.

“No he’s not, he won’t touch
you.” She reached out, smoothing down his windblown hair “I promise you that,”
she closed the paper and threw it in the bin “Go and get cleaned up, I’ll bring
your dinner up to you, stay in your room this evening.”

 Paul flinched when two
hours later, the front door slammed and Michael bellowed his name from the
bottom of the stairs. Now he didn’t know what to do for the better, stay in his
room as directed by Monica or go to his father. He was saved from his indecision
when Monica quickly stuck her head around his bedroom door and told him to stay
put, the row between husband and wife that ensued was of epic proportions the
like of such would never again be repeated within the walls of the Jensen
house.