Prodigal Son (Jensen Family #1) (32 page)

“What happened?”

“My Dad went nuts or so I’ve
been told, I was drunk, I don’t remember saying anything, I apparently told him
he should show me some respect, bad move.” He shrugged.

“Did he hit you?”

“Yep.
His first blow knocked me out, I didn’t feel the
others but the bruises let me know how much of a beating I got.”

“You should stand up to him.”

“There’s no point, it only
makes things worse.”

“You are big enough to defend
yourself though.” Carmen countered
.
“Yes.” He agreed “And I know I can take him and that my temper is every bit as bad
as his but I won’t hit him, that would mean bringing myself down to his level
and I won’t
stoop
that low.”

“You really have given this a
lot of thought haven’t you?”

“Uhuh.
What scares me though is that one day he’ll push me
too far and I will lash out.”

“It’ll be no more than he
deserves.” Carmen countered.

“I know, but what if I take a
swing at him and I can’t stop? I’ll kill him. I have it in me; I can feel it
every time he has a go at me.”

“You won’t, you have far too
much self control for that.”

“I’m glad someone thinks
that. I’m not so sure.” He admitted. “Enough of that now, tell me more about
Helen, I’m getting a serious man hater vibe off of her.”

As they snuggled closer,
warming each other with their body heat, Carmen explained that she and Helen
had been friends since nursery school and were extremely close. Helen had
married in her late teens, the boy in question had been her sweetheart all
through secondary school and they had a close loving and faultless relationship
right up until Luke was born whereon, Helen focused all of her attention on her
baby, alienating her husband which in turn made him leave.

Initially concerned when her
husband failed to return from his cigarette finding expedition, Helen contacted
the police and reported him missing, it was a week later when the police
tracked him down and he confirmed who he was and that he wouldn’t be going
home. The police duly informed her that the case was closed; her husband was
alive and well and had no intention of returning home. Helen coped well with
the news, consoling herself with the rearing of her son; she fell apart later
that month when the divorce papers arrived.

Helen hadn’t had the
foresight to have
herself
either on the mortgage or
deeds of the quaint two bedroom bungalow they lived in, resulting in her
husband taking everything in an awful, drawn out divorce. He graciously gave
her enough money to buy another property after the bungalow was sold along with
a lump sum payment for child support before he disappeared from her life for
good.

Carmen had taken leave of
absence from college and cared for Luke whilst her friend slowly but surely
pulled herself together. When the money ran out, Helen went into panic mode and
would be forever grateful to Carmen for the shopping she brought and the
clothing she provided for both her and her baby. Helen survived on a day to day
basis on the small wage she received from her part time job but there was
nothing left over for luxuries and she often went without food in order to feed
her quickly growing child.

When he woke the following
morning, the first thing Paul noticed again was how cold it was. His bare chest
and shoulders were protruding from the covers and he shivered as he rescued the
duvet and tuned to press his cold torso into Carmen’s naked back. Carmen
shrugged him off. Covered entirely by the duvet, she was snugly warm and
resented the intrusion of his cold skin against hers. Sighing, Paul left the
bed and hastily donned his clothing before creeping down the stairs to the
kitchen.

Opening the door, his heart
dropped when he heard Helen cajoling her son to eat his breakfast but he
couldn’t help but smile at the robust blond child as he entered the room for
the boys face and hair was smeared with cereal and he was slapping his hands happily
in the spillage contained by the tray attached to his high chair.

“You didn’t stay on the couch
for long.” Helen accused, accosting her son and cleaning him up.

“Er, yeah,
sorry.”
He
mumbled
.

“Carmen’s bed creaks,” she
continued, to her surprise, Paul blushed and she felt her steely resolve
towards him softening “It’s ok; it gets cold downstairs, just try to keep the
noise down.”

“Sorry.” He repeated.

“Do you know how long you
will be here?” She asked
,
Luke was holding his arms up
to her, his protests getting louder as she ignored him.

“Not yet, that will depend on
Carmen.”

“Oh, ok. Do you want
something to drink?” She asked, she heaved the wriggling child out of his high
chair and set him on the floor where on his chubby legs promptly carried him to
Paul.

“Tea thanks,” Paul replied,
hating the awkwardness “Helen, I do appreciate you letting me stay here.”

“It’s ok.” She shrugged, not
turning to look at him.

“I know it’s been difficult
for you having the press hanging around here, I’ll sort it so that they leave
you alone.”

“You don’t have to do that,
they’ll get bored eventually, some big story will hit sooner or later and you
won’t be flavour of the month anymore.”

“Ok whatever, look Helen,
please don’t think I’m being condescending or trying to belittle you in way at
all......”

“But,” Helen prompted when he
faltered.

“I’ve noticed a few things
that I could help with around the house,” he blurted. “Pretty much all of the
windows need new putty and repainting at the very least and you are only single
glazed,
it’s what I do, what I’m good at. I can put
them right while I’m here.”

“I know the house is a mess
but I can’t afford to do the repairs.”

“No, no, I’d like to do it,
call it a gift from me to you for looking after Carmen, besides, there’s only
so much she and I can talk about, it’ll keep me busy and have the end result of
warming the house up a bit, I just need someone to take me into town so that I
can get everything I need.”

“That’s very kind of you, it
would be a great help. Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Not at all” he smiled then
and even she had to catch her breath “I’ll get some money out of the bank while
I’m there, it’ll help towards the added bills you must have while Carmen’s
here.”

“I don’t want your money,”
she answered “He wants you to pick him up.” She gestured to her son who was
standing, arms raised by Paul’s feet.

Paul stooped and swung the
child into his arms, looking into the huge brown eyes, he smiled again “Hey
bud,” he crooned at the child “I just want to help you both out and I’m not
boasting when I say I can afford it. Your friendship means a lot to Carmen and
while I know you don’t approve of our relationship, it makes it all the more
poignant that you have helped her regardless of that. It’s time I gave
something back.” He winced as the boy pulled his hair.

“Luke,” Helen warned and
stepped close enough to disentangle his hand from Paul’s hair, she made the
mistake of looking into the young man’s face. She had to admit to herself that
he was beautiful, and kind. “Do you love her?” She asked, this close, she would
see if he hesitated or lied.

“Yes. I want what’s best for
her.” He answered.

Satisfied that he had spoken
the truth, she removed Luke from his arms and stepped away “I can see why she likes
you so much.” She put her toddler back on the floor “And it would be nice not
to hear the windows rattle every time there is a slight breeze.” She
backhandedly accepted his help.

“Cool, can I have a pen and
some paper, I’ll make a list.”

For the following week, Paul
worked hard, fixing all of the windows throughout the house, even buying
temporary double glazing and doing a general bit of decorating as well as
plying both Helen and Carmen with vast amounts of money to stop both women
worrying about forthcoming bills. Helen secretly admitted to herself that it
was good to have a man about the house, outwardly; she admitted to Carmen that
although Paul was still only a teenager in years, in attitude, he was very much
a man and she completely understood what she saw in him.

Back in the Jensen house, all
hell broke loose when Monica discovered Paul’s absence. Having calmed Michael
over the revelations in the papers, she had gone in search of her son only to
find the bedroom empty. When Matt came out of the shower, he was questioned
over his brothers’ whereabouts; she became irate when Matt couldn’t give her
any information, positive that this son was lying to her. She cursed herself
for taking Paul’s phone from him, at least she would have had some line of communication
even if, as she suspected, he didn’t answer her calls immediately.

Coming up empty handed at
home, her next port of call was her parent’s house, again, they had no
information for her but suggested that she try her brother as Paul and John had
a close relationship and if Paul had run anywhere, it would have been to his
Uncle. She received no reply from John’s home phone; she drove to his flat only
to be told by a scantily clad woman that John had left after a phone call earlier
that evening. Barging past the woman, Monica told her that she would wait until
her brother returned, suggesting to her that she dress properly and leave.

John saw Monica’s BMW parked
on the road shortly before pulling into his allotted parking space and sighed,
his sister was obviously on the war path. Letting himself into his flat, he
glanced into the bedroom, noticing his empty bed before going through to the
lounge to find Monica sitting, stiff backed on his most comfortable armchair.

“Hello Mon.” He said quietly,
choosing to sit opposite her.

“Where is he?”

“He needs some space.” John
started “I think you should give it to him.”

“I’m not here to play twenty
questions with you. You can be as irresponsible with your own life as you like but
I will not allow you to encourage my son into the same lifestyle now tell me
where he is.”

“I took him to Gloucester.”
John admitted.

“Take me there” She demanded.

“It’s late Monica, I’ve had a
six hour drive and I’m shattered, can we talk again tomorrow?”

“No we can’t. I cannot
believe that you would take him on a whim into the arms of that dreadful
woman.”

“For starters, it wasn’t a
whim, he’s where he needs to be right now, you don’t know if she’s a dreadful
woman or not, she obviously has some redeeming qualities or Paul wouldn’t still
be with her and he certainly wouldn’t jeopardise his relationship with you over
her, he thinks the world of you Monica but you are being too hard on him right
now.” He held up a hand to stop her from speaking “He may be your son but at
the moment, I know him better than you do, let him be. He said he’d call you
and let you know he was safe so just leave it at that for now. I’m tired, I’m
going to bed, and we can talk some more in the morning. You are more than
welcome to stay if you want but if you decide to go, make sure the door is
closed properly behind you.” He left her standing in the middle of the living
room.

Sweeping Carmen into his
arms, Paul danced her around the kitchen much to the delight of Luke who began
screaming and clapping in delight while Carmen laughed and allowed Paul to
guide her. As Helen came into the room to find out what all the noise was
about, Paul switched from Carmen to her, pulling her against him as they
completed a circuit of the kitchen, making her aware of the hard muscles across
his chest where her hand rested and she felt the first stirrings of desire.
Dropping his hands from Helen’s miniscule waist, Paul scooped Luke into his
arms whereon the little boy bounced up and down in his grip and squealed with
delight at his spin around the kitchen. They were all laughing when Paul
dropped into a chair, still holding Luke.

“What was all that about?”
Carmen stifled another laugh
.
“It was a good song,” he inclined his head towards the radio “I felt the need
to dance.”

“I’ll hand it to you Paul,
you certainly liven the place up.” Helen added “Come on Luke.” She reached for
her son “Is it still ok if I borrow your car?” she asked Carmen.

“Yeah,
sure.”
Carmen confirmed
,
she was looking forward to having Paul all to herself for
a couple of hours.

“What are you up to?” Paul
asked.

“I’m taking Luke swimming.”
Helen answered.

“Can we come?” He asked,
looking at Helen, he missed Carmen’s frown.

“Er, if you really want to.”
Helen hesitated.

“You don’t have any trunks
with you.” Carmen interjected.

“That’s not a problem; I’ll
buy some on the way there.” He stood up “Come on, I read in one of those baby
books that swimming is good for pregnant ladies and I haven’t worked out since I
got here, I could use the exercise.” He told her.