Terry hadn’t stopped pacing since he made the call. The twins, Max and Ed were heading straight over and would be there in a matter of minutes. The strain was evident on his face, dark circles under his eyes, several days’ growth of beard, unkempt – for Terry – hair. He was an emotional mess, but he still managed to put on a crisp suit, white shirt and tie.
Max turned into
the drive and slowed down as Terry came out of the front door. Both girls gasped
at the sight of him, and Ed sucked his bottom lip, not liking the look of
things. They opened the doors and all stepped out together. The twins took one
look at the despair in Terry’s eyes and rushed forward to engulf him in tight
hugs.
He looked at them through bloodshot eyes, not really focussing on them at all, but he wrapped his arms round them automatically as Ed and Max approached. The girls stepped back as each man shook Terry by the hand before hugging him, not knowing what was wrong, but realising he needed his ‘family’ around him.
Shaking his head to clear the fog, Terry spoke at last, “Shall we go inside?” He led the way through the entrance hall into the lounge room. The first thing the twins noticed was the absence of the ornate mirror from above the fireplace, then on looking around, they couldn’t see the heavy Waterford crystal. They looked at each other with an unformed question on their lips.
Terry noticed where they’d been looking and cleared his throat, “Had a bit of an accident. I think I got all the glass up, but it might be better to go in the kitchen or my den.”
“The kitchen will be fine, Terry. It’s nice an cosy in there.”
Terry grimaced at the word. Nothing in the house was ‘cosy’ without M. He led the way into the beautiful rustic kitchen and pointed to the large dining table and comfortable chairs. “Coffee’s on, unless you want tea.”
“Sit down, Terry,” Ceri answered. “I’ll do it, you look worn out.”
“Ta, Luv,” he replied distractedly, pulling at the carver at the head of the table and slumping into it. An oppressive silence spread a blanket over the room, which no one was willing to toss aside. They felt they should wait for Terry.
Ceri brought the drinks over, coffee for Ed and Max, tea for the rest of them. She touched Terry’s hand as she placed the mug down in front of him, and then squeezed his shoulders tenderly as she went to sit next to Max. They all drank silently for a few minutes waiting.
Terry slowly raised his eyes from his steaming mug of tea and looked at the expectant faces looking back at him. “I tried to get B and Marie to come as well. I think B is out somewhere with Jack, busy on the election trail, and I couldn’t get a reply from Marie and Bud. Can’t drag it out until I can get all the cousins together, so I thought I’d start with you two,” he started, looking from Ceri to Bron.
“Terry, what’s wrong, has something happened?” Max asked.
“Um…yeah, you could say that, mate. I…uh…”
Terry stopped, rubbing his eyes roughly and blinking away a tear that was threatening to form. Bron handed him a tissue. He smiled sadly and accepted it, wiping his eyes and blowing his nose.
“Uh…I don’t know if you all knew that M took a post with Medicine Sans Frontiers? I selfishly didn’t want her to go…almost begged her not to. Told her I needed her. She gave me one of her patent M looks before telling me that sick people in the Sudan needed her more than I did right now, and off she went.”
“That would explain why we haven’t seen her around the village for the past few weeks,” Ed stated.
“Right, mate. Anyway, she said it would just be a few months and that she’d be back before I knew she was gone. I started missing her before the car was out of the drive.”
“So, is she extending her stay? Is that why you wanted to talk to us all, stop us worrying?” Bron asked quietly, thinking that wouldn’t be the cause of the state Terry was in.
He took a deep breath before attempting to answer. His throat was dry and closing up, making it hard for him to speak. He tried to clear his throat again and Ed got up to fetch him a glass of water.
“Ta, Ed,” he said, accepting the glass and taking a sip. “I got a call from Dino the other day. It wasn’t good news. It seems that a group of MSF doctors had been snatched, and…and…”
“Take your time, Terry,” Ceri said, reaching over to take his hand again. He looked into her eyes and saw sadness and understanding there. He took a deep breath and continued.
“Dino said there was a chance that M was one of them. Took the first plane out of Oz. I wasn’t gong to sit around here waiting for word. Dino said I shouldn’t go, like hell I was going to listen to him.
"When I go there, they took me to the last camp the medics were known to have been…and I found signs of M…then that fuck of a partner ordered me home, with an escort to make sure I obeyed him!”
Ceri got up and walked towards him to give him any comfort she could. Terry couldn’t hold out any longer, he turned in his chair and held onto her waist as she hugged his shoulders. She could feel him shaking in her arms and knew that he was crying. She ran one hand through his hair before speaking.
“Terry, does Dino think she’s alive?” She felt three sets of eyes glaring at her, but ignored them. Terry shrugged his shoulders. “Talk to us, Terry.”
It took a lot of effort for him to let go of Ceri, but he finally sat up straight in the chair and looked at everyone. They all smiled in encouragement at him, and waited patiently.
“He doesn’t know, and he said I was in no fit state to help him find them. That’s why I’ve come back home. Now I know what it feels like from the other side of the desk. I don’t think I can take much more of this.”
“You shouldn’t be here in this huge house all on your own, Terry. I know you most likely feel close to M here, but you shouldn’t be alone right now.”
Terry looked around the kitchen and frowned before answering. “Right now I don’t give a fuck if I never set foot in this place again,” he spat.
Max stood up and spoke before the others had a chance. “Then you’re coming home with Ceri and me. You need family around at a time like this. Let me get a few things together for you and we’ll be off.”
Terry couldn’t fight it anymore. He needed to get away from the house. He couldn’t rest while he was there. He nodded to Max and pointed the way to the main bedroom and bathroom, not caring what Max packed up for him.
Five minutes later he allowed himself to be led to the car and taken away to a mug of hot chocolate and a soft bed. He slept for the first time since Dino had broken the bad news to him.
