Bursting Bubbles

"Hello, Gina, I'm-"

"I know, Major Brian Raymond Wilson. Carol has sent me 'Brian's' last email, which confessed everything. He didn't send it to me in case the insurance people saw it."

"Sorry for your loss, Gina. I really didn't know anything about our daughter Alexandria. Carol explained Mark's email to me. He broke off all contact with me, his best friend, and his family 12 years ago. We had not a clue why, until now."

"Carol said that she'd recognised you at hospital after your Afghanistan repatriation last year. Our practise releases her for two days a week. She said she needed to find out all about you after you were brought in bearing my 'Brian's' name."

"It's MY name, Gina, not Mark's, er your 'Brian's' name. I didn't recognise Carol last year, during her treating me or even after we became lovers. The four of us had only met briefly in that Spanish nightclub fifteen years ago, it was you that I spent the rest of the night with."

"Please don't tell Alex that you're her real father yet, Brian, as my 'Brian' will always be remembered by her and me as her wonderful 'Dad'."

"Okay, not a problem. So, in the meantime, can I be her 'Uncle Ray'?"

"Sure you can," Gina smiled, her red eyes wet, "But why 'Ray'?"

"Too many Brians at Sandhurst during my time there, so I was called Lieutenant 'Ray' Wilson, after the World Cup Winner, and it sorta stuck throughout my career."

"Is Carol okay...?"

"I proposed to her yesterday, just as soon as the hospital released me from medical care to rehab. Carol said 'yes'," I grinned.

"Good," Gina smiled, "Something good, anyway."

"There's Alexandria, of course!"

"Of course, there's always Alex."

"You and Carol have always lived locally, not miles away?"

"Yes. We lied about where we lived, especially when you said you had originally come from around here. We were letting our hair down - our first real holiday abroad in years, after establishing our medical practice here. We weren't complete sluts, You and my 'Brian' were the only boys we slept with that week, it was just something that clicked. We were both big liars that week ... just like my 'Brian' was, I guess."

"So, Doctors, then, not simply nurses?"

"Fewer ... complications, we thought at the time, made uw feel a little younger. You seemed to be young kids. So, Officer cadets, then, not simply Squaddies?"

"Mark flunked Sandhurst just after that holiday," I sighed, "Now I think he dropped out because he was in love with you and wanted to be with you and be the father to Alex. Holiday romances! He wanted you, you know, immediately you emerged from that dance floor covered in all that nightclub foam."

"So why did you get me instead of-?"

"My dibs," I grinned, "We took turns choosing partners back then."

"We did, too."

"Oh!"

"Indeed!" Gina laughed, "I picked you and you picked me. You both were almost twins, so little to choose between you, but your short hair was so ... ginger!"

"My mother calls it 'Strawberry blond'!"

"Whatever! Not much left of it," Gina observed.

"It was thinning on top even then, unlike Mark's dark, curly thatch! ... So how did you and your 'Brian' get together?"

"When I missed my period, I rang his number, he'd must've entered a number on my phone in the nightclub as 'Brian Wilson'. I couldn't remember whether it was him or you, so I rang the number and asked him if he was my redheaded date? My 'Brian' said 'yes, I am he'."

"That's when he shaved his hair-"

"Yes, he shaved ... everywhere, he was obsessive about it and wouldn't relax for a day. He said his beard was much darker than his hair and I had no reason to disbelieve him."

"That's when Mark distanced himself from me, and cut off all contact with all his friends and his family. It was like he disappeared off the face of the earth. We had been lifelong friends, he knew so much about me it must have been easy to apply for duplicate identification documents."

"He told me that he had no family. Does he still have family?"

"Mark's mum and dad live in Mountfield, about six or seven miles away, George and Joan Bateman."

"So, Alex has two more grandparents - No, surely your-"

"Yes! My Mum! Yes, she'll need to know she's been a grandmother for 11 years. It will stop her nagging me about settling down. I'll tell Mum if you wish and get her to drive over from Needle Cross, it's just the other side of Mountfield."

"Yes, I know it, I have a sister who works in an office there I do want Alex to meet her grandmother. We can work out an explanation."

"I'll help support Alex, once my rehab is complete-"

"No need, Ray. My 'Brian' left us well provided for. The insurance man called back after I put in the claim. The policy was years old and, although a large one, they said it was in line with other owners of a thriving garage like Brian Wilson Motors and approving the payment is a formality."

"I'd like ... er, contact with Alex," I continued, softly, "Even if it is only as an uncle for now."

Gina squeezed my hand, "What happens when you and Carol start your own family?"

"When that bomb in Afghanistan took away both my legs, it also affected my ... well, although Carol and I can look forward to enjoying a full sex life, Alex is uniquely, my only daughter, my only child, unless we adopt."

"So sorry, Ray."

"Carol's fine with it, she's with Alex now, the perfect Auntie; we brought Alex a bubble-blowing machine."

"Like our holiday romance!"

"Yeah."

"My 'Brian' must've heard you were back home, all his lies about to be uncovered."

"Skidded off the road, did he?"

"Yes, police are satisfied, a gallon of oil spilled on that bend. 'Brian' didn't stand a chance, went straight over the parapet," Gina added quietly, "Brian had access to plenty of used oil from servicing by the garage ... to end his fantasy, his life."

"That is a shame."

"Thing is, Ray, I knew that Alex wasn't his child years ago. 'Brian' and Alex's blood didn't check out he wasn't her father. Without being too obvious, I moved our conversation around to what childhod diseases each of us had caught and he confirmed he'd caught childhood mumps. It didn't matter ... I still fell in love with him and I really miss my 'Brian Wilson'."

"The Mark that I knew was aware that Carol would operate on me at the hospital or at least see me on her hospital rounds and start asking questions about our shared name. I think that he loved you too much to live to see me burst all your bubbles."