Sod's Law Pt. 04

The Metcalfe's house was no different, except that the rear living room and the kitchen beside it had been extended to be double in size. It was beautifully decorated, expensively furnished and spotlessly clean and tidy.

We were actually welcomed; Mr and Mrs Metcalfe knew their obligations to a guest, even one they would have preferred not to have been there. We were shown to the rear living room and invited to sit, which we did, Helen ensuring we were together on the plush sofa.

All the furnishing and fittings were designed to make one feel comfortable and cosseted. The carpet was an Axminster with a traditional pattern of what I believe are called 'lozenges'. The sofa and chairs were plain blue fabric. There was a sideboard, occasional tables and book shelves all clearly antiques. I could have laid odds that the dining table and chairs, as yet unseen in the dining room would be antiques as well.

Helen wasted no time in stating our reason for being there. Her parents were certainly not ready for it, and come to think of it, neither was I.

"Mummy, Daddy, we have an announcement to make. David and I are engaged to be married."

I got no chance to 'ask her father for her hand', nor would I have done so, and I think to this day that Helen knew that, in any case she was not the sort of girl who believed she 'belonged' in some way to her Father to be 'given away'.

The announcement was met with a silence which could only be described as stunned. Then Mrs Metcalfe collected her wits.

"Would you like some tea?" she asked. So predictable: in a crisis, make a pot of tea!

"Thank you, that would be nice," I said remembering my manners, and both parents left to prepare it. We looked at each other.

"Council of war?" I asked her sotto voce, with a grin.

She grimaced. "Probably working out how to respond, yes," she said.

Mrs Metcalfe brought in a tray with Crown Derby china teacups with a chocolate biscuit selection on a Crown Derby serving plate, with matching cake plates for each of us. Mr Metcalfe followed with the teapot, milk jug and sugar bowl, all, yes you've guessed it: Crown Derby..

Tea was dispensed, biscuits handed round, and once everyone was well equipped, Mr Metcalfe (no invitation as yet to use his given name) began.

"You're both very young to be thinking about marriage," he began. He got no further.

"Daddy, I've been out with a number of men since I was seventeen, some of whom I was very attracted to, but when I met David, something new happened: I just knew immediately that we were completely suited to each other.

"It wasn't exactly love at first sight, but it was 'this man is my other half' and I knew I had to get to know him better.

"Well, there were all sorts of misunderstandings and we kept missing meeting each other, and I got annoyed - I thought he was avoiding me - but that was not true, and in all that shaky start, my conviction never wavered: he was the man.

"A year ago, as I began my final year, we moved in together and we've been together ever since. So it's not some childish infatuation: we know each other very well, and we are soul-mates. We think alike, we each have the same ideas at the same time, and we really love each other.

"As I say, we have 'co-habited' for a year and we are very settled, and we love each other. It's solid."

Metcalfe looked quite taken aback by her conviction. Her mother was smiling.

"When were you thinking the wedding would be?" she asked. I wondered if Helen's mother might have been won round.

Helen looked at me. We had not discussed a date.

"Helen is only just starting on her training, and that lasts two years. We have rearranged our rooms in the house - they have a connecting door, so we now have a sitting room and study, and a separate bedroom. We are both comfortable in the House, so I would have thought we would be looking two years on from now at least."

I glanced at Helen, who was grinning at me and I grinned back. The parents looked confused as if they were not in on some joke between us. Helen sought to enlighten them.

"This is what I was talking about," she said, still smiling. "We have not discussed dates, but I was thinking about two years hence and my reasoning was exactly the same as David's. We really do think alike."

"You'd hardly be settled in your career if you married just after training," Metcalfe temporised.

"Daddy," Helen said with a hint of exasperation, "in two years we will have been living together for three years, essentially as a married couple. I can't see how being married will change anything."

"What we mean is," I added, "that for us getting married is not a romantic one day thing. We will be formally and publicly swearing a solemn oath to be together until death separates us. But the point is that we are already living that promise together. After two more years we will be absolutely certain that we will not renege on that commitment."

"But Helen has so little experience of men," her father said. "How do you know that in some future year, she might meet someone else whom she falls for? It happens with inexperienced girls you know."

"Daddy..." and she stopped.

He looked inquiringly at her; she was clearly struggling with something. She looked at me entreatingly.

"What Helen is struggling with is whether to tell you something you might not want to hear. She has been in a mixed sex high school; she has been at university for three years. Shall we say, sparing her blushes, that she is far from inexperienced?"

At this Helen laughed out loud. "You can say that again!" she giggled, then became serious at the expression on her mother's face and the disappointment on her Father's.

"Daddy, Mummy, I have had boyfriends since the end of High School. More important, though, I've been with some very good looking boys, one very kind and loving boy, and a few others, most of those being selfish idiots. You remember Ian? He was the best. I was head over heels for him, he was lovely. But David...

"So when I say that David is different, I know what I'm talking about. We have a rapport, a closeness that none of the others ever came near."

She paused. Then, "And David has had other girlfriends including one very special one. So he knows what we have is different as well."

I nodded.

Both her parents were clearly profoundly shocked.

Metcalfe collected himself and nodded. "I recall a poster of a gorilla with his head in his hands, and the caption was 'You have just told me more than I wanted to know.' Perhaps we didn't want to know this, but I think we needed to know it."

He laughed. "Well, this has been a wake-up call. I think Kathleen and I have been living in a fantasy world concerning Helen."

"If you're thinking of waiting another two years," said her mother, "it gives you time to be sure you're doing the right thing."

With that the first major discussion was over, but there remained one area of minor conflict which Helen solved all by herself without my help.

After revealing we had shared a bed for over a year, we were shown to separate bedrooms. Helen's old bedroom had a double bed, and as I was being led to the smaller bedroom, Helen put her foot down.

"Mother?" she inquired. "Where are you taking my fiancé?"

"To his bedroom, dear," came the reply.

"This is his bedroom, mother." This was said with folded arms.

"I don't think it's proper for two unmarried people to sleep together in our house."

"We always sleep together; we covered that earlier."

"This is our house and these are our rules. What you do elsewhere is your business, I suppose."

"In that case, we will not be staying here. David, can you phone the Edgemain Hotel please and see if they've got a room free? It'll be in the card index by the phone."

"Ok, sweetheart," I said, "The Edgemain," turning to return downstairs where the phone, and the directories were. Helen followed me carrying our (single) suitcase.

"What's going on?" asked Maurice, coming to the foot of the stairs as we descended.

"Mother will not allow us to share a bedroom as we always do, so we're going to the Edgemain." Helen said grimly.

I watched the proceedings with interest. What would happen now?

"Helen, David," he said with a smile. "Would you wait a moment in the living room?"

We did so, closing the door, to allow her parents to discuss the matter. After a few moments, they entered the room.

"Your father seems to think that I'm being unreasonable, or illogical or some such. I always thought that was his rule as well as mine."

"What about Ken and Norma?" Helen asked mischievously. "They're not married but you always used to put them in my room."

"That's different, they are committed to each other and don't believe In marriage."

"Mother! David and I are committed to each other. We've been together for a year and are engaged, so we too are going to be together for some years before we marry."

"That's different," she said.

"Kathleen," said Maurice patiently. "Let's leave it, eh?"

She shrugged and nodded. "All right," she said. "I seem to be outnumbered." There was a pause then she said something which caused the three of us to collapse with mirth. She said, "Just keep the noise down will you?" Then gazed at us as we laughed, until she began to smile.

"You know where your room is," she said to Helen and this time Kathleen's smile was an open one.

After that the matter was forgotten as if it had never happened.

The rest of the weekend, while not completely relaxed, seemed free of disapproval. I couldn't help sensing some reserve however. We kept the noise down.

On Saturday evening her parents took us out for a meal at the aforesaid Edgemain Hotel, by way of a celebration of our engagement. Helen told me it was her parents' favourite and was the same hotel at which we nearly stayed.

I have to say the food was superb, though I paid by getting the third degree about my 'prospects', to which I gave minimal information consistent with politeness. There was some interest in my family background, and I was also quite reticent regarding my experience as a foster-child.

Helen however enthused about my Mum and the fostering of so many children and my two foster siblings who had been long term residents and treated Mum as, well, 'Mum'.

She also spoke with admiration about my success in my education and my progress in the firm over such a short time, in spite of being fostered and never adopted. She made it seem like a mammoth struggle against overwhelming odds, a scenario I did not recognise, but did not gainsay her.

They looked thoughtful at that, and actually expressed admiration at my success, but as the meal progressed, I sensed there was something else in their attitude to me which I could not work out.

That night in 'our' room, I asked Helen to try to find out what the matter was, but since my description of their behaviour was so vague, she had too little to go on, but promised to observe them more carefully.

She did ask them if there was a problem but she told me they stonewalled her, assuring her that all was well and they approved of our intentions. However, she agreed with me that they were not being as open with her as they might.

"What is it, sweetheart?" she asked me as we went for a walk on the Sunday, before I left for home and work.

"Helen, I feel there's something about them that isn't quite right. I can't define it, and my paranoia makes me wonder if they're wondering if they can put you off the engagement and off me as well. I know they've said nothing is wrong and they now approve, but I just feel they still have serious reservations about us being together.

"Perhaps they think I'm likely to be emotionally damaged in some way by my experiences as a foster child. I wonder if once I've gone, they'll try to put you off me all over again."

"David, I think it may be that we are living together without being married that's causing that reservation about us; they are quite old fashioned about such things, but I thought they were quite impressed with how you've turned out."

"I'm not surprised, the way you portrayed my poor deprived life and my struggle against huge odds!" I laughed. "It wasn't like that, and you know it!"

``````

"Darling, no matter what they're thinking, they won't break us up," and she hugged me as we walked along. "Nothing is going to stop us. Nothing can stop us anymore!"

She thought for a while, then, "I think they can see how attuned we are to each other, how comfortable. I'm sure they think we're too good to be true. Perhaps it's that they're still just possessive, and don't want to let their little girl go.

"I know they believe that twenty-one is too young to make that sort of commitment. It'll all turn out fine when we've been together for another year or two, once they've accepted there's no other way for me. At the worst I'm sure they'll come round when we've been married a while. OK?"

I was not convinced, though it was a relief that she felt uneasy as well, and that she was so resolute.

"I hope you're right," I said. "I just have this feeling of impending disaster. As if things have gone so perfectly well for us over the last year, and now we've committed, something is building to wreck everything."

"Look my love, You're just affected by the troubles we had at the beginning, and then the time when I was in London. There were good reasons why those things happened the way they did, they were coincidences and misunderstandings and they did not split us up in the end.

"This is different, We know each other so well; we trust each other completely; we think and feel alike, don't we? We're so close, everyone says so.

"You're settled in your job and making great progress, and I've landed this brilliant practice for my training. We're settled in the House and eventually we'll be moving into our own place, won't we?

"There's nothing my parents can say or do that can change any of that, is there now? If they refused to pay for the wedding, it would still go ahead, wouldn't it?"

She was right, and I felt much better for that. We returned to the parental home, I said my good-byes, thanked them for their hospitality and left the house. Helen came with me to the car and we hugged and kissed goodbye at some length. We both knew we were being watched, and I still felt apprehensive.

"You will ring me if you have any trouble, won't you?" I urged her.

"Of course, but I think we're both reacting too strongly to what is only a lack of enthusiasm on their part."

We smiled, kissed again, and I drove away. The whole journey through, I had the irrational worry that somehow I would get a phone call from Helen telling me it was over between us, and that worry continued until she phoned late that night. I did say it was irrational!

She did phone.

"David, OK, they are resigned to us living together and eventually marrying. Dad even told me he had changed his mind about you. They told me they could see how close we are. Dad did say there was something that gave him misgivings, but he didn't know what it was. I had a right to live my own life.

"Mum just hasn't talked about it at all but something's nagging at her as well. Having said that, everything seems back to normal. I think they're coming round."

I gave a sigh of relief. "So how long are you going to stay there?"

"I want to get round all my friends and tell them my news, so probably a week or so."

"I'll miss you so much," I said with feeling. "But after that you are coming back here?"

"Yes. Shall we book somewhere for a holiday?"

"Good idea. Think where you'd like to go, and we'll book when you get back. When shall I ring you?"

"Probably better if I ring you at the weekend. I'll be going out a lot to see friends. Shall we say next weekend?"

"Ok. I'll be in Saturday night."

"Love you."

"Love you more."

" 'Night."

" 'Night."

I got a call from her midweek, full of love and suggestive comments. It cheered me up, and it became steamy in the extreme. It turned out that her parents had gone away somewhere so she could be as raunchy as she liked without anyone overhearing.

She arrived on Friday and was raunchy that night in person. It was pretty loud, and anyone could have overheard, after all we were very active, she kept shouting "Harder! Harder!" at the top of her voice.

"Sorry," she whispered breathlessly afterwards. "I've wanted you so badly all week!"

There were grins from Kim and Imogen next morning. "Atta-girl!" Nuala whispered as she passed on the corridor.

Fortunately, the men were all out on Friday night and missed the performance. I did not know whether to be proud or embarrassed; I settled on the latter.

We spent the next few days preparing for our holiday touring the West Coast of Scotland and left on Wednesday 15th August for a fortnight. The scenery was majestic, the weather very wet most of the time, forcing us to tour a number of whisky distilleries. A happy time, which made the contrast with what was to follow all the more stark.

We returned on Tuesday 28th of August and spent Wednesday doing our washing. On Thursday there was an urgent phone call from Helen's parents begging her to go home immediately. There was an emergency but they would not say what it was over the phone. She packed a suitcase and went home the next day.

Then she disappeared.

to be continued