Page 63 of A Family Affair
LEVI
One month and two days. In answer to his nana’s question, that was how long he’d known Honey. He didn’t even care if it wasn’t a blokey thing to do, keep tally of how long you’d been totally smitten by someone. He’d even marked it on the calendar on his desktop and each day when he highlighted a box, it made him smile like an idiot.
The clock tower of the town hall building said it was almost ten, well past the Battette’s bedtime. He was driving the Batty Bus back to Batty Towers after taking his Nan and Great-Grandma Pins to see the Christmas lights in Manchester. Even though it was only November! December was ten days away so surely they could have waited till then!
Still, it made them happy, so how could he refuse. And the German market did look really festive, and the aroma from the food stalls… actually…
Levi quickly wound up the window otherwise they’d have him parking on double yellows and running over to get them a big sausage on a bun like last year. Thankfully they’d forgotten, which was a Christmas miracle in itself, as was their preference to watching from the car rather than walking around St Anne’s Square. One would just about manage it and the other would have to be pushed in the wheelchair.
Instead they’d done five circuits of the square and Deansgate and Levi was starting to lose the will. Especially since he’d realised he was locked in a car with his two most nosey and persistent relatives. Had it all been a ruse so they could interrogate him? Probably.
It was now the turn of DCI Pins who, from the comfort of the second row back, wanted to know more about Honey’s family. ‘Well, her grandad sounds like a nice chap. I always wanted an allotment you know. Your great-grandfather let me dig up half of our garden so I could have a vegetable patch. Do you remember, Iris? We had the loveliest strawberries in the summer. Oh I do love a good strawberry and then we had runner beans and…’
While they both went back in time to an urban vegetable patch, Levi’s mind focused on Ernie, who he’d met one evening at the café and found to be actually a nice chap. It had been Gospel’s birthday, so Honey had arranged a little cake and wine celebration after work. She’d invited Levi and her grandad, saying that the latter would be more comfortable if the introduction was made less formally.
From what she’d told him, Honey’s grandad Ernie was a complicated character and quite shy, preferring to keep himself to himself. She’d also told him about her aunt’s revelations and how badly it had affected him. Expecting someone moody and gruff, Levi wasn’t really looking forward to it. However, reservations aside, he and Ernie got on well. In as few, mono-syllabic words as possible.
The following day, Honey had reported back that Ernie thought Levi ‘were a nice lad’. Apparently it was high praise, so he’d been content with that and his life, which had changed for the better since the day his car had broken down outside ‘Honey’s Place’.
They had so much in common, yet the things that weren’t in perfect alignment didn’t matter at all. Not that there was much. Who cared if she loved talent shows and never missed an episode ofEmmerdale. And he wasn’t the least bit offended that she’d never watchedThe Big Bang Theoryand had no clue who Fleetwood Mac were. Anyway, he intended to put both of those things right. He wasn’t watching Simon Cowell though. Not a chance! Love had its limitations.
Yes. He was in love. And intended to tell Honey when the moment was right. In between his work, her long hours at the café and her visits to Ernie, who she was worried about. And it wasn’t as though they lived around the corner, either.
After the trek to the peak village, staying over meant a gruelling red-eye commute – but it was worth every mile, even though he didn’t wake up properly until he hit the city ring road.
‘Levi! Are you listening? Tell me about where he worked before he retired, this Ernie chap. You said the railways… did he drive a train? I love trains but not these speedy inter-city things. Proper steam locomotives are the best. Oh Iris, do you remember the journeys to your grandmother’s house in the Lakes? I can still hear the whistle and the sound of the wheels turning…’
And then they were off again, chugging back in time while Levi thought about what Honey had told him. How Ernie had always aspired to university but his mother – or Molly as he now referred to her with a sneer – had thwarted his dreams and kept him close. Ernie’s dad sounded like he was under the thumb, too, and doggedly worked his way up so they could move out of Manchester to Cheshire.
Levi imagined all the resentment that Ernie had built up as a child bubbling over when he found out what Molly had done. Not that he’d mentioned it to anyone. Honey asked him not to. It was bad enough without more people hearing about the baby-thief.
A tap on the shoulder from his nan reminded him about the Ernie question. So he spent the next ten minutes wondering why other people’s lives fascinated them so much, while giving them as much detail as he remembered about the life and times of Ernie. His job on the railways as a maintenance engineer, his wife Nancy, and even that he was born in Manchester during the war.
For both his grandparents, that period was laced with sad memories. Nana Iris lost her mother and Grandma Pins her whole family so no matter how nosey they were, a swift change of subject was necessary.
‘So, are we all set for the big party at the weekend?’
He watched from the rear-view mirror as Grandma Pins rocked her shoulders in excitement. ‘Oh yes, we are. Everyone is coming. The whole table from bingo, all the neighbours, well the ones we like anyway. And everyone who comes in to look at us old fogeys and our failing body parts and I even invited the podiatrist who is a fiend and takes great delight in manhandling my feet. I do hate feet. Ugly things. Mine especially. And the psychopath who makes us do chair dancing. I mean really! Who invented that! Still, it humours your mother, and he has a lovely bottom, doesn’t he, Iris?’
‘Oh yes, a very nice bottom but don’t let on to your grandad will you, Levi? He’ll only take the huff.’ Nana Iris gave him a tap to make sure he understood.
‘Your secret’s safe with me for now, Nana. But if you carry on eyeing up young men you’ll have to sponsor another donkey to buy my silence, so behave!’ Levi suffered a much firmer whack on his arm before they continued nattering about firm buttocks and iced buns.
This left his mind free to silently congratulate himself on a masterful avoidance of knitted Christmas presents or a Brut gift pack. His grandparents were more than happy to club together to buy him a donkey – that’s what they thought they’d done no matter how he explained what sponsorship meant. This year, Santa would be bringing him a photo of Poppy. Along with Venus, Polo and Fudge, three other orphans he’d decided to adopt himself.
Yep, he was a sucker for a donkey and the plight of the sanctuary. He’d already put feelers out and done some digging in the hope of finding them a new home because, according to Honey, time was running out. The same could be said for Ernie and the quest to find his birth mum.
Despite trying her hardest, Honey couldn’t find any trace of Nora anywhere. Seeing how crestfallen she was, he’d suggested they enlist the help of a proper genealogist, but Honey wasn’t sure and thought it could be a waste of time and expensive. Then again, it might be within his means, and better still, it would make a great Christmas present.
Why hadn’t he thought about that before? He was more or less certain that Honey would prefer an experience or a service as a gift for Christmas,and, what if his gift to her also helped Ernie. Double brownie points!
Once his mind started ticking, Levi couldn’t wait to get back to Batty Towers and then home to his apartment so he could start looking for someone to help – maybe they did ‘Find My Family Gift Cards’ online.
Fuelled by his idea and the fact his ears were literally starting to bleed because the Battettes in the back of the Batty Bus were now going through sandwich fillings, Levi put his foot down. He was on a mission. First, offload the Battettes then, do everything he could to help Honey find Ernie’s long-lost family.
CHAPTER48
MR TRISTAN HENDERSON JNR
