The long distance phone call had come as something of a shock, considering it had come from Oxford, England, where Ian had grown up, where his mother had been buried, and where his father still lived in the family's estate - or so he'd believed until he received that phone call informing him of his father's declining health. What shocked him even more was the fact that his father had been asking for his only son in recent days, as though he knew the end was near. Was it forgiveness he wanted in his last days of life or something else? Whatever it was, for good or bad, Ian could not find it in his heart to deny his father this one last request, and so, he and Aurelia had packed their bags and boarded a plane to England with anxious hearts.
Traveling with an infant only one month old wasn't ideal, but Aurelia had outright refused to let Ian make this trip by himself. No wonder they had not been able to raise an answer when they had called after returning from Avalon; she couldn't help wondering how long Ian's father had been hospitalized before that family friend had made the decision to contact Ian in the first place. A well placed call to Rhys and Natalya had at least gotten them a direct flight in First Class, allowing them time and space, with the least amount of hassle, to prepare for whatever they were going to be walking into.
The flight across the ocean gave them both time to think, and Ian time to reflect on all the ups and downs of the rocky relationship he shared with his father. He had never quite been able to pinpoint what had gone wrong or why his father seemed so angry with him all the time, but he knew it had something to do with his mother's death some years earlier. That, and the fact that Ian had never quite been able to please his father, it seemed. The man had scoffed at his son's boyhood interests in King Arthur and he had not budged, even when Ian had chosen Medieval Studies for his Undergraduate Degree, eventually going on to earn a Ph.D. for his dissertation on Arthurian Lore. Even when Ian had been recognized as one of the foremost experts on the subject, his father would not budge or concede that he was proud of his son in the least.
As for Aurelia, she didn't know the ins and outs, the ups and downs. She only knew what Ian had told her, which was remarkably little for a man who was quite happy to talk for hours about any subject that interested him. But she knew it hurt him to be so estranged from his father. She could only hope that the news of his marriage, the birth of his first child, would be enough to close a little of the rift between them, before nature took its course and ended any hope of a reconciliation at all.
He hadn't managed to get much sleep on the plane, unlike Morgan who had slept like the angel she was. He knew the jet lag was going to be hell for all of them, but it couldn't be helped. There was a car waiting for them at Heathrow to take them to his father's estate where they could drop off their bags and get settled into the suite of rooms that had been prepared for them. Though it felt like the middle of the night, it was already mid-morning in London with the hustle and bustle of people on their way to work and school and daycare and breakfast.
What little sleep they had snatched would just have to do. It didn't take long to throw their bags into the rooms and return to the car that was waiting for them. Aurelia could understand the sense of urgency. A world of what ifs floated in front of them, but the worst was this ....what if they were too late"
The meager breakfast they'd had on the plane would just have to do for now. They could catch a bite at the hospital along with some much-needed coffee. Of the three of them, it was Morgan who seemed most content and least upset by their travels, but then babies were far more resilient than most people gave them credit for, so long as they were cared for. Ian had been quiet for most of the trip, a little lost in his own thoughts. Even now, as they gathered themselves once again for the final leg of the voyage, he was quiet, unsure what to say, unsure what he was going to find when they finally arrived.
At least they were headed to a private hospital. As much respect as Aurelia had for Britain's NHS, she had been relieved to discover that Ian's father was being cared for under private health-care. It meant less hustle and bustle, more privacy. It meant that Ian and his father would have a chance to talk without worrying about anyone overhearing them. And it meant that the hospital itself would not be a place of stress, not packed with overworked and underpaid staff who did the best they could. With Morgan tucked close in her arms, they entered the hospital together, directed up to one of the spacious wards and asked to wait while the nurses checked to make sure Mr. Evans, Senior, felt able to have visitors. Aurelia touched her husband's arm gently. "How are you feeling, mon coeur?"
"Tired," Ian replied, honestly. That one word seemed to imply so much more than he was saying. It wasn't just weariness of the body, but that of the heart and mind and soul. It had been a long trip, but it wasn't so much the miles that were wearing at him, but the worry and the grief. "Anxious," he added. "I'm not sure why. I'm a grown man, and he's ..." He trailed off, not finishing that thought. He's what? Old" Sick" Dying"
Shifting Morgan onto her other side, she wrapped her arm about him, touching her cheek to his shoulder. "Try to forget the words that went before," she offered him advice gently. "He has been asking for you, for his son. And you have been aching for him, whether you admit to it or not. You both need to see each other. Harsh words cannot dissolve the bond of blood, mon coeur. Whatever else you are, he is your father, and you are his son. Do not let him go into this alone. That is not the man you are."
"What am I supposed to say, Ree?" he asked, turning his glance to her, even as she rested her head against his shoulder. She was his heart and his soul and and his conscience there was no one he loved or trusted more. "I hardly know him anymore. After everything that's happened between us ....What does he want from me" Forgiveness?" Though he might never forget, was it ever too late to forgive"
"It could be that he wants to be certain for himself that you are looked after, that you are well-placed," she said gently. "Or, yes, he could wish for forgiveness. There is much to forgive on both sides, words that should not have been spoken but for the pain that urged them into the light. You have wonderful things to tell him, Ian. About your friends, and our marriage, and your daughter - his grand-daughter - such things are good news, even if there is little time to enjoy them. Try not to focus on the discomfort of before. Look back to the good memories you both share."
Good memories" When were there ever good memories" Before his mother died, perhaps. She'd been the one who seemed to have held the family together. It was only after she was gone that everything had fallen apart. "I suppose," he admitted grudgingly, though it was hard remembering that far back. It was as if his mother's death overshadowed all those happy memories.
Aurelia smiled gently, leaning over to kiss his cheek. She could understand the difficulty - her relationship with her stepmother had been awful, and after her father's death, she'd left that house for good, never looking back. But there were good memories from her childhood there, if she looked for them.
There was a knock on the door, and a smiling nurse greeted them. "Mr. Evans" Your father would like to see you."
He was at least glad he had Aurelia there to be his voice of reason and to lift his spirits when they were down, but facing his father again after so many years and so much conflict was something he had to do on his own, at least this first time. He nodded acknowledgment to the nurse before turning back to Aurelia. "Will you wait for me here?" he asked her, knowing she would.
"Of course, mon coeur," she promised him affectionately. "It is about time I fed her again, anyway. We will pass the time without you." Her hand caught his, squeezing gently. "And we will come, when you need us to."
"Soon," he promised her with a strained smile, giving her hand a gentle squeeze in return. "He should know he has a grand-daughter." He leaned over and kissed both his loves - Aurelia on the lips and Morgan on the forehead. "I won't be long," he promised before moving to his feet to follow the nurse to his father's room.
Traveling with an infant only one month old wasn't ideal, but Aurelia had outright refused to let Ian make this trip by himself. No wonder they had not been able to raise an answer when they had called after returning from Avalon; she couldn't help wondering how long Ian's father had been hospitalized before that family friend had made the decision to contact Ian in the first place. A well placed call to Rhys and Natalya had at least gotten them a direct flight in First Class, allowing them time and space, with the least amount of hassle, to prepare for whatever they were going to be walking into.
The flight across the ocean gave them both time to think, and Ian time to reflect on all the ups and downs of the rocky relationship he shared with his father. He had never quite been able to pinpoint what had gone wrong or why his father seemed so angry with him all the time, but he knew it had something to do with his mother's death some years earlier. That, and the fact that Ian had never quite been able to please his father, it seemed. The man had scoffed at his son's boyhood interests in King Arthur and he had not budged, even when Ian had chosen Medieval Studies for his Undergraduate Degree, eventually going on to earn a Ph.D. for his dissertation on Arthurian Lore. Even when Ian had been recognized as one of the foremost experts on the subject, his father would not budge or concede that he was proud of his son in the least.
As for Aurelia, she didn't know the ins and outs, the ups and downs. She only knew what Ian had told her, which was remarkably little for a man who was quite happy to talk for hours about any subject that interested him. But she knew it hurt him to be so estranged from his father. She could only hope that the news of his marriage, the birth of his first child, would be enough to close a little of the rift between them, before nature took its course and ended any hope of a reconciliation at all.
He hadn't managed to get much sleep on the plane, unlike Morgan who had slept like the angel she was. He knew the jet lag was going to be hell for all of them, but it couldn't be helped. There was a car waiting for them at Heathrow to take them to his father's estate where they could drop off their bags and get settled into the suite of rooms that had been prepared for them. Though it felt like the middle of the night, it was already mid-morning in London with the hustle and bustle of people on their way to work and school and daycare and breakfast.
What little sleep they had snatched would just have to do. It didn't take long to throw their bags into the rooms and return to the car that was waiting for them. Aurelia could understand the sense of urgency. A world of what ifs floated in front of them, but the worst was this ....what if they were too late"
The meager breakfast they'd had on the plane would just have to do for now. They could catch a bite at the hospital along with some much-needed coffee. Of the three of them, it was Morgan who seemed most content and least upset by their travels, but then babies were far more resilient than most people gave them credit for, so long as they were cared for. Ian had been quiet for most of the trip, a little lost in his own thoughts. Even now, as they gathered themselves once again for the final leg of the voyage, he was quiet, unsure what to say, unsure what he was going to find when they finally arrived.
At least they were headed to a private hospital. As much respect as Aurelia had for Britain's NHS, she had been relieved to discover that Ian's father was being cared for under private health-care. It meant less hustle and bustle, more privacy. It meant that Ian and his father would have a chance to talk without worrying about anyone overhearing them. And it meant that the hospital itself would not be a place of stress, not packed with overworked and underpaid staff who did the best they could. With Morgan tucked close in her arms, they entered the hospital together, directed up to one of the spacious wards and asked to wait while the nurses checked to make sure Mr. Evans, Senior, felt able to have visitors. Aurelia touched her husband's arm gently. "How are you feeling, mon coeur?"
"Tired," Ian replied, honestly. That one word seemed to imply so much more than he was saying. It wasn't just weariness of the body, but that of the heart and mind and soul. It had been a long trip, but it wasn't so much the miles that were wearing at him, but the worry and the grief. "Anxious," he added. "I'm not sure why. I'm a grown man, and he's ..." He trailed off, not finishing that thought. He's what? Old" Sick" Dying"
Shifting Morgan onto her other side, she wrapped her arm about him, touching her cheek to his shoulder. "Try to forget the words that went before," she offered him advice gently. "He has been asking for you, for his son. And you have been aching for him, whether you admit to it or not. You both need to see each other. Harsh words cannot dissolve the bond of blood, mon coeur. Whatever else you are, he is your father, and you are his son. Do not let him go into this alone. That is not the man you are."
"What am I supposed to say, Ree?" he asked, turning his glance to her, even as she rested her head against his shoulder. She was his heart and his soul and and his conscience there was no one he loved or trusted more. "I hardly know him anymore. After everything that's happened between us ....What does he want from me" Forgiveness?" Though he might never forget, was it ever too late to forgive"
"It could be that he wants to be certain for himself that you are looked after, that you are well-placed," she said gently. "Or, yes, he could wish for forgiveness. There is much to forgive on both sides, words that should not have been spoken but for the pain that urged them into the light. You have wonderful things to tell him, Ian. About your friends, and our marriage, and your daughter - his grand-daughter - such things are good news, even if there is little time to enjoy them. Try not to focus on the discomfort of before. Look back to the good memories you both share."
Good memories" When were there ever good memories" Before his mother died, perhaps. She'd been the one who seemed to have held the family together. It was only after she was gone that everything had fallen apart. "I suppose," he admitted grudgingly, though it was hard remembering that far back. It was as if his mother's death overshadowed all those happy memories.
Aurelia smiled gently, leaning over to kiss his cheek. She could understand the difficulty - her relationship with her stepmother had been awful, and after her father's death, she'd left that house for good, never looking back. But there were good memories from her childhood there, if she looked for them.
There was a knock on the door, and a smiling nurse greeted them. "Mr. Evans" Your father would like to see you."
He was at least glad he had Aurelia there to be his voice of reason and to lift his spirits when they were down, but facing his father again after so many years and so much conflict was something he had to do on his own, at least this first time. He nodded acknowledgment to the nurse before turning back to Aurelia. "Will you wait for me here?" he asked her, knowing she would.
"Of course, mon coeur," she promised him affectionately. "It is about time I fed her again, anyway. We will pass the time without you." Her hand caught his, squeezing gently. "And we will come, when you need us to."
"Soon," he promised her with a strained smile, giving her hand a gentle squeeze in return. "He should know he has a grand-daughter." He leaned over and kissed both his loves - Aurelia on the lips and Morgan on the forehead. "I won't be long," he promised before moving to his feet to follow the nurse to his father's room.