Page 39 of Forever Ink

Doc looked up and saw me standing there. I was expecting a scowl, not the almost childish laugh that came out.

“Oops, we have intruders.” I blinked a few times trying to take in the sight. Doc had stripped out of his horrid jumper and was just wearing a tight-fitting white tee. Dear gods, why had I never noticed those muscles before? On his tattooed wrists he wore beads and sparkly strands that, guessing by the craft box open at Alice’s side, they had made together in the hour we were gone.

Alice knelt up on the chair, placing her hands on her hips primly. “Rhys, we’re having an important meeting of the Super Squad.”

“Oh, I am very sorry, Lady Alice.”

Alice tipped her head, her dark curls bouncing. “We’ll forgive you this time.” Alice tapped her small fingers against her hip in thought. “Well, we will if you tell us where Poppa Magnus hid the chocolate biscuits.”

“Magnus would have my hide if I told you.” I smiled at the pout both Alice and Doc gave me. “And I wouldn’t bother trying to look in the dark wicker basket on the second shelf in the pantry, they definitely won’t be hiding there.” I smirked and gave them a wink.

“You are a treasure, Rhys O’Connell.” Doc hopped up out of the chair and headed to the pantry.

“I wasn’t here.” I backed out of the kitchen, chuckling.

Running across the courtyard, I heard the distant sounds of bikes. Sure enough I could see Simon and the guys coming over the crest of the hill. They were still far away and it would be some time before they got here. I rushed into the barn where Grandad and Magnus were talking softly, both sitting in the straw alongside Ragnar who seemed to be lapping up the attention.

“I really don’t understand why Simon hates him,” I muttered, dropping down into the hay alongside Grandad.

Magnus took the first aid kit from me. He already had a bowl of water and rags out, cleaning the wounds on Ragnar’s legs. He popped the lid open to the kit and pulled out a can of spray and some stretchy–looking bandage material.

“It hasn’t always been like that. Hell, Simon coddled him when he was first born. His mother died so I had to bottle feed him, and Simon would come up here on his days off to help, but as Ragnar got older he and Simon started to butt heads, literally. Personally I think Ragnar likes to drive Simon nuts.” Magnus ran a hand through Ragnar’s thick wool. I covered my mouth trying to stop a giggle, but I failed.

“I think so too, he gets D—Simon so frustrated.” I shook my head laughing a little I didn’t need to hide what I called Simon but it was still so new to be able to without fear.

“Now, now, don’t go getting all quiet. You and my son have something special and precious together, even if I’d rather not know the ins and outs of it.” He gave me a grin “Neither your grandad nor I will judge you, isn’t that right, Joe?”

Grandad for his part wrapped a strong arm around my shoulders. “He makes you happier than I’ve ever seen you. There was a time I’d worried that your father and that bitch had broken your spirit, and there wasn’t a damn thing I was able to do about it.”

I sniffed trying to stop the tears that had come at his words. “You couldn’t have stopped them. At the end they wouldn’t even let me go to the shops on my own. Always had to have Susan or one of the congregation with me.”

Grandad pulled me closer, sighing. “I don’t know where I went wrong with your dad, he was always different. He’d always been fascinated with religion, and your gran and I hadn’t seen an issue with it. Neither she nor I was particularly religious, but we were happy he found something that he believed in.”

The straw prickled through my jeans, but I snuggled closer to Grandad.

“He was never what you’d call affectionate. Even when your gran passed, he was cold, distant. I’d hoped finding your mum was going to change that and when the three of you came to live on the farm I was happy. Maybe I’d get my chance to help him. But by then he was already obsessed with fire and brimstone, sin and sinners.”

“I was so young when Mum died, but I remember she loved being at the farm. At the little cottage we had, she’d planted all those flowers around it and I can remember the sweet smell that would hang around the house.”

Grandad laughed. “That was your mum sticking her finger up at your dad. He told her flowers were frivolous and she’d had better things to do than wasting time in the garden. I’d overheard him berating her, so you know what I did?”

I shook my head, glancing over at Magnus who was listening intently while spraying the disinfectant on Ragnar’s legs.

“What?”

“I went out and bought every seedling and flower seed packet I could find, cleaned out that old flower nursery that was in town, brought them to your mum, and told her that I wanted to see the cottage looking like a wildflower meadow. Oh lad, you should have seen how she smiled. I hated the thought of my son crushing her spirit. I sometimes wished I had stepped in sooner, said or did something to stop your dad.”

“You didn’t know what he was like when it was just us. If you’d tried to stop him, he would have just taken us away. Mum loved you, said she’d never had a dad and you were that to her.”

“When your dad tried to burn Mr Ted, that was the last straw for me. You were just a wee lad who’d lost his mother. And your father? There and then I knew I hated the man he’d become, and I wanted to get you away from him.”

“I didn’t know you knew about that. Dad always tried to keep what he did to us hidden.” I rested my hand against Ragnar’s side, his wool warm to my touch.

“He did. Your mum’s funeral was the last straw. He refused to let your grandmother Elizabeth come, didn’t even let her know her only child was dead until it was too late for her to attend the funeral.” Tilting my head to look at Grandad, I saw his eyes flash with an anger I’d rarely ever seen. Grandad was the most even-tempered person to walk the earth—except where my dad was concerned.

“Dad did a lot of shitty things and Susan just encouraged it, spouting it was god’s will.” I’d loved spending time with my Grandma Elizabeth, but my father had seen her as a threat. Just as he saw Grandad.

“It’s a good thing the bastard’s behind bars,” Magnus said, giving Grandad a sympathetic look.

---