Page 143 of Christmas off Script
Following Leo along a gravel path, Ella passed through a gap in one of the yew hedges and saw a hunched figure seated on the edge of a fountain.
Dad.
Ronnie got to his feet, took a step forward, then stopped.
Ella’s mouth was dry, her pulse pounding. Forcing her feet to move, she went forward, Leo by her side. Up close, her father was smaller than she remembered. Thinner. The moonlight accentuated the deep lines in his forehead and the creases in his cheeks.
‘Hi, love,’ he said hesitantly.
‘Hi Dad,’ she replied, her voice a whisper. ‘How are you doing?’
‘Glad to see you.’
‘I’ll wait by the hedge and give you some space,’ Leo murmured, then stepped away.
In the silence that followed, Ella tried to think of what to say. She had so many questions, but was unsure of where to start.
‘He’s a good lad,’ Ronnie said gruffly.
‘Leo? But you…’always hated him. ‘I mean—’
Her father’s eyes flicked behind her to where Leo was waiting in the distance and he gave a half smile. ‘I was wrong.’
Ella stared at him in shock.
‘It’s taken me years to even think those words, let alone say them,’ he continued. ‘But there’s freedom in them. Peace. There’s no more fighting if you apologise.’
‘I told Leo where your lock-up was,’ she said in a rush. ‘It was me.’
Ronnie smiled. ‘Figured as much, even though he swore blind he was acting on his own. You can’t bullshit a bullshitter.’
Unbidden, tears sprang from Ella’s eyes. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she whispered.
‘Don’t cry, love!’ He frantically patted his pockets, then pulled out a handkerchief and pressed it into her hand. ‘It’s clean. I promise.’
Ella wiped her eyes.
‘I’m glad you shopped me to the cops,’ Ronnie continued. ‘It was the right thing to do.’
‘What’s changed?’
His hand came to a thin gold chain around his neck, rubbing the metal between his fingers and thumb. ‘When I went in, all I could think about was getting out and getting even. All this anger was inside me, with no way out. The thoughts were like poison. But I couldn’t see that the person being hurt the most by them was me.’
He let out a heavy sigh. ‘I started getting chest pains, and they didn’t let up. It got so bad I couldn’t breathe right. One morning I woke up and just knew I was going to cark it. On the way to the doc, I ran into this bloke. He was always there if you wanted to talk, but I’d always told him to fu—go away. But that morning I knew I had nothing to lose. So… I went with him.’
‘Was he a counsellor?’
Ronnie shook his head. ‘A chaplain. He listened as I let it all out. Then he told me I was loved, and he prayed for me.’
Ella bit the inside of her cheek as her eyes stung with more tears.
‘No-one’s ever loved me like that. Like it didn’t matter what I’d done or who I was. I didn’t have to do anything or be anyone. I cried like a baby and couldn’t stop. But it was okay.Iwas going to be okay. And when I left the room, the pain in my heart was less. I felt lighter.’
A ringtone sounded in the stillness of the garden and Ella turned to see Leo with his phone out.
‘You okay if I get this?’ he asked.
‘Yes, I’m fine,’ she replied. ‘You can go back inside if you need to?’
