He looks down at me. “Sean and Georgia, they’ll never break us again.” He kisses me on the mouth and then pulls his t-shirt back over his head, takes my hand and leads me to sit back down on the sofa.

CHAPTER 17

We all look at each other as Len goes to answer the door. I’m squeezed in to Sean’s side as tight as possible, he has one arm along the back of the sofa behind my head, the other is stretched across his lap and his hand is holding mine, we both have sweaty palms.

I hear them talking in the hallway and I hear my Dad asking what’s going on and if everyone is okay, then I hear Baileys voice as he walks in the room first, he frowns and looks around the room at everyone and then swings his eyes back to rest on my hand in Sean’s. He tilts his head slightly toward me. “You okay,” he asks quietly. I nod. “Maca,” he says quietly to Sean and sits down next to me.

My heart stops, then leaps up to my throat, down to my stomach, then back up to my chest as my parent walk into the room, there is absolute silence. My parents look around at all of us, checking us all over for any sign of injury, my Dad narrows his eyes at me and Sean and tilts his chin up slightly and asks, “What’s going on Princess? What’s happened? You’ve scared your mother half to death.”

“Can I get either of you a drink?” Len asks.

I can’t take my eyes from my Mum, I knew, the instant she looked at me and Sean holding hands that she had an idea of what this was all about and my heart froze, the wall hasn’t gone back up. It hasn’t gone back into hiding from any feelings or emotions, this is something entirely different. I have an anger burning hot in my belly now, what was a little glow earlier, is now a raging bon fire and I’m struggling to contain it, I really want to lash out at someone and I can feel my breathing become erratic.

“Hey,” I hear Sean say next me, I look up at him. “Calm, the fuck, down. We’ve got this okay, we’re Sean and Georgia, remember, they won’t break us again,” he nods as he speaks to me.

My eyes wander back to my parents; they sit on the two seater as Len passes them both what looks like whiskey. I can’t wait any longer. I have to speak before I explode.

“Did you do it?” I ask my Mum. I don’t shout, I keep my voice at a reasonable level and I think I sound pretty calm, my Dad looks at my Mum and then at me, my Mum stares into her lap.

“What’s going on George?” He looks back at my Mum. “Bern?”

“Did. You. Do. It?” I ask louder this time and emphasise every word. My Dad is still looking at my Mum.

“Bern, what the fuck is goin’ on?”

“Shall I tell him?” I ask, finally her eyes swing up to mine.

She knocks back all of her drink and takes a deep breath. “I did what I thought was right.” I fly out of my seat but Sean and Bailey pull me back. “How could you, how fuckin’ could you?” I scream at her.

“That’s enough Georgia, will someone please tell me what the fuck is going on here?” my Dad roars.

I bring my gaze to meet his. “Did you know were you a part of it?’

“No,” my Mum shouts.

“Part of what George? I ain’t got a Scooby what you’re on about love.”

“Did you keep Sean’s calls and letters hidden from me? Did you pack them all in a box and send them back to him with a note, supposedly from me, saying do not contact me again? Did you tell everyone that I had been to Marley’s and tried to smash my way in? Did you, or was it just your lying, deceitful, spiteful wife?”

My Dad didn’t know he has no idea what I’m talking about; he looks to my Mum. “Bern?”

My Mum holds her head in her hand and shakes it; she looks up at me and Sean. “It wasn’t like that, at first I wanted you to get back with him, I wanted you back together but you were so broken George, you needed time, I couldn’t let you talk to him, you wasn’t strong enough and you refused in the beginning anyway.”

Lennon goes into the kitchen and comes back with a bottle of Wild Turkey bourbon and tops up everyone’s glasses, Bailey has his hand on my knee, Sean has a hold of my hand, and we’re all on the edge of our seats. I take Sean’s glass from him and take a swig of his drink. Len sits back down and my Mum continued.

“I’m your Mum George, my job is to keep you safe” she looks at me wide eyed, and then turns to Sean.“You’d only sent a few letters at that stage.” She swallows hard and closes her eyes for a long moment. “After a few days, I was going to let him talk to you, I thought once the band were back on tour and you could only talk on the phone, that it would be safe, the distance would keep you safe”

She gestures to Sean as she speaks. “Then one day when George was at school, doing one of her last exams, this girl knocks on the door; I had no idea who she was… Anyway, she wants to talk to you George, she said that she needed you to know that Sean had been two timing you with her for years, that he’d only stayed with you because he was scared of being kicked out of the band and that as soon as they made the big time, he was going to break up with you and start a new life with her.”

She swallows and licks her lips, I can see in my peripheral vision that Sean is shaking his head next to me.

“Na, na, na, what girl, who was she?”

“Sean,” my Mum sighs out his name. “You had just broken my daughters heart into a million pieces, I didn’t, I just believed what she told me, I didn’t check up on her story, I just believed it, you weren’t my favourite person at the time.” She sips on her drink. “I didn’t tell anyone else about her because I didn’t want to cause any problems with the band so I just decided to keep quiet, Georgia seemed to be getting better so I had all post addressed to her, diverted to a Post Office box. I thought after a while it would stop coming, or at least slow down but it didn’t. In the end, I packed it all in a box and sent it back to Sean with a note saying, please don’t contact me again, I’m moving on with my life, you should too,” She shrugs as she says this and I want to punch her, I want to cause my own mother physical harm.

“I didn’t hear from her, the girl, for a long time, then a couple of years ago, when you boys bought the warehouse between you, she phoned up and said that she had heard through some friends that Georgia was trying to find out where it was and that she was asking a lot of questions about Sean, I was so worried, she was doing so well, you, were doing so well.” She looks at me. “Everything was going well with work, you were gaining confidence but when she called, I got worried that you might have been heading for some kind of breakdown so I panicked and just told all of you lot not to mention that the boys had a place together or where it was.” She shakes her head. “I thought I was doing the right thing.”

My Dad reaches across and holds her hand. “You should have told one of us, you should have said something Bern.”

“To who? If I had told you or Bailey I was worried what you’d do to Sean and if I’d told Marley, Lennon or Jimmie, I was worried about this other woman having an effect on the band.”

“What about me, did you not consider talking to me about it?”

“No, no I didn’t George, you’ve been so fragile for so long, I just couldn’t take a chance on setting you back, you’re my daughter, you were so badly broken when you thought he’d been with that girl in the hotel room. I thought that if you found out he’d been two timing you for years that it would kill you. I needed to protect you at all costs. I’m your Mother, it’s my job is to protect you”.

“Well you fucked right up there then didn’t you? All you’ve managed to do these past four years is cause me untold misery,” I spit back at her; I take Baileys glass and drain the contents.

“What I don’t understand though, is all this about George going to the boys place and trying to get in?” Jimmie asks.