Christopher Nuttall - The Nelson Touch

He paused, then tapped their number into the terminal. There was a long pause, then the phone started to ring. It was several minutes before it was picked up, giving Kurt just enough time to worry. He loved his children and his imagination provided far too many unpleasant possibilities that could have happened to them.

It was Penny, his daughter, who answered. “Hello?”

“Penny,” Kurt said, relaxing slightly. “I’m at the train station. Is your mother on the way?”

“I don’t think so,” Penny said. She sounded surprised to hear from him. “Dad, I didn’t even know you were coming home.”

Kurt felt cold water pouring down his spine. “Well, I am,” he said. He’d sent Molly a message telling her he was coming home for a brief period of leave. “I’ll try to call her, then get a taxi if she doesn’t answer.”

Worried, he tapped in Molly’s number. There was no answer. He hesitated, cold suspicion running through his mind, then switched off the Caller ID and tried again. This time, he received an automated message stating that Molly’s number didn’t accept callers without Caller ID. Unsurprised — Molly had been harassed as a younger girl and never quite gotten over it — but annoyed, he turned and started to walk towards the taxis. The cabbie he found chatted aimlessly as they drove out into the suburbs, where his family lived.

He paid the cabbie and stepped out of the cab, then paused as the door burst open to reveal Penny. She practically ran down the garden path to give him a hug, then remembered she was supposed to be a sulky teenager and let go quickly. Kurt patted her on the back, then inspected her hair. She’d dyed it white and black, creating a striking look that, combined with her clothes, reminded him far too much of some of the girls from Sin City. But at least she still looked fresh-faced.

“Come on inside,” she urged, quickly. “I put the kettle on.”

Inside, the house felt almost empty. Kurt couldn’t help feeling worried as Penny pottered about making tea, even though it was a great improvement on her behaviour before he’d gone to war. He’d read the reports from the expensive private school — thankfully, his share of the prize money ensured he wouldn’t have to take his kids out of school — and noted a very definitive improvement in both her marks and her conduct. Clearly, the new nanny was making a great impression on his daughter. But where was Molly?

“Percy is at the Combined Cadet Force,” Penny explained, as she put a mug of tea in front of him. “They’re actually talking about forwarding his records to Sandhurst.”

“He’ll hate that,” Kurt predicted. The last he’d heard, Percy had his heart set on flying starfighters, just like his dad. But competition for slots in the Academy, even now, was still fierce. It would be at least another year before the facilities were significantly expanded, allowing them to take in far more trainees. “But I’m glad to hear he has other prospects.”

Penny nodded, then sat down facing him. “I was hoping to talk about my own future,” she said. “There’s an offer open for students to go to a French Finishing School.”

Kurt bit down on a laugh. “I thought you hated French,” he said. “You certainly picked quite enough fights with the teacher.”

His daughter flushed. “It’s Gayle,” she said. “She actually taught me how to put the words together, rather than telling everyone that ‘the pen of my aunt is in the garden.’”

“Good for her,” Kurt said. He leaned forward. “And do you think we can afford it?”

Penny hesitated. “You’re rich,” she said, finally. “And I…”

“Money is not to be wasted,” Kurt said, firmly. “And do you need a finishing school?”

He saw the rebellious look in her eyes and sighed, inwardly. He’d been a moderately successful investment banker, but he’d been nowhere near as wealthy as some of the other parents who sent their kids to private school. Percy and Penny had been confronted by children whose parents could afford to give them vast amounts of pocket money per week, enough to enjoy the latest designer clothes or electronic toys and games. He understood just how badly they resented being poor, at times… but he wasn’t about to waste money, just so they could keep up with their classmates. It helped that he simply didn’t have the money.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Penny muttered.

“To do what?” Kurt asked. “What do you want to be when you… get out of school?”

Penny hesitated. “I keep having different ideas,” she admitted. “I wanted to be a doctor, then a vet, then I thought about trying to study the aliens… you could get me into a study course, couldn’t you?”

Kurt rather doubted it. “You might be better off with being a doctor,” he said. “There’s always work for doctors.”

He leaned forward. “I imagine your career advisers have talked to you about the requirements?”

Penny nodded, sullenly. “They say I may have to retake some exams,” she said. “And that I’ll have to work very hard. But I’m not even sure it’s what I want to do.”

“That could be a problem,” Kurt agreed, dryly. He smiled at his daughter. “Look, it’s the start of the summer holidays. I’ll have a word with a doctor I know and ask if she’ll let you observe her work for a few days. Or there are emergency clinics that are always keen on volunteer manpower. I don’t know how much they’d let you do, but they might let you volunteer for a few weeks. If you like it, I will pay for you to train as a doctor.”

He paused, significantly. “And if you don’t like it,” he added, “at least you’ll know before you spend five years of study learning the ropes.”

Penny nodded, again. “Yes, dad,” she said. “But…”

She broke off as the door opened, revealing Percy. Kurt came to his feet as his son stepped into the kitchen, dripping mud on the floor. Percy had always been big, but now he had more muscles than Kurt remembered and looked disgustingly healthy. And he looked very good in uniform too. Clearly, Kurt decided, the CCF was doing wonders for his son. Behind Percy, Gayle stepped into the room. The young lady looked surprised to see Kurt.

“Dad,” Percy said. “I thought you were still on the moon.”

“I have a couple of days leave,” Kurt said. “And so I thought I’d come see you two.”

He chatted about nothing with his children for a while, then sent Penny upstairs as Gayle started complaining about the mess on the floor. Percy sighed, then reached for the mop and started to clean up the mud, getting more mud on the floor as he moved. Kurt glowered at him, then told his son to undress and take a shower before he tried to clean the floor. Leaving him alone, he led Gayle into the next room and closed the door firmly behind them.

“I told Molly I was coming,” he said. He hadn’t wanted to talk about his wife with the kids, but he had no such qualms with Gayle. “Where is she?”

Gayle looked embarrassed. “She went out early this morning,” she said, “leaving me to get the kids off to school. I haven’t seen her since.”

Kurt stared at her. “You’ve been here all day?”

“I’ve been here for the last six months,” Gayle said. “She gave me a room, a list of chores and a few other duties, then let me get on with it. I’ve been cooking, cleaning and tutoring the kids.”

Kurt sucked in his breath. He hadn’t realised just how much time Gayle had spent with the kids. Had Molly spent any time with them at all?

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled. Molly had always wanted to have a live-in maid, but they’d never been able to afford it. She too resented being poorer than most of the families who sent their kids to private school. “I didn’t mean…”