Cathy Glass - Finding Stevie - Part 3 of 3

Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Chapter Twenty: A Dreadful Mistake Chapter Twenty-One: Waiting for News Chapter Twenty-Two: Angry and Upset Chapter Twenty-Three: Prosecute Chapter Twenty-Four: Lost Chapter Twenty-Five: Life’s Not Worth Living Chapter Twenty-Six: The Letter Chapter Twenty-Seven: Moving On Chapter Twenty-Eight: Proud Suggested topics for reading-group discussion Cathy Glass If you loved this book … Moving Memoirs eNewsletter Praise for Cathy Glass About the Publisher

Certain details in this story, including names, places and dates, have been changed to protect the family’s privacy.

HarperElement

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First published by HarperElement 2019

FIRST EDITION

Text © Cathy Glass 2019

Cover layout design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2019

Cover photograph © Mark Owen/Trevillion Images (posed by a model)

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Cathy Glass asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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Source ISBN: 9780008324292

Ebook Edition © February 2019 ISBN: 9780008324346

Version: 2019-01-10

Cover

Title Page Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Chapter Twenty: A Dreadful Mistake Chapter Twenty-One: Waiting for News Chapter Twenty-Two: Angry and Upset Chapter Twenty-Three: Prosecute Chapter Twenty-Four: Lost Chapter Twenty-Five: Life’s Not Worth Living Chapter Twenty-Six: The Letter Chapter Twenty-Seven: Moving On Chapter Twenty-Eight: Proud Suggested topics for reading-group discussion Cathy Glass If you loved this book … Moving Memoirs eNewsletter Praise for Cathy Glass About the Publisher

Copyright

Chapter Twenty: A Dreadful Mistake

Chapter Twenty-One: Waiting for News

Chapter Twenty-Two: Angry and Upset

Chapter Twenty-Three: Prosecute

Chapter Twenty-Four: Lost

Chapter Twenty-Five: Life’s Not Worth Living

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Letter

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Moving On

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Proud

Suggested topics for reading-group discussion

Cathy Glass

If you loved this book …

Moving Memoirs eNewsletter

Praise for Cathy Glass

About the Publisher

Chapter Twenty

I checked on Stevie after everyone had left his review. He was in his bedroom, more angry than upset. There wasn’t much I could say to him about Fred beyond what I’d already said – that he loved him, but he didn’t think before he spoke. Stevie knew his grandfather far better than I did. Having made sure Stevie was OK, I told him not to sit alone brooding and to come down when he was ready. He didn’t come down until I called everyone for dinner. He was very subdued at the table, didn’t contribute to the conversation and just shrugged when Lucy asked him how his review had gone.

After dinner, as we were clearing away the dishes, I suggested to him again that he might like to invite a couple of his friends back from his class at the weekend, or go out with them – bowling, swimming, cinema or similar. Some months ago he’d mentioned he had two good friends in his class and I thought he needed to socialise, which would give him something to think about other than the police investigation. I did see the irony in what I was doing – trying to persuade Stevie to go out. When he’d first arrived, going out, staying out and ignoring his grandparents’ boundaries had been an issue, but now he wasn’t going out socially at all. He didn’t seem keen on my idea, but agreed to think about it, then spent the rest of the evening in his room. I kept a close eye on him, for while Stevie maintained he didn’t need to see a counsellor or doctor, I was worried his anxiety was building, which could spiral into a deep depression or worse. I think it is easy for teenagers to allow problems to escalate and dominate their thoughts so they can’t see a way forward. But there is always a way forward, hope and a solution, whatever the problem, which is why I wrote Happy Adults .

It was no great surprise that once Peggy had put Kiri and Liam to bed that night, she telephoned me. I took the call in the living room where – not unusually – I was alone.

‘Fred just can’t keep his mouth shut,’ she began. ‘But he doesn’t mean any harm by what he says. He loves the kids.’

I felt that excusing Fred like this was starting to wear a bit thin now and that he needed to channel some of that love he felt into accepting Stevie for who he was, and stop making snide remarks, or he’d never have a positive relationship with his grandson. I thought Fred would benefit from a self-awareness or emotional-intelligence workshop, but I didn’t say so.

‘You see, Cathy,’ Peggy continued, ‘Fred can get his head round supporting Stevie in the police investigation, but not the other stuff. His dad did something similar for Fred when he was a lad and got caught trying to hotwire a car him and his mates were going to steal. But a boy wanting to be a girl he can’t hack.’

‘I realise that, Peggy, but Fred might have to get his head round it if he wants to be part of Stevie’s life in the future. It can’t be so difficult if he loves him, can it? I know this is all new territory for you, as it was for me, but there’s a lot of information on the internet about gender identity with details of support groups. Did you ever try researching on a computer in the library?’

‘I went there but it was busy and the computers were being used, so I came out again.’ This, of course, was the problem with using the computers in the library, you sometimes had to wait for a turn.

‘It might be worth giving it another go,’ I suggested. ‘There is a lot of information online that could help. Sometimes just knowing that other families are going through similar difficulties can make you feel better.’

‘Yes,’ she said unenthusiastically. ‘I’ll take Fred with me, then I won’t feel such an ass not knowing what to do. He doesn’t mind asking daft questions. Anyway, the main reason I’m phoning is that I think it would be best if just I saw Stevie for now. Fred has offered to look after Liam and Kiri for an hour or so after school. I could come to your place or Stevie and I could go to a café as he can’t come here. What do you think?’

‘I think that’s a very good idea, Peggy. Do you want me to tell Stevie or will you?’