Holiday Drama - 9. HD Chapter 9

We finished dinner and walked back to the yacht at the marina, and I remained silent the whole time as I thought about what Margaret had told me. I had another son… Joanna and I had a second son… I wasn't sure how to absorb this shocking news as it finally sank in; it all felt like science fiction. I wondered if this was true and what it meant for my family and me now and in the future. I let Alistair and Hugh deal with the closing up of the yacht for the evening as I retreated to my cabin, and after changing, I headed over to the galley to make myself a cup of tea.

“Are you ok, Dad?” Grant asked me as he entered the galley with a look of concern on his face. I put the mug of tea on the counter, sat down in the chair in the galley area, and thought about the news that I had received earlier. I took a deep breath before spending the next twenty minutes explaining to my son what I had been told by my sister-in-law – Margaret. Grant stood there in the galley listening to everything that I said without an interruption, and when I had finished with the bit about waking up with my head on his lap, he remained silent for a long time as he absorbed all the information.

“Wow, that is… quite a unique situation, and I have a brother!” Grant announced eventually. “Yeah, that is the bit which is hard to absorb,” I responded. Grant asked me a few questions about Margaret’s health situation, and I explained that I was now Sebastian’s registered father, and that Margaret had asked me to take over the care of Sebastian, now that her health had deteriorated substantially in the past few months. After some thought, Grant took a deep breath and looked at me.

“Dad… when Sebastian moves into our home, I was thinking that instead of me moving downstairs and Sebastian taking over my room, how about Sebastian and I move into the two bedrooms downstairs, so that we share a bathroom, so I am close to him if he needs me,” Grant suggested. A few moments later, I smiled, and I nodded my head. “Yes, that would be great, but only if you are agreeable to this,” I replied.

Over the next week, firstly I met Margaret alone, and the next day my second son Sebastian, who surprised me with a tight hug before shyly saying hello. We met and chatted daily and discussed the future. Talking about what would happen with Margaret’s failing health and Sebastian’s future, and two weeks later Margaret and Sebastian came to the house for afternoon tea and dinner. Before that day, Grant had relocated to the bedroom next to the laundry, leaving the bedroom closest to my office ready for Sebastian to move into when the time arrived, which was getting very close now.

Grant had met with Sebastian a few times, and they spent time together to get to know one another, often sitting on board the yacht so they were away from any distractions, and I could see that Sebastian would be safe with Grant close by, as if they had been close brothers for many years. When the day arrived that Margaret could no longer take care of Sebastian, I had arranged to come and collect Sebastian from their temporary home and bring him to my home and his new permanent home. On that same day, Margaret would be entering the hospice Care Hospital, as her health had deteriorated quite quickly, and we had decided to come and visit her three days a week, straight after Sebastian had finished school for the day.

It was a very difficult day for everyone, and with Grant and my brothers in boarding school in Adelaide, it would be just me and my two best mates who would be assisting with the transition for Margaret and for Sebastian. Margaret came to see Sebastian settle into his new home and had lunch with us before I drove her to her new residence at the hospice care that is attached to the local hospital. Once we had returned home, I let Sebastian wander around the house, letting him know to come and find me in my office if I had any questions.

He already knew that Grant would have the bedroom next to his and that they would share a bathroom, and I could see that he was pleased about that. With the secondary suite now vacant, that would be our guest bedroom if we ever have any guests staying over. To help Sebastian cope with Margaret’s failing health, the family would all go out for a two-day, overnight sailing trip in the Gulf, which I could see helped Sebastian greatly, and Grant spent a lot of time showing his brother everything to do with sailing yachts, which he very quickly caught on.

It was a few months later, while we were away on these trips, that I received the expected phone call from the hospital; it was just after 10 pm when my mobile phone rang, just as I was preparing for bed. When the call ended, there was a light knock on my cabin door, and I called out to enter, and Grant appeared at the door. “Hi Dad, is it the call that we have been dreading?” Grant asked, “I am afraid so, yes,” I replied. Suddenly, we heard sobbing coming from in the passageway behind Grant, who turned around and wrapped his arms around his brother, and Sebastian started crying openly.

At my suggestion, we moved to the lounge area and spent the next few hours quietly talking and comforting Sebastian about his loss. During this time, we expanded to the whole crew and family, and it was almost dawn when I suggested we all head back to bed to sleep before we set sail for home again. Over the next week, I stayed in contact with the funeral home to make the arrangements, although Margaret had already done most of the work, including making advance payments, with 90% fully paid. I arranged for my brothers to get a week off work starting the day before the funeral so we could have some family time, and Grant was already taking time off school to support his younger brother, with the school emailing all the schoolwork so he could keep up.

With some careful planning, Alistair, Hugh and I had mapped out an eight or nine-day sail that would take us south to Gym Beach, just north of the end of the peninsula, with overnight stops at Port Victoria and Point Turton, across the gulf to Port Lincoln via Wedge Island, up the west coast of the peninsula to near Cowell via Tumber Bay and back home to Wallaroo. With just the four crew and five family members, we would be departing immediately after the conclusion of Margaret’s funeral service, which was a small, quiet event in Wallaroo, with just the family and crew attending, so they were all aware of what would be happening straight after the funeral. Sebastian was coping quite well with the funeral service, and I had sat down and quietly spoken to Sebastian at breakfast time to let him know what we had planned for the next week or so.

Back at the house, we all changed into our casual sailing clothes and shoes, collected our luggage that we had all packed the night before, leaving the vehicles secured at the house. We walked to the marina towards our yacht that Alistair and Hugh had prepared for the journey over the past few days, and after placing our luggage in our usual cabins, the crew got to work to set sail into the gulf, while Grant and I sat with Sebastian in the main saloon lounge to just relax. We watched as the sun began to set to the western side of the gulf, enjoying the quiet waters as the yacht sailed down the coast, and the spectacular views of the setting sun over the gulf, and now with a new member of the family living in the house, I knew that I would be kept busy for the foreseeable future.