Holiday Drama - 8. HD Chapter 8

“Firstly, guys, a yacht is not parked, it is moored, and secondly, yes, that is the original yacht, that is currently up for sale,” Hugh responded. “So, have you designated cabins for us yet?” Grant asked, and Alistair looked towards me to respond to the question, and I smiled. “Yes, since you are family members, you will be designated part-time crew, and as such, you will be in crew cabins, but don’t panic, they are quite roomy, and you have a cabin each,” I replied. “If the twins can follow me, please.” Chad said to my brothers, “I will show you to your cabin, son,” I added, as I led the way inside and to the forward port stairs. That is my cabin, the skipper and his chief are on the opposite side, while you are down here in the centre single crew cabin, you have Chad and Kingsley in the Cabin just before yours, and there is one empty twin crew cabin forward of yours,” I informed my brother, as we stopped at his cabin door, which I opened and stepped aside.

“It's cosy,” Grant commented, “It is, but you have it all to yourself with your own bathroom, the twins have a similar-sized cabin each, but your bathroom is a little bit smaller than theirs, and they are located behind the engine room also on this side of the yacht,” I responded, as Grant placed his small suitcase on the bed. “It looks a bit bigger than the crew cabins on the other yacht. How many guests can this carry?” Grant stated, “Yes, it is slightly larger than the crew cabins on the other yacht. There is a total of five guest cabins, two queen-size on the main deck, plus a queen, a double and a twin cabin below on the starboard side,” I replied. “So, what will be my role on board this new yacht?” Grant asked me, “Same as before, except that you will have a crew working for you instead of just you on your own. Chad is a deckhand and steward, so I think while you are getting settled, we will get him to assist you as well as being the chief steward. For the twins, I think we will get them on both deck duties and steward duties when required,” I replied.

A little while later, as we all gathered in the main saloon on the main deck, everyone went silent when I entered the area. “I am hoping that we will all get along well together, and if so, we will do some regular weekend charters around the Gulf region. We will be going to Cowell for this trip, as a test trip, which will take about three hours, to see how everything goes,” I announced. “Awesome, I am looking forward to this,” Grant said to me, and the twins nodded their heads in agreement. As we got to work to sail to Cowell across the Gulf, with Alistair at the helm, I stood at the second helm watching the Gulf waters ahead of us, which were a little choppy, but didn’t make much difference on board the yacht. Kingsley and Mrs Greenwell were in the galley organising lunch for everyone. Grant is on deck with my twin brothers, as they packed away the mooring ropes and adjusted the sails.

When Mrs Greenwell came rushing up the stairs, the look on her face was a mixed expression that I could not quite figure out. “Mr Fleming, I am so terribly sorry… It has totally slipped my mind, and when I was preparing to come to the yacht this morning, I remembered and brought it with me, but only just now remembered that I had done that,” Mrs Greenwell said to me, and I was now even more confused. “Mrs Greenwell, please slow down, take a breath and tell me calmly,” I eventually responded. “I... it came while you were away in South Africa, I had put it safely away in the bottom drawer of your office desk, and… well, I forgot. I am so sorry,” Mrs Greenwell said to me as she held out a registered mail envelope to me. I nodded my head in acceptance, and she dashed off back down to the main deck, as I looked at the envelope, turning it over a few times, before I stood up and walked downstairs and into my Master cabin, and I sat down at the small desk before carefully opening the envelope, which was postmarked Auckland, New Zealand.

I glanced at the bottom of the second page of a handwritten letter, where the signature was Margaret Jean Hutchins, a name that I knew to be of my sister-in-law, whom I had met only once, when Joanna and I were married. “My dear Myles, I am sorry to hear of the passing of your dear wife and my sister, Joanna. At the time of the funeral, I was unable to travel to attend due to personal reasons, but I am now preparing to travel to South Australia to meet you once more and to visit the grave of my dear sister. I look forward to meeting you and your son, Grant. With warmest regards, your sister-in-law Margaret Jean.” I read the letter twice, which included her home address and mobile phone number, before looking at the postage mark again, which was dated two weeks ago, which meant she could already be in South Australia, and I decided to enter her details into my mobile directory. When we arrived in Cowell, we moored at the marina, where we had booked a berth for the night, and we locked up the yacht.

We all walked into town, walking through the park and onto the main street, where we checked out the hotels, cafes and other buildings on the main street, until we had walked about 500 metres before turning around and heading back towards the marina. We stopped at the hotel near the park, then went to the pub, where we went into the restaurant and ordered an early dinner for all of us. After purchasing drinks, we settled into comfortable chairs in the restaurant. I noticed Mrs Greenwell glance at me now and then with a bit of concern on her face, and I smiled.

“Just to let you know, there will be some changes happening once we get back to Wallaroo. I'm not sure exactly what will happen, but I have been contacted by my sister-in-law Margaret Jean, from Auckland in New Zealand. She is coming over to visit Grant and me, and to visit her sister’s grave. I am not sure how long she plans to stay, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be making myself available to assist Margaret during her stay,” I announced, and I noticed the look of surprise on Mrs Greenwell’s face and smiled. I saw her shoulders drop and relax as she smiled back, which made me relax too. Later, as we were enjoying a wonderful pub meal, my mobile phone rang, and as I glanced down at the screen, I saw the name Margaret on the screen, and I quickly excused myself from the table and headed to the outside beer garden for some privacy.

“Hello, this is Myles speaking,” I said when I answered the call, and there was a long pause before there was a response. “Hi, this is your sister-in-law Margaret speaking. I have arrived in Adelaide, and I wanted to arrange a time to meet up with you,” came the response, and I was shocked at how similar she sounded to Joanna’s voice. “Hi Margaret, welcome to South Australia. I only just received your registered letter yesterday, as Grant and I were over in South Africa until a few days ago, and we are currently on my yacht on an overnight trip,” I responded to my sister-in-law. “Oh, I see, I was hoping to speak to you as soon as possible, as I am in a bit of a difficult situation that needs to be addressed as soon as possible,” Margaret said to me.

“I will be back in Wallaroo sometime tomorrow afternoon, so we can arrange to meet then,” I informed Margaret. “Where on earth is this place, Wallaroo?” Margaret asked me. I sighed before taking a few breaths. “Wallaroo is a coastal town on the western side of the Yorke Peninsula, which is a two-hour drive and 160 kilometres west-northwest of Adelaide. We have rented out the house in Adelaide, as it has too many memories, which was causing a few issues with Grant coping with the loss of his mother,” I answered. “I see, and where does Grant go to school, and do you still work as an engineer or something like that?” Margaret asked me, “Grant attends a private school in Adelaide and comes home on weekends, and I work from home as a consultant Computer Engineer. We own a catamaran yacht, and we are currently sailing in the Gulf, with some of my friends and family,” I answered.

“I see… well, I do urgently need to speak to you… I am dealing with the same disease as your late wife… I have stage three cancer, and I have an 8-year-old son, Sebastian, who needs family to help him through all of this,” Margaret said to me. I said nothing for quite some time to let this new information sink into my brain, and I was not sure what to say regarding this information. “Are you still there, Myles?” she asked me, and I cleared my throat, “Yes, I am here, I am just shocked. I know you are hoping to rely on me regarding your son. Do you have anyone else on your side of the family to help? I ask because we are still coping with the loss of Joanna; it has not been an easy time for Grant, and I am barely coping myself, now that I am a single parent of a teenager,” I responded, and this time it was Margaret who was silent for a long time.

“N… no, there is no one else on my side of the family, you are the only one left, and there is… well, there is a sort of twist to how I gave birth to Sebastian. I have always had difficulties getting pregnant, and it was after a heart-to-heart discussion with my sister that we came up with a solution. Joanna provided eggs through several procedures for me to get pregnant via IVF, so technically, Sebastian is biologically hers,” Margaret announced to me. After absorbing this information, a thought came to mind, “When did she do this procedure for you?” I asked nervously, realising now that this could be very messy. “Well, it was when you and she went to that fertility clinic, when you were both trying to have another child, and when you were not in the room, she asked for additional samples, to assist me with having a child, and soon after, that's when you discovered that she was not well,” Margaret responded.

“Wh… who is the biological father of your IVF child?” I asked. “That would be you… Joanna made the arrangements when it looked like she would not be able to have another child. So, apart from me being the carrier and birth mother of Sebastian, the fertile eggs inserted into me were those of you and Joanna,” Margaret replied, and suddenly everything went black for me. When I woke up from the shock news that Margaret had just delivered, I was surrounded by family and friends, with Mrs Greenwell patting my hand, “Are you ok, dear? We saw your collapse. Luckily, Grant was close enough when you went pale, and he reacted right away to partly catch you, as you collapsed to the ground, preventing you from hitting your head,” Mrs Greenwell said to me.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, looked up, and saw Grant’s concerned expression. I realised my head was resting on his lap, which made me smile. “Hey kiddo, thanks for looking after me,” I said quietly, and I saw Grant nod his head in response, as I looked around me. “Wh… where is my mobile? I was speaking to…” I asked no one in particular. I was handed my mobile phone. “Who were you talking to? What exactly did they say to you that made you go ghost white and black out?” Grant asked me. “That is something we need to discuss in private and not here,” I responded, as I was assisted to stand up and sit back in my chair.

We finished our dinner and walked back to the yacht at the marina, with me remaining 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 was not sure how to absorb this shocking news as it finally sank in; it all seemed too much like science fiction. I wondered if this was true and what it means for my family and me now and in the future.