Kit - 4. Kit Chapter 4

The flight back to Australia was long and tiring, but helped a bit by travelling Business Class, which meant we could get some decent sleep during the long trip from London to Perth. Uncle Mathias had informed me that we would be staying at a hotel near the city for our short stay in Western Australia, as he only had eight days of personal leave, and he had to be back to work in Milan.

We would have just three days in total in Perth, with just 14 ¼ hours from the moment we land till the funeral starts at Karrakatta Cemetery, in Nedlands. Uncle M had arranged for a Limo to collect us from the Hotel, and take us to the Cemetery where the service would be held in one of the chapels, with a cremation happening later.

I had a quick shower and a bite to eat before crashing on my hotel bed, only to wake up when Uncle M shook me awake, and told me to hurry up and get up and have some lunch, before having a shower to get ready for the funeral service, and I groaned, when reminded that this is why we had travelled half way around to world to attend.

When we arrived, the limo dropped us off near the front gate, where a very large group had already gathered, a lot more than we expected. Uncle Mathias had arranged for the Limo to collect us again in about two hours, once the event was all over. Not expecting anyone to recognise me, I hung back a little as Uncle Mathias greeted relatives and friends, a lot of them who I knew, but they only glanced at me briefly, and dismissed me as maybe a family friend.

When the black hearse and following limo arrived, we made room for them to pass the group, before we began the walk down the driveway towards the chapel. “Do you want to sit near the front with the family or a bit further back?” Uncle M whispered to me, as we approached the entrance to the chapel, “As far away from my so-called parents as possible,” I replied, and Uncle M nodded his head in understanding.

When we stood for the arrival of the coffin, of the late Mrs Junette Seabrook, I began to tear up as I watched it pass by, with Uncle M seated on the Aisle, and I was seated next to him. When I saw the face of my mother glaring at me, with a semi confused expression, I looked away, not wanting to have anything to do with her.

In the four years that I had not seen her, she looked a lot older, and had put on quite a few kilos of weight too, after she passed by, I looked over to see not two but three boys following her, and I looked up at Uncle M in surprise, and he smiled and nodded his head to me. I was now seeing a third younger brother, one that I had not been told about.

“Youngest is Ryan, he is two years old,” Uncle M whispered to me, answering my unspoken question about the little brother that I had not met. I looked closer at the older two brothers, Lucas would be about 8 years old by my guess, while Trent is about 4 years old, and he was just a baby when I was kicked out of home. Near the end of the service, Uncle M stood up and followed a few others, who went up to the front to bid a final goodbye, and he place two yellow roses on the casket, one from him and one from me.

Yellow roses, were my grandmothers favourite roses, and I was pleased that Uncle M had arranged for two roses to be available, and I watched as he spoke briefly to my mother, who turned and glared at me once again, and I dropped my eyes down to the ground, I wished now that I had never come back to Perth. I am happy with my new life in Milan, and my friends and school there.

When the service ended and the family walked back down the aisle, I kept my eyes down on the ground, but when my uncle gave me a little nudge, I looked up, only to see my mother staring at me in an angry way, that I did not like the looks of.

“Who are you, what are you doing at my mother’s funeral service? You look familiar but…” she said to me angrily, and I was a little shocked at how she spoke to me. Then I smiled, “It is nice to see you again too… mother dearest,” I said to her in a clear and pleasant voice, and I heard a number of people closest to where we stood, gasp in shock at what they just heard.

I watched as my mother dashed out the back door of the chapel, with her three youngest sons chasing after her. “Mum, who was that man?” I heard my brother Lucas ask as he chased after her, and I sat down and groaned, dreading what I would be facing as soon as I leave the chapel, as others slipped passed us to leave the service, and Uncle M sat down beside me, glancing around the chapel for a few minutes.

“That went really well didn’t it. I think I see a side exit, that we can take as a way out of here if you like,” Uncle M suggested to me, “Yes please Uncle, I just want to get out of here,” I responded.

Now with most of the attendees exited or near the main exit, we stood and headed to the side door, and slipped out hopefully un-noticed, as we headed deeper into the cemetery, away from the chapel. “I think we will go out the back near the Military section, I have called the limo to meet us there,” Uncle M said to me, as we walked at a casual pace away from the drama of seeing my mother again, after such a long time.

Once in the limo and on our way back to the hotel, Uncle M informed me that he was going to attend the family wake, and that I can stay at the hotel if I didn’t want to attend, and I said that I would gladly stay at the hotel, and Uncle M said that after the comment I made to Mum after the service, that maybe it was a good idea that I did just that, and I chuckled as I remembered the shocked expression I saw on her face after I called her Mother Dearest, and grinned broadly, which made Uncle M laugh.

I had fallen asleep while watching the television, once back at the hotel suite, and woke up by the sound of the door opening and voices. I had taken off my jacket and tie, but still wore my very good suit pants, dress shirt and socks, having slipped my shoes off before collapsing onto the lounge. “Hey Matt, it looks like he has been sleeping, mind you, we didn’t arrive until late last night, although we did have an overnight stop in London,” I heard Uncle M say, and hearing the next voice made me bolt upright.

“He looks so grown up when I saw him at the funeral, and you are right, he does look so much different after the surgery, it is a shame that Anita hasn’t come to her senses in regards to our son’s sexuality, if it wasn’t for you and our occasional chats, I don’t think I would have had the courage to come here today,” I heard my father say, which caught me totally off guard.

“Did I hear you right, Dad? You are ok with the way I am now?” I asked cautiously, there was a long pause as I stood and faced my father for the first time in over four years, as he sighed, and looked over towards My Uncle Mathias. “Yes son, I am ok with it, after the initial shock of it all, I was ok with your sexuality. It was your mother who was dead set against it, and to keep the family together, especially with Lucas and Trent been so young, I had to agree to her demands, even if I didn’t fully agree with it,” Dad said to me.

I began to tear up and Dad walked up to me and gently wrapped his arms around me, “I love you son, I always will, never forget that,” Dad whispered to me, and I was now sobbing into his shoulder, dropping my guard altogether, and for the first-time feeling relief.

Dad and I had a very long chat, and during that time, Uncle Mathias just sat near by and listened to what we talked about, and it was during these discussions that Dad revealed that one third of the profits from the sale of the family farm, have gone into a separate bank account that Uncle Mathias set up for me, to help cover any living and education expenses in the future.

Uncle Mathias added that none of that money has been touched, since he was my legal guardian, and as such he had agreed to cover all of those expenses himself. Dad mentioned that the rest of the money was in a trust account for my younger brothers future education, with himself and Uncle Mathias been the only signatories, so that my Mum couldn’t get access to the money.

I learnt that since selling most of the farm, he had worked his way up from Workshop mechanic, to workshop manager and now as public works department manager for the shire. As a side line, they had renovated the old workers quarters, and they are now used to accommodate people working in the region who need a place to stay, with Mum providing the cleaning service, and an evening meal for the six guests.

With Dad needing to return to the Motel, where the family was staying for two days, he gave me a long hug. “Can we keep in touch via email please, Uncle Mathias has my email address? Dad asked me, By the way, I heard what you said to your mother when we were exiting after the service, you caused quite a stir amongst the family and friends, with lots of people asking why you called her Mother Dearest.

Lucas wanted to know who you were, and your Mum refused to comment, so I had to explain, that you are the first and oldest brother, and that due to certain differences of views, you had gone to live with Uncle Mathias. This started a heap more questions from Lucas and Trent, and I told them that in a few years, when they are old enough to understand everything, that I would explain it all to them, and in the meantime, their brother Kye, was living overseas with Uncle Mathias,” Dad said to me.

I thanked him for being understanding and wished him a safe journey back home, and I gave him one last hug before seeing him to the door, and letting him out of the suite. Once he was gone, I sighed deeply and thought about everything that has happened today, which was a lot more than expected.

“What do we do now Uncle?” I asked eventually, and I looked up and saw my Uncle standing near the window looking out towards the Swan River. “You know, I have missed looking at the Swan River every day,” my uncle commented. “Do you want to come back to Western Australia?” I asked him, “Yes eventually, but I think it is time for a change, there is a job position open at the Auckland office, how would you like it if we moved there for a year or two?” Uncle Mathias asked me.

“Well, since I won’t be doing any snowboarding for some time in the future, I guess leaving the Northern Hemisphere wont be to bad. The only thing is…” I said stopping mid-sentence, “You will miss your best friend – Marcus and all the wild adventures that you two get up to during the holidays,” Uncle Mathias said to fill in the blanks, and I smiled.

“Hardly any wild adventures, but yes, I think I will miss Marcus terribly. He has been my rock since moving to Milan, and I don’t know what I would do without him,” I responded. “Yes, I can understand that. How about we put those plans on hold for now, and stay in Milan for one more semester, and see how we both feel about it, during the Christmas break,” Uncle Mathias suggested, “That would be great thanks,” I replied happily.

A few months later, as Christmas approached, Uncle Mathias received a promotion, and with it came more responsibilities, and it meant that we would be staying in Milan for at least another two years, which I didn’t mind at all, as I would be able to complete my education in Italy.

I was now fully fluent in Italian and getting fairly good in German and French too, and with the assistance of Marcus, it was getting better, as I spent nearly every school holiday with him at his family home in Liechtenstein, where I had grown accustomed to been around royalty and nobility, and I had done a crash course on customs and protocols in that area.

After another year of studies at the private school in Milan, Marcus and I were discussing the approaching summer holidays, when Marcus dropped a surprised announcement on me. “My family want to send me to summer school at Gordonstoun School in Moray, Scotland,” Marcus announced.

“Wow, that is one very famous school, a lot of British Royalty has gone to that school,” I responded, “Yes they have, and my parents are looking at possibly enrolling me there for my final two years of schooling there,” Marcus said to me. “You said Summer school? May be I could come along too, and check it out,” I suggested, “I was hoping that you would, or else I would be missing my best mate very badly,” Marcus said to me.

After doing some online research and discussing the idea with Uncle Mathias that evening, and with a number of phone calls and emails over the next week, I was enrolled to attend International Summer School at Gordonstoun School along with Marcus, for three weeks starting in a week’s time in the first week of July.

We learnt from the research, that we would be sharing a room together, with a shared bathroom with one other bedroom, and once we had spent a few days preparing, in the early morning, we boarded the plane to Zurich, and from there onto Edinburgh, before catching a coach to the town of Moray, which is a 3 ½ hour journey northwards.

After a very interesting three weeks at Summer School, both Marcus and I applied for and were accepted to enter Gordonstoun School for final two years of our education, and it was a very busy two years for both of us, as I concentrated on mainly my studies and some sporting activities, mostly field hockey, athletics and soccer, all which I was very good at, while Marcus kept busy with his studies, as well as been the Senior Student House Captain for both years.

As our graduations got near, both of received offers to study at a number of Universities, with Marcus ben offered a position to study Law in Zurich and Vienna, while I had been offered a position to study Business and Accountancy in Oxford in England, as well as in Zurich.

In the end, we both chose to study in Zurich, that way I could still be fairly close to Uncle Mathias, who continues to work in Milan, with the occasional trips to the companies newest office in Copenhagen, Denmark, and I would also have the chance to spend a lot more time with my best mate – Marcus, with us occasionally travelling to Vaduz to attend official events, and I was now almost part of the family, often attending private dinners with just Marcus and the Royal family, which I was now feeling bit more comfortable with.

We both graduated from high school with honours, and to celebrate, on Uncle Mathias’s suggestion, Marcus and I arranged to fly to Australia for a bit of a holiday, and before leaving we spent a few days in Milan so I could see Uncle Mathias before we left for a big trip to Australia. This time as adults, and without Uncle Mathias accompanying me.