FINALLY YOU

FINALLY, YOU

She was driving past the place when she saw him. She was doing that a
lot lately, just taking off in the car with no destination in mind,
just driving and thinking - always thinking. And she would invariably
look across when she got to this point because wherever her journey
took her, it always passed this place sooner or later. Today he was
there.

She stabbed at the indicator and drew the car to an abrupt halt tight
against the kerb. Without taking her eyes from him she exited the car
and closed the door quietly, locking it without activating the alarm.
As she hurried through the gate she noted with a degree of satisfaction
that it and the surrounding iron fence had recently received a fresh
coat of paint.

He was stood with his back to her as she approached and she drew up
behind him without his apparent notice.
"It's Patrick isn't it?" she said sharply.
The man turned and she saw then that his eyes were puffy and slick with
tears.
"I knew it was you!" she exclaimed.
"I'm sorry, have we met?" the man asked puzzled.
"No never, but I know who you are. Patrick Bradford is that
right?"
"Yes, yes it is but I'm afraid I don't..."
"I'm Jessica's mother" she cut in. "Finally I get to set eyes upon the
man who caused my daughter so much distress."

The effect of her words was nothing short of extraordinary. The man
took an involuntary step back and immediately bowed his head like a
child about to be disciplined by its mother.
"I'm sorry" was all he could manage to say.
The woman took a long hard look at him - eyed him up and down like he
were an ill loved outfit hanging in a wardrobe. But to her considerable
irritation she could find nothing in his physical appearance that
allowed her to take an instant dislike to the man.
"Have you any idea how long Jessica and Michael have been together?"
she asked.
"Six and a half years" he replied quietly.
"Six and a half years" she repeated back to him. "They were engaged as
well. Okay so they hadn't set a wedding date but it was only a matter
of time. Her Father and I were looking forward to the possibility of
grand children. And now... " she began to choke but managed with
considerable effort to compose herself.
"So what made you think that after barely six months with my
daughter...." she saw then that the man appeared suddenly surprised.
"Oh I know how long its been Patrick! I know everything about you" she
hissed. "Jessica came down to see her Father and I sometime ago. I knew
there was trouble when she didn't bring Michael and she told us all
about you. She cried the entire weekend! I think we all did for that
matter."
The mans arms hung loosely by his side.
"What made you think you could just step in and disrupt her life like
that? Can't you find any unattached woman?"
The man visibly shrank before her. Although she estimated he was around
six feet tall, now he appeared at least to her to be around half that
size.
"They had a future together until you showed up. Michael is such a
talented young man, he is going to be a Batchelor of Science. Did you
know that?"
The man nodded.
"Oh of course you knew didn't you? That's what you people do isn't it,
find out everything about the competition? So you can destroy
it!"
"It wasn't like that" the man pleaded. Your daughter came to me. She
told me she wasn't happy."
The woman let out a howl and flew at him with clenched hands raised
high but the man did not cower or flinch, seemed almost to have
expected an attack and stood prepared to absorb her fury. She needed in
that moment an outlet to channel all the hurt and the anger she had
suppressed so admirably, and all those caustic emotions suddenly rose
up like bile. She needed an outlet to channel all her pain and for a
brief moment she allowed her despair to mould itself into the shape of
a man and she so wanted to destroy him then, to eradicate him from her
view. But as she came down upon him he looked straight into her eyes
and through an emerging trickle of tears he whispered. "I love
her"
She pulled up only inches from him and brought her arms down
slowly.
Now there was silence between them and they gazed at each other
mournfully. Reaching into her handbag she extracted a handful of
tissues from the fresh packet that she had renewed every day since she
had heard the dreadful news.

She was an educated woman, instinctive and compassionate and in that
moment she came to the inevitable conclusion that simply unleashing all
her despair upon somebody who was clearly suffering himself would
ultimately serve neither of them effectively. She gently reached out
and wiped the moisture running down his reddening cheeks.
"Yes, I think that you did" she said
Placing the damp tissues into her black handbag, now with an emerging
degree of warmness she set her gaze back upon the man once more.
"Michael is a fine man make no mistake about that, he never treated my
daughter badly. But he didn't love her enough. Not really. I think I've
always known it but Jessica's Father was so enamoured with him that I
always kept my peace."
The man rocked upon his heels. "I don't know what to say"
"I saw a marked change in Jessica over the last few months" the woman
said. "She seemed to me brighter, more alive somehow, and she had only
good things to say about you Patrick. She told me that you made her
very happy. I guess that deep down I am grateful for that after all she
is a most demanding gir..." She gagged then, and she fell heavily upon
her knees into the dirt.
"Oh my beautiful Jessica, she was so confused, so confused she told me
that she couldn't sleep for it, that she was in love with you but she
still had strong feelings for Michael."
The man quickly knealt down beside her, supplied an immoveable shoulder
when it looked as if she were likely to topple face forward into the
earth.
"She must have been so mixed up with it all when she stepped out onto
the road. So dazed not to have seen the car - my only child - my little
girl. Oh God, Jessica why didn't you see it?" Turning to the newly
erected gravestone she placed her hands upon the cold marble and traced
the inscription of her daughters name with her finger. She began to
weep like a child.
After several minutes, the two figures helped each other out of the
graveyard up to the waiting car.