“Work here, work for the company. We need lawyers,” my grandfather says. I swallow. “Maybe the visa would be quicker if it’s a work visa. I’ll get my staff onto it.”
“I don’t need a visa; my biological father is an American. But for now, the UK law system is what I’m qualified in,” she says, not telling my grandfather she’s been working in the US for the past year.
“Your father is American?” I ask.
She nods, and a small smile lifts on her face. “Somewhere on the west coast, apparently.”
“Did you try to find him while you were here?”
She nods her head. “Prior to this trip, I tried to find him around ten years ago, then I gave up." She shrugs. "I’ve decided he doesn’t want to be found and, to be honest, sometimes I want to find him, but other times I’m too angry that he doesn’t try to find me.”
My grandfather takes her hand and leads her to the outside sitting area, and I follow. Still worried about what else he’ll ask her. “What happened?”
She shrugs her shoulders. “He abandoned me when I was a baby.”
“Oh. And your mother?” he asks.
“She remarried a few years later, but my mother and stepfather left me with my grandparents when I was seven, said it was for a month but it turned into much longer. That was lucky for me because they died in a car crash a few months later, both drugged up." She exhales as she looks into his eyes. "But my grandparents couldn’t cope with me.” She sighs, looking up at the ceiling. “I suppose I went off the rails, and when I was twelve, they finally had enough and put me into the care system.”
My grandfather stands, pulls her to him, and gives her a hug. She tries to hold it in; her shoulders shake as my grandfather whispers to her, and suddenly she sobs like a baby on his chest, and my eyes lace with tears.
I turn around as I blow out a breath.
“I’ve got a very similar story,” my grandfather says when she stops crying and sits. His words take me by surprise. “I was abandoned on a church doorstep when I was a baby. The pain of it never left me.”
A conversation ensues between them; they both cry and both smile. He holds her hand, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand.
I feel so bad this moment. They both like each other, and I’m telling lies to them both.
She smiles, rubbing her fingers over her sodden cheeks. “Would you mind if I freshened up?”
“Not at all,” he says, pointing in the direction she needs to go. “The bathroom is through that corridor, the third door on your right.”
My grandfather turns to me and grins when Amber leaves the room. “I’m impressed you picked someone with class,” he says. I think that’s funny, considering what she just told him. “Beauty and brains. In fact, finally, you found someone who is your equal and not a piece of fluff you can rule over,” he finishes.
He’s right with everything, but she isn’t mine.
“We need to leave soon; she wants to do some sightseeing while she’s here,” I say.
My grandfather sighs and stares at me. “You need to fight for her. Your marriage won’t survive if you live on different continents. I’m surprised she even agreed after her father abandoned her. I thought she’d be concerned about future children.”
“Don’t worry about the relationship,” Amber says as she walks into the room. “We’re going to make sure we are solid and living on the same soil before any children arrive.”
I smile at her, taking her hand and kissing her cheek.
“And you’re welcome here whenever you want,” he says to her.
Tears coat her beautiful eyes and I know she’s feeling bad about lying about the marriage to him.
She gives him a hug and steps back. “Thank you.”
She did a fabulous job with my grandfather, but the car ride back to the city is silent. I really want to know what she’s thinking, but I keep it to myself, not ready to hear what she has to say.
Inside my apartment, I show her around, but she’s not interested. I suppose there’s no point when she's leaving soon.
“I feel really bad that we deceived him,” she says as she stares out of the window.
“It’s the only way,” I reply. “Just doing this, you’re helping to get him to retire and enjoy his final years on the golf course and not in the office.”
