Now it is my turn to revel. His face saysit all – he is in shock. And it is now my turn to twist the knife in. “Lookslike she got one over on you!” I snigger now and my siblings join in with me.Just at that moment, my wife and father round the corner and join me, flankingme either side.
Bert once again dons the hard-facedexterior. “Oh, I might’ve guessed you pair would be in on it. No show withoutpunch eh!” This time, he does start to move forwards – in George’s direction.“You son of a bitch!” I waste no time and place myself squarely between my realfather and the imposter.
“If you want to get to him, you will haveto get past me first!”
“Oh, now he showssome balls! That’s the kind of attitude a son of mine would have. But you areno son of mine, are you? Show me that birth certificate! Prove it to me!” Ihold it only inches from his face. He scrunches his features up in an attemptto read it then backs off.
“I think you’ll find George is not the‘son of a bitch’ here. It’s you! If this had all come out when I was younger,mother and I could have had the chance of a good life, a ‘normal’ life.”
“Aye, would’ve saved me a lot of hassletoo. Stupid bitch should’ve fessed up!”
“Really, really?! And what would you havedone to her if she had? She was scared witless of you! You ruined my life andhers! All the torture I experienced and then the psychosis, it could all havebeen avoided! And for what? You aren’t even my real dad!”
All the pent-up emotions I had sought tobury over the years came to the fore. At the same time, I could clearly hearthe voices of my siblings offering various words of reassurance andencouragement. It had all been building up to this point. Instinctively, Ilunge straight for him.
I push him with such force I was unaware Ieven possessed. He goes stumbling backwards and crash-lands on the concrete. Helets out a cry like an injured animal and attempts to get back onto his feet.But he is not quick enough. I am on top of him in an instant and I raise my armheavenward, ready to bring my fist towards his face. At that moment, myintention is to pulverize his skull; to put him and us out of our misery onceand for all but I am stopped in my tracks. Janey screams at me, her voice feverpitch: “No, NO Thomas! Don’t do it! He’s not worth it!” I snap back to realityin an instant. She is right, he’s not worth it. If I follow through and killhim, then I potentially lose her and Michael and my chance at forging arelationship with my real father.
I roll over him and he wastes no time. Heis on his feet now and running off blindly. With no sense of where to go andwhat to do, he looks like a pheasant darting here and there, his balancesomewhat precarious. Janey and George rush to my side.
“Are you OK?” Janey asks.
“I’m fine thanks. Tell me, how did youknow to come out here?”
“An educated guess.”
I revert to the task in hand. “What are wegoing to do with him?”
George this time: “I think you’ve saidwhat needed to be said. You can move on now, Thomas. Why don’t we offer him aride home and that will put an end to it once and for all? Janey and I canaccompany you, make sure he doesn’t pull any stunts. There’s no reason for youto concern yourself with him anymore after that.”
“Offer him a lift home? Really?”
“Thomas, it shows that you are the betterman. It shows that he hasn’t won, that no matter what he does or says, you willcome out on top.”
I consider this. My gut instinct was toleave him here, abandon him like he did me but there was a truth in George’swords. If I did as he suggested, once again I had the upper hand and would beseen to be unaffected by Bert’s wickedness. “OK, we can offer him a lift, butundoubtedly he will throw it back in our face.”
“There’s every chance, Thomas!”
We leave the courtyard and scan the surroundingarea. Janey spots him straight away. “Over there,” and she points him out. Heis just off the path close to the edge of the cliff. Rather than raise thealarm and cause him to run off, we approach quietly. He isn’t aware of ourpresence – yet.
I do my best to quell the unrest. Mysiblings are universally not in support of this plan. They think we should turnaround and never look back. However, we are fairly close to him now. It is awide-open vista of sky and sea beyond. Once again, I hear the noise of thewaves crashing on impact with the cliffside and I am reminded of the scenetwenty years ago.
George gives me the nod to start aconversation with him. No doubt Bert will think this is some sort of a trap, soI try to make it sound as sincere as possible (which believe me is no mean featwhen all I feel like doing is wringing his bloody neck!).
“Come on, Bert, come with us, we will giveyou a ride back.” His movements are jerky. He whips his head around and snapsit back. From the look in his eyes, he is terrified. He knows what I meant todo back in that courtyard and, if it hadn’t been for Janey, he knows I wouldhave followed it through. He says something but his words are lost on the windand travel out to sea, so we advance further, closing the gap between us.
This time heinitiates the conversation. He turns to face us, and it suddenly dawns on mehow close we are to the cliff edge. “Do not take another step! Ya hear me? Anyone of you takes another step in my direction and so help me God, I’ll flingtheir carcass over the
