Clarification: In British public houses and hotels, it's usually standard procedure to place towels over the beer pumps to signify that the bar isn't open for the business of serving alcohol; especially when the general public has access to the bar area for other reasons.
*
"See, told you. I'll bet she is!" I heard Millie exclaim to Billie when they met us at the airport arrivals gate."
"Is what?" Francis - who'd brought the terrible two along with him for the ride - asked.
"Preggers, dummy," Billie retorted. "Millie reckons that she's got a sixth sense when it comes to spotting pregnancies.
"Jesus wept already?" Francis retorted.
"Well, you should know how easily these things can happen, Luvver," Billie told him, giving him a hug. "Anyway, we got the wedding timed dead right for Lindsey's fertile time of the month."
"Umm," I said, looking from one to the other of the three women and the bemused looking Francis.
"Well, Millie's probably being a bit premature, but you always said that you wanted children. I came off the pill the day you asked me to marry you." Lindsey smiled at me. "Not angry I hope?"
"Making sure that I wasn't going to get away again, were you?" I said as I kissed her. I'm not quite as daft as I sometimes look; I had noted that I hadn't seen Lindsey taking any birth control pills during the honeymoon.
"Yeah, I should have done that several years ago. I would have saved myself a lot of heartache."
"Both of us." I replied, "But do you really think you could be pregnant already?"
"I doubt it, Mack. Getting pregnant isn't that easy. Jeff and Rachael tried for three years before..." Lindsey broke off in mid sentence and started laughing quietly to herself.
"What's so funny?" I asked.
"I was just thinking that it was Rachael's pregnancy that started everything off, wasn't it. If she hadn't been pregnant, then I'd have been at home that night, wouldn't I?" Lindsey kissed me. "Have you ever wondered where we'd have been now, if I had been home that evening, Mack?"
"I'm not with you, Lindsey; I suppose we would have been married a couple of years ago."
"You think. I'm not so sure. God moves in mysterious ways sometimes," she said, giving a Millie a hug.
"I'm not following you, Lindsey."
"Never mind, Mack. It doesn't really matter now. We'll just have to wait and see what happens in the next week or so, to see whether he's decided that it's the right time for me to have a baby."
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As it turned out Lindsey was pregnant and she delivered me of our first daughter late that autumn, and to cap that the following autumn, Lindsey added a second daughter. Then the following year, James Ellery Mackenzie was to join the family.
Well, why did you think everybody called me Mack? Can I help it if my mother was into crime stories? The point is anyone with their head screwed on right didn't go through a city school with a name like Ellery; well, they didn't when I was a lad.
After James came along, Lindsey and I were to figure that three children were enough, so she went back onto the pill permanently. Did something for her general demeanour at times as well. Not that her tantrums ever bothered me much; if you know the root cause of someone's odd fits of temper then they are pretty easy to overlook.
Both Millie and Billie had a son each in the same period of time, Millie dropping another (unplanned) daughter about five years later.
Bugger, I've got ahead of myself a little. Michelle came home from College that first year with Quinn in tow. Tarquin to be precise, but he probably suffered from the same sort of problems that I'd had at school; anyway he went by the name of Quinn. Quinn was studying to become a chef, curiously handy that was to turn out to be in the long term. Whatever, Michelle was in love with him and he followed her around like a lost puppy.
When I met Quinn, my first impression was that he was a pleasant enough guy, but a real wanker. Christ, the guy was clumsy and appeared to be totally inept at just about anything. That was, until he stepped into a kitchen, where you could only describe him as a bleeding genius. Knowing Michelle's appetite for sex, I can only assume that he must have cut the mustard in the bedroom as well; I never heard Michelle complain anyway.
They were married right after their final exams and returned to the Willows, where Quinn's skills in the kitchen soon became famous far and wide. Michelle, who - it became obvious to everyone - wore the trousers in that relationship eventually bore him four children.
Beverley's plans for both pubs came to fruition a lot quicker than I had imagined they would. In the year following my marriage to Lindsey, major structural changes were made during the winter months to both pubs, to accommodate their intended new roles.
At the Wherry, we had local bands in several nights a week that kept the place fairly crowded most of the year round. And after a year or so, tables had to be reserved at the Willow's most nights during the summer months and every Friday and Saturday night throughout the year.
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The years seemed to race passed. Our three children grew into fine teenagers and seemed to enjoy village life and living in a public house. As they matured, Louise and Natalie were drawing far too much attention from the boys for my liking. And James - who everyone insisted was his father's son; whatever that's supposed to mean -- was growing into a handsome young man, who had quite a few of the young girls in the village hanging on his every word. I thought he was a great kid, even if he did tend to jump to conclusions a little too quickly for my liking; and he could be damned stubborn on occasions as well.
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Louise - Lindsey and my eldest -- had been about ten when my brother Brian moved up to Broad land. Brian had quietly bought into the local holiday boat hire company and eventually took it over completely. Very soon after he moved into the district Julia and her brood moved into the village as well.
Julia worked for Brian part time, and the rest of the time with her husband in the art gallery that he had opened in the village. That was the first inclination that I'd got that Julia's husband was quite an artist on the quiet. Julia swears blind that she was never the model for any of his popular and very erotic nude studies. But I don't believe her, and I doubt anyone else in the village does either.
Lindsey and I had been married for about twelve years, when Beverley formed the company. Michelle, Lindsey and I were called together at Beverley's house for a meeting one day. She and George had moved out of the Willows and it had become -- in all but name -- Michelle's pub by then; besides being her, Quinn and their children's home.
Anyway that day Beverley informed us all that she was setting up a private limited company that would run the two pubs and the micro brewery that John had set up with Bev and George's financial backing. We had all been aware that Beverley and George had financed John's venture.
Shares in the new company were distributed equally between Beverley, George, Michelle, Patricia and myself. Before I had a chance to say anything, Bev told me that she and the twins considered that I was part of their family, and the twins adopted brother, and that I was not to argue. I've told you before that it wasn't wise to argue with Beverley, especially when she had the twins behind her.
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Louise must have been nineteen... yeah, it was just before she got engaged, that I got a completely unexpected visitor whose arrival gave me the biggest shock of my life.
It was a fairly quiet morning in early June; James and I were down in the cellar sorting the place out after the delivery dray had made an early call.
As we climbed the stairs back into the bar, I picked up on the end of a conversation that Lindsey was having on the telephone.
"Are you sure?" she asked. Then she listened for a few seconds. "Oh, bugger, how long do you think it will be before they get here?" There was another pause. "No, I'm fine and I agree with you, Bev; I'll say nothing and thanks for the heads up... Oh, hi, Mack!"
I'm not that dumb, the "Hi, Mack" comment was said very loud, so that Beverley would know that I'd entered the bar. Lindsey looked guilty about something as well. She rapidly ended her conversation with Bev and hung up the telephone.
I stood there with what I hoped was an expectant look on my face. But Lindsey didn't bite. Considering that I'd just heard her tell Bev that she was going to say nothing, I wasn't at all surprised when she made some lame excuse and headed for the kitchen.
"Are you expecting anyone, dad?" James asked. He'd obviously overheard the end of Lindsey's conversation as well.
"Not that I'm aware of, son. But I know better than to ask your mother about it, if it's supposed to be a surprise."
James didn't reply but went over to the window that overlooked the car park. Apparently seeing nothing he shrugged and then went out into the garden by the river. I presumed he was on a glass hunt from the previous evening. It was still well before opening time so there were no bar customers around yet.
Although I must add, James had been eyeing up a young teenager from one of the holiday boats the evening before, so he might have gone prowling. Turning out to be a real a chip of the old block was my son.
Shortly Millie arrived for work in her launch. Millie had her eldest daughter with her and I was already aware that she, Louise and my other daughter Natalie were planning on going off to town in the launch that morning. The point was that a little later I noted that all three girls were still kicking around out in the garden chatting with James.
It fell to Millie to take the towels off the pumps at opening time. She and Lindsey were on duty so I went upstairs to change and have a break before I joined them later when the bar got busy. I suppose I'd only been up there for about ten or twenty minutes when the assistance light started flashing.
