A Taste of Home

kettle on before you go? I’m sure everyone would feel better after a nice cup of tea.’
‘I’ll do it in a minute,’ said Eliot. ‘And I’m going to stay here for the next couple of days too. Just to be on the safe side.’
That had to be service above and beyond the usual remit of home carer. Eliot had said that he was a friend of my grandfather’s and that kind gesture proved it.
‘That would be a great help if it isn’t too much trouble,’ said Doctor Clarke. ‘I had been wondering if it would be better to take him back into hospital.’
‘Oh no,’ said Eliot. ‘Don’t do that. You know how frustrated he was when they wouldn’t let him home straight after surgery. I’m happy to be here and Vicky’s already re-drafted the rota because I’m supposed to be on holiday.’
‘Eliot, Eliot,’ the doctor sighed. ‘Where would we be without you?’
He ducked his head, but didn’t answer and I began to feel guilty for biting his head off when he turned up. I supposed my unexpected arrival and claim to the Brown name did, in some way, justify him ordering me back into the house, and now I hadn’t fessed up to the doctor about who I was, his continued suspicious stare was nothing more than I deserved.
‘I’ll put the kettle on,’ I offered, trying to make amends.
Given the circumstances, it was the least I could do.
‘Excellent,’ nodded Doctor Clarke before rushing out.
By the time Eliot had seen her off, pulled off his boots and leather suit and checked on my grandfather who had fallen asleep, I had made a pot of tea and rinsed out a mug.
‘Who isn’t having any?’ he frowned.
‘Me,’ I told him. ‘I think it would be best if I left, don’t you?’
‘But you’ve only just arrived.’
‘I know,’ I said. ‘But my timing’s not ideal, is it? I’ll go.’
Eliot looked at me again, this time his head was cocked as if he was trying to weigh me up. He was probably wondering if I was the real deal or a possible impostor.
‘Look,’ he said, as I fiddled with the straps on my rucksack. ‘I know you probably think I was out of order for snapping at you before.’
‘No, I don’t,’ I quickly interrupted, though just a few minutes ago I’d been fizzing. ‘You’re just looking out for my grandfather. I get that. And someone turning up out of the blue and claiming to be a relative isn’t a usual Saturday morning occurrence, is it?’
‘No, it isn’t,’ he said, clearly relieved that I’d accepted his previously harsh tone. ‘And you don’t look like a Brown. Not that I’m suggesting you’re not who you say you are, but as far as I know, neither dark hair nor olive skin feature in the family tree.’
Definitely weighing up my credentials then.
‘My dad was Italian,’ I told him, giving up yet more information.
‘Oh right.’
‘I never knew him, but Mum left here to look for him when she found out she was pregnant with me. She didn’t find him though.’
I didn’t seem able to stop myself from blurting stuff out. It was definitely time to head back to town.
‘And she’s never come back here in all that time, has she?’ Eliot mused.
‘No.’
‘You know,’ he pondered. ‘I don’t even think Bill knows she had a baby. He’s certainly never mentioned a grandchild to me.’
That made me feel marginally better. At least my grandfather wasn’t hankering for something he’d never had. Even if, thanks to Mum’s letter, I had started to.
‘How old are you?’ Eliot asked.
‘Twenty-eight.’
‘I’m twenty-six, so only slightly younger.’
‘Does he ever talk about her?’ I couldn’t resist asking.
‘He used to, but not for years now. Not to me, anyway. That said, he hasn’t talked about much at all recently. He’s not had the best couple of years.’
‘Oh.’
‘He’s not been well and not being able to properly look after the farm has only added to his problems. We’re all hoping he’s turned a corner now he’s got this new hip. Hopefully he’ll be up and running and back to his old self again soon. God knows, the farm needs him.’
Eliot was giving up information as readily as I was, and knowing my grandfather’s life was on the up again did go some way to making me feel better about not hanging around. I knew Mum had wanted me to come and potentially stay, but her dad didn’t need this sort of revelation at this point in his recuperation. Come to that, he probably never would.
‘Finding out about you is going to come as a bit of a shock though,’ Eliot then said.
‘Well,’ I said. ‘I didn’t tell him anything other than my name, and that could just be a coincidence like the doctor assumed, so if you and Vicky can keep it to yourselves, he won’t find out, will he? I’ll be out of sight in a minute and no one will be any the wiser.’
‘Is that why you didn’t tell Doctor Clarke who you are?’
‘Yes,’ I nodded. ‘I’d already made up my mind to go again and so the fewer people who know about me, the better.’
And no one at all needed to know what had happened to Mum. No matter how she had left things here when she ran away, her premature demise would be the biggest shock of all. That was one thing I could stop myself revealing. Parents weren’t supposed to outlive their children. It wasn’t the natural order of things.
‘But you’ll come back at some point, won’t you?’ Eliot asked. ‘Give it a few months and then come again?’
I shook my head.
‘No,’ I said. ‘I won’t do that. I shouldn’t have come at all.’
‘I’m not sure I can agree with you about that,’ Eliot frowned.
‘Well,’ I said, pulling on my pack. ‘I’m not asking you to agree with me, just forget you ever saw me.’
He scanned my face again and his flushed.
‘I don’t think I’ll be able to do that either,’ he smiled.
His face was completely transformed,