Father & Son: Book two of the Jensen Family Series (2 page)

“He’s perfect.” Paul whispered looking
into his mothers’ eyes “I can’t believe he is a part of me.”

“You’d better believe it my boy; he’s
going to be part of you for the rest of your life.” Her tone was a little harsh
but like her son, she was overcome with emotion at the birth of her first
grandchild.

Carmen remained in hospital for an entire
week. True to his word, Paul had arranged a single room for her although she
had mentioned that some of the mothers on the ward had begun to talk to her
after his first visit, telling her that on seeing him, they partly understood
why she was so drawn to him.

Paul was all too aware of his looks, he knew
his thick, dark hair, kept a little too long but not overly so, was the initial
draw and he made sure to always keep it clean and shining. He often caught
girls and women watching him as he pushed his heavy fringe out of his eyes,
some of them hiding blushes, others sighing at the gesture. His height was
often remarked upon, at sixteen he had reached just over six foot and would
grow another two inches before obtaining his full height.

Comments were also made about his dark
brown, almost black eyes fringed, with thick black lashes that brushed his
sculptured high cheek bones as he slept. Broad shoulders flared from his
elegant neck and tapered down into his hard muscled chest and stomach,
narrowing at the hips. Even from behind he was an impressive sight; his
shoulders shaped the clothes that he wore without detracting from his muscular
back and pert, firm bottom filling whatever garment he chose to wear. Trousers
clung to his thighs as he moved, accentuating the toned, exceptionally hard
muscle beneath the material and he moved with the grace of a trained dancer.

He knew he was blessed in the looks
department and was lucky to have a naturally athletic body, he was delighted
with his added bulk when he begun to attend the gym which would become a
lifetime habit over the years to follow. He realised very early, that his body
coupled with his chiselled facial features from his proportionally straight
nose and full, well defined lips, made him an attractive proposition and found
that he really didn’t have to try to make women notice him, wherever he was,
whatever way he turned, one female or another would smile at him or watch as he
walked by.

The fact that he adored women of all
shapes and sizes was obvious as he didn’t discriminate in who he spoke to or
dated. He enjoyed the company of women whether or not he was involved with
them; they were quirky and funny and gave him no end of amusement. Even ex
girlfriends didn’t have a bad word to say about him although he would generally
break off one relationship in order to start another; he treated them all with
respect and had remained friends with all of them. He set about making himself
into the perfect man, his confidence growing with each passing relationship. He
was determined to have it all from the beautiful wife and children to the large
house and fast cars and endless amounts of money to support the lifestyle he
dreamed of and if he kept on the way he was going, everything he wanted was
well within his grasp.

Outside of the hospitals strict visiting hours, Paul
and Monica spent a little time shopping for baby clothes, at Monica’s request,
they also spent a bit more time with Helen and Luke, Monica bristling with
pride at the way her son interacted with the toddler. Paul also took the time
to visit various estate agents and register Carmen’s details, explaining the
current situation that she was unable to visit any properties at present but
they should keep the details of potential properties coming.

The evenings were spent in the hotel room, Monica
generally on the phone to Michael, Tessa and Matt. Paul would shower and then,
wrapped in a bathrobe, sit at the low table in the living room of the suite
Monica had rented and immerse himself in paperwork and scheduling for his
gardening business. He kept the schedule two weeks in advance so he could well
afford to take a break from this but it kept his mind busy when it became
restless.

Plucking the cigarette from his fingers,
Monica, stubbed it out in the overflowing ashtray and scowled at him “I thought
you were going to try and give up?” She asked, hands on hips.

“As you’ve put out more than I’ve smoked I
don’t seem to have to try.” he answered.

“You won’t be able to smoke around the
baby.” She told him, taking a seat on the sofa opposite him.

“I don’t intend to.” He replied.

“I wanted to talk to you about Gavin.”

“I had a feeling you were building up to
something.” He smiled as he put his pen down and lounged back, one bare foot
coming to rest on the edge of the table.

“Don’t sass me boy!” She warned.                                                                                           “Sorry
Mum.” He said, still
smiling.                                                                                   
Monica tutted at his obvious insincerity. “As Carmen is going to be out of
action for a while, it will be down to you to register the
birth.”                                                                                               
“Huh, I hadn’t thought of that. What’s your point?”                                                                            “He
needs to have your surname.” Monica stated.

“Okay, why?” He sat up, interested, both
feet on the floor, leaning forward, arms resting on his knees.

“Well, besides the obvious fact that she
didn’t give you any option on the Christian name, the Jensen name will open so
many doors for him as he gets older, not something that’s likely to happen if
he is known as Scott.”

Paul nodded his agreement. “I’ll run it
past her, see what she says.”

“I have a fairly good idea of what she
will say.” Monica huffed.

“Mum, you are going to let me handle this
aren’t you?”

“Of course, why would you think
otherwise?” She asked, mimicking his earlier insincerity.

The argument that ensued over the issue of
Gavin’s surname became nasty with Paul caught between his girlfriend and his
Mother and siding heavily with the latter. Carmen, sore, tired and suffering a
little post natal depression was at her most venomous and despatched the two
Jensen’s from her room within moments of Paul backing up Monica’s well rounded
argument.

Helen watched Paul pace her kitchen.
Although he hadn’t spoken since coming into the room with his mother, she could
see he was angry; he was physically shaking with his arms firmly crossed over
his chest, his fists tight balls either side of his ribs.

Placing the tea pot and her best china on
the table in front of Monica, she turned to Paul, touching his arm as he paced
towards her, “Give her time, she’ll get used to the idea.”

“I don’t care if she doesn’t, he’s having
my surname. Who the hell does she think she is?” He. raised his voice, his
scowl deepening, finally giving reign to his temper. “This is unbelievable, I
could understand it if I had done a runner, never to be seen again but I’m
here, I want to be a part of his life, I’m going to support them both and she’s
still trying to take the lead over me. What gives her right to do any of that
without considering my side of things?”

While he ranted, Helen sat next to Monica
who was cuddling Luke close to her chest, Paul’s sudden raised voice had
startled him and he was sitting stock still, watching him pace and shout, eyes
wide in astonishment.

“Paul.” Monica said softly, Helen was
convinced he wouldn’t hear her but he stopped pacing and turned towards her. “You
are frightening Luke.” Monica pointed out.

He raked his fingers through his hair as
he regarded the frightened little boy, relaying his rant in his head. Suddenly,
he smiled and sank down to Luke’s level where he was perched on Monica’s knee.

“I’m sorry buddy,” he started, his voice
soft, placating. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” He ruffled the blond hair,
affecting a higher pitch and adopting baby like speak he continued. “I may have
shouted but I didn’t swear, we didn’t have to cover your ears did we mate. You
ok?” He was convinced the child didn’t have a clue what he was saying but he
continued to babble until Luke reached out to him, expecting to be picked up.
Lifting him away from Monica, Paul sat him on his own lap, bouncing his legs up
and down while he held the boy, parting his legs every now and then pretending
to let him drop bringing forth squeals of laughter from the now, very happy
toddler.

Monica was up early the following morning
packing their things in preparation for the journey home, they had stayed
longer than expected and she was looking forward to returning to her family and
bringing order back to the house.

“Morning.” Paul mumbled as he wandered
into the suites’ living room and reached for the coffee pot, he had slept
fitfully after once again arguing with Carmen upon the presentation of Gavin’s
birth certificate which stated, clear as day that the boy now bore his surname.

“Good Morning.” Monica replied before
facing her son “Good God put some clothes on.” She continued observing her son
in just a pair of boxer shorts.

“Coffee first.” He answered, smiling at
her over the top of the cup.

Monica tutted and turned back to her
suitcase but not before she noticed how much her son had matured and the
perfect sculptured body that was usually hidden beneath his clothes. She
mentally slapped herself for giving her own son the once over, telling herself
that even if he wasn’t her son, he most definitely wasn’t her type, she
preferred blue eyed blonds but that didn’t mean she didn’t recognise an attractive
man when she saw one and Paul was most certainly one of those. She shook her
head upon the realisation that even she wasn’t immune to his charm.

“Why are you packing?” Paul asked, now
dressed, he came to peer into his case.

“We are going home today, I did tell you.”
She straightened from folding clothes.

Paul mused that she had indeed told him of
their departure date. “I’m not going home.” He stated.

“Oh yes you are.” She replied, hands on
hips.

“Mum, think about it, Carmen still can’t
do a lot and Helen has a part time job now that Luke is in play group, I’m
needed here at least for now, I’m staying.”

“You make a good argument.” Monica told
him “What about your business?”

“I can run that from here and Phil’s a
good guy, he’ll oversee things for me and it’s not like it’s going to be
forever. I’d quite like to look into the possibility of getting something going
up here as well.”

“Ok, what about the two days you do at the
office?” She asked.

Paul pulled a face, even though under
Norman Satchell’s tutelage he was beginning to enjoy the work he would still
rather not be in the same building as his father for any length of time. “I was
hoping you could talk to Dad or Gramps about some paternity leave?” He hedged.

“I don’t want you to stay.” Monica sighed
“But I do see that you have very little choice at the moment so yes, I will
talk to your father about time off for you, don’t expect it to be paid though
and Paul, don’t forget about your business, you are doing well, I would hate to
see it all ruined.”

“I won’t forget Mum and I’ll call you
every day and let you know how things are going.”

Paul ended up staying in Gloucester for
three months, during which time he made himself indispensible to the two women
by doing chores around the house as well as completing the maintenance on it.
He looked after Gavin when Carmen returned to work having managed to secure a
position as a night school teacher for adults wishing to further their
education and he took very good care of Luke, picking him up from play group, allowing
Helen to do some much needed overtime.

Perusing the business section of the
papers on a daily basis, he also managed to pick up a failing gardening company
for a very reasonable price and persuaded Phil to join him for a week to see
what they could do with the workforce and try to coerce them into his way of
working before leaving Phil with them to once again collect Luke. He had come
to look on the boy as his surrogate son and immensely enjoyed the time they
spent together.

Carmen found her evening work very
rewarding and often found herself drawn into raucous debates during lessons. It
felt so good to be exercising her mind again, there was after all, only so many
hours in the day that she could tolerate cooing at her baby and enduring Paul’s
teenage drama’s and the long drawn out conversations that he had with his
brother over the phone every couple of days which is about the only time she
heard him laugh these days. Working at night also meant that she slept late in
the morning when he was usually up and out taking care of Gavin giving her much
needed space from his wondering hands and persistent mouth; he didn’t seem to
understand that she just wasn’t ready to resume their sex life just yet.

Sitting on the sofa with the morning’s
mail, she watched as Paul leant over the travel cot where Gavin was sleeping,
he pulled the blanket a little higher onto the boy’s body, gently stroking the
shock of dark hair on his head before straightening and sitting beside Luke and
a very large colouring book. His loving, gentle ways with both boys squeezed
her heart, making her feel most unfair by repeatedly spurning his advances, but
if she wasn’t ready, he would just have to accept that. Besides, she was still
a little tender in her nether regions and Paul was well endowed, the mere
thought of having sex made her cringe, remembering the pain of the birth and
the subsequent glut of stitches, no, he would just have to wait.

“Where’s Helen?” She asked, her fingers
deftly opening the large envelope from the estate agents.

“She went shopping.” He answered, not
bothering to look up, he was still a bit miffed after having been turned down
again.