Capital Falling | Book 4 | Sever Winkless, Lance (most popular ebook readers TXT) 📖

which I find reassuring. Stacey, in the bed across the room, had her eyes closed before I entered, and she doesn’t open them before Catherine and I leave the room. I am fairly sure that she is pretending to be asleep so I don’t push her, and simply wish her goodnight as I leave.

“Shall we go straight to bed too?” Catherine asks me on the landing, just outside our room.

“As tempting as that is, do you mind if we wait until Josh and Alice get back?”

“They’re not children, I’m sure they can sort themselves out, Andy,” Catherine tells me.

“I know, but old habits die hard. I’d just like to see them when they get back to check they are okay after their first outing. Can we give them half an hour?” I ask. “Maybe we could cosy up on the sofa…” I quickly add embarrassingly, fearing I have blown my chance with my gorgeous woman for the night and feeling like a foolish love-struck teenager.

“Oh Andy, you are a funny one,” Catherine smiles. “Okay, but you’re not getting past first base.”

“We’ll see about that,” I threaten and chase Catherine down the stairs.

No sooner have I caught her and thrown Catherine onto the sofa, ready to attack and with her squealing with laughter, than an engine sounds outside the cottage and headlights shine through the front window.

“I told you that you wouldn’t get past first base. Now off you get, the children are back,” Catherine announces victoriously, sniggering.

“I may have lost the battle, but I’ll win the war,” I counter and kiss her before I quickly get to my feet and straighten myself up before Josh and Alice come through the front door.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Catherine winks as she moves into a casual sitting position on the sofa.

Josh and Alice are chatting away as the front door closes and they come through to the lounge. As soon as they see us an awkward silence breaks out.

“Not disturbing you are we, Dad?” Josh says with a cheeky smile on his face.

“No, not at all. We’ve just put Emily to bed,” I mumble. “How was the pub?” I ask quickly, changing the subject.

“It was okay, a small country pub, a proper spit and sawdust place. Everyone was talking about the infection though. They have even put an old portable TV on the bar and had the news on the whole time,” Josh says.

“Wasn’t the night off we were hoping for, to be honest,” Alice admits.

“I don’t think there’s any getting away from it,” I volunteer.

“We did get to talk though,” Josh tells me.

“Oh yes, what about?” I ask, suspiciously eyeing Josh whose turn it is to look suddenly awkward.

“Well,” Josh starts, looking anywhere but at me and looking mostly at the floor. “We’ve all been through an ordeal, Dad, and I know what you went through to find me and get me to safety. But I can’t just sit around here when I’m needed elsewhere…”

“No,” I announce, cutting Josh off mid-sentence, knowing exactly what he is going to say. “That isn’t happening, no way! Catherine, tell him,” I order, my stomach dropping.

“Hold on a minute, Andy, Josh hasn’t finished what he was saying. Let’s hear him out,” Catherine replies, unbelievably not following my lead.

“I don’t need to hear him out; I know exactly what he is going to say and it’s not happening. Don’t play dumb, Catherine, you know where this is going. Wait a minute, have you two talked about this already, behind my back?” I storm, losing my cool.

“No, Josh and I haven’t discussed anything behind your back, Andy, and I’ll thank you for not talking to me that way. I’m not dumb! Josh has a right to say his piece and you need to listen to him,” Catherine fires back at me.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t calling you dumb,” I say, regaining some of my cool. “Okay Josh, please continue.”

“Not until you calm down, Dad,” Josh insists.

“Okay,” I say, taking a deep breath before looking at my son, “I’m calm. Close the door though; I don’t want your sister overhearing your hare-brained plan.”

“You’re not calm, Dad,” Josh tells me as he closes the lounge door. “Please listen to me. You above all should understand how I’m feeling.”

“Should I? I’ve never seen anything like these things.”

“No, but you missed most of my childhood in one country or another, supposedly fighting evil for queen and country. Now I’m not trying to belittle what you did, Dad, you know how proud of you I am and that I’ve always looked up to you. But evil is actually here in our own country, on our own doorstep, and you expect me to leave it to someone else to fight. That’s not the way I was brought up, it’s not me. It’s my duty to fight this evil wherever I find it, and you would do exactly the same if you were in my position, wouldn’t you?”

Silence falls over the room when Josh finishes saying his piece and all I can hear is Dan howling in laughter at me, telling me, He’s got you there, Boss. No doubt about it, he’s got you there. Right where it hurts!

How I miss Dan, I think as I look up at my son. Dan always cut through the bullshit and said it just how it was. I am forced to concede that Dan would have been right, and Josh has got me by the short and curlies.

“So, what’s your plan?” I say to Josh with a tear in my eye.

“To report back for duty. Alice and I are going to try and stay together but that’s not really up to us.”

“Alice, is this really what you want?” I ask, looking at her.

“It is, Andy; I feel the same as Josh. I might be American, but this country is as good as home for me,” she tells me without a second to think.

“Well, it sounds like your minds are made up, despite what I think.”

“I wonder