Chapter 10
As Becky drove away from Tizzy’s home she noticed a car follow her. Then it sped up into the lane beside her and drove along side. Becky looked sideways. It was Branson. He motioned for her to roll down her window. At the next set of lights she did just that.
“Becky, I need to speak to you.” Branson pleaded
Becky began to wind up the window, when he said, “Please Becky, let me explain my actions back there. It was all an act”
Becky thought a second then said, “Follow me Peter, I am heading home. We can talk there.”
When the lights changed, Becky drove on and Branson maneuvered his car behind hers. She rang Roger on the mobile and warned him that Branson was coming back with her. When they reached home, Roger was waiting at the door.
The two men shook hands. Roger looking confused.
“Roger I am terribly sorry, but I had to speak to Becky urgently. I did not want Tizzy to see me talking to her, hence the dramatics.” Branson explained then turning to Becky “I hope I did not scare you”
“A little at first, but I have to admit, I am very curious to hear what you have to say. I will make one thing clear, hurting Tizzy or Grant is not an option you have.” Becky was still on guard.
“And, if I was meaning everything I was saying about Grant, I would not blame you for feeling that way. Becky the truth is that I have great respect and admiration for the man. But I was playing a part for a reason.” Branson explained.
“In that case, you better come in Peter. We can talk there.” Roger invited him in
Five minutes later they were seated at the kitchen table, coffee mugs in their hands.
“OK Peter, so what was all that about?” Becky started
“Becky you are a good friend to both Tizzy and Grant. Almost from the very first moment that I saw them together, I have believed, that Grant did not look upon Tizzy as just another employee. I am ashamed to say that the first time I saw them; I thought this was another sleazy little office affair. Then I saw Tizzy. The truth is, she was not the kind of woman Grant would just have an affair with. And I also saw the way Grant looked at her, protected her. The irritation he showed at my lunch invitation to her, his anger at seeing us having dinner together. These were all signs of a man who feared losing someone who was very special to him. Again, at first I thought it was because she was a valued employee. But his behavior today, cleared up any doubts that I may have had. I believe he is in love with her himself.”
“Peter, even if he is, which I personally do not believe, it is really none of our business. His personal life is his to lead as he wishes.” Roger said
“That is very true. But if we can see two people love each other, and also see that they are drifting apart because they are misreading each other’s clues should we not put them back onto the right path?” Peter asked.
“And what if we put two people on the right path, but they really don’t want to travel together, what happens then Peter?” It was Roger again who did the asking.
“Then I’ll stand by the wayside and befriend the one that wants to leave” Peter said soberly.
Roger and Becky exchanged glances. ‘Wasn’t this the very thing, I told you this morning, her eyes said.’ But it was too early to express their sentiments to Peter. They had to know more about his intentions.
“Peter I work with them. Their relationship is purely on business terms. In fact until my recent bout of morning sickness, they barely spoke to each other. They have never met socially, they don’t know the first thing about each other. Believe me, there can be no romance there.” Becky uttered words that were contrary to her thoughts
“Then why does he drive by her place at 10 pm at night?”
“Peter that is a public road, anyone can drive through it” Roger said
“True, but why would a man drive through a ‘No through road’, park, then seeing me with her, drive off in a mad rush?” Peter added
“What were you doing there?” Becky asked
“Soon after Grant and Trisha left, Tizzy complained of a headache and wanted to leave. I drove her home. So sure was I that he would come there after dropping Trisha,that I hung around until he did.” Peter sounded as proud as a sleuth would have sounded when he had solved his cases.
“Since you have studied him so closely, do you think Tizzy feels likewise?” Becky asked
“Oh she is in love with him. Whether she is aware of the knowledge herself or not, I am not certain. You see, at the restaurant, she saw Grant dining with Trisha. I could feel the pain she felt at that moment. Grant told me she resigned this morning. Now I told myself, what an odd thing for a girl to do who less than 24 hours earlier had told me of her love for her work and the company. So I asked myself, if she was not running to something, what was she running from? It was definitely not Grant himself because she was happy to work for him. So it must be her feelings for Grant” Peter saw he had Becky and Roger’s full attention. “Believe me, if I did not feel that Grant is in the same boat, I would never try to bring them together. One sided love-affairs are the most painful and damaging relationships.”
“Peter, you are forgetting one thing. If Grant loves Tizzy, then why is he engaged to Trisha? Your meddling will mean at least one person will get hurt, if not all of them” Becky added
“Engaged? Who said that to you? He did not introduce her as his fiancée. In fact just this morning he said that Trisha was an old friend. You don’t call the person you are marrying as an ‘old friend”. Things have changed a lot from when I was young, but surely not that much. There was no mention of romance between them. Did he tell you himself?” Branson was bemused by this piece of information
“Tizzy saw them holding hands, saw her engagement ring. And they have been seeing each other regularly” Becky continued, while Roger merely listened.
“Now how did I miss all that? Guess I was concentrating on Tizzy reactions, though that in itself is a hard job when she never takes those glasses off.”
“She has sensitive eyes.” Becky defended her friend
“Did you say Tizzy saw them?” Peter said reflecting back “Don’t you see that proves my theory. Why would she mention that to you about someone who was a mere “boss”? Hang on Becky, you know more that you are telling me. In fact, I’d say, you already knew what I have just concluded, didn’t you Becky?” Peter had once again judged correctly.
“Peter, I have a question. Why are you concerned? Granted you have known Grant for a long time and are very fond of him. But Tizzy is a very new acquaintance. If you really want them to become an item, then why are you giving the wrong impression at every step? My feelings were that you liked her yourself.” Becky said avoiding his question.
“I don’t just like her Becky, I love her.” Branson addressed them, then after a moment’s silence, continued, “I need an assurance from both of you that this conversation will be kept in total confidence. It is of paramount importance.” Branson waited for their response.
“Will such a promise, hurt either Grant of Tizzy?” Becky was the first to ask.
“No, but breaking that promise will” Branson finished
Becky and Roger were now more than intrigued. Branson’s actions and comments this past week had been very strange. His attack of Grant’s morals and work was slanderous. Yet now he was sitting with them, wanting them to believe that all he felt was concern for Grant and Tizzy’s feelings for each other.
“You have our word.” Becky said, confirming it with Roger
“Peter, I don’t understand one thing, if you love Tizzy yourself, then why are you pushing her towards Grant?” Roger was the one to ask
“Yes I love Tizzy, but I am not in love with her, he is. There is a difference in the kind of love we both feel for her.” Branson replied promptly.
“Answer this then Peter, why have you taken on the task of becoming their match-maker. What do you gain from it? And who are you really trying to help, Tizzy or Grant?”
/> “It does not matter who I am trying to help. If my deductions are correct, then they belong together.”
“Then let’s go back to what I asked earlier. What do you gain by it?” You are practically a stranger to..?”
“No Becky, I am not a stranger. Far from it! You see, I am Tizzy’s grandfather.” Peter’s words stunned Roger and Becky. Becky’s mug fell from her hands. Roger merely stared at Branson’s face.
“You are what?” Roger exclaimed
“My wife Betty, and I shared one child. A daughter named Cynthia. Though we loved her very dearly, we got caught up in ensuring that our business was a success. Betty and I worked long hours and we established a thriving company. Cynthia went to the best of schools and lacked nothing that money could buy. We did not realise that the one thing that she wanted from us was the only thing we could not give at that stage. That was our time. We grew apart. Then when she was seventeen, she announced that she was pregnant. Twenty-eight years ago, society was not so accepting of unwed mothers. We gave her an ultimatum; it was either marriage or an abortion. The next day she left home. For a week Betty and I searched every nook and corner and met with all her friends. But there was no trace of her. From her friends, we learnt that her baby’s father was married. A week later we received a letter from Cynthia. She told us she never wanted to see us again. She wrote that we had let her down at a time when she needed us the most. That she would not abort the child and that she could not marry the father. She said she would bring up her child herself and that as long as we did not try to find her, she would send us a photo of the baby every year on its birthday, for old times’ sake. But if we made any attempt to find her then she would break all contact with us. Betty and I decided that some news of our daughter was better than none, so we agreed. Cynthia had a baby girl twenty-eight years ago. Every birthday after that, she sent us a photo. Seeing our grandchild grow year by year and finding that we were missing our child too, Betty and I began fighting and blaming each other for what happened. In the end, the pressure was too much for our marriage. We first separated, and later divorced fifteen years ago. Cynthia wrote of her disappointment is us. She sent one last photograph of our granddaughter. Our granddaughter was 12 years old in it. We never heard from Cynthia again for the next five years. Then suddenly I received a letter from her. She told us that she was dying. That finally she came to realise how hard parenthood was. That she had promised to always be there for her daughter. But when Tizzy’s father died she was unable to cope with his loss and had taken to drinking. Her daughter began keeping very late hours, dancing away till the early hours of the morning. Then one night Trizella was brutally attacked. Had it not been for a couple of men who had come out of the dance hall to have a cigarette, she would have been raped, maybe even killed. When Cynthia learnt of it, drunk as she was, she accused her of ‘asking’ for it with the way she dressed, and the hours that she kept. Trizella left home that night, taking all the money in her personal bank account. Her father it seems had made large deposits on a regular basis. I guess it was his way of making up for not being there for Trizella. Cynthia was sure Trizella would be able to cope on her own and at twenty-one would inherit not only a home but also a substantial amount of money from her father’s estate. She said she did have one regret, that in her anger at our divorce, she had told Trizella that her grandparents had died in an accident. That was our last communication from her. We searched everywhere for Trizella. The letter was postmarked Broome, but no one in Broome had heard of either of them. We lived in dread for a couple of years. Dreading every phone calls in case it was the police with the bad news. Dreading the papers, in case we read her name. In her letter the only clue that I had about my grandchild was that her name was Trizella. I didn’t know if my daughter lived under an alias. And I didn’t know what surname she had given her daughter.” Peter saw Roger and Becky listen with rapt attention.
“I am sorry to hear all this Peter, I really am, but how can you be sure that, Trizella is Tizzy.” Roger asked
“Cynthia had the same breathing problem. I think Tizzy is about the same age as what Trizella would be now. I am sure of it. Her features resemble her mothers.” Then looking at Becky he said “And I think Becky is sure of it too.”
“Tizzy has not told me much of her past. But I do know she was attacked once. And that she left home as a result of that attack. And that she was disappointed that her mother had not stood up for her.” Becky said “but the two incidents could be totally unrelated and mere coincidences.”
Peter reached into his back pocket and took out a wallet. From it he produced a photo. In it a twelve-year-old child was smiling back. Her brown hair fell in gentle curls around her shoulder. You could call her a pretty child, but what made her look truly beautiful, were her eyes.
“I have never seen Tizzy without her glasses, but I can bet anything, that her eyes are cobalt blue. Becky, am I right?” Peter asked. Roger too looked at Becky questioningly.
“The deepest cobalt blue: the clearest cobalt blue. God! Can it really be true? Why haven’t you said anything to Tizzy?”
“Both Tizzy and her mother have this habit of disappearing on us. I wanted to make sure that Tizzy had reached a point when she could trust me enough to stay when I told her about us. Don’t forget that she has been told that her grandparents are dead. I was hoping to befriend her, and once she trusted me enough, I would have told her my side of things. But then the two of them had to go and fall in love. And I could see that Tizzy was going to run anyway, unless I did something about it. The girl had already resigned. I thought if I could get her to admit her feelings or to stay on at T & G Mallaby a bit longer as a result of my so-called dislike of Grant, I could buy more time. I need that time, Becky.”
“Peter even if we are sure of Tizzy’s feeling, Grant has not confirmed our suspicions. What if he is just being nice? Grant has always taken care of his employees. And since his brother’s death, he has been extra careful of any employee who has a disability.” Roger put in
“Grants parting words this morning were ‘Let’s put it this way, Branson, if Tizzy goes, as far as I am concerned, so do you’. Now why would a man jeopardise an annual quarter of a million dollar account, for a mere employee?” Peter finished
“So what do we do now? There is Trisha to think about, Tizzy’s resignation, and Grant’s feelings too.” Becky started.
“You are going to concentrate on the little baby within you, and leave the rest to both of us. You haven’t been well lately anyway.” Roger clarified.
“I agree with Roger, though I will ask you to keep an eye on Tizzy for me. I know I hurt and upset her today. Until I get a chance to explain, please put in a good word for me every now and then. I don’t want my only grandchild hating me too.” Peter said
“Look I will take care of myself, but Grant is a very good friend of mine. I think I should be the one to talk to him.” Becky argued
“Don’t tell him anything about our conversation. That all can wait till later. By the way, what’s this about Tizzy having children? The times I have been there, she has been alone and she has never spoken of them.” Peter asked
“Who told you she has children?” Becky asked
“Grant, I think he thought the news would act as a deterrent to me.” Branson smiled
“They are not her children. Tizzy does voluntary work at a cancer hospital. Their mother has cancer. Tizzy gets the children every alternate weekend, to give the parents time to rest and be by themselves. The mother is at her worst after her chemotherapy on Fridays and her husband likes to give his full attention to her needs. It’s a regular arrangement at the moment. So I just hope, it’s not going to be Grant who is going to be deterred by their presence.” Yes, thought Becky, she needed to have that talk with Grant.
“And the wedding ring? I noticed she wears one.” Peter questioned
“Even though Tizzy has pretty much recovered from that attack in physical
terms, she is still emotionally scarred. She has done a lot to herself, in order to protect herself from anything like that happening again in the future. Trying to make herself look ugly and inconspicuous was one of her defenses. She had built a fortress around her against all men, but I guess she must have a guardian angel somewhere out there. In less than a week, she has two men fighting for her love. I used to pray that someone nice would come along for her. Now I hope that ‘the someone nice’, will want to stay.” Becky became pensive. A lot of relationships could be irrevocably damaged if things did not turn out as they hoped. Their little game could back fire really badly on all of them.
Roger and Peter were thinking the same. Becky’s meeting with Grant, was going to decide if they, the ‘three match makers’ were going to get involved.