The Man Who Sold His Son (Lanarkshire Strays) by Mark Wilson

Author:Mark Wilson [Wilson, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Paddy's Daddy Publishing Ltd
Published: 2014-06-20T22:00:00+00:00

The next afternoon found them in a deli named Maize & Blues in Ann Arbor, Michigan, eating sandwiches and listening to Tom’s friend describe the process of forging new identities for the three of them. Sarah listened absent-mindedly, whilst she watched the waitress and some local kids chatting to Tommy. The kid seemed a little happier since their late night chat and seemed, on the surface at least, to be processing their situations. How he would cope in the coming days and weeks without his father remained to be seen. Alex hadn’t missed a day of their son’s life until now. Every bedtime, breakfast, grazed knee, or worry, Alex had been the one who Tommy went to, who Tommy needed. It was going to be difficult on all three of them, the adjustment. Sarah was determined to be up to the task.

“Is that okay with you, love?” Robert asked.

“Huh? Oh, sorry, Mr Hamilton, I was miles away. What was that?”

Robert smiled warmly at her and explained the procedures they’d go through the next day at a colleague’s office. Robert was as big in person as he looked in the photo she’d seen of him. What hadn’t come across in the photo was how gentle the big man was. Looking sixty, rather than eighty years old, he carried himself with a lightness – grace people used to call it – and, if anything, was even more composed and calm than Tom himself. He was powerfully built for his age: Christ, he was powerfully built for a man in his thirties. Robert looked like he’d been a power-lifter but moved like a dancer. He had exactly the same intelligent, irreverent wit as Tom. She saw instantly why the men had been lifelong friends.

Robert had explained to her that he’d settled in Ann Arbor years before after his friend Kim took him in. “Saved my life and taught me how to fight,” Rob had said of Kim. It was obvious he still missed the woman who’d apparently got him into the intelligence business. Sarah was having a difficult time picturing anyone having to teach the man-mountain to fight.

“Okay, we’ll go see my man in the morning and get the ball rolling. Until then, you can stay here in Ann Arbor with me.”

“Are you sure, Mr Hamilton? We wouldn’t want to place you in any difficulty.”

“Call me Rob, please, and it’s no problem at all. Besides, until your new identities and home is arranged, my house is the safest place you could be.”

Rob left the table and went over to where Tommy was chatting with the waitress and the kids. They all seemed to know Robert and were delighted to hear Tommy’s accent, so similar to Robert’s.

“He’s a good man, Tom,” Sarah said.

Tom smiled over at Robert who’d lifted little Tommy over his head. The kid was squealing with delight, marvelling at how high he was.

“He’s the best,” Tom said softly. “Are you holding up okay, love?” he asked.

“Yes… just y’know, I just hope I can manage.

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