A Genuine Mistake by Ted Tayler (best life changing books .txt) 📕

was away working, I brought the boys here. They slept in their father’s old bedroom. Evelyn kept them with her at the Trowle house for the rest of the time. The boys rarely came here on the weekends. Gerry and Evelyn spent as much time with the boys as they could, given their busy lives.”

“A lot of parents today struggle to pay for childcare,” said Blessing. “How did you feel about not getting paid for the many hours you must have worked? Especially as you didn’t have a job.”

“That can be explained by the will, Blessing,” said Gus.

“You’re right, Mr Freeman,” said Belinda. “When Dad died, everything passed to Mum. When Mum died, everything was to be split evenly between Gerry and me. In 1993, this house was worth a lot less than today, but I couldn’t afford to give Gerry half. I needed my share of the rest of her estate to provide a modest income. The will stipulated that I should live here until I died, so our hands were tied. I could have sold up in other circumstances, bought a smaller place on one of the new estates in town and given Gerry his share. But my mother amended her will to give me the security of always having a roof over my head. It was her way of thanking me for giving up my hopes and ambitions to look after her and Dad. Mum knew Gerry was a wealthy man. He could afford to wait.”

“Did you and Evelyn meet up often?” asked Gus.

“We didn’t have coffee mornings or do lunch, if that’s what you mean. I saw Evelyn when she dropped the boys here on her way to the airport or when I returned them to Trowle Common a day or two later. Any spare time Evelyn had, she spent with Gerry and the boys.”

“So, she never mentioned that a charity based in New South Wales offered her a well-paid job three months before she returned to Macquarie Pass for the last time?”

“No, she didn’t,” said Belinda. “Nor did Gerry.”

“Evelyn turned them down,” said Gus, “but she hoped that trip was the first step in making a permanent move back to Australia.”

“I don’t believe you. Evelyn was happy here. She loved Gerry and the boys. Gerry had given her everything she asked for with the improvements he made to the house.”

“Sorry,” said Gus. “What I meant was that the trip was a first step in moving the whole family back to her homeland. Evelyn wanted her boys to grow up on the beach in the sun, not the grey, damp winters of the UK. She reasoned that with the internet, Gerry could run his financial business from anywhere in the world.”

“Well, that’s the first time I’ve heard that. Did Gerry know? Was he in favour?”

“We don’t know, Ms Hogan,” said Gus. “How would you have reacted to that news if you’d learned it in 2001?”

“It would have been devastating,” said Belinda. “I would have hated to see my boys disappear to the other side of the world. I don’t know what I would have done.”

“Where were you when Gerry received news of Evelyn’s death?” asked Gus.

“Evelyn’s car crashed over the safety barrier after she’d finished work for the day,” said Belinda. “Over here, that was at seven in the morning. The boys were staying with me. I got them ready for school, and they left the house at the usual time. The police called Gerry at the office at one o’clock in the afternoon. He came straight here with the news. He was in tears. We collected the boys from school together. It was a dreadful time.”

“I can imagine,” said Gus.

“Gerry flew out to Sydney and met with Evelyn’s parents,” said Belinda.

She struggled to contain her emotions.

“Nick Barrett has told us the details, Ms Hogan,” said Blessing. “There’s no need to distress yourself. Gerry and Evelyn’s parents scattered her ashes in the park.”

“You cared for the boys while Gerry was in Australia,” said Gus. “He didn’t return until the middle of March, I believe?”

“That’s right,” said Belinda. “It was just the three of us for weeks. A sad yet happy time.”

“Nick Barrett told us that when Gerry got home, he tried to be a brilliant father to Sean and Byron.”

“I thought he would throw himself into his work to cope with the loss of Evelyn, but he spent every spare minute with those boys. There were still times during the week that Gerry needed my help, but he devoted his weekends to Sean and Byron.”

“He met Rachel Cummins five years after Evelyn’s death,” said Gus. “That seems a reasonable length of time to wait before moving on.”

“That woman was almost twenty years younger than Gerry. What could they possibly have in common? Evelyn was a renowned wildlife photographer. I don’t think a fitness trainer has the same gravitas, do you? Gerry ran a successful professional firm. He deserved a better class of person by his side.”

“You filled that role to some extent for the previous five years,” said Blessing. “You must have been annoyed.”

“Annoyed? I was livid,” said Belinda. “After everything that I’d done for him. The first pretty girl to flash her eyes at him, and Gerry jumps into bed with her. A leopard doesn’t change its spots.”

“Gerry certainly had a few girlfriends over the years,” said Gus.

“Not while he and Evelyn were married, he didn’t,” said Belinda. “Why couldn’t he see that Sean and Byron were happy with having their Dad’s attention far more than they ever had, plus the love of their Auntie Belinda. They knew they could wrap me around their little finger, but I would have done anything for them.”

“Gerry needed something that you couldn’t give him,” said Blessing.

“I’m sure he could have found someone his own age,” said Belinda.