The Secret

They were sitting in the front row of the Royal Opera House. Alan held Ellie’s hand gently and she squeezed it reassuringly, smiling at him every now and again. She could tell he was nervous, his palms were damp.



‘Is Alan OK, Mum?’ Sam whispered in her ear. Ellie turned to her. She was looking beautiful tonight, a dark blue gown hiding her small bump. Ellie couldn’t imagine she would be a Grandmother before the end of the year and had to keep reminding herself that time was marching by. Since she met Alan again, it seemed that her life had started again after being put on hold in 1992.



‘Nervous I think. He doesn’t know the best bit yet!’ Ellie grinned at her. They had been able to keep the biggest surprise of the night from him, even though they had found it so difficult to keep it quiet.



Poppy nudged Sam. ‘What’s going on?’



‘Alan’s nervous.’ Sam grinned at her.



‘Ha! That’ll teach him for being too good at his job!’ Poppy and Sam laughed and Alan peered around Ellie to frown at her, she wasn’t being very discreet.



‘Thanks for the vote of confidence, Poppy!’ He laughed and settled back in his seat, taking deep breaths.



Ellie smiled to herself and then remembered something. She reached into her handbag and pulled out something she had tucked into a small pocket in the lining. Leaning over to Alan she whispered in his ear.



‘I forgot, I wanted to give you this, for good luck.’ She slipped into his hand and he looked down, a smile appearing on his face.



‘Oh my god…’ He whispered ‘ I don’t believe it!’



Ellie had handed him the piece of jigsaw he had given her on the day she left, all those years ago. He curled his fingers around it and thought back to that day, his eyes closed as silent tears fell down his face. Ellie handed him a tissue discreetly and he wiped his face.



‘Kyle wasn’t the only part of you I kept.’ She leaned in and kissed him on the lips, not caring who was watching.



Alan looked into her face, his eyes shining with surprise and love. She was still able to pull the rug out from under him, even after all this time.



‘Thank you, darling…’ he whispered and smiled at her, putting the piece of jigsaw into his top pocket and patting it lightly.



‘You’re welcome, but I want it back afterwards.’ Ellie straightened in her seat ‘It’s got me through a lot of bad times, has that bit of cardboard!’



They laughed and Sam leaned in ‘Will you two give it a rest? You’re like a pair of teenagers, it’s embarrassing!’



Alan grinned at her and pointed at her bump. ‘Found that under a gooseberry bush, did you?’



Sam blushed furiously and turned away, grumbling to Poppy who laughed out loud at her.



The lights on the stage went down and applause rang out around the room as Jonathon Ross took his place on the podium.



‘And now we come to our final award of the evening, where the British Academy awards one of their own for longevity and achievement within the field of film making. Or to put it another way, well done for living so long and finding someone to employ you.’



There was laughter around the room and a smattering of applause.



‘To present the award, I am pleased to introduce a young man who is starting to make a name for himself as a Director but has his own, more personal reasons for being here tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, Kyle Rickman McDonald’



Alan turned to Ellie in disbelief. ‘What did he call him? What’s this about?’



Ellie turned to him and smiled, tears in her eyes. ‘He wanted to surprise you; he changed his name by deed poll. He thought you would like it.’



‘Oh my God.’ Alan couldn’t believe his ears and looked up proudly at his son.

There was applause still ringing around the room that died as Kyle started to speak.



‘Hi everyone. I am sure most of you are sitting there thinking ‘who the hell is he,’ or words to that effect.’ He waited for the laughter to stop. ‘I have to tell you that it doesn’t matter to me if you don’t know who I am. The man I am giving this award to knows who I am, and for me, that’s all that matters tonight.’



There was a round of applause and picture of a very young Alan appeared on a screen behind Kyle. The crowd started to cheer and some of them spotted the resemblance and the noise got louder and louder. Alan smiled shyly as some people behind started to slap him on the back.



‘Depending on how old you are, he is Jamie from Truly Madly Deeply, the Sheriff of Nottingham or Hans Gruber, Professor Snape or even Dr Lazarus from Galaxy Quest.’



A group of young people stood in one of the aisles and whooped loudly, much to everyone’s’ amusement.



Kyle laughed ‘ Yeah, Dr Lazarus was my favourite too.’ He paused while the crowd went silent.



‘What most people don’t know is that this man is an important part of a very happy family and I am proud to present this Academy Award to Alan Rickman, my Dad.’



A huge cheer and a few gasps went around the room and everyone stood to applaud as Alan made his way to the stage. Ellie had proud tears in her eyes, Ben was wolf-whistling and Sam and Poppy were hugging each other and crying.



Alan hugged Kyle and whispered a heartfelt thank you that no one else could hear. They smiled at each other as Alan took his place by the microphone.



The audience went quiet and Alan looked out, taking a deep breath.



‘Well, if you’re going to drop a bombshell, why not do it on TV in front of millions?’ he smiled and nodded at Kyle who did a small bow in his father’s direction as the crowd laughed.



Ellie watched as Alan spoke, but she didn’t see the Alan everyone else saw. She saw the man making Spaghetti Bolognese, the man helping Ben with his homework, the man who could still make her scream in bed.



Alan had finished his short speech and everyone stood to applaud him, thinking he had finished, until he put his hand up.



‘There is one last person who deserves a mention from me and I apologise that no one will understand this.’ He turned and his eyes met Ellie’s.



‘I want to thank my wife Ellie, for helping me finish the jigsaw.’ He looked at her and patted his breast pocket.



Ellie smiled and tears ran down her face as the crowd cheered.







The End





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