I Learnt To Love In Liverpool | George Harrison ✅

♥ 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐢𝐱𝐭𝐲-𝐍𝐢𝐧𝐞 ♥

I took the children to get ice cream when we had bought everything that they would need for school, and then drove them home. Em was home - she'd left Jack's pram to the side of the front door, so I assumed that she had taken him out for a little bit. I stopped the car and Julian and Dhani got out, but Nancy stayed put.

I turned to her, "you a'right, luv?" I asked her softly, one eye watching the boys' as they climbed the steps to the front door and knocked, waiting for Em to let them in.

"I think mummy is sad about Uncle Paul."

I nodded slowly before I replied, "I think she is, too, darlin'. Why do you think that?"

"I heard her on the phone to Auntie Linda," Nancy answered, "she was crying." I sighed and looked at Nancy; my perfect little Nancy who had no harm nor malice in her entire body. "You won't tell mummy I listened to her on the phone, daddy?"

I shook my head, "it'll be our secret, Nance." I promised. "Go inside and tell mummy that I'll be back later, okay?"

She nodded and got out of the car, and I watched her go before I sighed once more and got out of the car momentarily to close the door which Nancy had left open. I then got back in and started the engine, pulling out of the driveway and driving back down the street I had come from.

I had just one destination in my mind.

* * * * *

I parked the car, got out and slammed the door and scaled the steps to Paul and Linda's front door within seconds of entering the gates of 7 Cavendish Avenue.

Linda opened the door, sheer surprise on her face as soon as she saw me standing there.

"H-Hi George..." she stuttered.

"Is Paul here?" I asked in a gruff tone, my fists clenched at my sides in anger because of the pain which Em and Paul's argument was causing her.

"He's in the dome, is there something I can help with?"

"What did you say to Em?" I asked her, not aggressively. "She was cryin'. Nancy told me."

"I-I was just trying to help -"

"Linda," I said, "what did you say?"

"Paul's angry, George, I was just trying to defuse the tension between them and told her not to call round for -"

"You told her to stay away from her own brother?" I snapped, "Linda, you can't do that! They're all each other has -"

"But Jim -"

"Is in the Wirral with Angie and Ruth - he doesn't have time for Em or Paul!"

"Paul has me -"

"And Emeraude has me, but it's not the same! They need each other, Linda!"

She winced, "don't shout at me, George -"

"I need to see Paul." I pushed past her, making sure not to be too forceful lest I knock her over, and I went through the house and into the garden. Heather was playing with some dolls in the corner, but I ignored her as I stormed over to Paul's dope dome which was in the centre of the garden. I pushed the door open and went inside. He sat bolt upright and glowered at me.

"What do you want, George?" He asked in an angry, yet resigned tone, "is Em with you?"

"No." I answered, "just me... we need to talk, Paul."

He was silent for several seconds, then bowed his head in a nod, gesturing to the cushion across from him. "Yeah," he agreed, "a'right."

I sat and got comfortable before I said, "you need to make it up with Em."

He nodded, "I know."

"And it's not that you should be sorry, or she should, because I don't really understand what happened, but she's sad, Paul. God, she's so sad. She mopes, and now she's ignoring me and -"

"George, I know I have to make it up with her." Paul interrupted me, "she's my sister and we argued over nothin'." I was silent. "It just feels like we argue more and more now and I don't know why. I hate fighting with her. She's my sister - my best friend, even -"

I hung my head, "she won't talk to me, Paul." I hesitated, "it's like we're livin' in a constant argument, she always ignores me."

"Have you argued?"

I shook my head, "not once. Never even a cross word... she just avoids me. I feel like she hates me."

"Emeraude loves you, George..."

"I know, but I think she hates me now, too."

"Why would she do that?"

"Because everytime I come home and complain about a day in the studio, she takes it in. Every time I say you're a controlling piece of -"

"Just remember I'm present, this time, eh?" Paul teased, though he obviously was being serious.

I nodded, "yeah, um... so everytime I say something bad about you, she takes it in. I think she resents me for it, now..." I bit my lip, "I've started to wonder if we're goin' to get through -"

"Don't be daft, George." Paul said softly, "you an' Em are forever, we all know that. I think that's why John brings Yoko in so often - because he knows that if he sees you andEm, then he's going to realise what he lost. It's been you andEm since 1961. You've got four children together, and a good marriage. George, it'll always be you and her." Hearing him say all that made me feel better, but I couldn't stop thinking about the hurtful ways that she had been ignoring me since we had returned from Abbey Road after the photoshoot.

"She's so sad, Paul..." I said quietly, "we both are."

Paul nodded, "I-I think I feel the same." This was new territory for Paul and I; we'd never shared our feelings before, but it felt so important at that moment. We sat in silence for a few seconds, Paul idly watching Heather play out of one of the glass panels of the dome and me playing with the fringe of the cushion that I was sitting on. "It won't last much longer, George." Paul said quietly.

I knew exactly what he was referring to.

"When?" I asked in a tone that was just as quiet.

Paul shrugged, "today, tomorrow... soon. I can't keep doing this. Like you said, it's makin' everybody unhappy; not just the four of us, and nothing is worth that."

I nodded slowly, agreeing with what he had said wholly.

"So what do we do after?" I asked.

"We find a way to be ourselves, and not one of four. We keep going; making music or whatever we want. We've got the money to do it all now, George, the rest is up to us."

The band was over, it was only a matter of time. I needed to process that. I needed to tell Emeraude, and the children.

I stood up, "I-I need to go..."

Paul nodded, "thanks for coming to see me, George." He said, which shocked me a little as he had never thanked me for visiting in the past, "and I'll make it up with Em later, okay?"

"You won't leave it for days, Paul?" I asked him, "she needs somebody to be there for her when she can't come to me."

Paul promised, "I'll pop by later today."

I left 7 Cavendish Avenue feeling accomplished and very sad at the same time; I had done something wonderful for my wife, but I had just received the news that the one constant that had been in my life even longer than Emeraude was over. The Beatles were a thing of the past, and would not be coming into the next decade with us.