I Learnt To Love In Liverpool | George Harrison ✅

♥ 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞 ♥

9th December 1980

George smirked at me over the top of his teacup, wiggling his thick eyebrows suggestively. I giggled, "you're insane." I paused, "I'm not doing it again. Remember when we tried that back in '69?"

Julian groaned, "you two are disgusting," he paused, "do you have to talk about sex at the breakfast table?"

"Would you prefer the dinner table, darling?" I asked rhetorically, smirking at his exaggerated groan. He knew that George and I were just joking around, because we always had.

"Dhan," Julian nudged Dhani, who was sitting beside him, his head buried in the latest Smash Hits magazine, which had been delivered the day before. Dhani hummed in reply, but very obviously wasn't listening. "Dhan?"

"He's not listening to you, Jules." Nancy sighed from the other end of the table, using a handheld mirror to check that her eyeshadow hadn't smudged since she'd come downstairs.

"It's very rare that anybody does."

"Don't be rude, Jack." I chided. Jack looked away from his guitar which was resting in his lap. He wanted to be a musician, much like George. Julian also had this dream, though didn't usually have a guitar attached to his side as Jack did.

"I didn't mean it, y'know, mum." Jack replied, "jus' a bit of fun." Jack spoke more like a Scouser than all of my children, and I had never quite managed to work out why. He idolised George, of course - they all did - so I had always assumed that he just copied his hero's accent.

"Mummy! I dropped my tea!" I sighed, looking at Sophie, my youngest child. She was just four years old, and was likely to be mine and George's last child

"Oh, Soph," I said as I clicked my teeth in dismay, getting up and going to the kitchen sink in the other room to fetch a cloth to wash the tea from her, "I wish you'd be more careful. The rest of you need to finish your breakfast because I'm leaving for school in twenty minutes, and if you're not ready to go then you'll have to walk." I looked over at George, who looked mildly impressed. It was very rare that either of us had to parent the five children; they were no problem, and usually Julian - who was seventeen - or Dhani, who was sixteen - would tell the younger two; eleven year old Jack, and four year old Sophie off before George or I could get to them.

Somebody rang the front door bell, and it echoed throughout the house and into the dining room. Julian stood up, "I'll get it."

I replied, "no you won't. Sit down and finish your breakfast. Now, Jules." He did as he had been told and then I went to get the door. When I opened one of the double doors, I saw Paul standing there.

He looked like a wreck.

My eyes widened and I gulped, my mind instantly going to the worst thing that I could think of. "Is it -?"

Paul shook his head, swallowing and taking several seconds before he spoke, "Em, I need to come in." I nodded and rushed him into the small reception room just off the main hallway. I closed the door behind me and sat Paul down, wishing that I could offer him a cup of tea to steady his nerves before he told me what was wrong. He took several deep breaths and then said, "Lo... i-it's John..."

"John?" I asked in disbelief and fright, falling onto the settee beside him. Paul put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him until I rested my head on his shoulder. "Yoko phoned - h-he's been shot..."

"SHOT!?" I exclaimed, rising hurriedly from my seat and pacing back and forth across the floor as Paul explained.

"S-someone was waiting outside of the D-Dakota building... John was s-shot, and d-died on the w-way to the -"

I broke into tears, going over to the bookshelves which lined one wall of the room and resting my arm on them, burying my head into my sleeve as I sobbed. I hadn't loved John in nearly fifteen years, but I still cared very deeply for him despite how unkind he had been since he had gotten with Yoko. I remembered how he had called me when his son, Sean, had been born, and how he had apologised for being absent from Julian and Dhani's lives. I remembered how he had been when George and I had taken all of the children over to New York to meet baby Sean before I had been pregnant with Sophie. And then I remembered John as I had known him best - as children; teenagers, really - in Liverpool. I remembered him at the Cavern, and at Mendips. I remembered him laughing and smiling, looking after me after I had found Kevin, my stepfather, dead in our front room.

"Em..." Paul came over to me and put a hand on my shoulder, "Yoko's asked if Jules and Dhani would fly over to be with Sean and her for the funeral..."

I sniffled, turning my head over my shoulder to look at him, "she doesn't want anybody else there?"

"I think she wants it to be private."

"But Paul," I replied, wiping my nose and standing upright, realising how hurt he must be about John's death, too. "John was your best friend... you should be there, too."

"I know," he bit his lip, "we should all be there, but she won't allow it... and if we all turn up, she might send us all packing - Dhan and Jules included - and they need to be there more than me, you and George do right now."

I nodded, agreeing entirely with him... and then my heart seized up. I hiccuped as I dried my eyes and said, "I need to tell the boys... and George -"

"I'll tell George." Paul said, "you tell Dhani and Julian first." I nodded and Paul and I took a few more minutes before we left the room and headed into the dining room.

As soon as we entered, I saw that everybody had done as I had asked. They were all ready to go to school - other than George, of course, who had his coat on and his green wellies as he wanted to get some gardening done before the really cold weather set in.

But as soon as they saw my face - and Paul's - they knew that something was wrong.

Nancy was the first to me, "mum?" She asked carefully, "is everything okay? What's happened?"

"Dhan," I swallowed, "Julian," I ignored Nancy, knowing that if I spoke to anybody other than my oldest two then I would cry, "I need to tell you something. Come on..." I turned and walked out of the room, knowing that they would follow me. I heard Paul asking George if they could go somewhere private.

I went into the reception room that I had been in with Paul and the boys followed, Julian closed the door as he was the last in. I took one last look at their young, carefree faces. They both looked as though nothing in the world fazed them, though I knew that that was about to change.

"Boys..." I swallowed as I gestured to the chair, "your father's had an accident..." they knew that George wasn't their biological father, but they both still called him 'dad'. "Well actually," I hiccuped, feeling the tears falling down my face, "it's a little worse than that... h-he died on the w-way to the h-hospital."

Both boys were silent, though Julian looked more shaken than Dhani, who was just staring off into the distance. It took several seconds before either of them spoke.

"W-when?"

"Yesterday. T-time zones a-and everything..." I replied, "boys, I'm so sorry, I -"

"Is Sean okay?" Dhani asked in a nonchalant voice, turning his attention back to me.

"I don't know," I hesitated, "Yoko c-called Paul, and he came right o-over... she's asked you to f-fly over."

"Now?" Julian asked in disbelief.

I nodded, "as soon as you can, I think." There was a crushed feeling inside of my heart. I could hardly breathe, it felt like it was weighing me down. I couldn't imagine how Julian and Dhani were feeling.

"We'll go." Julian stood up, turning back around to look at Dhani, who was still sitting on the settee, once again staring into space, "right, Dhan?"

Dhani was silent. I looked at Julian and said softly, "go and pack, Julian, your dad will drive you to the airport in a little while." Julian nodded and left without another word. I sat down beside Dhani and just took him into my arms... and for the first time in his life, Dhani buried his head in my chest and just sobbed. It broke my heart, and made me cry, too. We cried together, mourning the same man but two different people. I mourned my best friend, the teenager with big dreams from Liverpool - and Dhani mourned the man that John should have been.