My Home From Home (ManxMan)

Chapter 4

London, England - September 1920

Henry glanced up at the timetable in the Waterloo Station, his narrowed gaze scanning the lettering to find the platform number he needed for the 10:45 service to Weymouth, calling at Southampton; his ultimate destination. It had been a tough week since that fateful night when he was caught in that alleyway with that handsome Italian envoy. In the week since, he'd been constantly on edge; mostly the doing of his rather overbearing father and his obsession with getting Henry out of the country with utmost urgency.

Henry ultimately settled on the name 'Henry Dunmurry' as an alias; Dunmurry was his Mama's maiden name and surname of the Dukes of Ulster, influential Anglo-Irish noblemen of which his maternal Grandpapa was one. Henry was well born to say the least; his paternal ancestors had noble English blood that traced back to the Plantagenets, as well as connections to Southern European noble families through his Granny's Bourbon ancestry. On his mother's side however, he had Anglo-Irish blood through his grandfather, tracing back to the Tudor conquest of Ireland, as well as his maternal grandmother being a daughter of Queen Victoria herself and thus making him cousins to half the royals in Europe.

Nonetheless Henry always felt like the odd one out in his terribly well born and often out-of-touch noble family; he was thankful for the privilege and luxuries he'd been born into but there was always something missing. A yearning of sorts that left him willing a different life; a simpler, more common life. He loved his parents dearly, cherished his grandparents whilst they were alive, looked up to his eldest brother Edward, and cared for his younger sister Georgina, and tolerated his other older brother Matthew; Matthew and Henry didn't exactly get on well, mostly Matthew's doing since he'd always been absolutely beastly to his wretched little brother ever since they were children. But now here Henry was, standing in Waterloo Station about to bid his family farewell; embarking on a journey across the Atlantic...to Canada.

    Whilst deployed in the battlefield hospitals of France, Henry befriended many other servicemen from around the Commonwealth;  one young Army Doctor from Canada in particular who served alongside Henry was Adrien Bilodeau who went on to be one of Henry's closest friends and a welcome wartime companion before he eventually went home to Canada to work as a surgeon in Québec City.

    Granny's suggestion to go to Canada set of a barrage of lightbulbs in the young Henry's head; and he wasted no time in sending a telegram to his friend in Québec to ask a favour of him. He waited patiently with bated breaths as the telegram travelled across the Atlantic and back with a hopeful heart. In the days it took to hear back Henry received a courier from the Home Office with brand new identification documents and passport with a cut out window across the top revealing the handwritten name 'Henry Dunmurry'. Once he got word from Adrien that he'd be more than willing to host him whilst he figured out his future in Canada, all plans were set in motion.

"Platform 11..." Henry said softly with a conflicted huff; he hadn't slept a wink the night before just as one tends to do the night before embarking on a consequential journey. But for Henry this wasn't any old holiday to the seaside; he felt this conflicting slurry of emotions within his head, anxiousness as to what the future holds mixed with an understandable fear for setting off on his own in a new country where he only knew very few people. But a part of him also felt excitement; a restless iota of him hoping this was a new page that'd prove to be a fresh start where he could be who he wanted without the heavy expectations of the English aristocracy weighing him down.

   He cocked his head to the side to see his older brother Edward standing silently with a next to him before the timetable; a warm smile forced across his handsome face though his dark brown eyes had sadness in them, sadness that his darling little brother was leaving. Edward had always been so protective of his younger brother but Papa still warned Henry that it wasn't in his best interest for his brothers to know his secret. Though Edward would likely try to help despite his discomfort of his brothers 'perversions' as he'd likely perceive it, Henry's other brother Matthew would likely not be so kind to his brother's situation.