An Unexpected Gift (4 page)

"Yes.
Can I help you?" Her tone was rushed and impatient; her manner irritated.

Feeling even tinier than
she had a few seconds ago, Caitlin held out her bright red and shiny Christmas
bag, inside which were the chocolates. The woman looked down at them, then up
again at Caitlin. She sniffed her nose. "Sorry, do I
know
you?"

Caitlin
opened her mouth but her voice came out in a pathetic whimper. She felt tiny
compared to this Amazonian blonde who stood before her. "I-I wondered
whether….if Daniel was at home?" she asked, her voice barely audible. The
other woman blinked, then blinked again and fixed Caitlin with an indifferent
stare. But she didn’t say anything.

Fumbling around for the
rights words, Caitlin cleared her throat. "I wanted to know if he was
alright." She didn't feel it was appropriate to say any more than that.
She had not accounted for the possibility that Daniel might be married or have
a family. If she had, she would never have turned up on his doorstep
unannounced at all.

Yet
what did it matter if he was attached? She wasn't here to ensnare him.

Finally, after an
excruciating silence, the woman said curtly, “Come in," and showed Caitlin
to the second room on the right.

"Someone
to see you," she barked, peeping her head inside the door and then abruptly
left.  Hesitantly, Caitlin walked in and saw Daniel sitting in an armchair
with a copy of The National Geographic magazine in his hands.

As
soon as he saw her his face eased into a soft smile and his blue eyes sparkled.
“Caitlin,” he said in a friendly tone. He seemed pleased to see her but was
having trouble getting up out of his armchair.

"No,
please, don't," said Caitlin, rushing forward and helping him back down
again. She hadn't realised before how tall he actually was. For the brief
moment that he had managed to stand up, he had towered over her.

"I'm
so sorry for barging in on you like this," she gasped, feeling foolish
again as she held out the chocolates. "A little thank you gift, for the
other day. I know we didn't get to speak much in hospital."  He
watched her keenly, his cool blue eyes fixed on her face. It was the first time
that they had both been able to get a proper look at one another, now that
their obvious injuries had subsided. His short blond hair suited his blue eyes
which now looked at her with interest, as if seeing her properly for the first
time.

"Thanks
Caitlin, you really shouldn't have," he said, taking the bag from her and
peeking inside. "Thornton's, very kind of you. Thank you," he
repeated, before closing the magazine and placing it on the table beside him.

Neat
and tidy, thought Caitlin as she watched him. "They told me you had a
couple of fractured ribs."

"Not
broken thankfully. I'm fine, really, I just need to get some rest and I should
be as good as new again."

"It
must have ruined your Christmas," said Caitlin fidgeting with the buckle
on her knee high black boots.

He
didn’t say anything but smiled at her and she couldn’t tell how much or how
little she had ruined Christmas for him. He glanced at her, taking in how slim
and small she was. So petite and very elfin like, except for her long brown
hair. He had not been able to get that first image of her out of his head. When
she had been on the floor, her face smeared in blood and the man had dragged
her by her hair across the ground. He never forgot the terror in her eyes when
he had come upon her. It often kept him awake during the night.

Now
that she was here, in his living room, he wanted to change that image for this
one of Caitlin, looking well again, and better, even though she seemed a little
nervous.

"Are
you alright now?" he asked her graciously. She could tell that he was
still in obvious pain because he would stop every now and then and
grimace. 

“I’m
not in pain like you Daniel. It’s just the emotional scars that need time to
heal.”

He
shook his head. "I’m sorry it happened to you, to anyone. I don’t
understand men like that."

Caitlin
put her hands together on her lap as she often did when she didn't know what to
do with them. “Plenty of them around,” she replied vaguely before her eyes fell
on a photo on the mantelpiece of the two of them, Daniel and the woman, on
their wedding day.

They were so similar,
tall, blonde and good looking and they clearly looked so happy together.

Noticing
that Caitlin had seen the picture Daniel added, “That’s Marisa.”

“She’s
beautiful,” replied Caitlin turning to look at him again, “You make a lovely
couple.”

He
looked at her oddly, with neither a smile nor anything else. It was a face that
said nothing and she could not decipher what was behind the mask.

Lucky
woman,
thought Caitlin, before
turning her gaze back onto the photo.

The sound of a mobile
phone ringing in the hallway and Marisa answering it reminded them that they
were not alone. There was a silence then. It was an odd feeling to be sitting
in a total stranger's living room, knowing that his wife or partner outside was
probably wondering what on earth she was doing here.

Caitlin
coughed lightly, "I didn't know what to say to your wife,” she said
apologetically. The woman hadn’t seemed very friendly. Caitlin didn't expect
that she would be any more welcoming herself if a strange woman turned up on
her doorstep one day, if and when she was married.

They
glanced at each other and the awkward silence left them both looking for a
topic to talk about to break it. Finally he asked, "Are they going to
press any charges?"

"No.
I haven't heard anything further from the police. Did you?"

"No.
But the holidays would have slowed things down."

"True,"
she agreed, "And it's New Year's Eve today."

"So
it is."

"Well,
I’d better get going. I just wanted to make sure you were doing alright. I'll
always be eternally grateful to you. I was scared for my life that night. And
you saved me. I don’t know what would have happened to me if you hadn’t turned
up when you did."

"I'm
glad I was there. I hadn’t realised you were so …..petite," he said, and
Caitlin  blushed. Seeing her discomfort he slowly got up and said "You’re
looking really well, Caitlin. You're fine. Nothing else matters."

"Yes,"
said Caitlin in agreement, picking up her handbag and wrapping her warm, woolen
scarf around her neck. "Please, rest up now. I can see myself out."

"You
sure? It hurts to move around."

"No,
I insist. Happy New Year Daniel." Caitlin gazed across the room at him and
watched as he struggled to sit back down again. The last time she had seen him
his face had been swollen and bloody and bruised.

"Happy
New Year, Caitlin."

She
looked up in surprise. "How did you know my-?"

"The
police officer told me. For some reason, they thought we were a couple."

At
the thought of them being a couple, Caitlin blushed. And when she saw him
seeing her blush, her blush deepened. She wished she could sink beneath the
floorboards at that very moment.

He
smiled at her, sensing her unease. “I had wondered how you found out my
address. But the policeman told me that you had put him right when he assumed I
was your boyfriend."

My
boyfriend. If only I had met someone as nice as you.

He
was married and he obviously thought it was funny that she had shown up like
this at his house. He probably had no shortage of girls lining up for him. And
no wonder Marisa looked so annoyed when she had turned up unannounced. "I,
I’m so sorry for turning up like this,” she stammered, wanting to get out as
fast as possible.

"Don't
be Caitlin, I'm glad you did.”  They stared at each other but Caitlin
looked away first. The wedding photo of the two of them in front of her was a
timely reminder that he was already taken.

“To
be honest, I had been thinking about you and wondering if you were alright.”
Yeah,
sure you were. You’re only saying that to make me feel better.

"Bye
now," said Caitlin stepping out into the hallway without so much as a
backward glance. She paused awhile in the hallway and looked towards the other
end. But Marisa was nowhere to be seen. Caitlin showed herself out quickly.

Back
at her flat, Caitlin spent the remainder of New Year's Eve curled up in front
of the sofa watching “Ghost.” 

She
hadn’t been able to watch any romantic films when she had been with Carl. He
wasn’t one to care too much about what she liked or didn’t like. It had always
been his choice. And it had always been films she hated, Korean films, violent,
martial arts films or deeply disturbing and sick films such as “Old Boy.” Sick,
vomit-inducing stuff.

She
finished off the entire bag of toffee flavored popcorn and watched Demi Moore’s
huge eyes well up with tears yet again.

She
missed Kerrie but knew that if Kerrie were here she would suggested that they
both go out to a pub or wine bar with friends to see the New Year in. As it
was, Caitlin was tired from her trip to see Daniel earlier today. She felt glad
she had gone to see him and that he was well.

But
he was married to Marisa, and as much as he had been a knight in shining armor
for her, she knew she wouldn’t see him again.

Daniel
had ended up spending the night of the attack in hospital. He had fractured
ribs which meant that he would need rest and wasn’t allowed to perform any
physical work.

Although
he had taken a really bad beating, he felt sure that he had given the other man
a good pounding too, of that he was sure, for the man had limped away, leaving
a trail of blood in his wake.

The
thing he was most grateful about, though, was that he had been driving around
the streets of London at that time of night.

Lately, getting out of
his house and escaping from Marisa was something he found himself doing more
often. Even if he got back from work around nine or ten most evenings, he found
he couldn’t bear to be in the house with her anymore. He didn’t want to be out
drinking with his friends all night either. He needed to be sharp and with it
at work the next day.

Working
as an investment banker with a prestigious American Bank in the heart of the
city was starting to take its toll on him.  Money was no longer motivation
enough for him to put up with the long hours, the stress and the cut throat
life that his job entailed. It might have been the type of career he wanted in
his early twenties but now, poised to hit thirty in a few months time, Daniel
found himself questioning his life, his values and his dreams. Slogging his
guts out earning hefty bonuses in the corporate world wasn’t it anymore.

As
he lay in his hospital bed that night, Daniel thought about his desire to
escape both his daily life at work and his life at home. Nothing gave him peace
anymore. The fights with Marisa were getting to be a regular occurrence. The
sad thing for him was that they had been married less than a year. Sad because
Daniel had really believed at one time that she had been the perfect one for
him.  Sad because everything in Daniel’s life up to now had gone according to
plan; things had worked out for him. He had attended the right private schools,
gotten into Oxford, fallen into a fast paced highly paid job, moved to an
affluent part of London and met the perfect beautiful blonde.  Daniel had never
known of failure before.

Initially
his friends had been shocked when he told them he had proposed to his girlfriend;
it had all happened so quickly.  The truth of the matter was that he had fallen
in love with the strikingly beautiful language teacher who was also a part-time
model. It had been a bit of a whirlwind romance for them both but he'd found
her to be witty, sexy and loving. At least, that was the side of her that he
had seen at first.

They
had started out as such great friends and the relationship had gradually and
easily moved onto the next stage. He didn't see the point of waiting around. He
thought he had found
the one
. But she had changed so much a few months
after the wedding. Where there was kindness and wit before, now he found only a
short temper and mood swings. He couldn't believe the sudden change in her.
Until he found out that she was smoking cannabis, usually at the end of a photo
shoot and so easily obtainable from the types of people at these places.

At
first she was normal. Relaxed and happy to be around; he didn’t even know when
she started. But as time went on she became moody and anxious, accusing him of
things and being hard to be around. He had tried to help her but she was
fixated on becoming a full-time model. Their rows became frequent and had
escalated during the last three months, when he had found out that Marisa had
been cheating on him. The brazen hussy had more or less admitted it to him
herself one night when she got back late, reeking of pot.

She
had become extra friendly with the photographer she was using to put her
portfolio together. And once Daniel found out that she had been unfaithful, he
had quickly lost any respect for his wife. He regretted their whirlwind romance
and the speed with which their relationship had quickly descended into the
gutter. It made him mistrust women and he had resolved to stay away from
relationships for a while.