Breach of Faith (19 page)

“I did fall in love with you.”

I felt the tears threaten once again. I reached up with one hand and pulled his head down to mine, soft lips meeting soft lips. A union of sorrow and loss; a kiss of sympathy, strength and support, with underlying currents of passion and longing.

Tears were flowing and I clung harder to the man in my arms. He was crying too, silently, his tears mingling with mine.

Why? I
asked myself,
why?

Without warning I felt a hand on my arm, strong fingers pressing deep into the soft flesh of my bicep and my mouth broke contact with Frank’s, my lips feeling lost and alone. Confused, I stared at him but Frank was holding his hands up in front of him, palms facing forwards, the gesture of surrender. I would have fallen but a hand was still gripping my upper arm.

“Get your filthy hands off my wife.”

The quiet voice hissed dangerously from behind me and Frank took another step away. I turned my head, already dreading what I would see but not able to stop myself.

Will.

And, bloody hell, was he angry.

He was glaring at Frank, hate and desperation written all over his face. I turned wildly back towards Frank to see him gazing uncertainly at Will before finally turning his attention back to me.

“Are you all right, Kate?”

I nodded, wincing as Will’s fingers squeezed even harder, and prepared myself to reason with him and, if necessary, beg.

“Will, please, it’s not –”

“SHUT your fucking MOUTH.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimmer of movement as Frank took another step, this time towards us. My God, he was going to take Will on. I wanted to tell him to stay away, I could handle this and he should go. But my courage had deserted me. Will was ready to snap and I sure as hell didn’t want him to take his rage out on me. And my baby.

On the other hand, I also didn’t want Will’s wrath to fall upon Frank. For all I knew, another fist fight might be enough to kill him. I had to try again, for better or worse.

“Will, listen to me.” I grabbed at his hand and tried to remove it from my arm but his grip was too tight. “Will, it’s not what you think. Please, you have to believe me.”

Will looked down at me, his fury and hate replaced with a look of pure astonishment. “Believe you? Tell me, Kate, why the hell should I believe a lying bitch like you?” He grabbed my other arm and pulled me close, forcing me to look directly into his eyes. The anger was back, his grip vicelike and I gasped in pain, squirming in an attempt to escape.

“Tell me, Kate. Tell me you weren’t kissing this bastard. Tell me he didn’t have his dirty paws all over you. Tell me that my wife wasn’t returning his favours and touching up this sorry son of a bitch. Can you do that, Kate? Can you tell me that?”

I shook my head. “Will, you’re hurting me. Please—”

“Take your hands off her.”

A flash of hate diluted Will’s eyes at the quietly spoken command and his attention was deliberately transferred back to Frank.

“Frank, stay out of this. You have to go.” I was desperate. I could read what was happening in Will’s eyes and with sinking heart I knew Frank had ignored me.

Will sneered, “well, mate, you heard the lady. Fuck off.”

“I told you to take your hands off her.”

Something snapped. Deep down in Will, something snapped; I could see it in his eyes, feel it in his hands. I opened my mouth to warn Frank, to scream at him to go:
Run for your life!

With a roar, Will shoved me to one side, his anger focussed entirely onto Frank. I had been forgotten. I squawked, a despairing sound, but both men ignored me, intent upon their own battle. I threw out my arms in a desperate attempt to break my fall, landing full force on the rough stones.

The breath had been knocked out of me and I lay on the high tide mark gasping and wheezing. Something cold and wet was dripping down my face and I lifted shaking fingers to my forehead.

Blood. I glanced down at a large rock beneath me, a smear of red emblazoned upon it. A sudden pain shot through my body making me cry out, my hands flying down to cup protectively around my vulnerable womb.

No, please no.

Another pain, like someone tightening a belt around my middle, slung low beneath my small bulge. I cried again and could hear men’s voices, coming from far away.

“Kate!”

“… all right?”

“Talk to me …”

“Help me,” I whispered, as the pains transported me away into blessed oblivion.

5 January

I was dreaming again. I knew I was because I hadn’t seen most of these people for years. But my dream world was infinitely more desirable right now than real life, so I just went with it.

I was with my old friends from school. We were going to a party and I was walking beside Vanessa; my best friend. She nudged me in the ribs. “So who are you after tonight?”

Who are you after?

I’m always after the same boy. Shrugging, I tore my eyes away from the back of Angus’s head. “Oh, no-one in particular.”

Vanessa gave a knowing gaze, a small smile turning up one corner of her mouth. “He likes you too, you know. Angus.”

I stared at her. “How do you know?”

“Craig told Rach and she told me.”

I glanced again at Angus, he caught my eye and smiled, his dark wavy hair glowing in the light from the setting sun.

He likes you too.

In the unique way of dreams, the scene skipped forwards a few beats. We were all at the party, in a house I didn’t recognise. I studied the people filling the small room.

Where is he?

There! I could see his dark hair bobbing around in the hallway and without thinking twice, I made my way towards him.

“Hi, Kate.”

It was him.

“Having a good time?”

I nodded and chatted for a while; at least, I thought I chatted, I couldn’t really remember anything we talked about and time seemed to spring forwards again.

“Come on.” Angus grabbed my hand and led me into a small room. He turned on the light, closing the door behind us and sighed. “That’s better. Couldn’t hear a thing out there with all that noise.”

We were in a bathroom, surrounded by the smell of disinfectant and toilet cleaner, overlaid with the whiff of vomit. Alcohol had been doing the rounds tonight, someone must have been caught out drinking too much. I looked at Angus, he gazed shyly back, hands thrust deep into his trouser pockets.

“Um, I hope this is okay,” he ventured finally, gesturing at our surroundings with his chin.

I took a deep breath and nodded.

“I wanted to be alone with you.” The words fell from his mouth in a rush and he took a small step towards me, pulling his hands from his pockets and holding them out.

Stepping into his embrace, my heart missed a beat, and as my lips met his I closed my eyes and melted into Angus’s arms.

*

“She’s waking up.”

“Kate? Can you hear me?”

Angus?

“Kate?”

“Mrs Robson, welcome back. How are you feeling?”

I groaned; a dull sound, unrecognisable even to my own ears. My head was throbbing and my mouth felt like the bottom of a birdcage. I stuck my tongue out. “Water,” I mumbled feeling decidedly raw.

A strong hand tilted my head forwards and I felt a plastic cup press gently against my lips. I sipped gratefully, savouring the fresh, clean taste. Too soon it was taken away, and only then did I find the strength of will to open my eyes.

“Angus?”

“No, Kate, it’s me, Frank.”

I blinked rapidly a few times and the illusion began to fade. He was right … not Angus, but Frank. How on earth could I have mistaken those fathomless blue eyes for Angus’s homely hazel orbs. It must have been the dream but … I shook my head, regretting the rash action immediately as the pounding in my skull took on a new intensity.

Frank was frowning, “Kate, you gave us such a scare. How are you feeling now?”

“Headache,” I croaked and winced at the stab of pain that momentarily blinded me.

Frank rubbed my temple gently, the cool fingers a balm on my splitting head. I closed my eyes and groaned as the pain eased slightly.

“Where am I?”

“Hospital. Do you remember what happened?”

I opened my eyes and watched as the nurse tied a cuff around my upper arm and checked my blood pressure. The woman quietly attended to my other tasks before patting me gently on the shoulder, a smile on her lined face.

“You were very lucky, Mrs Robson,” the nurse stated, shining a small light into my eyes. “I’ll bring you something to ease your headache. Do you have pain anywhere else?”

I shook my head. There was something I needed to remember, something important but I was buggered if I knew what it was. The nurse nodded and pulled back the curtains surrounding my cubicle, glancing at Frank as she went past.

“Kate needs to rest,” the nurse ordered. “Please make sure she stays in bed.” And with that she disappeared through the opening, pulling the curtains closed behind her.

I smiled wanly, “you have your orders.”

“And I’ll make damn sure that you follow them,” Frank instructed before squeezing my hand hard. “Don’t ever scare me like that again, Kate.”

I frowned, “what happened?”

“You don’t remember? The beach?”

“The beach?” I thought hard. “That’s right you wanted to talk to me about … oh God, I remember.” I gazed at Frank, tears filling my eyes.

Frank nodded,” there’s things I still need you to know but they can wait.” I opened my mouth to object but Frank waved my protestations away. “You’re more important.”

Without warning it all came back to me; Will, the push, the fall and the pains. Oh yes, the pains. I looked wildly at Frank and gripped his hand tight, my other hand resting heavily on my belly. “The baby …?”

Frank grinned and placed his own hand on top of mine, obvious relief mingling with the joy on his face. “The baby’s fine, Kate. Perfect.”

I relaxed slightly, although the fear was still close to the surface. “But I was having pains, just like a miscarriage. Are you sure? How do you know?”

“When you arrived in the ambulance, they took you straight up for an emergency ultrasound just to make sure. That nurse was right, you have to stop stressing about everything. You have to relax.”

“Easier said than done.”

Frank paused, “the doctor suggested a couple of days in hospital. So that you could rest and they could keep an eye on you. And the baby.”

“Frank –”

“Think about it, you’ve just had a big scare and you do have a hell of a lot of stuff going on at the moment. At least they could look after you both.”

“Frank,” I tried again, “I can’t stay here for the rest of my pregnancy and none of this … stuff, as you call it, is going to go away just because I spend a couple of days in hospital. No, I need to get back, my other children need me too.”

Frank shrugged, a defeated look on his face. “That’s what I told them,” he conceded, “but I also promised I’d try to make you change your mind.”

I smiled sweetly, “you obviously know me better than I thought you did.”

Frank patted my hand and grinned, “I did promise them one other thing as well.”

“What’s that?”

“I told them I would make you stay here in bed for a few hours, just to make sure the pains didn’t come back.” He leaned over me, a stern look on his handsome face, “I said I would tie you to the bed if necessary.”

I bit my lip. “Oh? And what did they say about that?”

“They said that what we get up to in the privacy of our bedroom is our business, but if I got the handcuffs out, they might be persuaded to find you a single room.”

I snorted, “bloody clown.” I pushed myself up on the pillows, trying to get more comfortable. “Well, if I have to stay here for hours on end, the least you can do is keep me company.” I looked sideways at him, “what happened to Will?”

Frank shrugged again, “don’t know. He disappeared while I was looking after you on the beach.”

“Disappeared?”

Frank stood up suddenly from his seat, dropping my hand on the blanket. “Kate, I really don’t think this is the time or the place for me to tell you exactly what I think of your husband but if he tries to hurt you again –”

“He won’t,” I said with conviction, “I won’t let him. I don’t understand why he’s acting like this, though. I get that he’s hurting and angry, but I’ve never seen this side of him, he’s usually so calm and reliable, so understanding.” I looked at Frank, “you’re right, not the time or place. I’m supposed to be relaxing.”

Frank took a deep breath, “that’s right so can I get you anything?”

I thought for a moment, “you could do something for me. Can you call my parents and let them know what’s happening? They’ll be getting worried by now and my kids need to know where I am. Will was supposed to be going over there but after what’s happened I’m not sure he will.”