Carved in Stone: Monochrome Destiny (13 page)

“I
wouldn’t know.  If they’ve changed, I couldn’t tell.”  It was
probably caused by the same incident that had taken her colour from her.

Puzzled,
Andrew pulled back.

“What
do you mean you wouldn’t know?”

“I
can’t see colours.  I haven’t been able to for about two years.”  She
then answered the question that she knew would be on his lips.  “Car
crash, I don’t talk about it.”

Robyn
braced herself for the inevitable.  Most people either suffocated her with
sympathy once they became aware of her impairment or they made their excuses
and walked away thinking she was a freak.  Andrew did neither, nor did he
question her about her affliction.

“I
brought you here to show you the view.”

“It’s
spectacular.”  She was still trapped in his gaze.  It didn’t help
that his simple acceptance of her difference drew her to him more strongly.

“It
can’t be the same without the colours.  They’re so bright Robyn, the grass
so green, the sea so blue with rivers of red and gold glinting off of it from
the sun.”

Andrew’s
gaze was intense with renewed wonder.  He pulled her closer, clasping her
face gently in his hands and slowly, so slowly, closed the gap between
them.  Robyn didn’t dare breathe.

“Let
me show you how spectacular it is.”

Her
heart was in her throat, her stomach in knots but she managed to whisper, “I
shouldn’t.” She tried to pull back but his hold was firm.  She finished
her reasoning with only one word, “Kat”.

Andrew
stopped, frozen millimetres from Robyn’s lips as her heart thudded audibly.

“Even
if she were here, I never wanted Kat.”  His rich tone stroked Robyn’s
skin, enlivening individual blood vessels and warming her further.

She
shouldn’t want this, not just because of Kat, but because she wasn’t ready for
emotional attachment, may never be, but Andrew’s touch took away her
resolve.  She felt only need and God, she needed this.

Andrew’s
eyes swept one final time over the contours of her face before he finally
closed his mouth over hers.

Warmth
entered her body.  Slow at first, it was a flutter that shook her senses,
but it soon changed.  She felt it building and boiling within her. 
The heat opened places inside of her that she had closed off years ago, had
forgotten existed.  With explosive power, all Robyn’s supressed emotions
were at once freed from their prison and the gasp that left her mouth was
followed by a surge in sensation.

Overwhelmed,
she locked her hands in Andrew’s hair, letting her fingers run through the
thick, black mane that was surprisingly soft to the touch.  Yielding entirely
to her desires, she pulled him closer to her, desperate and greedy for more, as
heat swept through her nerve endings and lit her up from within.

She was like
lightening in his arms; a spark that would burn if he held her, but he was
drawn to it nonetheless.  He hadn’t planned this closeness, hell; he’d
tried to keep the woman a safe distance from him ever since he’d first laid
eyes on her, but she’d got to him.  He could admit his failure.  When
he’d heard rumour of her imminent dismissal, he should have been relieved, he
had, after all, been struggling against this latent attraction; but instead
he’d been panicked.  He didn’t want this woman gone.  For once in his
life, he wanted to get to know someone and he’d used his influence to assure
her position and give him the opportunity.

The
impromptu picnic was meant to relax her.  Robyn was always so tense, on
guard, when she was around him, but the vulnerability in her had drawn him
in.  Now, as his lips moulded to hers he found himself surrounded by
molten woman.

She
grappled him closer, her need so fierce it strengthened her tiny frame. 
Her desire threatened to overwhelm his rigid control and he found himself
grabbing her, more forcefully than he should have, and lifting her up to mould
her to his frame.  She fit; her body snug against his chest, as he splayed
his fingers over her back and held her tight while he plundered her mouth,
devouring all she had to offer.  He was the hurricane that met her
cyclone, two storms colliding, building and crashing against one another. 
The tumultuous result produced a force stronger than either of them could
resist.

Robyn felt her
body crumple against Andrew as he crushed his lips to hers.  She could no
more resist his draw than she could stop breathing.  In that moment he was
everything.  She could think of nothing else, feel nothing else: his
breath, his lips, his tongue, as he tasted and devoured.  Her head spun in
ecstasy.  This was passion devoid of doubt, heat devoid of flame. 
She had no control when he touched her like this and she didn’t want any. 
She would give all to him.

The urge to push
her down onto the blanket was so strong he nearly succumbed.  He knew she
would have no objection.  At that moment, he knew he could have all, but
he wanted more.  If he was going to lose himself like this, after all this
time, it would not be for but one stolen moment.  With more strength than
he knew he had, Andrew pulled back, leaving a shocked and breathless Robyn
kneeling inches from him.

For a moment
neither could speak.

“
Wha
. . . what just happened?” Andrew said between breaths.

“I
don’t know,” Robyn shook her head.  Her heart still hammered and her body
felt languid and hot.  She had never had any such reaction to a kiss.

“I’m
sorry I
. .
I shouldn’t
have .
.”  Andrew backed away, his expression one of shock and confusion.

Robyn
smiled.

“What?”
His terse reply only had her smile more.

“Oh,
nothing much, just seeing you unsettled and struggling with words.”  Robyn
felt utterly joyous.  It was such an incredible delight to see cracks in
Andrew’s perfect façade.

The
look Robyn received told her Andrew wasn’t upset with her, but he didn’t like
being unsettled either.  Good.

They pulled up
to Robyn’s cottage after dark, having watched the sun set over the ocean from
the cliff top.  It had been one of the most beautiful sites Robyn had ever
seen but its impact had been lessened by the pang of sorrow she felt for the
loss of her colours.  Most days, Robyn didn’t think about what she had
lost, it was only the extraordinary days, like today, that pressed at her
memory, her loss.

The
cottage was dark, illuminated only by the headlights of Andrew’s car.  The
crooked, white windows glowed in the beams and the crystals in the stonework
shimmered in welcome as they got out.  Andrew walked Robyn to the door.

“So,
could you tell me one thing?” Robyn spoke casually as she walked up the little
path at the front of the cottage.

“That
depends on what you‘re going to ask.”  He walked beside her.

“How
have you managed to become a ‘well-liked and respected’ teacher in such a short
time?” she finger quoted and stopped on the path to face him.  “I’d like
to know so that perhaps I can manage to impress the Head too.”  She smiled
innocently, but it had been bugging her.  He’d been at the school mere
months.

 “I
have my secrets,” Andrew smiled and reached for her hand.  His palm was
warm in hers as he lifted her hand.  “Perhaps you will one day earn the
right to know.”  He kissed the back of her hand, a light brushing of his
lips across her skin that she felt deep within.  Then he let her hand go
and beamed at her.

Robyn
shook her head and turned to the door. 

“Oh,”
Robyn’s surprise was apparent as she noticed a curious object wound around the
door knocker.

“What
is it?” Andrew stepped closer.

It
was a necklace, a pendant of some kind.  Robyn unhooked it and laid the
pendant in her palm before turning to face Andrew and show him.

Andrew
and Robyn peered at the jewellery glinting in the lights from the car.  It
was a delicate silver pendant on a fine link chain.  Intricate and
filigree in design, it was made up of four interwoven leaves that were then
fixed inside a circle.  Robyn liked it immediately.

Andrew
lifted the chain and watched the pendant twirl on the end.

“I
might have some competition.” His mouth drew into a crooked, knowing smile.

“Competition?”

Andrew
leaned into Robyn.  She thought he was going to kiss her again and stopped
breathing.  Instead he whispered words that drove through her with the
force of a sonic blast. 

“Yes,
Robyn.  In case you haven’t noticed, especially after this evening, I am
intrigued by you and would like to get to know you better.”

Dumbstruck,
Robyn could only blink as the warmth of Andrew’s breath washed over her. 
He was close enough that she could feel the heat radiating from his skin. 
She wanted him to close the distance between them, she wanted that very much.

“I
won’t kiss you now because I don’t know if I could walk away,” he whispered, as
if he knew her thoughts, “but I will have my mouth on you again, Robyn Darrow.”

 
Her legs weakened, she could feel a tremor shaking through them and reached
back to hold onto the door for stability.  Andrew was right, of
course.  If he kissed her now, here in the dark, it would lead to places
that Robyn wasn’t ready to go.

Andrew
straightened, a smile gracing his lips.  “You like the necklace?  You
should wear it.”

With
that, he turned back to his car and was gone.

Apprehension turned
Robyn’s feet to lead on Monday morning as she walked through the main entrance
intending to head towards her classroom.  With everything that had
transpired in the previous week, she was under no illusion that she would be
welcome at the school, but she had been given a second chance and was not going
to squander it.  She needed this to work.

Her
first two lessons went smoothly.  Lesson three was more challenging. 
Year ten, her most difficult class, were a middle set, all expected to gain a
grade C or above, but were unwilling to work for it.  They constantly
pushed at boundaries and often ended up with detention.  The disruption
began as they entered.

Stuart
Yelland
, a tall, lanky boy who had grown nearly six
inches in the six months Robyn had known him, walked through the door with his
coat on, shirt untucked and headphones plugged into his ears.  Robyn
stepped into his view, stopping him.  She then gestured with her hands to
indicate that he should pull his earphones out.

“Coat
off please, Stuart.”  The school had a dress code and, despite the cold
weather outdoors, was sufficiently heated to make the coat unwarranted. 
“And tuck the shirt in.”

Stuart
was her most challenging pupil.  Quick-witted and happy to become the
centre of attention, he was a leader to the others.  Robyn needed to react
quickly.

“No
Miss, please, I’m cold.”  He shuddered but she was having none of it.

“You
know the rules and the consequences for breaking them.”  Robyn didn’t
raise her voice, knew not to.  Taking on a teenager, raging with hormones,
in front of their friends was a delicate practice.  Stuart and many others
just like him would rather fight than appear defeated, so she needed to be firm
but not challenging.  Today, however, she needn’t have worried as he
shrugged out of his coat and moped to his place.

The
lesson continued without further disruption.  Stuart, head down for the
most part, was unusually quiet and without his influence the others remained
subdued.  Robyn began to relax.

At
the end of the lesson, Robyn had prepared a short quiz as a revision
exercise.  Being keen to get the pupils moving and use all that she had
been taught during training, the quiz involved choosing a multiple choice
answer by standing in one of the four corners of the room.  She had stuck
a large letter A, B, C or D in each corner.  The quiz was designed to get
maximum participation whilst being able to make a quick assessment of how well
the topic had been absorbed.

“Right
everybody.  Pack away.  Then move the tables and stools to the sides
please.”

The
noise was riotous as benches were shoved across the parquet but the furniture
was soon moving, all but that which Stuart still had his head on.

She
walked over.  “Stuart, get up please and move your table.”

He
didn’t lift his head.  “Leave me alone.  I’m tired.”

The
noise stopped.  All eyes were on Robyn.  “That’s enough of
that.  Get up.  It’s your last chance.”

“Go
to hell.”

Crunch time.
  Robyn
lowered her voice and spoke in staccato.  “Get up, right now, and go and
stand outside the door.”

Stuart
raised his head to find her standing over him, pointing at the door.  He
was pale she noticed and clearly something was indeed wrong, but Robyn couldn’t
allow him to speak to her like that.  So, she stood her ground, saying no
more and continued to point.  All the while, she could feel many sets of
eyes boring into her.  The class awaited Stuart’s response.

To
Robyn’s relief Stuart stood, before angrily shoving his stool back and slamming
his fists into the bench.  He grabbed his bag and headed for the door.

Robyn’s
victory however, was short lived.  Stuart got to the centre of the room,
faltered, appeared to right himself and then went down.  His legs
collapsed from under him and he hit the solid wood floor deadweight.

Training
kicked in and got Robyn through the shock.  She slammed a stool down
between Stuart and the assembled class and instructed the other pupils not to
cross in front of it, to give Stuart room.  She then sent the most
responsible pair for help and got to Stuart in the blink of an eye.  His
eyes were closed, unconscious, though she couldn’t be certain that it was from
his illness or the fall, and his skin was pallid.  He had no obvious
injuries, thankfully, but he was cold and clammy to the touch and no matter what
Robyn did, she couldn’t revive him.

Time
then blurred.  The first-aider arrived making Robyn step back feeling
helpless.  She could do no more than watch, along with the rest of the
class, as the first-aider, a technician from the technology department, went
through the process of checking Stuart’s airway and looking for injuries. 
When he asked a question, Robyn answered, but she had little to tell.

The
bell rang, the raucous clanging brash against the comparative silence of the
room, but it stirred Robyn into action.  Her clear instructions had the
remainder of the class packed up and ushered on to their next lesson within two
minutes, and year twelve, who had begun to gather by the door, swiftly
dismissed to personal study.  Then David Rowe, Head Teacher arrived.

Stuart
was conscious when Robyn came back into the room after dismissing her sixth
form class, but clearly weak and a little incoherent.  The first-aider was
happy that the boy had not sustained injury from his fall so Stuart, on
unsteady legs, was removed from the room, flanked by the two men.

Alone
and left in an abandoned classroom, Robyn felt the burden of guilt.  Had
she believed Stuart, seen that he was actually unwell, she could have sought
medical attention sooner, but she’d allowed her own animosity to the
troublemaker to impair her judgement.  She stared out the window, unable
to focus.

As
Robyn watched, Stuart’s parents arrived in a beaten-up, light coloured
car.  They loaded Stuart into the backseat, intent on seeking out a
medical professional no doubt and spoke for a while with the Head Teacher
before leaving.  The mood outside her window as she watched the exchange
was sombre.  There was something almost resigned about the
Yelland’s
.  With a last shake of hands the family
left.

“Miss
Darrow, would you accompany me to my office.”  Robyn hadn’t noticed the
Head Teacher walk around to the rear entrance of her room.

“Oh
God, is Stuart alright?”

David
Rowe stepped into the room and allowed the door to close behind him before
continuing.  “He will be.  Stuart has a substance abuse
problem.  He has had for a while.  We don’t know exactly what he
took, but he’s conscious and responsive.  His parents are taking him to be
checked over.”

Robyn
furrowed her brow.  “Should he not have been sent in an ambulance?”

Mr
Rowe looked at her and shook his head.  “Things don’t work here as well as
you are perhaps used to.  It’s far quicker for his parents to take him,
than to wait for an ambulance to get here, they aren’t stationed close.”

He
was right.  The remoteness of
Porthmollek
made
everything slow and emergency help was no exception.  They had police,
part of the time, but no hospital or ambulance.  The local GP would
normally be called in an emergency.

“That’s
not why I’m here.  Come with me please.”

Confused,
Robyn stood and followed Mr Rowe to his office, fear niggling in her spine with
every step.  Was she to be blamed for Stuart’s collapse?  She already
blamed herself for being too hard on him.

When
the Head opened the door to the office, Robyn saw PC Godwin sitting at the
desk.  Her heart sank.

“Please,
take a seat.  I thought that you should hear this directly from the police
officer.”

PC
Godwin stood.  “Miss Darrow.”

She
sat as directed and waited.

“Go
ahead, Brian, tell her what you told me.”

“I’m
here to tell you that we have closed the investigation into Katherine Harris’s
disappearance.”

Robyn’s
mouth fell open but she didn’t get a chance to voice her question.

“We
checked her financial records and found that she purchased a train ticket to
Europe.  After speaking to members of her department and other staff here,
we found that Katherine was not perhaps as happy with her employment as she had
led you to believe.”

“What?”

Mr
Rowe broke in before Robyn could continue.

“Katherine
was already on a final warning.  I know that she’s your friend, but I must
tell you that she has been lying to you, Miss Darrow.  Katherine’s Head of
Department was less than pleased by her slapdash way of working and I myself
had written her a warning letter the same week that she left.  She was not
getting along here and, to be frank, I would not have been renewing her
contract.”

Robyn
stared dumbfounded at the Head Teacher, listening but unable to believe.

“But
she loves it here. 
The squads?”

“There
is no doubt that our girl’s netball and hockey teams have gained dramatically
in proficiency since Miss Harris took over, but that in no way counterbalances
her lackadaisical approach to the curriculum, or her terrible
timekeeping.  I’m sorry Miss Darrow, but Miss Harris was fully aware of
the situation.”

Robyn
stared open-mouthed at the two men, but she had no more words.  There was
nothing that she could say.

“We
believe that Miss Harris intends to join her parents,” PC Godwin filled the
silent void, “There were also tickets for a sea excursion into Tunisia from
Italy.  I could have ports check that she passed through, but, frankly, I
have neither the resources nor the time.”

“Tunisia?”

“Yes,
that’s the last known location of the Harris’s.”  PC Godwin glanced at the
Head before continuing.  “We were given access to her school email
account.  She had contact from them three weeks ago.”

Robyn
was stunned.  Three weeks ago?  Why hadn’t she told her?

The
PC turned in his chair to face Robyn directly.  “The car she left behind
is actually hired.  She contacted the company and asked to cancel her
contract a couple of weeks ago.  They will be picking the vehicle up
shortly.”  He paused to allow all of this to sink in.  “I know that
you have trouble believing this, but Katherine left of her own accord and she
deceived you.  ”

“She
wouldn’t.” Robyn’s thoughts and words jumbled with desperation.  “I know
her.  She loves this job, this school, she is a great teacher.”

PC
Godwin looked at the Head and then back to Robyn.  “Miss Darrow, I am
aware that you have come to us following some . . . issues shall we say.” 
He shifted in his seat and stared at her with deep sympathy.  “Can you be
certain that your devotion to Miss Harris was not misguided under the
circumstances?”

The
words were slow, soft, reassuring and yet hit like sharp knives.  Robyn
watched as the two men glanced knowingly at each other before returning their
focus to her.  How could they know?

The
Head Teacher stood as Robyn sat numbly.  “Thank you, Brian.  I hope
you don’t mind me saying that I wish we never have to meet again.”

“I
fully understand, Sir.”  He stood and the two men shook hands.  “I
must be going.”

Robyn
felt broken, not quite there.  The slogan over her board returned to her,
“What have I learned today?”  How apt and taunting.  They knew. 
The Head knew and she couldn’t shake the truth of it.

It
also appeared that she had no ability to read people, no matter how close, no
matter how much time she spent with them.

Today
Robyn had learned that Katherine Harris had left her.