Twelve Days - The Beginning (40 page)

As predicted, she was given the all-clear a couple of hours later and Sean entered the room first accompanied by Dale. The security guard looked unhappy and she could only presume that he had heard most of the conversation between Dale and herself and couldn’t believe that she had chosen this outcome.

She was dressed and ready to go and was just collecting her handbag from the side locker when Vaughn came rushing into the room, only to stop dead when he saw her preparing to leave with Dale by her side.

“What the fuck, Elise?” he almost bellowed, “Don’t tell me you’ve given this asshole another chance? I can’t believe you would do that! Tell me this isn’t happening, Elise. Tell me.” He was shouting now and Sean moved to close the door and then stationed himself between the two men as if pre-empting a fight.

“Believe it, Granger,” Dale said and Elise swallowed as she watched the hurt and pain course across Vaughn’s face. “She’s coming back to me and you are not going to stand in our way. Now move the fuck out of the way of the door.”

Vaughn remained exactly where he was, his fists clenching at his sides as he looked across at Elise and she saw the complete disbelief in his eyes. What could she say to him that he would understand? She didn’t even really understand it herself.

“You asked me to make it stop.” She said softly, her eyes trying to send him signals of love and of hope, trying to make him see that she was doing this for him and only for him.

“I am making it stop.”

“The hell you are!” he roared and lunged at Dale but Sean was quicker, capturing Vaughn by the arms and effectively holding him.

“Take it easy there, Mr Granger.” Sean said and Elise looked at the other man gratefully. He understood the situation, he had been there. He knew what she was doing and why she was doing it and even though he may not approve, he was smart enough to realise that Vaughn lunging at Dale was not going to solve anything.

“Elise has made her decision, Granger,” Dale said “and there is nothing that you can do about it. You need to move on and find your own woman – preferably one that isn’t married.” And with that, he grabbed Elise’s bag and pushed past Sean who was still holding onto Vaughn and left the room.

Given a couple of precious minutes with this beautiful, wonderful man, Elise took the time to study him and impress his features onto her brain so that she could recall them in another time and another place. He had stolen her heart and now it was breaking into tiny little pieces as she forced herself to put one foot in front of the other and head towards the door.

“Why, Elise? Why?” Vaughn’s voice was broken, his face ravaged and destroyed.

“I did it for you Vaughn – always for you.” she said and then leaned towards him and dropped a kiss on his cheek before whispering in his ear. “You have my heart, you are my heart and you will always be in my heart. I love you, Vaughn Granger. Go live your life and be happy. Goodbye beautiful man.”

Not trusting herself to speak anymore, she turned away and left the room deliberately not looking back, not even when she heard his tortured cry. She had to do this. There was no other way to protect the man she loved beyond all reason, and with tears running freely down her cheeks and her heart barely functioning, she walked down the stairs, out of the hospital and out of Vaughn Granger’s life forever.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Five months later

After that fateful day in the hospital, life had slowly begun to rebuild and return to a new normality, far removed from anything that had ever been before.

She had not seen Vaughn since that day. He had left Andrews & Andrews - he didn’t need the money and she didn’t think it had ever been about that for him anyway. She had no idea where he was or what he was doing but she knew that Stephen still kept in touch. Occasionally she would overhear him talking to Celeste and Annabel but the conversation would always be abruptly halted as soon as she approached.

One time, Stephen had brought some photos in and left them on his desk at lunchtime. Unable to stop herself, Elise had reached over and taken a look. The pictures were all of Stephen and Vaughn at various parties, pubs and clubs. Vaughn looked relaxed and happy, often with a carefree smile and usually a different girl in his arms. That had hurt, seeing photos of him laughing and happy and seeing other girls in his embrace but she knew that they were where they were because of her. It had been her decision to deny hers and Vaughn’s relationship, to deny their love and she had been the one to tell him to move on.

The choice she had made all those months since hadn’t really been a choice; in reality, the decision had been made ten years before and, as Dale was always happy to remind her, ‘for better or for worse’ meant forever and that was how it had to stay.

For her – she knew that she would never love Dale again; she was completely empty inside now, devoid of emotion. She had left her heart behind the day that she had walked out on Vaughn and with the exception of that beautiful man; there was no one in the world that had the power to heal her again. Despite all that, she knew that this was how it had to be for them - for the good of both of them - but she just wished that one day she would wake up and truly believe in the decision that she had made.

Her relationship with Cole had changed; where once they had been close, they were now equally apart. They still talked, but barely. Every conversation was an effort to the point where neither of them really had the energy to carry on. Cole had never been completely on board with her relationship with Vaughn but she knew that he had liked the man, admired him even and he could see that she had been in love and so he had ultimately accepted things and let it ride. Her happiness was important to him and he had overlooked any misgivings he may have had to maintain her happiness. But when she had decided to return to Dale, that had killed him and Elise knew that. She had seen him die inside when she had told him her decision. He had ranted at her, shouted, raged, pleaded with her to change her mind, but she had calmly explained that she needed to do this; she owed this to Dale and her marriage to make things work. She was lying of course, she didn’t owe Dale anything, but as with Vaughn she simply couldn’t tell Cole the truth. She couldn’t tell him that she had traded her life, her happiness and even her soul for his life and for Vaughn’s. She knew that Cole could tell she that was lying but the fact that she wouldn’t open up to him hurt him beyond measure
and, whilst he told her that he would always look out for her, he couldn’t watch her get hurt anymore and he said that he needed to distance himself.

Dale had been true to his word and had attended the counselling and rehabilitation courses and he was making an effort, although their relationship remained strained, it being blatantly evident to both of them that she didn’t want to be there. Dale realised that, and she often wondered at someone who wanted to keep a person trapped who clearly didn’t want to be there. It didn’t make any sense to her but if she ever raised the subject of divorce again, he just shut her down and renewed his threats. He never let her forget that she had cheated on him and Elise had just learned to accept the small improvements that he had made and the general unhappy state in which she lived her life.

His drinking was virtually non-existent now and there had been no violence at all since she had returned. He hadn’t touched her sexually either and she was immensely grateful for that. There was no way she wanted him to touch her ever again and she had begun to wonder why he wasn’t that bothered either. He seemed to have gone from being one of the most highly-sexed men she knew to someone who didn’t even appear to care anymore and that was definitely odd. She didn’t dare raise the subject in case it backfired, and she just thanked whoever it was in high heaven for the small mercy that meant his hands never strayed anywhere near her.

Her parents were still largely in the dark. Obviously they had been concerned when she had been hospitalised after the car accident but as she had not really sustained any injuries, neither of them had thought to question anything and once they had made sure that she was safe and well, they had gone back to their lives. For this, she was glad. She needed all of her energy to keep functioning on a daily basis and didn’t have anything left in reserve to deal with her parent’s worries and fears.

It was hard enough dealing with her own.

Chapter Forty

Elise walked into the office on a typically depressing Monday morning. Despite the fact that summer was just around the corner, it was raining and had been non-stop all night. The weather seemed to have been particularly bad just recently and she was desperate to see some sun soon in the hope that it might lift her spirits a little.

Stephen wasn’t there when she arrived which she thought was strange as he was usually one of the first to get in but perhaps he had had a heavy night the evening before. Thinking that maybe he was battling a bit of a hangover, she dismissed any other thoughts and set about tackling her in-tray.

An hour or so later, Elise realised that she was still alone in her section of the office - no Stephen yet but also no Olivia - very weird. Not that she was sad at the absence of the other girl, but she was beginning to worry that she would be expected to deal with the whole of her section by herself all day. If that was the case, she needed coffee so she headed to the kitchen, carefully avoiding the route which would take her past Vaughn’s old office. It was a store room now and had been ever since he had moved upstairs but considering all that had happened since that first day when she had stood in there and argued with him, she found it very difficult to see the visual reminder and she took care to avoid it whenever she could.

Once she had waited for the kettle to boil and made her coffee, she returned to her desk and realised that she was still alone. This was ridiculous; where on earth was Stephen? Getting slightly worried, she decided to give him a call and reached down to her bag by her feet to get her mobile. She and Stephen had become closer over the last few months and she was glad. Although they never talked about Vaughn, having Stephen in her life made her feel a little like she still had some connection to the man that she was still, and always would be, hopelessly in love with.

After searching through her bag fruitlessly, she belatedly realised that she had left her phone at home. She had plugged it into the kitchen socket to get a last few minutes of charge into it before she left home for the day and had completely forgotten to unplug it. Bother. She didn’t have Stephen’s number anywhere else and she knew that Personnel wouldn’t give it to her and that Celeste was off for the day. In the end she decided that the she had two options; either sit it out here and wait, hoping that he would eventually turn up, or quickly drive home and collect her mobile so that she could contact him. It was completely out of character for Stephen to be this late into the office, even taking into account a heavy night, and whilst she registered that she could go upstairs and ask one of the Management team if they knew where he was, she would much rather try to reach him herself which meant only one thing - dashing home. If she left the office now, she would be back within half an hour as she would miss any of the lunchtime rush so decision made, she collected her belongings and car keys. After arranging with Annabel for any messages to be taken, she rapidly ran out to her car and jumped in.

It took her just over ten minutes to get home and pulling into the driveway she was surprised to see that Dale’s car was still there. That was strange - she was certain that he had been
about to leave at the same time as her and that had been a good couple of hours ago. Concerned that he might be unwell, she put her key in the lock and pushed open the door and as she did so, she heard a scuffle coming from upstairs, which was accompanied by a muted thud. What was that? Maybe Dale really was ill and was running to the bathroom?

After collecting her phone from the kitchen, she trotted up the stairs two at a time to make sure that he was alright and check that he didn’t want her to pick him up anything. If he had some kind of virus then he’d probably just want to lie low but as she was here, she may as well make sure.

The bedroom door was closed which was unusual, and she could swear that she heard muffled voices as she reached the top of the stairs. As she turned the doorknob, a sudden feeling of dread hit her and she paused, apprehension taking hold and running through her entire body. She had gone cold from head to toe and began to feel like she was having an out of body experience as she slowly opened the door. When the gap opened wide enough to permit a view inside the room, she initially reeled back in shock as she encountered the last thing that she had ever expected to see.

Dale was indeed in bed but he didn’t appear to be unwell; in fact he was very much alive.

Alive – and not alone.

Elise took a moment to consider the scene in front of her, waiting for an appropriate emotion to kick in and as she did so, she realised that actually, she felt absolutely nothing. Zilch. Not one single feeling. Not anger, not betrayal, not sadness – absolutely nothing.

Instead, she reacted in probably the most inappropriate manner and she burst out laughing. Proper hysterical, full-belly laughs. Right there and then in the doorway of her bedroom, as she was blatantly confronted by her naked husband and his infidelity.

Dale had been watching Elise ever since she had opened the door and to begin with, he had had a smug expression on his face. Now though as she continued to laugh almost uncontrollably, the smugness had disappeared and was replaced with something approaching confusion and maybe even fear. It was if he realised that he wasn’t getting the reaction that he expected and was now concerned as to how this scene was going to play out.

“Oh Dale…” Elise said when she could finally talk. “You do realise that you have just made my day, don’t you?”

At his confused expression Elise continued, spelling it out for the man so that he could be in no doubt as to what this meant for them and their sham of a marriage.

“The boot is on the other foot now, Dale, and I think you will find that any lawyer will agree to grant me a divorce considering the – evidence – that is before me. This is it. I am finally and thankfully free and you, my dear husband, no longer have any control over me or my life. I am done, completely and utterly done, and I couldn’t be happier. So thank you Dale, for finally allowing us to go our separate ways which is what we should have done a hell of a long time ago. I will collect my stuff later on and I don’t expect you to be here.”

She turned to walk back out of the door feeling completely and utterly elated. She was free, entirely and absolutely free and the irony was that it had been inadvertently granted by the one man who had been keeping her captive all of that time. Her husband. He had messed up, he had been playing away and now, in some sort of karma, he had been caught and there was absolutely nothing that he could do anymore. The power had shifted and she felt happier and freer than she had in a very long time. With a beaming smile, she began to descend the stairs and then as an afterthought, a further twist almost, she turned back to the still open door and addressed Dale’s companion.

“At least I now know why you weren’t at work today, Olivia.”

She delivered the statement calmly, immune to the shocked look on the other girl’s face and then she walked down the stairs, out of the front door and finally out of Dale Breedon’s life.

It felt damn good.

Back in her car, Elise headed in the direction of the office feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted. She couldn’t believe that she was finally free and that this time it was actually over. Without any shadow of a doubt whatsoever. At long last her relationship with Dale had ended. He didn’t have any grounds to refuse her a divorce now and he no longer had any hold over her. The days of hurt and pain could be put behind her and she could move on with her future. Ultimately it had been Dale that had ended things by his actions but she didn’t care as long as it was over. All she knew was that she had been given her wings and now she was going to stretch them out and fly free, away from the poisonous world she’d been living in and onto something pure and new, something untainted. Something real.

At least she now understood why Dale hadn’t been worried about having sex with her. For an instant she almost felt sorry for Olivia, wondering if the girl knew what she was getting into, but she found that actually, she really didn’t care. Olivia had made her feelings towards Elise perfectly clear over the last few months and in some respects, Elise felt that Olivia and Dale deserved each other. Good luck to them – all she knew was that whatever plan they had plotted had totally backfired and she was the happiest she had been for a very long time.

As she continued to drive she maintained the huge smile on her face, anxious to get back to the office to talk to Stephen and tell him what had happened. She knew that she didn’t deserve anything as far as Vaughn was concerned but if she spoke to Stephen, then maybe he could give her some idea as to whether or not there may now be a future for her and Vaughn. She desperately hoped that there could be; she was still in love with him and would be for as long as she lived.

Whilst she continued to mull this thought over, she suddenly remembered why she had been at home in the first place – she had gone to pick up her phone so that she could call Stephen. With everything that had happened since she had completely forgotten so she quickly pulled the car over to the side of the road and retrieved her phone from her bag.

She powered it up and checked the screen, surprised to see that she had a number of missed calls from Stephen – perhaps he had been trying to contact her to get her to cover for him or something. Just as she was about to press the button to call him back, the phone began to ring in her hand and seeing that it was Stephen again, she answered with a big smile.

“And where the hell do you think you are today?” she said and laughed. For once his sometimes questionable antics didn’t bother her at all.

There was a silence on the end of the line before Stephen spoke and when he did, the tone that he used filled her veins with ice and her heart thumped loudly in her mouth as she listened to what he said.

“I’m at the hospital Elise.” His voice was dead, flat. “I’ve been trying to call you all morning. You need to come Elise. It’s Vaughn.” Once he had choked the words out, she heard him break down and immediately, without hesitation, she threw her phone to the floor of the car, restarted the engine and floored the accelerator.

Stephen met her in the waiting room at the hospital, his face was ashen and his bright blue eyes were seared with pain.

Elise rushed into his arms and he held her briefly before pushing her away.

“What the hell’s happened?” she asked, “Where is he?”

Stephen regarded her carefully as if considering what to say. He looked completely shell shocked.

“Stephen!” she shouted, “Just tell me. You have to tell me right now! What the hell is going on?”

Stephen raised his tear stained face to hers, his eyes were red and swollen where he had clearly been crying.

“It’s bad, Elise” he said simply “Really bad. The stupid bastard took an overdose.”

Elise reeled back in shock and immediately felt her legs go from under her. Stephen caught her and helped her over to the plastic chairs along the side of the room.

She couldn’t comprehend what the hell was going on and what Stephen had just said.

An overdose? Her beautiful, strong man had taken an overdose?

Why, for Christ’s sake? Why the fuck would he take an overdose?

“Is he...??” she asked finding that she couldn’t even form the words.

“He’s OK at the moment. They’ve pumped his stomach and now it’s just a waiting game. I found him, Elise. Shit! The stupid fucking bastard! Just like....” Stephen stopped abruptly and
punched the seat beside him in anger. Elise found she had nothing in her to console him. She echoed his sentiments completely.

“Just like..?”

“Nothing.” He said the subject clearly closed, and Elise didn’t really care anyway; there were much more important questions that needed answering.

“Why?” she asked, “I thought he was happy... I assumed...”

Stephen looked at her then his face full of anger and his next words cut her to the core.

“You saw what you wanted to see Elise and believed what you wanted to believe. He was never happy after you left him – never.”

And exactly as had happened this morning when she had found Dale in bed with Olivia, finally the fog that had clouded her judgement five months ago lifted, and she realised that whilst she had made the most difficult decision of her life, it had also been the worst decision of her life.

How could she have ever thought that going back to Dale was the best thing for all of them? She had been unbelievably stupid. So what if Dale thought he had something on Vaughn and Cole? So fucking what? Her love for the two men knew no bounds and instead of trusting that between them they could deal with anything, she had chosen the easy way out, the coward’s way out. Going back to the life she had always known, however unhappy it was, and living that instead of listening to her heart and dealing with the consequences. Had she really considered the full impact of what she had done on the man that she had only ever been trying to protect?

Sadly, and clearly obviously now, she feared that maybe she had not.