The Lie of Love (24 page)

Darcy paused, torn. Amanda was
bringing another complication into the mix, but she was right – things were
getting uglier by the second and there was a real danger that not everyone was
going to walk away from this. She screamed for the men to stop, but nobody
heard.

Then
came
the deafening crack.

Silence fell.

Every face turned in shock to see
Julia at the door of the house with a shotgun.

‘Get away from my family,’ she
said, her voice eerily calm.

Ged
wiped his lip.  ‘Perhaps you’d like to know
what this is about,’ he said with a sneer.

‘Not especially,’ she replied.
‘I’d just like you to leave.
Now.’

‘I can’t. I have something to
sort.’

‘For God’s sake,
Ged
,’ Darcy wailed. ‘What is wrong with you? Can’t you see
when it’s time to walk away?’

He flung an accusing finger at
her. ‘You don’t talk to me! You don’t say a word!’

‘Leave her alone,’ Harry yelled,
advancing again.

‘Harry!’ Julia said, her voice
rising
just enough to get his attention but still deadly
calm. ‘Enough is enough.’

‘Julia…’ Darcy started forwards,
the beginning of a clumsy explanation on her lips. Julia shook the rifle at
her.

‘Don’t. Don’t come near me or my
family again.’

‘But –’

‘You think I don’t have ears or
eyes? I didn’t want to believe it, so I shut myself off. How could I believe
that my friend would betray me like that? I ignored what I could see right in
front of me. I should have protected my son but I didn’t. But you…’ she stifled
a sob. ‘You should have known better…. He’s just a boy….’

‘I’m an adult,’ Harry cut in.
‘I’m old enough to know what I want.’

‘You’re not,’ Julia said. ‘You
only think you are.’

‘I love her!’

Julia strode over and slapped him
across the cheek. ‘Don’t be stupid.’

Harry held a hand to his face and
glared at her.

‘Go in, Harry,’ she said.

‘I’m not finished yet,’
Ged
said.

Julia stared him down. ‘I think
you are.’

‘Yeah, you are,’ Harry taunted.
‘You are SO finished –’

Ged
flew at him again. This time he landed a
perfectly timed uppercut which sent Harry sprawling across the driveway. Darcy
screamed as Michael grabbed for
Ged
.
She ran to Harry, who was now motionless on the ground.

‘You’ve killed him!’ she cried,
pulling his head onto her lap. ‘What have you done?’

Julia threw the gun to one side
and ran to her son. Shoving Darcy out of the way she felt his pulse.
 ‘He’s fine, just knocked out.’

And then the sound of sirens
wailed through the trees.
Ged
looked across to where blue lights winked through the new spring foliage and he
paled.  Michael glanced at the gun lying on the ground, and then back
towards the road where the sound of sirens grew closer. Grabbing for the gun,
he ran into the house with it, emerging a few seconds later empty handed. The
threat of the police seemed to shock
Ged
back to lucidity. His gaze flitted to Harry on the ground.

‘Will he be alright?’

‘He won’t die if that’s what you
were hoping for,’ Julia spat.

Harry groaned and stirred. Julia
tapped his face gently and he opened his eyes.

‘Mum?’

It took a few moments for him to focus.
But as he did, he tried to push himself up too quickly and collapsed again,
head in his hands.

‘Slowly,’ Julia said. ‘You don’t
know what damage is done.’ She glanced up at her husband. ‘Call an ambulance.’

‘No!’ Harry said. ‘I’m fine.’ He
raised his head again, steadier this time, and turned to the gates.  With
what looked like an almighty effort, he pushed himself to his feet as two
police officers made their way up the drive.

Everyone else turned to follow
the direction of his gaze.

‘Somebody called us,’ one of the
officers announced, his sharp eyes surveying the scene.

‘That was me.’ Amanda stepped
forward. ‘There was…’ her voice faded as she glanced from one to another,
clearly torn over what to say.

‘There looks like some injuries
here,’ the police officer continued.

‘There was a disagreement,’ Harry
cut in, ‘but it’s sorted now.’

Julia frowned and opened her
mouth to speak, but Harry gave his head a warning shake.  She looked to
her husband for support but he simply stared at Harry with a silent question.

‘Are you sure about that?’ the
policeman asked Julia. ‘You don’t seem it.’

Darcy looked at
Ged
, who gave Harry a look that
was somewhere between complete surprise and absolute loathing.

‘Perhaps you tell me what the
disagreement was about and who attacked who…’ the policeman said.

Julia opened her mouth again but
Harry cut her off once more. ‘Please, Mum…’ he hissed. ‘Don’t do this.’

‘Mr Blake had an issue with my
son,’ she said stiffly. ‘But if you could escort him off our premises I would
be grateful.

‘I’m going,’
Ged
growled.

‘You too…’ Julia said, eyeing
Darcy coldly. ‘I’m sure you and your husband have a lot to discuss.’

‘Julia…’ Darcy pleaded. Amanda
took her gently by the arm.

‘Not now,’ she whispered. ‘They
need time to talk this through as a family.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Darcy said in a
choked voice. ‘Julia… I’m so sorry…’

Julia turned without reply and
walked back to the house. Harry fired Darcy a sorrowful glance before following
her.

Ged
stalked off. The next sound Darcy heard was his
car engine roaring into life.

‘Do you need us now?’ Amanda asked
the police officer who was writing in his notebook.

He looked up at her. Whether
there was paperwork they didn’t want to do, or whether they had decided that no
actual crime had been committed was a mystery, but he shook his head. ‘It seems
that whatever situation had been going on has blown over now. If you’ll kindly
leave the premises I’m sure there’s no need to take things further.’

‘Come on,’ Amanda said, taking
Darcy by the arm and leading her down the drive. ‘You need a stiff drink.’

Darcy
twisted her head to look back at the house. Julia stood at the window watching
them, her face unreadable.

Darcy forced her eyes open. An unfamiliar bedroom swam into focus.
Turning her face to the pillow, she screwed her eyes closed against the
daylight diffused through lacy curtains. The pillows smelt differently too.
 For once, she longed for her own bed, for the certainty of her old life.
But that was gone forever now.

On their return to Amanda’s
house, Darcy shaking from head to foot, Amanda had given her tea with whisky
and put her to bed. Darcy remembered crying as if she would never stop. But
then she must have fallen asleep.

The house was eerily quiet. She
was used to hearing the bustle of a family home.
Howie
had enjoyed spending time with Jake and Sophie so much that when Amanda
returned home with a distraught Darcy he was only too happy to take them off to
a local children’s farm for the remainder of the day, giving Amanda time to
care for her friend.  There was no accusation, no blame, no reproach, only
the sort of unprejudiced kindness that friends show to each other in times of
need.

The door creaked and Darcy
flipped herself over to look. Amanda peered in.

‘You’re awake,’ she said. ‘How
are you feeling?’

‘Numb,’ Darcy said. ‘It’s the
only way I can describe it.’

‘You’ve had an emotionally
draining day; it’s bound to affect you like that.’

‘That might be the understatement
of the year.’ Darcy sat up and gave her a tight smile.

‘That’s the spirit.’ Amanda
pulled her into a hug. Darcy held on tight, grateful for the affection and
support.

‘I don’t know what I’d do without
you.’

‘I am good, aren’t I?’

Darcy gave a tearful laugh. ‘You
are that.’ She sniffed hard and pulled away. ‘You wouldn’t think I could cry
anymore, but look at me.’

‘It’s going to take time,’ Amanda
said gently.

‘What am I going to do?’

‘It’s a mess, that’s for sure.
You don’t think
Ged
will
listen if you go home and try to talk to him?’

‘There’s no telling what he will
do.’ Darcy was silent for a moment. ‘I’m not sure I want to go home anyway.’
Her thoughts strayed, momentarily, to a tarot reading she had been given, so
many months ago now. Storm, the psychic, had said that the cards answered a
question for Darcy, and that she was surprised at the nature of it. Was this
what she had meant? Had the cards seen Darcy’s unconscious realisation that her
marriage to
Ged
was almost
over, even without the complications that Harry had brought? Had they decided
her fate?  It was a strange thought to have at a time like this.

‘Where will you go?’ Amanda
asked.

Darcy shrugged.

‘I mean… you could stay with me
in a heartbeat, but
Howie
…’

‘Don’t be silly. I could never
impose on you like that and you’ve done more than enough for me already.’ 

‘I’ll talk to
Howie
.
We’ll go with you to get some things from home and you can stay for a couple of
days while you sort out some alternative accommodation. I’m sure he won’t mind
for that long. That’s unless
Ged
has calmed down and you want to stay, have a go at patching things up?’

‘I need some space, time to clear
my head and decide what I do want. I have to think about the kids too. For so
long I thought staying with
Ged
was the right thing for them but… now I don’t know. What do you think?’

Amanda gave a sad smile. ‘It
doesn’t matter what I think. It’s your marriage. But you need to understand
what it was that drove you to have an affair.’

Darcy
nodded slowly. But she was asking a question that her heart already knew the
answer to.

Sitting on the sofa, fingers knotting together on her lap,
Darcy waited.  
Ged
had
been gone for a week, leaving her and the kids with the family home and renting
a flat a mile away. He hadn’t visited once in that time, though he had text
with excuses that he was busy setting up, and although she felt the pain of
separation for her children, she was glad of his absence.  Even so, she
still expected to hear the key in the lock every day, him home from work,
littering the house with his belongings and grumbling about his boss or a
client, and in an odd way she missed that.

Amanda had taken Jake and Sophie
to school every day that week, knowing that Darcy needed time to collect
herself before she could face the stares of the playground gossipers. News
travelled fast in their town and the affair would have got out somehow. 
It wasn’t that Darcy cared what they thought, but she just wasn’t strong enough
to deal with it yet.

There was a knock at the door.
Darcy got up to answer it. Harry stood in the porch. She nodded for him to come
in and he followed her in silence, into the living room.

‘You want to sit down?’ she
asked.

‘I can’t stay long.’

‘That’s not what I asked.’

He frowned. ‘Don’t be angry. We
were friends once.’

‘We were more than friends.
Things change.’ Darcy sat and he took a seat next to her. ‘Has your mum
forgiven you?’ she asked.

He shrugged. ‘She’ll come
round,
it just takes her a while.’ He paused. ‘I’m not sure
she’ll forgive you though, whether it’s the Christian thing to do or not.’

‘I wouldn’t expect her to. You
talked to her about the police?’

He nodded. ‘She won’t take it any
further. She realises that trying to prosecute
Ged
will just drag all of us deeper into the mess.
Best to move on.’

‘That means you too?’

‘I’m heading back to
uni
tomorrow.’

Darcy wasn’t sure how she felt
about this. She had been ready for it, but now he was here telling her she felt
a tiny pang of misgiving. She had already told him that they could never pick
up again where their affair had left off, despite his insistence that now
everyone knew, their relationship would be honest and legitimate, even if
nobody else liked it. He had told her he loved her.  Somehow, she felt
that he didn’t really know that, not for sure. She thought back to when she was
twenty. Would she have known?  The fact that she had got it so wrong with
Ged
told her the answer to
that.  She had patiently tried to explain the long term effects of the age
gap, how, as the years went by, his feelings might change about that, and she
had told him that she needed to put Jake and Sophie before anything else; right
now they needed to find some peace and stability – and that she didn’t think
that a relationship with Harry would bring that.

‘Was that your decision or your
mum’s? You’re not due back until next week, are you?’

‘A bit of both.
She wanted me out of the way –’

‘Out of my way, you mean…’

Harry gave a sheepish nod and
smiled tightly. ‘Something
like
that. But I thought
you might need some space to decide what you want so it was best to put some
distance between us.’

‘I won’t change my mind.’

‘Don’t give up on me yet.’

‘I’m not giving up on you… I’m
saving you.’

‘From you?
Why would I want that? I love –’

‘Harry, no! You can’t say
that.  You have to forget about me.’

He was silent for a moment. ‘Will
you go back to
Ged
?’