Authors: Michelle Love
‘Oh my God…’ A whisper. She met George’s gaze.
‘Where’s Sarah?’
A squeal of tires answered them. They looked up as she saw Sarah’s truck appear from the wrong direction, weaving wildly along the road to her house.
‘What the hell?’ Molly dashed for the door to see the truck slam into the streetlight at the end of the road. The impact crumpled the truck’s hood, the metal screeching against the concrete.
‘Sarah!’ George and Molly sprinted over to her truck, seeing out the corner of her eye, Finn, bursting out of the barn at the sound of the crash, followed behind. Molly, her breath coming in short panicked breaths, wrenched open the cab door to see Sarah slumped over the steering wheel. Finn flew around and opened the passenger side and slid in next to his friend.
‘Oh God…sweetheart?’ Molly touched her friend’s shoulder, felt her shift. She sighed with relief as Sarah sat up, obviously dazed, but unharmed.
‘You maybe shouldn’t move, sweetheart.’ Finn’s brown eyes were serious as he pressed two fingers to her neck, feeling her pulse. He shared a concerned look with Molly. Sarah shook her head slowly, her face set, angry.
‘Have you seen the paper?’ Her voice was flat, dead. She didn’t look at them, staring straight ahead.
George and Molly exchanged a look. Finn cleared his throat.
‘Sarah, maybe you should come and lie down.’
‘No.’ She looked at George, more focused now. ‘Did you see it?’
‘Yes,’ George answered her at last. Molly had gone back to the house and now returned with the paper, handing it to Finn.
‘These are crime scene photos,’ Finn hissed, ‘what the hell?’
‘How did they get hold of them?’
George's
voice shook with anger, with pity for Sarah. He touched her arm but she shook it off.
‘I know exactly who gave them to the paper,’ she said, suddenly glancing in her
rearview
mirror. They all turned to where she was looking, and before they could stop her, she was out and sprinting.
Caroline Jewell – infuriatingly invited to the party because Finn would be there - drove up to the
house
and got out of the car. She turned just as Sarah launched herself onto her, crying out in surprise as the two women tumbled to the ground. She tried to grab Sarah’s hands as the smaller woman whaled on her, cussing and shouting.
‘You fucking, fucking bitch! I know it was you, you piece of human shit.’
George and Finn hauled Sarah off, arms hooked under her shoulders. Caroline got up, grinning maniacally despite the blood pouring from her nose. Sarah struggled against her captors’ grasp.
‘Sarah!’ George’s sharp voice finally broke through the madness and Sarah calmed herself, never taking her eyes off Caroline.
‘George, I know she’s the one who gave them all that…’ she trailed off as Caroline laughed again.
‘Prove it, psycho,’ she wiped her nose with her hand. ‘Ain’t nothing people didn’t already know anyways.’
Finn nodded to George, who locked his arms around Sarah, as Finn stepped over to Caroline. He picked her bag up, shoving it at her.
‘Is it true?’
Caroline sneered at him, brushing the dirt from her pants. ‘I couldn’t say. Nothing to do with me where they get their stories from. Like I said, everyone knows she’s trash. As far as I’m concerned, The Bugler’s just saying it runs in the family.’
‘That’s enough,’ said Finn and Caroline quelled under his hard stare. ‘Those photos were police property. If I find out they were stolen...’
Caroline gave up her simpering. ‘Like I said, prove it.’
‘What the hell is going on?’
They all started and turned. Isaac was standing behind George,
Sarah,
and Finn. A man, who had to be Isaac’s brother and a tall, elegant Asian woman stood by his side, looking wide-eyed and concerned. In the car behind them, two children stared out at them. Sarah started to tremble. Isaac raised his arms towards Sarah and she went straight into them. He held her close and looked up at Finn.
‘What’s going on?’
Caroline smiled nastily. ‘I don’t think we’ve met. I’m…’
‘I don’t give a shit who you are. I asked what was going on.’ His voice was like ice and Caroline
balked
. She scowled.
‘I’ll tell you.
Sarah, Sarah, Sarah Bailey, got all chopped up by her
mo-ho
-
mmy
,’ she sang out of tune and cackled. Sarah lost her temper again and they all reached for her. Caroline turned towards her home. ‘Lock that bitch up. Oh actually,’ she swung around again and spoke directly to Finn, ‘I’d like to press charges. Assault charges.’
Molly gave a squeak of disgusted alarm but Finn winked at her. ‘For what?’ he said calmly, looking at Caroline. Caroline waved at Sarah.
‘She attacked me, of course. Christ, how did I pick someone this stupid for my husband.’
Finn looked at her steadily. ‘Attack you? I didn’t see anything of the sort.’ He turned to the others. ‘You?’
Various shakes of the head and murmurs greeted his question.
Finn stared his wife down. ‘Go home, Caroline, no-one wants you here.’
Caroline huffed in irritation, getting back into the car. George sighed and turned to Sarah, still locked in Isaac’s arms.
‘You okay,
bubs
?’
She nodded, a strange expression in her eyes. ‘I’m fine, pops.’ She extricated herself from Isaac’s embrace. ‘
Thanks,
baby. ’ George saw Isaac smile down at her.
‘
Anytime
. Now, you going to tell me what’s going on?’
***
Sarah looked out at the people on her lawn, in her barn. She could see Saul, Isaac’s brother chatting with Finn, his kids, Christopher and Rosie, running around with Molly’s kids,
Becky
and Mike
Jr..
Molly and Maika were chatting and laughing at the food table, George playing host.
‘They’re basically doing my job for me,’ she fretted but Isaac drew her into his arms.
‘They’re okay, baby. Now, do you want to tell me what happened?’
She looked at him, a sad smile on her face. ‘I come from a very different background to you, Isaac. There was no family estate, no happy family. I grew up in a trailer park south of the city. My mother was a prostitute. She was an illegal immigrant from Shanghai. Barely spoke English, didn’t bother to learn. I spoke Mandarin until I was five. Never knew who my father was, could have been any one of her clients.’
‘What happened to your mother?’
Sarah sighed. ‘When I was six, I came home from school and found her happy.
Believe
me, it was unusual. She barely even noticed me anymore. But this one day, she seemed almost giddy. She had made dinner – just sandwiches and juice. We ate together. I started to feel odd. She was watching me, smiling all the time. I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Just before I feel asleep, I felt her take my arms. There was a stinging pain I didn’t recognize and then nothing. When I woke up, she was lying next to me. Dead. She had cut her wrists. And mine. What she hadn’t
realized
was that by giving me a sedative it had slowed down my pulse and the cuts on my arms weren’t deep enough. I crawled through all the blood and got help.’
Isaac didn’t say anything just kept watching her. She looked away, over the field to the school.
‘George was the one who found me – he was the police chief at the time. Because of his age, his marital
status,
and his profession, they wouldn’t let him adopt me formally. So I went to live in the children’s home. No one wanted to adopt a damaged mixed-race kid. Not with that history. The children’s home was okay, food and lodgings. But lonely – George came most days and would take me out when he could.’ Sarah was matter-of-fact.
‘Then when I was thirteen, a family moved next door.’ She grinned at Isaac. ‘You can guess who.’
‘Molly and Finn?’
She nodded. ‘It was the family I never had. They were funny and loud and argumentative. But the love, Isaac, man, I never knew what it was until the Jewell family came into my life. They taught me to trust again. Everyone except myself. It all caught up with me when I went to college, I went through some pretty tough times.’
Isaac blew out a long breath, his arms tightening around her, his lips against her hair. ‘Jesus, Sarah…I’m so sorry. What a messed up start to
life
. It does explain one
thing,
though…’
‘How I ended up trusting Dan? Because he said all the right things?’
Isaac looked down to see her smiling at him and he grinned good-naturedly. ‘Yep.’
Her face clouded over. ‘It doesn’t change things…between us, I mean?’
He looked surprised
then
upset. ‘God, no, why would it?’
She smiled but pulled away from him a little. ‘We can’t be naive. You’re a pretty high-profile guy…when it gets out, the press will eat it up. The billionaire and his psycho crazy girlfriend.’
Isaac frowned. ‘You are not crazy, or a psycho or anything I could ever, ever be ashamed of. I love you. I’m
in
love with you, Sarah…the for-better-or-for-worse kind of love, the –til-death-do-us-part love.’
Sarah froze. ‘What?’
There was a pause. ‘You heard me.’
‘Are you asking…?’
Isaac sighed. ‘No. Not yet. Not like this. But I will ask you that someday. Some day that’s happy and without all this stress. Some day when you’ll believe it’s out of love and not out of sympathy.’
She smiled daily. ‘You know me so well already.’
Isaac reached for her. ‘We’re meant to be together, I know that.’
She tilted her head up to kiss him. ‘I know that too…and later, I’m going to show you how much.’
He grinned. ‘You bet your cute little butt you will. Now, before my trousers become something ‘tent-like’, let’s go meet my family.’
***
Molly sidled up to Isaac as he sat back, relaxed in the porch swing. The party had died down, the sun was beginning to set. His brother and his family had left ten minutes previously, hugging their new friends. Saul had taken Isaac aside. ‘Sarah’s lovely, bro. I’m so happy for you.’
Isaac was grateful to his brother for not holding the earlier drama against Sarah, but he knew he’d have to explain it to him Monday morning at the office. He smiled at Molly now as she slunk into the chair next to him. ‘So…’
She grinned. ‘I may have a huge girl crush on your sister-in-law.’
Isaac laughed. ‘Fair enough, but don’t tell Sarah you’re cheating on her.’
Molly mimed zipping her mouth then her smile faded. ‘She okay?’
She nodded towards Sarah – who admitted was being corralled by Becky and Mike Jr, who were clambering all over her.
Isaac nodded. ‘I think so.’
‘She
tell
you about her mom? Crazy, huh?’
Isaac nodded grimly. ‘I can’t even imagine.’
She studied him. ‘You get the picket fence?’
Isaac shrugged. ‘Not always but a lifetime better than what Sarah got. Our parents pretty much hated each other but they both loved us. I cannot imagine why a parent would do that to a child.’
‘Not every parent loves their kids, but no, me either. How far she’s come is amazing to me.’
‘How far who’s come?’ A breathless Sarah staggered up to the porch, carrying a child under each arm. They collapsed in a giggling pile on the porch.
‘Hillary Clinton,’ said Molly smoothly. She got up and dragged her kids of Sarah. ‘Right you monsters, go wash your hands and find your dad. George?’ She called over to the older man who was tidying the food table. ‘Can we give you a ride into town?’
George hesitated but Sarah waved him over. ‘Pops, leave that, I’ll clear up.’
An hour later, Sarah and Isaac were alone and lazing in her tub. Sarah lay back against his solid chest and closed her eyes as Isaac’s fingertips drifted lazily up and down her stomach.
‘Did you have a good time today?’ Isaac’s deep voice, low and sexy, rumbled through his chest, his lips at her ear. Sarah nodded slowly.
‘Despite everything, yes. I really liked Saul and Maika and the kids are adorable.’
‘They thought the same of you. We’ll get together with them again soon.’
‘Good.’
They lay in silence for a long time before Sarah sat up and turned around in the bath, managing to straddle him. Isaac slid his hands around her waist and smiled at her. ‘Hey, beautiful.’
She searched his eyes for a second. ‘Isaac, I want you to be honest with me. If everything that’s been going on with me is more than you signed up for, I’ll understand.’
He frowned. ‘Are you kidding me? Do you honestly think that little of me that I’d run at the slightest hint of…baggage?’