Till Death Do Us Part

by Stephen Edger

  Dave nodded and handed Ben the empty bottle as the two of them proceeded through the house, leaving Alice alone in the garden.

  Her phone started ringing and, seeing Faye’s profile picture on the screen, she quickly answered. ‘Hi, sweetie.’

  Alice hadn’t anticipated hearing Faye sobbing. ‘I’m … I’m … I’m … sorry,’ she moaned, her breathing erratic. ‘I … didn’t … know … who … else … to … call.’

  A ball of worry developed rapidly in the pit of Alice’s stomach. ‘Faye, what’s going on?’

  ‘It’s … it’s … Johnny … He’s … left … me.’

  FIFTEEN

  Five minutes later, Alice closed the patio door and joined Ben in the living room. ‘You’re not going to believe this! Johnny just walked out on Faye. Packed his bag and took the car. She’s distraught!’

  Ben’s mouth dropped in astonishment. ‘I knew they’d been having some problems, but I never expected—’

  Alice’s brow furrowed. ‘You knew they were having problems? How long for? Why didn’t you tell me?’

  ‘I assumed Faye would have told you. I’m sorry.’

  Alice wasn’t sure what hurt most: that Ben had known and didn’t tell her, or that her good friend had kept her troubles from her.

  ‘They’ve been seeing a marriage guidance counsellor for a few months,’ Ben continued. ‘I honestly thought you knew. I thought that was why you’d asked her to be a bridesmaid, as an act of solidarity.’

  Alice scoured the kitchen worktops for her handbag. ‘I need to go over there. She needs a friend.’

  Ben reached for her hand in a calming gesture. ‘We shouldn’t get involved. Okay? I don’t mean to be cruel, but what Johnny and Faye get up to in their own time is none of our business.’

  ‘She made it my business when she called,’ Alice said firmly. ‘I’m not going over there to interfere, I just want to support her.’

  He sighed loudly. ‘Just remember that things between them probably aren’t as rosy as they looked yesterday. Sure, on the surface they’re a lovely couple who can’t do enough for others, but behind closed doors their relationship hits highs and lows.’

  She could tell Ben was holding out on her. Standing in silence, she allowed his discomfort to grow until he felt compelled to break the silence.

  ‘All right, all right,’ he said. ‘She gets jealous, that’s what he says. She hates that he works in a large office where there are lots of attractive women. He tells me she checks his phone constantly. He’s got one of those fingerprint readers, but she knows his PIN and unlocks the screen when she thinks he’s not looking; checking emails; text messages; private messages. She’s obsessed with who he speaks to. Of course they end up having fights about it, and when we were in Bournemouth he told me he’s not sure how much more of it he can take. I assume you saw what happened at the airport before you flew out to Paris?’

  Alice remembered that Faye had been late checking in and had almost missed the flight, but had caught up with the rest of the group at the boarding gate. She’d looked upset, but had blamed it on traffic and Johnny being late home to drive her. Before Alice had been able to get Faye alone, the group were all seated and the champagne was flowing. In hindsight, Faye hadn’t been her usual bubbly self on the trip, but Alice had put that down to her missing her daughter back home.

  ‘What happened at the airport?’ Alice questioned.

  ‘You mean she didn’t tell you? From what Johnny said, she almost cried off going to Paris altogether. They were late arriving, right? That’s why! She was all packed and ready to go, but then she started to get paranoid about leaving Johnny at home. She doesn’t trust him, but he’s never given her any reason not to. He’s never cheated on her – at least, not that I know about – and I think her paranoia stems from some ex who did the dirty. She’s got serious psychological issues and needs her head examining.’ He stopped himself when he remembered who he was talking to. ‘I’m sorry, I know she’s your friend, but I’m just relaying how crazy she’s making him. All this – the phone call to you – it’s probably Faye making a mountain out of a molehill. They’ve probably just had a barney and he’s left to cool down and clear his head.’

  Alice picked up her bag, uncertain whether or not to go. ‘Was she really going to cry off coming to Paris? Even though the tickets and hotel were all booked?’

  ‘He had to drag her to the airport, telling her how disappointed you all would be if she missed the trip. Even as they pulled up at the drop-off point, she was threatening to phone you and make up an excuse about their daughter being unwell. He had to march her through the security barrier out of fear that she would leave the airport as soon as he’d gone. Did she really not tell you any of this?’

  Alice’s guilt was on overload. Had she been so caught up in organizing hers and Ben’s big day that she’d missed her friend’s unhappiness? It would be typical of Faye to bottle up her own troubles, to avoid spoiling the wedding. Now that it was over, did Faye feel it was the time to come clean?

  ‘I’ll phone Johnny for you if you want,’ Ben offered. ‘Check that everything’s okay and find out what’s really going on.’

  Alice thought back to last night. Her own world had seemingly fallen apart when Ben had been dragged off by the police and had it not been for Tara’s support, God only knew what state she’d have been in now.

  ‘No,’ Alice said, pulling her handbag over her shoulder. ‘Faye’s my friend and she needs my help.’

  SIXTEEN

  The late afternoon traffic was light and Alice reached Johnny and Faye’s semi-detached home within fifteen minutes. The house was part of a newly built estate, the orange brickwork not yet faded by decades of harsh sunlight. Each surrounding property had the same rectangle of lawn at the front, a driveway barely wide enough for the average modern car, and the same art deco style of front doors. It looked a warm and friendly place to live, but then the average house price was ten per cent higher than the houses on the older estate that led to this one.

  There was no sign of Johnny’s car on the driveway as Alice made her way up to the front door, pressing the doorbell. Faye opened it a moment later, eyes red, cheeks puffy. As soon as she saw Alice, fresh tears welled.

  Wrapping her arms around Alice’s shoulders, Faye pulled her into the house. ‘I can’t believe you came. I’m so sorry, I know you should be enjoying your honeymoon, but I didn’t know who else to turn to.’

  Alice closed the door behind them. ‘That’s what friends are for. I had no idea things were so bad. I wish you’d told me sooner.’

  Faye broke the embrace and nodded, heading to the kitchen. Alice followed slowly behind, leaving her handbag by the front door. Faye was already filling a second glass with wine and passed it to Alice, who had little choice but to accept it. The two empty bottles next to the dustbin told Alice everything she needed to know about Faye’s current state of mind.

  ‘Let’s go and sit down,’ Alice suggested, as Faye tottered unsteadily.

  Leading them to the adjoining lounge, Alice made sure Faye was seated before resting a box of tissues on the table next to her and dropping into the closest armchair.

  The large flat-screen television on the main wall dominated the room, and made it feel like they were in a tiny cinema. Surround speakers stood in each corner of the room. Johnny had always been into his gadgets, and this monolith was just the latest addition.

  ‘What’s been going on?’ Alice asked, keen not to mention Ben’s earlier revelations. ‘Have you heard from Johnny since you phoned me?’

  Faye reached for one of the tissues and dabbed her eyes. ‘No.’

  Alice chose her words carefully. ‘Does this have something to do with what happened at the airport last weekend? I knew something wasn’t right when you reached the boarding gate. You looked like you’d been crying, but you didn’t seem to want to say anything. I’m sorry if I made you feel you couldn’t be honest with me.’

  Faye grimaced as
she wiped her nose. ‘You didn’t need to be dealing with all my shit with everything you had on. Now I feel even worse for reaching out considering what you and Ben must be dealing with after last night.’

  ‘It’s okay,’ Alice said quickly. ‘It was all just a misunderstanding. Ben’s back at home now.’

  Faye nodded. ‘I never doubted it. He’s a good one, your Ben. You chose well. Unlike me.’

  The sound of a child’s laughter upstairs revealed where Faye’s daughter, Isabella, had been squirrelled away.

  ‘Is Isabella here? I’d love to say hi,’ Alice asked, glancing back at Faye’s wine glass.

  ‘She’s watching a movie in my room. I didn’t want her to see me crying, though she must have heard Johnny shouting before he left. It’s all such a mess.’

  Alice quickly placed her hand on Faye’s. ‘None of this is your fault.’

  ‘We’ve been going to marriage counselling,’ Faye suddenly blurted. ‘Not that I think it’s helping. Especially after today.’

  Alice hadn’t wanted to mention it herself, and was relieved Faye had brought it up. ‘Things haven’t been good for a while then?’

  Faye shook her head. ‘Nobody ever warns you about the fights. On the surface, married couples always seem so happy, but things have been strained between the two of us for nearly a year now. We put a brave face on it when out in public, but it’s hard, you know?’

  Alice heard her phone beep and excused herself to fetch her handbag. Opening it, she saw a message from Ben asking whether she’d arrived safely, and confirming Dave was going to drop some groceries around later on. She quickly messaged back to say she’d arrived and that there was no sign of Johnny at the house. As she carried the phone back into the room, she froze when she saw a small hand towel on the floor, stained with patches of blood. Picking it up, she marched back to Faye, her mind connecting the dots.

  She’d thought Faye’s cheeks had looked puffy from crying, but now as she looked closer, she noticed the unmistakeable shade of purple starting to peek through the yellowing of the skin around Faye’s eyes.

  ‘Did Johnny do this?’ Alice asked.

  Faye looked up, and gently nodded as her eyes fell on the towel.

  ‘How many times has he hit you?’

  Faye’s eyes watered. ‘I know he doesn’t mean to do it. He just gets stressed out, with me, with Isabella, with work. If things aren’t right when he gets home, we argue and then he lashes out. He’s always so sorry afterwards and promises it won’t happen again, but then something else will trigger it.’

  ‘It’s never okay for him to strike you. You know that, right? If Ben ever …’ her words trailed off. ‘I wouldn’t give him a second chance to repeat the mistake.’

  ‘It was my fault today. I knew that challenging him would end in him lashing out, but I needed to know.’

  ‘Know what?’

  ‘I wanted to know the truth about that weekend in Bournemouth.’ Faye dabbed her nose again, the flakes of blood inside her nostrils now so apparent. ‘I overheard Johnny and Dave chatting this morning. Dave was telling him he needed to go to the police station and make a statement about the weekend they’d organized for Ben. I asked what they were talking about and they refused to say before the two of them left for the police station together. So when Johnny got home I was determined to find out what he’d been keeping from me. He eventually admitted where they’d been and how they’d hired that poor girl to strip for them. I was fuming – understandably so – and that’s when he punched me. Usually it’s just a slap or a blow to the midriff, but today he punched me hard in the face, twice. My nose wouldn’t stop bleeding for ages, but he just didn’t seem to care. He stormed out and drove away.’

  Ben had made out that the marriage counselling was because of Faye’s crazy jealousy, but now Alice could see the real reason, and her heart ached for her broken friend on the sofa.

  ‘You need to speak to the police,’ Alice encouraged. ‘Johnny has no right to treat you this way. You need help. If you want to come and stay with us while you sort out a divorce, then that’s fine.’

  Faye’s head shot up. ‘I’m not divorcing him.’

  ‘What? Why not?’

  ‘Because I love him. I know he doesn’t deserve to have me stick by him, but he wasn’t always this way. If he gets some help to deal with his stress and anger, I know I can find the man I first fell in love with – the man who treated me like a princess and would do anything for me. He’s still in there.’

  Alice dropped to her knees, near Faye’s feet. ‘Sweetie, I’m only telling you this because I’m your friend and I don’t want to see you hurt, but you are lying to yourself if you think things are going to get better. I don’t doubt that you love him, but you can’t allow yourself to suffer at his hands. What if he strikes out at Isabella? You’d never forgive yourself.’

  Faye’s face fell. ‘He wouldn’t.’

  ‘How can you be so sure? I bet you never thought he’d hit you until the first time it happened. For both of your sakes you need to kick him out of the house, at least until he’s sorted himself out. From what you’ve said, his violence is escalating – what if next time he goes further?’

  As she said the words, Alice couldn’t help but wonder whether it was already too late. What if the police were right to be looking at the members of the stag party but had arrested the wrong man?

  ‘I can’t leave you here,’ she continued. ‘I want you to pack up some things for you and Isabella and come home with me tonight.’

  Faye reached for her glass and took a long gulp, draining half of the contents. ‘No. It’s bad enough that I’ve interrupted the first day of your honeymoon, you don’t need me getting in the way.’

  ‘We cancelled our trip away because the police took Ben’s passport. If anything, I could do with the company.’

  ‘I can’t drag Isabella from her home. It would be too difficult to explain.’

  ‘Okay, well go to your mum’s instead. She’ll understand.’

  Faye shook her head. ‘I can’t tell her. I know I sound crazy, but Johnny will get better. This was a real turning point. I made a vow all those years ago to stick with him in sickness and in health. How would it look if I abandoned our marriage at the first hurdle?’

  Alice wanted to understand, but couldn’t accept leaving her friend in danger. ‘What happens when he flies off the handle again, and does more permanent damage? You need to report him, Faye. Even if you decide to give him a second chance, I don’t think the two of you should stay under the same roof for the moment.’

  Faye wasn’t listening, instead stumbling back to the kitchen to top up her glass once more, leaving Alice to wonder how much Ben really knew about Johnny’s behaviour.

  SEVENTEEN

  The sun hung low in the sky as Alice drove back through the electric gates. She had left the house only when Faye’s mum had arrived to take over. Faye had reluctantly agreed that Alice could call her, if for no other reason than to watch over four-year-old Isabella. There’d been no sign of Johnny returning, and Alice hoped he had crashed on someone’s sofa and was in the process of sobering up.

  Closing her front door, Alice was surprised to hear voices coming from the living room at the rear of the house, and as she pushed the door open with her foot she immediately recognized Dave’s raucous laugh as Ben cracked a lame joke.

  ‘Finally!’ Ben said, turning and spotting her. ‘We bought Chinese. I got you your usual, but you might want to reheat it in the microwave. I thought you’d have been back ages ago. How was everything with Faye?’

  ‘I’ll tell you later,’ Alice said, nodding in Dave’s direction.

  Dave had a can of beer in his hand, and from the empty cans scattered over the coffee table in the centre of the room it looked like they’d both had a few. Some wildlife documentary was playing out on the big screen, but the volume was low.

  ‘The food’s in the kitchen,’ Ben added.

  ‘Great, thanks,’ Alice
replied. ‘Can I get either of you anything?’

  ‘We’re fine,’ Ben said, opening a fresh can.

  The kitchen was in a worse state than the living room. Empty white carrier bags, open foil pots containing the remains of whatever the boys had ordered, spoons with grains of rice stuck to them, and then two foil pots stacked on top of a plate, presumably her dinner. Moving across, she spotted three bags of groceries on the floor near the fridge. As she looked inside them, she saw the frozen goods slowly thawing.

  ‘Hey, babe,’ Ben called from the other room. ‘Can you bring some more beers in when you come back? Should be a six-pack in the fridge.’

  She shouldn’t have been so surprised. The two of them had been inseparable for as long as she’d known them. That’s what came from two men who’d known each other since school, and had survived the perilous challenge of falling for the same woman. It was nice that they had such a strong friendship, particularly given neither had any siblings, but it did irk her when they were in one of these moods, where it was like she didn’t even exist.

  Carrying the cans through, she placed them on the table nearest Ben, but neither he nor Dave looked up to acknowledge or thank her. Returning to the kitchen she reheated her food and carried it upstairs to the bedroom.

  Half an hour later, and with nothing exciting on the television, she ventured back downstairs. The television volume was much louder now, and as she carried her plate through to the kitchen she was sure they hadn’t even noticed she hadn’t joined them in the living room. They’d made no effort to clean up the mess in the kitchen and she was almost certain they’d yet to leave their pit in the other room. It was now after nine and the sky was darkening as she stared out at the back garden. The thought of filling the sink with hot soapy water and attacking the greasy plates wasn’t tempting, and as she lowered the kitchen blind she couldn’t prevent a yawn escaping her mouth.

  All in all it had been a stressful few days. Firstly worrying about whether everything would go to plan for the big day and if people would enjoy themselves, then the arrest. She had hardly slept last night, and now it was catching up with her.