Finding Izzy

by Nanette Fox

  David spoke, “Mum this is all just a bit too intense for me, I am going to my office.”

  "Better than propping up my kitchen bench ‘little Lord of the Manor.’ She winked at him. He left giving her a kiss on her forehead on the way through.

  “Mum, so Izzy isn’t fazed by the whole Lainey situation?”

  “No Julia she isn’t,” said Ruth. She has Tim’s heart as does that gorgeous little grandson of mine. Tim has hers which is just simply wonderful." Ruth smiled a long and loving smile, a knowing mother’s smile.

  *

  A few days later, Ruth was sitting reading and enjoying a glass of wine. David waltzed in and pulled up a chair beside his mother. “What’s happening with Izzy and Tim? Have they moved in here together?”

  Ruth replied to David’s query, “I am not really sure. They both seem so busy with work at the moment that I think it is simply where they catch up with each other.”

  David looked at his mother, “So how many nights a week is she here?”

  Ruth said, “I am guessing every night, but they come and go separately often quite late or quite early so it’s hard to say.”

  “They are very much together then, aren’t they?” said David. “Do you see them for meals?”

  “Rarely, they’ve been dining out quite often. Izzy will be here for breakfast before Pilates and then out the door in a flash. I think they want to be very private.”

  “Why, what’s the concern David?”

  “Nothing, I was just interested. Julia and I and Bec were talking over coffee this morning about how Izzy seems happy and totally involved with Tim.”

  “This probably doesn’t make much sense Mum, but we decided the Isabella who was so sad for so long after her parents and then Isaac seems to have gone. We’ve got this amazing Izzy in our lives. She’s really different.” He twisted his mouth. “Mum I always just wanted to look after Izzy, protect her, she was so sad after her parents died, so lost. I took advantage by trying to have a relationship. I took advantage after Isaac died. It was too easy, she was there, she was, rather is, absolutely gorgeous. I should have been more respectful. I am glad she has found Tim and happiness with him.” Ruth, looking at her eldest son, nodded her head in agreement with everything he was saying.

  “Izzy is so much stronger now, she tries things, most of the time she stands up for what she believes in which is brilliant.” He looked a little embarrassed, “We were talking about how Izzy’s style of dress is ‘very sexy’ at the moment.”

  “David, my darling son, Izzy is a woman in love, and she is just feeling totally confident and secure. She is dressing for Tim. I am sure she is enjoying his appreciative looks as she gets dressed or undressed. Thinking about your brother, he is looking very good at the moment too. He is happy, and it shows. They are very much together and I would venture to guess about to get married and it’s really for none of us to worry about.”

  *

  A day or two later, when the very pregnant Julia was staying at her mum’s as Antonio was on a quick trip to visit his family in Italy, she had one of those girly shorthand conversations with Izzy. She’d come down to make a cup of tea and found Izzy all dressed for Pilates rubbing her stomach.

  “Can I make you a cup of tea?”

  “Thanks Izzy that would be great.”

  “How are you?”

  “I can’t wait for this baby to make an appearance.”

  “You know Julia I have always been able to plan my calendar, so regular. I am sure I am late.”

  “Really would that be a problem.”

  “I am scared I was advised in the past it wouldn’t be a good idea.”

  “Take a test.”

  “No, I think I will wait a day or two.”

  “I am sure it will work out.”

  “Thanks for the talk Julia got to go, can’t be late for Pilates. We should do it together, Bec too, after the baby. You’d love it.” Julia was looking after Izzy as she ran out the door. She smiled… so ‘after the baby’ Izzy just what did you mean…

  Chapter 45

  Valet Car-Parking and Quite a Disagreement

  Izzy arrived ‘home’ after the hellish day and heavy crawling traffic. She was half-heartedly ruing her decision to manage the gallery from a far and put her energies into the marketing company she was establishing with Bobby. So far, it was long hours, endless gruelling meetings and stress. They hoped soon to be able to step back a little and with the help of a PA, plan their work days to suit themselves. She had always worked and played by the motto ‘give it a one hundred and ten per cent’ just like Tim. For a number of years, she had felt she wasn’t achieving, or becoming anything of note. She was much happier now she had started to achieve career and personal goals. She and Tim were finally settling into a happy loving relationship, sharing details of their lives, taking time to be with each other. They were going to quietly marry with Simon, Ursula, Paul and Aunt Lucy as their witnesses. Izzy felt so guilty keeping it from her two closest friends. Tim had Paul’s absolute understanding that the ‘girl triangle’ would find out later. He knew they would sweep Izzy up into some elaborate fancy wedding she didn’t want if they were in on ‘the secret’.

  Tim had arrived home in the Porsche, he was so upset he couldn’t be bothered putting it in the garage. He had slouched into the family room, thrown his keys, books, plans and work satchel onto the table, slumped into one of the dining chairs and was now sitting staring straight ahead. His mother, starting a family meal, noticed his state querying, “What’s wrong?”

  His eyes flashing in anger, he snapped, “I can’t even begin to tell you.” Ruth hadn’t parked her car in the garage either, looked out thinking he’d had a minor accident. “Nothing with the car Mum I’ll put it away after.” His motorbike was blocking the garage door. Next to arrive was David to see his mother, and he parked his BMW at a skewed angle behind the other two cars. Julia and Antonio arrived for the meal but separately and parked behind David taking the full width of the drive with their two vehicles. Izzy pulled in at the top of the drive and teetering down the gravel drive in her newest heels, cursed the lot of them. She was in a hurry to go out again to a function and exploded as she came in the door that if they lived in Europe, they’d all have to be more careful with their parking. She explained the drive was massive and it was ridiculous they’d managed to block it up.

  Putting her bags down, Izzy tipped the fruit out of the bowl on the table and went around collecting everyone’s keys. She really had to press Tim for both the bike and Porsche keys. She looked at him and knew that something was terribly wrong but was absorbed in what she was doing and thought it could wait a little. She got to David and as she asked for his keys, he queried if she planned on some ‘wife-swapping’. Distracted, she muttered something about going to a party once with Isaac and they had left when the host suggested that’s what they were all there for. David looked over at Tim ready to chuckle about wife-swapping and was shocked to see him sitting totally removed from the scene around him. He was leant over the table holding his chin in his hands and looked about to cry, his eyes watering.

  Izzy was in the drive moving all the cars around, so they were parked neatly. David was surprised when she moved the bike confidently, starting it and zipping behind the cars to put it where it was normally parked to the side. She parked Ruth’s car in the garage. Then she stopped at the Porsche and stood keys in hand fighting a battle with herself to get in it and move it. David turned to his brother and said, “Valet Parking has got into the Porsche and moved it, she has actually got into the Porsche.” No response. “Tim, Izzy just got into the Porsche.” No response. “Tim what’s up?” His brother was now sitting holding his head in his hands covering his face. David turned to watch Izzy move his BMW, Julia’s Audi and Antonio’s Toyota Ute into a neat straight line.

  Izzy then pulled her car up to behind Ruth’s section of the garage and turned to Paul and Bec who’d just arrived, “I’ll park your car if you like
, just don’t block me in as I have to go out.” Paul tossed her the keys laughing and left her to it.

  He walked inside and commented, “Valet Parking is very attractive.” He looked at Tim and recognized his mate was in trouble. Tim looked at him, but through him and getting up left the room leaving his scattered belongings. Izzy came back in, returned everyone’s keys, looked at Tim’s discarded things, picked them up and carried them off upstairs.

  The next anyone knew was that a very angry Izzy came back downstairs dressed in a very sexy black dress with exquisite gold jewellery, black stilettos, matching small black bag and silk wrap. She looked at everyone who was expectantly waiting for explanations and simply said to Ruth, “I am going out and I won’t be back tonight.” David and Paul looked at each other. Tim came storming downstairs in his bike leathers and just glaring at everyone took his bike keys and went roaring off up the drive at speed.

  Everyone looked at each other and almost said together, “What is going on?”

  Ruth said, “I am guessing it is to do with Lainey.”

  “Why Mum?”

  “Because he was in a mood when he came in, if it was something to do with work, he would have been more open, especially to Izzy. It is Zot’s birthday party on Sunday. He has gone off in his leathers on the bike. They were supposed to go to the function together tonight. Izzy’s not coming home tonight.”

  “I would almost bet that Lainey has somehow put her foot down about Izzy going to the party.”

  Julia looked at her mum, “How did you get all of that from Tim’s attitude and then Izzy’s anger?”

  “I am a Mum and some insider knowledge I won’t divulge.”

  The next day, around lunchtime, Tim came home and asked Ruth if Izzy was home. “Yes, she’s upstairs in your room I think.” Ruth observed him and fought a feeling of dread. Tim went upstairs and finding Izzy examining some documents sat next to her.

  “About Zot’s party tomorrow, Lainey doesn’t want you there,” he barked.

  Izzy looked up at him, “Why?” she asked in alarm.

  “She is on the warpath. She doesn’t want you to have anything to do with Zot. So how the hell is that supposed to work, if I am with you? She and Stefan have also broken up, he has gone back to his ex-wife, and she is requesting me to play ‘happy families’ for the party and then after to be there for Zot. Izzy, she is threatening me with removing access to my son.”

  He looked so distressed but rattled and agitated; her heart was breaking for him. “Izzy, I have to break up with you. Can I please have the ring? I won’t be able to marry you.” Izzy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She was in shock and unable to talk. This was so out-of-the-blue. A random attack she hadn’t seen coming. There was no chance for discussion. She simply didn’t understand. She slipped off her ring, already sobbing, she fled from the room, tossing it at him as she fled. On the landing she stood in a panic, worried where she could hide. She fled to the guestroom and latching the door sat on the bed rocking backwards and forwards sobbing loudly.

  Tim lurched back downstairs, looking at his mother, pure unadulterated desperation etched on his face, “Izzy and I have split up. I asked for the ring back. She’s distressed, and she’s locked herself in the guestroom. Oh god Mum, I feel ill. I can’t lose Zot. I am breaking Izzy’s heart. I don’t want to hurt Izzy, I love her so much. Izzy’s who I want Mum, there beside me, in my life. I don’t know how to solve this problem. How can Lainey put me in this position? Is she so desperate to have me in her life, as her partner, she is content pulling me into little pieces?” He was bent over clutching his stomach. He stood up looking grey.

  “You know Mum Lainey is fascinating at first, then there is all the partying, the drinking, the recreational drugs, it’s unstable, she doesn’t understand what it is to be a couple or a family. Stefan got caught up. He’s realized. Stefan has gone and she’s like this disillusioned shrieking creature. I am so worried for Zot. I need him to know there is someone there for him, in his little corner. Mum I have to go, he is so little, I need to be there. I don’t think I’ll be home tonight.” He bent over again, looking like he was going to be ill. “Please if you’re going on the bike, be careful, you’re in a bit of a state.” He stood for a few moments as she rubbed his back. Grabbing up his bike keys, “I’ve got to go Mum” and stormed out of the house, slamming the door.

  Ruth ran upstairs and knocking on the guestroom door said, “Izzy it is Ruth, please let me in.” The door was unlocked, and Ruth stepped inside to find Izzy sobbing. “Darling girl what’s happened?” Izzy sat shaking her head.

  “You won’t believe it.” She wiped her tears away. “Last night, before I went out, he suggested he didn’t want to be with me anymore. I asked why and all he could say was he wanted to have a relationship with his son. He wouldn’t give me anymore explanation and said he’d talk to me today. He just wouldn’t talk although you could tell he was in absolute knots. So, as you know, I went out in a bit of a huff, and after the function stayed in a hotel in the city.”

  Now, today, I’ve been told Lainey doesn’t want me to go to Zot’s party. She doesn’t want me to ever have any contact with Zot. Lainey is pushing to be with Tim. He just asked for my ring back."

  Izzy looked in absolute pain. “Ruth, apparently Lainey has split from Stefan, who has gone back to his ex-wife. She says she wants Tim there to make it easier for Zot. I am sick to the stomach to think he can’t see she wants him there for her. She wants him to tell her it’s all going to be okay, wipe her tears away, kiss and cuddle her, sooth her upset. Ruth he wouldn’t be silly enough to sleep with her, would he?” Izzy felt sick and ran to the ensuite to vomit.

  Coming back, she sat in Ruth’s arms until her tears subsided. “Sweetheart let me help you move your things from Tim’s room into here. Do you want me to ring Lucy, or perhaps Julia or Rebecca?”

  “Ruth can you ring Lucy? If she can’t come here, I’ll go there. No, actually, I’ll ring her now, I need someone like a mum. You’re Tim’s mum. Then I have to ring my business partner, Bobby. Then I am going to take a shower, I can’t cry anymore. I just have to get on with my life. My heart is so broken.” Ruth looked at Izzy and saw defeat, resignation and deep, deep sadness.

  Ruth didn’t know what to say, even thinking perhaps she was mistaken about what she heard, when Izzy whispered, “I won’t keep the baby, it would be such a mistake.” Izzy turned and ran to take a shower. “I have to do what I want; I have to be strong; I can’t let another man destroy me. I think I am going to Singapore tonight. Bobby and I were going next week. I’ll ring him and bring it forward.” Ruth took in the flashing hurt and desperate eyes. Izzy was like a frightened animal looking to take flight, run far, far away seeking protection and safety. Ruth, fighting for some sense of what would be the best to do, determined to leave Izzy for now, let her get herself together a little. She went back downstairs and quickly phoned all three, Julia, Rebecca and David, “Come over please, something awful has happened between Izzy and Tim, I think it could get much worse, I need help.”

  Ruth made one other call. She and Stefan had quite a conversation the day at the farm. He simply needed someone to talk to. He had explained about separating from Lainey and why. Ruth understood so much now and understood so well why her Tim had kept in contact about Zot. Stefan, much older than Tim, had shared so much about his respect for Tim, such a young man who had taken on a big responsibility. Stefan was down on himself for the mess he had made of his own family by getting involved with Lainey. He confided to Ruth he was pleased he had mended the relationship with his ex-wife. He had said much the same as Tim, describing Lainey as enthralling at first. He described her as an incredibly intelligent woman but a woman with many personalities. Lainey was someone who had grown up in the complex web of social care and found it easy to drop back into a very dark world in her professional capacity.

  He and Ruth had made a pledge to keep in touch about Zot’s welfare as it was a constant worry. S
he determined to make good on that pledge now and make a plan between Stefan and herself to rescue her grandson’s birthday leaving both parents out of it. She wanted to share about Tim’s beautiful fiancée fleeing to Singapore and how someone needed to talk Tim around to seeing he should go after her. Tim needed to be released from the responsibilities that had become a toxic quicksand pulling him down. It would distress him greatly and probably for a long while but if he knew Zot was being supported, he’d maybe agonize a little less.

  *

  David came in the door just as Isabella and Julia were stacking Isabella’s luggage, a large suitcase and roll-on hand luggage in the porch to be taken out to the taxi later that night. Isabella was dressed in a sequined cocktail dress to have a quick dinner with her business partner Bobby before she caught her flight. The quite sexy clinging dress with matching nude stilettos looked out of place with the very sensible black luggage. “So, what do we have happening here?” asked David.

  Julia replied, “Izzy’s going out for dinner before she catches a plane to Singapore. She’s decided she’s going for a while, so she won’t be here when my baby is born, and she probably won’t be here for your wedding.” Julia looked up at her brother and said, “I am so sad.”

  David stroked Izzy’s arm as he could see she was agitated. “If you’re gone for that long we will all miss you Izzy.”

  “Why is it exactly you’re going?” She looked at David and the tears started to fall, she covered her mouth and he reached out to hold her against his chest. Stroking her hair, “Izzy it can’t be that bad, has something happened between you and Tim?” He felt her head nodding in his embrace. “Izzy you do seem to get yourself in some messes. Okay so let’s go into the family room and Julia, you and I will sit and have a talk. Come on Miss Isabella we’ll see if we can solve the problem or at least make it a bit better.”