‘Again, typical Daniel behaviour Bec!’
Rebecca stopped talking. Her head was thumping and her chaotic thoughts were whirling through her brain.
‘I know,’ she eventually whispered. ‘I just thought this time....’
Helen hugged her friend. ‘Come on, let's get you inside,’ and she pulled Rebecca to her feet, helped her find her keys and steered her in the direction of the kitchen.
As Rebecca sank onto the raspberry settee Helen looked doubtfully at the coffee machine then put the kettle on and dug out a jar of instant coffee from the cupboard, leaving Rebecca with her thoughts as she busied herself making them both a drink.
Rebecca stared down the garden. The courtyard was full of herbs now, little pots set by the kitchen door where she could reach out and pick what she needed. She had wandered around the garden and found the perfect spot for a little vegetable patch, she even had packets of seeds in one of the kitchen drawers. She loved this house and she was staying put.
‘Bec?’
She turned to find her friend holding out a steaming cup and she took it gratefully, warming her hands on it. She was shivering even though the kitchen was warm.
‘You know,’ began Helen carefully as she sank next to Rebecca on the settee and put her own cup down on the floor. ‘You do know that it's time to call it a day Rebecca?’
Rebecca looked at her questioningly.
‘With Daniel. It's time to stop this farce and just admit that it's over.’
For once Rebecca didn't jump to his defence. The guilt that usually washed over her had finally disappeared.
‘This can't go on sweetheart. He's taken advantage of you, treated you dreadfully and you've gone along with it all. I have to admit I've spent the last five years waiting for the phone to ring and you to tell me you'd finally seen the light and left.’
Still Rebecca didn't join in. She knew that Helen was right. Oh not about moving to Darlington, she could actually appreciate that Daniel had been trying to do the right thing. He had handled it badly but he had been trying and she hadn't supported him at all. They were both to blame for the dull, unhappy lives they had led in Darlington. But the Daniel he had become was not the Daniel she had married and his actions over the last few weeks had left her despising him.
‘I should have told him about the money,’ she said wearily.
‘Oh come on Rebecca. This isn't about the money! This is about everything that happened before the money.’
Helen sighed in exasperation. ‘Look, I know we're not supposed to talk about this Bec but it's been five years, let's face some home truths. Most men I know, every man I know who has had an affair, he…. well he's expected to pay! He's expected to be sorry, show some remorse, offer his soul if only he can be forgiven. If his wife wants him to change his job, he does. If his wife wants him to move to Outer Mongolia, then he does. If he wants to save the marriage he pulls out all the stops and does whatever she says.’
Rebecca stared at her.
‘Daniel is the only man I know who's had an affair and then dictated the terms for the reconciliation. He behaved appallingly selling the house and dragging you up to Darlington. To take you away from all your friends at the time you needed them most! And quite why you agreed to it all I'll never know,’ she grumbled taking a sip of her coffee. ‘But then to let him walk all over you for the last five years! Bec, come on, where's your fight, where's your anger?’
She took her friends hand, not noticing the glazed expression on her face.
‘We are aware that he tries to stop you keeping in contact with us you know. You wouldn't believe the number of phone calls we make to be told you're out with your friends, you don't have time to see us. He did actually come out with it shortly after you'd left – he suggested it would be better for you if we didn't contact you at all, ever again. Let you forget it all and move on.’
She snorted, shaking her head in anger. ‘As if we'd fall for that one! No, we just kept phoning until we spoke to you. We were convinced one day you'd wake up and walk out. We've gone along with this charade for five years now Bec but enough is enough. Leave him!’
Rebecca carefully pulled her hand away from Helen's grip and stared at her friend’s flushed face.
‘What on earth are you talking about?’
Helen stared back.
‘What?’
‘What are you talking about?’ Rebecca's voice was louder, a frown digging into her forehead. ‘What are you trying to say! What affair, who had an affair?’
Helen looked completely confused.
‘I don't understand Bec....’
‘What affair are you talking about,’ Rebecca's voice was still rising, tremulous. ‘Daniel didn't have an affair!’
They stared at each other for a second, Rebecca bewildered, confused as she watched the panic that chased across Helen's face, the doubt, the horror.
‘Bec - you knew. Daniel said you knew...’
She broke off her hand flying to her mouth.
‘Knew what? What on earth are you saying! We moved to Darlington because Daniel was worried about his job. We moved because, God help him, however badly he handled it all he was trying to keep us all safe. There was no affair.’
Rebecca stood up, putting her cup shakily down on the table.
‘There was no affair! Who on earth told you that there was?’
Helen shook her head. Tears were sliding down her cheek. ‘Oh God Bec, I'm so sorry, I'm so, so sorry.’ She bit her lip, her face crumpling as she reached out to take her friend's hand again. ‘Bec please believe me we thought you knew, he said you knew. He told us we mustn’t mention it, that you didn't want to talk about it.’
Images were flashing before Rebecca's eyes. Daniel standing before her telling her gruffly that he had broken the news of the move to Helen and Emma and told them that Rebecca was upset, that she didn't want to talk about it. Images of her two friends wrapping their arms around her whispering to her that when she was ready to talk they would be there, ready to listen. She remembered the last day, Helen whispering in her ear 'I'm here for you Bec, if you want to come back I'm here for you.'
Rebecca looked down at her fingers held in Helen's grip. Bewildered she looked up at her friend.
‘He had an affair?’
Helen was crying now. In a daze Rebecca grabbed a tissue and passed it to Helen before sinking back down onto the settee.
‘Daniel had an affair?’
Helen nodded. ‘Bec, I'm sorry, I really thought you knew, I thought you didn’t want to talk about it, I thought ...’
Rebecca waved her apologies away with a shaking hand.
‘But I didn't know, I never did so perhaps it's time we did talk about it.’
And she turned to her friend to find out the real reason why the Miles family had left Leeds five years earlier.
Half an hour later Rebecca stood up and retrieved a bottle of wine from the fridge. She looked at it and then put it back and took out a bottle of brandy from the cupboard pouring two large tumblers.
Daniel had been having an affair and he was caught red handed. He should have been playing golf. Rebecca actually remembered the weekend quite well. Daniel had returned from his short break in a foul mood. He had stormed around the house complaining about everything from the children's shoes in the hallway to the basket of laundry on the kitchen table.
Rebecca had teased him a little about giving up golf if it made him this unhappy but for once he wouldn't be coaxed out of his temper and in the end she had shrugged and ignored him. He had gone to work in the same mood and for the rest of the week it was like walking on eggshells whenever he came home. Even the children had pulled faces behind his back and asked Mum what was wrong with their grump of a Dad. Rebecca tried to talk to him but he didn't want to discuss anything, he seemed unbelievably angry and almost frightened. By the end of the week Rebecca had started to feel quite worried. There was a desperation in his face that she had never seen before and although
he hardly spoke a civil word to her all week she was starting to feel quite anxious that there was something seriously wrong with him. The following weekend Daniel had dropped his bombshell. He needed to move to keep his job. He had put the house on the market, no board that time. They had already had an offer and they were moving to Darlington. A huge part of Rebecca's acquiescence following the move had been because of the struggle she had seen in Daniel during that week. She knew how frightened he had been, how desperate, and deep down she accepted that what he had done, he had done for his family however much it had hurt him. So she had moved to Darlington despite her urge to say no. She had co-existed with Daniel over the last five years despite hating every minute of it and allowed her life to deteriorate because she had believed that Daniel too had made a sacrifice and that his changed personality was his way of coping with the disappointment of the whole move.
It was funny mused Rebecca, how an unspoken belief could dictate a person's life. She believed she had known how Daniel was feeling. She believed that she understood his emotions, his despair, his reasons. They had never discussed anything, Daniel wouldn't discuss anything. But Rebecca had justified his actions and lived her life for the last five years holding onto that belief. And now it turned out that she had been wrong, very, very wrong.
Daniel hadn't played golf that weekend. He had actually been conducting an affair with Christine Myland who lived in the same village but several streets away. Friends of a sort, Rebecca and Christine regularly encountered each other as they carried on with village life. They would smile and chat if they bumped into one another. They would often meet at parties. If an event was organised they were more than likely both there albeit sitting at opposite sides of the room.
But Daniel, it would seem, had developed a much closer relationship with Christine over the previous few months and many of his golf weekends had actually been cancelled in favour of a night away with Christine, who had supposedly started a pottery course which involved weekend seminars and courses attended all over the country. But their little romance had been unexpectedly outed one Saturday. The country house hotel they had chosen for their weekend away had also been chosen by Sheila and David Goodfellow who also lived in the village and who were celebrating 40 years of married bliss. They had come across Daniel and Christine in a pose that left nothing to the imagination and Daniel had known that it was only a matter of time before the affair was posted on the village notice board.
It had actually taken several days. Mr and Mrs Goodfellow were not the gossipy, malicious sort and they did not run back to the village and burst into the local pub to broadcast their news. But feeling uncomfortable with the discovery, Sheila Goodfellow had asked one of her friends if she felt that the news should be made available to Rebecca. The friend, again not the gossipy, malicious type, hadn't really been sure if it was their place to enlighten Rebecca and as a result the two of them had consulted another friend, slightly more gossipy although fortunately for Daniel still not malicious. It was the second friend's opinion that if the roles were reversed and it was her husband spending weekends at a hotel with another woman, she would most certainly want to know about it and the decision was made that somehow Rebecca should be told.
Meanwhile Daniel, desperate to avoid the fallout if at all possible had put the house on the market the very next day after the unfortunate meeting with the Goodfellows, had received an early if not exciting offer and agreed to sell. By the time the news of the affair had reached the shocked ears of Helen and Emma, who had been selected by Sheila Goodfellow as the ones who should break the news to Rebecca, Daniel had news of his own. Yes, he admitted to them in an unexpected visit to Helen's house one evening, he had been having an affair. Rebecca was absolutely distraught, as could be imagined and they had decided that the best course of action would be if they moved away. Quickly. Rebecca really didn't want to discuss the nasty business with anyone, she was far too upset and he hoped that they would support their friend by doing what she wanted, refraining from discussing the sordid details of exactly why they were moving. And Rebecca emerging from her house with red rimmed eyes the next day confirmed everyone's belief that Daniel's affair had become public and poor Rebecca Miles was too upset to discuss it with anyone including her two best friends. So the village patted her on the hand and murmured condolences and she smiled through teary eyes and thought how nice everyone was being and how much she would miss this lovely little village and finally they left Leeds for Darlington with Rebecca none the wiser about her husband's indiscretion and with her friends firmly convinced that sooner or later she would come to her senses and turn against Daniel and the new life he was offering her in payment for his affair.
Rebecca sighed and looked into her friend's anxious face.
‘We just thought you knew Bec. You were so upset the morning after Daniel told us about it all, we believed that you knew. And you just kept saying you didn't want to talk about it so we thought he was right and once you'd moved and you were far away from Christine and the village you would feel better about life.’
They sat in silence, sipping their brandies, Helen still looking distraught but Rebecca was strangely calm.
‘What happened to her?’ she asked in an offhand way.
‘Who? Oh Christine?’
Rebecca nodded.
‘Moved away. Not long after actually. She was the talk of the village, everyone was quite angry with her. Not that she seemed particularly bothered. Sheila had a show down with her in the post office one day and Christine just shrugged and said it took two and he'd been quite willing.... oh,’ Helen stopped. ‘Sorry. That's sounds....’
Rebecca shrugged. ‘Don't worry Helen, it really can't get any worse.’
Helen continued. ‘Anyway, a few months later it came out that she had run off with her pottery teacher! Yes, she was actually having lessons. Her husband sold up and moved in with the women he used to do a car share with and last I heard they were expecting a baby and Christine was living in York with the pottery teacher and his mother.’
‘I wonder if they ever saw each other again,’ mused Rebecca.
Helen shrugged. ‘I don't really know. I got the impression that Daniel couldn't wait to leave the village and her behind. I really don’t think he would carry on seeing her,’ Helen paused, twisting her fingers together. ‘I do think that he regretted it Bec. He was so eager to get you out of the village and away from everyone, I really think he didn't want you to know and was - protecting you.’
It was the nicest thing that Helen had said about Daniel in five years and Rebecca squeezed her hand.
‘Thank you Helen, but I think we both know that Daniel was probably just protecting himself.’
Chapter 21
It was getting dark outside and wherever he was, Daniel would no doubt be home soon.
‘Do you want me to stay?’ offered Helen. ‘Shall I phone Emma and get her round as well? We can throw him out for you if you want.’
Rebecca smiled and hugged her friend. ‘No. I'll be all right, truly. I need to talk to Daniel alone.’
‘Okay,’ said Helen doubtfully. ‘But if there's any suggestion of trouble give me a ring and I'll get...’
Rebecca laughed. ‘There won't be any trouble Helen. Really, I'm okay.’
So Helen left, driving away much more slowly than she had driven in and Rebecca waved her off then closed the front door, turned the heating up and the outside garden lights on and waited for Daniel to come home.
The door slamming made Rebecca jump. She had drifted off, still curled up on the raspberry settee. Sitting upright she waited.
The door opened and in came Daniel. There was defiance written all over his face. He would know by now that Rebecca had been told of his visit to the bank. He would know by the absence of the board that she knew about his plans to sell the house.
‘Hello Daniel.’
He looked around the kitchen, his eyes resting on the brandy bottle and two empty glasses.
‘So I see,’ he sneered.
Rebecca stayed on the settee and watched him look at the bottle again before grabbing a clean glass and pouring himself a hefty measure. He'd obviously been drinking already, Rebecca could smell the beer from where she was sitting.
‘How was your golf?’ she asked politely.
He stared at her suspiciously. ‘Okay.’
‘You were gone a long time.’
‘I didn't think I had to account for every minute I spent away from the house. I had some time to myself, much like you've been doing recently,’ Daniel snapped, draining the glass and pouring another.
Rebecca didn't answer. And neither did she experience the wave of guilt that usually came over her when Daniel mentioned her less than perfect behaviour over the last few months.
Did I Mention I Won The Lottery? Page 22