TouchStone for ever (The Story of Us Trilogy)

by Sydney Jamesson

  Feigning relief, Ayden bows his head.

  I reach for his hand. “You couldn’t save her, Ayden.”

  “I believe she’s correct, Mr. Stone. We have apprehended the driver of the vehicle responsible for her death, but he claims to have no recollection of the collision. Once again, we have forensic evidence that would suggest otherwise, but a far as you’re concerned, the case is closed.”

  “Thank God!” I exclaim, clutching my breast with my free hand.

  With that case solved, he focuses his attention on me. “And the same goes for you Mrs. Stone. After looking into your case very thoroughly, I have come to the conclusion that Mr. Rizler came with intentions of raping and killing you that day in your classroom or even taking you to Elm Gardens where he had equipment assembled two floors above your apartment.”

  For the second time I cover my mouth. “Just the thought of him being that close terrifies me. I can’t believe there are people like that out there.”

  He gives me a solemn look of condolence. “I’m afraid so. The world is populated by monsters it seems, Mrs. Stone.” All three notebooks are stuffed into his breast pocket, creating an unsightly bulge, but he’s not a man to waste time picking out clothes, fussing over shoe polish or matching ties. As Ayden pointed out, ‘he means business.’

  “Now all that remains is for me to write this up formally and to trace the two male employees at Bright Hill 22 years ago. That shouldn’t be too difficult.” The sofa creaks as he stands. “I think that’s everything …” He pauses, realising something significant.

  “Did you forget something?” I ask, tipping my head and waiting for his reply.

  “Only this.” He pulls a folded envelope out of his other breast pocket.

  “What is it?” Ayden asks, as if he doesn’t know.

  “It’s a letter addressed to you from Miss. Richards. It was in her safe deposit box at the bank.“ He fastens his jacket and prepares to leave. “I believe she wanted you to have it.”

  Utterly perplexed, Ayden takes it. “Thank you. Do you know what’s inside?”

  D. I. Bowker faces him head-on until they are positioned like two book ends on either side of the coffee table. He seems to be thinking through his reply. “I have no idea, Mr. Stone.” He mitigates what appears to be a lie with a smile. “I’ll forward a copy of my reports to your solicitor for your information. If there’s anything I’ve missed or you want to add, please feel free to call me on this number.” He slides a card across the glass topped coffee table.

  I scoot off to fetch his raincoat and, when I return, Ayden is showing him out.

  “Don’t forget this.” I fold it over his arm.”

  “Thank you.” He reaches for my hand. “Mrs. Stone, it was a pleasure meeting you. May you have many trouble-free years ahead.”

  I chuckle quietly, noticing the gentleness lurking behind his fierce stare. “I hope so and I hope we’ll meet again under happier circumstances.”

  “I hope so too. Good morning to you.”

  I watch them get into the lift and descend. My head is crammed with information; there’s so much I didn’t know, and so much I was blissfully unaware of.

  When Ayden steps from the lift he is positively radiant. “Well, that went better than I expected.”

  “You said he was a man of good moral standing. He is.”

  He’s grinning. “Did I say that?”

  “You did.” I gather up the mugs and float past him.

  He appears behind me. “Is there anything you want to ask me? Anything he left out that you’re curious about?”

  I continue to rinse out the cups. There is one thing. I turn to face him directly. “Did you know about all that? Mr. Rizler and his fixation with me? That I was in danger of being found?”

  “I watched over you after your attack, Beth. You were never in danger. Until …” he thinks carefully about his choice of words.

  “Until?”

  “Until you were reunited with … me.” He lifts a playful brow.

  I huff at the thought. “By you, you mean Ayden? How so?”

  He answers with a nod. “As I explained before, I can’t control destiny, only interfere with it temporarily. You were bound to come together sooner or later.”

  I give him a puzzled look. “So we could have met before we did at my school? You interfered and saw to it that we didn’t?” I throw down the tea-towel. “What gave you the right to do that?”

  “I have no need of rights. It was my choice.”

  He doesn’t understand. “You had no right to choose whether or not we should meet!”

  He’s becoming irritated. “Beth, your fate was inextricably linked with Ayden Stone and Elise Richards and, by association, Dan Rizler. If I hadn’t intervened he would have gotten to you earlier. I wasn’t prepared to let that happen.”

  “So when should we have met?” I snap at him.

  “I don’t recall.” He turns to leave.

  I grab his arm. “That’s a lie. You recall everything.”

  “Why do you want to know? What does it matter?” he asks angrily.

  I can’t conceal my disappointment. “It matters to me!”

  “Why?”

  I call out, “Because I spent all those years alone, waiting, when we could have been together!”

  He turns to face me, removes my hand from his arm and places two strong hands on my shoulders in an attempt to calm me. “Look, your honesty and your goodness makes you vulnerable, Beth. Those kind of qualities endeared people to you but you were bound to suffer as a consequence. You’ve spent your whole life putting other before yourself; your mother, your father, your friends and your husband. You’ve forgone so much for them and for love. When will you learn to hold back, to see this cruel world through my eyes, and to find strength from weakness?

  I shake my head. “Never! I may be a sorry excuse for a human being but I won’t change and become contemptuous like you. If I see goodness, it’s because it’s there. I don’t imagine it. I won’t change. Not even for you.” I shake free of his arms and walk away. He doesn’t attempt to call me back.

  I fall down onto the enormous bed, bury my head in my hands and cry for all the nights spent in the arms of a stranger, and for the safe return of the only man I have ever loved. I’m brought back to reality by the sound of footsteps.

  Ayden appears in the doorway. “Jake is parking. Go and tidy yourself while I greet him.” He kisses my moist cheek and leaves in a hurry. “We’ll need to present a united front to deal with this.”

  He’s right. Thankfully our luggage has been left here and I have access to an array of cosmetics. I cleanse my face and splash it with cold water. A cold compress removes the redness from my eyes and a decent foundation covers a multitude of blemishes. My tan gives my face a healthy glow and I can disguise the rest. In ten minutes I am transformed. I slip on a pair of jeans and a red sweater, throw a scarf around my neck and head for the lift.

  When I step into the lounge mistrust is thick in the air. The two of them are sitting across from each other, barely speaking and engaging in what resembles a staring contest.

  I breeze into the room. “So, what did I miss?” Jake rises and comes across the room to greet me. “Hello, beautiful. Nice to see you got yourself an even tan.” He kisses my cheek.

  I giggle at his suggestion. “Yes we both had fun in the sun. Can I get you a drink? “

  “No, thanks. We are sampling something from the wine cellar, apparently.” Jake gives me a wink and nods in Ayden’s direction.

  “I might join you.” I reach for the bottle of Chateau Le Pin Pomerol 1999. “Looks expensive.”

  “It is,” Ayden calls out. “Bring the bottle over, Beth, and join us.”

  I do just that and sit next to him. He takes my hand, warms my knuckles with a kiss and returns them to me. I’m sitting prim and proper, waiting for the bomb to go off. Taking the initiative, I light the fuse.

  “So how did your date go with Charlie?” I as
k, cheerfully. “I haven’t heard from her yet.”

  Jake grins and raises his glass. “No news is good news, right?”

  I raise my glass. “That’s what they say.” Ayden is bringing nothing to the conversation other than a winning smile. I suspect he’s reading Jake’s thoughts in preparation for his onslaught.

  “Charlie was showing me some pictures you sent her, holiday snaps, that kind of thing. You both looked great, but …”

  Here it comes …

  “…what I don’t get is how you covered so many miles in such a short time. You wanna explain that to me?”

  “Sure.” Ayden puts down his glass. “I had them photo-shopped.”

  Jake throws back his wine. “Fuck me! Why would you do that? It was your honeymoon.”

  Ayden draws him in. “Public relations. Once word gets out we secretly went to the mountains and Sydney Opera House, businesses will be clamouring to get a piece of us.”

  Piece of us?

  I turn to face him, surprised by his line of defence.

  “Josh is putting a piece together for us. It’ll go out to four magazines next week. Some photos have already been leaked.” Ayden stops speaking and reaches for the bottle of wine. “This is worth every penny,” he declares, topping up our glasses.

  Jake isn’t convinced. “And when did you decide to go all Posh and Becks? I thought you wanted to remain in the background, Ayd? That’s the way you’ve always played it; quiet but fucking deadly.”

  Ayden reaches for my hand and slips it between his until it’s concealed by masculine fingers. Only his wedding ring remains visible in the neat bundle. “Since I had this beautiful wife to show off.”

  Jake throws me a wink. “I won’t argue with that. And what about you, Beth? Are you happy to be the Belle of the ball?”

  I construct my lie. “Why not? I got to wear that red dress you bought me, didn’t I?”

  He laughs out loud. “Now that’s a picture I would pay to see.” He turns to Ayden. “Although I’d have to fold the page back on your side, Ayd. Wouldn’t want you ruining a good picture now would we?”

  Ayden isn’t amused. Why would he be? He doesn’t feel the brotherly bond they have established over 20 years.

  I take a long sip. “Would you prefer if I left the room so you two could talk about me privately?”

  Sensing my embarrassment or prompted by jealousy, Ayden redirects the conversation. “No, we’ve finished, darling. You won’t be the topic of any further conversations with Jake today.”

  With the wine taking effect, Jake sniggers. “What’s with the darling? Who the fuck says that these days?”

  Ayden takes offense. “I do apparently.”

  “You’ve been watching too many black and whites. Either that or you’re getting old, Ayd.”

  Ayden stands, picks up the empty bottle of wine and glares at it. “Unfortunately, you’re wrong on both counts, Jake.”

  Jake, leans back on the sofa. “Aren’t we opening another bottle to celebrate?”

  “To celebrate what, exactly?” asks Ayden.

  “You getting the girl you always wanted.” He stands and raises his glass. ”Let’s drink to that. They say a girl has to kiss a lot of frogs before she finds her prince, but our Beth here is the exception. I raise my glass to you, darling.” He throws back the remnants of his wine in two noisy gulps.

  Before things get out of hand I intervene by taking Jake’s arm and leading him over to the lift. “You’re in no state to drive. Let me get Lester to drive you home.”

  He’s laughing. “I’ve had two glasses of wine, Beth. I’m fine. I think it’s Ayd who needs to loosen up.” He spins around to face him. “You’ve got a Board meeting at 9 a.m. tomorrow. The honeymoon’s over my friend. It’s business as usual from now on.”

  Seeing the sense in his words, Ayden nods his head and winks. “Don’t start without me,” he orders, semi-seriously.

  Jake smiles, relieved to witness his return. “I wouldn’t think of it. It’s good to have you back.” He raises my hand to his mouth and plants a noisy kiss on it. “No need to come down. I can find my own way out.”

  Feeling forsaken I watch him descend, waving behind frosted glass. With his departure leaves any sense of reality. I feel an ominous conversation brewing up here in adventure land.

  25

  I stood facing the lift for longer than I should have. I must have looked like a prisoner planning an escape. Now Ayden is opening another bottle of vintage wine and pouring out two large glasses, but something tells me, the alcohol will not be sufficient to deaden the pain of what he’s about to divulge.

  Taking a glass from his hand I sit next to him, responding to a silent invitation. Outside, the midday sun is trying its hardest to shine but the winter storm clouds are gathering and there’s the threat of more rain. They make for a sombre sight.

  “Do the storm clouds bother you?” Ayden asks, reading my thoughts.

  I offer a flat smile. “Not especially. I’d forgotten how dark it is here. We’ve been spoilt by all that tropical sunshine.”

  “Yes. It was beautiful.”

  He takes my glass from me and places it next to his on the coffee table, leaving the wine to reflect in the glass beneath. I feel a strong left arm about my shoulders pulling me close and respond by kicking off my shoes and snuggling next to him.

  “It’s time,” he says, so softly it’s barely a whisper.

  I place my hand over his tie. “It was never going to be six months was it?”

  He shakes his head sluggishly. “No.”

  “And have you made a decision?” I ask as my heart begins to race.

  “I have.” He folds his right arm across my body, wrapping me so tightly in his embrace I can hardly breathe. The heat of his heaving chest radiates from his core and causes my cheek to glow. “I can’t let you go, Beth.”

  Unsure of what that means, I lean back, taking his sculptured face in my left hand. “I don’t understand.”

  “I owe you a great debt of gratitude for what you have taught me in the time we have been together.” He releases his grip and I watch him speak, using words that are reflective and considered. “I came here a mere shell of a man, lost to the world. I had been around death for so long, and it took you to show me the beauty of life. You have taught me what it is to love and how an existence is of no consequence without it. Every emotion you have introduced me to I have named and can identify as one might stars in the sky. I have witnessed that ripple we spoke of on an endless sea and watched as it has become a wave of consciousness, ebbing and flowing like the tide. Such is the impression have you made on me, but I cannot stay one more night.”

  “Where will you go?” I ask softly.

  He forces a smile. “Anywhere. There is much to be done and still so many things to see. The universe is vast and infinite.”

  “I can imagine.”

  He strokes my hair, lovingly feeling the texture of every strand. “You’ve had merely a glimpse of it. Wouldn’t you like to see more?”

  I’m not sure where this conversation is going but I detect an insidious inflection that’s causing me to perspire. “One day perhaps. Right now I’m just happy to be home.” I look into the eyes of the man I love for some kind of sign, but all I see is myself reflected in shimmering cerulean orbs. “You’re not bringing him back are you?” I ask, feeling an ache so deep in my heart I think it might break my body in two.

  He asks me squarely, “Is that what you want?”

  I wipe away a stray tear. “I want … I want the man I married to live his life to the fullest, with me. Yes.”

  “And do you value his life more than your own?” he asks, tenderness fading from his eyes like smoke caught in a draft.

  “I value our love and everything I have done has been for that. Haven’t I done what you’ve asked of me? You asked for the impossible and I gave you my love and my body and …”

  “This is true,” he says, mocking the memory of the man he�
��s impersonating. “But I want more.”

  “What more can I give?” I ask, intimidated by the menacing nature of his demand. “When did you decide this?”

  “When I fell in love with you, Beth.” He caresses my cheek and finds my lips with his.

  I can’t respond. I’m numb with fear. I seek out his eyes with mine. “But I thought you said you couldn’t stay. That you had to leave.”

  “I do.”

  Disappointed and saddened I turn away. “I see it now. You have wooed me with your omnipotence and it has been wondrous, I confess. But there’s more to you than meets the eye.” I see him for what he is. “You said you never lied but even that was a lie. You falling in love with me is a lie.”

  He’s shaking his head.

  Still defiant, I continue, “I’m a fool to ever have trusted you. Underneath that handsome exterior is a soulless bastard.”

  He floors me with a fierce stare. “Careful, Beth.”

  “I thought you were an angel, a messenger from God, a guardian offering protection but you’re nothing of the sort. You’re the Dark Prince. Everything you have done has been out of selfishness with no regard for my feelings. All pretence.”

  He pushes me away from him. “That’s not true,” he calls out. “I have given you everything.”

  “It wasn’t yours to give!” I cry to the heavens above. “This house, the clothes you wear, the business. They’re all Ayden’s. Even me.” Through streaming tears I laugh scornfully. “You’ve stolen everything but now there’s nothing left to steal. You can’t hurt me. You’ve already stolen what matters most to me: my husband and my heart. You bastard! You made me fall for you!”

  I stand and try to leave but he holds up his hand and I can’t move.

  “Wait! I can give you more, Beth,” he implores. “More than material possessions; more than the moon and the stars; I can offer you eternity. We’ll have new adventures and live forever!” He stops shouting and modulates his voice until it becomes almost muted. “You’re a born fighter, Beth. I have watched you battle your way through grief and disappointment; loneliness and despair. You can do this.”