***
I took a deep breath and looked around. My throat was parched and it felt like I had been talking for hours. I looked at the clock. I had been talking for hours.
Tears tracked down my cheeks like they had all those years ago. I felt the old ache in my chest. I had hidden it away so well over the years that I had thought it was gone. Talking about it had let it re-surface.
Trent squeezed the hand he held. I returned the pressure, thankful for his calm acceptance of my story. I had feared it would change how he felt about me.
‘I came to Sydney.’ Harry’s voice was raw with emotion. ‘I looked for you where Liss said you’d be. The lady told me you had left the day before.’
He had come? New pain lanced through me.
‘That night you left, Dad had a turn. I was at the hospital with him when the Corleonesi chased you. He died a few days later.’ He stood up and poured himself a glass of water. It looked like he had been crying. ‘Liss told me you would be there a month. I came as soon as I could. As soon as Dad was buried.’ He shook his head. ‘You were gone.’
Longing filled his voice and for the first time I felt the enormity not of my own tragedy, but of what I had done to him. He had searched for me and then spent twenty-five years not knowing what had happened to me.
‘Oh Harry.’ I hopped off the couch and went to him. He pulled me into his arms. It still felt the same as it always had. My emotions flooded to the surface.
He had come for me. He had loved me enough.
‘There was never anything between Hillary and me. You have to believe me.’
I shook my head. I was such an idiot. I had believed her over my belief in Harry. I had let her manipulate me into leaving before he could get there. All those years apart. All those years Harry hadn’t known he had a daughter. All those years I could have been his wife.
If I ever got to be in the same room as her again, I was going to beat the shit out of her.
‘So…,’ Chanel’s voice was tentative. ‘What happened after that?’
‘Well, I got to Hickory and then I had you.’
‘And Uncle Ron stole your money?’
I let out a surprised laugh. ‘What ever made you think that?’
‘But… well… you know our house was very small.’
‘It was big enough for the two of us.’ That was typical Chanel. Always wanting more than she had.
‘So you’re saying…?’
‘That Uncle Ron did well by me.’ I was going to leave it at that. No need for her to know how well he had done for me before he’d retired. I’d never get another day of work out of her.
‘There’s one thing that doesn’t make sense.’ Chanel tapped the first finger of her right hand against her bottom lip. ‘How come you can pole dance?’
‘That’s what you got out of that story?’ Honestly sometimes I didn’t understand how that girl’s mind worked.
‘You sang at the club. That doesn’t explain how you can suddenly hang upside down from poles.’
The look Harry directed at me made me blush like I was still a seventeen year old virgin. ‘Pole dancing?’
‘I went to some clubs while I was in King’s Cross. One of them had pole dancers. It looked like fun.’
‘Still not explaining.’
‘Oh fine.’ Sometimes she was so stubborn. Ahh, who was I kidding? She was always that stubborn. ‘I bought some videos and taught myself.’
‘But where did you practice?’
‘You know that pole that was in our garage?’
‘The one stopping the roof from collapsing?’
I raised my eyebrows at her.
She let out an annoyed snort. ‘I told you I felt it spinning that time.’
‘I know,’ I said. ‘I forgot to lock it after a session.’
Martine blew her nose noisily. ‘That’s the saddest story I’ve ever heard.’ She let out a sob. ‘You two. So in love. And yet apart for all those years.’ She sobbed again and pointed at Harry. ‘And you going to Sydney to look for her.’ She broke down and started sobbing into her hanky. It was going to take us forever to fix up her make-up.
Chanel rubbed her hand on Martine’s back. ‘What happened to Liss?’
‘I don’t know? Harry?’ A sudden urge to see Liss again overwhelmed me. I had missed her so much over the years, imagining conversations we would have had, things we would have done. She would have been an amazing grandmother to Chanel. That was another thing my stupidity had destroyed.
‘She came to me and told me where you were. I went to the club when I got back from Australia but she was gone.’
‘The Corleonesi?’ Chanel looked over her shoulder as she said the name as if they might be hiding behind the sofa. I guess after the last few days she had a right to be a little jumpy.
Harry shook his head. ‘As far as I could tell she and Thor just up and left. They gave Vegas Ladies to Brittney and Helene.’
‘Canary Islands,’ I said with a smile. ‘I bet that’s where they are right now.’
‘What happened with the Corleonesi?’ Trent’s voice was tight. I don’t think he was enjoying watching me hug my ex-husband.
‘It turned out they did just want to talk.’ Harry smiled down at me as I stepped out of his embrace. ‘They hadn’t given Giuseppe permission to come after us. I managed to scrape together the money and they left us in peace.’
Grief ripped through me. Nothing. I had left for nothing.
‘I’m so sorry,’ I said through my tears. ‘I should have told you. It wasn’t fair of me.’ I looked up at Harry through my fingers. ‘I’m sorry. I ruined everything. I didn’t trust you.’
He cupped my cheeks with his hands. He was still as handsome as the day I first saw him, but in a more debonair way now.
‘I knew eventually you would divorce me and remarry. I thought it would be to Hillary.’
He shook his head. ‘I never got over you.’
‘So you never remarried?’ I couldn’t hide the hope in my voice. What was I doing?
‘I don’t think you understand Tess.’ He rubbed his thumb over my bottom lip.
‘Don’t understand what?’ My heart rate had picked up its pace at the feel of his skin touching mine.
‘I never met anyone else I wanted to marry. And I never divorced you either. According to Nevada law you are still my wife.’
‘So let me get this straight.’ The stress in Trent’s voice was evident as he stood and walked over to where Harry and I stood. ‘I’ve been having an affair with Tess?’
‘Uh oh.’ Chanel summed it up perfectly for me.
‘Shall I punch you now or later?’ I was pretty sure Harry was joking.
Trent dragged his hands though his hair. ‘Well Tess,’ the look he gave me made my stomach do a funny little jiggle, ‘I guess you have a choice to make.’ He gestured between Harry and himself.
I stepped away from both of them as I stared from one to the other. He was right. I was going to have to choose between them. Between the man who had held my heart for twenty-five years and the man who had helped me rediscover love. Sometimes life really sucked.
‘What are you going to do?’ Chanel looked as stunned as I felt.
Harry or Trent? Trent or Harry?
I looked over at Martine. She shrugged her shoulders and pulled a face.
How to choose? Who to choose?
They were both so wonderful and they were both staring at me with an expectant look on their faces.
‘You can’t expect me to make that sort of decision.’ I was stalling for time.
‘You’re going to have to make it sometime,’ Harry said.
‘May as well be now,’ Trent added.
‘But… I don’t really know you any more,’ I said to Harry. ‘It wouldn’t be fair to make a decision now.’
‘I’m still the same man I was then Tess. And we obviously still have the same chemistry.’
I blushed and glanced guiltily at Trent. His face had ha
rdened and his right fist was clenched. Good Lord. Was he going to punch Harry?
‘In fact,’ Harry continued, ‘the one thing you had against me is gone. I run a clean shop.’
I had guessed by the fact that Hillary had taken over the Mob that Harry was no longer a part of it.
‘And yet I was the one with her over the last few days while her life was in danger.’ Trent’s ability to speak through clenched teeth was masterful.
Martine and Chanel looked between the two of them like spectators at a tennis match as they both put forward their arguments. I, on the other hand, was starting to feel sick. Panic was rising, threatening to overwhelm me. I couldn’t choose between the two of them. But I couldn’t have them both.
‘This isn’t fair.’ My voice came out in a panicked whine. ‘You can’t expect me to decide like this.’
‘Well,’ Trent said to Harry, ‘maybe we should settle this the old-fashioned way.’
Harry nodded his head. ‘It seems only fair.’
I was still trying to work out what the old-fashioned way was when Trent swung the first punch. Harry ducked but it still clipped him on the side of his shoulder. He charged at Trent taking him down to the floor and Martine, Chanel and I jumped out of the way.
‘Stop,’ I screeched. ‘You’ll hurt each other.’
‘I think that’s the idea.’ Martine winced as Trent landed a blow to Harry’s stomach. It was evident that he was the better fighter but Harry was making up for it with gusto.
‘This is so unfair.’ Chanel stuck out her bottom lip. ‘I find out the man of my dreams is my half-brother and you have two gorgeous men fighting over you.’
I did have two gorgeous men fighting over me, but it didn’t make me feel good. I felt wretched. They were hurting each other, but I was going to cause one of them far more pain than they were dishing out.
Harry’s fighting style seemed to be more of a wrestler than a boxer. He pinned one of Trent’s arms with his leg while he worked on containing the other one. I’d watched enough Unlimited Fighting Championships in my time to see he was working his way towards a choke hold.
Trent seemed to realise it as well. He flipped his legs, ripping himself from Harry’s grasp and rolling so that he was on top. His face held fury as he lifted back his fist. I could tell he was going to put all his weight behind that punch. If that blow landed, he was going to do serious damage; a broken nose for sure and possibly cheekbones as well. Harry might not recover from a strike like that.
In that moment of crystalline fear, I had my answer.
‘Nooo,’ I yelled, diving at them. My body deflected Trent’s arm enough to take some of the force out of it but it still made a sickening crunch as it connected with Harry’s cheek.
Trent stopped and shook his head. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, climbing off Harry. ‘I lost control. I didn’t mean to hurt you.’
I leaned over Harry and felt his face with my fingers. ‘Are you hurt?’ Even I could hear the love in my voice.
Harry groaned and opened his eyes. One of them already had a bruise blossoming under it. ‘I’ve had worse.’ He smiled up at me as he raised a hand to my cheek. ‘Are you okay?’ He wiped a finger through the wetness on my face. I hadn’t realised I was crying.
‘Well I guess that’s that.’ Trent’s voice was resigned.
‘I’m sorry.’ I stood back up. ‘I never meant to hurt you. If I had known….’
‘Shhhh.’ He took me in his arms and kissed my cheek. ‘It’s okay love.’ His eyes told me he was lying.
I could hear Martine sobbing again as Chanel helped Harry up off the floor.
‘Well I guess I should go and get my own room.’ Not speaking, I watched as Trent packed his bag, feeling as if he was packing a little bit of my heart in there as well.
‘You can have mine,’ Chanel said, ‘and I’ll bunk with Mum.’ She looked between Harry and me. ‘Hmmm. Maybe that’s not such a good idea.’
Lord. The last thing I wanted Trent to think was that Harry and I would be going for it the moment he was out the door. ‘No, that’s fine,’ I said. ‘You take her room.’
This was so unfair. But when I looked at Harry, I knew I had made the right decision. I wouldn’t have been able to give myself fully to Trent now that I knew the real truth about that night. And that wasn’t fair to any of us.
He shook Harry’s hand, gave me an awkward hug and then Chanel took him to her room. I wanted to give him a better goodbye than that but really, how do you say goodbye to a man you loved but couldn’t be with because someone you loved more had reappeared in your life. The awkward hug was the only real socially acceptable way.
‘I’ll go get you some ice,’ Martine said, nodding at Harry. His face was really starting to swell.
We sat in silence while Martine was gone. There was so much more to say but now was not the time.
Martine knocked a few minutes later. I took the ice from her, wrapped it in a towel and sat beside Harry. He leant back with a sigh as I held the ice to his face.
Chanel reappeared a few minutes later with her things. She stood in the doorway studying us.
‘What do we do now?’ she asked.
‘Sleep would be good,’ I said. None of us had had any the night before.
‘I don’t think Chanel was being quite that literal.’ Martine waved her hand in the air between Chanel, Harry and me.
‘Oh.’ I took the ice away from Harry’s face and looked between him and Chanel. ‘What do we do now?’
He opened his eyes and sat up, reaching out to Chanel with one hand and taking one of mine with the other.
Chanel sat on the arm of the couch next to him, her fingers tight around her father’s.
‘What do you want to do?’ she asked him in a shy voice.
‘Let’s take it one day at a time,’ he said, smiling up at her. ‘One, glorious day at a time.
It sounded like the perfect plan to me.
THE END
Want more of Tess, Chanel and the gang? Two Weddings and a Fugitive is coming soon.
Fans of The Seven Steps to Closure will also be excited to hear that Matt and Tara will be back in Two Weddings and a Fugitive with all their family and friends. To find out when it is released, sign up to my Chicklit Book Club HERE, or you can find the sign up box at the top right of any page on my website (www.donnajoyusher.com) BUT the home page.
Thank You
Thank you for reading Tess’s Tale. If you liked my story I would love for you to give me the gift of a review on the site you purchased it. It doesn’t have to be gushy or flowery or even very long; I just ask that it is honest and fair. Thank you so much for your generosity and time.
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Hi there, I’m Donna Joy Usher. I started writing my first novel when I was seven. With no idea about plot or character development (I mean I was only seven) my storyline quickly disintegrated into a muddled jumble of boring dialogue between two horses. Disillusioned, I gave up writing stories for quite a while after that. Instead, I concentrated on my studies, eventually graduating as a dentist.
After many years of ‘drilling and filling’ I turned to writing in an effort to escape the seriousness of my day job. During that time I created my first book, The Seven Steps to Closure, and discovered that I love nothing more than making other people laugh. Well that, and my husband and two miniature schnauzers, Chloe and Xena.
I currently live near the Swan River in the beautiful city of Perth. When I am not working or writing, I love to kayak, ride my bicycle, and sip chai lattes at the local cafe.
You can connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, LinkedIn or my blog site.
Other Books by Donna Joy Usher
The Seven Steps to Closure
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Winner of the 2012 elit Publishing Award Humor Category.
Finalist in the 2012 Shirley You Jest Book Awards.
Finalist in the 2013 Indie Excellence Awards Chicklit Category.
Honorable Mention in the 2014 London Book Festival
Tara Babcock awakes the morning after her 30th birthday with a hangover that could kill an elephant – and the knowledge she is still no closer to achieving closure on her marriage breakup. Things go from bad to worse when she discovers that, not only is her ex-husband engaged to her cousin – Tash, the woman he left her for – but that Jake is also running for Lord Mayor of Sydney.
Desperate to leave the destructive relationship behind and with nothing to lose, she decides- with encouragement from her three best friends – to follow the dubious advice from a magazine article, Closure in Seven Easy Steps.
The Seven Steps to Closure follows Tara on her sometimes disastrous- always hilarious – path to achieve the seemingly impossible.
A credible and amazingly touching debut novel from Donna Joy Usher, this is a solid, light-hearted and honest read with plenty of laughs.
“The Seven Steps to Closure’s heroine Tara is an endearing character and her entertaining journey to closure is packed with laughs and plenty of heart.” Tonya Plank, Shirley You Jest! Book Awards judge and author of Swallow.
If You Like Fantasy...
Faery Born
Book One in the War Faery Trilogy
Winner of the 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards – E-Book Fiction
Winner of the 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards – Science Fiction/Fantasy
It’s been thirteen years since the Dark Years ended. Thirteen years since the mad War Faery responsible was imprisoned in stone. Now, with goblin attacks on the rise it seems Galanta, the Goblin Queen, is intent on returning the land to chaos and terror.
Isadora Scrumpleton is trying not to think about the Dark Years. She’s just been chosen by her ‘familiar’, found out she’s half faery, and discovered she’s dating the second-in-line to the Faery Throne. That’s enough for one teenage witch to handle. But when goblins attack her village, Izzy is forced into action, ultimately joining the elite Border Guard and attracting the attention of the Goblin Queen.
Tess's Tale (The Chanel Series Book 3) Page 17