by Mandy Magro
Her mind in a spin, Summer walked from the kitchen to the lounge room in a complete daze, her world feeling as though it was spiralling out of control. She had to do something to try to get some control back, even though what she was about to do might turn her already messed-up world upside down for a while longer. At least she’d be taking some kind of action to right her life in the long term. Picking up the phone, she dialled Bailey’s number.
‘Hey Summer, how are you?’ His voice was full of concern.
‘Hi Bailey, I’ve been better. But I’ll get there. I was just ringing to let you know I’ve decided to go to the police—’
‘Yes! Thank you, Summer. I know it’s going to be hard reliving it all, but you’re doing the right thing. I’ll call over and see Tasha this afternoon, and let her know Marcus has also drugged you. Having you to go to the police with her will be the driving force to get her there, I think. She’s as nervous as you are about what she’s going to have to go through, and she was scared the authorities wouldn’t believe her over a prominent solicitor’s son. Now they definitely will, with you giving evidence too.’
‘Okay, Bailey, let me know how you go and I’m ready whenever she is. I’m off work sick today, so you can call me back any time.’
‘Will do. Make sure you try to get some rest, Summer. You’ve been looking really unwell lately. You should go to the doc and find out what’s wrong.’
Summer wished she could tell him she was pregnant to stop him worrying, but she just wasn’t ready for anyone other then Fiona and Phillip to know. ‘Yeah, I might just do that. Chat soon, hey?’
‘Yep, we will. Bye.’
Grabbing the blanket that was tossed over the back of the couch, Summer lay down and pulled it over her head, wishing she could just fall into a deep, dark hole. Dorothy was right, her life was nothing like she’d envisioned, and things weren’t going how she’d like them to. But did she have the strength to not lose faith, and to keep her eyes on the path ahead with positivity? She really wasn’t sure. This thing called life was getting way too hard.
CHAPTER
26
Clutching Tasha’s trembling hand, Summer stared at the door of the Edens Edge police station as though it was the mouth of a lion’s den, as she reminded herself she could do this. Tasha was four years younger than Summer and she knew she had to be the one to stay strong. Bailey and Fiona stood protectively beside them. It had taken almost three weeks for Summer to finally talk Tasha into going to the police with her, because the poor girl was terrified of the implications of doing so on her life, and her family’s.
Summer let her mind drift back to the previous night, to when she had arrived at her parents’ house to tell them the horrifying news about Marcus, including the fact she was pregnant and didn’t know who the father was. Phillip and Fiona had come with her, as she’d been too anxious to do it on her own. Her mother had collapsed to the floor in shock while her father had gone into a complete rage. Donald had then threatened to break both Marcus’s legs and attempted to leave the house armed with a baseball bat. It had taken Phillip ten minutes to calm him down enough to talk some sense into him.
‘You right to go in?’ Bailey said gently. Fiona reached out and placed her hand on Summer’s back.
Summer and Tasha looked at each other and then nodded. Tasha looked as terrified as Summer felt. Walking up the front steps, Summer sucked in a deep breath. This was it. No turning back. Her life – and Tasha’s – was going to be an open book for all to read. Once she had given her statement, the match would be lit and like a flame to a field of dry grass, the case would spread around Edens Edge like wildfire. There was one thing she was going to be leaving out of her statement, though, and that was the fact she was pregnant. There was no way in hell she was going to allow the media to make news of her unborn baby. She had tried to get in touch with Dean again last night so she could be the one to tell him about what Marcus had done, before it made the front page of the newspaper, but he didn’t answer her call, or return it.
With no more time to think, Summer straightened her back, held her head high, and walked through the front door of the police station with Tasha, Bailey and Fiona. Striding up to the desk, she acknowledged the middle-aged police officer behind the counter with a nod of her head.
‘I’d like to report two rapes.’ It surprised Summer that her voice was so level and so controlled, when on the inside she was trembling like a leaf.
The officer’s welcoming smile faded as he gave her a terse nod. ‘Sure, just let me grab someone to take your statement.’ He pointed to a row of seats against a wall. ‘Just have a seat over there, I won’t be long.’
Following her friends over to the chairs, Summer tried to calm her rapid pulse. She’d said it. Out loud, and to a complete stranger. She’d taken the very first step to making Marcus Avolio take responsibility for his actions, and although she felt sad she had to take such drastic steps, she felt a certain kind of relief knowing she didn’t have to carry this life-burdening secret around any longer.
The water was a perfect turquoise green as Dean waded out into the ocean, the morning sun lusciously warm on his naked back, the shrapnel wounds on his arms and legs healing into raised red scars. His vision to the left was limited and his ears still had a bit of ringing, but all that mattered was he was alive, and it felt damn good. Harley sauntered in beside him, nickering as he dunked his head into the ocean and blew salty water from his quivering lips. Dean stood for a few moments, smiling at Harley while savouring the feeling of Mother Nature caressing his skin, before lowering his wounded body into the sea and closing his eyes, letting the water rinse away the shit of another world. In the past, he’d counted down the weeks, days, hours and minutes leading up to leaving Afghanistan, and once home, the clock started ticking the other way. This time, it was different; he wouldn’t be going back to war, his injuries pardoning him.
It would be nice when the day came when all his missions would blur and roll into one long hazy memory, but for now, they were at the forefront of his thoughts – along with the devastating loss of Summer. She had tried to call him a few times two nights ago, but he’d ignored her calls, not able to bring himself to talk to her. What more could she say to him? She had made it very clear it was over. The only thing she hadn’t made clear was why. Was his hunch that her meddlesome father had gotten his way right?
It had been almost four weeks since he’d read her email, and yet the pain was still as raw in his heart as it was that day. He knew today was her birthday, and he wished things were different so he could be there to help her celebrate. But they weren’t, and he just had to deal with the fact. His dad and Kim had been just as shocked as him when he’d phoned them from his hospital bed and told them the news about Summer, and they’d promised to respect his request to stay out of it and away from her, completely understanding his need to cut all ties to survive the heartache she had caused him. None of them had uttered her name since. But Dean had Summer at the forefront of his thoughts every waking moment, and it was torture. He missed everything about her: her voice, her smile, her kiss, her touch, the way she looked when she was asleep, the way she put everyone around her at ease – everything.
Summer leaving him after declaring how much she loved him still made no sense, but he’d learnt in this life that most things rarely ever did. And he wasn’t going to beg and grovel for her to return to him, knowing that she might only do it because she felt sorry for him after being badly injured. He loved her too much to put her through a life of unhappiness if she returned to him out of guilt. It was easier if everyone around him believed he hated her. It meant he didn’t have to speak of her, or hear her beautiful name. He regretted how harsh he had been in the email he had sent her in reply, but then in a way it was good he had written back straight away, because if he’d had time to think about it, he might have softened and tried to win her back, and basically made a fool of himself, seeing as she wasn’t interested in him whatsoever. He jus
t hoped that she thought of him sometimes, and felt a pang in her heart when she did. Surely she must – the way she’d made love to him was not something that could have been faked. Or was she so good that she had pulled the rug out from beneath him in that area too?
Wanting to forget Summer for a little while, Dean focussed on the moment and the beautiful surroundings he called home. Enjoying the sensation of feeling weightless in the water he glanced back at the glistening white sandy beach. Indy grinned back at him in a doggy type of way, her tongue lolling out to the side. She was clearly enjoying being a retired war dog, her days filled with luxury compared to the working life she had grown accustomed to in Afghanistan. No longer did she have to risk her life to detect bombs. Her days were filled with carelessness and Dean would find her flopped on the couch, giving him a contented look, sleeping somewhere in the shade of the back verandah, absconding with a freshly unearthed bone, or rolling around on the grass, sunbaking. She slept on the end of his bed every night and came with him everywhere he went. And she’d quickly put on weight, too, which he had to be very careful about, seeing as she had no hipbones: both had shattered when she’d hit the wall in the explosion and been replaced by two steel ones.
Not being used to such a variety of tasty food, Indy was determined to eat everything she could lay her paws on, Dean even going as far as having to put the dog treats up in the overhead cupboards of his beach shack after Indy figured out how to open the bottom cupboards to get to them. He would often find her sitting and staring at where the treats were hidden away, obsessed, as if an invisible scent wafted down from above, clearly trying to figure out a way to get them down from their hidden position, frequently trying but never succeeding. She certainly was a determined dog, once even having opened a peanut butter jar with her teeth and then proceeded to lick the entire contents out. He could never get mad at her though, usually finding himself in fits of laughter on the floor with her antics. Thank God she hadn’t died in the bomb blast; he didn’t know how he would have gotten through the past month without her. The military vet had told him she could be deaf for up to three or four months, and it was quite possible she would have trouble with equilibrium for the rest of her life because of her ear damage. She quite often ran into things and fell over her own feet, but Indy didn’t seem to mind, and neither did Dean. Nothing was too much trouble for him when it came to his canine mate. He would stand by her until her final days after the unconditional way she had protected him day in, day out in Afghanistan.
Beside Indy, Matilda lazed in the sunshine, the border collie flat out on her back with all four legs poking up in the air. The dogs had become the best of the mates from the second they had met. Dean chuckled at the pair of them, at the same time feeling deeply moved, because Indy and Matilda had given him so much love and support at a time he had so badly needed it. Dogs truly were man’s best friend.
CHAPTER
27
Summer pushed her sunglasses further onto her nose, the harsh glare of the morning sun making it difficult to see the road ahead. Coming to a complete stop, she pressed a button on the dash and the whirr of the motorised rooftop kicked in as the top of the convertible closed. Then, pressing a button beside her, she closed the windows and turned on the air-conditioning, savouring the icy breeze as it cooled her clammy face. Traffic banked up in front of her, the roadworks still not completed. Swearing under her breath, she took the mini out of gear and pulled on the park brake, irritated – she was already running late and her patience was wearing thin from lack of sleep. She hadn’t had much at all the past last two nights, the knowledge that Marcus had been arrested and was now in prison weighing heavily on her. His application for bail had been rejected on the basis that the authorities believed he posed a threat to other women. She knew it wouldn’t be long before this made the front page of the Edens Edge Times. She was surprised it hadn’t already. Obviously Vince Avolio was doing extremely well at keeping the shocking news out of the headlines.
The traffic finally began to move and Phillip gave her a gentle nudge. Sitting forwards to try to avoid the sun’s brilliance, she eased the Mini along at a snail’s pace, her almost three months’ pregnant belly protruding ever so slightly. She had covered it well, however, her baggy top concealing her little package satisfactorily. How much longer was she going to get away with it – a month, or maybe two? Eventually people were going to start asking questions, and she wasn’t going to have the answers they were expecting,
Beside her, Phillip sang way out of tune, obviously not worried at all that they were running late for work, seeing as he was the boss. His cheeriness helped lift Summer’s downtrodden spirits a little. She knew he was trying his best to take her mind off things, bless him, even though he was as worried about everything as she was. He’d even tried to give her today off work, but she had refused, saying she needed to keep busy.
Summer sighed inaudibly. It was supposed to be a momentous day, her twenty-forth birthday – the day she would finally be able to get her inheritance and put it towards the yoga centre. She wanted to be happy, to be able to delight in the fact she was so close to achieving her dream, but all she could think about every waking moment was her pregnancy, the drama with Marcus, and the fact she had lost the love of her life. Knowing Dean had been home for three weeks and she couldn’t go and see him was torture. He didn’t want to have anything to do with her, and she couldn’t blame him, but all she wanted was to wrap her arms around him and tell him how relieved she was he was alive, nothing more.
Huffing, she smacked the steering wheel, her mobile phone sliding off the dash and onto the passenger-side floor. Phillip gave her a look before taking his seatbelt off to retrieve the phone for her. She gave him an appreciative smile as he handed it back.
In that spilt second, Summer veered onto the wrong side of the road, the loud blast of a truck horn snapping her back into the moment. Panicking, she swerved back into her lane, her heart thudding out of her chest as Phillip screamed out something about the edge of the road. Momentarily blinded by the sun, she jerked the steering wheel, praying she was going in the right direction as she felt the Mini begin to lose traction. For a second there was a deathly silence and a feeling of weightlessness as her stomach lurched, then the Mini began to hurtle down the steep embankment of the range. Oh my God, Phillip … my baby … we’re all going to die …
Her knuckles white from gripping the steering wheel and with her seat belt digging painfully into her flesh, Summer had an out-of-body experience, feeling as though she was sitting in her lounge room watching a documentary instead of seeing trees and vegetation crash around her in slow motion.
A deafening crash boomed as a massive tree branch shot through the windscreen like a missile, barely missing Summer and Phillip as it landed on the back seat, a shower of glass spraying in all directions. Instinctively, she raised her arms to protect her face, screaming in pain as shards of glass pieced her skin. Then everything blurred as the car somersaulted, the eerie sound of crushing metal mixed with Phillip’s bloodcurdling screams the last thing she heard before the car flipped for the final time and landed with an almighty splash in the creek at the bottom of the range.
With the car sinking and both the front airbags now deployed, Summer tried to jerk her seat belt free, but the lock refused to give way. Murky water began to quickly fill the compartment, terrifying her. In a daze, Phillip murmured something, his lanky body crumpled against the passenger-side door. She screamed out his name, asking if he was all right and begging for him to help her. Blood covered his face and she watched with fear as he groggily tried to wipe it away. Relief filled her as he came to, his eyes widening as he noticed the water gushing in around him and realised where they had landed. He reached out for Summer, trying to help her release her seat belt, both of them pulling as they wept uncontrollably.
The water level inside the car rose rapidly, already up to Summer’s shoulders. She could hear distant shouting coming from the banks of the
creek as her eyes met with Phillip’s and unspoken words passed between them. If they didn’t get this seat belt off her she wasn’t going to get out of this wreck of twisted metal alive.
Then the car sank, Summer and Phillip finding themselves completely submerged. Shoving Phillip away from her, Summer pointed towards the smashed windscreen, motioning for him to leave her and save himself. Phillip shook his head and she shoved him forcefully in the chest again. This time, with a look of absolute remorse, he kissed her on the cheek and did as she asked, swimming through the shattered windscreen and to safety.
Holding her breath, Summer grew dizzy, her lungs starting to burn and her body screaming for oxygen. She began to struggle once again with the seat belt, her arms flailing as she panicked. This was it. She was about to die. Unexpectedly, a wave of calm washed over her and Dean’s beautiful face filled her mind, and she gave in. Closing her eyes, she rested her hands on her belly, silently apologising to her little one for not saving him or her, while at the same time begging for God to do this fast.
Then, just as she felt as though her lungs were about to explode, Phillip returned. He rested his lips upon hers, held her nose, and then breathed a lifesaving lungful of air into her. Summer sucked in his breath, renewed hope filling her as she felt the oxygen satisfy her lungs. Her eyes wide, she watched as Phillip motioned that he was going up to get more air for her. She nodded, trying with everything she had to remain calm. She needed the oxygen he’d just given her to last until he got back. She watched helplessly as he swam out of sight, then closed her eyes and drew from her experience of meditation. She could do this; she had to, to save her baby.