“What part?” My head was spinning from attempting to track our conversation. “Perhaps Will should—”
“For heaven’s sake, must I spell everything out?” she asked in a hushed whisper. “Keep Katherine out of the water! Now, go about enjoying the party. Mingle! Look natural! Don’t let on that you know. And for God’s sake, stay on your toes.”
“Right.” I knocked back the scotch.
“You all right?” It was Will. He stepped up to the bar and ordered a drink.
“Do me a favor, will you?”
“Anything for you, Wes.”
I leaned closer to him and quietly said, “I don’t know how you’re getting your information. But I insist that you stop.”
“Stop what exactly?”
“Digging into my personal life and sharing what you find with Jennifer. It’s completely inappropriate and she’s incorporating what you’re telling her into her delusions.”
Will shook his head. “I haven’t told Jennifer a thing. I looked into your background, yes. But only after Jennifer started seeing you.”
“You didn’t tell her about Katherine being pregnant?”
“No.”
“Did you tell her about Reese and I?”
“Dr. Wallace? No.”
“What about Elisabeth Siddall?”
“Who?”
I set my glass down on the bar and repeated, “Elisabeth Siddall.”
Will scratched the back of his head. “I’m drawing a complete blank.”
I caught the barman’s eye and pointed to my now-empty glass. “She’s the one I painted that summer, when I was fifteen.”
“Oh, right. The redhead who was the object of all of your upper-school masturbatory fantasies,” nodded Will.
“According to who?”
“Your therapist at the time.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. A headache was forming.
“You accessed my therapy notes?”
“Let’s just say they fell into my lap. Interesting parents, by the way.”
“You expect me to believe that you didn’t share any of this with Jennifer?”
“I didn’t. I give you my word. Besides, I don’t have to share anything with her. I told you. She just knows things.”
“Shit!”
“What?”
“She’s talking to Katherine.”
They stepped out onto the veranda and I lost sight of them.
“Excuse me, I think I better go find my date.”
Just then Reese stumbled by and grabbed my arse. “I’ll be waiting in the garden,” she said a bit too loudly.
Carlton’s eyebrows shot up.
“I wasn’t heading out to meet her in the garden.”
“Of course not.”
“I’m going to find Katherine,” I said loud enough that Reese would be able to hear.
“Right.”
“Why am I even explaining this to you?”
“No idea, mate.”
It took me a few minutes to cross the ballroom. When I stepped out onto the veranda I noticed that the rain had stopped. The air was crisp and cool. I moved to the edge of the railing, assuming I’d find Katherine in the courtyard below.
A scream pierced the night air. My eyes were immediately drawn to the large fountain that sat out in the courtyard. Reese stood in the middle of it, her dress gathered up around her thighs, laughing. “Come on in, Laura, the water’s fine!” Katherine was running toward them, the long skirt of her gown grasped in her hand.
The fountain was approximately ten feet in diameter; the perimeter of the base was made so that people could sit along the edge. In the center was a large flat marble surface with water sheeting down. By the time Katherine approached, Laura had already slipped off her shoes, lifted her light pink A-line skirt and was kneeling on the edge trying to talk sense into Reese.
“Reese! Come on out of there. What are you doing? This is crazy,” Laura called out to her.
“Laura!” laughed Reese. “The fish! They tickle! Look, there are hundreds of them.” As she leaned forward to inspect them more closely she lost her balance. “Oomph!”
“Reese! I am so regretting being your friend right now.”
“You’re not my friend, Laura. I don’t have any friends,” she said bitterly as she tried to get up. “Well, don’t just stand there! Help me! My dress is caught on something, a drain maybe.”
Jennifer stood on the staircase. She turned and looked up at me. It was as if my world suddenly came to a screeching halt. Time stood still for a second as flashes of our conversation replayed through my mind. The wind outside picked up, blowing the loose leaves on the ground about my feet. Thunder rolled in the distance, a portent of more rain yet to come.
Will passed me by, racing down the stairs.
For a moment it was as if I were drowning, trying to move but struggling to push through the resistance of the water. I watched as Laura gathered her skirt and stepped into the fountain, first with her right foot and then her left. A sense of dread washed over me. Katherine had one knee on the bench and was extending her hand in an offer to help.
“Be careful the bottom is probably slippery. Hold onto my hand if you need to. Shoot!” Katherine looked down into the water.
“No!” I shouted. Sprinting down the stairs, I bolted toward them. “Katherine step back! Will! Grab her!” I yelled out, pointing to Laura.
There was a loud clap of thunder. A bolt of lightning streaked across the pitch-black sky, illuminating the courtyard. I watched in horror as the arc of lightning seemed to reach down toward the transformer that was located outside the garden gate. Sparks began to fly as one of the power lines detached, the wind carrying it down. Like a snake it slithered through the night air in search of its prey. I wrapped my arm around Katherine’s waist, pulling her clear of its path. I watched over my shoulder as Will unceremoniously tugged Laura toward him, scooping her up into his arms and lifting her clear of the water.
“What are you doing?” Laura began to struggle against him, but her question was cut off by the scream behind her. She turned toward it, and then just as quickly turned back, burying her face in the chest of the man that held her, safely, in his arms.
“Oh, God!” cried Katherine turning away from the image, clinging to me.
“Wes!” shouted Eric. He ran down the stairs and pointed to a tray stand in the corner of the courtyard.
“Right!”
I quickly pushed the tray that held a variety of plates and glasses onto the ground and then smashed the stand against the side of the building, breaking off the wooden legs. I tossed one of the legs toward Eric as I ran back over to the fountain. Reese was now floating, facedown, near the edge, hundreds of lifeless goldfish and small koi surrounding her perfectly still body. “Try to get these under her arms. See if we can pull her out.”
Sparks continued to fly and there was a large crackle. My eyes were momentarily drawn to the large transformer. Just as I was about to turn my attention back to the task at hand it exploded, shrouding the entire house and grounds in darkness.
“The power’s gone off! Help me get her out!” I tossed the wooden leg aside and reached into the water. “Laura, we need you!”
Eric reached in and helped me pull Reese out. “I saw an AED hanging on the wall outside of the kitchen. Laura?”
“Get it,” she directed. Eric took off at a run. “And call 999!” Laura stripped off the cardigan she was wearing. “Wes, do we have a pulse?”
“I’m not getting one.”
“Step aside. I could use more light.” As if on cue, some of the lights flickered back on.
“There must be a back-up generator,” I said.
Laura positioned Reese’s body and began the rescue breathing.
After a couple of breaths she paused. There was no effect. “Beginning CPR,” she announced, methodically following the familiar protocol. As she knelt over Reese’s body and positioned her hands over her chest, Eric ran up.
“Give me the electrodes.” Laura spread open the top of Reese’s dress. “For Christ’s sake, get these people out of here!” she added, stubbornly wiping the tears from her eyes.
A crowd had begun to form at the top of the stairs. Will walked toward them. “Please, everyone, give us some privacy. Please.”
I watched, in shock, while Laura accepted the first electrode from Eric and positioned it about halfway between Reese’s right nipple and collarbone. Laura picked up Reese’s hand, removed her ring and handed it to me.
“I’m sorry, Wes.”
I slowly turned to face Jennifer. Tears filled my eyes. I tried to stubbornly blink them away.
“She’s not dead,” I managed to choke out, my voice thick with emotion.
“Yes, she is,” she said, looking several feet above Reese’s body.
I shook my head, not wanting to believe it.
Jennifer stepped closer and reached for the lapel of my jacket. “She says not to worry. She doesn’t want to come back. Living here for her was just about getting through the next moment, and the one after that. She’s happy now, at peace.”
“No.”
“She needs you to take care of something.”
Tears were now rolling down my cheeks. “What?” I asked.
“There’s a dog. Now that she’s gone she’s afraid there will be no one to look after him.”
I shook my head. “Reese doesn’t have a dog.”
“I need more light!” shouted Laura as she struggled to plug the pads into the connectors.
Someone handed me a flashlight. I stepped closer and lifted the light as high into the air as I could.
“That’s it! That’s good. Clear!” Laura pressed the button, delivering the first shock. “Damn! Nothing! Everyone, clear!” Again, nothing. “Continuing CPR. Eric, you do the breathing. We’ll rotate after four. Where are the damned paramedics?”
I squeezed my fist around the ring. The conversations around me seemed to recede into the background. I closed my eyes and was flooded with memories.
“You’re giving me a ring?” asked Reese. “Why? Doesn’t that seem, I don’t know, serious?”
“This is serious. I want to get married.”
“What? Where the hell is this coming from? Wes, I admit it, we’ve got a good thing going here.”
“But we could have more. I know I could love you, if only you’d let me. We could be a family, Reese.”
“A family.”
“I saw the test results this morning, after you left for work. I was returning a call and I needed a pen.”
She rounded on me, furious. “You went through my things?”
“No, I didn’t purposefully go through your things. Look, I don’t want you to have to do this alone. I want to do this together.”
Reese began to laugh as she got up, walked over to the liquor cabinet and pulled out a bottle of vodka. “What? Are you going to make an honest woman out of me, Wes? Do the right thing? And, here I thought chivalry was dead.”
“Reese! Put that away. It’s not good for the baby. You know that. We need to talk this through.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.” Reese, knocked back a shot. “I got rid of it last week.”
“What do you mean?”
She poured herself another drink. “I had an abortion.”
“An abortion?”
“Oh, don’t look at me like that!”
“You didn’t think I’d want to know?”
“It was my decision. This doesn’t have to change anything. The two of us have fun together. Come on. Let’s go upstairs and play. Pretend you never saw those test results. We’ll go on just like before, okay? What have we got to lose?”
I looked down and studied my shoes for a minute.
“Wes?”
“I can’t believe you didn’t even tell me.”
“Good grief! It wasn’t about you, Wes!”
I jumped to my feet, walked over to the sofa, grabbed my coat and quickly put it on. “It bloody well was about me. I can’t do this anymore. How can you be so empty?”
Reese defiantly placed her hands on her hips and tossed her hair over her shoulder. “If we’re not gonna fuck tonight, you might as well go. I’m not in this for the hearts and flowers.”
“I feel sorry for you, Reese.”
“Yeah? Well don’t!” For a second she looked as if she were going to cry.
“You want to know what we’ve got to lose? Nothing. I know I’ve never had you, not really. But, I trusted you. Now, that’s gone. And so am I.”
“What? This is good-bye?”
“I won’t be back. Take care of yourself, Reese.”
“Don’t you want your ring?”
“Keep it,” I said before closing the door.
“Call it,” said Eric quietly as he placed his hand on Laura’s shoulder.
“No!” She repositioned her hands over Reese’s chest.
“It’s no use, Laura.”
I felt as if I were going to suffocate, as if my heart were being squeezed. I flipped open my mobile and dialed Charles.
“I’m in the courtyard. I need you.” I barely recognized the sound of my own voice.
“Wes? What is it?” he asked.
“Why did you have to get drunk! You stupid, stupid bitch!” Laura began to scream at the lifeless form.
I didn’t answer Charles. I just hung up and went to Laura. The instant my hand touched her shoulder she stood up and flew into my arms. The professional control was gone, stripped away. All that was left was a grieving friend. I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing. Instead I just held her and let her sob.
The ambulance pulled up, siren blaring. I vaguely heard Eric introduce himself and begin to give a report. Laura pulled back and managed to compose herself.
“Thanks. I’d better go talk to them,” she said. Then she was off.
At some point I became aware that Katherine had slipped her hand inside of mine. I watched as the paramedics covered Reese’s body. I dropped the ring into my coat pocket and I walked over to the fountain, Katherine’s hand still in mine, and looked down into it.
“The earring fell in,” Katherine said. “I was reaching for it and you stopped me. Why?”
I looked past Katherine. Jennifer was standing there, eyes on me. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” I reached past the now-dead fish, retrieved the earring and handed it back to Katherine.
“You realize that if you hadn’t stopped me—”
I held up my hand and shook my head. I couldn’t bear to hear the words. There’d been too many close calls, too many deaths. And, I was beginning to believe, really believe, that Jennifer was right. There were going to be more.
“A dog?” I asked her.
Jennifer nodded. “You’ll get on just fine.”
It was raining again. Charles had discreetly lifted the privacy screen. Katherine and I were riding in the backseat in silence. And it was a silence that had gone on for too long. I wanted desperately to explain, but the awkwardness of the situation kept me from it.
“You were lovers once?” Katherine finally asked, hesitantly.
I nodded, then turned to look out the window. Tears were falling now, and I didn’t want her to see them.
The stubborn bint wouldn’t let up. She gently turned my face back toward hers then kissed them away.
“Shh,” she soothed, her fingers gently stroking the hair at the nape of my neck.
“I’m sorry.”
The car came to a stop. I pushed Katherine away and managed to pull myself together before Charles opened the door.
“Charles, I’d like you to go back and drive Laura home,” I told him, extending my hand to Katherine and helping her out of the car. “She was quite distraught. She shouldn’t drive herself.”
“Of course. I’ll head back right away. Will there be anything else?”
He escorted us to the front door, holding an umbrella over our heads.
“Tomorrow Katherine’s family is coming for dinner.”
“Very well, sir.” Charles unlocked the door, held it open for us, then locked us safely inside.
The house was dark when we entered and I made no move to turn on any lights. The anonymity of it felt comforting. I went through the familiar motions of setting the alarm and hanging my coat up in the entry closet before wordlessly heading for the stairs. I’d gone up about halfway before realizing Katherine had yet to move.
“Are you coming?”
The light from the street bounced off the entry mirror, illuminating the outline of her body. Katherine shook her head and placed her hand over her heart. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do, what to say.”
“You don’t need to say or do anything. Just come.” I held my hand out to her. “Just be with me.”
Katherine climbed the stairs, took my extended hand and let me lead her to the bedroom. Once inside I struck a match and lit a few candles. I then walked over to my dresser, pulled on the end of my bow tie and cursed. “Damn it! I can’t get this knot out!”
“Let me.”
Katherine walked over to me and gently pushed my hands aside.
“You don’t need to coddle me,” I protested, feeling weak and vulnerable and hating it.
“It’s not coddling to help someone you care about when they’re in need.” She easily unfastened the knot, then slid the tie from around my neck.
“Do you?” I asked her, stilling her hands and searching out her eyes.
“Do I what?”
“Care. For me?”
Her brow furrowed. The question seemed to trouble her. “Yes, I thought you knew that, Wesley. I care very much.”
I took her face in mine and leaned down, resting my forehead against hers, then I made my confession. “I was never in love with her, but she meant something to me. She should have meant more. She just… She wouldn’t…” I pulled away.
“What?” She reached out and began to unbutton my shirt.
“Bare herself to me.” I said it softly, looking her in the eye. “Let me see her. Let me know her. I needed that. I need that.”
The Sacrifice: Forbidden, Book 1 Page 11