Our Lives Entwined

by Lilliana Anderson

  Chapter 7

  NATALIE HATED being alone. It was never something she coped very well with. She had always preferred to be with someone, even if it was for the wrong reasons.

  In high school, she found herself with a string of boyfriends, all staying with her until she gave up that one thing they wanted – sex. Then they’d use her until they’d had their fill and move on.

  She supposed there wasn’t really anything wrong with being someone for a bit of comfort. It was better than having no one at all. But their interactions always left her feeling a little hollow.

  When she found out she had a twin, it seemed to her to be that missing link in her life, and finding Eric on top – well, that just filled both sides of her heart.

  Without them, she felt worse than hollow, less than a shell. She felt like nothing.

  That night she had tried to take her own life. She did it knowing that her parents wouldn’t be home in time to save her. It wasn’t a cry for help. She cut straight and she cut deep and she fully expected to die.

  When she awoke a day later in the ICU she immediately burst into tears, hating that she’d failed at yet another thing in this world. All she could see were long days and nights filled with suffering ahead of her.

  That was, until Mia had walked in. Suddenly, there was a silver lining in all this, her failed attempt had actually brought her twin to her. It had made Mia talk to her – finally.

  Natalie knew that she would have to be careful around her. She didn’t want to scare her off before they’d had a chance to get to know each other. But she had hope. For the first time in a long time – she had hope.

  Then, when Eric walked in – well, that was a whole different story. She had seriously thought that her relationship with him would never become more than a memory – a tiny blip on the radar. Most of their interaction had been spent either silent or in tears, but they seemed to know how the other felt.

  Natalie’s heart swelled at the memory. Eric was back, and he said he’d help her find her mother.

  Natalie’s reasons for finding her mother were not only to try and mend things between Mia and herself, it was also because she needed to know where she came from and why she wasn’t wanted. At first she thought that it was only Mia that was missing from her life. But it was everything. Her real mother. Her real father. Sister. Soul mate. All of it. She needed to know her story.

  Laying in the hospital bed that night was the first time she had felt a sense of hope since she’d returned from Melbourne. As drastic as the circumstances were that brought them back together, she had just seen and touched Eric. She could still feel the softness of his hair between her fingers.

  While she knew that she’d have to see a psychiatrist when she was discharged from hospital, she also knew that she wouldn’t need one for long. Finally she had hope. Eric gave it to her.

  “I understand that you didn’t want to guilt me into coming. But I did have a right to know what was going on. She is my sister.”

  Cayd and Eric sat in the hotel’s dining room where the breakfast buffet was being served, listening in on Mia’s conversation with Sandra and Tom. She had placed her phone on the table in front of her and had it on speaker phone.

  “Well, we apologise for not letting you know. But can you understand where we are coming from? If we had kept calling you whenever we were worried about Natalie, it would have seemed like emotional blackmail. You would have felt forced into a relationship with her. Even now we’re worried. What happens when you go home? How is she going to feel having you pop up just because she tried to,” Tom’s voice wavered, “end things?”

  All three exchanged glances, knowing that it would be a bad idea to run straight back to Melbourne and leave Natalie alone again.

  “I’ll stay behind,” Eric volunteered suddenly. “You two have work you can’t leave for long.”

  “Please only stay if you want to. We don’t need to give her false hope,” Sandra added.

  “No. I want to stay.”

  Mia reached across the table and gave Eric’s hand a squeeze. It was a simple gesture, and while Cayd knew it was out of friendship, he couldn’t help the slight pang it caused in his chest.

  It was organised that Mia would go and visit Natalie one more time so that she and Cayd could return to Melbourne the next day. Eric would stay behind, the Johnson’s had some friends whose house had a granny flat behind it that he would be able to use until he was ready to return home.

  When the phone call was over, Eric felt both nervous and relieved that he was staying. For the first time in months, he felt like he was doing the right thing – even if it is a little wrong from an outsider’s point of view.

  After a few moments of easy chatter between the three, Cayd’s phone rang. Upon seeing the name on the screen, he excused himself and left the table. This wasn’t unusual for him, his line of work meant that he could rarely have a conversation with other ears listening in. But this one wasn’t work related. This one was family related. His father to be exact.

  As Cayd swiped at the screen to answer, her prepared himself for an earful. His father rarely called him just to say hi. It was normally to berate him or command him about. Such was their relationship since Cayd’s brother died.

  “Father,” Cayd said by way of greeting.

  “Cayd. Listen. You’re secretary told me you were in Sydney.”

  “I am. She’s my receptionist. She’s not a secretary.”

  “I don’t really give a fuck what she is. Point is, I’m in Sydney too. I have this painful fundraiser to attend tonight and I want you there too. It’s in the name of some loss foundation for families who need support after their loved ones have topped themselves. It will look good if I’m there with my son.”

  Being one of Australia’s most well known racing names, meant that because of the loss they experienced after Cayd’s younger brother, Jeremy, died, closely followed by the anguished suicide of his mother, they were frequently invited to benefits that either support those dealing with suicide, grief or sudden loss. It was rare that Cayd ever attended them himself. It was generally something this father, Howard Donnelly, did alone.

  “I’ll need to bring Mia with me.”

  “Mia?”

  “Yes father. The woman I live with. My partner.” Cayd had mentioned Mia to his father more than a few times and each time his father acted as though he’d never heard of her.

  “Is there a ring on her finger?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Is she good looking?”

  “Father,” Cayd warned.

  “I’m joking, son. Bring her. It’s fine. Dress code is the same for all these things. Wear a tux.”

  “Will do.”

  Howard Donnelly then ended the conversation by saying that he’d have a car come to their hotel at seven that evening.

  The fact that his father knew exactly where he was staying was of no surprise to Cayd. His father was, after all, the bank roll from where Cayd’s wealth was supplied. This meant that occasionally, his father asked for something and Cayd was required to comply.

  It was never anything too demanding, so it had never become an issue between them. Cayd’s only issue, was that he truly disliked the company of his father, so he was dreading the evening spent smiling and posing for photos with him already.

  At least he’d have Mia there with him.

  “Is everything all right?” Mia asked as he returned to his seat. She was looking at him with her eyebrows raised in question as she took a sip of her coffee. Cayd found the way her eyes widened over the rim as she watched him absolutely adorable, and found himself reaching over to place his hand gently on her thigh.

  “Everything’s fine. We’ve just been invited to benefit tonight so I’m afraid we’ll need to go shopping when this is done and get something suitable to wear.”

  “A benefit?” she repeated.

  “Yes. I’m unsure of the foundation. But I just spoke with my father and he said he’d lik
e it if we were there.”

  Mia almost spat out her coffee at the mention of his father – a man she was yet to meet.

  “I’m meeting your father? Tonight?”

  Eric sat back in his chair and folded his arms, not wanting to get involved when he could see Mia growing agitated.

  He could remember the first time Mia met his parents. She almost hyperventilated outside, feeling worried that they wouldn’t like her. But they did. Of course they did. How could anyone not like Mia?

  “Yes. You are meeting my father.”

  “Oh wow. I don’t know. Is this one of those benefits you see in the papers? The ones where everyone is really fancy and judgemental?”

  Cayd chuckled and placed his hands on either side of Mia’s face, smoothing his thumbs over her cheeks to calm her. “You will be amazing. I won’t leave your side for a moment. I promise.”

  “Ok,” she replied, calming down quickly, much to Eric’s surprise. It was in that moment that Eric realised how right for each other Mia and Cayd were. He’d spent so much time feeling angry at them for being happy when he was so miserable that he didn’t see it.

  He cleared his throat. “Well, I might head to the hospital to sit with Natalie while you two get everything ready for tonight. I’ll let her know you’re coming after lunch. Will that give you enough time?” He rose from his chair as he spoke, and reached for his wallet, pulling out enough money to cover his part of the bill.

  “Yes that will give us plenty of time. But breakfast is on me. Keep your money,” Cayd said.

  “Nah. I pay my own way in this world. Thanks though. I’ll see you two lovebirds later.” He gave Mia a wink that caused her to smile a little.

  “He seems happier,” Cayd noted when Eric had left the dining hall.

  “Yeah. I think he’s been pretty miserable away from her.”

  “You ready to go and spend a ridiculous amount of money on a dress?”

  “No. But I’ll do it for you.”

  “Come on, it’ll be fun. I’ll take you to those shops you have to show a platinum card to, just to get inside.”

  “Do they seriously exist?”

  “They do.”

  Mia had never been very outrageous when it came to dresses. She had always steered well clear of any sort of designer label as she felt that the price tags were outrageous. That’s why, when Cayd took her into the designer store in Sydney’s Martin place in search of a cocktail dress for that evening she was a little hesitant.

  “Can’t we just go to Myer or David Jones? They have nice dresses too.”

  “Let me spoil you, love,” Cayd responded, before leaning in close and whispering something into Mia’s ear that made her blush as the shop assistant tried to strain her ears to hear what was said.

  He had spoken to her about how much it would please him to see her wearing something so splendid, and that when they got back to the hotel that night, he would thoroughly enjoy removing said dress.

  Mia’s head swam a little after that. She enjoyed the way Cayd’s eyes sparkled as he watched her move about the opulent white store.

  She wasn’t choosy, but she refused to wear anything that was considered cutting edge in fashion, and after looking around she settled on a simple cocktail dress with blue beading. It was form fitting, had a rounded neckline and came down to her mid-thigh. When coupled with a black clutch and a pair of black strappy heels, she looked elegant and refined (even if she didn’t feel it).

  While he waited for Mia to select her outfit, Cayd called the hotel concierge to arrange for his own clothing needs. This wasn’t the first time in his life that he had to go to a benefit last minute and he knew his measurements and preferred style by heart. He also requested that someone be sent up to attend to Mia’s hair and makeup for the night.

  He felt that she deserved the whole Cinderella package tonight, especially when he had sprung meeting his father on her.

  “Don’t even tell me how much you’re paying for this,” Mia whispered to Cayd, as the sales assistant wrapped her purchases in tissue paper and packaged them up.

  Cayd slid his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him, then shook his head slightly at the assistant, to signal that he didn’t need to hear the price as he handed his credit card over to pay.

  As they thanked the woman and left the store, Mia linked her arm through Cayd’s and leaned into him for warmth as they walked through the cool winter air back toward the hotel. Eric had taken the rental car with him to the hospital, and wasn’t expected back until after lunch. So after dropping their purchases off at the reception desk, they decided to take a walk around the harbour.

  The only time Mia had been in Sydney before now, was when she came on her own to find out about Natalie’s family life. So she’d never actually had the chance to do any sightseeing.

  “Where you would like to go? It would be my absolute pleasure to show you around,” Cayd said.

  “I would love to visit The Rocks. Ever since I read Playing Beatie Bow as a child and then saw the movie later, I’ve wanted to go there.”

  “Then to The Rocks we shall go.”

  “I want you to talk to me about your life. Tell me everything I’ve missed,” Natalie said to Eric as he sat in the seat beside her. They’d gotten past the usual how to you do’s and general chit-chat about the weather, and it was time to move on to something a little more concrete.

  Eric clasped his hands in front of him as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his thighs. “There’s not a huge amount to tell you. I’ve been working…”

  “Have you… um… been going out much? Are you…seeing anyone?”

  He met her eyes and slowly shook his head. “I tried. But I couldn’t move on. I couldn’t get you out of my head,” he admitted, causing Natalie’s eyes to close as she sighed gratefully.

  “Did you read my letters? I wrote you every week.”

  Again, he shook his head. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t. It was too hard… Listen, Natalie. I don’t know what this is going to turn out to be between us. But I do know that I haven’t spent a day without thinking of you. Despite everything that went down, I just couldn’t forget you.”

  “So… what do we do now?”

  He bounced his shoulder. “We get you well again. We take things slow. And then we just see what happens.”

  “I can do that.”

  Eric sat back in his chair again, placing his hands on his head as he looked about the room. “I don’t have to leave for a couple of hours. You want to see if there’s a movie on? Or I can read to you or something? I don’t know…”

  “Do you think you could sit next to me on the bed and read to me? I’d really like that.”

  “Sure.” Eric picked up Natalie’s copy of The Book Thief as she wriggled over on the bed to make space for him. “What’s this about?”

  “I haven’t started it. I got it off the book trolley when it came around.”

  “Well then, I’ll guess we’ll both get to check it out together.”

  Eric stretched out next to Natalie on the narrow bed and opened the front cover, before leafing through the front matter to the Prologue. As he started to read, Natalie smiled inwardly to herself, content in the knowledge that he was finally here and that they finally had a chance to get to know each other. Life was finally starting to look up.

  Chapter 8

  AFTER SPENDING most of the day taking in the historic Rocks district, Mia and Cayd visited with Natalie briefly before informing her that they would be leaving the next day due to their work commitments. There was a promise that they’d keep in touch this time, and Natalie promised to keep Mia abreast with any findings regarding their birth mother.

  Mia still wasn’t interested in finding her. But she felt telling Natalie that, would do more harm than good. So, she chose to go along with it for the time being.

  When they returned to the hotel suite, Mia’s dress and Cayd’s tuxedo were hanging ready for them to wear for the benefit that nig
ht.

  Feeling good about the day’s events, Mia leaned against Cayd’s chest and pressed a soft kiss to his lips before whispering, “Shower with me?”

  Cayd’s lips curved in an immediate grin. “I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

  Continuing their kisses, they kicked off their shoes and walked together toward the bathroom in a kind of waltz that saw their clothing removed and discarded on the floor like trail of breadcrumbs.

  They hadn’t been together properly since before they had left for Sydney and Cayd’s need for Mia grew immediately.

  Although, before they could even turn the shower on, there as a knock at the door. “Bloody hell,” Mia groaned. “We’re not catching a break lately are we?”

  “Unfortunately, no,” he replied, kissing her on the forehead and reaching for the robes that were hanging on the back of the door. “Would you like me to get it so you can have an actual shower?”

  “Um, no. You’re a little too…um… hard. To be answering the door to anyone.” She winked and gave him one last quick kiss as the door knocking sounded again. “One minute,” she called out, as she wrapped the robe about her body and went for the door.

  “Hey,” Eric said, his eyes dropping to take in the robe. “Sorry, I know you have to get ready to go out tonight. I was just wondering if you guys are taking the car or if I can use it.”

  “I think a car service is picking us up. Give me a second and I’ll grab you the keys.”

  Mia left the door open and walked over to the dresser where Cayd had left the keys when they returned to the hotel earlier.

  “We don’t need the rental car do we?” she called out to Cayd, who was still in the bathroom.

  “No.” It was at that moment that the hotel room’s phone rang. Mia continued to take the keys to Eric while Cayd answered the phone from within the bathroom.

  “Where’re you headed?” Mia asked, as she handed the keys over.

  “It’s kind of weird.”

  “What is?”

  “I’m going to see Natalie’s parents. They’re going to show me that granny flat, and I guess they want to have a bit of a talk to me about Natalie.”