‘I’m sorry you went through that. I hope he was caught.’
‘By me, yes, only after it was all too late, but he didn’t pay any price with anyone else. He disappeared into the night and left Tommy and I without a roof over our heads. And that’s why I’m angry with myself because I put Tommy at risk becoming involved with a man like that.’
‘You didn’t put him at risk intentionally.’
‘Not intentionally, but that doesn’t change the fact I behaved irresponsibly and we lost the house and the money that our parents had left us. It would have been enough to ensure Tommy never went without. I can’t forgive myself for that. And that’s why we live in a not so great part of town.’ Molly rolled her eyes.
‘I’m sure Tommy wouldn’t care where you live as long as he’s with you,’ Ryan replied.
‘That’s true,’ she said, shooting him a sideways smile that disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. ‘But it still doesn’t make any of it okay.’
‘I don’t mean to pry and you can tell me to butt out, but can’t you pursue the man, your...ex, through the courts?’
In an instant, a myriad emotions washed over Molly. Rage, guilt, thoughts of how sweet revenge might feel and then sorrow. She knew it was hopeless.
‘No, he walked away scot-free after taking everything he could and I had no means of retribution. I wanted to pursue him and make him pay for what he had done, but he left me in such debt that I didn’t then and still don’t now have the funds or the time to try to find him, let alone take him to court. He’s over in Europe now. His father is Swiss, his mother Portuguese so he’s hiding out in one of those countries or one somewhere in between, no doubt scamming another vulnerable woman.’
‘Well, at least he might not be allowed back in Australia if you alert the authorities.’
‘It’s complicated because he made it look like I was complicit in everything.’ She closed her eyes, wondering if she wanted or needed to go into the detail. Would it make him understand her true financial situation or make him doubt her previous judgement? She didn’t want pity but it didn’t seem to be on offer, which made her happy.
‘After my parents died,’ she began, turning back to face Ryan, ‘Tommy and I were living in our family home in Burnside. It had been left to us along with insurance money, their savings and superannuation. All in all, we were very comfortable. Tommy worked at a not-for-profit organisation that provides employment for people with a range of intellectual disabilities. He still does. He could enter the regular workforce but he loves the support staff and they know what he’s been through losing our parents, so they allow him to stay there and constantly build on his skill set, giving him more responsibility. He’s in a supervisory role now.’
Ryan nodded in agreement. ‘I’m sure Lizzy could take on a more challenging role too but she loves where she works three days a week, so I don’t want to stress her unnecessarily.’
‘I agree. There’s no need. Those facilities go a long way to raising their confidence and independence and Tommy didn’t need to bring in an income as I could support us both, but it was good for him to have that interaction. I was working at the Eastern Memorial. If I had a late shift, one of the elderly neighbours who adored Tommy would wait with him until I got home and, if I was caught up in Theatre, she would prepare his dinner and stay and keep him company. She was a wonderful woman and we both felt blessed to have her in our lives.
‘Then about three years after we lost our parents, I met a man while having dinner alone after a medical conference here in Adelaide. He was also eating alone that night at an adjacent table. He struck up a conversation and he asked to join me for coffee. He was new in town, an engineering consultant contracted to deliver advice on a billion-dollar infrastructure project. We hit it off, he seemed genuine and, although I was hesitant at first, we began dating.
‘To be honest he was my first serious relationship, as it was difficult to even think about dating between my study and then taking on the carer’s role for Tommy and work. I was naive and inexperienced but still at times I knew the decisions he made weren’t right, and I should have listened to my gut. But I didn’t. Six months into the relationship he proposed and we began planning the wedding. He said that he wanted to buy property together. He didn’t want to live in our family home as he wanted a fresh start in a new home that we owned together. I wasn’t sure about it but Tommy had grown to like Nigel, and when he saw the house that Nigel had found had a pool and a home theatre he was excited about us having such a big house and living together as a family.
‘After much deliberation and hesitation on my part, I agreed and I sold our family home and we bought the new home in the Adelaide foothills. It was quite expensive, but he said using the funds from the sale of my home and the money I had put away we could afford it, and then after he sold his home in Madrid he would deposit the funds in my bank and we would have put equal shares into what would be our for-ever home.’
‘It sounds like a reasonable plan and, with the added pressure from Tommy, I can see why you agreed.’
‘Well, Nigel had made it impossible for me to say no without appearing as if I didn’t trust him. But after I sold my home Nigel insisted he had his name on the title as he said it would cost a fortune to add it after settlement when his money arrived. Again, my gut instinct was to say no, particularly as I thought the new house was overpriced, but he kept allaying my fears. He showed me his home online with a sale price of one point five million dollars and said it would only be a few weeks before it would be snapped up. Of course, that never happened because it wasn’t his home. He had apparently found it online and claimed it to be his as it was in his hometown.’
‘So effectively he gained a house in his name with no intention of providing any funds to you.’
‘Yes, sounds stupid of me, doesn’t it?’
‘To someone who didn’t know your fiancé and having no idea just how experienced a salesman he was, that’s easy to say in hindsight. He manipulated your feelings to his advantage. It sounds like he rushed you off your feet and then cornered you. You really had no chance with someone like that. It was a chess game he was going to win.’
Molly stopped still for a moment. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the weight she had carried for the last year had eased from her shoulders a little. Instead of adding to her feelings of guilt, Ryan had somehow almost validated why she had made the decision that had impacted so badly on her life, and Tommy’s. With a few words, he had made her feel less culpable and more a victim of another’s actions. He was a stranger looking in and he saw it very differently from her viewpoint laden with remorse.
‘But I’m still not sure how he took everything.’
‘He forged my signature and borrowed against the house—’
‘Why?’ Ryan cut in. ‘What did he do with the money?’
‘He gambled it. All of it. And he left. He was gone. He left a note saying that he missed Madrid and his family and felt I was rushing him into marriage. It was one week before our wedding. I thought that he may have had a change of heart when I was woken the day after he left by loud knocking on the door. I thought he’d come back and misplaced his keys and wanted me to let him in. But instead it was a sheriff’s officer. I was behind in payments on a mortgage that I didn’t know I had. I knew all my money had been sunk into the house but I thought I could sell it, downsize to a similar home we had previously and we would be fine, but we actually had nothing. I collapsed in shock. There was no way I could possibly make the payments on my wage. I was forced to sell before the bank foreclosed. Within six months he had gambled more than half the value of the home. The market had crashed...’
‘So, the already overpriced home he had made you buy was worth much less.’
‘A lot less and with legal fees and paying for the wedding venue, flowers and car as it was too close to cancel there was literally nothing left in my
bank. He’d assured me he had taken care of the wedding costs too and I had no reason not to believe him. But he hadn’t. He’d only paid the deposit, so I had to fire sale the furniture and even my car and the jewellery my mother left me for the bond on this house because my credit rating had been ruined in the process. Oh, and cherry on top...when I tried to sell my engagement ring as I thought it would help, I found out that was as fake as his promises. A great copy of Harry Winston he bought online from China.’ She sipped on her drink, took a deep breath and continued. ‘I can’t ask our former neighbour to travel to the wrong side of town at night. I made my bed and I must lie in it and make sure I am home every night in time to meet Tommy. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.’
Molly was surprised that she managed to get it all out without tears. Tears of regret and anger at her ex-fiancé and herself. But she knew why. It was Ryan’s reaction that made it possible to bare her soul and not react the way she had expected. She felt stronger with every word and that was because of him.
* * *
Without saying a word, Ryan leant into Molly and brushed away a tendril of her hair. ‘The world has thrown the worst at you and yet you’re still the most caring person I think I’ve met. At the risk of overstepping the mark, again, I wish I could kiss away all the pain you’ve been through. You’re the most amazing woman, Molly.’
Molly felt her heart begin to race and she didn’t want to turn away. She didn’t want to hold back. She felt as if she belonged in the room, in the moment with him. And she felt safe. Leaning into him, she knew that whatever the night brought, she was welcoming it with her eyes wide open.
And her heart a little vulnerable. ‘You wouldn’t be overstepping the mark.’
Within moments Ryan’s mouth reached for hers. His kiss was passionate and still tender. She felt his hands caressing the bare skin of her shoulders. Her eyes closed as the sensation of his fingers on her body rippled through her. Her mind was filled only with desire for Ryan.
Her eyes opened to find him looking expectantly into the soul she was laying bare.
‘Are you sure about this?’ he asked.
‘I couldn’t be more sure.’
Upon hearing her answer, Ryan didn’t hold back. His lips were demanding as they met the softness of her mouth. Molly felt the urgency in his kiss and it took her breath away. It was nothing like the kiss before. His kiss told her that he was not a man who intended to wait for even a moment longer. Nor did Molly want him to.
His hard, powerful body lifted her up and pressed against her. She had no doubt in her mind that he wanted her as much as she desired him. His touch was strong yet gentle. His kiss was tender yet reckless. Her mind was spinning and her heart was racing with anticipation as his fingers searched for the zip of her dress and then the clasp at the nape of her neck. With both skilfully undone, he slowly slid the slinky dress from her body. Pulling his lips from hers momentarily, he began to discard his own clothes.
Molly’s fingers struggled to untie his bow tie, and quickly his own hands came to the rescue, helping hers, and once it was undone, he tossed it to the ground. Molly unbuttoned his shirt as he used one foot to slip the other free of his shoes and then unbuckled his trousers. The kisses continued fervently. His shirt was open and her hands glided over his chest. She heard his heavy cufflinks drop to the ground. Within moments his clothes were littered on the floor beside her dress. He pulled his mouth from hers and his arms scooped her up, her shoes falling from her feet as he carried her into the bedroom. She had one tiny piece of lace clothing on her body and as he lay her on the bed, Ryan slipped that from her too.
There was nothing between them any more. Nothing to stop them from becoming one.
Where the night would lead the next day was irrelevant. Nothing else mattered. Nothing but the hours they were about to share together in that room. In that bed.
* * *
With sleepy eyes Molly looked across the crumpled pillow to the man who had spent hours making love to her. The man who had opened her eyes to what she had not known she had been missing before. His hands had caressed her body as if it had been made for him, as if he had read a book written about her, one that told him everything he needed to know.
Ryan pulled Molly gently and purposefully towards him and into his embrace. Her hand instinctively reached across his toned chest as her head rested on his shoulder. He turned his body towards her and his fingers moved the curls falling over her face as he leant in and kissed her.
‘I must apologise,’ he muttered.
‘For what?’
‘Not coming good on that drink.’
Molly smiled. ‘I think I can forgive your poor hospitality under the circumstances.’
Ryan kissed her again and his hands began trailing over her body. She could feel the urgency in both his kiss and his hands but she became very aware of the time. She had promised to be home by twelve and she was sure it was getting very close to midnight.
She pulled away. ‘I would love to continue this all night but I have to go home.’
His hands cupped her face. ‘I would love to continue all night too. Are you sure you have to leave?’
‘Absolutely... I need to be at home before midnight,’ she replied as she sat up, tugging the sheet up with her to cover herself. While she had shared her body with Ryan and shed her inhibitions, she suddenly felt a little vulnerable and self-conscious.
‘Of course,’ he said. ‘I understand.’ He sat up with her, pulling her body to his for a moment longer. ‘You’re a special woman, Molly Murphy. I’m not sure I will be able to sleep alone after lying in this bed with you.’
‘I doubt that very much.’ She laughed. ‘It was quite the workout on your behalf, so I think you’ll sleep very well. Even collapse perhaps.’
Ryan kissed her again. ‘I met my match, so you should sleep like a log too. The most gorgeous, irresistible log.’
Molly slipped from the bed and raced into the sitting room of the suite to find her dress.
‘I’ll drive you home,’ Ryan called from the bed.
‘Don’t be silly. You have the room until morning and if Ann is staying with Lizzy you should stay here.’
‘No, Molly. I’m not putting you in a cab this late at night.’
Molly felt her heart sink as she heard him walk into the living-room area in search of his own clothes. She didn’t turn to face him. She didn’t want him to see the worry on her face but equally she didn’t want to spoil the night by letting Ryan see where she lived. While she had told him, seeing was quite another matter. It was the wrong side of town and their time together had been more perfect than she could have dreamed possible. It would be the worst ending to the best night of her life.
‘Seriously,’ she began as she turned to find him doing up his trousers. He was the most perfect man. The best lover and as she looked over at his sculpted chest softly lit she wanted to freeze time and have the night go on for ever. To have him hold her all night long, but she couldn’t. She had to get home to Tommy. To her ramshackle home. ‘I will slip downstairs and grab a cab from the rank. I’m only ten minutes from the city.’
His frown had eased as he made light of the situation but his eyes had not moved from hers. She suspected there was a serious side to his question. ‘I know you live on the wrong side of town, according to you. But is there more to it than that?’
‘No...but compared to this...’ she looked around the suite ‘... I’m embarrassed. I don’t want you to see the house and feel sorry for me. It’s truly dreadful.’
‘So, you’d rather hide it from me?’
Molly bit the inside of her cheek and nodded.
‘It can’t be that bad. Please let me be the judge,’ he told her. ‘There’s one thing you need to know about me, Molly. I can handle almost anything but I don’t want anything hidden from me. I’m not sure where we are heading
with...this, but wherever this goes, whatever it becomes, it has to be built on honesty.’
Molly took the shoes he held out to her and crossed to the large sofa. She sat down and dropped the shoes on the floor, slipping her feet inside.
With her head facing the ground, she confessed the reason she wanted to catch the cab. She lifted her eyes to see Ryan’s face smiling back at her.
‘You don’t know how bad. I have no central heating and I live near a train line, a freight-train line. All one hundred and twenty-two carriages pass by twice a day.’
‘You count them?’
‘Sometimes...’
‘If you’ll let me, I will gladly take you out more often so you don’t have time to count the carriages.’
Molly smiled. ‘You might not want to drive over there to pick me up.’
‘Molly, some of the coldest people I know live in palatial, centrally heated homes and some of the warmest have no heating at all. And I can safely say that you are the warmest woman I have ever met.’
He walked to her, knelt down on one knee and, cupping her face in his hands, he kissed her. ‘I don’t give a damn, Molly Murphy, about the suburb, the condition or anything else about your home. As long as there’s no man other than your brother living there with you, then there’s nothing to hide...but before I take you home, and I am taking you home, I have something for you.’
‘What?’ she asked, completely taken off guard by the fact he was on one knee. Her curiosity was heading into overdrive as she watched him reach into his pocket.
‘You might need these,’ he said as he slipped her lace panties into her lap. ‘It’s cold out tonight.’
Ryan left Molly to stay warm in the room while he walked back down to the convention centre car park and then drove his car back to the hotel. She took only five minutes to tidy her hair and make-up enough to be seen by other guests and then she headed back downstairs. She was barely seated when she saw his midnight-blue sedan pull up and before she could step out he jumped out with the engine running, raced inside, threw his jacket around her shoulders and escorted her back to his car.
The Doctor's Cinderella Page 11