Façades

by Cynthia Lindenmayer

  After her admission, and nurses had monitored her vital signs, administered antibiotics, and taken other routine tests, she became aware that she still had Teale’s phone, which Lee had returned to her after speaking to the triple zero paramedic. She realized that she knew little about Teale, including whether he had any family (other than his uncle Harold), and if so, where they lived. She surmised that Megan would know more, and be able to contact any who needed to be informed of his injury and hospitalization. Accordingly, with some trepidation, she found Megan’s number in Teale’s phone memory, and called her to tell her. She indicated that she would come to the hospital immediately.

  At last, Lee was allowed in to see Simone, following her admission. At the sight of what she knew to be Teale’s blood on his shirt, Simone burst into tears, and began to shake violently, in reaction to the terrible events she had just witnessed. Lee put his arms around her, and tried to comfort her as best he could. In between sobs, she asked him whether he had yet rung Sasha and Delia to tell them.

  “No,” he said. “I was waiting to see how seriously you were hurt before I rang them. They’re not due home until late this afternoon.”

  “This is the last thing Delia needs,” sobbed Simone. “You’d better get hold of them quickly, and warn them not to come home alone, in case that lunatic comes back.”

  After her sobbing had subsided, she spoke again.

  “Have you heard how Teale is?” she asked in an obviously concerned voice.

  “All I know is they’ve taken him into surgery.”

  That provoked a fresh wave of weeping from Simone, before she could manage to continue.

  “Well, can you please go and find out what you can, and come back to tell me?” she asked, with difficulty. “He rescued me from that maniac, you know?”

  “OK,” said Lee. “I’ll ring the girls first. I’m sure Brodie will stay with them, if necessary, until I get home. Then I’ll see what I can find out about Teale.”

  He gave Simone another hug, before leaving the room.

  Before Lee had returned with any news of Teale, Megan stormed into Simone’s room.

  “What’s happened?” she demanded. “What have you done to Teale?”

  “I’ve done nothing to him!” replied Simone, again beginning to cry. “But he has been badly hurt coming to my aid.”

  She then proceeded, haltingly, to relate the details of the tragic incident to Megan, who listened impatiently, and with increasing agitation.

  “I can’t believe you, Simone. I really can’t!” she said, emphatically, once Simone had finished her account.

  “What is it you can’t believe?” responded Simone, defensively, her own anger beginning to rise. “Can’t you believe Teale loves me, instead of you? After all, I didn’t break you and him up. If he really loved you, he wouldn’t have started having sex with me the moment you went overseas.”

  “You slut!” spat Megan at her.

  “Were you as pure as you’d like us to believe while you were away for six weeks?” retorted Simone. “Besides, he dropped you for me, and didn’t drop me for you when you returned.”

  “How many others have there been for you, Simone?”

  “None of your business!” she snapped back.

  “And you were married all the time,” added Megan, in a righteous tone.

  “Just because you wear a ring, and are called ‘Mrs’ doesn’t really make you married. So get over your rejection, Megan,” replied Simone.

  “Apparently, you don’t understand what it’s like to be rejected,” said Megan, in a less aggressive, more reflective tone.

  “If you live with a man who doesn’t want you, sexually, you feel rejected all the time – it knocks the stuffing out of your self-esteem. Then if someone else finds you sexually desirable, it’s extremely tempting to fall into his arms. It restores your self-esteem, and regenerates you sexually. It’s intoxicating!”

  “Well, why didn’t you leave your loveless marriage, if you were so unhappy, and commit to Teale?” retorted Megan.

  “When you have children, who love their father, you feel you have to wait until they’re old enough to understand and cope, but then, so much time goes by that you seem to have fallen into a comfortable, undemanding rut, which it becomes more and more difficult to climb out of.”

  “Were you ever going to leave him for Teale?”

  “I had considered it. But, I don’t know, it felt like the odds were against Teale and me because of the age difference and the family baggage I’d bring with me.”

  Just then, Simone looked around to see Lee standing in the doorway. The shocked look on his face told her he had heard much of what she had said. Megan, who also saw him, turned on her heels and left the room, leaving the husband and wife staring at each other.

  Lee was the first to break the tense, drawn-out silence.

  “Teale is out of surgery, and in intensive care. They wouldn’t give me any details, as I’m not kin, but his condition is officially described as ‘critical but stable’.”

  “I suppose, in the circumstances, that’s good news,” replied Simone, a little tentatively, watching Lee’s face for his reaction.

  “You’ll also be relieved to hear that Detective Sergeant Benson rang to tell me they have apprehended the would-be burglars, including your attacker, who was intercepted speeding away from our place.”

  “Why on earth did that maniac come back?” asked Simone. “Was he after one of us? What’s it all about?”

  Taking a deep breath, Lee proceeded to tell Simone about finding the mobile phone, and how it had provided vital information which helped the police to identify and locate the burglars, their female accomplice, and a coterie of their criminal associates.

  “Well, why on earth didn’t you tell me about it, before rushing off and leaving me alone?”

  “I guess I wasn’t thinking clearly, because one of the photos I saw on the phone showed Nadine with the two male culprits, and I rushed off to confront her with that.”

  “Nadine?” said Simone, in disbelief, before continuing, “Why did you do that? Surely you should have just taken it straight to the police and let them handle it?”

  “Yeah – I realize that now,” he replied, “but I just felt I owed it to her to give her an opportunity to explain her connection with these blokes before involving the police. As it turned out, she wasn’t involved, but was able to give the police more information about these guys, and identify their female accomplice, a woman named Pat.”

  “Pat?” responded Simone. “That’d be the woman I met Nadine with at the markets on Saturday.”

  There followed another uncomfortable silence, before Simone spoke again.

  “You heard what I said to Megan, didn’t you, Lee?”

  “Yes, I did,” was his stony reply.

  “Well, you know, now. What do you plan to do?”

  “That’s more the question I should ask you, Simone,” he responded. “If he comes through this, do you plan to be with him, now that he’s your hero, not just your lover?” he added, with a dollop of vitriol on the last word.

  “There’s no need for the sarcasm, Lee,” she chided. “But, no – I don’t plan to be with him, if he survives. I’m not fool enough to think that reality wouldn’t set in, once the lust fades, as it inevitably would. Anyway, don’t pretend that you’ve remained celibate all these sexless years, but you can spare me the details. I don’t want to know them.”

  Lee made no attempt to deny that implied accusation but, rather, after another brief pause, asked, ruefully, “Hell Simone! How did we let ourselves drift apart to the extent we did?” Then, without waiting for an answer to his rhetorical question, he continued, “But, to answer your question, I don’t plan to leave, if that’s what you mean. What would I do that for? Since we’ve stayed together this long, we must still have something going for us. And I certainly don’t think Delia needs any more upheavals in her life. Why don’t we try to give it another go? It’ll take t
ime, and effort, I know, but I’d like to try to get to know you again. I was so stupid and insensitive that I didn’t really notice you developing from a shy, depressed young woman, into a confident, mature sexy one.”

  “Well, Lee, as you say,” replied Simone, “Delia needs us both, and there seems no point our separating at this time. Let’s wait and see what develops.”

  Lee was on the point of telling Simone about the photograph he had seen of her and a man he now realized to be Teale. But, on reflection, he did not. What good would it do now, he wondered, and it occurred to him that it could just have easily been a photograph of him and Nadine, taken on any one of a number of occasions when they had indulged in just the sort of act that Simone and Teale had been engaged in that day.

  That night, Lee brought Delia and Sasha to the hospital to see Simone. When they saw her lying in the hospital bed, they rushed to her side, and kissed her. They sat on each side of her bed, Sasha holding her uninjured hand, and Delia putting her arm around her shoulders. Lee stood at the foot of the bed watching the interaction between his wife and daughters.

  “Oh, Mum. Thank God you’re OK!” blurted Delia, tears beginning to trickle down her cheeks. “I couldn’t cope without you.”

  “Me too,” said Sasha. Then she added, “Have you heard how Teale is? Dad tells us he may have saved your life!”

  “One of the nurses told me that he’s a fighter, and is steadily improving,” she replied, with a quiver in her voice.

  “I’ve got some news that I’m sure will cheer you up, Mum,” announced Sasha. “Brodie and I have fallen in love. We’re both over the moon. It has really been developing since we started working together, but it has just suddenly hit us both.”

  “That’s wonderful, Sash,” said Simone. “He’s a fine young man.” Then, after a pause, she added, with a smile, “The only snag is that we might end up with George as an in-law! I can just see him boring everyone to death at all our family gatherings, including the christening of our first grandchild.”

  “Oh, Mum! You’re getting a bit ahead of yourself,” replied Sasha, giving her mother a playful pat on the shoulder. “But, I’m so in love with Brodie that I’m even willing to accept Georgie boy as my child’s grandfather,” she added, with a hearty laugh.

  Even Delia managed to grin at that, and Lee couldn’t help but feel a surge of parental pride at the scene he was witnessing.

  Before leaving the hospital next day, Simone slipped quietly into Teale’s room, where she found him in a deep sleep, his room filled with bouquets of flowers with cards from numerous well-wishers. As she studied his pallid face, and her eyes also took in the paraphernalia of intra-venous drips, breathing tubes and monitors surrounding him, tears began to flow down her cheeks. After a few minutes of silent reverie, she extracted a sealed envelope from her pocket, and placed it gently on the top of the metal locker beside his bed. Then, after giving him a very soft kiss on the cheek, from which he did not stir, she quietly left the room, brushing the tears from her face as she did so.

  That envelope contained the following, tear-stained letter:

  My dearest Teale,

  I thank you from the bottom of my heart for my life, which your brave and selfless action preserved for me. That your timely intervention almost cost you your life, is almost too much for me to bear. I have prayed that you would come through your ordeal, and fully recover your health, a prayer that, despite my unworthiness to make it, your doctors have told me will be answered. I am eternally grateful for that.

  Thanks to you, I was only superficially wounded, and it seems we have both now been given a second chance at life, and it is one we should cherish, and try to make the most of.

  You, in particular, have your whole life ahead of you, a life full of challenges and promise yet to be met and enjoyed, whereas mine is already well set upon its course, with children almost grown, and grandchildren in prospect. It would be extremely selfish of me to behave towards you in a way that could deprive you of the opportunities to meet your full potential, both as a man, and as a member of society, and I strongly feel that for me to continue my relationship with you would be to do just that. In addition, I believe that to continue our affair will only bring hurt to others who love us (in my case, my children, and in yours, Megan, who obviously loves you deeply), and therefore it could only end in bitterness and regret. True happiness cannot be achieved if it is at the expense of deep hurt to those closest to us.

  We will both now bear some superficial, physical scars to remind us of the brief, exhilarating interlude we shared. However, if we end it now, there will not be the deep emotional scars that would inevitably follow a later, bitter disintegration of our relationship.

  You will always occupy a special place in my heart, and be constantly in my thoughts. May your future life be one full of joy and fulfillment.

  Goodbye, Teale, and thank you for bringing some true joy into my life.

  Simone.

  EPILOGUE

  Teale made a slow, but ultimately full recovery from his injury, thanks, in no small measure, to the devoted care of Megan, who took him in after his discharge from hospital and nursed him through his convalescence. As he recuperated, he had time to reflect upon his life choices to date, and to ponder the direction he should take in future. He came to accept that he had no prospect of any worthwhile future with Simone, and that to attempt to continue his relationship with her would be to court further disaster. He also came to fully appreciate the depth of Megan’s love for him, which transcended mere sexual desire.

  Eventually, he returned to his practice at the bar and, once he had re-established himself, and re-developed his confidence in his professional future, he asked Megan to marry him, a proposal she joyfully accepted.

  Lee and Simone, after much discussion and vacillation, decided to sell up their interests in Australia and return to England, to try to make a fresh start where their life together had begun. Sasha and Delia were both involved in making that decision, and supported it. Sasha did so because she and Brodie planned to marry and felt that the UK would provide a better base than Australia for their anticipated globe-trotting activities associated with their documentary work. Delia did so because she thought there would be greater scope there for her to channel her veterinary studies towards a small animal practice, which she favoured.

  Despite their efforts, Simone and Lee eventually separated. Lee re-partnered soon after, with his younger, attractive assistant, and continued in the orthodontic practice he had established. Simone started her own business as a computer technician, and invested part of her share of the property settlement arrived at with Lee in a small farmlet, with a comfortable cottage, which she shared with Delia. Until she completed her studies, Delia worked part-time in a local small animal veterinary practice, which she thoroughly enjoyed.

  Simone established many friendships in her local district, including a small circle of single male friends, some of whom she dated from time to time. In due course, she formed a more permanent liaison with Mike, the widowed vet who conducted the practice in which Delia worked. They shared many happy outings together, including visits to the local theatre, and thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company, as well as their comfortable, casual sexual relationship.

  Late one afternoon, while she was waiting to meet Mike in the local village preparatory to a night out at dinner and the theatre, she happened to notice a group of people boarding a coach, after having obviously attended some local function. They looked like conventioneers. Her casual observation of them became more focussed when she discerned a familiar figure amongst the group. She quickly realized it was Teale who, at about the same time, happened to look in her direction, and stopped dead in his tracks. They exchanged long, lingering looks, before Teale was urged towards the coach by one of his fellow travelers. Before yielding to that urging, he gave Simone a nod of recognition, and a wistful look, both of which she reciprocated.

  For just a moment, Simone was filled w
ith nostalgia for a brief, wildly passionate interlude she had shared with this man, at a time when her emotional life was particularly barren. But, that moment passed as soon as she spotted Mike approaching, and he greeted her with a tender kiss on the cheek, and a warm embrace.