When Mimi reached the house, she was panting and out of breath. Her head and her heart were at war with one another. She dashed up the winding staircase, taking two steps at a time. When she reached the guest room, she opened the drawer next to the bed and pulled out her journal filled with her letters to Joel. She tore out the pages and slammed the book against the wall. She got her phone and furiously typed a message to her mother:
Mimi: Where is he?
Wherever he was, she knew she needed to be there. Her life as she knew it was in pieces. She didn’t even recognise who she was anymore. The Mimi she knew herself to be would have never rushed into another relationship, let alone with her husband’s brother. Maybe, just maybe, Austin was telling the truth. She had been nothing but revenge, the last hurrah.
She tried to pull her heavy suitcase out of the fitted wardrobe. It was wedged in, so she had to keep pulling it back and forth ‘till it eventually came free. She grabbed her clothes off the rail, throwing them into the empty case. She had no idea where she was going. She’d figure that out when she was behind the wheel of the car.
When she finally cleared out the room, she checked everything twice to make sure there would be no trace of her ever being there.
She dragged the suitcase down the steps. It made a loud clunk with every movement. When she finally opened the front door, she made a promise to herself that she wouldn’t look back.
A droplet of rain landed on her forehead, followed by another and then another. By the time she reached the rental car, she was soaked to the bone.
She sat in the car and let out an angry scream, thumping the steering wheel. She reversed over the stones, leaving that already familiar crackle behind, but for the last time.
As she drove and built up speed, the lashing of the rain fell hard across the windscreen, the tires crashing through the puddles, sounding like waves in the ocean.
Her phone vibrated on her lap. She looked down to see a text message from her mother:
Kanchana: Call me, Mimi. We need to talk. I love you!
When she averted her eyes back to the road, the headlights of a truck blinded her vision. She heard a loud monstrous honk, followed by screeching tires, and then the sound of metal crunching. It was only when the car started to roll that she realised she was the one who had been hit.
Chapter 19
Austin
The doorbell rang several times followed by a hard knock at the door. Through the small pane of glass, he could see the flashing of blue and red lights. His mouth turned dry, making it difficult to swallow. When cops show up at the front door, it’s never a good thing.
“Austin Marcus?” The sheriff asked.
“Yes.”
Jake came into the room and asked, “Dad, what’s wrong?”
The sheriff removed his hat, revealing his receding hair line.
“Can you confirm that a Mimi Marcus has been staying at your property?”
“Yes, why?”
“How are you related?”
“She’s my…” Austin lowered his voice, gently pushing Jake back with his hand so he was directly out of ear shot. “She’s my sister-in-law. What is this all about? Is she all right?”
“I’m afraid she’s been in an accident, sir. Can you locate her husband?”
Austin felt bile rise at the back of his throat. He found it hard to keep his balance and to act normal around Jake.
“He’s de—” he began to say, but then quickly retracted. “He’s deployed. Is she alive?”
“Yes, she is. She’s lucky to be alive. The wreck was pretty bad.”
“Where is she?”
“At St. Joseph’s Memorial.”
“I’ll just make a few calls for somebody to look after my son and I’ll be there,” Austin said.
***
Mimi
Mimi dipped in and out of sleep. When she finally woke, she tried to move her body, but it ached from head to toe. She tried to sit up, pushing her long, tangled strands of hair away from her face. It took a moment for her to process where she was and what happened.
She lay in the hospital bed, the persistent sound of the heart monitor beeping. Her mind was muddied with thoughts of the vivid dreams she’d had. At first she thought of Joel. She thought about being at the American Embassy when she was told he had been killed. Then she saw herself kissing a man, but when she pulled her lips away from his, she didn’t see a face.
Her memory may have been cloudy, but she knew who she was and what led her here. So much had happened, and it was hard to believe that this life belonged to her. Most of the time she felt like she was watching somebody else, like an outsider looking in.
Before her eyes started to focus clearly, she saw a dark figure move into the arch of the doorway.
Austin. His face was full of concern. He wearily walked toward her. He knelt next to the bed and took her delicate hand in his.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered.
A sudden surge of emotion rose in her throat. “What are you doing here?”
“The cops came to my door and told me about the accident.”
“Why did they call you?”
“I guess they connected your ID to me since we share the same last name.”
She blinked her eyes in understanding.
“Any news about Joel?” Mimi asked.
The mere mention of his name reminded Austin that Mimi was not his, and now that his brother was alive, he knew he must let her go, which is why he’d sent her away from the ranch.
He swallowed. “He’s coming to Texas.”
Before they could continue, the female doctor entered the room.
“Well, Mimi, it’s good to see you sitting up. I’m Dr. Parker and I have to say, Mimi, somebody was looking after you. In my experience, victims don’t usually survive the extent of the accident you had, let alone escape from it without any life-threatening injuries.” The doctor was a small framed woman, her southern accent soft and cool, just as her blonde hair was.
“Your wife is a strong woman,” Dr. Parker said, smiling. Neither Mimi nor Austin corrected her.
The doctor spent a few moments checking Mimi over. After she finished examining her, she took the clipboard hanging off the end of the bed and scribbled her observations in a messy scroll. Mid-morning sun spilled into the hospital room. A thought popped into Mimi’s mind.
He survived against the odds, and so did I!
“I’m pretty happy with what I see, but since you were unconscious, I want to keep an eye on you for a few days. Then I think you’ll be good to go home,” Dr Parker said with enthusiasm.
“So I can fly?” Mimi asked, trying to prop herself up further against the pillow.
The doctor looked confused, shot Austin a look, and then fixed her gaze back on Mimi.
Austin said, “We’re not married. She’s my sister-in-law. My brother is coming back from Afghanistan. Mimi lives in London.”
“Right, I see. Okay. Well, Mimi, I don’t recommend you fly for a good five to six weeks. You are doing wonderfully, but you need complete rest.”
Dr. Parker politely told them that her other patients were waiting for her and left.
Austin looked at Mimi and said, “You can come back to the ranch and wait for Joel.”
After a moment, she looked at Austin and asked, “What about Jake?”
From the way she was looking at him, he could tell she was thinking not only about Jake, but the three of them being in the same room with nothing but secrets and lies between them like a bomb waiting to explode.
“I have some business to do in Dallas. Jake will be on school break. You and Joel…” he quickly cleared his throat to catch himself from displaying any emotion that could give away his feelings. “You can reunite at the ranch, but I need you to be gone before Jake and I get back.”
Mimi looked at Austin, confused. “I don’t get it. You would leave the ranch and let your brother, whom you have not spoken to in years, and me stay. Why?”
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“Because I don’t want Jake to be exposed to any of this.” He stood and looked out of the window. “I just want you to be happy, Mimi.”
Suddenly, Mimi felt her anger rise to the surface, and instead of feeling grateful, she was irritated. Before she could second guess herself, her words were already spilling fast out of her mouth.
“Why are you such a martyr to Joel? I don’t get it. First, he steals your girlfriend, then you take on his kid, and now you are prepared to let him into your home so he and I can be reunited. What gives?”
She heard a sarcastic low gruff of a laugh. “I’m not doing this for him. None of this has ever been for him, Mimi. Jake was in the care of my mother and I so happened to fall in love with that child. I am his father no matter what, and you, well…I’m letting him in because it will make you happy. None of this is about my brother. It just looks like I pick up his bullshit. I’ll never let him have Jake. Not even over my fucking dead body will he ever be able to be a part of my son’s life, but you and him? You belong to each other.”
Mimi couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. “I don’t know where I belong or who I belong to!”
“You belong with your husband.”
“And not with you?”
She couldn’t believe she just said that out loud. She wasn’t even sure why she said it. Despite Joel lying to her about Jake, he had treated her with nothing but love and affection. Somewhere, in all of this emotional mess, she had cast that aside.
When she drove away from the ranch, she had contemplated turning her back on both Joel and Austin since being with either of them would leave her with nothing but doubt and heartbreak. She had equally dishonoured Joel by sleeping with his brother, but worse than that, by actually allowing herself to have feelings for him.
Austin rubbed his hand over his unshaven jaw. She could see the weight of the stress splashed across his face, and she knew she was fully responsible for it.
They sat in silence for a little while. Mimi asked a few questions about Jake, but then Austin could tell Mimi needed her rest. She had to keep catching her breath, and she couldn’t seem to find any comfort.
“I just don’t feel good,” she said through gritted teeth.
Austin pushed the call button next to her bed. A short while later, a nurse came in and administered pain relief.
Soon after, Mimi fell into a deep slumber. He watched her chest rise and fall with every breath she took. He thought about how she must have felt when she was told Joel had been killed. When the cops had showed up to the ranch earlier that day, he thought the worst.
He felt caught up in a world that his brother had created, and he was angry. He fixed his gaze on the fullness of her lips and thought how he would never again kiss them.
Why didn’t you just die, Joel? Why didn’t you just fucking die?
Mimi winced a few times, but didn’t wake. He sat uncomfortably on the cold, leather chair and glanced at his watch—three p.m. He needed to leave and get home for Jake. He knelt over her and gently kissed Mimi’s clammy forehead. Just as he walked to the door, a shrill noise deafened him.
Austin quickly spun on his heel and saw the peaks on the heart monitor screen suddenly start to even out until it straightened to a flat line. The room started to whirl. He tried to call for help but before he even opened his mouth, several medics pushed past him. It was like he wasn’t even there and somehow they just walked through him.
He tumbled backwards, unsteady on his feet, watching as they pulled open Mimi’s gown to reveal her bare chest. The paddles of a defibrillator were placed on her, and he heard a man shouting orders. He watched her body convulse as she sprung inches from the mattress beneath her.
***
Simon
When the phone rings in the middle of the night, it is never good news.
Simon, Mimi’s father, had been in a restless sleep the entire night as the rain pelted against the Velux window. Their old dog snored in the corner of the darkened room. Simon felt hot, so he kicked the covers off. After the hundredth time of tossing and turning, he had finally fallen into a light sleep. When the phone rang, he wasn’t sure if he was dreaming until Kanchana leaned across him, blindly reaching for the receiver.
Simon bolted upright as he heard his wife shriek, “Is she alive?”
His first and only thought was Mimi.
Suddenly, he had a flash back: he was holding Mimi in the park and she was three years old. He turned away just for a second and she wandered toward the road. A speeding car roared round the corner. He ran and grabbed hold of her, pulling her so hard backwards that she sobbed with shock. If he’d gotten there just a couple of seconds later, she would have been killed.
When he saw Kanchana’s tears run silently down her face, he feared the worst.
“Kanchana…what is it?”
“It’s Mimi. She’s been in a car accident,” she answered, her voice full of despair.
“Please tell us everything you know,” Kanchana said to the person on the phone.
When she finally finished the phone call, Simon stared silently at his wife, waiting to hear the verdict. Kanchana pulled her shoulder-length hair away from her face and took a deep breath. “She’s alive. Her car had a collision with a truck and it flipped.”
“But she’s okay?” Simon asked. “I mean, no life-threatening injuries?”
“She has been in the hospital for two days. She was stable.”
“Two days and we are just getting this call now? What the hell is all that about?” Simon blurted. “This is outrageous. I want to find out who is in charge over there and when I find out, somebody’s head is going to…”
“Simon, Simon!” she yelled. “Something is wrong with Mimi’s heart. We need to get to her. Call Larna now. I’m going to pack. We need to get to Texas immediately.”
When life throws you devastating news, it can seem like you are not inside your own body. That’s how Simon felt as he sat on the edge of their bed in the middle of the night. He called his eldest daughter, knowing that he was about to turn her world upside down too.
***
Austin
Austin sat in the waiting room with his head in his hands. He was anxiously waiting to hear news from the doctor. He wanted to hear Mimi was fine, but when the seconds turned into minutes, and the minutes turned into over an hour, he feared the worst.
An older woman with overpowering perfume came and went several times, her face expressionless. There was an overweight man coughing and spluttering sitting nearby. The smell of his stale sweat lingered in the air. With every cough the man made, Austin became more and more agitated. There were posters plastered on the walls giving warnings, things to look out for, but they didn’t have the answers to Mimi’s condition.
There was tension between a younger couple who sat nearby. Austin heard the odd snipe and insult, followed by stony faces and silence. An attractive blonde clearly mentally distressed sat near the opposite wall, clutching her rosary beads as she muttered Hail Marys.
Everybody in the room had a story to tell, and even in the midst of their personal tragedies, not so much as a compassionate smile was shared among the strangers.
Austin thought of Jake. He was a bright kid; he would know something was going on, no matter how hard Austin tried to dress it up and pretend everything was all sunshine and rainbows. Jake would know all was not well, especially when Austin sent his assistant to step in and look after him with no notice at all.
After sipping the remainder of his black sweetened coffee from the vending machine, he scratched the rim of the polystyrene cup ‘till it started to crumble, bits falling to the floor.
As Austin began gathering the littered pieces up, familiar pointy red shoes were in his view. He looked up to see Dr. Parker, her expression serious. He tried to search her eyes for clues before he was able to ask the question he dreaded the answer to.
“Is Mimi okay?”
When he’d met the doctor before, she seemed c
onfident and happy, but now it felt like he was looking at another person who was direct and almost cold.
“Mr. Marcus, is Mimi’s husband going to be here any time soon?”
“I have no idea. Look, please, I need to know, is she all right?”
“Mimi is in a very serious condition right now.”
“But you said…you said she was doing well. I didn’t imagine that—you said it,” he stuttered.
“It all appeared that way, Mr. Marcus.”
“Austin. My name is Austin.”
Dr. Parker made direct eye contact with him. “Mimi didn’t show any lasting injuries. She suffered a traumatic aortic rupture that occurred because of the car accident.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Austin said, pulling his hands out of his pockets and running his hands through his hair.
“It’s a condition of the aorta, which branches directly from the heart to supply blood to the rest of the body. Now, the pressure of this injury is very great and the blood can pump out very rapidly. In many cases, this can be fatal due to the profuse bleeding that can result from the rupture. In Mimi’s case, we have managed to keep it under control because we were able to give her immediate treatment. She’s not out of the woods yet, Austin, but like I said before, she is a very lucky woman and it seems she’s a fighter.”
“Can I see her?”
“You can.”
As he made his way through the white corridor, Dr. Parker called after him.
“It may not be my place to say, but does your brother know how you feel about his wife?”
He stood silent for a moment and then pursed his lips together.
“Not yet, but he will.”
Austin slowly crept back in the room. Mimi’s usually tanned skin looked pale, almost grey. He stepped closer to her but was afraid to touch her in case something else happened to her. Since arriving in Texas, Mimi suffered a broken wrist and now a car crash. Austin almost felt he was responsible for her bad luck.
Till Death Us Do Part Page 14