Till Death Us Do Part

by Cristina Slough

  Mimi snuggled into his shoulder, content with the decision she’d made. She knew she needed to contact her parents and tell them everything. Then there were the details of finding a lawyer, the complications of a divorce. But today, she didn’t want to think about the heaviness she had carried for all the months since this craziness happened. She just wanted to be in the moment with Austin and relax. Her body was craving it.

  She reminded herself she almost didn’t make it. She could so easily have died in that car wreck, and now she would spend months, if not years, under the close watch of doctors because of her heart. It was as if she had been given a second chance at life. She had stared death square on and given it the big F-U.

  “How long will Jake be at Sara’s?”

  “A week or so. I want things to settle down. I think he will be pretty stoked that you are here. He drew a picture at Sara’s of the three of us.”

  Mimi smiled. “That’s really sweet. I love that kid.”

  “And I love you,” Austin said, cradling Mimi’s face in his hands. Austin exhaled slowly. He hadn’t realised he’d been holding his breath.

  Mimi turned to him, her face close to his. She gently bit her bottom lip, tossing a long strand of her dark hair over her shoulder.

  “Do you want to tell me something?” she asked.

  “It’s quite scary how well you seem to know me already,” he said with a forced smile.

  Mimi let out a half-hearted laugh, holding her palm flat against her chest.

  “I’m hardly the best judge of character, am I?”

  Austin pushed his body up on his elbow and laid to the side.

  “Actually, there is something.” His tone had dramatically changed. Instinctively, Mimi pushed herself upright. Her shoulders instantly became rigid. Her cheeks flushed hot.

  “Come on, then. Out with it.”

  “I don’t want to keep anything from you.”

  “Just say what you want to say, Austin!”

  “When I thought there was a chance Joel might want to be in Jake’s life, I freaked out.”

  “That’s understandable,” Mimi said, a lump filling her throat.

  Austin took Mimi’s hand and squeezed.

  “If Joel had told Jake he was his real father, it would destroy him. I couldn’t let that happen.” Austin paused for a moment, hung his head, and inhaled. “So, I had a plan.”

  It scared Mimi to see Austin looking so shaken. She lifted her hands away from him and moved them to her head, running her fingers through her scalp.

  “I was going to take money from the ranch from underneath him and go. I had planned on burning this place to the ground to get the insurance.”

  “That’s it?” Mimi said, her tone high pitched. “That was your big plan? I thought you were about to tell me you hired a hit man or something to kill him.”

  “Burning down my family’s legacy is hardly something to be proud of!”

  “Maybe not, but a father that will do anything to protect his son is something to be proud of.”

  “So, you don’t hate me?”

  “Hate you? How could I?”

  Mimi placed her middle two fingers underneath Austin’s chin and lifted his head. He gently opened his eyes. She put her lips to his and whispered, “Thank you for being honest.”

  “Thank you for choosing me.”

  “For today, lets focus on us.” She winked.

  “You’re saying it’s time to lighten the mood around here?

  “That’s exactly what I am saying.”

  “Right, I’m going to jump in the shower. I’ve got a hot date,” he said as he bounced out of the bed and moved into the en-suite.

  Mimi heard the hiss of the shower and giggled to herself as Austin hummed. Her mind suddenly flashed back to Joel on the first drive during their honeymoon. She quickly caught herself before she let her mind go there.

  She got out of bed and felt slightly off. A sickness came over her in a hot wave. She missed being a normal, healthy person. She reminded herself that she must make contact with the hospital to talk about the next stages of treatment.

  Once the nauseous feeling passed, she stood up once more and made her way to the guest room. Her phone lay face down in the same spot she had left it the night before.

  She pushed the button and the phone came to life. She clicked her messages and looked at the last message from Meg.

  Without thinking, her fingers took on a life of their own as she typed out a message and hit send before she could second-guess herself:

  Mimi: Know you slept with Joel. Thank you for making my decision to let you both go.

  A few moments later, the phone started vibrating.

  She answered it without saying a word. Meg’s panicked voice was at the other end.

  “Mimi, I’m so sorry.”

  “So it’s true?”

  “Mimi, it was a stupid drunken mistake. It meant nothing. Please, forgive me.”

  Mimi took a deep breath. “I forgive you, Meg, but I need you to do something for me.”

  “Anything,” Meg said, her voice desperate.

  “Never contact me again.”

  “Mimi, please…”

  Without listening to another word, she ended the call. Their lifelong friendship was over. She would no longer invest another second in her, nor would she bring her into her fresh start with Austin. Then she went into her phone book and called her parents. It was late into the afternoon in London. Her mother would be settling in after walking the dog. She could picture, play by play, what her dear, sweet mother would be doing.

  The phone rang. It was a long, drawn out sound. Her mother answered breathy at the other end.

  “Mama, it’s me. Are you sitting down?”

  ***

  Simon and Kanchana

  “I could kill her, that bloody cow! I knew she was a no good piece of jealous trash. And to think we let her here in our home when her own bloody mother wouldn’t take care of her, and she does this to our Mimi!” Simon complained, parking himself in the armchair as Kanchana told him what happened.

  “She’s chosen Austin,” Kanchana said, her voice strained. She settled herself next to her husband, shaking her head.

  “Well, we have to support that, love. Bloody hell, look at what Joel put her through. If I could get my hands on that dick.”

  “I do support it, of course I do. It’s just…”

  “She’s a grown woman, love. We have to let her make her own choices.”

  “Oh, I know, I know. I guess I never imagined she would be living so far away from us, that’s all.”

  “Love, even if she’d stayed with Joel and none of this had ever happened, there was every chance she’d be living in America.”

  “You’re right. I just feel so emotional about it all. First we think Joel’s dead, then we think Mimi might die, then Joel’s not dead and now we find out he slept with her best friend and she’s chosen to be with his brother.” She looked at Simon, wide-eyed.

  “Like bloody Eastenders,” he joked.

  Kanchana managed a smile and threw a cushion into his stomach.

  Simon stood up and knelt next to his wife. “Let’s just be grateful that she made it, yeah, love?”

  “You’re right. It still won’t stop me from picking up the phone to call Meg and telling her exactly what I think of her.”

  “You’re gonna have to beat me to that!” He reached his arms out and Kanchana fell into them.

  As parents, they always knew their daughters would grow and make their own way in life, only they hadn’t expected things to be as dramatic as they had turned out to be. All they had to do was remind themselves they did the best they could by both of their daughters and they would always be there to support their decisions, even if it meant they would live with an ocean dividing them. They just wanted to know that their girls were happy.

  ***

  Mimi

  The wind blew through Mimi’s hair as Austin drove his truck along the
windy roads. The fresh air made Mimi feel alive and in the moment. She promised herself that today would be a good day. She would leave her worries behind and enjoy the start of the rest of her life.

  Every so often, Austin looked at her and smiled. She reached across, taking his hand in hers. She loved how easy he looked, how the worried scowl had disappeared. He looked younger, fresher.

  They pulled over when they reached the nearby town. It hit Mimi that life moved on as normal for other people going about their day-to-day business with nothing much changing in their lives, but for Mimi, everything had changed. She had spent so long living in a fog of one disaster after another. It was nice just to feel like a face in a crowd.

  She and Austin walked hand in hand. There were a few glances and suspicious smiles from people that he knew, like they were desperate to know who the girl with the long, dark hair was.

  “People will talk,” Austin said.

  “Will you tell them?”

  “Nah, none of their business.”

  They took a seat on an outside seating area. A waitress with too much makeup and big hair quickly came to them and handed them menus.

  Mimi looked at the specials. The smell of steamed fish got caught in her nose as a plate of it drifted past. The same wave of nausea that she felt earlier that day came back. She felt her mouth fill with water.

  “You okay, Mimi?”

  “I feel really sick,” she said, holding her hand to her mouth.

  “Do you want to leave?”

  “No, no. I haven’t really eaten much these past few days, and I think it’s suddenly caught up with me. The pills that I’m on are meant to be taken with food, so I guess that’s why I feel crappy. I think if I eat, it will do me some good.”

  “Excuse me, ma’am. Can we please get a basket of bread?” Austin said to a passing waitress.

  “Sure thing.”

  “I like how you look after me,” Mimi said when the bread arrive. She took a bite and chewed slowly, hoping that it would absorb the acid in her stomach and allow her to enjoy her first real date with Austin.

  “I’ll always look after you. Now, I hate to have to bring things up, but we need to talk about how this will all work. I mean, how long are you allowed to stay in the States before I have immigration knocking at the door?”

  Mimi suddenly looked at him, wide-eyed. “Oh my God, you’re right. I mean, I never thought about that.”

  “We’ll take care of it. Don’t worry. As it stands right now, doctor’s orders say you can’t travel, so I think that will make for a pretty good case.”

  “I was thinking about things. And I love it at the ranch. It feels like home to me.”

  “Mimi, are you asking me if you can live with me? Usually, my first dates don’t ask this sort of thing,” he teased. Mimi suddenly felt her cheeks burning. “I want you to,” he said, taking her hand in his and raising it to his lips. He kissed her fingertips.

  “I have to warn you, I can be a real pain in the ass to live with. I mean, I’m really messy and I…”

  Austin cut her short. “I don’t care. The thought of losing you cut me up real bad. You can be as messy as you like, so long as it means I have you.”

  Mimi smiled, but there was still a part of her thinking about Joel, wondering where he was, what he was doing. It was as if her heart had been split in two. She felt like a drug addict on a high and low. Her stomach kept knotting every time she thought about the end of her marriage, but when she looked at Austin, she felts a strange sense of comfort.

  They ate lunch together and talked about the future. It was a refreshing change from looking backwards, into the past. Austin playfully joked with her. She liked the less serious side of him—the playful, carefree spirit that, up ‘till now, she hadn’t seen.

  Mimi looked at a bird on a nearby rooftop; it flew off, stretching its wings out wide, gliding freely and effortlessly into the sun-drenched sky. That’s how she saw herself in that moment, free to fly and explore her new life, leaving the old one behind.

  “You look dazed,” Austin said.

  “Oh, sorry…I guess I was just deep in thought. Just ignore me. Are you ordering dessert?”

  “Um, no, I don’t really have much of a thing for sweet things.” He looked at her for a while and then said, “You are so beautiful.” He smiled, shaking his head. “I can’t believe you’re mine.”

  For a moment, she got lost in Austin’s eyes, and then she remembered how lost she used to get in Joel’s.

  Mimi’s hair flung forward. He reached toward it, brushing it gently away from her face, and then softly asked, “Mimi, are you mine?”

  Her gaze met his. “I told you, I chose you. I’m just feeling scared. I love you, I know I do, but I’m feeling so overwhelmed by everything right now, and I feel guilty.”

  Austin’s face drained of colour.

  Mimi quickly tried to redeem herself. “I mean, I’m not like him. I can’t just switch myself on and off.”

  “Look, Mimi,” he paused, taking a sip of water, “I don’t expect any of this to be easy, and I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t feel jealous every time you have that faraway look in your eye because I know that means you are thinking of him. Let’s take this as it comes. I know I love you, and I want to be with you, even if that means things are not quite as straightforward as I’d like them to be.”

  He pushed his plate away, and the sweet aroma of sticky barbeque chicken wings hung in the hot air.

  Mimi didn’t say anything. Her eyes filled with tears. She gently rubbed her index finger along his lips.

  “When this thing comes off, I’d like to ride again,” Mimi said swiftly, changing the subject, jolting them straight out of the intense moment between them.

  “Really? I’m not so sure. You and moving objects are a bit of a dangerous mix.”

  “What is it they say? If you fall off the horse, you have to get right back on.”

  “We’ll make a real Texas girl out of you yet. Ah, you are funny, Mimi Mimi.”

  She stopped dead, looking at him like she had just seen a ghost

  Mimi Mimi.

  Of all the things he could call her, he used the exact same affectionate words as his brother. She couldn’t hide her shock. As she opened her mouth to tell him not to call her that, the waitress came over, bright and bubbly, interrupting her.

  “Can I get you anything else? Maybe some more drinks?”

  “Um, yeah. I’ll have another jug of water please,” Mimi said. She needed to wet her mouth, to banish the dryness and stop her tongue from feeling like sandpaper.

  She thought twice about admitting to Austin why she had just been so startled, so she said nothing, but Austin wasn’t about to let it go.

  “What did I say?”

  “Nothing,” she replied, too quickly, too sharply.

  “Bullshit.”

  “You called me Mimi Mimi,” she said.

  Austin looked at her, confused. “…And?”

  “That was what Joel always called me. It was like a pet name.”

  Austin tried to hide his anger, but it slowly uncoiled. “I’m not fucking Joel.”

  His anger was natural. She understood it. She would have hated to be compared to another girl all the time, but his outburst still upset her. She wasn’t used to Austin’s temper. He was always so controlled and so cool.

  “I know you’re not. I just thought you should know why I don’t want to be called that. Would you rather I just lie to you?” she snapped.

  Austin lowered his head. Tiny beads of sweat clustered on his hairline. “No!”

  “Good,” Mimi said. “This is all new to us both, like you just said, so let’s take it as it comes…yeah?”

  “Yeah, you’re right. Now, since we are laying our cards out on the table, is there anything else I need to avoid so I don’t get compared to or remind you of him? I know we look a lot alike, but I can’t really do anything about that.”

  She gave an awkward laugh at his attem
pt of humouring a bad situation.

  They interlocked their hands together. Mimi sighed.

  “Horses. That’s our thing, you and me. Let’s focus on that.”

  “Quite hell bent on riding again, aren’t you?”

  “Uh huh.”

  “Let’s get that cast off first and speak to the doctor, and when they say you can ride again, I’ll take you. Is that a deal?”

  “Deal.” She lifted herself off the seat, leaned her body over the table, and kissed him on the lips, a long, sensual kiss that left him breathless.

  Chapter 29

  Joel

  Joel glanced up at the sign flashing Gate 19 boarding to London at the airport. People moved past him, pushing luggage and rushing around like bees around honey.

  Every sound around him startled him. The roar of a plane overhead made him duck for cover. The yell of an older man screaming for his wife to forget the shops and move to the gate gave him a flashback of Afghanistan, yelling to take cover, only he had to remind himself that he was no longer in a war zone. He was not a Marine in combat. He was a civilian, dressed not in camouflage but in regular blue jeans and a crisp white t-shirt. The only thing that he still wore were his dog tags. They had become as much a part of him as his own skin.

  He reached for his pocket and took out his phone.

  “It’s me,” he said. He could hear her breathing at the other end of the phone. “Don’t pretend you can’t fucking hear me, Meg.”

  He strained to hear what she was saying, but the interference on the call made it difficult. He pressed his finger in his ear and lowered his head, moving across the airport floor to try and get at least a couple of bars of signal.

  A speaker announcement boomed above him. He dropped the phone and crouched down, raising his hands above his head. Passers-by stopped and stared and two kids pointed and laughed. Everything around him seemed like it was moving in slow motion. It had been like this ever since he returned from Afghanistan and now, with the stress of losing Mimi, he felt like he was out of control, like he was crazy!