The Broken Souls

by Rivka Spicer

  “How long have we got?” She asked sadly and he stole a quick glance at his watch.

  “Twenty minutes…” He kissed away a tear that seeped from the corner of her eye.

  “That’s not long enough.”

  “No it’s not.” He agreed. “But at least we could put it to good use!” That finally brought a smile to her lips and she began to giggle as he kissed her, deeper this time.

  Half an hour later, Jen stood in the front doorway of the Manse, waving sadly at the bus as it departed, wondering how she was going to face Tom the next day with the taste of Mark still on her lips.

  “Are you okay?” Nkara asked softly, placing warm arms around Jen’s middle to comfort her.

  “Not really.” Jen sighed. “I’m sorry I abandoned you guys – it was a bit intense.” Nkara laughed.

  “We understand. It was nice to have some quiet time to be honest with you.”

  “You’re the best friends a girl could have, you know that right?” Jen honestly meant it and Nkara laughed again.

  “We try.” She replied modestly. “I’m always here if you need to talk, okay? And whatever you decide, I’ll stand by it. I want you to be happy.” Jen smiled, patting the arms that hugged her.

  “I know. I’ll talk when I’m ready. Right now it’s all a bit raw.”

  “I understand. What were you planning on doing today? I’m going to be busy this morning but I can spend the afternoon with you if you like.”

  “That would be nice.” Jen smiled. “Perhaps we could use the spa. What are you doing this morning? Anything exciting?”

  “Not exactly.” Nkara grimaced. “The Police are with Viviane and I think she’s going to need some emotional healing afterwards.” Jen vaguely remembered that Viviane was the teacher she’d done the psychometry class with.

  “Is she okay?” She asked curiously and Nkara nodded vigorously.

  “She’s fine. They’ve hit a dead end in a case so they ask her for help every now and then. Nothing that can be admitted as evidence of course, but it usually gives them a pointer to a suspect that they can then tie to the crime scene later.” She sighed. “There’s a lot of evil in the world and this is a bad one. The child killers are always the worst.” Jen almost wished she hadn’t asked.

  “Nkara I…” She didn’t quite know how to say it. “I feel bad.” She tried again. “All these years we’ve been friends and I had no idea you were so gifted. You’re a very special person with a wonderful blessing, to be able to heal. I want…” She struggled again to find the words. “I don’t know how to say what I mean. What I’m getting at is that I want you to be able to talk to me about this stuff. I find it interesting you know? And I don’t want there to be such a big part of you that I don’t understand. I’d like to come here again. Am I making sense?” Nkara chuckled.

  “Not really, but I understand you anyway.” Jen smiled, relieved she’d gotten her point across.

  “Well I managed to bring a sketch pad with me so if Kim hasn’t got any bright ideas to the alternative then I’ll get on with some drawing up some of this summer’s designs.”

  As it turned out, Kim had enjoyed a brief liaison with a member of the brother school, carried away by the magical night and was fast asleep when Jen poked her head around the door, so Jen went to her own room and pulled out some sketches to work on.

  After an hour, she gave up. Her mind refused to let go of the situation and she found herself thinking absently about Mark and Tom and what she was going to do. How did you weigh up the pros and cons of two such wildly different people – the painted warrior and the businessman? She might not love Tom in the fierce way that she wanted Mark, but he was the stable option, the safe path to take. And then there was the backlash she knew she would suffer for breaking off her engagement. Her father would forgive her unreservedly, she knew that, whatever it cost him in terms of business. Her mother however was a totally different kettle of fish and she would be livid. Over the last couple of years, Jen had come to be accepted into Tom’s family too and she not only had to answer to his parents, but all of his siblings as well. He was one of five and Jen adored his brothers and sisters. In the same way, it wasn’t just Tom she’d be losing but the friends she’d made with his relatives as well. She still hadn’t gotten her head round exactly what Mark meant to her – it was too soon to tell – but the longer she left the situation the harder it was going to be to sort out the mess when it inevitably happened. It was easier in a way to just deny that there was any complication and explain the previous night’s events away as an aberration brought on by the extremely odd circumstances. She still half-believed that her dreams were in fact just dreams and what Mara had brought out in their sessions together was something she’d once read somewhere or seen on the discovery channel. That was the thing about the Manse – it was such an odd place that it was easy to become completely detached from reality while cushioned behind its walls. It would be easier for Jen to see what would happen when she’d been back out in the real world for a few days. She’d go to the rugby with Mark on Saturday and by then her head would be clear enough to evaluate the situation properly. Or so she hoped.

  Her musings took her right up until lunchtime and she was startled into dropping her pencil when Nkara knocked on her door to fetch her. They had to wake Kim up and she looked a little sheepish as she trailed downstairs after the others.

  “How was your night?” She asked Jen, before she or Nkara could ask the same question and Jen sighed.

  “It was wonderful. It just leaves me with a bloody great mess to sort out. I’m having a hard time trying to believe in this past life stuff.” She admitted. “The thing is, it’s easy to believe here and there are some things that make me believe I’ve known Mark for longer than just two days, but the rest of it could be explained away. I just don’t know what it’s all going to look like in the cold light of day when I’m back at home you know?”

  “That’s fair enough.” Nkara replied amiably. “Strange things do happen here. See how you feel in a week or so.”

  “I agreed to go to the rugby with him on Saturday.” Jen blurted before she thought about it. “He asked me and I just said yes.”

  “Well it’s not as though you’ll be on your own.” Kim pointed out. “If you decide you’ve made a terrible mistake there’ll be loads of people around.”

  “That’s true.” Jen sighed again. “Kim I was going to ask if I could visit the dig in Egypt, just to put my mind at rest about this past life thing. It’s the only way I’m going to answer my doubts one way or the other.”

  “Sure.” Kim grinned. “It’ll be fun to have a friend there. When were you thinking of coming? I’ll book you into one of the hotels.”

  “I don’t know. It won’t be for a few weeks yet.” Jen frowned. “I’ve done most of the sketches that we’ll need for the next few weeks but there’s still a lot of work to do for the next fashion show. It’s the summer collection this time rather than a showcase so it’s a lot of work. I’ll have a look at my diary and let you know.”

  “Sure.” Kim focused on her porridge, but they weren’t going to let her get away that easily.

  “So, how was your night Kim?” Nkara asked casually and then burst out laughing when Kim flushed scarlet.

  “You just had to ask!” She complained sourly. “Well if you must know, it was wonderful. And no, I haven’t got a clue who he is. Happy?” Jen smothered a smile, pleased that Kim had let her hair down for a while.

  “Well at least I’m not the only one getting grief!” She pointed out. “Kim, you’re the best friend a girl could have…”

  Chapter ten

  The afternoon flew by so fast and it was with some sadness that the girls shared their last dinner with Mara before heading to bed early so they could leave first thing in the morning. She had cheerfully dispensed many words of wisdom that each of the girls would treasure for years to come and each slept soundly, guarded by their goddesses.

  The drive bac
k to London seemed to take forever, especially with the rush hour traffic and by the time they made it to the office, all three were frazzled and stressed again.

  “You two get started and I’ll go find some decent coffee.” Kim announced and vanished out of the door, desperate to stretch her legs again after the freshness of the Manse. Nkara and Jen grinned helplessly at each other over the pile of post that had accumulated over the weekend.

  “I tell you what – you do the messages and I’ll do the post.” Nkara offered eventually and Jen nodded.

  “Good thinking! If there’s anything important just stick a post-it to it and I’ll look at it this afternoon.” Nkara scooped up the stack and went to her desk to begin sorting. Five minutes later there was an astonished yelp from Jen’s office and then Jen was calling for her so Nkara went through to see what the matter was.

  “Listen to this!” Jen’s eyes were shining as she pressed repeat on the answer-phone. It was a message from an extremely popular high-street store chain asking if she’d be interested in running a line of clothes for them at high-street prices, with a contract offer of several million, negotiable after a trial period. Nkara didn’t know what to say. The offer floored her. It was what they’d dreamed of for a while, but they hadn’t been able to get it off the ground on their own.

  The door slammed as the other staff began arriving for work, but Nkara and Jen just stood there grinning stupidly at each other.

  “What do you think?” Jen said eventually and Nkara shrugged.

  “It’s wonderful! But it’s a lot of work. Can we do it?”

  “I don’t know. Shall we ask the others?” Nkara nodded, so they waited for everyone to arrive before calling a staff meeting. Jen played the message to them all and as it finished they all sat there in stunned silence.

  “Well we were going to do a high-street line anyway this summer.” Someone pointed out eventually. “That’s just a huge volume of extra work.”

  “Why don’t you bring someone in to help?” Suggested Becca, Jen’s secretary. “Word on the street is that Tessa Donnel is struggling to keep her head above water. Didn’t you guys go to college together? She’s very good and with that sort of money you could afford to take her on.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that.” Jen mused quietly. “She’s also got the studio space. We could split the design house into two separate parts – one to do the high fashion stuff with the shows etc and one to do the everyday wear for the women of Britain. What do you think? If I can talk Tessa into working for us, do you think we should take it on?”

  “Why don’t we have a vote?” Nkara suggested, ever the practical one. “All in favour raise a hand.” She raised hers as everyone at the table mirrored the movement and Jen didn’t know what to do with herself she was so excited.

  “I guess I’ll go ring Tessa then!” She leapt from her seat and rushed to the office. It took her a while to find Tessa’s number, but at last she punched it in and waited with bated breath for Tessa to answer.

  “Hey honey!” Tessa sounded genuinely delighted to hear from her. “Please tell me you have good news to make my day!” Jen grinned.

  “How about an offer of partnership?” She proffered. “I’ve been made an unbelievable offer, but I can’t do it without help and I think you and I would work well together.” She chuckled. “I like your style.”

  “What exactly are we talking about here?” Tessa asked cautiously. “I appreciate your friendship Jen but I don’t want you to feel like you have to bail me out just because I’m having a hard time.”

  “That’s not it at all!” Jen was astonished that Tessa would even think it. She explained the offer that she’d received and her ideas for Tessa to come on board.

  “So you’re saying that I’d still be able to keep my own studios but under the House of Anderson label?” Tessa clarified.

  “Officially yes but you can call it the Tessa range or whatever. I’m not asking you to give up your line, all it means is that we’ll collaborate on some pieces and you can run the rest past me before it goes on the market.”

  “That sounds fair.” Tessa sounded like she barely dared hope it was true. “I tell you what, I’ll talk to my staff about it and see what they think and you let me know when you’ve finalised the contract. We’ll do lunch and get it sorted.”

  “Okay, I’ll ring them now and let you know as soon as I find out what’s happening.” She was about to hang up when Tessa said her name. “Yes?”

  “Jen I just want to tell you how much this means to me. I really am struggling. This is such a relief!” She sounded like she was close to tears and Jen smiled.

  “Well I’ll get the champagne then and we can celebrate when we’ve signed the dotted line. Okay?”

  “Okay.” They said their good-byes and hung up and Jen leaned back in her chair. She had a feeling this was going to be the start of a really good week.

  As it turned out, the particular chain that had contacted her were in a desperate hurry to get the line up and running in time for the summer and, as a result, by Wednesday evening both Jen’s lawyers and theirs had negotiated a decent contract and Tessa was officially on board. They had to drop Kim off at the airport on Wednesday afternoon for her flight back to Egypt so they decided to call a joint staff meeting on Thursday to discuss how it was going to work and all met up bright and early in Jen’s staff boardroom to discuss it.

  Once everyone had been introduced, they spent two hours throwing ideas around before deciding that they were going to co-ordinate. The House of Anderson was famous for its themes, so they were going to stick with the oriental look for the summer and change it when they’d decided what the autumn collection was going to be. The staff that Jen already had working on the high-street prototypes were going to spend a few weeks at Tessa’s studio and a few of Tessa’s staff were going to stay and give Jen’s team a hand with the backlog of dresses they had to complete before the premieres started.

  They were just wrapping it all up when Becca stuck her head around the door and announced there was a man here to see Jen. Giving her apologies to everyone, Jen followed Becca out and almost had a heart attack when she realised who it was standing in her office. Mark smiled at her like the dawn breaking and Jen kicked the door closed behind her, closing the blinds to separate them from the rest of the office.

  “What on earth are you doing here?” She said faintly, the weekend flooding back to her from where it had been relegated to a dreamy haze underneath all the work she had done in the last three days.

  “I couldn’t wait until Saturday.” He replied simply. “Not seeing you was killing me.” Now that she looked at him, Jen realised he looked terrible. His usually radiant skin was pale underneath the tan and he had dark rings under his eyes.

  Without really being aware of what she was doing, she rushed over to hug him and realised as soon as he wrapped his arms round her quite how much she had missed him in return. She didn’t resist at all when he gently tangled his fingers in her hair to pull her face back so he could kiss her. Instant desire flamed in the base of her stomach and she didn’t want to let go when he finally pulled away.

  “Can you get away for an hour or so?” He asked and Jen nodded.

  “We’d just finished for the lunch break.” She confirmed and that was all the answer Mark needed.

  “Then come with me. I promise I’ll have you back by one.” He took her hand and hurried her out the office, barely giving her time to explain to Becca. They grabbed a taxi almost on the doorstep and Mark gave directions to his hotel.

  “We’ll order room service.” He explained. “It’s not far.”

  They sat in silence as the taxi sped towards the hotel, both unsure of exactly what to say. When they were dropped off, Mark took Jen’s hand and led her up in the lift to the twelfth floor, where he swiped his room card to let them into a sumptuous room with separate bathroom and leisure areas.

  “What do you want to eat?” He asked casually, handing her a copy
of the hotel menu.

  “I’m not really in the mood to eat.” Jen admitted, too nervous to feel hunger. “I don’t even know what I’m doing here.”

  “Well stop thinking about it then.” He replied easily, throwing the menu back on the dresser. Jen had never noticed until then how fluidly he moved, like a dancer rather than a rugby player. “Come and look at the view.” Jen obediently went to the window and had to admit it was a beautiful view. He curled his arm around her and they stood in comfortable silence looking out over the cityscape beneath them.

  “What’s New Zealand like?” She asked him quietly. “I’ve never been there.”

  “New Zealand is beautiful.” His gaze suddenly went wistful as he thought of his homeland. “It’s like God plucked an emerald out of creation and set it in the sea to be the most spectacular place on earth. The scenery is breath-taking, all the mountains and coast lines. There are no words I could tell you that do it justice.” Jen smiled.

  “I’d like to see it one day.” She admitted and Mark shrugged.

  “You could run away with me.” He said it so casually she couldn’t figure out if he was joking or not, so she chose not to answer, staring back out the window instead.

  After a few moments he said her name softly and as she turned to look at him he leaned down to kiss her in a way that took her breath away. Leading her to the bed, he gently removed each item of her clothing, watching the way the midday sun cast shadows across her pale skin with something akin to reverence. Feeling acutely conscious of his gaze, Jen could only blush helplessly as she stood before him, and he thought it was beautiful the way her neck slowly flushed a rosy pink. Brushing fingers across it, he made her tremble and the sight of it almost brought him to his knees.

  “You’re so beautiful.” He murmured, just watching her and Jen didn’t know what to say. No one had ever looked at her the way Mark did and for some odd reason it made her want to cry. Silently she tugged at his jeans as he lifted his T-shirt off and within moments they lay together on the soft covers.