by Gillian Joy
"Let me call her Mark. She hasn't seen you for over two years. I'll talk to her calmly and ease her mind so she'll be comfortable."
Mark pulled the screen door back and stepped up to his mother.
"Give. Me. Her. Number." He stated harshly.
"Mark please."
"NOW!" He shouted.
Tears filled Marianne's eyes as she nodded slowly. "I'll go and write it down for you." She said as she walked away from her son and back into the kitchen.
She contemplated writing down the wrong number, buying Ash a bit of time, but she was honestly now scared of her son. She knew he would assume she had done it on purpose and she was afraid of what he might do. She was sure he would try to call Ash as soon as he got back into his car, and she would be in enough trouble as it was when the phone rang, but if someone else answered, and he realised what she'd done, she was too afraid of her own son to do that.
With shaking hands, she wrote Ash's number out on a scrap piece of paper and, with tears burning her eyes, walked back to the front door. She hadn't invited him in again and he hadn't bothered to follow.
"Here you go Mark." She said as she handed it over.
"Thanks Mother." He replied and bent to place a still kiss on her cheek.
She got chills as his lips touched her, and when he turned and walked away, she rushed inside and grabbed her phone, calling Ash as quickly as her fingers would allow.
The call went straight to voicemail, and her heart raced, fearing that Mark had already called. Surely he hadn't had time to time to get into his car, pull out the number, dial it and get through to her already? She redialled, but it went straight to voicemail again. She glanced frantically around the kitchen trying to figure out her next course of action. She looked at the car keys hanging on the hook beside the door, but she didn't even have the address of Connor’s place, so that wasn't going to help her. She needed to call Christian and talk to him, but she didn't want to waste any time explaining to him what was going on, when she had to get hold of Ash. She called her again, with the same outcome.
"Calm down, Marianne." She said to herself, "Just calm down and think." Her mind was racing in circles. "Could call Hayden and get Connor’s address... Don't have Hayden's number; could call Target and get Hayden's number... they probably won't give it to me. Wait. Call Connor and get Hayden's number. Wait, I've got Connor’s number..."
Marianne raced over to the drawer in the buffet and pulled out the post-it-note with Connor’s number Ash had written down when she had gone on her first date with him; just in case there was an emergency with the girls and they couldn't reach her on her own phone. In case she lost it, or it got stolen, or it went flat... just in case. Marianne didn't care about Ash's just in case at the time, but now she was thankful. Her hands were shaking violently as she called the number on the little pink square of paper.
****
Chapter 19
Connor couldn't believe how much effort it had taken to get Ash to agree to come away with him for a long weekend. She was full of excuses.
"I'm not leaving the girls for an entire weekend."
"I thought we'd bring them with us."
"I can't get the extra time off work."
"Hayden's agreed to cover for you."
"I can't afford it."
"It's not going to cost you anything."
"The weather’s not going to be nice."
"Are you for real?"
She shrugged.
"What are we going to do about sleeping arrangements?"
"Whatever you're comfortable with."
"Connor, I really don't know."
"Stop worrying about it Ash. I'll pick you up late Thursday. We'll get dinner on the way up; otherwise it'll be too late when we get there for the girls. All you need do is pack three bags of clothes. Everything else is taken care of. There is nothing to do, nothing to worry about. Stop over thinking this Ash, just come and spend a quiet weekend away with me, please."
Eventually she conceded, and he was so glad she did. Sleeping arrangements had been easy. The girls had the same room they had shared with Ash last time they were up, and Ash had the room she was supposed to share with Hayden. Of course that was for appearances only. She could sneak back there in the mornings because he wanted her to spend the nights with him, wrapped in his arms where he could touch her, kiss her, smell her and taste her.
****
Sitting beside the pool on Saturday morning, it was clear, while watching Ash attempt to swim laps that she was far better at running, Connor was feeling relaxed and content. He was happy, and, he happily conceded, he was in love. He was happier than he had ever been in his life. When the phone rang on the lounge chair beside him he briefly considered not even answering it. He didn't know the number though and was worried that it might be someone from the record label trying to arrange those stupid television interviews they were asking him to do before they looked at more tours and concerts.
"Hello?" He answered.
"Hello, Connor?"
"Yeah."
"Hi Connor," The voice was shaky, nervous, definitely not a record exec. "It's Marianne, is Ash there? Is she on her phone? Is she okay? I couldn't reach her."
"Marianne what's wrong? Ash is here and fine, as a matter of fact she is swimming at the moment."
"Oh, she's not on her phone?"
"No Marianne she's not. What's wrong, you seem upset?"
"Can I talk to her please?"
"Is Christian okay Marianne? What's the matter?"
Connor had really wanted to hate Ash's ex's parents, but when it came down to it, he couldn't. They were sweet and caring and obviously loved not only Beth and Sarah, but Ash as well and he couldn't help but respect them. It would be awful if something had happened to Christian.
"Please can I talk to Ash?" Marianne asked again this time with a bit more force in her words.
"Hang on a second Marianne, I'll go and get her."
Connor watched Ash reach the end of the pool and called to her as she came up for a breath.
"Ash, phone." He called, holding the phone out in her direction.
She glanced up and looked at him in confusion for a minute before she pulled herself out of the pool. She dried her hands and wrapped the towel around herself. The pool was heated so the water was warm, but it was a lot cooler when she got out.
"Marianne." Connor explained as he passed her the phone.
Still confused, she looked at him but held off on the questions till she was talking to Marianne.
"Hi Marianne." Ash answered, curious as to why she was calling on Connor’s phone.
Connor hated being privy to only one end of the conversation. He had no idea what was going on but when all colour drained from Ash's face he knew, whatever it was, was bad. He put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her down so she was sitting on the sun lounge beside him. He kept his hands on her shoulders as support while she talked.
It was obvious to Connor that Marianne had done something she wasn't happy about, but only under duress. Ash kept trying to placate her, to convince her that it was okay. That she didn't have to feel bad about it. Connor’s stomach churned as the conversation went on. Ash was shaking slightly while she still kept trying to assure Marianne.
"Marianne, I'm going to go now. Are you okay?"
She was quiet while Marianne replied.
"It'll be fine. I'll call you when we get home."
More quiet.
"I don't know… I won't, please stop worrying. I'll sort it out. Marianne, if he comes back, if you feel threatened, please call the police… I know, please? No, I've told you that. Because even though he hasn't, it doesn't mean he won't… I know, I know. Call Christian, get him to come home to you, you'll feel better… Okay. I'll call you then. Thanks Marianne, bye."
Ash hung up the phone and the tears welled up in her eyes.
Connor looked at the girls playing in the pool. He needed to help Ash, he needed to be there for her and he
needed to know what was going on. But he also knew that her priority would be to protect the girls, they didn't need to know anything was wrong and he was sure Ash was going to lose it if he pushed her about what was happening with them within earshot.
Connor wrapped Ash in his arms and kissed her on the forehead. "I'll be right back." He said, and walked over to the edge of the pool.
"Sarah, Beth. I need you to come with me for a minute."
"Oh no, can't we stay in the pool?"
"We want to stay in the pool."
"You can come back out soon; I need to go inside for an hour and I need your mum’s help, so there's no one to watch you in the pool. Come inside and watch a movie for an hour and then you can come back out."
"Promise?"
"Yeah, I promise," Connor said. "And if all goes to plan we might even take the canoes out on the lake this afternoon."
Sarah's eyes opened wide and Beth smiled. "Really?" Sarah asked.
"No promises, but if everything goes to plan, then yeah."
"Okay." The girls said in unison as they climbed out of the pool. "Can we watch Frozen?" Beth asked as they walked into the house.
"Sure, whatever you want." Connor replied his attention on Ash as he marched the girls as quickly as possible into the house. He needed to get back to her and make sure she was okay.
He quickly set the girls up and literally ran back out to Ash. She was still sitting on the edge of the sun lounge, she wasn't moving; sitting silently, tears running down her cheeks.
Connor dropped to his knees beside her and put his hands on her waist.
"Talk to me Baby. What happened? What's wrong? What's going on?"
His only reply was the continuing of the tears on her cheeks.
"Baby, you’re scaring me. Come on Ash, at least acknowledge me before I call for an ambulance."
Ash looked at Connor. "Thank you." She whispered.
Connor looked at her quizzically "For?"
"For the girls." She replied, still at a whisper.
"That's okay. Ash, what's going on?” He pressed.
"Mark called in to see Marianne."
"Okay, I'm guessing that's not something he usually does."
Ash shook her head. "He never sees them, occasional phone calls and emails usually."
"So why the change? I'm assuming it's not good. He didn't hurt her, did he?"
Ash shook her head again. "No, he didn't. He was looking for me. He wanted to know where I live."
Connor tensed. "Why?" He was hoping that the idiot had a change of heart and was wanting to help support his daughters, but he didn't think Ash would be sitting in front of him looking like she was if that was all that was going on.
"I don't know exactly; he scared Marianne into giving him my phone number, which is why she was so upset, so until he calls I don't know exactly what he wants. Marianne told him I was out of phone range for the weekend; she tried to call me immediately after he had left and panicked when my phone went straight to voicemail, thinking he had already called. It must be flat; it's still in my bag."
Ash was still shaking and Connor wasn't entirely buying the story that she didn't know what he wanted.
"Why are you so upset Ash, what aren't you telling me?" He asked, rubbing his hands softly up and down her legs. She was still crying, so he wasn't buying what she was trying to sell.
Ash just shook her head in denial.
"Ash, come on Baby. Whatever it is, I'm here. Whatever he wants, I'll help you through it. It's not like you've got anything he can take… Except…" His chest hurt just thinking it. "Not the girls… He's not after the girls’ Ash?"
"What…? No, I don't think so… He's never wanted them before…"
"Ash, please tell me! I'm going crazy here."
"Me. Okay? According to Marianne, he wants me back." She said, more tears streaming down her cheeks.
Connor jumped up and glared down at her. "What? No! He'll have to go through me. Not a chance. Ash, why are you even crying about this? When he calls tell him to get lost… You're not even considering this are you?"
"No! Of course not! I can't! I won't do that again." She shook her head in the negative as the tears continued to fall.
Connor knelt back down and kissed her softly. "Then what's the problem Baby?"
"You don't know what he's like Connor." She cried. "He scares me."
Connor had never seen her look so vulnerable. He knew about her past relationship, but despite that, he'd always thought she was a strong independent woman. At the moment though, she looked like anything but. He was getting a glimpse of the woman she had been with her ex-husband, and it certainly wasn't the woman he had fallen in love with. All he wanted to do was to protect her.
He sat down on the lounge chair beside her and wrapped her in his arms. "Ash, whatever he wants, I promise you, I'm here for you. If he thinks he stands a stones chance in hell of getting you back, then he has a massive fight on his hands. He'll have to go through me to get anywhere near you. I'll protect you, okay? You don't even have to deal with him at all if you don't want. I'll tell him where to go."
Connor rubbed her arms and snuggled into her neck, peppering it with gentle kisses.
"Right now, I want to take you away and make you forget all about him."
"Your touch alone is already doing that."
"Come on, let's go in with the girls and watch the end of the movie. I told them we might take the canoes out this afternoon."
"Connor, they can't paddle themselves. They don't have enough strength in their arms."
"It's okay. There are some double canoes down in the boat shed. They're not big enough to fit two adults, but we could easily take one of the girls each and go paddling for an hour or so."
Ash nodded. "Okay. I'll go clean up and meet you in the theatre room shortly."
Connor leant across and kissed her before she had a chance to get up.
****
Ash stood beside the bed, holding onto her phone. It was flat all right, dead flat and she couldn't decide whether or not to plug it back in and power it up. She was scared of what she might find. She'd had a shower and was feeling better when she went to her bag to grab some clean clothes when she spotted her phone and almost freaked out again. She stood there in a towel, wet hair dripping down her back when Connor walked in.
"What are you do-? Oh Ash." He reached out and grasped the phone gently. "How about I hold onto this for the rest of the weekend?"
Ash released the phone and looked up into his eyes. There were no more tears, she was past that now. She'd found her resolve. She let Connor take the phone and turned her attention back to her suitcase. She pulled out clean swimmers, because her other ones were lying in a wet heap on the bathroom floor, and a soft summery shift dress, then she dropped the towel to the ground.
Connor sucked in a quick breath as she slowly bent over and pulled the bikini bottoms over her feet and up her legs. He'd always thought undressing a woman was damned sexy, but to watch Ash putting clothes on, he figured he'd had it wrong. She was beyond sexy stepping into clothes or out of them and when she reached behind her back to do up her bikini top, it took every ounce of self-control he had not to throw her down onto the bed and rip those items of clothing back off her. He continued to watch intently as she slipped the dress over her head.
"Now I'm going to be hard all afternoon. Damn woman you do things to me." He said hoarsely as he pocketed her phone and pulled her into his arms for a soft kiss.
"I'm going to need that phone back you know." She said softly.
"Not now!"
"Not until the weekend is over." She agreed.
"Okay. I don't want you to deal with it Ash, I'll power it up and go through the messages for you."
"No Connor, it's okay. I can deal with it."
"I'm sure you can, but why should you?"
"Why should you? Mark's my problem, not yours."
"You are forgetting one thing Ash. I love you. Hence, your problems a
re my problems."
Ash looked up at him for minute. "I love you too Connor." She whispered.
Connor stopped, his breath caught and he looked back at her. He couldn't hold back the smile that broke out across his face.
****
Ash was helping the girls pack on Sunday afternoon when Connor pulled her phone out of his pocket and plugged it in. It turned on after only a few minutes and came up requesting a sim pin. He wasn't sure if he planned to check the messages and message bank if he had access, but it didn't really matter anyway. He didn't have access. He wasn't going to let Ash check the phone messages on her own though, if Mark had that sort of an effect on her, just with the threat of contact. He dreaded to think what it would be like when the contact was actually physically made. He was debating with himself whether it would be better to check it before they left for home, or after they got back. He didn't want her stewing about it either way, the whole way home. He was still weighing up the options when she came into the room.
"Whatcha doing?" She asked curiously.
Connor almost jumped, not realising she had come in.
"Sorry. I put your phone on to charge. Did you want to check it before we go or when we get back?"
A frown creased her brow and he immediately regretted even mentioning it.
"I'll do it after the girls go to bed tonight. I don't want to deal with it now."
"I'll check it for you Ash." Connor offered.
"What? No. I mean thanks Connor, but it's not your responsibility."
"Ash, you are my responsibility. He has no effect on me; I want to do this for you please."
"We'll sort it out tonight okay? I really don't want to even think about it at the moment. Are you about ready to go?"
"Yep. I promised the girls one last swim so we can do that, pack the car and be on the road within the hour."
Ash nodded. "Let's go then."
****
Ash passed Connor’s bedroom door and saw her phone sitting on his charger beside the bed. She didn't plan to go in there, she was just going to grab a drink, but as she passed his bedroom she felt drawn to her phone.
She sat on the edge of his bed and picked up her phone. Entering her pin, she waited for the system to finish starting up. As soon as it did it started beeping with incoming messages. Her messages app was flashing with twelve messages. She clicked on it. Message Bank, call "101" you have twenty-six messages. Seriously? She thought, can Message Bank even hold that many messages? And as she scrolled down, she noticed that most were from an unknown number. Unknown. Unknown. All the way to the bottom, where she noticed Hayden's name, and below that was Deb’s. She clicked on the link to Deb’s message.