Persuading Annie

by Melissa Nathan

  She heard the attacker pass them and felt Jake release her slightly. They stared at each other in the dark as they listened to his footsteps. And for one pure moment, the world as she knew it stopped. There was only her and Jake.

  The man reached the end of the street and, after a few moments, cursed dramatically.

  They heard Victoria’s sharp voice.

  ‘I hardly think that was necessary.’

  And then they heard him run away.

  Jake and Annie both started to heave with suppressed giggles, holding on to each other tightly to stop the shaking. As the stifled noise of their laughter grew dangerously loud, Jake held her tighter again, burying his mouth in her hair. The shock of it stopped her laughing immediately. They both knew there was another attacker in the alleyway – the one Annie had kneed in the groin. Had he run the other way? Was he still there? Was he dangerous?

  The sound of Sophie’s high-pitched whine hit them at the same time.

  ‘Where’s my bag?’

  ‘Oh my God,’ muttered Jake. ‘She’s in the alleyway. You run while I get her.’

  ‘No—’

  Jake held her firmly by the shoulders. His voice had lost all of its formal pride. It was the Jake she remembered who spoke to her now.

  ‘Please, Annie. Run.’

  She ran.

  Jake went the opposite way to Sophie in the alleyway and grabbed her by the hand.

  ‘Hello!’ she said happily. ‘Are you having fun without me? Did you find my bag?’

  Jake looked on the floor. No bag. No shadow. It was time to leave.

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘Let’s go.’

  Suddenly, Sophie was swiped round the head with her bag, and the first attacker raced past them, into the light and away.

  Sophie the Adventuress started wailing. Jake soothed her as he tried to drag her out of the alleyway. Once he hit the light and the others, he let go of her hand, numb with shock.

  He didn’t notice the looks on everyone’s faces as he ran towards them. Nor did he notice that Sophie wasn’t keeping up with him. All he noticed was that Annie was mouthing something at him.

  He slowed down and his body came to a halt as his brain slowly tried to unravel some meaning from what his eyes saw. They were all staring past him at Sophie and shouting.

  He turned round in slow motion. Sophie was stumbling towards him, her body wracked with sobbing. Before Jake had time to react, she slumped in an untidy heap on the pavement. And landed on her head.

  * * * * *

  The others sped towards Sophie, shocked at what they saw. By the time they reached her, Victoria and Fi were already sobbing in loud, ugly gasps.

  Charles tried to speak, but the sight of his sister was too much for him.

  ‘Blood!’ he kept saying. ‘Blood!’

  Typically useless, thought Victoria, who started screaming.

  In a shaky voice, Annie started telling Tony to take Fi, Victoria and Charles away. He tried to, but Victoria was too busy screaming. A crowd was now forming round them.

  Jake moved slowly towards the group, trembling all over. There was a look of such terror on his face that Annie thought she might start crying too. He looked down at Sophie, unconscious and white on the ground. Sure enough there was a horrifying red puddle by her head.

  ‘Oh God,’ whimpered Jake, ‘Oh God.’ He looked up at Annie. ‘What shall we do?’

  ‘We need an ambulance,’ said Annie urgently. ‘Do you think we can carry her? Or should we leave her for the ambulance men?’

  She stared intently at Jake. He stared back.

  ‘Ambulance men,’ he repeated.

  ‘It probably looks worse than it is,’ insisted Annie before turning to Victoria.

  ‘Stop screaming!’ she yelled. ‘Tony! Take her and Fi away NOW.’

  They obeyed. Charles started whimpering next to Annie.

  ‘We need an ambulance,’ said Annie to Jake. ‘Can I borrow your mobile?’

  Jake fumbled in his jacket for his mobile and with an unsteady hand, gave it to Annie.

  She looked at the phone.

  ‘How do you use it?’ she asked, perplexed, panic starting to clutch at her chest.

  ‘Um,’ began – and ended – Jake.

  Annie looked up at him. They stared at each other, both growing dimly aware that the sound of a siren was getting closer.

  16

  IT WAS 2 am and Jake, Charles and Annie were sitting, muscles aching, in Jake and David’s drawing room. Jake had insisted on Sophie being brought here. He would look after her until she felt a hundred per cent better. Sophie lay sleeping soundly in his bed.

  Sophie’s wound had, as Annie had predicted, looked far worse than it had been. She had knocked her temple on a sharp piece of bad paving and had only been unpleasantly concussed. In truth, the punch to Annie’s face had been worse and was only now turning into an ugly welt across her left eyebrow that was starting to throb. She held an ice pack to it in her left hand, which had gone numb from the cold.

  The shock had left them all exhausted. Victoria was sleeping upstairs.

  Charles, David and Jake now sat with Annie, trying to decide what to do next.

  ‘I must tell Mum and Dad,’ said Charles.

  ‘Of course,’ said David.

  ‘They’ll want her at home with them.’

  ‘No,’ said Jake firmly. ‘This is all my fault. I should have – I shouldn’t have—’

  ‘It’s OK, mate,’ soothed David. ‘She’s all right. Just a bit of concussion and a nasty shock. The doc said nothing a week of daytime telly wouldn’t cure.’

  ‘Are they saying her brain’s been damaged?’ asked Annie.

  ‘I’ll look after her here when I’m not working,’ Jake said firmly. ‘It’s the least I can do.’

  ‘I’ll help you out there, mate,’ joined David.

  Annie started to nod, but stopped when she thought her head was going to explode from the pain. She was only slightly concerned that Jake and David’s attention might wander somewhat from saving Markhams’. She reprimanded herself quickly for such an ungenerous thought.

  ‘I’ll call Sophie’s office first thing tomorrow,’ she whispered. ‘Tell them what’s happened. Send in the doctor’s sick note.’

  Jake looked up at her.

  ‘Thanks,’ he said quietly. ‘How are you feeling?’

  She managed a small smile.

  ‘Like I’ve been in a fight,’ she whispered. ‘Cool.’

  She stood up slowly. ‘I need a hot drink. Anyone want one?’

  Three pairs of eyes looked up at her gratefully.

  She walked heavily into the kitchen and turned on the kettle. Standing in the dark, she tutted aloud at Sophie for having caused this all. There was knowing one’s mind and then there was being a spoilt little madam. Feeling immediately guilty at her thoughts, and at her sudden intolerance of Sophie, Annie decided to help her. As soon as she’d phoned Samantha and got a few days off from the gallery, she’d spend her days just sitting with Sophie until Jake and David got home to be with her.

  The kettle boiled and Annie poured boiling water into the teapot.

  She then carried the tray back through the darkened hall and just as she reached the door, she realised she’d forgotten the milk. She stopped outside the door, trying to decide whether to take the tray in and then go back for it or turn back now. Her brain cells seemed to be damaged. But the sound of Jake’s voice made her suddenly alert.

  ‘She’s more reliable than any of us put together,’ came his whisper through the door. ‘And totally and utterly in control. Underneath that fragile exterior she’s stronger than all of us. You should have seen her beat that bloke to a pulp. Terrifying.’

  She heard the others murmur their assent.

  ‘What I’m trying to say is, if you want something done properly, ask Annie. And she only lives one flight up. She’s the only one I trust. I know she’s working and Victoria’s at home, but – and no offence Charles – I’
d just feel safer if we asked Annie to keep an eye on Sophie.’

  ‘None taken,’ replied Charles. ‘I couldn’t agree more.’

  So, thought Annie wearily, leaning her head against the door – and then jabbing it away when pain shot through it. I’m the perfect carer for Jake’s new, young, injured girlfriend. How touching.

  She opened the door.

  ‘Who wants a nice cup of tea?’ she said, wondering why her insides were glowing as much as her forehead.

  * * * * *

  Annie let Edward lean forward and brush her bruised forehead with his lips. It was an unusual way of getting a taster of things to come.

  He sat down on the sofa beside her, his arm outstretched behind her back.

  ‘What time are you popping down to see Sophie?’ he whispered.

  ‘About half an hour.’

  Edward started to caress her hair gently. Maybe an hour, she thought.

  Edward looked at her for so long that she started to worry that someone had turned his power button off.

  ‘Shouldn’t you be at work?’ she asked eventually.

  He sighed and moved away, wiping his hand over his face.

  ‘To be honest, it’s all changed so much since those bloody management consultants have been there,’ he said. ‘Not getting quite the same enjoyment out of it as I used to.’

  Annie would have frowned if it hadn’t hurt like buggery.

  ‘They have to do their job,’ she said softly.

  Edward gave her a kind smile.

  ‘You’re so good, Annie Markham. The world would be a better place if we all gave each other the benefit of the doubt.’

  This time she did frown. ‘What are you saying? Don’t you think they’re doing their job properly?’

  Edward shook his head slowly.

  ‘That’s not the half of it,’ he said softly, almost to himself. Then he slowly stood up. ‘Don’t you worry your … battered little face about it.’

  For want of anything better to do, Annie smiled up at him.

  ‘I wondered …’ he started, ‘if we might go for dinner some time? When you can nod without painkillers, of course.’

  Annie’s smile grew. ‘That would be lovely,’ she said softly. ‘I’d like that.’

  He gave her a wide grin. ‘I’ll call you when I’m in the office with my diary.’

  As he left, Annie wondered if it was old age or the recent blow to her head that stopped any squirm of excitement build up in her stomach.

  She closed her eyes.

  And was back in the alley, in Jake’s arms.

  She stood up slowly and went to get her bag. She was popping down to see Sophie again today. To be honest though, she didn’t know how many more days she could do it. Sophie had spent the last two days talking non-stop about Jake. She didn’t care about the age gap and had always liked Older Men. They were so much more experienced than Young Boys.

  Annie had nodded slowly, trying hard to push the image of Jake holding her in the alley out of her mind.

  And then, as soon as it had started to get dark outside, which it did earlier and earlier each day, Annie had been so conscious that Jake might come home that she had been tense enough to bring on a now familiar evening headache. When David had turned up instead of Jake, as he invariably did, it had been an effort not to be bad-tempered with him, such was the letdown she felt. This couldn’t go on. Jake and Sophie were clearly an item. She had to get used to it.

  She picked up her bag and her door keys before looking round the room. Just as she went to turn the light off, the phone went. It was Susannah.

  ‘Darling, how are you?’

  ‘Oh, nothing a good holiday couldn’t help.’

  She really wasn’t in the mood right now for a business update.

  ‘Ah, well, my dear, I might have the perfect solution. Edward is taking a trip to the New York office to update George on his change of tactics since the management consultants have helped out—’

  Oh yes? thought Annie. Why hadn’t he mentioned it? Or was that why he had suddenly made a move on her after waiting so long?

  ‘And I think I may join him out there in a few weeks. I wondered if you’d like to pop out before me. Do you the world of good, a change of scenery.’

  Annie mused on the possibility. She didn’t much like New York – too noisy for her tastes. Then she thought of Sophie and Jake. Downstairs. She was owed weeks of holiday from the gallery – and she could even do some important research in SoHo. Yes, time off was due to her.

  ‘And of course, if you go out there soon,’ continued Susannah, ‘you can update me on all the business developments. Be my little New York spy. You’re the only one I really trust. So you’d be really helping me out.’

  ‘I’d love to,’ Annie said firmly into the phone. ‘Sounds great.’

  ‘Wonderful!’ exclaimed Susannah. ‘Victoria and Charles are going too – with the boys. A family holiday.’

  ‘Wonderful,’ murmured Annie into the phone, her head starting to throb.

  17

  ‘HI ANNIE, D’YOU fancy a bit of tender loving care this Sunday?’ asked Cass over the phone one evening. Her two weeks’ waiting to hear whether or not her embryos had survived were driving her mad. She had to go out.

  ‘I’d love it,’ answered Annie. ‘But we were going to go to the Heath and then tea in Hampstead.’

  ‘We?’

  ‘Victoria and the boys.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘Would you like to join us?’

  Cass thought about it for a moment. She couldn’t think of anything worse.

  ‘Yes thanks, that would be lovely.’

  * * * * *

  Victoria was the centre of attention. Her figure was at its prime – she knew it – and her eyes were sparkling with youth and vitality. Men were casting her approving, animal glances wherever she went.

  It was wonderful, but she wasn’t remotely interested. She was being chatted up by a charming ex-boyfriend whom she knew had never stopped loving her. He couldn’t take his eyes off her flat stomach. Somehow they both knew that tonight – just tonight – they could do what they wanted. And they both wanted the same thing.

  ‘Shall we stay for one more drink,’ she was asking him now, knowing full well what his answer would be, ‘or shall we go back to my place?’

  He gave her a smile that should have come with a government health warning and leant in close enough for her to feel his warm whisky breath on her cheek.

  ‘Can I play on my Nintendo?’ he whispered in her ear. ‘Bertie’s woken me up. I think he’s done a wee-wee in bed.’

  Victoria felt her body being dragged, lifelessly, away from her dream. She opened an eye.

  Harry was hopping from foot to foot beside her. The room was pitch black.

  ‘Mummy, can I play on my Nintendo?’ he repeated. ‘Bertie’s woken me up. I think he’s done a wee-wee in bed. He’s crying. Can I play on my Nintendo?’

  Victoria’s eyelid collapsed back down again. She didn’t even have the energy to cry. Please God, she thought to herself. I’ll never eat a whole chocolate cake in one go again as long as I live. Just get this child out of my room.

  ‘Mummy?’

  ‘What time is it?’ she asked him, her voice rasping and hoarse.

  He looked at her digital alarm clock. Lots of bright red lines.

  ‘Um,’ he said hopefully.

  Victoria dragged her head to face the clock. She groaned loudly.

  ‘Have you woken me before five in the morning just to ask if you can play on your Nintendo?’

  ‘Um,’ said Harry hopefully, again. Didn’t sound too unreasonable to him. He’d waited for hours already.

  ‘Come back when I’m awake.’

  ‘When?’

  ‘When you’ve finished college.’

  She drifted back to sleep, but her ex-boyfriend had gone. The noise of a four-year-old shifting from foot to foot next to her head was still there.

  ‘Harry,’
she croaked.

  ‘Yes,’ replied Harry quickly.

  He leant in to her so as to hear her soft whisper better.

  ‘Be a good boy and leave home.’

  Pad pad pad pad next to her head.

  ‘Mummy?’

  ‘Ugh?’

  ‘Can I play on my Nintendo?’

  ‘Ask your father.’

  ‘I can’t.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘He’s asleep.’

  Somewhere, somehow, Victoria found the energy to start crying.

  ‘I was asleep, you wretched child!’

  ‘But you aren’t now.’

  ‘And whose fault is that?’

  ‘Can I play on my Nintendo?’

  Victoria motioned him to come nearer and whispered in his ear, still with her eyes shut.

  His ear was a centimetre from her mouth. She breathed in his sleepy-child smell.

  ‘Go to your father and shout Fore in his ear. Loudly. He’ll be very proud.’

  Harry didn’t move for a moment.

  Then pad pad pad pad next to her head.

  ‘Mummy, can I play on my—’

  ‘YES!’

  The padding went away. Ah bliss! At last. Silence …

  Victoria was back at school. All the desks were in a circle, which was unusual. The English teacher cocked her head to one side and stared fixedly at Victoria. Well, one eye did. The other one stared fixedly at the hockey pitch. Victoria never knew whether or not her teacher was looking at her. Slowly but surely Victoria turned her head to look at her schoolmate. Her schoolmate had slowly but surely turned her head to look at her.

  ‘Victoria,’ commanded her teacher. Victoria’s schoolmate breathed an audible sigh of relief.

  ‘What does Othello really think of Cassius?’ asked the teacher.

  Victoria’s mind went blank. Othello? Cassius? She could almost hear the vaults of her brain echoing shut. Luckily her schoolmate leant close to her and whispered in her ear. To her amazement, the teacher didn’t seem to notice. Victoria listened carefully to what her friend had to say.

  ‘Mummy, I did a wee-wee in my bed’, she said clearly.

  Victoria repeated the words out loud and to her horror, the whole class started laughing at her. She opened her eyes quickly.