Arriving at Lily's, she was late but at least not as late as she would have been had she stuck with her plan to get the Tube, and her other sisters were already there. Tom had gone out for the evening, to give the sisters some space and time to themselves, and Megan laughingly told them that Luke had ended up driving her, and so he and Tom had gone to grab some food at a tapas bar round the corner.
As Lily poured wine into glasses for them, and set out some little bowls of olives, the sisters relaxed and fell back into their usual routine of teasing each other. First on the agenda was clearly what had happened at Meg's hen party. Isabelle flushed. She'd done her best to avoid her sisters' questions over the last few weeks but hadn't actually had to face in person their onslaught of questions. She admitted to them that Alex hadn't been happy with her.
"Not happy!" hooted Megan, as if it was the funniest thing she'd heard all year. "Oh Bel! He was way off 'not happy'! If only you could have seen his face when he walked in and saw you and Elise falling around!"
"Yeah, well," she shifted uncomfortably, thankful when Elise rescued her slightly by chirping in, "Well, you may have had Alex to deal with but I got a lecture and a half from Tom!"
Lily giggled as she came into the living room with another bottle of wine, the first one having mysteriously been consumed very quickly, "You don't know how easily you got let off with that! If it had been me it would have been a different story! In fact, it's probably only because you're away so much that Tom doesn't feel he's spent enough time with you to be able to dish out the real big brother routine to you!"
Megan and Lily both laughed at Elise's dismay. "You're kidding, right? What they do to you two is one thing, but I'm nothing to do with that!"
"Think again, Elise," Lily replied, blushing as she confided to the sisters how, when she'd thrown a tantrum at Luke months ago, he'd told her in no uncertain terms that the only reason he wasn't spanking her for it was because he was pretty sure Tom would see to it.
Even Megan was surprised as Lily recounted what had happened, and Lily shrugged saying, "Well, I was being a huge brat at the time, and I guess I viewed him as a de facto older brother pretty much from the start when you two got together. But anyway, the point is that, although I haven't asked him, I'd be surprised if Tom viewed things any differently. I reckon Elise had a lucky escape."
To their surprise, Elise just laughed, "Oh well... I guess I should count my lucky stars then! Maybe I'll try and be on my best behaviour around the three of them from now on!"
"That's true," laughed Lily, "it looks like we can add Alex into that mix from now on." She glanced at Isabelle. "He was always bossy even when we were kids, especially with you!"
"Hmmph," Isabelle groaned, the effects of the wine already hitting her as she relaxed on the sofa. She figured her sisters had clearly guessed the truth anyway, and there was little she could hide from them, and added "I think he's gotten worse since he's been away but, well, it's perhaps not as I'd imagined and... well, I think he cares."
Her head jerking up at the chorus of laughter from her sisters, she exclaimed, "What?" wondering what on earth she had said that was so hilarious.
"Cares?" choked Elise, as she swallowed her wine with difficulty, "The man's utterly besotted with you! Even I can tell that!"
"Yep," added Megan with a grin, "although we all kept in touch with him while he was away in the States, it was always you that he was asking after when we emailed. He could never resist a chance to find out how you were doing."
"Or who you were with!" interrupted Lily, smiling.
"Really?" Bel asked, surprised.
"Sure!" Megan answered, "We all tried to tell you, but you ignored us. Besides, you always had a guy on the go at the time, so until Alex actually came back to London and," she gestured theatrically with her hands, "swept you off your feet, there wasn't much point pressing the point with you. We figured you'd sort it out sooner or later, although the speed with which you got together was pretty impressive!"
"And at least now you've binned those wimps you were dating!" added Lily cheekily.
"They weren't wimps!" Isabelle protested, although she knew that, compared to Alex, her sister was right. She reached over for the bottle of wine to find it was empty and Lily obligingly went to find more from the kitchen.
Even Elise teased her, "They were complete wimps, Bel, and you know it!"
"Well what about you?" she shot back at Elise.
"Moi?" Elise answered innocently. "Chance would be a fine thing!"
"Oh come on," Meg challenged Elise, "You have the opportunities. All those other photographers that you meet?"
Elise pulled a face. "Rule number one, Meg, photographers shouldn't date other photographers, it gets too complicated, too competitive." Her expression softened, "It'd be nice to meet someone, especially now all you guys are hooked up, but it's difficult when I'm travelling so much. Maybe when that side of things settles down it'll happen, but it's been a long time since I met anyone who interested me romantically!"
"It'll happen, Elise," said Lily softly.
"Yeah, I hope so. It can be lonely sometimes..."
"Don't let the guys hear you say that. You know they already have to bite their tongues to stop themselves trying to ban you from travelling on your own so much!" Meg added warningly.
Elise laughed, "I know. They've even gotten Alex in on their act now as well. They've all tried to have 'little chats' with me recently about the dangers of wandering round the wilderness on my own! In fact, in his mammoth lecture the other week, Tom decided to lay down the law and tell me that on my next trip he was going to get me a chaperone!"
"A chaperone!" the sisters all echoed.
"Yep," Elise giggled. "I'm kind of tempted to take him up on it. It might be entertaining!"
The women laughed merrily as they stretched out and raided the bottle of wine once again. Fleetingly, Isabelle wondered how she would get home, now that she'd driven here, but as her glass was refilled, she figured that as long as she stopped an hour or so before she left, she'd be fine, although she couldn't stop the niggling doubt gnawing at the back of her mind that told her a certain authoritative, dominant man most certainly would not approve.
* * *
While the sisters were happily chatting away, the door of the tapas bar opened with a small bell ringing to signify a new customer, and Alex walked in, spotting Luke and Tom seated to one side of the bar just as the two men looked up and, seeing him, grinned and waved him over.
"Sorry I'm late," he apologised to Luke and Tom, "one of my patients had to have surgery today and he took longer to recover from the anaesthetic than we'd hoped."
"No worries," said Tom easily, "we got your message. Is he okay now?"
Wearily, Alex shrugged off his jacket to hang over the back of the chair, and sat down, "I think so," he said, "I hope so. We'll know more in the next few days, but it's looking positive now."
As the waiter came over to them, Alex ordered a non-alcoholic beer, explaining that he'd driven straight from the hospital and figured he'd drive him and Isabelle home later that night.
Laughingly, Luke and Tom pointed at their own drinks, indicating that they'd ordered exactly the same. Luke had driven over with Megan, and Tom, although he lived down the road, had decided through past experience that the sisters were likely to be slightly tipsy by the time the evening drew to a close, and so it was better for him to be sober to make sure Lily was okay.
Alex grinned, "Bel doesn't even know I'm here. I was going to tell her earlier today that I'd arranged to meet you guys so that I could take her home afterwards, but then the hospital called and I didn't get the chance."
"It can be a surprise for her," chuckled Luke, "although I'm not sure quite how well surprises sometimes go down with her!"
"Hmmm," muttered Alex, "I know. She never used to be so difficult to predict. I've been trying to figure out what happened to make her so defensive." He sighed, "I think she's happier now, and more se
cure, but I'm still at a loss to know why she changed so much."
"Maybe she was looking for what she lost when you left, but just tried to find it with the wrong kind of guys. She was pretty young when you left for the States, she may not have been able to identify that easily what it was that she missed, or needed?" suggested Tom, insightfully.
"It would definitely explain a lot," agreed Luke.
Naturally, the conversation turned to the four sisters, and how Alex had grown up with them as a child, taking on the role of older brother to them all, but happily acknowledging that it had always been Isabelle for whom he'd had deeper feelings. Chuckling, he remarked how in some ways they hadn't changed at all since childhood, even if Bel was definitely more troublesome at times!
Tom laughed outright at that, "I think they're all a handful in their own way! When I first met Lily I thought she was the sweetest thing in the world, still do, for that matter, but she's still got a temper on her like you wouldn't believe!"
"And Megan practically bit my head off when we first met," added Luke with a chuckle.
"I'm glad they had you when they were growing up though," said Tom, contemplatively. "I'd hate the thought that they didn't have anyone to look out for them when they were kids. Parents can't do everything, and an older brother is exactly what they needed!"
As the men talked about the sisters, as well as themselves and their own careers, the conversation turned to Elise.
"I just didn't feel I could spank her like she needed, that night," confided Tom, speaking of the night of Megan's hen party.
"Why on earth not?" asked Alex, incredulously. "I couldn't believe the way she behaved. She was always independent and hot headed, but she never used to be rude or reckless to that extent."
Tom sighed. "You've known her for years, remember. Whereas Luke and I are still relatively new to her, and she travels so much that she's hardly ever around. I didn't want to scare her, or drive her away to hide in some godforsaken wilderness, by spanking her, so I just gave her a lecture she'll remember for a long time."
Luke nodded in agreement. "Whereas I'm pretty sure Lily sees me as an older brother, even though Meg and I aren't married yet," Tom nodded his agreement at Luke's words, "and even Isabelle does, although she's always been more cautious and guarded, Elise comes and goes so much that trying to take on that role with her is trickier. Not," he added, "that if she tries a repeat performance of that night, we shouldn't give it a go anyway."
Tom agreed, "Her safety's more important. We can hope that the telling off she got was enough, but I'm not convinced."
Alex sighed, "A spanking is definitely more likely to be remembered. Maybe I should have a word with her."
"That could be a good idea. She knows you better, and is probably more used to minding what you say," Tom acknowledged, "although I'm still keen to get an old friend of mine to accompany her on her next trip abroad. He's a good guy and will look after her, but I know he won't stand for any nonsense."
Slowly, Alex nodded, "I can't believe she's taken to travelling alone for work and would put herself in that kind of danger. When I used to ask her about her work over email when I was in the States, she always used to avoid the question, but I'd imagined it was because work was sporadic and so didn't want to stress her by pushing it."
"Definitely good for her to get some company while she's away," Luke added.
"Yep. Time for one more?" Tom asked, indicating their empty bottles.
"Yeah, why not," Alex and Luke replied, beckoning over the waiter again, and the conversation moved on naturally to the latest football results.
After a while, the beep of Tom's phone interrupted the conversation, and he frowned with concern as he answered it quickly, "Sweetheart, are you okay?"
His brow furrowed more, "What? Okay, don't worry, love. We'll leave now and be back with you in 10 minutes. Just try and keep the keys away from her, okay?"
Grimly, he hung up the phone and, apologetically, turned to Alex. "I'm sorry. That was Lily. It seems that Bel drove here rather than get the Tube and for some reason is trying to insist she's in a fit state to drive back. I didn't ask but I don't imagine she's been drinking soda all night."
"What?" Anger crossed Alex's face, "She said she was getting the Tube here. She rarely drives! And there's no way she'd have been drinking soda; she was planning a girly night with a few bottles of wine. She'd be so far over the limit for driving I'd be surprised if she could even make it to the end of the road!"
Quickly, the men put down some notes on the table to pay their tab and hurried back to Tom and Lily's house. They were still several meters from the house when they heard the sound of raised voices.
"No, Bel, you can't! Give me the keys!" Elise was trying to wrestle the car keys from her sister's hand.
"Elise, stop it! I'm really fine. I stopped drinking an hour ago. I've got the car here so I need to take it home. You've being ridiculous!"
"We're not, Bel," Lily's voice sounded into the fray. "You've drunk way too much to be driving. It's late. Just get a cab, or stay here for the night!"
"Or come back with me and Luke!" Meg chimed in. "Luke will be back here soon to pick me up and you can come back with us for the night. Just send Alex a message!"
"No," Bel refused stubbornly, wrenching the keys away from Elise and stumbling towards her car.
Suddenly, the voices of the sisters faded away and an ominous shadow fell over Isabelle as strong arms gripped her and moved her bodily away from the car.
"Isabelle Suzanne Bentley," he said darkly, his face like thunder, "Would you like to tell me exactly what you think you're doing?"
"Alex," she paled, the keys dropped from her hand on to the pavement.
"Indeed. Didn't expect to see me tonight, sweetheart?"
"But," she looked round wildly, only to see Tom and Luke approaching the group, just a few paces behind Alex, "you're at the hospital!"
"Clearly not," he growled, and picked up her fallen keys and put them in his pocket.
He turned to Elise, "Are you okay?" he asked gently, pulling her to him.
She nodded, though he saw that she'd been rubbing her arm where Bel had wrestled her for the car keys.
"That doesn't look okay to me, Elise," he said, giving a nod towards her arm.
"Really," she protested, "it's fine. Just look after Bel, Alex. Don't worry about me."
Swiftly, he looked over at Tom, who nodded, understanding the message he'd conveyed, and said, "We'll take a look at that arm, Elise. It's probably just a bruise, but better to make sure," and was clearly relieved when Elise agreed without complaint.
"It's not all Bel's fault," Elise tried to support her sister, "I don't think she ate lunch today, and we got carried away with the wine. But we were at home, it was all fine," she looked up pleadingly at Alex.
"Leave Bel to me, Elise," he gave her a quick hug before letting her go knowing that she'd be safe with Lily and Tom.
Although, hearing Elise's words, Tom had turned to Lily and asked, sternly, "Sweetheart, did you girls eat this evening?"
Flushing guiltily, Lily replied, "Well, we had some olives and nibbles, but, well..."
"You were supposed to order pizza!" he said reprovingly, "You know better than to be drinking on an empty stomach, Lily!"
"As do you, Meg!" Luke gazed sternly at his fiancé, who was also now firmly looking at the pavement. "We'll talk about this when we get home!" and Megan flinched.
"Don't think that you don't have some explaining to do as well, Lily", Tom gripped Lily's hand in his as she tried to shy away.
Nodding at the group, Alex apologised for Isabelle, who was clearly in a worse state than the others, though that was hardly surprising, he thought, if she hadn't eaten at all that day, and asked Tom if he'd mind if they left Isabelle's car with them and they'd collect it the next day.
"No problem," Tom replied easily, "there's no hurry to pick it up if you're not feeling like it tomorrow."
Turnin
g to Isabelle, Alex asked, "Do you have you things," and she nodded, wide-eyed and now silent.
"I have my car here, and we'll drive home. I suggest," he added, "that you use the time it will take us to get home to think very carefully about tonight."
Already tears were welling up in Isabelle's eyes, and she didn't care who saw them. "I'm sorry."
"Enough!" he told her, firmly. "I want you to think about this, not just apologise automatically, Bel."
She flinched at the disappointment in his voice and nodded and, saying brief farewells to the others, he escorted her to his car.
Chapter Six
She sat perched on the edge of the bed, her knees drawn up to her chest. When they'd arrived back at the house she'd immediately flown up the stairs, needing the comfort of their bedroom. He hadn't said a word, just contemplated her silently.
She didn't know what had come over her that evening, why on earth she had thought that getting behind the wheel of her car was a good idea. She couldn't blame the alcohol. Although she'd had too much to drink, she'd known what she was doing and it wasn't even as if she particularly liked driving. Normally, she have much rather hailed a cab, knowing she could leave her car at Lily's overnight and pick it up another time. Her body and mind were numb with shock, shock at her own behaviour and the consequences that could have resulted had Alex not turned up when he did. She suspected that Lily had called Tom, with whom he'd obviously been that evening, and she probably owed Lily big time for that phone call.
She heard him enter the room and looked up as he handed her a glass of water and, still silent, moved to sit in one of the armchairs that faced the bed, under the window. At a loss for words, she wasn't sure how to break the silence. He was watching her carefully, his expression deliberately neutral. She knew she had to attempt to explain, even if that explanation was an honest admittance that she had no idea why she had acted in the way she had.
"I'm so sorry," she said quietly, "I just don't know what happened."
Isabelle's Story, A Bentley Sisters Novel Page 10