Abbi... Page 10

  Soon enough George was back with a small bundle. He handed it over to the man.

  “It’s all there?” the man asked.

  “Yes. Five thousand. You will get the other half when I see that you have done it. You only have two weeks to carry it out otherwise I might change my mind,” George replied.

  “You keep that much in cash at a place you aren’t even staying at, at the moment?” the man asked.

  “Yes,” George said. He evidently wasn’t going to elaborate further. The man was thinking that George kept a lot of money in cash. He wanted to bribe and pay more people for… undesirable activities. The man swept of into the night leaving George on the pavement.

  George had pled an urgent meeting to his family and left immediately. The truth was he wanted the best for this unpleasant business. He knew that the best man for the job lived in London between operations.

  We would see how it turned out, he thought to himself and went to get some sleep before his early morning train back to his family.

  The next day Mark’s mum was making some bacon sandwiches for breakfast, while Mark and Steve sat at the kitchen table.

  “Where’s dad?” Steve asked. Now that Steve had mentioned it their father had been missing all yesterday and he wasn’t here now.

  “He had to go back to London,” their mother said. “Apparently it was “urgent” but then it always is with him.” Their mother went back to frying the bacon. Now that Steve had mentioned it, it was odd that his father had left. Mark hadn’t spoken to his father since the morning after the ball at Greenford hotel. Mark had expected his father to be ranting and raging at him. But he wasn’t. For the main, George was ignoring his eldest son. Maybe he thought the problem would vanish if no one talked about it. That was certainly not the case. Mark loved Abbi. He really did. He had never felt like this before. He was not going to leave her because his father didn’t approve.

  “What did you think of Abbi mum?” Mark asked. She was plating up the bacon sandwiches and brought them to the table before answering.

  “She’s lovely,” she said. “She was polite and charming and well mannered and beautiful.”

  “But?” Mark asked.

  “She isn’t really suitable for you, Mark,” she said. Mark’s mouth fell open. “Can you honestly see this working out in the long run?” Mark felt he had nothing to say to this. “Go on, eat your sandwich,” his mother urged.

  “I’m not hungry,” Mark said and dashed from the kitchen. He left the house as fast as he could. None of them understood a thing about him. Mark didn’t want his parents life of arranged marriages, money being more important than life, business arrangements and social position. It wasn’t worth the hassle. He didn’t want any of it. At the moment he wanted Abbi. He thought he would go around and see her.

  When he got there Eleanor told him that Abbi was still asleep. Mark left Eleanor on her own as she looked in a bad mood. Mark was going to come back later when he had an idea. He walked around her house and stopped outside her bedroom window. She had forgotten to draw the curtains the night before and Mark could see her in the early morning light.

  She looked gorgeous. She was lying on her stomach and she wasn’t wearing anything. Her blonde hair was trailed down her back. Mark could see her face in profile. He thought he had never seen anyone so beautiful as she was. In that moment he knew he would never leave her.

  He couldn’t have explained it to himself but he knew it was right. He loved everything about her. The way she looked at him. The way she smiled. Just the way she was. He turned to leave her but she fidgeted in her sleep and curled up around herself. She was now facing the window. He didn’t want to leave her so he kept watching. Until the sun was much higher in the sky.

  Abbi was waking up. She knew she was awake but she kept her eyes shut. She was so comfortable. In her dreams she had been reliving the last couple of days. They had been very good. She opened her eyes and saw Mark at her window, watching her. He froze when he saw that she was awake. Abbi was so shocked at his appearance that she didn’t move for a second. She then grabbed a sheet off her bed and went to the window. As she opened it Mark wondered what she would think of him watching her like that.

  “Morning,” she said. “What are you doing?” Abbi didn’t sound mad, he thought. Before doing anything else he gave her a deep kiss.

  “I was watching,” he said.

  “Couldn’t you have found anything more interesting to watch?” she asked lightly. He shook his head and kissed her again.

  “Do you want to come for a walk with me?” he asked.

  “Yeah sure. Give me a minute to get dressed.” Abbi turned away and was about to drop the sheet when she noticed that Mark hadn’t moved. He had a boyish grin on his face. She walked back up to him and said very quietly, “Are you going to leave?” He shook his head while grinning from ear to ear.

  “No,” he whispered. He gave her another kiss.

  “Fine,” Abbi said sighing and she dropped her sheet, quickly getting dressed. Mark had seen her naked before, of course, after the ball. She still looked more stunning without any clothes on. Neither of them said anything to each other until Abbi was ready to leave.

  “I’ll say good morning and goodbye to my mum and I’ll be out,” she said. Locking the window as she went. Within no time at all she was outside with Mark and they walked down to the beach.

  “They’re beginning to put pressure on you,” Abbi said to Mark. “Aren’t they?” she added. Mark nodded.

  “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “None of it matters.” They were sitting down on the sand. It was early so there were very few people around so they had space for a private conversation.

  “This is never going to work,” Abbi said.

  “What’s not going to work?” he asked.

  “You and me,” she said sighing. “It will never work. Eventually everyone else will manage to split us up. We should stop seeing each other while the goings good.”

  “No,” he said immediately. “I don’t want to stop seeing you. I love you.”

  “I love you so much it will hurt not to see you,” she said. “It will hurt me very much but it has to stop. The longer it goes on the worse it’s going to be when we break up. You are leaving here in a matter of weeks. Maybe even days. Then what? What will we do when this summer ends?”

  “I have and would put everything on the line for you, Abbi,” he said. His voice was rising now. “I have so much more to loose than you and it doesn’t bother me. Why should it bother you?”

  “I have already lost my heart, Mark,” she said quietly. “It feels like I will never get it back. When you leave you will be taking my heart with you. Where will that leave me?”

  “I am so in love with you. I am loosing my family. I could loose my inheritance. But I don’t care! I thought it was all worth it. For you! For us! Now you are telling me that you want to stop seeing me!”

  “I don’t want to stop seeing you. I don’t want you to loose your family or inheritance for me, which is why I think we should stop seeing each other.” Abbi’s voice was getting quieter as Mark’s was getting louder. “You haven’t answered my question. What will happen when summer ends and you leave?”

  Mark didn’t reply. He kissed her fiercely. She tried to stop the kiss but she couldn’t. All at once she stopped trying to pull away from him and kissed him back just as passionately. He felt her response and eased away from her slowly. “I can’t leave you. Even if I am not here, I won’t leave you.” Abbi knew what he meant. He was trying to tell her that wherever he actually was, his heart would be with her. She had been trying to say the same thing earlier.

  They decided that they would try to stay in touch with each other. When Mark had finished at Oxford University he would come and visit her again. May seemed such a long time away but they didn’t know what else to decide.

  Later that day Abbi was at home alone as Eleanor was delivering some ironing. There was a sudden knock on the door. A
bbi got up and opened the door to find Jessica standing there. She looked quite run down and was wearing jeans. Abbi had never seen her in jeans before.

  “Hi,” she said calmly. “Can I come in?”

  “Give me one good reason why I should let you into my house,” Abbi said furiously.

  “I’ve come to apologise,” Jess said. Abbi took a moment and decided that she was being sincere.

  “Alright. Come in. I guess I have time to hear an apology.” Abbi led the way to the living room and both women sat down. Abbi kept her eyes on Jessica’s face warily.

  “I am very sorry about trying to go after Mark. It was wrong and there’s no other way to put that. It was plain wrong. I’m also sorry for that rumour at the ball about Mark. I had nothing to do with it,” she added catching the look on Abbi’s face.

  “It was my mother who started it because I told her I was giving up on Mark. She wanted Mark and I to be an item. I had a lot of pressure on me to make that happen from both my parents. But I am truly sorry that I hurt you. Or him.”

  “My mother doesn’t understand me or my decision to stop trying to get him to notice me so I’ve finally left her house. I just needed to tell you that I‘m not usually a bad person. I just made a bad decision.”

  All through her speech Abbi felt herself softening towards her. “You’ve left your house?” she asked when she found her voice. Jess nodded.

  “Do you accept my apology?” she asked formally. “I don’t really blame you if you don’t.”

  “Yeah, I do. I’m far too nice for my own good,” Abbi said with a laugh. Jess smiled too. “Where are you living then if you aren’t at home?”

  “Oh um. Back seat of my car I guess. Its as good a place as any.” Jess looked slightly embarrassed as she mentioned that.

  “Don’t you have any plans at all?” Abbi asked her.

  “No. It took a lot of courage for me to leave that house. I focused my energy on that rather than what I would actually do next.” Jess looked really upset as she told Abbi that.

  “If it’s alright with my mum you can sleep on the sofa.” Abbi told her.

  “Are you serious?” Jess said astounded. “I can’t ask you to do that. I’ve been a total bitch to you.”

  “True. I can’t make you take the offer but our sofa is free if you want it. Told you I was far too nice.” Abbi smiled in spite of herself. She didn’t know what her mother would make of this but Abbi didn’t think she would be too upset.

  “I’ll make up the last month or so of my behaviour,” Jess said seriously. “I promise.” At this point Jess went to her car to grab her suitcase. Probably so Abbi couldn’t change her mind.

  By the time she got back to the house with her single suitcase Abbi was having second thoughts. “Mark will be around here a lot okay? If I even get a whisper of you being up to your old tricks you will be praying that I kick you out of here.” Jessica nodded. She perfectly understood what Abbi was saying and where it was coming from.

  “I won’t be here too long,” Jess said slowly. Abbi had a cupboard in her room which wasn’t exactly empty but with a little rearranging she could manage to get one draw free.

  “You can put some of your things there,” she said. Abbi still wasn’t convinced she was doing the right thing. It was too late now though and she couldn’t go back on her offer. Well, she would see what happened when it did.

  In the end Eleanor didn’t mind much that Jessica was staying on their sofa. She had just one condition. “You must phone your parents and let them know you are okay and safe.” Jess agreed that she would. The next day when Mark came to see Abbi he was very surprised to bump into Jessica.

  Mark knocked on the door as always and Jess had answered it as Eleanor was out and Abbi was in the bathroom. Mark stood on the doorstep and his mouth fell open. What on earth was Jess doing here!?

  “Come in,” she said and turned around back into the house. Mark followed her.

  “Um… Is Abbi here?” he asked. He felt wrong footed. This was perhaps the last place on earth he would expect to find Jessica Carter.

  “Yeah, she’ll be here in a minute. Jess went back to watching the television as she tucked a stray lock of red hair behind her ear.

  At that precise moment Abbi came out. “Hi,” she said. “I need to talk to you.” She led the way to her bedroom. Once the door was closed she turned to speak to him. However before she could open her mouth to speak Mark had kissed her.

  “Good morning,” she said when they parted.

  “What…?” Mark started to say but he never got his head around the words.

  “I know,” Abbi said knowing what he was trying to say. Abbi lowered her voice and continued speaking. “She turned up yesterday and apologised for everything that she had said and how she had tried to interfere in our relationship. She said the pressure her parents were putting on her was very hard to deal with. I believed her. She said she had left her home and I asked if she had anywhere to go. She said she was planning to sleep in her car. I offered her the sofa. It’s as simple as that.”

  “You didn’t have to let her move in just because you felt sorry for her,” Mark said.

  “I know. What do you think about her?” Mark took a moment to think and frame his words carefully before he spoke.

  “At the ball she I told her it wasn’t going to work. Her messing with me and you. She said it was her family rather than her. She was just going along with it. I do feel a bit sorry for her. We’ll see.”

  “Yeah that was my reaction too.” Abbi and Mark lapsed into silence each thinking about Abbi’s new housemate.

  That was the night that Abbi was attacked.

  Chapter 10

  Attack

  Abbi was walking home from work that night when something tragic happened. She was halfway home when she got the feeling she was being watched. It was nothing particular just a sixth sense. Suddenly without warning a dark figure came out in front of her. She jumped out of her skin and turned to run. Before she had even stepped two paces away the figure pounced on her.

  Before she knew what had happened she was knocked off her feet and was flat on the floor. The man had a hand over her mouth so she couldn’t scream out. His other hand had grabbed her arms so she couldn’t move either. Before he had got a good grip on her she struggled violently to try to make him let go of her. He slapped her face and her head swung back. That split second when Abbi froze was all her attacker needed to get a decent hold of her.

  Instinct took over and she bit the man’s hand which had been muffling her as hard as she could. He grunted with surprise rather than with pain and backhanded her across the face again. She was still struggling to get away from him. Without warning a white hot pain went through her once, twice, three times. Almost instantly her eyes clouded over. She heard no more and everything went black.

  Eleanor was woken at one in the morning by her phone ringing. This was going to be bad news. No one called at one in the morning unless it was bad news. “What is it?” she said immediately as she grabbed the phone.

  “Is this Eleanor Wilkins?” said a voice on the other end of the phone.

  “Yes,” she said sitting up. “What’s wrong?”

  “Your daughter is in hospital,” said the voice.

  “What! What’s happened!” Eleanor had sat up in bed and was holding onto the telephone for dear life.

  “It seems that she has been stabbed.”

  “Which hospital is she at?”

  “St Mary’s,” with that information Eleanor hung up the phone and raced to her car. Before she got there she bumped into Jessica.

  “The phone woke me up. What’s going on?” Jessica had rumpled hair and it was clear she had just woken up.

  “Abbi’s in hospital. She’s been stabbed. I have to go.” Eleanor ran past her before she could be questioned any more. Jessica was now wide awake. This was bad. Very bad.

  By the time Eleanor got to the hospital she was regretting not talking longer on th
e phone. She had thousands of questions running through her head and had been throughout the entire journey. Who found her? How many times has she been stabbed? Who stabbed her? What are her chances looking like? How long had she been in hospital? Why had it been her? She just wished she could turn her brain off.

  Eleanor had fallen asleep before Abbi got home from work. She was so stupid! Finally she drove up to the car park and ran into the hospital and was at the reception desk.

  “I need to know where my daughter is. Abigail Wilkins,” she said as quickly as she could. The receptionist was taking the slowest amount of time she could looking it up.

  “Okay,” she said. “And you are?”

  “I’m her mother,” Eleanor said irritated.

  The receptionist had finally found Abbi’s name on the clipboard. Eleanor could tell from her face that whatever it was, it wasn’t going to be good news. “Right, she is in emergency surgery at the moment. Take a seat and I’ll find a doctor to tell you more,” she said sympathetically as Eleanor‘s face went white. Eleanor walked slowly and sat down in the waiting room. St Mary’s was a small hospital. Were they absolutely sure this was the best place for her? Maybe she should go to a larger city hospital with experts. Eleanor sat there thinking hard.

  Within ten minutes someone a doctor was with her. “Eleanor Wilkins?” She nodded unable to speak properly.

  “I’m afraid to say Abigail has been stabbed several times. It seems she was attacked for her bag. When she got here we had to immediately take her into surgery to repair the damage.”

  Eleanor swallowed and found her voice after a few seconds. “What are her chances?”

  The fact that he didn’t say anything greatly increased her fear. “We are doing all we can,” he tried to assure her.

  “That means that she is going to die. Should she go to a larger hospital to give her a better chance?” Eleanor said.