Abbi... Page 15

  “Do you like it?” she asked. He didn’t bother to reply but kissed her instead.

  “Come in,” she said. “I’m freezing.” He had a look at her. She hadn’t even put shoes on when she came out to meet him. Her scars on her face had faded to pink thin lines now. They looked much better now than they had over the summer. She looked much happier now as well. He put his arm around her as they went inside.

  They sat down in the living room next to each other holding hands. She was still wearing the silver ring he had given her. Seeing that she was still wearing it made him feel very contented. “How long are you staying for?” she asked.

  “Until January 2nd,” he said smiling at her. She kissed him passionately.

  “I’ve missed you so much,” she said when she stopped kissing him. “Are you here on your own or are your family with you?” she asked.

  “I’m on my own,” he said quickly. She beamed at him.

  “Are you staying at your holiday home?” she asked him. From her face he could tell that she was thinking of their last night there in the summer.

  “Yes,” he said.

  “Let’s go there,” she said. “My mum and Jess will be home soon. I want to have some privacy with you.” He nodded and they left the house after Abbi had written a note to her mum.

  When they arrived at his holiday home they both picked up his suitcases. Mark stopped facing the door. He stupidly realised that he didn’t have a key. He had idiotically left it at home. Abbi noticed what was the problem. She got the key out of her pocket. He looked incredulously at her.

  “I kept it after the summer,” she said shrugging. “Just in case.” They both carried his suitcases into his room. Instantly Abbi felt the memories of the last time she was here dragging her back. She remembered how they had drunk champagne and they had made love in this room. She swallowed trying to forget their last goodbye.

  “I love you,” she said quietly. He smiled at her, dropping his suitcase on the floor. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her until she was gasping for breath. She couldn’t let him go. Part of her was afraid that if he let go of her, he would disappear back to London. Away from here. Away from her.

  With neither of them knowing quite how it had happened they had made love to each other and were lying naked in bed holding each other.

  Mark said gently, “Your scars have healed really well.” She shrugged. It was true they had. The ones on her body had become practically flat and were white lines. The ones on her face were just pink lines.

  “I didn’t come to see you for sex,” he added. She smiled.

  “I know that,” she said. Mark noticed that she looked slightly upset.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked stroking her back lightly.

  “I just keep remembering the last time we were here,” she said and swallowed. “I know you will leave again but at the time it was just… awful. And it hurt like hell.” He held her and looked deep into her eyes.

  “Stop thinking of that,” he said softly. “I said I would come back and I have. I missed you.” He kissed her neck and she smiled.

  Abbi’s phone started ringing. It was her mother. She put her fingers to her lips so Mark would be quiet. She answered.

  “Where are you?” came a worried voice.

  “Don’t worry mum I’m fine,” Abbi said. Her mother didn’t respond straight away. Abbi heard her breathing heavily down the phone.

  “Say hi to Mark for me,” her mother said. Abbi was shocked into silence. “No one else would make you leave the house that quickly,” she said while Abbi was gathering her scattered wits. “And Christmas is coming so he must be here to visit you.” Her mother hung up the phone.

  “My mum says hi,” Abbi said stunned.

  “You told her I was back?” Mark asked stunned. Abbi shook her head.

  “No I didn’t. She guessed,” Abbi said. They both burst out laughing.

  A few hours later Jessica called her. Abbi wanted to speak to her so she excused herself from Mark’s company and walked outside so she could have some privacy.

  “I should have known,” Jess said happily as Abbi answered.

  “What?” Abbi asked.

  “Only Mark could make you leave the house that fast.”

  “Yeah I know. I have really missed him. You know how much I missed him. I must have been driving you crazy the amount that I went on.”

  “No more than usual,” Jess said and they both laughed. “So have you slept with him in the few hours since he’s been back?”

  “Jess!”

  “I take that for a yes then!”

  Abbi was lost for words for a moment. “Yeah, take that as a yes. I can’t stop smiling.”

  “Dangerous combination. Sex and love,” Jess said seriously. “You know how bad this will hurt when he leaves again.

  “Yeah I know,” Abbi said sighing. “But I’m not going to think about that while he’s here. It’ll only ruin the precious little time we actually have together. It’ll hurt anyway no matter whether I have been keeping my distance or not.”

  “Probably.”

  “Look I hate to be terribly rude but…” Abbi was interrupted by Jessica.

  “But you want to get back to Mark. Don’t worry I understand. Thousands of friends wouldn’t.” Abbi could tell she was having a laugh.

  “I’ll talk to you soon,” Abbi said. They disconnected the call and Abbi returned to Mark.

  Later that evening Abbi said she wanted to take him somewhere. He drove the car and she screamed directions at him while they both laughed. After about forty minutes driving they were in the middle of the countryside with nothing but fields for company.

  “You are sure you know where we are going?” Mark asked her.

  “Oh Yeah,” she nodded. “Turn left and we are there at the end of this road.” Mark obliged and she told him to stop outside a house.

  “Stay here,” she said. “I’ll be back in a minute.” Mark was left in the car bewildered as Abbi knocked on the door. A woman of about sixty opened the door. Abbi and the woman spent a few minutes chatting and then Abbi gave the woman some money. Abbi was then walking back to the car.

  “Come on,” she told him. He slowly got out of the car and followed her to a shed. There were hundreds of different pairs of ice skates there. “Take your size and follow me,” Abbi said. He did as she said. She went out of the other door of the shed and there was an ice rink in front of him. It was of medium size and there were thousands of tiny fairy lights above it. All in white it looked like a Christmas card.

  They were the only ones there, Mark saw. “What is this?” he asked slightly awed.

  “What does it look like?” she said brightly. By this time she had taken her shoes off and had her skates on. “Come on, Mark.” She said while she skated off. He followed suit and changed his shoes to his skates. He was much more unsteady on the ice than she was. After about twenty minutes he had got the hang of it though and he followed her around the rink.

  “How did an ice rink get to be built in the middle of nowhere?” he asked her as she circled around him.

  “Well there is a story to it,” she said. “Rumour has it that one Christmas morning many moons ago the pond froze over. Mr and Mrs White and their seven kids spent Christmas day on the ice. They had so much fun that they decided to build an ice rink that would be there every year for their family to enjoy. So every year at Christmas their children and grandchildren would come home and spend the morning skating around the ice.”

  “However they froze the water over at the beginning of December every year so all their friends could enjoy it too. At present only locals really know about it and they are still more than happy to let us use it. Their children don’t come home anymore. No one knows why. I’ve skated here every year since I was five. They like to keep the ice rink going just in case one year their children or grand children turn up,” Abbi finished.

  “That’s quite a story,” Mark said. He came up very close behin
d her and put his arms around her waist. She was surprised by this and moved away. Mark immediately lost his balance and fell onto the ice. When he got up he was soaking. Abbi burst out laughing. He came after her and she raced away from him. She started too quickly and slipped over herself. They both got up drenched with the top layer of slush on the ice soaking them. They both laughed at each other and spent the hour chasing after each other.

  The old woman in the house was watching Abbi and Mark chasing each other, sighing to herself.

  “That could have been us,” she said to her husband. She looked at him and realised that he was asleep. She smiled to herself. She had really wanted children. It had just never happened for them. She built this ice rink to hold onto her childhood memories. It also let her watch people in love. Nothing seemed more romantic to her at this time of year. That made her smile because she found Christmas a particularly lonely time. No children to laugh with her, only her husband who seemed to sleep more and more each year.

  She did enjoy watching people in love she thought as she sat down next to her husband.

  Mark and Abbi were sitting in the car laughing together as they drove home. They both looked like they had been thrown into a swimming pool.

  “That was a really good evening,” he said to her.

  “Yeah it was,” she said.

  “Do you want to come back to mine?” he asked. She didn’t say anything.

  “I should probably go home,” she said. He felt his heart sink. “I would love to go back with you, believe me. But if I did my mum would get seriously worried and probably drag me out of the house at two in the morning.” Mark nodded. He thought she was probably right anyway. He didn’t want to incur Eleanor’s wrath before he had even seen her.

  He parked outside her house and walked her to the doorstep. “Thanks for the ice rink,” he said gently.

  She kissed him then said, “I love you.” Before he could say anything else the door burst open and Eleanor was standing there. She didn’t look particularly angry he saw. He kissed Abbi once more.

  “I love you,” he said quietly to her and he said goodnight to Eleanor and he went back home.

  Abbi walked into her house while her mum looked at her. “You had a fun day?” her mother asked sarcastically. Abbi nodded and went for a hot shower. She was aching everywhere from where she had fallen and been pushed onto the ice. She was so happy he was back. Even if it was only for less than two weeks.

  Later as she curled up in bed she was thinking to herself. She hadn’t taken her ring off since the day he had given it to her. Not even to read the inscription. She knew what it said and that was enough for her. Today had been exciting and thrilling for her. It had been such a shock to see Mark outside that she could have sworn her heart had stopped until he held her. He was just as handsome as she had remembered. She couldn’t wait to see him tomorrow.

  The same evening Mark opened his wallet and looked at the picture of her. He would have to change that picture he thought. He would replace it with one of her with her shorter hair. He slowly took the picture out and looked behind it. There was the dark ribbon she had worn in her hair the last time he had seen her in the summer. He ran it through his fingers thinking of that time they had been together. Nothing else could bring her as clearly to mind as this ribbon did.

  At the moment he wanted to touch her face and to kiss her lips. He just wanted her. He put everything back where it was in his wallet and went to sleep. His dreams were filled with her. The way she laughed, how her smile lit up her eyes and the way she cried. Every piece of her.

  Early the next morning Mark was woken up by his phone. It was six in the morning. It was still dark outside.

  “Hello?” Mark answered.

  “Hi Mark its Steve.” Mark groaned inwardly. His brother always had a lay in even if he was meant to be somewhere else. Calling his brother this early in the morning meant there was something wrong.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked resigned to a long conversation.

  “You know Grace?” Steve said.

  “Yes, vaguely. The girl you were with at the ball in the summer?”

  “Yes well…”

  “Spit it out Steve,” Mark said impatiently.

  “She’s pregnant.” Mark almost dropped the phone. He couldn’t think of a thing to say. Luckily Steve got in first

  “She’s about four and a half months gone. It was after the summer. She didn‘t tell me. I visited her for Christmas and it‘s painfully obvious. I didn‘t tell her I was coming and there is something else too.”

  “What else?” Mark asked. He didn’t know what else there could be.

  “She is completely broke. She has no money, her family have no money. She was lying about everything. Just to seem suitable.”

  “Dad’s going to kill you.”

  “I know.”

  “All over the summer he was going on and on about “my tart” with no money or social connections and that she might get pregnant and he would have a bastard grandchild to support, when all along he was talking to the wrong son.”

  “Please don’t sound so arrogant and can you stop gloating,” Steve said. “I’m desperate here. What do I do?”

  “Steve there isn’t really a lot you can do,” Mark told him. “If she doesn’t want to get rid of it- and it sounds like she doesn’t, what can you do?” Mark heard Steve sighing on the phone.

  “Why are you calling me so early by the way?” Mark asked. “It’s not like this problem is going to evaporate with fast action.”

  “I haven’t been to sleep yet,” Steve said immediately. “Why does this type of thing always happen to me! It never happens to you. Not to the golden boy,” he burst out.

  “Maybe because you were having unprotected sex,” Mark said shrewdly.

  “Yeah well it’s a bit late to think about that isn’t it?” he said irritated. “What do I do?” he asked desperately.

  “You have to tell dad.”

  “He is going to kill me.”

  “It will be worse the longer you leave it Steve. You know it will be.”

  “Yeah.” Steve sighed. “I know. I will. I wanted to talk to someone else first. I couldn’t think of who else to call.”

  “Next time could you wait ‘til I’m awake,” Mark said stifling a yawn.

  “Yeah,” Mark could hear his brother smiling.

  “Let me know how it goes alright?” Mark said.

  “I will.” Mark put the phone down and rolled over to go to sleep. He couldn’t. Not now that bombshell had been dropped. Grace- pregnant. Their father would be furious when he found out. And he would have to find out. This type of thing never stays quiet for long. Mark was profoundly glad that it wouldn’t be him getting the bad end of his father’s temper. But then he and Abbi hadn’t been as stupid as Steve had evidently been.

  Over the next few days Mark and Abbi spent every free second together. They went shopping on the Christmas market on the last day it was open. They got some stranger in the market to take some new pictures of them laughing together. They went to one of those one hour developers as well to get the pictures before everything closed for Christmas day. And before Mark left. They even got a Christmas tree for Mark’s house. A little one.

  Eleanor, Abbi’s mother, seemed resigned to the amount of time Abbi was spending with Mark. She didn’t even try to stop Abbi spending Christmas Eve night over at Mark’s for which Abbi was very grateful.

  “I want you to come over here though,” Eleanor said. “I can’t spend Christmas day without you Abbi.”

  “Of course I would come and see you,” Abbi said. “Do you mind if Mark comes or do you want it to just be us two?”

  “Oh you can bring him over,” her mother assured her. “It’s not as if the house will be empty anyway what with Jess hanging around.” Abbi privately admitted that she had a point. Jessica had no intention of going home and seeing her parents at Christmas. As far as Abbi could tell she had no intention of ever seeing her par
ents again.

  Abbi had a bag packed and was leaving when she gave her mother a hug. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Abbi said. Her mother kissed her on the cheek and watched as Abbi walked over to Marks house.

  Mark was surprised to see her. He gave her a kiss hello and said, “I thought you would be at home for Christmas.”

  “My mum didn’t mind if I stayed here,” she said. “That’s alright isn’t it?” He answered her by kissing her passionately.

  “I would be delighted if you stayed here,” Mark said.

  “Good,” she replied and they both walked in to the house. They had spent quite a bit of time decorating the house for Christmas. It now looked very homey. She walked into the sitting room and was surprised to see a fire in the grate. She flopped onto the sofa and saw Mark standing in the doorway looking at her.

  “What are you staring at?” She asked. He didn’t say anything. Just watched her curled up on the sofa looking so comfortable. He walked over to her and gently kissed her.

  “I just can’t believe that we are both here, together,” he told her stroking her hair. They spent the rest of the evening chatting about nothing in particular cuddled up together by the fire.

  Before Abbi went to bed she hung up a stocking at the end of the bed and put Marks Christmas present in it. She then cuddled next to Mark. He kissed the top of her head gently. They went to sleep with their arms wrapped around each other.

  Mark woke up first in the morning and he looked at Abbi. She had her face turned towards him. He gently touched her face and she moved towards him in her sleep. On impulse he kissed her cheek. She was half awake and moved her arms around him.

  “Are you awake, Abbi?” he asked her. She opened her eyes slightly so they were slits and nodded, smiling. He kissed her lips and felt her respond which more than answered his question.

  She opened her eyes and said quietly, “Merry Christmas.”

  “Merry Christmas Abbi,” he whispered into her ear as he covered her body with his. Her hands flew up to hold his face as he made love to her more tenderly than he ever had before.