Abbi... Read online

  “You’re going to break up with me,” she said looking down at the floor. “Aren’t you?”

  “No,” he said quickly lifting her face so he could look into her eyes.

  “You’re just saying that.” Her eyes were filling with tears. “You know it’s only a matter of time before your father makes you leave me.”

  “My father can’t make me break up with you. I am not going to leave you because I love you.” There was a very loud silence. He had not meant to say that. He realised that it was the truth though as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

  Abbi just stared at him. “I love you,” she said. They then kissed each other for a long time.

  It was late morning and most of the party goers had packed their things and were ready to go home. Abbi was going home with Mark in his car, the same way they had got there. Abbi was staring at her suitcase thinking about what had happened since last night. She got her phone out and asked him if he had finished packing yet in a text. She didn’t fancy bumping into one of Mark’s parents at the moment.

  Within five minutes there was a knock on her door. Abbi got up and opened it to find Mark standing there. “You ready to leave?” Without waiting for an answer he gave her a kiss.

  “Yeah,” she said when he let her go. They started to leave the hotel with their cases. “Are we going to say goodbye to anyone?” Abbi didn’t really fancy another meeting with his father.

  “Nope,” Mark said immediately. They were both wheeling their suitcases in the car park by now, walking along the rows of cars looking fir Mark’s. “I’ve already said goodbye to my mother and Steve. My father can go and rot in hell for all I care.”

  They had got to his car and Mark unlocked the car boot and was loading their things into the car. “You don’t mean that,” Abbi said. In response Mark looked questioningly at her. “About your father,” she added.

  He slammed the car boot a bit harder that necessary. “Yes I do,” he said getting into the car. Abbi followed suit. Within five minutes they were on the road and neither of them had said anything.

  “What did your father say about me?” Abbi asked. Mark didn’t sat anything. He just stared at the road concentrating on his driving. “Come on,” she said. “Look I know it was bad. I can tell from your reaction. Considering it concerns me I would like to know what he said.”

  “Okay,” he said. “But if I tell you, don’t think for a second that it’s how I feel because its not. Also please don’t hold it against me.” Abbi nodded. “He said that you…” Mark tailed off.

  “Go on,” she said. “Oh please go on. I really want to know what he thinks the worst of me is.”

  “First of all he didn’t even say your name. He just called you “that waitress” or “she.” He said that my behaviour at the ball had embarrassed him as I only danced with you not his contacts daughters or the right people. He told me that I was threatening my inheritance. He said that you were a gold digger and he implied that you wanted to get pregnant so that you could get your hands on his money.”

  Silence descended upon them. Abbi could feel it separating them. Each of them were drifting away on their own thoughts. Abbi wasn’t particularly surprised at George Hammond’s reaction towards her. She had been thinking things like that anyway. Hearing it in words though put a different look on it. This all suddenly seemed so much more real. She glanced at Mark and saw that he looked very frustrated. She put her hand on his leg.

  “I don’t blame you,” she said very quietly. Mark was concentrating on driving but his frown had eased slightly.

  “I knew you wouldn’t,” he said simply. He turned and pulled into a lay-by. “I don’t know what to do here,” Mark sighed. “I am going to carry on seeing you. That is going to make my father furious for his own twisted reasons.” He looked at her, his eyes filled with emotion. “I can’t stop seeing you. Which means I am stuck,” he finished succinctly.

  “We could stop seeing each other,” she whispered. He looked at her speechless. “I don’t want to,” she added. “Your life is in London anyway. It was never going to be forever. It was always going to end up badly. We…” She couldn’t say anything because Mark had kissed her. He slowly let her go.

  “What was that for?” Abbi said smiling.

  “I am not going to stop seeing you,” he said determinedly.

  “But…”

  “No but’s,” Mark said cutting her off. “We will discuss problems as and when they occur. Okay?”

  “Your whole way of life depends on your father’s money,” she said. “I don’t want to be responsible for you loosing that. Any of it.”

  “Shh,” he said holding her face. “We’ll deal with that later. If my father is really that intent to take away my future money it will take ages to settle anyway,” he assured her. “I am the only feasible option at the moment. He has been training me up for at least ten years to one day take over from him. Steve wouldn’t know the first thing about running the company and he doesn’t want it either. Forget about him Abbi.”

  He kissed her once more. “Seriously Abbi, forget what he said. None of it matters.” She nodded and smiled.

  “Come on, drive us home,” she said. Abbi gave him one more kiss and they drove off. Mark looked much happier. Abbi was uneasy. It could very well be true that no one could do the job that Mark had been trained to do without a longer time period elapsing. However it was also true that in under a month Mark would be going back to London without her. There was nothing she could do about that so, for the time being, she would bury her doubts.

  “You did what!” Jessica was pacing in the dining room. Her mother and father were sitting at the table. They had all left the hotel as early as possible. Both Jessica and her mother didn’t feel like lingering. They felt a great disappointment in the entire evening.

  “I asked all the girls in the bathroom to say horrible things about Mark to try and get that girl away from him,” her mother said looking at the floor.”

  “Pam, what did you tell them to say?” James said quietly still sitting down. Jessica’s father looked extremely disappointed.

  “You are going to be furious with me,” she said to both Jessica and her James. “No one said anything in response to this.

  “I got them to all be chatting in the bathrooms when Abbi walked in about how Mark only brought her to the ball so he could have sex with her.” Jessica’s mother was talking extremely fast. “Only I made it seem like it was a tradition of his and he had done this type of thing before. My plan didn’t work out because Mark and Abbi were with each other like nothing had happened when we left and had a look at them. That girl hadn’t believed a word I had said.”

  Jessica’s father looked livid at that. “Our savings are at breaking point. The only thing that is keeping us with the lifestyle that you have been accustomed with is our good name. You can’t go and do something like that. Word gets around. I told you to drop it,” He said. Both women knew that his voice went quieter when he was angry rather than louder.

  “I know you did James, I just couldn’t let it go.” Pamela was looking so depressed.

  “I told you that was ridiculous,” Jessica said still pacing up and down the carpet. “I don’t want anything to do with Mark! I’ve had enough mum. You are not going to push me at him anymore or anyone else for that matter okay? He is not interested and neither am I.” Jessica stormed out of the room leaving her parents to it and rushed upstairs. This situation just seemed to get worse by the day.

  As Steve was sitting in his parents car on the way home he was thinking. It had been a good weekend ball. He knew his father was still dwelling on the Mark Abbi situation. Steve couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. She was beautiful and charming. She had been polite and friendly. Abbi didn’t do it for him but if Mark was happy (and he was evidently besotted with her) what was the problem?

  Steve had had an extremely eventful evening. He had been set up by his father to take Grace. Steve hadn’t liked it b
ut he couldn’t think of a way to get out of it and as there was no one else he wanted to take, he went along with it.

  She had seemed so scared that she didn’t say anything. However out of his parents ear shot, she suddenly became animated and she smiled a lot. Grace had looked gorgeous. Yes it had been a good weekend.

  Abbi was beginning to relax by the time they were almost home. Mark’s mum had liked her. She had at least made an effort. Abbi knew that his father’s opinion would probably never change. There was nothing she could do about that so she would stop worrying. If Mark didn’t care then she shouldn’t either.

  “Are you’re parents at home yet?” she asked. It was starting to rain outside now.

  “No. Why?” he asked her.

  “I thought you could show me where you live,” she said. He seemed to think about it for a moment.

  “Yeah okay,” he said. They carried on driving home the way she knew. Before turning into her lane they turned right and came to a stop. The rain was lashing down on the windscreen and he pointed through the blur.

  “It’s there”, he said. It was the only house on that side of the road. It was twice the size of Abbi’s house and it was gorgeous. They only used it for a few weeks a year. Life wasn’t fair she thought bitterly. She tried not to begrudge Mark, but she couldn’t help it. He had such a charmed life. He was so lucky and he didn’t even know it.

  “What’s wrong?” he said suddenly bringing her out of her thoughts.

  “Nothing,” she lied.

  “Come on, spit it out,” he said smiling.

  “I was thinking about your holiday home,” she said carefully.

  “You were thinking that a house this big is completely wasted on us. Being that we are hardly ever here and that we take up local property.” He sounded like he had heard that argument many times before.

  “Not quite like that,” she said. “I had actually segued into thinking how lucky you were and you hadn’t even realised it.”

  “Do you want to come in?” he asked. She shook her head.

  “I think I’ve had enough of your family for one day,” she said calmly, smiling.

  “You are right,” he said quietly. “I am lucky. But if I could trade in all of my money, my fathers money to have a normal family that isn’t governed by social positioning and business contacts and money. I would do it you know,” he told her.

  “That is very easy for you to say when you’ve got money,” she said sadly. “When was the last time you needed a new pair of shoes to go to school and looked at the price and put them back? When was the last time you couldn’t pay the phone bill so you were disconnected?” She looked at him through her tears. She wanted to stop crying but she couldn’t. “When I was six I woke up one day and daddy wasn’t coming back home and I didn’t understand why. Suddenly we didn’t have enough money to pay the rent, water bill, even to buy enough food to survive once or twice. We couldn’t even afford things like the bus. So it’s easy enough to say you’ll give up the money when you have it.”

  Abbi was crying silently. She hadn’t wanted those thoughts come to mind. But they had. Mark put his hand up to her hair. She batted him away. “It’s so easy to say that,” she said. “When you have no idea how hard it was to live on benefits. Just to carry on, day after day.” After that she was so upset that she stormed out of the car. It was still pouring with rain but she didn’t care. It was only a short walk to her house from there anyway.

  “Abbi!” Mark yelled. He had got out of the car and was running after her. Within seconds they were both soaking wet and he had caught up with her.

  “I’m sorry for getting so mad. I’m completely crazy,” Abbi said. Mark put his hand gently over her mouth to stop her talking.

  “I’m the one who should be sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to make a comment like that that would upset you.” She wanted to say something but his hand was still covering her mouth. “I had no idea how hard things have been for you in the past Abbi. I’m sorry. I won’t be that insensitive again.” He took his hand away from her mouth and replaced it with his lips. After a moments surprise she was kissing him back passionately. When they stopped Abbi spoke.

  “I don’t know why I thought of those things. I have kept those feelings buried for so long and…” he kissed her again. She felt dizzy. He held her tightly as she grasped him closer. Abbi took his shirt off as quickly as she could and felt his muscles. She could feel her own clothes coming off. They slowly fell to the floor as they carried on kissing each other. The rain was still pelting down on them but neither of them noticed. Mark couldn’t believe this was happening but was powerless to stop it.

  Before either of them knew what had happened they were both lying naked in the grass with the rain still lashing down. Abbi was quickly getting to her senses and was trying to find her clothes so she could get dressed or at least covered up. Mark was quickly following suit, realising that no one could find them like this.

  Abbi was amazed at what had happened. They both clearly had no sense of restraint! At least around each other. They were both finally dressed and they were drenched. Mark loosely put his arms around Abbi and she smiled. They kissed in the rain for a few minutes longer. Until they forgot about the rain.

  When Abbi got up to the door of her house she waved goodbye to Mark. She opened the door and almost bumped into her mother.

  “Hi Darling. What happened to you?” her mother looked shocked. Abbi caught sight of herself in the hall mirror and could see why her mother was so shocked. She looked like she had been swimming in the ocean with her clothes on.

  “It’s raining outside,” Abbi said cheerfully, dumping her suitcase in her room. “I had fun mum,” she said and went and kissed Eleanor’s cheek. As Abbi went into her room to get changed Eleanor sat and thought about her daughter. She had come home in high spirits despite the weather. Eleanor thought that Abbi probably had slept with Mark over the weekend. Abbi was setting herself up for a fall though. Because Mark would leave here and leave her. He would have to.

  Chapter 9

  Graveside

  Mark came around to visit Abbi the next day. He was about to knock when she came bursting out of the door.

  “Oh hi Mark,” she said while looking like she wanted to get away.

  “Hi,” he said and gave her a quick kiss. “Where are you going?”

  “Um… I was going to visit my dad,” she said uncomfortably looking down at the floor.

  “Okay,” he said. “Do you want me to go. I’ll go. I’ll meet up with you later.” He was already walking away from her.

  “Come back here,” she shouted after him. “You could come with me.” She wondered where that had come from. Abbi thought that she didn’t want to be alone though. He nodded slowly. They left and started to walk across the footpaths to the cemetery.

  Mark didn’t know what to think. He was going with his girlfriend to visit her dead father. Every instinct was telling him to run in the other direction. But he stayed with her. He wanted to be there for her. Even though it scared him slightly.

  Abbi was leading the way across the cemetery. Soon enough she had stopped by a grave that he assumed to be her fathers. Abbi sat down by it. Mark read the gravestone.

  Simon Wilkins. Beloved husband and father. There was a small poem there too. In the boundless sky the bird is soaring, Above, one lonely gull is cawing, For her loved one that was left behind, The one that she can no longer find.

  “That’s the poem you read to me on our first date,” he said. She nodded.

  “I remembered it when I saw that bird. My mum picked out the poem when he died.”

  “How often do you come here?” he asked. He was very curious about that. After all he had died over thirteen years ago.

  “I’ve come here about once a month since he died. My mother has never been here since the day we buried him.” Abbi stood at the grave for a long time. Mark by her side.

  When they both left the cemetery Abbi was in silence.
Mark kept asking her things and she wasn’t responding.

  “Come on Abbi say something!” Mark burst out.

  “What do you want me to say?” she asked quietly. Mark put his arm around her shoulders.

  “Anything,” he said. “What are you thinking?” She took a deep breath and stopped walking.

  “I was wondering why you came with me here,” she said. “It’s not exactly the best place to go on your holidays is it?”

  “I came so I would be here for you. I love you,” he said softly.

  “I love you too. I’ve never been to my fathers grave with anyone else,” Abbi said as they carried on walking. Mark didn’t know what to say to that so he said nothing. After a while Abbi kissed him. He wrapped his arms around her and returned her kiss passionately. She stopped and leaned her head against his shoulder while he ran his hands through her hair.

  “Thank you for coming with me,” she said. Mark could see that she meant it from the way she was looking at him. He kissed her again and took her home.

  “I want it done properly alright?” George Hammond was speaking to someone in the darkness outside his London flat.

  “It will be done properly,” the man assured him. “When will I get my money?”

  “When I am satisfied that you have done it to my standard,” George told him. He turned to leave but the man grabbed hold of his arm.

  “That’s no good. I want at least half now. I need some money to trust that you are going to pay me the rest. The way you are leaving it I will get nothing until you say so. That just won’t work.” The man let go of George. “Alright?”

  “Fine,” George said after a moment. “Wait here and I’ll get your half of the money now.” George left and went upstairs in the building to get the money.

  The man he had been talking to leant against the wall, hiding in the shadows. He wasn’t sure he could trust George Hammond but if he didn’t pay the full amount when it was done he would regret it. He was glad he was wearing black now. There weren’t that many people around as it was late. The few that were there were walking slowly looking at everything. He didn’t want to stand out.