Second to Cry Read online

  ‘You can go in the pool tomorrow,’ Deena told him.

  ‘Pool!’ the toddler pleaded again.

  ‘Davis Jeremiah Fern, get in the house this instance!’ Deena managed to raise her voice enough to be taken seriously and both her sons obediently left the terrace and entered the house through the kitchen.

  Deena followed them, but before she went inside she paused and glanced over at Aiden. It was hard to read her face as she’d lowered her sunglasses to cover her eyes. It was as if she was going to say something but then decided against it.

  She went inside and closed the patio door behind her, leaving Aiden and Samuel alone once more.

  ‘I apologize for that…display,’ Sam said before taking a long sip of his drink.

  ‘It’s quite all right,’ Aiden lied. It was the most uncomfortable he’d been in a long time. He just felt like he didn’t belong, that even sat in his own skin he didn’t seem to quite fit. There was nothing he disliked more than being present when couples fought. There was something so private about a disagreement between lovers and to bear witness to it felt like you were gaining access to the intimacies of their relationship.

  ‘Deena forgets her place sometimes,’ Sam continued, making excuses for what had just transpired.

  ‘If you give a woman everything she wants, you reach a point where she just thinks she is entitled to everything.’

  Aiden wasn’t sure how to respond, it was hardly an issue he could relate to.

  ‘So as you can see, it’s not going to be easy to get her on board with the paternity test.’

  ‘She’s spirited,’ Aiden offered kindly.

  ‘She’s spoilt,’ Sam immediately corrected him. ‘I know I’m partly to blame but still…’ his voice broke off and he stared off into the distance, momentarily lost to his own thoughts.

  Aiden felt that it was time to leave. He’d had enough dramatics for one day.

  ‘Well it’s been lovely meeting you,’ he began making the required motions for his exit.

  ‘Yes, you too,’ Sam said, smiling at him, but the smile didn’t extend to his eyes which remained hard and cold. Both men stood up and shook hands.

  ‘My secretary will show you out,’ Sam said, sitting back down as Aiden made to leave. ‘I’m sure you understand that I want to stay out here for a while longer. Give things a chance to cool down inside.’

  ‘No problem, see you again, Mr Fern.’

  ‘You too, Mr Connelly.’

  Leaving the heat of the terrace, Aiden entered the pleasant cool of the kitchen which was eerily quiet. He glanced around for any signs of anyone but the entire room was empty. Relying on memory as Sam’s secretary hadn’t materialized, he made his way back to the foyer.

  He could now hear distant sounds coming from the upper level which must have been Deena and the boys.

  His footsteps clipped as he briskly walked along the marble floor, eager to leave.

  When at last he was within the sanctuary of his own car, Aiden allowed himself to relax and shake off the stiffness of being in an uncomfortable situation.

  He began to drive home, the large gates automatically granting him leave as he approached, asking no questions as if the fortress knew that all he wanted was release.

  On the radio a country sang twanged out, this time about two men being in love with the same, unobtainable woman. Aiden mused over what had occurred at Samuel Fern’s home and what he dwelled upon, what he found most troubling, was how distressed Deena Fern had been upon learning he was Sam’s lawyer. She had gone from sassy and confident to meek and fearful in the blink of an eye. He wondered if she did have something to hide. Maybe Sam Fern’s instincts were right.

  Looking up, Aiden noticed that the sky was no longer open and blue. Clouds had formed on the horizon and seemed to be closing in. As beautiful as the sunshine was, it couldn’t last forever. You need a rainstorm to wash everything away so that the next time the sun shines,the slate has been cleared.

  Chapter Three

  Down Will Come Baby

  After putting Meegan down for a nap, Isla lingered near her bedroom window, her gaze fixated on her mailbox. Several days had passed since she’d received the last ominous note. As much as she tried to tell herself that there was nothing in it, that someone was just playing childish games with her, she couldn’t shake the feeling of unease which followed her throughout the day.

  As she looked out, she saw a car approaching. There was something peculiar about the car and as Isla watched she realized that it was driving extremely slowly, almost crawling along the street.

  She took a sharp intake of breath when the car came completely in to view and that it was a patrol car belonging to the County Sheriff’s Office. Isla quickly moved away from the window and hid by the wall. She listened as the car’s engine grew louder as it crept by her own house and after a few elongated minutes the sound became more distant as the vehicle pulled away.

  Isla was satisfied that the car was gone and so she carefully peered back out of the window. Immediately she looked down at the mailbox but the arm was still down.

  ‘Mommy!’ Meegan’s shrill voice suddenly howled, splitting through the air with the sharp precision of a knife.

  ‘I’m coming!’ Isla shouted and left her vigil by the window to check on her daughter.

  Meegan had been rattled by a spider and so refused to get back in to her crib until a thorough search of her bedroom had been conducted, which would require Aiden’s presence. So instead of sleeping in her crib she fell asleep in Isla’s arms. Struggling slightly beneath the weight of her growing daughter, Isla wandered back into her bedroom and looked back out of the window. She tensed when she realized that the arm of the mailbox was up once again.

  ‘Shit,’ Isla couldn’t stop herself from cussing but luckily Meegan slept through it. Carefully Isla carried the little girl downstairs and out the front door with her to the mailbox. With one hand she managed to pop open the front door and felt her stomach drop when she spotted the white envelope. She placed it between her teeth as she shut the mailbox back up and headed inside.

  Placing Meegan in her travel cot in the lounge, Isla sat down heavily on the sofa and surveyed the white envelope. The front was blank, no addressee. For a moment she didn’t dare to open it but then her curiosity got the better of her and she ripped it open and unfolded the note contained inside.

  The same erratic lettering. A different, yet still menacing message.

  Get Out While You Can.

  Isla’s grip tightened on the note. There was no misinterpreting the author’s intention. Barely daring to breathe, Isla looked over at her sleeping daughter who was so innocent, so small and so painfully vulnerable. Isla knew it was time to make Aiden aware of the notes; they’d gone beyond a joke and escalated into something far more troubling.

  *

  Isla seemed distracted over dinner. Meegan was upstairs, sleeping soundly, the heat of the day making her more tired than usual, so it was just the two of them sitting down to eat which was a rare occurrence. Usually Isla would take advantage of such a situation and light candles and open a bottle of wine, but there was no ceremony for the meal. Just two plates of meat loaf.

  ‘So how is the case coming along?’ she asked between mouthfuls, but then looked away as though she didn’t care for the answer.

  ‘It’s…interesting,’ Aiden admitted, more interested in what was troubling his wife.

  ‘Mmm,’ Isla gave a non-committal response.

  ‘I think it has the potential to get a lot messier than I anticipated.’

  ‘Uh huh.’

  Isla would normally jump on such a comment, demanding to know the ‘messier’ details. Something was definitely wrong with her. Aiden put down his cutlery and looked her square in the face.

  ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘What?’ Isla feigned surprised.

  ‘You’re behaving oddly, what’s the matter now?’

  The inclusion of the word now seemed t
o irritate Isla and her eyes narrowed.

  ‘I’m fine.’

  ‘Seriously, what’s wrong?’ Aiden pushed.

  ‘I’m fine.’

  ‘Isla, I’m not an idiot. I know that when a woman says she’s fine she means the exact opposite!’

  ‘I’m really fine.’

  ‘Can we just skip to the part where you tell me what’s wrong, please?’ Aiden sighed, feeling drained from the argument he’d previously witnessed at Samuel Fern’s mansion and not wanting to enter into one of his own.

  ‘It’s just,’ Isla picked absently at the remains of her dinner as she tried to find the words.

  ‘Just what?’

  Aiden was tired himself. The last thing he wanted to do was deal with whatever issue his wife currently had. In an ideal world he’d be able to just go up to bed and sleep. But Isla would only be unbearable the following day if he did that. Aiden ran a hand through his hair and wondered if he was heading in the same direction as Samuel Fern, if one day all that would remain in his marriage would be bitterness.

  ‘I don’t think I can stay here any longer,’ Isla told him, her voice rising slightly from nerves. ‘I know you like it here, and I know you think it’s best for Meegan for us to remain here, but I get a vote too and I’ve given the rural life a try and it’s not for me.’

  Isla thought of the note, now torn up with the trash. As much as she wanted to ignore the notes, she couldn’t help but agree with their sentiment; that it was time to leave.

  She seemed to relax a little after delivering her statement. Aiden was quiet as he took in what she’d said. He’d felt this moment was coming, ever since they had first arrived in Avalon, but he was too tired to deal with it.

  ‘You just need to give it time. Once you make friends you’ll feel more settled here.’

  ‘I’ve given it time!’ Isla shot back angrily. ‘I’ve given it months of my time, of Meegan’s time, but nothing changes. This isn’t where I want to be, Aiden! We don’t have an infinite supply of time; I’m wasting my life being here! Everyone here hates us and wants us gone! I’m completely alone here!’

  ‘You’re completely alone? So what, you’re saying you don’t have me?’ Aiden asked, his voice cold and tinged with spite. It wasn’t like him to be so hostile, but his increasing fatigue had stolen from him what little reserves of kindness he had left.

  ‘That’s not what I’m saying,’ Isla stammered out the words, visibly shocked by Aiden’s reaction.

  ‘Of course I’ve got you. I just don’t want to be here. Don’t you care about my happiness?’ she asked, sounding hurt.

  Guilt settled upon Aiden’s shoulders; a heavy, unwanted weight that he wasn’t in any state to carry. Had he been so blind to his wife’s happiness? He always thought that each protest she made, each whinge of despair, was just part of her nature to be overly dramatic and she had a spoilt streak a mile long. He’d hoped that living in Avalon would help curb that, make her more humble. What if he’d been wrong and all he was doing was making her suffer and that she’d never change?

  ‘I care about your happiness,’ he told her earnestly, reaching across the table so he could hold her hands.

  ‘Good,’ Isla sniffed tearfully. ‘I want us to be happy.’

  ‘Me too!’

  Without warning the image of Brandy appeared in Aiden’s mind. Reminding him of his heart’s desire which he chose to ignore. He pushed her face away, determined to focus on the moment, on his family.

  ‘Are you really hating it here so much?’ he asked gently.

  As much as Aiden liked Avalon, there was perhaps a time when, if Isla had protested enough, they would have relocated back to Chicago. But not now, the city was no longer an option for them. Because Brandy was now there, which would make life difficult. Which would cause Aiden conflict. He thought of her enough when she was miles away. If she was in the same city, if he risked bumping in to her on his morning commute, he wasn’t sure how he’d cope.

  ‘It’s just getting unbearable,’ Isla admitted, glad that her husband was finally taking her anguish seriously. ‘Something happened today that made it worse.’

  ‘What happened?’ Aiden asked, alarmed, instantly fearing that Buck Fern had been around stirring up trouble.

  Isla internally groaned and wished she’d not been so hasty in tearing up the note. Without evidence Aiden would be less likely to believe her. She’d have to fob him off with something else for the time being. Besides, she was certain that there would be more notes, no matter how zealously she tried to ignore them.

  ‘I’d gone to the grocery store,’ Isla began. ‘Meegan was playing up with the heat so I thought it would be nice to get myself a treat, you know, something to cheer me up. So I went to have a look through the magazine section.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘And I had a look for a copy of Vogue. You know how it’s always been my favourite.’

  ‘Right,’ Aiden was unsure where the story was headed.

  ‘Well, it wasn’t there. No surprise, right? As if anyone in this hick town cares about fashion. All their clothes are from the flea market!’

  ‘So you’re upset because you couldn’t find a copy of Vogue?’ Aiden asked incredulously.

  ‘No, not just that. I went to the guy at the register and asked if they ever have a copy in.’

  ‘Okay…’

  ‘And he was like, “no, let me ask Ralph”, this other loser working there. So he asks Ralph or whatever his name was and they both started laughing at me. These two spotty high school drop-outs were laughing at me! I’ve never been so outraged in my whole life! I mean, what sort of a shit stain of a place is this that they don’t have Vogue!’

  Isla exhaled, her cheeks reddened with fury as she relived the encounter.

  Aiden watched her closely, waiting to see if she was joking only to sadly realize that she was being completely serious.

  ‘You know you can just order Vogue online, right?’

  ‘That’s not the point.’

  ‘Then what is the point?’

  ‘This place! It isn’t me. I care about fashion, about designers, about the latest trends. The people here live in a goddamn bubble and I’m sick of it!’

  ‘But you can still care about fashion and all that. Just order Vogue online.’

  ‘You’re not getting it!’ Isla screamed at him in frustration.

  ‘What exactly aren’t I getting?’ Aiden shouted back. ‘That you are so vacuous that you want to leave somewhere just because they don’t stock an overpriced fashion magazine?’

  ‘It’s all of it!’ Isla wailed.

  ‘You are so selfish!’ Aiden seethed. ‘I genuinely thought that your concerns were legitimate. That maybe you were just really struggling here but, actually, you’re getting upset about something so minor, something so insignificant!’

  ‘It’s significant to me,’ Isla told him coldly. ‘But then you don’t seem to care about what matters to me. You’re too busy either working or taking Meegan out. You don’t take me anywhere.’

  ‘So now you’re jealous of our daughter?’ he asked in disbelief. ‘You’re crazy, you know that? I’d take you out but you refuse to go anyway around here.’

  ‘I’m miserable and I want to leave here!’ Isla cried.

  Aiden stood up to leave, tired of arguing over something as trivial as a magazine, though he did make a mental note to set up a standing order of Vogue online for Isla, for his own sanity as much as hers.

  ‘Why can’t we go back to Chicago?’ Isla demanded. Aiden was almost through the door when she added bitterly, ‘it’s because she’s there, isn’t it? God, Aid, you’re just so infatuated with her it’s pathetic!’

  He immediately knew she was referring to Brandy. Was he really that transparent with his feelings?

  Aiden turned to look at her, his eyes watering. He needed to say something, to reassure her that Brandy wasn’t an issue between them. As he stood, dwelling on what to say, the plaintive sounds of cryin
g came filtering down the stairs. Their shouting had awoken Meegan. Aiden glanced upwards and then back at Isla who was now weeping gently at the table. It made him feel sick to think that he’d upset her like that.

  ‘I’ll go and see Meegan,’ he told her, his voice soft, the hostility of the argument melting away. Isla didn’t answer.

  It took Aiden a while to calm Meegan down.

  ‘Daddy, why you yell?’ she asked him repeatedly through her floods of tears. He rocked her gently in his arms, reassuring her that everything was okay.

  ‘Mommy and Daddy are just tired,’ he told her, ‘people shout sometimes when they are tired. You know how grumpy you get when you don’t nap?’

  This seemed to make sense to Meegan and she rested her head on Aiden’s chest, feeling sleepy once more.

  ‘We go to the game?’ she asked before putting a comforting thumb in her mouth.

  ‘Yes, sweetheart, we’ll go the game tomorrow.’ Since Aiden had become aware of the football scene in Avalon following his involvement with the Brandon White case, he’d tried to attend as many games as possible, soaking up the community spirit and enjoying the jovial atmosphere.

  Meegan especially loved it, always insisting on being purchased a foam hand – she now possessed quite the collection, along with popcorn. It was a fun night out for them all. Although Isla only sometimes joined them, she found the games too rowdy.

  After putting Meegan back to bed, Aiden walked into his own bedroom to find it in darkness. Isla was already lying beneath the sheet, her back to him.

  ‘She’s okay now,’ he updated his wife on their daughter but she didn’t answer. ‘Look, I’m sorry,’ Aiden sighed, always trying to heed his mother’s advice and not go to bed on an argument.

  ‘For what?’ Isla challenged, turning to face him. Even in the dim light he could see that she had been crying, her cheeks were red and puffy.

  ‘For making you doubt things.’

  ‘Is she an issue?’

  ‘No, of course not.’ Aiden leant forward and kissed Isla on the lips. ‘I know you hate it here,’ he whispered to her, ‘but I truly believe that this is the best place of us. Please just give it a bit more time and if you’re still desperately unhappy we can discuss moving again.’