Chapter 13

“Couldn’t be ... what?” Mathew asked from the bedroom doorway.

Laurie looked across at him and her cheeks flamed red. “Oh, nothing ... I was just thinking of something and nothing really.” she stammered.

Mathew stepped into the room and strode across to stand over her.

“You were talking about the woman in my dream, and it made you think of someone.”

He crouched down and looked into her eyes, and for the first time, Laurie saw the pain and confusion there, the blind beseeching of her to trust him, to confide in him.

“Please,” he whispered huskily.

After a moment of indecision, Laurie sighed and then she stood up.

“I just need to go and fetch something from my apartment. I promise I will come straight back.”

Matt nodded guardedly and she literally fled from the room.

It actually took her nearly ten minutes and she looked decidedly flustered when she returned.

“I am so sorry; it took me a few moments to locate what I was looking for.”

“You were gone for more than just a few moments,” Matt snapped. “I was about to come looking for you!”

“Well, I’m here now, and my sister is on her way too.”

“Your sister? What has your sister to do with this...” his eyes narrowed and turned to black. “Do you know something or not?”

Laurie held her hand out, almost imploringly. “I am not certain, and I almost hope that I am wrong – but I will not say any more until Iris gets here – she deserves to hear this too!”

“I have waited for more than twenty years for this,” Mathew snarled.

“And so, another five minutes won’t hurt, uncle.” Michael said softly, he rested his hand on Mathew’s shoulder and gave a light squeeze. “Think about it, this might be a step to the beginning of you finally understanding what was lost to you, all those years ago?”

The sound of the elevator kicking into life could be dimly heard in the silence that followed.

Laurie turned towards the door and stood listening as the elevator travelled down, and then moments later it began its ascent.

“I think that might be them, now,” she said in a hopeful sort of way.

She moved across to the door and opened it just as the elevator arrived and the doors whooshed open.

“Laurie?” the light feminine voice was familiar and moments later the petite redhead appeared followed by her tall husband. “What’s going on here?”

“It’s okay, Iris – everything is okay.” Laurie hastened to reassure her sister and Iris’s shoulders visibly relaxed.

James draped a protective arm around her waist, even as he looked across at the two men.

“Everything may well be okay,” he murmured. “But something is still going on here?”

“Yes, you are correct in your assessment – but it is nothing to cause alarm.” Mathew said. “Laurie here is about to help me solve a little mystery – at least I hope that that is her intention?” he looked at Laurie, and she nodded almost reluctantly.

“Michael told me a little about your abduction, and beatings, and the consequences,” she began cautiously. “And he also told me about a recurring dream or dreams?”

“They are a confusion of dreams,” he nodded. “And I remember very little of them afterwards – just impressions really.”

“But you did remember something this time?” Laurie pressed gently. “A place ... or a person – a woman perhaps?”

“Not a place as such, but yes, I remember seeing a woman ... she seemed to know me, but I have no idea who she might be – although I think ... I think her name was Elle – or something like that.”

“Could you describe her, do you think?”

Mathew sighed. “Easily now. She seems to be imprinted on the back of my eyelids.”

He closed his eyes as if to prove the point and then opened them again.

“She is a small woman, similar in height to Iris,” he indicated towards her with a small impatient flick of his hand. Her hair is a reddish blonde – like honey; her eyes are green, and she seems so happy, so beautiful; she makes me think of spring ... full or potential – just about to burst into life...” He smiled a crooked self-conscious sort of smile. “Her name was something like, Elle – or Ella ... She fills me with warmth after a long cold winter!”

James’s head raised sharply, and his arms folded tighter around his wife protectively.

“Honey blond, but not red,” Laurie said quickly, “and this woman – she has been in your dreams only recently?”

Matt shook his head, “No, she had been there for years – but it is only now that I remember her clearly.”

Iris suddenly sucked in a gasp as she put the pieces together in the same way that Laurie had done.

“It can’t be!” she exclaimed.

“What?” Mathew snapped as his frustrated patience ran out. “What can’t it be?”

As Laurie held out her hand, he looked blankly at what she was holding, and then slowly he took the photograph from her.

The image behind his lids merged with the image in front of him. Large and alive in his mind against this small and frozen in time, it was the same woman.

“Who is she?” he whispered as his hands began to shake and the pain behind the scar began to throb.

“She is – was our mother,” Laurie finally shrugged as the emotion threatened to overwhelm her – as it always did when she thought of the woman who had birthed her – who she had never really known, other than this photograph that she kept with her almost always. “Our mother – and her name was Belle.”

Mathew put his hand to his head as the throbbing increased.

“Belle!” he whispered as images and memories flooded. “Belle ... and ... Seline was there too! They were friends!”

“Are you absolutely sure that you feel fit enough to drive?” Michael asked for the umpteenth time. “Are you certain that you do not want me to drive you there?”

“Yes, I feel fine, Michael,” Mathew said with a reassuring smile. “The pain is totally gone, and the sleep did its job. I shall walk to where I parked my car, and the fresh air will finish the job.”

“Breakfast is ready,” Laurie smiled as she walked through. “Hot food and a cup - or two of coffee will set you up for your drive too.”

Mathew grinned at her gratefully. “Yes, and both are most welcome. Thank you to you and your sister, for preparing it.”

As they all sat down to the early morning meal the conversation became more casual as it centred around Laurie’s fledgling business and Iris’s developing pregnancy.

That the men in their lives doted on them was obvious, as they encouraged and engaged in the women’s talk. And they all made sure to include Mathew in the conversations as well, refusing to let him just sit silently listening.

The table was filled with love and nurture and again Mathew had that sense of coming into warmth after a long time spent in a cold winter.

The sleep, the lack of pain, the food, all played their parts in fortifying him, but the most effective was sitting around that table with these people who were his family in way that his past relatives had never been.

As he walked beside Michael – who had insisted on seeing him to his car at the very least, Mathew felt that he could face anything right then.

His heart was light, and his stride was determined.

“Thank you again for your support these last hours, Michael; you have given me a course to follow after years of drifting.”

“I really hope that Seline will be able to tell you something more,” Michael stood by his uncle’s car and the two of them shook hands followed by a quick embrace.

“I will call you at some point and let you know!” Mathew promised.

“Call me to let me know that you got there safely first.”

“I will.”

Michael watched as his uncle drove down the street and then turned the corner.

This was the first time that he felt truly close to Mathew – the man, and he liked what he saw in him.

He hoped he would see more of his uncle in future and promised himself that he would make the effort to develop their relationship further.

Once out of London, the road opened up before Matt, and he sat back in the seat and allowed himself to relax.

He pressed the button for his phone and heard the speaker dialling his brother’s number.

“Matt!” Jonathon’s voice was clear over the sound of the engine. “How are you – is it all sorted in London, is everything okay, are you on your way back – when do you expect to get back?”

Matt chuckled as his brother absently rambled on, asking questions but not even waiting for answers. Eventually though he seemed to run out and an expectant silence followed.

“Yes, everything in London is sorted and arranged how you wished it to be. Everything is fine - I am fine. No, I am not on my way back as yet, and perhaps later in the week you might see me ... unless you need me urgently, of course.”

“Not on your way back yet? Are you still in London then?”

“No, I have just left London, but I thought that since I was in this neck of the woods anyway that I would call in to see Seline and take a look around that other house, that I mentioned before – if you can spare me?”