Chapter 5

I awoke very late in the morning to find an empty space beside me in the bed. I could vaguely hear Susan singing somewhere in the cottage. I got up but couldn't find my robe, so I slipped a pair of Levi's on. I found Sue in the kitchen.

"Hi, darling," she said as I entered the kitchen. "I was making us breakfast and was going to bring it up to you."

"Thanks, love, but I think we should eat it in here. The bedroom's a real mess."

"I know. I'll have to clear it up in a minute. I'm sorry but dad's just rung. He's bringing the children over for a little while. Apparently they are driving him and mother crazy. They want to see that we are back together for themselves. I made them promise that they wouldn't stay long."

"It's to be expected. We've got to think of them."

"It's a shame I didn't think of them that..."

I cut her off by raising my hand.

"Susan, please don't go there. We've had enough pain over the last couple of years. That's all over now; you have punished yourself enough. If we're going to get over this thing completely, you've got to forgive yourself. That's why I wouldn't spank you last night."

"I know, darling, but I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive myself. I'll always remember what I did to you, and the children."

I had to get Sue off the subject. She was still tearing herself up and I had to stop her somehow.

"Tell me something, Sue. How come Mark Trerise and his wife became such good friends of yours? You were never that friendly with him when you worked for him, and he did give you the sack?"

"Oh, dear, poor Mark, he felt so guilty about it. It turned out it was him who told Gary Wilson that I was in Basingstoke, and he thinks Gary might have got my cell-phone number out of his files as well."

"It was while the divorce was going on. He came round and apologised to me. Apparently he and Gary went out for dinner one lunchtime and Gary just mentioned in passing that he hadn't seen me around the office lately. Mark told him I was on leave, looking after Ann's children in Basingstoke. It was only after he heard Shirley asking the girls in the office which silly cow had told Gary where I was, that he realised what he had done. He was devastated and blamed himself for the whole episode. I told him that Gary would most likely have winkled the information out of one of the girls. But poor Mark blames himself for this entire thing happening, and he had to go to court over it as well. They gave him this bound-over thing as well as a fine."

"What the hell did he have to go to court for?"

"Ah, well, you see, when he came to see me, I told him that the first time Gary called me, it was on the pretence that Mark had told him to call me to clarify some details of a contract I had been working on before I went to Ann's. Mark was furious. He reckoned that Gary had used him to set me up. So he went up to Gary's house, ostensibly to collect Gary's company car. From what Dougie said - he's the guy who drove Mark up there - Mark and Gary had a real slanging match on the doorstep, and then they came to blows. Doug said that all he could do was stand and watch, as both of them are much bigger than him.

"Anyway Gary came off worse, but poor Mark got arrested and charged with affray or something. It cost him £200 in fines and he was bound over for a year. But he says, he thinks he will now be able to look you in the face the next time he sees you. Oh and he said one of the policeman told him he should have had the same restraint that you had shown. I assume it was the same policeman you spoke to that night."

"Maybe I should have given Wilson a good hiding."

"Oh, no, you got him fired, and he has lost his driving licence and from what I have heard, his wife has divorced him as well. They wrote and asked me to be a witness, but they never called me in the end. No, I think you handled it almost perfectly, Donny. Although I do wish you had confronted me when you saw us coming back from the restaurant. I know that you would still have left me, but the bastard wouldn't have got his damned cock in me."

"Look, we've got back onto that subject again. I thought we agreed to forget it."

"Donny, I think we won't be able to forget it until we both know everything that has happened. I think we will just have to grin and bear it."

"Okay, then, Susan, but there's been one thing that has always bugged me. What did you take out of the car that night?"

"What do you mean?"

"When you came from the restaurant, you got something out of the car."

Susan looked thoughtful for a moment, then her eyes lit up.

"Oh, god, Donny, I didn't take anything out of the car that night, I hid something in there. Give me your car keys quickly. Oh, god, I hope it's still there."

Susan grabbed my keys and ran out to my car.

"God, I'm glad you haven't changed your car," she said as she opened the boot.

She almost climbed inside digging around in the corner of the trunk area. A smile came on her face and she triumphantly pulled a small polythene bag out from behind the panelling.

"Here," she said as she handed me the bag. "When you're ready, I hope you'll give them back to me."

Inside I found Susan's wedding and engagement rings, along with a gold locket and its chain.

"I'm sorry, I knew he was going to fuck me; I felt so guilty, so I took them off. There are pictures of you and the children in that locket. Remember you gave it to me for my birthday. I couldn't wear them while he..."

Susan's voice faded into tears, and I pulled her close and hugged her. I realised that I don't think she will ever be able to get over what she did that night. I'm pretty convinced that she has not got the faintest idea why she really did it. I made a mental note that sometime I would have to get her to see a councillor. You never know where guilt like that can lead.

I lifted her hand and put the rings back on. She looked up at me, smiled and then went to remove the wedding ring, but I stopped her.

"Leave it on until after the children have been here. They might not understand if you don't have them both on. We'll make it official as soon as we can, but wear it for now."

"Thank you, Donny, I love you so much."

The sudden arrival of Susan's parents with the children threw us into a panic. Sue was naked except for my robe and I only had a pair of Levi's on. Sue ran back inside and up to the bedroom; I could hear her crashing about trying to hide all her toys and make the room look presentable.

The children piled out of the car demanding to know were their mother had gone. But my father-in-law was grinning from ear to ear.

"Sorry, a bit early for you, are we? I hope you had a good honeymoon night."

"Better than the first one, Jack. Come in, I'll make some tea."

The children ran upstairs and I could hear them banging on the bedroom door. It was apparent that Susan had taken the precaution of locking it.

Ten minutes later Susan came down dressed in another pair of my Levi's and one of my shirts that she had tied at the waist. The clothes swamped her but she somehow managed to look beautiful in them. Her mother handed her a bag and said.

"If you'd waited a few minutes, you could have put some clothes on that fitted you. Susan, if you must run about outside dressed in nothing but Donny's robe, will you please at least do the belt up? You've got neighbours here, you know."

"Sorry, mum, I was excited and didn't think."

"Well, if you're going to be a respectable married woman again, it's about time you behaved like one."

"Lay of her, Louise, we've settled our differences. If she wants to run around the garden naked, I won't object."

"Well, I bloody well will. She's my daughter and I can't go through the last three years again."

"Donny, don't you think you better get dressed if we're going out to lunch," Jack butted in. He could see the conversation was likely to get out of hand.

Susan expressed her surprise as she thought her parents and the children were not staying very long. We all pretended not to hear her objections and hints that she and I should be left alone.

We went out to a pub for lunch and then took the children to the beach. Susan's frustration was really showing by the time we got back to the cottage. And I think she was really getting angry when her father and I started to light the Bar-B-Q.

It didn't seem to come into her mind that she had been set up. I had called her father at some ridiculous time during the night and, between us, we had planned the next couple of days.

When we got a quiet moment together, I asked her father.

"Did you manage to find it alright?"

"Yes and you were right, it's valid for a couple more years. Mother had a lot of trouble picking out some clothes for her. You know she hasn't been taking as much care over her choices in clothes since you been gone. She's actually been dressing quite dowdy. Luckily she hasn't changed in size much, so Mother's packed some of her older stuff. We'll have everything at the airport in the morning."

"Thanks, Jack. We can buy anything else she needs over there. Are you sure you two don't mind looking after the kids for another month?"

"We'll look after them forever if it helps to get you two back as you were."