Thud. Thud. Thud.
Bea bolted upright in bed, ‘What’s that noise?’ She shook Nathan, who was still fast asleep. ‘Wake up, you’ll sleep through anything, you will,’ she said in a disgruntled manner.
‘Huh,’ he answered, rubbing his eyes, ‘It’s Sunday. Where’s the fire?’
‘I’m not sure, listen.’
They both listened.
Absolute silence.
‘You’re dreaming.’
‘I’m not,’ Bea insisted, but was beginning to wonder whether Nathan was actually right.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
‘See,’ she said, jumping out of bed and grabbing her dressing gown from the back of the door.
‘That’s the front door,’ Nathan claimed, sliding into a pair of tracksuit bottoms and throwing a t-shirt over his head.
‘I hope Jacob doesn’t wake up,’ Bea said, bounding downstairs and grasping the front-door keys from the hall table.
‘Let me go first. Think of the babies.’
‘I’m quite capable,’ Bea grappled with the lock and flung open the door, while Nathan peered over her shoulder.
Standing in front of her was Fern, her eyes were dark and she was visibly shaking.
‘She had to die in your arms, didn’t she,’ the venom in her voice sent a shiver down Bea’s spine and she could feel her own cheeks burning as she locked eyes with Fern.
‘What are you doing, shouting the odds at this time in the morning? Are you drunk?’ Nathan asked, his eyes narrowing at her.
‘Drunk? You have the audacity to call me drunk?’ she bellowed. Her eyes were red and bulging.
‘What exactly are you doing here?’ Bea said, her tone direct.
‘This, this is what I am doing here,’ she spat, rustling in her bag and pulling out an envelope.
Bea and Nathan stood rooted to the spot. ‘What’s that?’
‘Here, take it,’ she said, thrusting it into Bea’s hand.
‘Give it to me,’ Nathan said, taking a moment to digest the information inside the envelope.
‘What is it?’ Bea asked, trying to read over his shoulder.
‘It appears to look like your mum’s will and from what I can see … she’s left everything in a trust for Jacob, until he’s eighteen.’
‘That about sums it up,’ Fern said, fuming. ‘Where have you been for the last few years while I’ve nursed her, fed her and bathed her?’ She jabbed her finger towards Bea.
Bea had to admit, she was a little taken back by her mum’s decision. It wasn’t what she was expecting in a million years and she could see why Fern would be a little rattled by her decision.
‘This was my inheritance, mine, and you’ve snatched this away from me. This was my chance to …’ Fern stopped in her tracks.
‘Your chance to do what? Come on, to do what?’ Bea probed, seeing for the first time the anguish in Fern’s eyes.
Fern didn’t answer.
‘Maybe it’s time you left,’ said Nathan, trying to usher Bea back into the house. ‘We don’t need to get into slanging matches at this ungodly hour on the doorstep.’
‘Is that all you’ve got to say?’ Fern’s face was flushed and she was staring straight at Nathan.
‘Look, Fern, I can’t change this decision and please don’t come around here again shouting the odds.’
Fern raked her hand through her hair, the unshed tears glistened in her eyes. ‘You don’t understand,’ she snatched the letter out of Nathan’s hand, ‘I needed this, I was relying on this,’ She said, waving it in the air.
Bea narrowed her eyes at her sister. ‘Why do you need the money so badly, are you in trouble?’
‘What would you care if I was?’
‘Try me.’
‘I need a fresh start, away from here before it’s too late, that’s all.’
‘Always a drama queen,’ Nathan rolled his eyes.
Bea flicked a stare between the pair of them, ‘Make a fresh start from what?’ she asked, not letting the subject drop. ‘I think you’d better come in,’ Bea said, as she stared at her sister.
‘Are you serious?’ Nathan questioned his wife, who shot him a warning look, and he was immediately silenced.
Fern stepped into the hallway, much to Nathan’s displeasure, and followed Bea into the living room.
‘Have a seat,’ Bea gestured towards the settee while she sat in the chair opposite and Nathan hovered near the fireplace.
Bea stared at Fern, who looked visibly uncomfortable sitting there, but there was something telling Bea there was more going on here. She had a gut-wrenching feeling in the pit of her tummy.
‘Why do you need the money that badly?’ Bea asked tentatively, trying to coax her sister to talk.
‘You aren’t going to believe me if I told you.’ Fern’s voice faltered and her face crumpled. She bit down on her lip and blinked back the tears.
Bea handed her a tissue from the box on the table and Fern dabbed the corner of her eyes.
‘I know you’ve lost mum and I do understand your grieving,’ Bea spoke softly.
‘It’s not that.’
‘Well, what is it? It can’t be that bad that it can’t be fixed. Are you in debt?’ Is that why you need the money?’
Fern shook her head, ‘It’ll be easier if I just show you.’
Bea’s mouth became dry and her palms sweaty as she watched Fern slip her arms from her coat. Bea and Nathan watched, both wondering what the hell was going on.
Fern rolled up the sleeves of her jumper and Bea and Nathan looked horrified. ‘What are they … burns?’ stammered Bea.
Fern nodded, ‘He does this to me, he twists my wrists and stubs his cigarettes out on me.’ Fern stared towards the ground then swept her fringe to one side before flicking her teary eyes towards Bea.
‘I needed that money to escape from him. I couldn’t do it before. I couldn’t leave Mum, but I knew once she was gone it was my chance, it was my chance to make a run for it. Start afresh somewhere else, where no one knows me and where he could never find me.’
Bea got up and sat herself down next to her sister on the settee, ‘Why the hell haven’t you told us before?’
‘How could I?’ she paused, ‘After that night you cut me out of your life, and I don’t blame you, I would have done the same in the circumstances, but I couldn’t stand up to him, I was crying inside.’
She lifted up her jumper to reveal bruising to her ribs, ‘This is what happens if I stand up to him or look at him in the wrong way.’
Bea gasped and stared, devastated at the hurt and pain that her sister had endured. ‘Oh Fern.’
‘That night, the night you came to pick up Jacob,’ said Fern, ‘I didn’t mean to just stand there, I really didn’t. I felt so ashamed, I wanted to scream at him for calling Jacob what he did. I wanted to scream that he was a heartless bastard. When Jacob was crying in his cot, he wouldn’t let me pick him up or comfort him. Pete said he needed to learn that just because he cried didn’t mean I would go to him and comfort him. But please believe me when I say, I knew he was safe in his cot, I knew he couldn’t go anywhere and if I did try and go to him, I was frightened he would harm him too. I’m so sorry, I really am.’
Fern could barely breathe as Bea put her arms around her sister and pulled her in close. ‘You’re safe now,’ she whispered. ‘Nathan put the kettle on.’ Bea glanced over her sister’s shoulder towards him.
He nodded and immediately disappeared into the kitchen without saying a word.
‘Two days before that night …’ Fern wept, ‘I lost my own baby and couldn’t tell a soul. I didn’t even tell him I was pregnant. I was scared witless.’ Fern was shaking and wept into Bea’s arms.
‘I just don’t know what to say,’ Bea whispered, ‘Except, no one is treating you like this again, do you hear me?’
Fern barely managed a nod.
Bea’s heart was thumping, ‘How long has this been going on?’
Fern sat back and hugged a cushion to her chest. In a trancelike state she began to talk. ‘For the first six months everything was okay. Pete treated me like a princess and I felt a million dollars. He wined and dined me, bought me the most lavish gifts and I fell in love with him, but when I got my promotion at work things began to change, slowly at first. He’d been made redundant and began to drop me off at work in the morning and he was always there picking me up in the evening, even though I’d insisted on numerous occasions I wanted to take the bus. It gave me a bit of me time, time for my own thoughts on the way to and from work.’
Bea nodded.
‘Then one evening, he just lost it. He’d arrived early and spotted me talking to my boss Dan outside the building. Pete went berserk, accusing me of having an affair and all sorts. When we got home, he pushed me to the floor and I hit my head against the corner of the coffee table. I remember feeling a warm, throbbing sensation and realised I was bleeding. It was the first time he’d laid a finger on me. He was sorry, of course. In fact he went into complete meltdown, blaming it on being at home with no job, feeling worthless and threatening to leave me because I deserved better. I honestly thought he was depressed and that it was just a one-off. But over time he became more possessive. He didn’t like me going out with my friends, or work colleagues, he’d get jealous of me even talking to anyone else and the abuse became more frequent. I was too ashamed to ask for help,’ Fern sobbed.
Bea slumped forward with her head in his hands. ‘This is just awful,’ her voice barely a whisper.
‘Here, take this,’ Nathan said, perching on the edge of the coffee table and handing them both a cup of tea.
‘When Mum became ill it gave me the perfect excuse to spend a couple of hours away from him. I could just sit by the side of her bed and everything was calm, well, for a short while, at least, and then when she died …’ Fern broke down.
‘You didn’t have that escape. Come here,’ Bea took the mug from her hands and held Fern as she wept into her arms.
‘I don’t even have a job now. He made it so difficult for me to go to work. He’s made it so I only have him to rely on. That’s why … that’s why I needed this money. I was going to run away from it all.’
‘I promise you, you’ll never be scared again, don’t we, Nathan?’
‘Of course,’ replied Nathan, ‘You’re safe now. Move into the spare room until the twins are here.’
‘Twins? You’re pregnant?’
Bea smiled, ‘Yes, we are expecting twins.’
‘That’s fantastic news, congratulations to you both.’
‘Thank you, honestly we won’t take no for an answer, move in and we can sort out a more permanent plan later.’
‘I can’t do that,’ sobbed Fern.
‘You can. This will be the last place he will look. No one is ever hurting you again,’ said Bea, giving Nathan a warm smile for suggesting it.
‘Thank you, thank you both so much.’
‘You don’t need to thank me, that’s what are sisters are for.’