Second Time Around (29 page)

Just as Chantelle raised the knife Buddy threw his weight at her, knocking her back. Chantelle staggered and tripped backwards over the corner of the coffee table. As she fell the knife flew from her grip into the air. Chantelle hit the tiled floor moments before the knife plunged into her chest, skewering her on its blade.

Her head bounced once, then twice. Her head then rolled to the side, revealing scarlet rivulets snaking outwards on the tiles to merge with the matching coloured scarf around her neck.

Alec only spared Chantelle a glance long enough to ensure she wasn’t getting back up before dropping to his knees beside Halley who had slid down the wall to the floor.

“Oh my God,” he said, taking in the blood smeared down the wall to where it was oozing from a gash in her torn shirt. Not knowing what else to do he grabbed a cushion from the couch and pressed it against the wound.

“Don’t use that,” Halley protested weakly. “It cost fifty dollars. Use a tea towel.”

Alec couldn’t believe her priorities.

“You’ve got to be kidding.”

“You get the blood out of the cushion then.” Halley grimaced.

Deciding to humour her, Alec stood up and yanked out his phone to call for an ambulance. As he talked on the phone he grabbed the dish towel hanging off the handle of the wall oven.

“It’s damp,” he informed Halley then returned his attention to the person on the other end of the line. “Sorry, I was speaking to someone else.”

“It’s going to be wetter in a minute,” Halley muttered, holding out a hand for it.

“It won’t be sterile,” Alec protested.

“And you think a couch cushion is?”

Alec decided to put the snarky comment down to the pain Halley was in. He dropped the tea towel on the bench and grabbed a fresh one from a drawer. As he exchanged the tea towel for the cushion pressed against Halley’s side, Buddy dropped beside Halley and whined.

“You need treatment for your ear too, don’t you Buddy?” Alec commented as he stroked Buddy’s back then proceeded to ask the dispatcher if the ambulance crew could treat a dog.

“What made you come home?” Halley asked weakly the moment he had finished the call. She just wanted Alec to talk to her to take her mind off the pain.

“When I got to Rufus’ place I realised I didn’t want to be there without you so I told Leonora it would look less suspicious if the kids managed to break those salt and pepper shakers while I wasn’t around to keep an eye on them. It gave me an excuse to come home and leave the children behind.” Alec forced a smile, lifted his hand from the tea towel then tried to hide his dismay at the sight of so much blood seeping through it. He pressed it more firmly against Halley’s side, making her gasp.

“This is my fault. I never should have left you alone.” Alec sounded so stricken Halley raised one of her bloodied hands to place it over his in a comforting gesture.

“It’s not your fault. Neither of us knew that Chantelle was behind those stalker notes.”

Alec’s head jerked around to check on Chantelle’s lifeless body then whipped back to Halley’s.

“Chantelle was the stalker?” he said in disbelief.

Halley slowly nodded.

“It was part of her plan to get custody of the kids and get their inheritance.”

“If anything ever happened to you there is no way I would let the kids go with her,” Alec said vehemently.

“I know. It’s one of the reasons I love you so much.”

She loved him
. Despite the circumstances, Alec felt a bubble of joy well up inside.

“You could have told me sooner,” he said gruffly.

Through her pain Halley realised she hadn’t been expecting an undying declaration of love in return but she thought Alec could have said something nicer.

“Why? It’s not like you said it or anything.” The pain made her sound more petulant than she had intended. Alec met her eyes and in them she saw a mixture of love, fear and exasperation.

“I love you Halley,” Alec said roughly. “I’ve loved you since before we even married. How could you ever think I didn’t?”

Feeling left out, Buddy squeezed between them and whined. Halley wanted to pat him but found it hurt too much to move her arm and grimaced. Alec noticed her face turn ashen and ignored the dog.

“Let’s lie you down.” Alec spoke calmly despite feeling terrified. Halley was still losing a lot of blood. He snatched up the discarded cushion and eased her head onto it.

“It’s not hurting so much now.” Halley’s voice was weak and Alec worried that Halley was going into shock. Buddy dropped down beside her, licked the back of her hand and whined. Alec watched Halley’s fingers rise to rest on Buddy’s paw. It took a couple of moments before he realised she wasn’t going to pat the dog and his eyes shot to her face to discover that her eyes were closed.

“Halley, talk to me,” he commanded.

“So tired,” she murmured without opening her eyes.

“You can’t go to sleep!” Alec said harshly. “You need to tell me…” He needed a reason for her to stay awake. His eyes caught sight of the cushion underneath her hair. “You need to tell me how to get blood off the cushion,” he told her, grasping at straws.

Halley eyes fluttered then stayed closed. In the distance Alec heard sirens.

Three Months Later.

Halley sat in the medical centre’s waiting room awaiting the results of her blood test. After her recent experience with hospitals it was the last place she wanted to be but she had been having dizzy spells and Alec was worried it was in some way related to her abdominal operation months before.

She had been convinced it was only something minor and would come right on its own but Alec insisted she needed to see a doctor about it. In the end she agreed for his peace of mind more than hers. To make sure she went Alec booked the appointment and took time off work to accompany her.

At the moment he was sitting beside her with Lily on his lap. His attention was on Cassie in the gated play area; ready to swoop in before she could put anything in her mouth. Halley took a moment to inspect the taped over cotton ball in the crook of her arm before returning Lily’s gummy beaming smile.

Halley didn’t know how she could have ever doubted Alec’s commitment to their relationship. While she had been in hospital he had dropped everything to look after the children. Knowing that Alec and Rufus had been looking at setting up a branch of JB recruitment in Perth she had asked why he didn’t get someone else to look after the children. Alec had given her a mock glare and reminded her that he was their Dad. He hadn’t wanted the children put through any more emotional upheaval than necessary.

He had worked from home for the following month, leaving Rufus and Leonora to take care of everything in the office. Although Halley had initially enjoyed the extra attention upon being discharged, towards the end of the month she had felt a little suffocated by his hovering. She had almost been relieved when he had finally taken the trip to Perth to look at office space for their new branch.

The trip had been successful in more ways than one. While Alec had been in Perth he had looked up Mrs Weiss to see how she was enjoying her new lifestyle. He soon learned that she was largely bored because while the children were at school she had little to do.

Her daughter and son-in-law lived in a remote community that mostly consisted of single men working in the oil industry so there wasn’t anyone her age to talk to.

She couldn’t even do much with the garden because it seldom rained and water was treated like gold. Even lawns were scraggly brown kikuyu grass that covered the ground in uneven patches and when the wind blew everything got coated with red dust.

Although her family had made her welcome she didn’t feel needed or useful and she missed her friends. Alec had invited her back to visit and after discovering how chaotic the Barrington-Clarke household was Mrs Weiss had found a new purpose.

With Halley and Alec’s blessing she had taken over the care of the household. Mrs Weiss ran everything with practised efficiency and warmth and Halley had to grudgingly admit the house had never been cleaner. Mrs Weiss had even trained Buddy to stop digging holes in the backyard.

At the moment they were being reminded how much more challenging their lives were without her. Mrs Weiss had needed some time off to return to her daughter and son-in-law’s home to arrange to have her things shipped to their home.

Halley agreed with Alec that Mrs Weiss spoiled them. In her absence they were back to running around after the children on top of their day jobs and she felt exhausted. She didn’t know how she had managed before Mrs Weiss’ arrival. Even the woman who did the makeup on the set had commented on her appearance then had started giving her tips on how to hide the shadows under her eyes.

With Lily’s attention taken by Cassie pushing over a tower of blocks another child had built, Halley stretched forward to grab a magazine from the table in front of them. Her side gave a twinge as she did so. The surgical scar left over from repairing the damage the knife had caused was still settling. She had been told to take it easy for a few months so she didn’t place stress on the still healing area but it was easier to say than do, especially when you were a mother of five.

She couldn’t complain though. At least she was still around unlike Chantelle. Although the knife had pierced Chantelle’s lung and would have been fatal without treatment it was the head injury that had killed her.

Halley found it hard to summon up any emotion other than relief that Chantelle was out of their lives permanently. When she had finally been well enough to be interviewed by police she had told them about Chantelle’s boasts. They had made the grisly discovery of Chantelle’s husband wrapped up in rubbish bags in his garage. It appeared that Chantelle had intended to dump his body elsewhere but hadn’t had the strength to get his large, heavy corpse into the boot of the car.

The irony of the outcome of Chantelle and her husband’s downfall over their greed was that Halley was set to inherit everything they had owned but she didn’t want any of it. Alec made a good living and with salary negotiations for a sequel of Return to
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underway Halley didn’t think they would have to worry about money. She was donating the bulk of the estate to charities supporting disadvantaged children. The remainder was going to Alcoholics Anonymous.

Halley hoped that the money would be put to good use.

Hearing her name called, Halley looked up from her magazine. A friendly middle-aged nurse standing by the reception desk caught her eye.

“The doctor will see you now.”

Alec stood before she did. In a well-practised move he handed Lily to her and went in pursuit of Cassie, knowing that dealing with the wriggling toddler would pull at Halley’s scar.

He was beside her as they followed the nurse down the carpeted hallway to the doctor’s room.

Dr Morrison greeted them as they entered.

“Most people are willing to wait to be phoned about their blood test results. I must admit it’s a novelty to have someone wait for them to come in.”

Halley gave the doctor a practised smile.

“I thought that if Alec heard from you that I was fine he’d believe it.”

Dr Morrison glanced at the results from the blood test on screen.

“As we discussed earlier you are suffering from postural hypotension and that will be eased if you don’t stand up too quickly.”

“Did you find the cause for it in the blood test?” Alec asked, giving in to Cassie’s struggle to be put down. “Is it serious?”

Dr Morrison allowed a smile to creep through her normally business-like expression.

“I expect that this condition will be self-limiting,” she said cryptically then typed out a prescription. When it spat out of the printer she signed it then handed it to Halley.

“You’re anaemic which isn’t helping so I’ve prescribed you a three month course of iron. Make sure you have them with something rich in vitamin C like kiwifruit, berries or orange juice to get the best results.”

Halley nodded without pleasure. She hated taking pills. Looking at the prescription in her hand she noticed the second item.

“Folic acid?” she said in surprise. “But isn’t that for…”

“Pregnancy,” Dr Morrison confirmed.

Upon hearing that word Alec’s attention left Cassie who was now emptying a box of toys on the floor and shot to Halley.

“You’re pregnant?”

Halley’s instinct was to deny it.

“No. That can’t be possible. I’m on the pill.”

“You’ve been in hospital recently. Were you taking them in there?” Dr Morrison asked gently.

“Well, no but I started taking them as soon as I came out,” Halley assured her, aware of being the subject of Alec’s thoughtful gaze.

“You got that stomach bug that Cassie brought home from the crèche about six weeks ago.” Alec turned to the doctor. “It went through everyone in the house and for two days Halley vomited up everything she ate.”

Halley paled as she recalled how they celebrated feeling better.

“Oh no,” she murmured. They were busy enough managing five children. Alec wouldn’t be happy about adding another to their brood. She felt her hand being given a reassuring squeeze and looked across to Alec. He leaned towards her with a broad grin on his face.

“I hope this one’s a boy. We could do with a little more testosterone to balance things out at home.”

“What if it’s a girl?” Halley ventured.

“Then at least we’ll get good use out of all those pink baby clothes.”

The expression on his face told her that he didn’t mind either way. Halley relaxed a little on the chair. Although it could have come at a better time she decided she was blessed to be able to have Alec’s baby. Without him she wouldn’t be here today.

Several minutes later while they were driving home in the car the proud smile that now seemed fixed on Alec’s face suddenly broadened. Halley noticed.

“What is it?”

Alec chortled.

“Riker’s going to flip when he learns he has to work your pregnancy into the sequel.”