- - - -

Chapter Two

- - - -

Toadie stood there in complete shock.

"Is it… is it really you?"

He gingerly reached out to touch her face, gasping slightly when he could feel her smooth skin under his fingers. He traced his hand along the side of her cheek and down through her hair.

"It's brown…" he blurted out.

Dee gave him a watery smile and leapt into his arms, the force making him take a few steps back. He wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her shoulder. She could feel his heavy sobs shaking her body as he allowed all his emotions to pour out.

She stroked his hair. "Shh babe, it's okay, it's okay."

Dee drew her head back so she could look at his face. Toadie looked up and their eyes met. His bottom lip was still quivering, but he was smiling. Something he hadn't done a lot of that past year.

"What happened to you?" he whispered.

She cast her eyes to the ground and loosened her grip a little from around him. "Maybe we should sit down," she said, nervously.

Toadie nodded. She took him by the hand and led him to sit on the bed.

Dee bit her lip. "Jarrod… I've been in a witness protection program for the past year."

He looked at her dumbfounded. "You… you, what?"

"I've been in hiding, to protect my life, my family's life… yours especially."

Toadie shook his head in astonishment. "You're joking, right? This, this is just some bad joke…" He tried to process this new information in his mind.

Dee kept her hand intertwined with his when he tried to let go. "Let me explain. Please?"

She took his silence as a yes and continued. "Do you remember a man called Martin Cook?"

"The bastard surgeon that sexually harassed you? How could I not remember."

"And do you also remember how he lost his licence to practice after he was found guilty of sexual assault against that other nurse in West Waratah?"

"Yes."

"Well, he blamed me for ruining his life."

Toadie raised his eyebrows. "What? You never told me that, Dee. Why would he do that when it wasn't you who put him in jail?"

Dee fidgeted, "It was me who put him in jail. Well, technically. I was the one who encouraged the nurse in West Waratah to make a statement against him after I told her what he did to me."

Toadie let go of her hand. "Huh."

She stood up and started to pace around the room. "When he went to jail, I started to get these threatening notes in my locker at work, on my mobile, even scrawled into my diary. He was a well-placed man in society, Jarrod. He had a lot of friends in high places."

She paused at the window. "The threats were so frightening. They always said things like 'You'll pay for what you did', and 'Watch out for your family'. I went to the police with them, but they couldn't trace them back to Cook even though I knew who they were from."

"Why didn't you tell me, Dee? Why did you keep this from me?"

"It was when we had broken up, I didn't want to bring you into it… I thought I could handle it on my own." She gave a bitter laugh, "Shows how wrong I was."

"When he found out that I had been to the police, the letters stopped coming. I thought everything was all right and he had just wanted to scare me. Then you and I got back together." She smiled at him, sitting back down on the bed. "Everything was back to normal," she said, wistfully.

"If everything was 'back to normal', why did you have to leave me?" Toadie said, trying not to let his hurt and frustration show.

Dee wiped away the tears that had begun to fall down her face. "I got a phone call on the eve of our wedding. Right before I went to Susan's for my Hens night. It was the police."

"What?"

"They had been keeping a profile on Cook ever since I had taken the threatening notes to them. Sergeant Douglas had taken an interest in the case, she knew the other victim personally. When they rang me they told me that Cook had been released on bail and they had strong suspicions that he was on his way to me."

"And you didn't tell me? Dee, what the hell were you thinking!"

He voice started to quaver. "Please don't get angry, Jarrod. Please."

"How could I not be angry? Partners are supposed to share everything that goes on in their lives, not keep secrets from one another!" Toadie's eyes were shining with a fresh batch of tears.

"Jarrod, please listen to me! I couldn't tell you because you would have been in danger as well. You don't understand how serious this was!" Dee sobbed.

Toadie stood up walked away from her.

Dee got up and gently touched him on the shoulder. "Jarrod…"

He spun around, startling her. "Why did we have the wedding?" he seethed.

"I couldn't call it off. Not then. And I didn't want to call it off. I wanted to be as happy as I could be; I wanted to have one last beautiful memory of you and me before I had to leave. The police said the best option for me was to go away."

Something clicked inside of him, he finally understood. "You had to make Cook think you were dead, didn't you."

"Yes…" She took his hand. "I met with the police before my Hens night to arrange everything. I didn't want to do it Jarrod; you have to believe me on that. Nothing on this earth would have made me leave you; leave what we had… except for the thought that I could have put your life in danger by staying. That was what made me agree to abandon my life that I loved so much."

He looked at her dejectedly. "I could have come with you. We could have started life somewhere new. We always talked about going to Europe… we could have gone there," he said wistfully.

Dee smiled softly at him. "Don't think that didn't cross my mind either. I just couldn't expect you to desert everyone you love. It was bad enough I wasn't going to be able to see you anymore, my mum, Cecile, I didn't want to be responsible for two grieving families."

"The whole thing was planned. The police made sure the limousine was faulty, and they were the ones that tampered with the car Connor was using – That's why there was no default registered when you went to court about it, they had it covered."

She took a deep breath and continued. "I just had to make sure we hit the right mark on the road where the gravel was loose, and we did. Going into the water was the safest option because it softened the impact. I swam away to where my case handlers were waiting for me." She swallowed back her tears. "I could see you with Stu and Stonie when I was being driven away. My heart just broke into a million pieces, and I nearly made them take me back. They were stern but fair with me though and reminded me about why I was going through with it in the first place."

Dee tilted Toadie's head so he had to look at her. "I did it because I love you."

She kissed him on the back of the hand and smiled when she noticed his wedding band on his ring finger. She slid her free hand under the top of her jumper and fished out a necklace. Her wedding band hung around it. "You were always with me, my darling."

Toadie's anger and outrage began to melt away. He took Dee in his arms. "I love you so much." He leant down and kissed her on the lips. Softly at first, but their passion and longing took over. God he had missed her.

They came up for air. Toadie drew back. "Why choose now to come back?"

"Cook died of a heart attack last week. The police were finalising details for my re-entry back into my old life… but I couldn't wait to see you again. I had to let you know what happened."

"Oh my God!" he said joyfully, realising the impact this was going to have on his life. He was going to have his wife back. He was going to be happy once more – a concept that had been lost on him for too long.

He beamed at her. "When do you come back? When can we start planning the celebrations?"

She giggled at his eagerness. "Soon, in a couple more days. I promise."

Dee kissed him. "I have to go before someone sees me, but I'll be back tomorrow night."

He wrapped his arms around her tighter. "No, I don't want to let you go. Not again."

"I have to," she said gently, "but let me leave you with something that will make you believe me." She unclasped her necklace and placed her wedding band in his hand. "I will be back," she said firmly.

Toadie kissed her, then reluctantly let her go.

Dee walked towards the bedroom door. "I love you," she smiled. He smiled back at her and watched her leave.

Toadie sat down in the armchair. His head was throbbing with all this new information he had just acquired. He opened up his hand and gazed at the ring cupped in it.

She was alive.

He put the ring carefully on his bedside table, closing his eyes. He was so tired. He just wanted tomorrow to come as quickly as possible so he could see Dee again.

Toadie slowly drifted off to sleep.

- - - -

He could hear knocking at the door. He woke up, rubbing his eyes. "Wha…?" His alarm clock said 11:48.

The door opened and Stu walked in. "You planning on sleeping the whole day, Toad? Are you feeling okay?"

"Nah I'm good, really good actually!" If only he knew how good.

Stu strolled over to him. "So good you slept in your armchair?"

Toadie was about to respond when he saw Stu looking at his bedside table… right where he'd left the ring.

"Where'd you get…" Stuart began, but Toadie intercepted.

"I, I can explain about the ring. You see I found it outside and…"

Stu gave him a puzzled look. "I was going to say, where'd you get that picture of Dee from, it's really nice." Stu pointed to the photo of her sitting on the table, the one of her in the Hawaiian shirt Toadie had left out. "What's this ring you're talking about, mate?"

Toadie glanced at the table as a cold feeling washed over him. The ring was gone.

Continued…