Kirsten left her shoes on the grass. She felt her toes touch sand, and she stopped walking to look around. She was standing under some small trees that were planted right at the end of the garden and from where the beach began. The sea was only about seven metres away. On her right was a small jetty that ran a short way into the sea and it was at the end of this that she caught sight of Sandy. She began to cry again as she watched the man she loved so much.
Sandy knew she was there. He continued to gaze out to sea for a few more seconds before turning round. The sight of her tear-streaked face and silently shaking body pulled at his heart and he knew his own self-control was approaching the very limit.
'Kirsten, go back inside.' He said softly. She knew now was the time, now was the only chance she had at getting him back. Taking a deep, shaky breath, she stepped out of the trees.
'No, Sandy. I'm not going back inside because I need to talk to you. I'm not…' her voice broke here and she took another breath: 'I'm not leaving you.'
'I love you, Sandy, and I don't know why I did what I did, but I regret it so much. And the punishment of not having you for the past four days has been bad enough. If you leave me, I don't know what I'll do. My life has and will always include you as part of it, and if you leave it, I don't think I'll be able to…I won't be able to..carry on.' She paused and bent over as tears rolled down her face and sobs shook her body. Sandy looked at her and wanted to go to her so much, but he still felt the sharp pain of when the trust he had given her for so long had been shattered. With a gasp, she looked up at him again, despairing at his silence. She spoke again, her voice loud and shuddering in a final plea:
'Sandy, please. What can I do? How can I prove to you how much I love you?' she cried. Then moving forwards in unsteady steps her toes felt wet, heavy sand.
'This is all I can do, Sandy. But please, believe me: I need you.' She stepped forwards into the sea but in her inconsolable state she hardly felt the biting cold of the water.
'Please don't go. I'm so sorry, and I know that's not good enough, but what else can I do?' she was up to her knees in sea water, and the bottom of her dress and twisted itself around her ankles, making her stumble.
'Sandy..' She was whispering now as her body was starting to respond to the cold seawater. Sandy started to run back along the jetty:
'Kirsten, get out of the sea.' He kicked of his shoes as he gazed at the pitiful sight of his wife standing thigh-deep in the water.
'For god's sake Kirsten, you'll freeze. Go on.'
She looked slowly up at him.
'I need to know which way to go, Sandy. I've done all I can and if that's not enough to get you back, there's not much point me getting out.' She was shaking and shivering violently now and she realised that she probably couldn't move at all by herself. She watched, almost in a daze, as Sandy jumped off the side of the jetty.
He swore at the cold wetness that seeped immediately through his trousers, and he swore again at the way the sodden material made his movements slow and unwieldy.
'Baby, it's ok. I'm coming.' She heard these words clearly and her brain partially cleared as she reached out to her husband. He wrapped his arms around her thin, shaking body.
'Come on, let's go.' She couldn't put up much resistance as he started to basically drag her in the direction of the shore.
'No, Sandy. First I need to know what you're going to do.' Her eyes, red with tears, stared up into his, yearning for him to say what she so wanted.
Baby, I love you. I did never and would never stop loving you. But after all that, I was worried that I was too much for you. When you love someone that much, the pain of being betrayed is almost to great to bear, so I thought maybe I should leave, to avoid being hurt again.'
Her blue eyes were filled with such distress that he carried on, knowing she needed reassurance.
'But I'm not going anywhere. I couldn't leave you…' She shut her eyes and took a long breath that was punctuated by shivers.
'I love you.' He said. She reached her arms round his neck, saying nothing but being slowly overcome by the mists that were drifting through her brain, which was at last peaceful. She felt Sandy putting an arm firmly round her waist and together they started to move towards the shore. Their progress was extremely slow, mostly due to the fact that Kirsten's limbs had frozen and the sodden material on both of them was creating a huge amount of resistance.
'Come on baby.' Said Sandy softly. He lifted her out of the water and she wrapped her legs around his hips. She clutched at him as if for dear life and he slowly carried her towards the shore, her body being light but shaking constantly like a feather in the wind.