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Chapter 18: Never That Simple
It was strange, Rachel thought, wandering around her sister's house; who, realistically, she knew nothing about. Photo frames adorning the walls and the style with which Melissa had decorated the rooms, told Rachel this alone.
The entire situation would have felt intrusive, bordering on the line of breaking an entry had Philip not been by her side. Speak of the devil, Rachel thought as he began to talk, removing her from her thoughts.
"Mum, she erm… didn't take her purse or phone. Nothing like that. Even her car… still on the street outside."
Now wasn't that odd, "try not to worry Philip," Rachel assured, even as her mind began to spin with that exact emotion, "I'm sure your mum will turn up with some form of explanation."
But Philip shook his head, looking every bit exasperated as Rachel felt, "she's done this before, gone off. Always… takes her purse."
Her eyes widened involuntary, mind unable to focus on anything other than a particular segment of Philip's comments.
"She's… done this before?"
What caused Rachel's stomach to churn, was the way Philip's brow furrowed; this was normality for him, wasn't it?
"Yeah. Always wandering off with some new guy."
Which paralleled perfectly with the bigamy, Rachel realised. Melissa really did enjoy finding herself in sticky situations, it seemed. That was one thing Rachel already knew - she'd lost track of all the times she'd dragged her sister out of troublesome scenarios as a young teenager. Apparently, that hadn't altered now.
Neither had Rachel's longing to help, a hostile reaction and fifteen years apart or not, "you can't stay here alone Philip. I'm aware that we've only known each other, what? For forty minutes," they shared a smile, "but you're more than welcome to stay with Eddie and I."
She'd almost stumbled over the last part, mind drifting off to the house they'd made their home in recent weeks. Rachel wouldn't have it any other way, it felt truly perfect to be able to share every aspect of her life with Eddie.
Philip evidently sensed her shift in thought process, picking up on the glazed look within an instant, "Eddie? Is that the guy you were with at the school?"
The mention of him from her nephew caused Rachel's expression to light up even further, unable to stop herself from pondering how Eddie would be waiting with open arms on her return, "yes, that's Eddie."
Philip nodded, presumably on the verge of speaking when they both froze, reacting to a noise which sounded suspiciously similar to the front door swinging open.
Her nephew was bounding down the stairs before Rachel could so much as blink, her mind soon catching up with her upon hearing his greeting to the new arrival, however.
"Mum? What the hell! Where have you been?"
Rachel's heart leapt out to the boy, even more so when she caught sight of Melissa's remorse free expression. She looked abashed, a little flustered, and Rachel felt her own curiosity increase tenfold.
Along with this came a surge of anger - coming face to face with her sister after all that Eddie had revealed… about the fire, Stuart, the bigamy, it was bound to set Rachel back a step or two.
"I'm a grown woman you know, Phil. I didn't realise I needed to keep you up to date with my movements."
Philip's scoff was watered down by Rachel's, Melissa's eyes flicking up to the source of the sound where she stood on the staircase.
Rachel didn't think her sister's mouth could gape open any wider, "since when do you two know each other?"
"Since I found Philip standing outside of my school. Alone. He has been for the past twenty four hours. Maybe that's a reason to inform your fifteen year old son of your whereabouts."
More than surprising for Philip, was the shift in his mum's entire demeanor as she drank in Rachel's words. She visibly slumped, guilt flooding her features as she wet her lips nervously. His aunt truly was a miracle worker, he thought.
"I… I didn't think."
Rachel descended the remainder of the steps, stopping as she reached her nephew's side, who she felt incredibly protective of given that she'd known him less than a day. She would never not feel that urge towards her family, even Melissa; she wouldn't think twice about jumping to her rescue.
The second scoff from Philip spoke volumes, maybe he was finally reaching the end of his tether when it came to his mum's actions, "course you didn't."
"Where were you, Melissa?" Rachel kept her tone purposefully soft, not wanting to dart over some invisible boundary.
"You know about the bigamy. You both do," her eyes locked with Rachel's, "I can't imagine Eddie not telling you."
A knowing look was all it took for Melissa to get the message, Rachel's own mind spinning as she made this relation between her sister's multiple marriages, and her sudden disappearance.
"You two might want to come and sit down."
Philip took comfort from the look he shared with his aunt, obviously both questioning what kind of path Melissa was going down with this. He knew of Stuart's blackmail relating to his mum and the fire, not to mention the bigamy and everything that could mean. It was weird how Philip had only spent a few hours in Rachel's company and knew he was far more like her than he'd ever be his mum.
Melissa's furtive glances as they all - somewhat awkwardly - got seated in the living room, only emphasised the way Philip's palms began to sweat, wiping them furiously across his trousers in an attempt to rid them of the residue.
He and Rachel waited with baited breath, aware that it was Melissa's choice, her call.
"The police searched Stuart's house," she once again looked marginally guilty as her eyes met Rachel's, a stark reminder of all she'd put her sister through, the potential she'd held to put a stop to the fire, "after what happened with the gun. They found documents, proving my bigamy."
Suddenly the pieces of the puzzle seemed to slip together with ease, forming to make some sort of sense. Yet that didn't mean they portrayed a pretty picture, Rachel considered - far from it.
Risking a glance at Philip as she leant forwards, Rachel despised how distraught the boy looked - features contorted as the entire weight of the situation seemed to dawn on him. No, this wasn't a pretty picture at all.
"And I take it they managed to contact you?"
Melissa's face told it all, exact confirmation shown as she nodded solemnly. The expression was a stab to Rachel's heart, a reminder of her four year old sister, crying having fallen off her bike and grazing her knee. It pained her more as the image shifted, an eleven year old Melissa looking nervous for once in her life as the first day of 'big school' rolled around. Rachel shook herself, abolishing the mental images from her brain. Melissa was a grown woman now.
"They came to arrest me, last night. Charged me. I'm going to have to go to court," her eyes flicked to Philip's, an unspoken apology that would never be voiced, he knew, "that's where I've been."
It was automatic, the way Rachel's head dropped to her hand, the weight of it weirdly comforting in this absurd situation. She couldn't begin to understand for one moment how Philip must be feeling.
"Oh, Melissa."
"And now I'm… now I'm going to go down for it aren't I?"
Philip's frustration couldn't take it anymore, pent up emotions were bubbling at the surface, choosing to overspill as he stole one look at his mother, "that's kind of what happens when you marry two men."
What he did appreciate was his aunt's hand on his forearm, letting him know that she understood his anger, but it wouldn't help their current predicament. All of a sudden he'd wished he met Rachel sooner, maybe then he would have had someone to stay with the countless times Melissa had wandered off, treating him nothing like her son.
"I know, I know alright? I know I've messed up."
"You really have Melissa," Rachel placed her hands together, searching blindly for a way out of this, even as she realised it wasn't necessarily her problem. This was a sister who hadn't been in her life for the past fifteen years. How could it be her problem?
She took a deep breath, wishing all at once that she hadn't declined Eddie's offer to join them. His presence would have been the perfect antithesis to her current state.
"Have you managed to get a lawyer?"
"No. I… I'm jobless Rachel."
She could already feel a migraine coming on, the dull ache centered around her temple not quashed by a gentle rubbing by the fingertips. Thoughts of everything that Melissa had put her through swam around in her mind, the fire and Stuart Hordley once more floating to the surface. Yet… she was family. Someone who Rachel could never leave to suffer, even if her own life depended on it.
"I can help you out with some money for a half decent lawyer, make sure you get a fair hearing."
"You would?"
Rachel would have thought that obvious. Maybe Melissa didn't recall her times of need quite as well as she did, "yes. With an agreement that, it will be paid back in due course."
"Yes. Yes, I will pay you back."
Philip watched on in slight awe, an air of disbelief creeping in as Rachel put all her efforts into helping his mother. His mother who had most definitely done her fair share of putting her elder sister through the emotional wringer, to his knowledge. Melissa really didn't deserve this support, he thought - somewhat guiltily. She was his mother after all.
He seemed to zone out of everything as the two women continued to speak, vision clouding as his mind spun at a hundred miles per hour, attempting and failing to navigate where this all left him.
Part of Philip longed to follow Rachel out of the door as she bid her goodbye, returning to the thought of his aunt making him feel more secure than his own mother ever had. Yet still, his heart seemed to tear as he turned back to that very woman, tears in her eyes as she begged for forgiveness. Philip might have just accepted it, if his mum hadn't spoken those exact promises fifteen times previous.
….
The flavour of wine on Rachel's tongue was exactly what she needed to divert her mind from its' current pivotal focus. Taking another swig from the glass, she almost spilt it as she felt arms snaking around her waist - Eddie.
He held her close, knowing that whatever happened had brought Rachel a great sense of distress; the speed with which she drank the wine, not to mention her consistently furrowed brow, were more than clear indicators of that.
Eddie watched intently as she placed down her glass, choosing to occupy her hands instead with placing them over his. He sighed contentedly, hoping that the contact had calmed Rachel just as much as it had him.
A smile that she hadn't expected to grace her lips did as Eddie's lips began to trail down her neck, stopping through sheer willpower as he reached her collar bone.
"What happened?"
Rachel turned in Eddie's embrace as he walked them towards a chair, pulling her down onto his lap as she breathed out warmly.
Without his presence, it was a given that Rachel would be sat alone, drowning her sorrows and berating herself for getting involved with Melissa's life once more.
"Melissa she... turned up once we got to the house."
Rachel didn't miss the flash of fury that flickered crossed Eddie's expression, his mind evidently trailing back to her sister's wrongdoings, "so where the hell was she?"
Eddie queried this even as his own brain made conclusions for him, knowing from Rachel's demeanour that, whatever the reason, it couldn't be good.
It was the sigh which emanated from Rachel's lips that caused Eddie's heart to go out to her, powerless to stop himself from briefly kissing the corner of her mouth as a form of comfort he knew she craved.
"She's been charged with bigamy, Eddie. In Stuart's house, when the police searched it… he had evidence of the multiple marriages."
Eddie's eyes widened, fingers scratching across the back of his neck as he drank in this worst case scenario presented to him, "christ."
Rachel felt her brows raise in agreement at his statement, realising that she was still in fact processing the information herself, "I… may have… offered to give her the money for a lawyer, on a kind of loan."
The surge of anger that Eddie initially felt towards Melissa and her acceptance of this offer after everything she'd put her elder sister through, was quickly replaced with an awe he felt for Rachel. A reminder of one of the many reasons why he'd fallen in love with her in the first place. She really was remarkable, Eddie thought.
The look he gave her as their eyes met caused Rachel's breath to catch in her throat, heart beat racing uncomfortably fast as she swallowed in an attempt to rid the lump which had formed.
"Melissa really doesn't deserve you."
Rachel traced her fingertips across Eddie's jawline, finding herself unable to suppress the need to bury her face into his shoulder. The temptation to never emerge was staggering.
"Like I don't deserve you," she found herself mumbling against her neck.
"Rachel. You deserve all the happiness in the world."
Now she did look up, effortlessly locking their gazes, "something that I feel with you every single day."
"Glad we're on the same page."
Eddie knew that they would divulge back into the topic of Melissa later, it was clear she was going to be a prominent part of their lives from now on. Yet for now, both adults were content with the feeling of one another. The feeling of their focus being entirely centered on each other. Something neither of them would ever take for granted.