It had been an uneventful evening, Stevie and Michelle had been shopping, much like old times, and come home, eaten dinner, watched TV and had an early night. Stevie had been nervous around Tom at first, but he quickly put her at ease. She imagined how lovely it must have been for Rose to grow up in this house, in this family, and all the regrets of the past seemed to fade away. And now she had a chance to make things right, to be the kind of mother to this baby that she never was to Rose.
She hadn't wanted to tell Michelle about the baby, not yet, she hadn't wanted to tell anyone. She had told no one at Drovers. She was waiting for Alex. He was going to be the first to know. But that would not happen now. She woke in the early hours of the morning with a sharp pain in her abdomen, and sat upright instantly. She didn't think twice about waking Michelle and begging her to drive to the hospital. And the pregnancy was a secret no longer.
~~
Alex woke early that morning gasping for air, it was as if he was drowning. He could have blamed it on his illness, but he knew somewhere deep down inside himself, that something was wrong with Stevie, he felt it in every part of him. Something was very wrong and he felt so powerless. He did not know where she was, what she was thinking, he wondered if he would ever get the chance to see her again, to hold her. And now his instincts told him she was in trouble, it was more than he could take. It was time for action.
Grace must know where Stevie is. It was as simple as that, and Alex was tired of playing games. He found himself at Drovers in the early hours. It must have been early, Grace was still sleeping. She woke to find Alex standing over her bed with a shot gun. It wasn't loaded, and Alex told himself that it made it ok. He didn't want to hurt anyone, he just wanted to scare her into talking, he needed to find Stevie and he needed it now.
Grace tried to hide her initial terror "Good morning Alex, Do you mind, its 4am." She said bravely. What do you want?"
"I want to know where Stevie is. That's all. Is that too much to ask for a man to know where his wife is?" It still felt new to him, saying 'his wife' and he realised he would probably not live long enough for that novelty to wear off
"I told you, I don't know." Grace answered him. Only because she could see the sorrow in his eyes that she didn't threaten to call the police. It was the truth, she did not have a clue where Stevie was. But like Alex, she felt it had gone on long enough. Stevie had to come back and face whatever was going on. Then she could leave if she wished, properly. It was really getting beyond a joke, and she wondered what Alex would do tomorrow or the next day if he was already breaking into Drovers in the middle of the night with a gun.
Alex didn't know if he believed Grace. She seemed sincere, she seemed worried and confused like he was. But there had to be more to it. "You must know something." He told her desperately.
"What did you do to her anyway?" Grace asked him. It had been on her lips all week, but she had restrained herself. Still, he had come into her home, into her bedroom, with a gun, so she felt she may as well ask him now.
"Excuse me?" He said. Grace could not figure if he was shocked by the question or by the fact she had the nerve to ask what everyone was silently wondering.
"You heard me. What did you do to her?"
It wasn't easy to answer. What had he done? He couldn't put it into words. He wasn't really sure. He had the misfortune to be stricken by a life threatening disease, but Stevie did not know about that. No one did. He had left her for months while he was in a foreign country not realising how this must look to her, and when she asked for his reassurance he failed to give it to her. But none of that excused the way she had disappeared like this. With not even a word to Grace to say she was ok. And none of that was anything he needed to answer to Grace McLeod. His relationship with Stevie was his business and no one else's.
"Go to the police." Alex pleaded with Grace
"Alex, they aren't interested. She's a grown woman, We've been to the police."
"Make them interested, tell them she stole from you, and they'll go looking for her." Alex suggested.
"Stole what? What's to steal? You think the police are gonna care about that, you think they'd believe it? They'd see through it in a minute, Alex, and having her arrested is surely not the way back into her heart." Grace tried to reason with him.
He shook his head. "I don't care, I have to find her, please understand this Grace, I have to find her. Now."
"I've been thinking." Grace said, and she could see Alex flinch at those words. Her plans were not always the greatest. "There is a way, if you really want to find her, but it's a little bit extreme." Later Grace would curse herself for mentioning it to him, she half expected him to laugh in her face. Only when he did not, did Grace realise how desperate he was.
It was only sheer desperation and pure love that drove him to listen at all to this crazy scheme. Alex nodded silently when she had finished and made some phone calls, and now he and Grace were on their way into Fisher. 'Forgive me Stevie, the big idiot made me do it' Grace whispered under her breath. Grace wondered if this was something that Stevie could forgive, of her, of Alex. But like Alex she figured it was worth the risk. She too realised something must be very wrong for Stevie to just leave like that. She sighed, it was too late anyway to talk Alex out of it.