"What do you mean I can't get a restraining order?!" she practically screamed at the man behind the desk
"I am so sorry, ma'am. I'm just trying to spare your time. There's not enough evidence to convince the judge to sign the paperwork. I could send you to him, but I know that without proper evidence he wouldn't be any help." his voice sounded truly apologetic. Brenda took a deep breath before saying anything.
"Not enough evidence? Are you being serious right now? My face is clearly swollen, I have bruises all over my body and you are trying to tell me that this isn't enough evidence?" she pointed at her own body
"Since the incident happened several days ago, the physical evidence isn't strong enough. There are also no reports from you or neighbors of any disturbance. No signs of prior domestic abuse. I really wish I could help you further." he shrugged
"Am I supposed to simply wait around for him to come after me? I have two small children! I need to keep them safe, how the heck am I supposed to do that with my ex-husband trying to murder me?"
"The best thing I can do for you, as of now, is keep one of my patrol cars around your block."
"You can shove your patrol cars up your ass!" she turned towards the door, closing it with a loud bang. She didn't even realize that she was crying until she felt the hot tears touching her cheeks. Breathing in and out a couple of times, she headed towards the entrance of the police station where Grace awaited for her with both of her sons. The woman didn't even have to ask how things went with the chief of police, the look of desperation and panic on her friend's face said everything that needed to be said.
"Can we buy some ice cream, mommy?" Harry asked as she came closer
"How about I buy as much ice cream as you two can eat for the rest of your lives?" Grace tickled them and they walked out of the station
Back in the house, Brenda looked through the newspapers for the thousandth time hoping to find a job. She knew she couldn't just simply take any job. Douglas would be after her, and working in a bigger place wouldn't be any help. Grace's brother, Jeff, was a respected attorney who had agreed to help her out with the rough divorce that was ahead of her. She hoped that she would be able to obtain full custody of the children, she didn't trust the man whom she loved in the past around the boys. It was now friday, he should be back in Newcastle by now. That is if he hadn't come back home when she failed to answer his numerous phone calls. Christmas was right around the corner, her first christmas practically alone, she hadn't even bought the boys' presents yet. Looking over at them, sitting on the floor playing with Grace's pug Tiger, you couldn't even tell that they had been through all of that mess. They acted as if though nothing had happened and barely even remembered of their father's absence. Randy would ask every now and then, but Harry never bothered to do so. She prayed that he didn't remember much of that tragic night. Just thinking about that kept her from sleeping, thinking about how far she'd let things go. The amount of damage done to their lives was irreparable, but she would make it up to them. She had to. As soon as the divorce was finalized, she would move back to the States and they would begin a new life together. Leave behind the nightmare. Brenda smiled when she thought about home, about her mother, the sweet, loving and rather clumsy woman who would do anything she could to see her daughter happy. She hadn't told her family the truth, it would break their hearts and might even trigger an unexpected reaction from her little brother Danny. He was too hot headed to know all the truth behind the separation. Thankfully, her mother hadn't asked many questions, the only thing she demanded was that the woman accept the money she had carefully kept on a savings account to pay for her daughter's years in college and that Brenda agree to let her come over and watch her grandsons as soon as they were properly settled in London. It was a large sum, but Brenda refused to use more than a fourth of it. She would use that part of the money to pay for a couple months of rent in a new apartment as soon as she could get a job.
"It's for you." Grace handed her the phone. Had she been lost inside her own head for so long that she didn't even hear the phone ring? Who could it be?
"Hello?"
"Hi, is this Brenda McIntyre?" a woman said on the other side, her accent was British
"Yes." she answered hesitantly, praying that it wouldn't be one of Douglas' friends. It couldn't be possible that he'd found her so quickly.
"My name is Julie Hiddleston. We haven't met in person yet. You met my cousin a few days ago, he mentioned that you just moved into the city and might be needing a job."
"Is your cousin..Tom?" she responded after digging through her memory for a little while in order to remember his name
"Yes, that's him. He also told me that he didn't know your phone number. So I looked up the address online and found it. I hope you don't think I'm some sort of stalker." she chuckled. Well, in all honesty, she did sound like a stalker.
"Oh, no. Not at all. What kind of job is it that you're offering?"
"Well, you see, I have recently opened a publishing firm and have had absolutely no luck with my secretaries. So I thought maybe you would want to give it a try?"
"I have never worked as a secretary before. The only experience I have is as a librarian."
"Oh, you don't need any experience, Tom said marvelous things about you and it sounds like you'd be the perfect fit for the job. I understand if you want to decline the offer, though." her voice sounded a little sad as she said the last sentence
"No!" that came out louder than what Brenda had expected "I mean, I am totally okay with trying. I just don't want to disappoint you."
"You won't Brenda, I am sure that you won't."
"Just one more thing,"
"Sure, go ahead."
"Are there any day cares around the area of your firm? I have two small boys and I can't afford a nanny."
"Oh, yes, he told me about that too. Lucky for you, there's one just two floors below mine. Most of the people who work on this building leave their children there."
"Woah, that's great. Really great."
"So, you agree to come work with me?"
"Yes, of course!" she wanted to cry out of excitement "When do I start?" Well, do you mind starting on the 28th?"
"Not at all."
"Great, I'll give you the address."
Grace and Brenda jumped up and down because of the happy news. They spent the next few days doing some Christmas shopping and putting up the tree. As usual, the boys were eager to help and did not rest until all of the ornaments they bought were carefully hung on the tree. They cooked some traditional American and British dishes, Jeff, his girlfriend Debrah and Grace's boyfriend Bill came over and they spent the night talking, laughing and even dancing. It was one of the most pleasant Christmas Brenda had had in a really long time. Randy was the first one to fall asleep, his tiny body was curled up into a ball in the corner of one of the sofas. By the time the clock chimed three in the morning, all of the guests had left and the women cleaned up the kitchen quickly before going to their bedrooms. A pair of blue eyes watched and followed every movement Brenda made and she only now realized how late it was for an almost-two-year-old to be awake.
"Hey mister, what are you still doing up?" he shrugged "Waiting for mommy, aren't you? Let's get you into bed." she picked him up and they walked towards the single guest bedroom in the house. On the center of the bed, her oldest son snored lightly in a deep sleep. She changed into her pajamas, brushing her teeth and watching Harry try to do the same. Laying him down beside his brother, she squeezed into the edge of the bed, kissing the top of their heads before turning off the lights and turning on the night light beside the bed.
She dreamed of a vast and bright green field. It felt so good to run through the field with no worries, feel the warm summer breeze on her face and the faint smell of flowers that seemed to surround her. It was one of the greatest feelings in the world, freedom and peace. Birds chirped distantly adding to the almost flawless landscape. Their chirping was interrupted by low sobs. Where were they coming from? The sobs, and occasional sniffles, seemed to come from every direction, she didn't know where to run or how to help the person who cried. She felt a sharp kick on her ribs and her eyes fluttered open. It was still dark. Beside her, Harry's body shaked as he cried. He was probably having one of those nasty nightmares.
"Harry, baby, wake up." she shook him gently. It took a few tries before his round eyes opened and he took in his surroundings. "Nightmare?" he nodded "Do you want to tell me what happened? If you say it out loud, it won't become real."
"The bad man, mommy," he touched one of her cheeks "he had a big knife and he wanted to hurt you. I didn't want him to hurt you, mommy." she felt a pang in her heart as he spoke
"Don't worry, no one is going to hurt any of us okay? Now let's get you back to sleep." he hugged her, afraid to let go and a few minutes later was fast asleep again. Brenda cried herself to sleep once more.
The big day had finally come. Checking herself in the big mirror on the bathroom wall, Brenda made sure that there were no wrinkles on her clothes. She wore a pencil skirt and a dress shirt, accompanied by pumps that had a lower heel. Her hair was up in a fancy ponytail that only Grace would have managed to do, she wore her new pair of glasses, her contacts had stayed in Newcastle, and a blazer finished off the look. There was little makeup for she didn't know the firm's policies. Hanging her purse on one of her shoulders, she checked to make sure the boys' clothes were also wrinkle free and walked towards the subway station. It took a while to get too Belgravia, but it would all be worth it in the end. The building in which she was supposed to work from now on was pretty fancy. The lobby's floor was made of well polished marble and everyone seemed to be rather important around there. She felt a little dressed down, but kept her chin up at all times. The clerk at the front desk showed her to the elevators and up they went. Her heart ached a little when she left her sons on the day care. She had repeatedly told the woman responsible for the children that no one besides her or Grace Taylor were to be allowed to take the boys anywhere. Harry cried a little, but she turned away hesitantly and went into the elevator once again. The floor that housed the publishing firm, which was oddly called Pixies Publishers, was extremely well decorated. Everything in it, from the trash bins to the paintings on the walls seemed rather expensive for a recently opened business. Not that it was any of Brenda's concern. As she walked toward the front desk, a pair of torquoise eyes met her brown ones. A tall, slender woman stood near one of the pillars. Her short blonde hair barely touched her chin, her clothes were as elegant as those one might find on fashion magazines and she smiled lightly as she extended one of her hands to the shorter woman in front of her.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Brenda. I'm Julie. Please call me Julie, it's so obnoxiously weird when people call me Ms. Hiddleston or something like that. How'd you like the building? Did you like the day care? I haven't heard many complaints about it, so I'm assuming everyone there is pretty nice. Or maybe people were just faking it and complaining behind my back." she spoke a little too fast and all that the other woman could do was stare at her trying to comprehend everything she said "Oh, Lord, I'm talking way too fast aren't I?"
"Don't worry." they laughed
"I'm not really good with the whole talking thing. I either talk way too fast or don't say anything that makes any sense. I hope you will forgive me."
"That's perfectly fine with me."
"Let me show you around the office, there aren't many of us here yet, but hopefully we'll have a bigger team as time goes by."
There were only five other employees Justin, Lance, Penelope, Andrew and Regan, who were all really friendly and excited to have a new member on their crew. Her job there was pretty simple, answer the phone, schedule appointments, organize files and send out emails. Couldn't be so bad, right? The day went by faster than she thought it would. Soon, it was almost lunchtime and she looked forward to introducing her sons to the crew. Penelope's daughter was in the day care as well, it would be nice for the children to become friends. Ten minutes before lunch the phone rang once again.
"Pixies Publishers, Brenda McIntyre speaking. How can I help you?"
"Hello, Brenda." the deep voice startled her, and before she knew it her heart was beating faster than the recommended