The taxi pulled up at the Molengraff house at 4:15PM. Zoe had managed to book herself and Max onto a flight leaving at 11:05PM that evening.
The house was as beautiful and immaculate as ever, the stars and stripes flew at full mast, proudly waving slowly in the late autumn wind.
People had begun to place pumpkins outside their houses, fences were decorated with faux cobwebs and the odd decorative grave stone or corpse had popped up.
The Molengraff's house was unaffected, pristine, white, and rising above the satanic fun of upcoming Halloween.
Zoe instructed the taxi driver to wait, he raised a finger in response and lit the end of a fat brown cigar and began to smoke it in that way that only Italian American's seem capable of.
Max flexed his newly freed arm, whether just because he could, or because he was preparing for some sort of confrontation Zoe wasn't sure.
They moved to the front door, Zoe tapped lightly on the solid wood. A minute passed and no reply came, she took hold of the bell pull and tugged on it gently, a bell sounding from somewhere at the back of the house.
A light turned on in the hallway, and through the frosted glass in the door they could see an approaching figure, the handle turned and the door opened a fraction of an inch, Helena peered at them from around the edge of the door, looking from Zoe to Max and back to Zoe again before opening the door fully and allowing them entry.
"Henry isn't here."
She said as if reading her mind, and although he wasn't there, she still spoke in a whisper. The clatter of something in the sitting room made her jump, and Zoe realised she had forgotten about the existence of the children.
"Are you OK?"
Max asked, keeping his voice low to match Helena's. Zoe caught sight of a small found face peeping at them from the sitting room door. Helena nodded, and wobbled a smile.
"Coffee?"
Helena asked, looking between them, her hands were pale and she twisted them together in front of her, the white bones of her knuckles moving beneath her skin.
"We've just come to get our things."
Zoe said quietly, gesturing to the upstairs.
Helena drew in a long breath and glanced at the child that still nosed at them from behind the door.
"Just a coffee? Henry won't be back tonight."
She paused, still wringing her hands.
"Please."
She whispered, the glitter of tears pricked the corners of her glossy brown eyes.
Max glanced at Zoe, shifting slightly uncomfortably in his shoes. Zoe looked from him to Helena.
"Ok."
She nodded as she spoke, smiling a tight smile.
"Mom...Mom..."
The child at the door hissed as Helena began to turn to lead their way into the kitchen.
"Can you help us now?"
She asked, she twiddled a pencil between her fingers and as she spoke her brothers face appeared behind her.
"Not now...sweetheart. We've got guests."
Helena looking pointedly toward Max and Zoe.
"Please?!"
The little boy almost wailed with frustration, pouting comically as Helena ignored him.
"I don't mind helping..."
Max gestured to the children.
"Give you two women a chance to talk about whatever women talk about..."
Helena smiled faintly at him, a smile so weak but so full of gratitude.
"Thank you."
Helena mouthed, the words so quiet they were barely a breath.
Zoe followed her into the kitchen, looking back briefly to catch the wink that Max tossed in her direction before he disappeared into the sitting room.
The kitchen was unchanged from the last time she had been there, the table was still set for dinner, the same smell of the same dinner seemed to linger in the air and autumn storm clouds still flurried across above them, framed by the shining grey glass dome above them.
Helena flicked the switch on the coffee machine and it began to grind beans nosily, pulsing out the rich heady smell of freshly ground coffee.
Zoe leant against the kitchen counter next to the fridge, Mrs Dalloway rested, half read and broken at the spine, face down on the wooden work top at her elbow.
"Does Max take sugar?"
Helena asked, looking in a cupboard, presumably for the sugar.
"Two."
Zoe answered, looking up from the book. Helena was on tiptoes, stretching an arm up high to retrieve a large bag of sugar, placing it down with a thump onto the work surface and spooning two heaped teaspoons into one of the coffee cups.
"How are you...?"
Zoe asked eventually, the silence between them beginning to ache with tension and unanswered questions.
Helena smiled slightly, glancing up at Zoe and exhaling loudly through parted lips.
She shrugged.
"Just living..."
She poured milk from a milk jug into all three cups.
"I suppose."
She placed the mug back down and looked over at Zoe.
"Unfortunately."
She added. Zoe drew in a long breath.
"You don't mean that."
She shook her head, glancing back down to Mrs Dalloway.
"No, I don't suppose I do. Not really."
Helena sighed, shaking some of the ground coffee into a canister which she then decanted into the coffee machine.
"What about you and Henry...?"
Zoe asked, not really wishing to hear the answer, but asking nonetheless. Helena shrugged again as she often did.
"We live our lives, do whatever we do, and then we sleep - it's as simple and ordinary as that. That's what people do isn't it? The unhappy ones...A few jump out of windows or drown themselves or take pills; more die by accident; and most of us, the vast majority, are slowly devoured by some disease or, if we're very fortunate, by time itself."
She glanced at Zoe, an odd mix of humour and despair lacing the edges of her smile.
"There's just this for consolation: an hour here or there when we daydream, or read..."
She glanced to the book next to Zoe's arm.
"...and our lives seem, against all odds and expectations, to burst open and give us everything we've ever imagined, though everyone but children...or perhaps even they, know these hours will inevitably be followed by others, far darker and more difficult."
She paused again as the coffee machine began to whir and she placed the first mug underneath the spout.
"I'm going on I know. But still, I cherish the city, the morning...the children..."
She placed the second cup under the flow, setting down the first to steam on the side next to her.
"And Henry..."
She sighed.
"All my life I could do anything. I could do anything, really. Except the one thing I wanted..."
She replaced the second for the third cup and lined them up in a straight line on the side, stirring them slowly, repetitively.
"How is she...?"
Zoe asked after Bette, her voice a whisper, but still it seemed to send a jolt through Helena as if she had been stabbed.
"Still unconscious."
she whispered.
"The doctors said that when...if...she comes round they don't expect she'll ever be..."
She left the sentence unfinished, staring into the third coffee cup for a moment, watching the bubbles slow and settle on the surface, the steam rising into her face.
"Henry would think me ungrateful. We've got all this, we moved here for me, he's done all this for me, and still I've cheated on him, gone behind his back. None of this makes me happy.W
She waved a hand at her surrounding.
"I feel like my life has been stolen from me. I'm living in a town I have no wish to live in... I'm living a life I have no wish to live... How did this happen?"
She looked to Zoe, her eyes blank, faded and tinged with the greying darkness of hopelessness.
Zoe just looked at her for a moment, taking in the small, exhausted woman before her in this oversized house full of possessions.
Then she reached out a hand, which Helena took hesitantly, allowing herself to be pulled into a hug.
"I don't think two people could have been happier...than us...Bette..."
Helena's voice strained against her whisper, Zoe could feel the tightness of every muscle in her body, she hugged her gently, feeling as though she might shatter at any moment.
"You could do something about it. You could leave, take the children...?"
Zoe whispered. Helena pulled away slightly, shaking her head, resting her hands on Zoe's forearms and attempting a smile.
She shook her head, biting her lip.
"People like me don't do things like that."
She sucked in a breath of courage.
"Let's take these through."
Was all she said, stepping away from Zoe and passing her a mug, taking the other two in her hand. She paused as she reached the door way, catching the concern in Zoe's expression.
"Anyway, I'm in good company..."
She nodded to the book.
"Mrs Dalloway...always throwing parties to cover the silence. I'll just have to throw more parties."
She smiled, seeming to transform as she stepped into the hall from the kitchen, brightening somehow as if she'd drawn up a cloak around herself, concealing what was really there.
Zoe followed, her heels clicking sharply on the hall floor, watching so as not to spill the full cup of coffee as they turned into the sitting room.
She looked up as she entered. Max glanced at them, reaching out to Helena as she passed him his coffee, he murmured his thanks and rested the cup on the floor between his folded legs.
He sat, Indian style on the woven rug, Angelica and Milo sat on either side of him, Angelica's blonde head was resting against Max's shoulder, she was reading a book that he had resting in his lap, and Milo was fitting together Lego bricks with skilled precision while Max quietly pointed out which bit went where from the instruction manual that he had propped up in front of him.
Zoe watched as Angelica nudged him, and pointed with the end of her pencil to a word in the book that she was struggling with, Max read it allowed under his breath and handed another piece of Lego to Milo.
"You're the lucky ones..."
Helena whispered, her gaze moving from Max and the children to Zoe.
"He'll be an amazing father..."
She added softly.
Hope you enjoyed the extra long update, more tonight or tomorrow :) Reviews welcome as always! They help to inspire me for the next update ;) xxx