I feel so guilty about how short this is but its basically a teaser, leading up to the BIG chapter. And I mean BIG. All I'll say is...maybe have some Kleenex handy...and don't hate me. Read, please enjoy and as always be my best friend and review. xx
Sarah Hatcher drummed her fingers nervously along the long oak table, wincing as she clinked her thumbnail against one of the marble placemats, causing a sharp ping to emanate around the large room.
Peering through into the living room, she could see the large bay windows framing the huge drive, a gentle amber glow flooding in from the lamps either side of the huge oak double doors that led to the outside.
Laughing lightly, she shook her head; to think Moira Dunham's boys had both ended up doing so well and hers...
Unconsciously grasping the locket around her neck which contained a photo of her son taken on his 7th birthday, she blinked back the tears.
Her son had never had the chance.
"I don't suppose anyone has gone so far as to offer you a coffee?"
The voice was gentle but well spoken, her words clipped and pronounced in a manner that Sarah wasn't used to hearing around her neck of the woods. Turning as best she could in the large chair she had plonked herself in, the older woman blinked in surprise.
The young woman moved further into the room, her movements graceful yet wary. She was a slip of a thing, all porcelain skin and emerald eyes. Her honey coloured hair was half up, half down, the messy knot somehow looking perfect on her.
The Dunham boys really had done well.
"Or God forbid a comfortable chair," Allie frowned. Why on earth had the boys made her sit in here? As much as she loved the dining room, it was reserved pretty much for special occasions. Even as a child she had hated the tall, stiff backed chairs. "Come on," she nodded. "Its far too cold in here,"
Sarah followed her, slightly dumbstruck that the woman was being so polite. After all, her husband had attacked her and Pete. And Steve.
Glancing down at her wedding ring, which she now wore out of habit more than anything else, Sarah Hatcher not for the first time felt herself go red with shame. It had been a hell of a risk coming here, she knew that. They could have slammed the door in her face as soon as they opened it but they didn't. So she had to make the most of this chance.
Allie gestured to one of the huge arm chairs and Sarah sat down in it, her eyes widening as the chair seemed to draw her in, all feather cushions and cashmere. Jesus, she might not leave.
"I'm sorry for springing this on you," she blurted, her voice sounding odd in the large room. "I know I've got no right to be 'ere, especially given..." she paused and looked at the ground, but Allie caught the rest of the sentence.
"What he did."
Sighing, Allie sat down across from her and nodded.
"I learned a long time ago that marrying a man doesn't mean inheriting his mistakes," she smiled sadly. "I wouldn't change Pete for anything but he was no saint when I met him. In fact he was a slow motion car crash," she laughed.
Sarah stared at her, slightly amazed. The girl was wiser than her age and looks would have you think.
"Some mistakes can't help but be inherited though, can they?" the older woman shook her head and looked at the ground for a long moment before meeting Allie's eyes again, feeling the tears burning but refusing to let them fall. "When I found out what he did to you in that apartment...God, I was so bloody...I don't know. I wept. We had a son and we lost 'im. And you...you were pregnant and..."
Allie noticed Sarah shaking hard and felt a lump form in her throat; this was going to be harder than she had thought.
"And then to do what he did to Pete..." she continued. "Darlin', my husband...the man I met when I was 19, he wasn't the man I buried. I was so scared of him, all I wanted to do was have a life...maybe have another boy..or a girl...I...I just wanted..."
Sarah jumped when she felt a hand grab hers and squeeze it hard. Looking up, she blinked unsure when it was that Allie had actually got up from her seat and moved next to her. The touch was more comforting than she had expected and she wondered not for the first time, if life would have been different had they had a daughter.
"That day on the wharf," Allie swallowed hard. "I thought I had lost Pete, I really did. He wasn't breathing, he had no heartbeat. And I just remember screaming. I hadn't felt that kind of pain in so long..." she glanced at the photo of her mother on the mantelpiece and smiled sadly. "Tommy...was crying. I remember that much; the boys were holding him back and he was screaming, like an animal caught in a trap, I'd never heard anything like it."
Sarah said nothing, not wanting to interrupt her. All she had ever heard of that day were the small scraps of information that Tommy would feed her to shut her up.
"When I woke up in the hospital and a few days later, I found out I was pregnant. That was when I got angry. Because I couldn't understand, when you have a family, when you have someone who loves you as much as we love them, how can they want to live that life?"
Allie shook her head and met the woman's eyes, her gaze hard and challenging.
"But you know what else I realised? Its not our fault. We carry their scars because they're the men we love but we didn't put them there. And while we do everything we can to help them heal...its not our fault," she squeezed her hand tighter and leant forward, really looking into the woman's eyes. "Its not our fault."
Sarah choked back a sob and went to speak but the sound of a door creaking stopped her. Looking up, she saw Pete Dunham standing there, his stance somewhat defensive as he looked her over as though she were a dangerous animal. She understood why and from the look in his eyes, she also knew he wasn't likely to be as understanding as his wife.
He moved into the room and in the light, she could see he was carrying three cups; walking over to the table he placed one down clumsily in front of her, spilling some on the huge coffee table.
"She makes bloody 'orrible coffee," he nodded towards Allie, who blinked at him in shock. Apparently Sarah wasn't the only one who hadn't been expecting him to appear so civil. "Thought I'd spare you the job of having to pretend,"
Allie beamed at him and swore to God she fell in love with him all over again in that moment; she knew how hard this must be for him and yet here he was making an effort. For her.
"So I'm guessing you're not 'ere to give my Yanky friend a get well card, are you?" he sat down and rested his elbows on his knees, leaning forward with his hands clasped tightly.
"Is he alright?" Sarah asked, her eyes wide. Though she hadn't seen the man herself, from what Eddie and his friends had been talking about in the kitchen the morning after she brought him home from hospital, she knew the fight had been fairly one sided.
"He doesn't look any worse than normal," Pete shrugged. "But that don't mean I'm any happier about it,"
"I told Eddie to stop," Sarah promised.
"And you reckon he'll listen?" the man rolled his eyes. "Just like his Uncle did?"
"Pete," Allie snapped, giving him a sharp look.
"What?" he shot back. "You wanted me to come down and talk, you didn't say anything about playing nice."
Pushing his cup of coffee out of the way, he leant on the coffee table and stared hard at the older woman across from him, his eyes flashing when he noticed Allie still had hold of her hand. As much as he loved the girl, she was too soft.
"So what exactly is little Eddie playing at?" he raised an eyebrow. "Or is he making himself comfortable somewhere in the house as well? Having a bath, is he?"
"Tommy raised him," Sarah told him, her tone almost pleading. "When Tommy and my boy went to the match that day, Eddie was there. He saw...everything." she fought back a sob. "It never left 'im, Pete. He saw that boy...my boy get crushed, he heard him scream,"
"I'm not for a second justifying what he did," she continued, hating herself as the first tear fell. "But I know that stayed with him, I know he never got over it,"
"Listen love," Pete cleared his throat, willing himself to be as gentle as he could. "I don't know how you cope...I've got two," he jerked his chin in the direction of one of the many pictures on the table next to her. "Pain in the arse at the best of times, but if anyone ever did anything to hurt 'em..."
Pete shook his head, trying to get the images out of his head; if anything happened to Poppy or Alex, if anyone so much as touched a hair on their heads. Looking down at the whiteness of his knuckles where he was subconsciously gripping the table so hard he waited for it to splinter, he realised he didn't even want to acknowledge what he'd be capable of.
"I'm done with the firm," he told her, his eyes hard. "I should've got out of it years ago after what happened with Tommy but I didn't. But now, I've got too much to live for, I'm not risking it, not for anything or anyone."
Sarah looked first at him and then at Allie who was staring at him with pride and love in her eyes; she tried desperately to remember if she had ever been able to look at her own husband like that.
"Eddie won't stop," she whispered. "He's..he's like his uncle. He won't stop until its over,"
"It already is," Pete shook his head. "Me and the boys, we don't run the GSE anymore, now I know he thinks we've got history and he's got his dandies in a twist over it but...it ain't happening. You can tell him that now,"
"And what if he doesn't listen?" Sarah cried. "What if this ends badly again...I can't lose anyone else, not after last time.."
"Sarah..." Allie sighed. "Its not that-..."
Her words turned into a scream as a loud crash sounded throughout the large room, echoing around them menacingly. Pete stood up instantly, the shouts of the boys travelling down the long hallway.
"Bov!" he shouted, jogging into the foyer. "What the fuck is going on?"
He stopped when he noticed the front door was open, glass littering the wooden hallway floor, crunching under his feet as he walked towards the broken window, his blood turning to ice as met the all too familiar eyes of the man he hated most.
"Pardon my manners, Dunham," Eddie Hatcher smirked, picking up another brick and tossing it from hand to hand. "Don't suppose you could make it tea for four, could ya?"
Annnnnd go!