Relief suddenly enveloped Lucy and she realised she was freezing, her underwear no protection from the cold water that she had been in, the shock all helping to make her shiver more.
“I w-w wanted t-t-to s-stay with y-you.”
“Let’s get home. Sit here and d-d-don’t move,” she instructed the kid, who nodded furiously as she too began to shiver and shake. Lucy grabbed the oars and began to row them around and back to the shore, back to Nicole, who was already wading into the water to meet them.
Chapter Sixteen
Nicole helped Lucy bring the boat in and as soon as she could, she laid her hands on her child. She carried her into the cabin with Lucy following behind, dripping all over the floor as she shivered.
“Jesus Storm, what the hell?” Nicole admonished as she held her tight to her, water dripping from their wet clothes.
“We n-n-need to get her out of these w-w-wet clothes,” Lucy stuttered as she stood there shivering, virtually naked. “And I need to g-g-go and g-g-get dry too, will you b-be okay?” Her teeth chattered as she spoke.
“Yes! I’ll be fine,” Nicole snapped, desperately stripping shoes and socks from Storm. “Lucy?” She sighed as she looked up and fastened her gaze on the other woman. “I’m sorry, thank you.” She smiled quickly before her attention swayed back to Storm.
Lucy nodded, then turned to go and change into something dry herself. Her wet footprints left a path to her room as she padded half-naked across the area. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Every scar on her body stood out like a roadmap. The cold had made them more noticeable, every jagged line, every puckered piece of skin. It was all there, visible.
~E&F~
Lucy stood under the shower and let the warmth of the water wash over her. Gradually her skin and bones began to warm as the water brought her body’s temperature back up. She took her time getting dressed, giving Nicole time with Storm but also hiding out. She was scared to look in Nicole’s eyes and see pity staring back at her. She grabbed a pair of warm sweatpants and a hooded top and felt much better, more herself again. Hidden.
She went to the kitchen and began the process of making some hot chocolate. First of all, it was warm, and Storm definitely needed warming up, but most importantly it was the best drink ever. She had half expected to find they had all left, but to her surprise, they were still there.
Storm was curled up on the couch with a blanket around her. The twins thought the whole thing was funny, especially that Storm had fallen in. They were too young to grasp the severity of the situation, that their sister had almost drowned. Nicole, though, was now starting to realise exactly what had almost happened, and she was shaking as she sat at the end of the couch.
Lucy placed 5 mugs of hot chocolate on the small table and then knelt in front of Nicole. The brunette was perched on the edge of the seat, her knees held tightly together as they bounced up and down, her face hidden in her palms.
Lucy reached out to her, and she flinched a little at the unexpected touch. “She’s alright,” Lucy stressed. She saw the scar on her hand and retracted her fingers, pushing her hands into the front pocket of her sweatshirt. “I know it was a shock and very frightening, but she is okay.”
Nicole nodded, so at least Lucy knew she was hearing her. She continued on.
“It wasn’t your fault, it was just an accident. She didn’t mean to fall in, and she is alright.” She kept reiterating that Storm was indeed fine. She was cold and a little scared, but she was fine.
“I know.” Nicole finally spoke, rubbing a palm over her face. She looked up. “But if you hadn’t been there? I feel nauseous.” She sat up abruptly but kept her elbows on her knees as she rocked back and forth.
“Then she would have probably stayed dry,” Lucy said honestly. “She only lost her balance because she tried to turn around to talk to me.”
At that point Storm piped up. “You’re the only one that listens to me.”
Nicole closed her eyes as tears sprung and erupted. Did her child hate her that much?
“That’s not true, Storm,” said Lucy, defending Nicole. “Your mum listens to you, but sometimes adults have to make decisions that mean they can’t do what you want them to do.”
“We never do what I want to do,” Storm said, sitting up but keeping the blanket wrapped around her tiny body.
“That’s not fair, Storm,” Nicole objected. “Do you think I want to leave?”
Storm looked away, knowing full well that the answer was no. She knew none of this was her mom’s fault. But it wasn’t hers either, and she was so over having a monster for a father.
Nicole continued to speak to her daughter as Lucy passed around the hot chocolate. “I don’t, I don’t want to leave here, but what choice do we have? If he comes back and he hurt you or the twins…” She shook her head, not even able to consider it being an outcome. “Thank you,” she whispered, taking the warm mug from Lucy.
“So, what are we going to do, Mom? Keep running? Spend my whole life never having a home? friends? What about school, Mom?” Storm was on a roll with her argument now. “You always told me to work hard at school so I can be someone.”
Nicole nodded. “Yes, I did, I know and I want that, I want you to work hard.”
“For what, Mom? What is the point? If I will always have to be someone else. What’s my next name going to be?”
The kid had a point, and Lucy found herself selfishly rooting for her to win this argument. Somewhere along the line, Nicole would have to stop running and deal with this situation, but the biggest thing that Lucy considered was that she too could maybe face some of her issues and deal with them if this family hung around.
Nicole stood up and walked to the window, needing to think. She knew her daughter was right, but she had to weigh up the options: take their chances and stay here, or move on and hope for the best. The only thought in her mind was what was best for her children. She had taken such a risk to leave him. Even now she couldn’t believe she had actually done it. And she hadn’t expected to find somewhere like this so easily to make a home in; she had expected to keep moving. Storm knew that, they had had the conversation about it, but she liked it here. She liked that her children were happy. She had a job, she had friends, and she had Lucy. Why did he have to find them? How did he find them? If he could find them here, then was anywhere safe? Would they ever be free?
“If we stayed here, we can’t live in that cabin, he knows and will come back there,” she said without turning, her focus on a small bird that was pecking away at the seed Lucy had on the table outside. Even the animals, she cares for them, Nicole pondered, Lucy cares for all of them.
Storm looked at Lucy and Lucy looked at Storm. They both had a little curve to their lips and a sparkle of hope in their eyes.
“You…you can all stay here,” Lucy said, without thinking, not needing to think. It was obvious; it was the perfect solution. She had the room, and they were already here. It could work. Storm jumped up and moved to stand next to her.
“Please, please say yes, Mom,” Storm implored. It was almost heart-breaking to listen to her.
Nicole turned around, her arms wrapped around herself, and what she saw made her burst out laughing: her daughter and Lucy, standing next to each other with the same expression on their faces. It was ridiculous. Paul would find them again, but somehow as she watched her daughter and Lucy, she knew she had to be braver. She had to give her children this chance.
“Doesn’t look like I am going to get any choice now, does it?” She smiled as Storm rushed over to her and threw her arms around her waist. “There are going to be strict rules Storm,” she warned.
“Okay Mom, I can live with that.”
“Are you sure you know what you’re letting yourself in for?” she said to Lucy.
“Nope, but I’m going to do it anyway.” Lucy smiled.
Chapter Seventeen
Lucy and Nicole spent the remainder of the day emptying everything from the Grange
rs’ cabin and moving it all into Lucy’s. They wanted to make it look like they had just packed up and left in a hurry, so a few things were strategically left lying on the floor. Furniture that wasn’t needed was moved and upended. They left it in disarray.
In some ways, Nicole was sad to see it back to the empty, unlived-in state she had found it in. She had spent a lot of time and precious money on trying to make it into a nicer home. But then she remembered Paul arriving, and how it was now just another thing in her life tainted by him. When she returned to Lucy’s cabin and found the twins and Storm cleaning the spare room that would be theirs, she couldn’t help but smile. This would be their home. Here, squashed in with the strangest woman in town.
Lucy had driven Nicole’s car into town and found a car lot looking to buy second-hand cars. She sold it for barely anything. It didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but Nicole was terrified that Paul would remember it and be able to follow them, so it had to go. Across the road was a car hire place. She strolled over and handed her driving licence over.
While she was in town, she figured there were a few other things she need to pick up, like a TV. Just because she didn’t watch it didn’t mean the girls had to go without. Driving around in the brand-new SUV, she realised she hadn’t driven for a long time, and yet, it was like riding a bike. There was a huge store on the outskirts of town that sold electrical goods. Finding an assistant to help her had taken some working up to, but something had lifted within her, something that made speaking to strangers that little bit easier. There were three little girls who needed more than they had been given so far from the adults in their lives. So, with the help of a girl half her age, she filled her trolley with a widescreen TV and all the best equipment to go with it, including surround sound and a DVD player. She was bamboozled when the girl asked her about Wi-Fi and tablets, but in the end, she understood it all and bought a laptop and three tablets, all loaded with the educational tools the kids would need. She was having fun spending her money. She wasn’t rich by any means, but the band had made enough in its heyday, and she still got royalty payments now and then. Living the way she was had meant it just sat in the bank, accruing interest. What better way to spend it than on others who needed it?
The last time she had gone on such a spree had been just before the crash, when she had spent hundreds of pounds on designer clothing. Now, she wouldn’t even know who the designers were.
Remembering the sparseness of the children’s rooms back in their old cabin, she wanted to make sure they didn’t go without anymore, at least not while they stayed with her. There was a really nice furniture store along the way, and she figured in for a shilling, in for a pound. Forty-five minutes later and she had ordered three single beds, along with sets of drawers and a small wardrobe each. She paid extra for it all to be delivered and set up in a few days. She had a new spring in her step!
They were kids, and kids needed toys to play with and books to read. They needed giant bears to cuddle and dolls to dress and blocks to build. Lucy found a toy store, and as she strolled around each aisle with her trolley, grabbing things for the twins and Storm, she thought about Nicole.
Nicole, who had left her life behind her; she barely had a case of clothes to call her own. She went from being a kept woman to a woman who worked all the hours she could to provide for her kids, and she never once put herself first. She wanted to do something nice for her too, and as she looked across the store and out through the window, she saw the perfect place to get it.
Toys all paid for and being packed, she quickly ran across the street and into the store opposite. It had been a long time since she had bought anybody a present, let alone a beautiful woman she was trying not to have feelings for.
She was almost done with her trip and just had to stop off at Rita’s store to pick up some more groceries before she would be finished. And with 4 more mouths to feed, she was going to need a lot!
Chapter Eighteen
“Hello, Lucy.” Rita greeted her, smiling like she usually did when the younger woman entered the store. “How are you today?” she asked as she always did, whilst she carried on doing what she was doing without waiting for the reply that never came.
“Hi, I’m good thanks, you?” Lucy replied. Rita stopped what she was doing immediately as she slowly turned and looked at her. Narrowing her eyes, she noticed something was different. She was still the same tall, skinny girl in jeans and sweatshirt, hair hanging loose with her cap pulled down, so that wasn’t it.
“I am doing great also, thank you for asking.” And there it was: Lucy had never asked her before. She studied her a little more. She had a cart; Lucy rarely used a cart. It was always a basket. There was something else though. Rita came out from behind the counter and walked slowly down the aisle on the pretence of looking for something, which of course she was. She was looking for Lucy, because the Lucy she had known for all these years wasn’t quite there.
She was smiling!
Lucy Owen was standing in her store and she was smiling. There had been smiles before – well, they were more grimaces than smiles. A slight upturn of lips maybe, but not like this; this was a full on, happy smile. Lucy had dimples!
“So, it’s a lovely day outside today isn’t it?” Rita offered as a segue into further conversation while Lucy picked up items she didn’t normally buy.
“Yes, it’s beautiful outside,” Lucy replied instead of her usual one-word answer. Rita was flabbergasted.
“Anything I can help you with over there?” Rita asked, noting that Lucy was trying to decide between two different brands of orange juice.
“Uh yes, which of these has the least amount of sugar?”
Rita had to seriously consider sitting down at this point. Sugar content in orange juice? What next?
“Oh, and are these yoghurts any good?” Lucy added, picking up the pack of four that she had in her trolley.
“Okay, enough, what the hell’s happening here?” Rita exclaimed, looking around for candid cameras to jump out on her and let her in on the joke.
“Sorry?” Lucy questioned, not quite getting it.
“You have barely said more than one-word answers to me in 10 years, and now you wanna know which yoghurts are best and which orange juice has the least amount of sugar in it?” Rita said incredulously, one eyebrow raised.
“Yes, that sums it up.” She smiled again, now realising she was messing with Rita’s head a little.
“And now you’re smiling at me?” she laughed. “Has the world ended? Did something happen while I was out back in the stock room?”
“I guess when you put it like that…” Lucy said, choosing a few bars of chocolate and bags of chips.
“So?”
“I don’t know what you want me to say?” Lucy replied as innocently as she could.
“Well, we’re already 50 words more than I’ve ever heard you utter, so let’s go with that, huh?” She grinned, her eyebrow cocked quizzically.
Lucy thought about how her life had changed so much in such a short amount of time and how much she wanted her life to change. She was walking around a changed woman. She knew, and now everyone else was seeing it.
“Things change.” She shrugged as she wheeled her cart to the till. Rita racked up her bill, all the while considering what could have changed so much in such a short time that Lucy Owens would be standing in front of her chatting away like a regular member of society.
“Lucy?” she called out to the retreating form. When Lucy stopped and turned to face her she said, “Welcome back.”
Chapter Nineteen
“Mom!” Storm hollered as Lucy pulled up out front in a new car; a brand new, super shiny car that was filled to the brim with boxes and bags.
Nicole ran outside to see what it was that Storm was hollering so loudly about. What she saw in front of her made her gasp.
“Where did you get that?” Nicole asked, pointing to the car. Lucy had been given instructions to take her old car
and swap it out for something similar, but this was not something similar, this was an upgrade of an upgrade on her old car.
“Well, I figured this made more sense.” Feeling clever with herself, Lucy smiled to Nicole.
“Okay, but where did this come from? And how did we pay for it?” Lucy noted the ‘we’ in that statement but chose to ignore its connotations, even though she kind of liked them.
“I hired it, it’s not that expensive,” Lucy lied, smiling happily and hoping Nicole didn’t ask too many more questions.
“Oh really? I might not know much about cars Luce, but I do know that that costs a lot more than the old heap of junk I just got rid of,” Nicole argued, pointing at the new car for emphasis.
“Okay, but I…look, I have the money, so why not use it for once?” Lucy declared. “And…and if it makes you feel better, we can…we can share it.”
Storm watched as her mother and Lucy went back and forth discussing who should or shouldn’t pay for the new car. It wasn’t that interesting to listen to, and her attention began to drift back to the car with more interest. It was then that she noticed that there was more than just a car to investigate.
“Oh my God, Mom!” Storm shouted, getting everybody’s attention. “Lucy bought a TV!”
“TV, TV, TV,” repeated the twins over and over as they danced around Lucy with the most adorable smiles on their faces. Their dark blonde curls bounced along with them.
“Alright, a word please,” Nicole said to Lucy as she walked away from the kids for some privacy. Lucy followed as requested, with Storm giving her the ‘you’re in trouble’ look. Lucy smirked and shrugged.
Lucy made the decision to put her defence in first rather than wait for a telling off from Nicole. “Before you tell me all the reasons why I can’t or shouldn’t buy things, can I please say something first?”
“Go ahead.” Nicole motioned with her hand before crossing her arms and leaning her weight to one side. She didn’t look happy, and Lucy coughed to clear her throat before she began.
The Meant to Be Collection Page 10
