Marcus’s Story
Chapter Six
“I hate these family reunions. Who plans a reunion for New Year’s Eve? Surely everyone has got better things to do.”
“Name one,” Marcus replied mildly. His mind was only half on his cousin. Not long after the family had gathered in the park, Marcus had spotted the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life setting up what looked like sound equipment in the pavilion nearby. Soon she had been joined by a large number of young people. It looked as if they were getting a concert together. Even from where he sat he could see the tilt of her head as she stopped to listen to someone, her smile as she seemed to encourage one of the nervous youth, and overall, her incredible beauty.
“For starters, there’s that band at the pub that I was wanting to hear.”
“It will still be going when we’ve finished here. The old folks won’t want to stay out all night. Besides, the mozzies will start bothering them soon.”
Damien swore and pulled out a cigarette.
“What are you looking at?”
Marcus started guiltily. He hadn’t realised it was so obvious.
Suddenly Damien whistled. Marcus’s heart dropped. His cousin had spotted her too.
“That must be the most gorgeous girl I’ve ever seen in my life.” He added a few choice phrases that made Marcus’s heart drop even further. “I’m going to head over that way.”
“I think it’s a church group.”
Damien smiled broadly. “I can ‘do’ church. Especially for one as gorgeous as she is. Coming?”
Reluctantly Marcus stood up from the low wall on which he’d been sitting. He knew his cousin didn’t need him – not where the girls were concerned – but perhaps he could keep him out of trouble. He could always hope.
“You might want to put your cigarette out,” he said mildly. Damien took his advice and ground it into the path at his feet.
The concert appeared to be about to commence when they entered the crowd that had drawn up around the pavilion. Entranced, Marcus watched as the girl, who introduced herself as Madi, spoke a few words and then introduced the show. Later, he heard her sing and he thought he had never heard anything more beautiful. Out of the corner of his eye he watched his cousin. Damien seemed to be just as entranced.
At the conclusion of the concert when the invitation was given for anyone who wanted to know more about the God they’d spoken about to come forward, Marcus was surprised to see his cousin make his way to the steps of the pavilion. Could this be real or was this just another ploy of Damien’s to get the girl? Hating himself for being so sceptical he followed his cousin and was relieved to hear him praying a prayer of repentance. Obviously Damien had had a change of heart and had at last found God.
That night, Marcus’s prayers for his cousin had been answered. But his prayers that he would put the image of Madi out of his mind remained unanswered for a very long time.
*********
It was no surprise to anyone – least of all Marcus – when Madi and Damien began dating. They were both extremely attractive and, since Damien’s recent conversion, seemed ideally suited. Everyone was thrilled apart from Marcus. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t forget Madi.
The signs were there from the beginning. He had tired to ignore them, but he was still unprepared for the day Damien barged into his room, rousing him after just a few hours’ sleep.
“Congratulate me, cuz. She said yes!”
Marcus struggled to wake to full consciousness. He’d had a difficult night and had only arrived home at four in the morning. He had to start work at ten and he needed all the sleep he could get.
“What are you talking about?”
“Madi. She said yes. I proposed and she said yes.”
Marcus pushed himself up onto one elbow. “Congratulations.” If his voice sounded hollow his cousin didn’t seem to notice.
“I want you to be my best man.”
“Me?”
“Why not? I’ll ask Leigh to stand up with me, too, but I want you to be best man. You’ll do it, of course?”
It was more a statement than a question and Damien took Marcus’s lack of response as an affirmative answer.
“Great. We’re thinking the beginning of November. Just hope I can wait that long.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Oh, Madi’s into all this stuff about chastity and purity and whatnot. I thought once we were engaged I’d wear her down, but she’s still stand offish.”
“But as a Christian now you should agree with her. It’s God’s plan for us – for marriage. The physical union should only come after the marriage vows have been spoken.” Marcus tried not to show his shock. After all, Damien hadn’t been a Christian for very long. He obviously still had a lot of maturing to do in his faith. And yet, Damien had been brought up in the church – just as he himself had, as had most in their family. True, Damien had refused to go once he turned thirteen and his parents had given in, but Marcus would’ve thought that his cousin would’ve embraced all these principles he would have been taught over the years as right and good now that he was saved.
Damien was speaking again. “Oh, sure, but I thought that engagement was enough of a commitment. I mean, we’re planning to get married. What harm can it do?”
“The Bible says –”
Damien cut him off. “Don’t preach at me. I’m a man. You’re a man. You know how it stands. It’s hard to wait.”
“A man can wait. It might not be easy, but a godly man who lives according to God’s principles will wait.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve never been with a woman?” Damien gave a nasty laugh. “You haven’t. It’s written all over your face. Marcus, Marcus, it’s about time you got yourself a girlfriend and then you might know what it’s like. It’s easy to say all these things when you’re not involved with anyone.” Damien laughed in a condescending way.
“I don’t want a girlfriend.” An image of Madi flashed before his eyes convicting him that he lied. There was only one girl he wanted and she was taken.
“I’ll get Madi to set you up with one of her friends.”
“I can find my own girlfriend, thank you very much.” Marcus’s voice was cold and stiff, but he didn’t care. “Now if you don’t mind, I need to get some more sleep.”
He could hear Damien laughing all the way out of the room as he went to share his news with his aunt and uncle, but Marcus didn’t care. His cousin had made up his mind about him a long time ago. He couldn’t understand why he’d been asked to be best man unless it was to torture him. For torture it would be to stand up beside Damien and see him marry Madi.
Sleep was a long time coming and if he was grumpy on his shift that day, thankfully no one commented.
*********
Marcus’s heart skipped a beat as he saw Madi on the arm of her father. She was beautiful – and she was walking down the aisle towards him. For a few minutes he allowed himself to daydream of what it would be like if he was the one standing a few steps to the left in his cousin’s shoes, but as Madi took Damien’s arm and smiled up into her groom’s face, pain shot through Marcus like a knife. As the day continued the pain intensified. He smiled for the photos, he gave a premium speech and made the guests laugh and Madi smile, but his insides were twisting and he was surprised that he got through the ceremony and reception without throwing up.
After the bridal couple had left with toilet paper flying and tin cans rattling behind their car, instead of returning to the reception room, he walked around the corner of the building and leaned against the wall.
It was his sister Diana who found him.
“Marc! Are you all right?”
He tried to pull himself together. “Just something I ate, I think.”
“Nonsense!” She peered at him and he found himself unable to meet her eyes. “You haven’t eaten anything all day. Anyone would think you were the nervous groom and not Damien.”
“Has eve
ryone gone?”
“Not yet. They’re just loading the wedding gifts into cars and clearing the tables.”
“I should get back inside.”
“No one’s missed you." His sister’s words sounded blunt, but he knew they were meant to console him. “Well, perhaps that pretty bridesmaid has been looking for you, but even I could tell her that she’s wasting her time.”
He looked at his sister curiously, but she was giving nothing away in her expression.
“Here.” She pulled her car keys out of her purse and handed them to him. “Why don’t you go and get my car and bring it around? Sidney’s been screaming for a feed for the last half hour and I wouldn’t mind taking her home so I can feed her and put her to bed. Wes is still talking and likely to not want to go just yet. He can bring your car when he’s ready.”
He took the keys from her hand, thankful that he wouldn’t have to go inside the building again. “Okay,” was all he said, but it conveyed more than any other words could have done just how thankful he was for his sister’s insight. If she knew what he was going through she never said a word and for that, too, he was grateful.
*********
Marcus made his way towards the front door when he heard it ring, but his aunt beat him to it. Standing on the front porch, a little breathless and not as neatly turned out as usual, was Damien.
“Where’s Madi?” Damien’s mother peered around her son standing at her front door.
“She’s not coming.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just that. She’s not coming.”
“But when I spoke to her on the phone she said she’d love to come.”
“She lied.”
“Madi?” Damien’s mother shook her head in bewilderment.
“If you must know, she hates these family get-togethers.”
“What nonsense!” Damien’s mother stared at him. “What’s really going on?”
Marcus handed his cousin an unopened can of Coke knowing that he would prefer something stronger, but that he wouldn’t dare drink too much in front of his parents who had always disapproved of their son’s ability to down alcohol as if it were water.
“Well, we didn’t want to say anything this soon, but, well, Madi’s not feeling well.”
“What’s wrong?” Marcus was relieved for his aunt’s immediate concern and the question prompted by such concern.
“As I said, we didn’t want to say anything, but Madi’s pregnant. I’m going to be a father.”
“That’s wonderful news.” Damien’s mother threw her arms around her son and squeezed him tight. Over her shoulder Damien cast a triumphant grin at Marcus who immediately put down his drink and wandered over to clap his cousin on the shoulder.
“Congratulations. You must be overjoyed.”
“Yes, well.” Damien shrugged and Marcus went cold at something he saw in his cousin’s face.
“It seems that it’s a night for news,” his mother announced. “Marcus has just informed us that he’s accepted a posting down south. He’ll be moving at the end of next month.”
“Really?” Damien studied Marcus as one might study an interesting new specimen of vermin.
Marcus avoided looking at his cousin, knowing that Damien would guess the main reason he had accepted the transfer. Living this close to Damien and Madi, seeing Madi at family events, loving her even though she now belonged to another – it was too much and he had made the decision to move on. Perhaps this way he could finally get her out of his system.
“Yes, really,” his mother replied. “It’s good news for Marcus. A promotion.”
“It’s congratulations all round then.” Damien lifted his arms then gave his drink to his mother. “Come on, Mum, surely there’s something better we can celebrate with than a lousy can of Coke. Break out the real stuff!”
Damien’s mother pursed her lips and Marcus muttered, “Not for me thanks”, but Damien ignored them all. By the time Damien was ready to go home, Marcus had to drive him.
*********
If Marcus thought that moving thousands of kilometres away and putting a large body of water between Madi and himself would make him forget Madi, he was wrong. He enjoyed his new job, and away from his cousin’s shadow, discovered to his surprise that he was much in demand by the young ladies in the community. He dated a few but none of them compared to Madi, and after a few attempts to make himself feel more for the lady in question but unable to do so, he resolved to remain single all his life.
Letters and phone calls from home kept him up to date with the goings on in the family and occasionally someone would mention Madi or Damien. It was enough. But when his mother told him that Madi had left Damien he was in shock. He knew Madi and he knew how she felt about her marriage vows. Damien must have hurt her very badly for her to leave him. He had a sudden irresistible longing to wring someone’s neck and was glad there was such a vast distance between his cousin and himself.
“Marcus, are you still there? Did you hear what I said?” It was his mother’s voice and he realised that he was still on the phone and hadn’t replied.
“Yes. Are you sure?”
“Of course, I’m sure.” Her answer implied she was offended by his question. “Damien’s mother told me herself.”
“What happened?”
“Well, that’s the thing. No one knows. Madi seems to have disappeared. At first, Damien was almost distraught with worry but now he’s gone also. We think he’s left the country.”
“And you don’t know where Madi is?”
“We have an idea. We think she’s moved out of the city with Jaena and up north somewhere. Her parents have sold up, too. No one will talk about it. But we do know this: Madi’s taken out a restraining order against Damien.”
It must be bad then. If Damien had hurt her … or her daughter … Marcus left the thought unfinished. It paid not to go there. He had enough to think about as it was.
“Thanks for letting me know.” He knew his words sounded stilted but he didn’t know what else to say.
“Will you be home for Christmas? Your sister and her family are coming. They went to Wes’s family last year. It would be good if you could make it.”
He hadn’t planned to. He only had four days off and airfares were expensive, but things had changed now. He hadn’t seen Madi since before she’d had the baby and Jaena was – he quickly worked it out – his second cousin by marriage. It would be good to see them. He tried to convince himself that his concern was because they were family but he knew he deceived himself.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Eighteen months later he accepted a transfer up north. There had been another job offer – a promotion in a town not far from where he was now – but he turned it down. It was time to go home.
*********
Marcus was in the car when the call came. His partner swore and Marcus looked at her in surprise.
“Sorry. These cases usually end badly. Kid uplifted. Parents estranged. It’s usually ugly.”
Marcus nodded, not disputing what the other officer had said. Truth was, no one looked forward to domestic situations. Too many emotions. Too many variables. Too many hearts that could get broken. Too often, a no-win situation with the police looking like the ones in the wrong.
“What’s the story?”
“Mother went inside to answer the phone. Returns and the child has gone. That’s all we know. Oh, and she has a restraining order out against the child’s father which makes him the likely suspect. The best we can hope for is that he frightens the kid and nothing more.”
They pulled up in front of a small nondescript house that looked similar to every other house in the street except that loving care had obviously been lavished on the exterior and the surrounding garden. In fact, it and another house opposite were the only two houses that had front gardens, unless you could call a straggly tree in the middle of un-mown grass a garden, in which case almost every house boasted such a garden. He kne
w nothing of flowers but those that lined the drive were well tended and the few shrubs that formed a low hedge looked healthy and recently trimmed. Nor was there any rubbish lying around or, unlike the neighbouring houses, rusting car parts on the front lawn.
“I’ll talk to the mother while you scout around outside and see if there are any signs.”
Marcus undid his seatbelt and slid out of the car. It was his first day on the new job and this was meant to be a drive around to allow him to become acquainted with the layout of the district. He had already met his colleagues and superior and had been surprised to discover that in this small country station, despite his experience, trust and responsibility would be slow in coming. But it would come. In the meantime, there was a scared lost kid somewhere who needed to be reunited with its mother.
The yard yielded very little except to confirm that someone must have physically removed the child. It was a well-fenced yard and the gates were all high and securely locked. There was no way a young child could have gotten out of the yard without some assistance. He approached the front door, knocked gently, and then let himself in. He could hear voices in a nearby room, and made his way there. He stopped in shock at the door.
“Madi.”
She looked up, her face pale and drawn and bearing evidence of recent tears. “Marcus.”
His partner’s face also registered surprise. “You know each other?”
Marcus ignored her and went and sat down in front of Madi. “Tell me what happened.”
Briefly Madi retold her story.
“You think Damien’s involved?”
His partner was spluttering and trying to catch his attention but he continued to ignore her. This was Madi and to heck with protocol. Most likely he’d be reprimanded later but he’d worry about that then.
Madi started crying. “If it’s Damien, how did he find out where we lived? No one knows except my parents.” Then she looked at him. “But you know.”
He shook his head. “No, Madi, I didn’t know. This is as much of a surprise to me as it is to you. I just answered the call.” He took her hand. “But we’ll find her. We’ll do everything in our power to find her. I promise.” He rose and beckoned to his partner and they moved away from Madi.
The Scent of Rain Page 8
