Till Death Us Do Part

by Cristina Slough

  “Winston, I’ve met somebody really special. I think you’ll love him too.”

  The next morning, back at Meg’s flat, Joel lay next to Meg, his breath steady, his body sweaty. Meg was on her back, gazing up to the ceiling, not uttering a single word. The reality of what had just happened suddenly hit her.

  “She can’t ever know,” Joel said.

  “Hardly a match made in heaven. Cheating on your girlfriend already,” Meg responded.

  “And I don’t see you getting the best friend in the world award any time soon.”

  “Touché.”

  “Seriously, she can’t find out about this,” Joel said.

  Meg turned on her side, holding the bed sheet close to her body.

  “It will be our little secret.”

  Meg knew what she did was wrong, but her determination to get what she wanted in life was always her first priority, no matter who it hurt.

  When Mimi and Meg were children, Meg had envied her life. She came from a family who loved her and wanted her around. Unlike her own parents, who were divorced and argued over who would have her, not because they wanted her, but because they didn’t. They wanted to be free of her, so she had spent most of her time at Mimi’s house.

  Not only did Mimi have the perfect parents who actually gave a damn about one another, but she had an older sister who always had her back. Was she jealous of her friend? Absolutely. Life was good to Mimi and it just wasn’t fair. Meg resented it, so if she could have a slice of Mimi’s good fortune, she was going to take it. They lived only a door away from another, a fence apart, but they may as well have been worlds apart.

  Meg rolled out of bed. She looked out of the window, which faced a small garden area. The sign saying no ball games had recently been vandalized, a spray of red graffiti freshly smeared on it. It was seven in the morning, but the sun was already shining. It was going to be another beautiful day. The dew was still visible on the blades of grass nearby.

  Joel got out of bed, covering his naked body with a towel draped across a wicker chair, a gift from Mimi when Meg had moved into her new flat just six months before.

  He looked at Meg, his jaw rigid.

  “This was a mistake.”

  “There are no mistakes in life. I won’t tell her. You are off the hook. Now please get dressed and leave. My mother’s going to be here soon and it’s best if you’re gone before she gets here.”

  Joel reached for his jeans and took his scrunched up t-shirt into his hand, pulling it over his head as he left. In his pocket, as he shut the front door behind him, his phone rang.

  Mimi.

  “Morning, babes.” Her voice was so bright and breezy, and he instantly felt a stab of guilt.

  “Hey.”

  “Sounds like you’re out.”

  “Yeah, I went for a run. It’s going to be a nice day,” he said, looking up into the perfect deep blue sky.

  “Ready for the big day?”

  “Sure, yeah, I can’t wait to meet your folks. Look, Mimi, I…”

  “Everything all right?”

  “Yup, great, sweetheart. I’m just really sweaty. I need to go home and shower. I’ll meet you at Finchley Central at two p.m.”

  “Joel,” she said before he ended the conversation, “you were a hit with the girls last night. I know my parents will love you too.”

  He swallowed the lump that had risen in his throat. “I’ll see you at two.”

  And then he hung up. He could still smell Meg’s perfume clinging to his skin. He couldn’t wait to shower her scent off him and wash away the guilt that had hit him hard in the light of day.

  ***

  “Are you nervous?” Mimi said when Joel slipped into her Fiat 500. She had her Gucci sunglasses on, which framed her pretty face. Her hair was loose and free.

  He gripped the door handle and managed a smile, which he hoped looked convincing enough. “Really looking forward to it.”

  His mind flashed back to the night before. He walked away. He actually didn’t give into temptation until Meg came out once more, standing there, inviting him back. Her allure became too overwhelming for him to resist.

  Mimi drove out of the station car-park, humming along carefree to a song on the radio. She had no idea.

  As they pulled into the paved driveway, a high-pitched bark filled the air. Arf arf arf.

  “Don’t mind Stanley. He’s old and pretty blind,” Mimi said, clicking her key fob to lock the car.

  A woman came to the door. She looked just like Mimi, and there was no doubt that she was her mother. Joel had been looking forward to meeting Mimi’s family, but now, with one deep hidden secret and a fresh one to his list, he was afraid a mother would be able to read between the lines and somehow sense the things that were hidden.

  Kanchana pushed the door open and opened her arms to hug Mimi. She kissed her daughter on her forehead and brushed her hand through her hair. “So, this is your young man?” Her gaze turned to Joel.

  “Nice to meet you, ma’am.”

  Kanchana turned and smiled at Mimi and gave her a wink.

  “Call me Kanchana, please. Ma’am makes me feel like I should be living on Southfork.” She giggled.

  “Ma,” Mimi said, playfully prodding her mother in the ribs.

  Joel lowered his head and chuckled. “Actually, I’m a Dallas boy, born and bred.”

  “I look forward to learning all about you. Now come. Dinner is ready and I know my husband wants to meet you.”

  The dog, a small white terrier, started sniffing around Joel’s shoes. Once he was satisfied, he toddled down the hallway, his little claws clicking on the hardwood floor. The smell of home cooking filtered through the air. Joel saw photos cascading up the stairway—family photos, marking happy moments in time.

  As time crawled forward well into the late afternoon, Joel sat next to Simon, telling him about life in the Marine Corps.

  “I can’t imagine it. I mean, not knowing if I’m going into something and not going to come out alive. I mean, bloody hell, don’t that scare you, mate?” Simon asked, resting his head on his hands.

  “Yes, sir, of course it does, but I guess you could say that every time you step out of the house in the morning. I’m serving my country, and if that means my life is the price I have to pay for it, then so be it.”

  “What about family? Don’t they worry? I know I bloody would if Larna or Mimi were out fighting a war.”

  “My parents are both dead,” Joel said and took a gulp of Coke.

  “Sorry to hear that, mate. You got any brothers, sisters, both?” Simon pressed.

  “One brother, but um, we no longer speak.”

  “Bloody families, eh? Can’t pick ‘em. This lot here, these are my people, but outside these walls, nah. My brother is a right prick and my sister, well…”

  “Dad!” Mimi said, and shot her father a look.

  “Well, it’s true, ain’t it, love?”

  Joel looked up. He was sitting among a real family, people that truly cared about one another. The house was relatively small and there were areas that needed updating with paint peeling away from the wall, but this was a real home.

  Joel looked at Mimi, so beautiful and so unaware. His mind flashed back to the night before, when he was with Meg. He wished to God he hadn’t given in.

  If Mimi was just a girl, somebody he would date and move on from, none of it would matter; but watching her with her family, he felt something deeper for her, and he knew that if she ever found out, he may have just ruined it all. He decided that somehow he would do everything he could to make sure she never found out the truth.

  What was one more secret?

  Chapter 27

  Austin

  Texas, Present day

  Austin stepped out of the house, inhaling the air after the break in the storm. He looked around at the ranch. Today, everything felt different. It was like he was in a nightmare and he needed to protect everything around him. There could be no reconciling
with Joel. The thought had crossed his mind, but, to him, Joel had died a long time ago.

  He walked to his truck and stepped into it. Looking up, he could see Mimi watching him. Her expression looked haunted.

  Austin drove away and made the 45-minute drive to Sara’s house. When he pulled up to her driveway, he caught sight of Jake playing with his friend from next door, laughing hard and unaware of the turmoil going on he was at the centre of.

  He knocked on the door and Sara opened it seconds later.

  Their relationship had never been about anything more than Jake since they were teenagers. He never engaged with her about anything more than the welfare of the young boy. Who she dated and what she did with her life had not mattered to him so long as there was no influence on Jake. She stepped backwards, holding the door open for Austin to step inside.

  “So, let me guess. You’re being noble as ever and taking Jake to meet his real daddy.”

  Austin shot her a look that told her she had crossed a line.

  “I am his real dad. Much more than you have ever been a mother,” he snapped.

  Her expression twisted. “I do the best I can.”

  “How has he been? Does he suspect anything?” Austin asked.

  “Nope, nothing. He’s just been playing with the kid next door. I told him that you are working, like we agreed.”

  “Good.”

  “So, has Mimi taken him back? Fallen back into his spell?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You and her…what happened?”

  “It’s got nothing to do with you, Sara.”

  “I never understood why you and Joel could never find women of your own. Seems that as much as you hate one another, you have the same taste in women.”

  Austin tried to ignore Sara’s constant jabs. The only thing that mattered right now was keeping his son safe and away from Joel. He didn’t trust him and he knew he would only try and get back into his son’s life to win Mimi over, to show he was a changed man, that he could be the man he should have always been.

  Sara looked up at Austin. “What happens now?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know. I hate that asshole being at my house, but I need to keep him close to find out what he is up to. I don’t trust him, and if you ever wanted to do anything right by Jake, you need to keep him away. Joel cannot know where you are.”

  “I may have made many mistakes in my life, but if there is one thing we can both agree on, it’s keeping Jake away from Joel.”

  Sara wasn’t a bad person. She just was not cut out to be a proper mother. She loved Jake, but she was far too selfish to give him what he needed, and by giving him to Austin, she knew he would never want for anything.

  She crossed the room, her feet bare, and picked up a drawing.

  “Here,” she said, handing Austin the drawing. “Jake did this last night. Seems he’s pretty taken with the English rose and you.”

  Austin studied it, making out the colourful scroll. It was a picture of Mimi, Jake, and Austin.

  Austin gave her a half smile and put it on the arm of the tattered chair.

  “I need to take care of things and somehow get Joel out of the way. I’ll come back for Jake when I’m done.”

  “What are you planning to do?”

  “Just please keep Jake safe. No matter what.”

  It sounded like he was giving her a warning. She had never seen this side of Austin before. There was a fire in his eyes which told her right now, there was nothing that would get in the way of him and his son.

  The air seemed to have been sucked out of the room with only the wrath of Austin’s warning. No matter what!

  Austin wondered what Mimi was thinking, what she was feeling. He wished she would leave Joel. He wondered if she would be able to get past all of his lies. She married a stranger. He knew Mimi was strong, but when it came to matters of the heart, he realised nobody could ever know what they would do, how they would react, how much the heart could forgive.

  His mind whirled with a thousand different scenarios. He wished Joel had been killed. He hated to admit he wanted his own brother dead, but without him completely out of the picture, he posed too much of a threat to him and his world.

  He must keep him close, he must make sure that he is never far away. His next move may be risky, and he may get caught, but it was worth it to keep Jake away from the man who was threatening to take his child away from him. He knew he was not thinking straight. He knew that this could cost him his freedom, but he would do what he needed to do no matter the consequences.

  “Be careful,” Sara warned.

  Austin’s gaze burned into her. He swallowed hard as her words hung in the air.

  “I will.”

  They both knew what he was thinking, and for the first time, Austin knew Sara was truly somebody he could count on.

  ***

  Mimi

  Mimi wasn’t feeling well. She was on a cocktail of pills, and for the first time since she had been in Texas, she felt homesick. She needed the warmth of her mother’s touch, her sister’s silly humour, and to be in the safety bubble of her childhood home, where she was untouched by tragedy. She reached for her phone and saw she had a text message from Meg.

  She had barely had any communication from her best friend since Meg left Texas. Meg would have known that she almost died, and the thought suddenly occurred to her that she had been out of the picture.

  Mimi felt somewhat relieved when she saw that her friend had finally gotten in touch with her, but when she opened the message, she was confused.

  Meg: Don’t fall for him again, Mimi.

  She wondered what the cryptic message meant and why Meg had sent it.

  Meg had always been critical of her relationship with Joel. When Mimi announced she was engaged, she hadn’t been met with the shrill and excitement she expected her best friend to give. Before the wedding, Meg asked her several times if she was sure she wanted to spend her life with somebody in the military.

  You know what they are like. Can you really trust him when he is in another country? Can you really ever be sure you can trust him?

  At the time, Mimi assumed that her best friend was just worried that she would up and leave her, move away from the UK, and start a new life in the States. She reassured Meg that she knew she was doing the right thing and she needed her love and support to move forward with the new chapter in her life.

  Before Mimi had a chance to reply to the message, she heard a tap on the bedroom door.

  Joel.

  Mimi crossed the room, throwing her phone on the bed. Joel was now so unfamiliar to her. He looked the same, but so much had changed. She felt herself wanting to ask a thousand questions which all led to the same thing: Who was he?

  “Can we talk?” he asked. She rested her body against the door frame and took in a deep breath.

  “We spent the entire evening talking. I’m all talked out.”

  “I love you, Mimi. And I know I haven’t given you any reason to trust that, but I do.”

  “I wish I could say I love you too, Joel, but really, who is it I love? Is it the Joel who told me he had a stupid falling out with his brother and that’s why you moved away from here, or the Joel that walked out on his kid and lied to his wife?”

  “You have every right to be angry with me, but things are not as straightforward as this. There is more I need to tell you.” Joel paused for a second. “There is one other thing.”

  “Oh, what now? You got another kid somewhere or another wife?”

  “Meg,” he said.

  Mimi froze. Why was he mentioning Meg? She suddenly thought about the message that she had just seen on her phone.

  Meg: Don’t fall for him again, Mimi.

  “What about her?”

  “I slept with her.” He blocked his arms over the door to stop her from pushing past him. “It was once and it was at the very start, when we were not even sure there was an us.”

  He tried to defend himself
, as if giving some form of justification was going to save him from taking another fall.

  “When?” Mimi shouted.

  “It was the night you asked me to take her home.”

  “The day before you met my parents?” Mimi hissed. “And you were not sure if there was an us?”

  Things kept going from bad to worse. She felt betrayed, and somehow this even felt worse than when she found out he had a child. She could give him an excuse for being a stupid teenager, but this was something else. Meg was her best friend, the person who was with her when she was grieving over the death of her husband, the woman she had grown up with and trusted like a sister.

  Her mind flashed back to the day that she was in Meg’s Mini after Joel had “died” and she had said that he was a sexy guy. She hadn’t liked it, but she shrugged it off. Now, as she imagined her hands on him, his lips on hers, there was a weight of truth behind what Meg said.

  In all of this, she learned that she had been blind to so many things. She had been fooled and lied to. She refused to be a victim to this anymore.

  “I can almost expect it from you. I mean, nothing you have told me has ever been the truth, but Meg? She was my best friend and you both had fun behind my back.”

  “It wasn’t like that.”

  “Oh, what was it like?”

  “It was just a stupid one night thing.”

  “You weren’t drunk that night. I know she was, but you were not. So, how many other secrets are you keeping from me?”

  “I promise that is everything. There is nothing else.”

  “I can’t get past this.” Tears sprang to her eyes, but not out of hurt or upset. They were born out of anger and humiliation, an abasement of her pride.

  It was like she had been living another life. If she could turn back time, she wished she would have never met Joel, but, if she hadn’t, she would never have met Austin, either. With Austin, she saw things clearly for the first time. She made no pretence of her feelings.