by Carys Jones
“Dear boy, you should be present for all appointments!” Edmond cried fervently. “After all, it takes two to tango yet the woman is left suffering the physical burden!”
“Are you all right, Mr. Copes?” the nurse was standing over him now, checking his drip. Edmond glanced up at her ample bosom which was placed directly in front of him. A slight smile pulled on his pale lips and he turned slightly to catch Aiden’s eye and winked.
“I think something is wrong with the drip,” Edmond told her, forcing her to remain standing before him.
“I can’t see anything, it looks fine to me.” She moved back and looked at Edmond with concern.
“Your heart rate went a little crazy, do you need me to slow down the IV?”
“No, no,” Edmond shook his head but he was unable to meet her gaze, his eyes seemed locked on her stunning form.
“My friend here just gave me a surprise.”
“Oh?” the nurse turned and frowned at Aiden.
“A good surprise,” Edmond hastily added. “His wife is pregnant.”
“Oh,” the nurse’s frown softened. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
“And she’s here, today, in this hospital having her check-up,” Edmond continued. “I told him that he should be there with her, not sat playing games with me.”
The nurse glanced expectantly at Aiden.
“I can’t just leave you,” Aiden told Edmond. “And Isla will be fine.”
“I insist you go.”
“Edmond—”
“I’m fine, I’ve got the lovely nurse…” He scanned her uniform for an ID badge.
“Tissdale.” She pleasantly informed him.
“I’ve got the lovely nurse Tissdale to look after me,” Edmond grinned cheekily like a school boy. “I’ve got a while yet, haven’t I, dear?”
Nurse Tissdale checked the IV once more.
“Another couple of hours yet. If you want to go and see your wife, he’ll be a while here still. You might as well go and stretch your legs.”
“And bring me back something sweet!” Edmond added.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Aiden stood up and tentatively edged away from Edmond.
“Don’t worry, Connelly, I’m in good hands,” Edmond told him, though he was looking at Nurse Tissdale.
“You’ll take good care of me, won’t you, dear? How do I go about requesting a sponge bath?”
*
Aiden was still smiling to himself as he entered the main corridor of the hospital. He scanned a mounted sign and saw that the maternity unit was down to the left. He passed by a cafe and made a mental note to return and pick up something sweet for his friend. The corridor he walked down was long and wide. He was passed several times by orderlies moving beds on which sat patients in regulation gowns going to and from treatments. The air smelled of an unsettling combination of bleach and urine.
Finally he saw the sign for the maternity unit and pushed open some double doors which led to a bright open waiting room. Half a dozen heavily pregnant women were sat with their partners, whilst the other women there looked decidedly less pregnant. The walls were painted a bright shade of yellow as if the department was trying to bring the sunshine inside. Aiden approached the reception desk. He had to wait while a black-haired girl who appeared to be no older than sixteen got checked in by a stern-faced woman who was presumably her mother. The girl kept her head low whilst her mother spoke. It was hard to read her expression through the layers of black make-up she hid behind, but Aiden saw the wilt in her stance, the way she held her arms protectively across herself. The pregnancy was not a joyous event in her young life.
The stern woman nudged the girl away from the desk once they were done checking in and they went and sat in the yellowed waiting area. The bright walls made the girl’s hair and make-up appear even darker. She looked like a gothic princess unwittingly trapped inside a Disney movie.
“Can I help you?” the receptionist, a kind-faced middle-aged woman with an unfortunately large mole on her chin asked. Her tone was warm yet brisk. Clearly she had little time to waste.
“Yes, my wife has an appointment here today at ten and I know I’m a little early but I wanted to join her.”
“Okay, what’s her name?”
“Isla Connelly.”
“Date of birth?”
Aiden thought briefly and then regurgitated the necessary digits.
The woman typed quickly into the keyboard in front of her, her fingers seemingly working on their own as if they weren’t attached to her body. They danced across the keys with a fierce intensity. Then she ceased typing and pursed her lips.
“We don’t have an appointment for anyone by that name.”
“Oh?” Aiden suddenly felt self-conscious in the room full of hormonal women. He realized how terrible it must look that he didn’t even know his wife’s hospital appointment.
“I was sure she said it was today, perhaps it’s tomorrow?”
The receptionist didn’t check the computer again, she just shook her head.
“We don’t have any appointments for anyone by that name,” she clarified. “She’s not a patient here.”
“Oh?” Aiden could feel his cheeks burning. “But this is the closest hospital to Avalon?”
“Avalon? Yes, indeed. Next hospital is a good thirty miles from here.”
Aiden frowned in confusion. Surely Isla wouldn’t go thirty miles out of her way to attend another hospital? This one was already a fair-enough distance from Avalon. It made no sense for her to go anywhere else.
“Could you just check once more for me?” Aiden requested. “She definitely said her appointment was at ten.”
The woman nodded reluctantly and typed into her keyboard but with less fervour than before.
“Nothing for Isla Connelly,” she reiterated. “I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s quite all right,” Aiden stepped away from the reception desk. He tried to understand what had just happened. Isla had clearly said over breakfast that morning that she had a hospital appointment, hadn’t she? What was going on? Why was she lying to him?
Chapter Six
Sour Little Lies
Isla was sat on the sofa with her legs curled up beneath her when Aiden walked in. Some reality show was playing on the television and she was absently watching it whilst nursing a fresh mug of coffee in her hands.
“Hey,” Aiden greeted her stiffly, scanning the room for their daughter.
“Meegan is upstairs having her nap,” Isla intuitively replied. Her curled hair was collected at the nape of her neck in a bun but a few strands had struggled free and now framed her pretty face.
“How did you get on at the hospital?” Aiden asked, remaining in the doorway.
“Fine,” Isla replied brightly. “I wasn’t there long.”
“What did the doctor say?”
“Nothing much, just that everything is on track,” Isla briefly released one hand from her mug to contentedly pat her stomach. She turned, smiling, to catch Aiden’s eye.
“You went to St Mary’s?” Aiden stepped into the room but didn’t sit down.
“Of course.” Isla watched him, her voice still bright but something briefly flickered behind her eyes. Was it fear?
“Because I went there today, with Edmond.” Aiden was now standing directly in front of her, blocking her view of the television.
“Oh?” Isla drew into herself.
“Yeah.” Sighing, Aiden finally sat down beside her. The television continued to play the overly emphasized drama within the show.
“How did he get on?” Isla’s jaw clenched as she asked the question.
“Okay, all things considered.” Leaning forward, Aiden rested his hands between his knees and tilted his head to look back at his wife. He noticed how the rise and fall of her chest seemed to have quickened.
“I’m more concerned about you,” he told her.
“Me?” Isla shot him a desperate look. “Why
would you be concerned about me?”
“You said your appointment was at ten, right?”
“Right.”
“And that you went to St Mary’s hospital.”
“Right.”
Isla was nodding along to his line of questioning, each movement jerky and forced.
“I briefly left Edmond while I was there, in the hope of meeting you at your appointment.”
“Oh, jeeze, you did? That’s my fault,” Isla pulled her lips into a smile and waved a dismissive hand through the air.
“I meant ten to eleven. My appointment was at ten to eleven. Stupid baby brain.” She tapped her adornment of curls and shrugged flippantly.
“Well, I asked at reception,” Aiden continued. “And they didn’t have any record of an appointment. They didn’t have any record of you at all. They said you weren’t a patient.”
“Are you sure you were in the right place?” Isla maintained her zealous tone, but her skin paled. “I know what you’re like, Aid. You could have been in the labour ward instead of the maternity one.”
“I was definitely in the maternity ward,” Aiden clarified stoically. “They had vibrant yellow walls, which you’d know if you’d ever been there.”
Isla felt her cheeks beginning to burn, overwhelming her paleness.
“I’m going to ask this once, and only once.” Aiden stared intently at her. “Because I respect you, Isla, and assume you have good reason. I want to know why you lied to me, and how deep the lie goes.”
Isla closed her eyes. She felt like Alice when she went tumbling down the rabbit hole. Her stomach surged and she struggled not to vomit. She was falling down an impossible depth and she knew that when she finally stopped her whole world would be turned upside down.
“Aid,” she whispered his name. It escaped from her lips as fragile and tentative as a butterfly and was instantly quashed by the dense atmosphere in the room.
“The truth,” Aiden told her sternly. “I deserve that, don’t I?”
“Yes,” Isla nodded, “you do.” Tears began to fall down her cheeks. They were silent as they slid from her eyes and tumbled down to her chest.
“You’re going to be so mad,” she muttered.
“Try me.”
*
Brandy held on tightly to the pole in the aisle of the bus and used it to help centre her weight as the vehicle twisted and turned along the bustling Chicago streets. Rain splashed haphazardly against the windows as people pressed up against one another. Brandy didn’t find her bus journeys too insufferable. Since she was small she could weave around people with ease. The only problem she had was that sometimes people wouldn’t see her and they’d shove a sharp elbow or stiff back into her face.
Today the bus was pretty busy as people piled on to escape the fierce downpour which had commenced just as their commute home from work began. But Brandy wasn’t coming from work. She was returning from the library where she’d extended her lease on her current book. The novel was now safely tucked inside her purse, which was draped across her body.
“This rain sure is terrible,” a handsome man with sky-blue eyes commented. He was standing next to Brandy and was a good foot taller than her. His cheeks were covered in a dense spread of stubble and he was so close that she could smell his cologne.
“Yeah, it’s pretty bad today,” Brandy politely agreed.
“That’s quite an accent you’ve got there,” the man noted, his eyes crinkling slightly as his mouth lifted into the beginning of a smile.
“Thanks.” Brandy blushed.
“Where you from?” the man angled himself within the packed bus to be facing Brandy instead of partly having his back to her. He was smartly dressed in a suit with shiny black shoes which seemed strangely juxtaposed against his unshaven cheeks.
“The South,” Brandy replied vaguely. She never bothered to cite Avalon as her origins as either no one had heard of it, or if they had it was only through the scandalous connections to her own story; thus revealing her identity and shameful past.
“I thought so,” the man nodded. “You’ve got a beautiful accent.”
“Thank you.”
“But you live in the city?” There was some hope attached to the question.
“Yeah, I moved up here a few months back.”
“What do you make of it here?” his blue eyes sparkled with interest.
“I like it,” Brandy smiled sincerely. “There’s still a lot to get used to, but so far I like it.”
“Chicago is a great city,” the man’s smile broadened, revealing dimples in his cheeks. He was handsome in a surprising way; like a rustic pretty boy. Brandy could feel her pulse quickening slightly in his presence. Chatting to someone so handsome always brought out the nervous teenage girl in her. She felt like she’d forever be that girl from the trailer, shocked that someone handsome would even notice her.
The bus stopped abruptly at a red light and everyone inside surged backwards. Brandy connected directly with the handsome man’s chest. It was broad and strong and he didn’t even flinch as she fell against him.
“I’m so, so sorry!” Brandy turned crimson as she tried to find her centre of gravity once more and stand up straight.
“It’s okay.” The handsome man placed his hands on her arms and guided her to her feet. For a moment his touch felt welcome and sent shoots of electricity running through her body. Then something darker surfaced.
In her mind’s eye she saw Brandon’s handsome face twisted with intent. He reached for her, grabbed her arms and then pushed her down roughly to the ground. Her head connected sharply with the tiled floor and she felt a warm trickle of blood run down her forehead.
Brandy suddenly flinched at the stranger’s touch. The bus suddenly felt unbearably cramped. She couldn’t breathe.
Reaching up, Brandy pulled on the emergency stop chord and fled from the bemused man. She pushed her way off the bus and ran out panting into the rain. She was several stops from her own but she didn’t care. Her entire body was trembling with fear.
“He’s gone,” she told herself as the bus pulled off and the tears she was now crying merged with the raindrops washing down her porcelain cheeks.
“He’s gone.”
As the panic began to subside, Brandy wrapped her coat tightly around her and bowed her head against the rain. She walked with quick, purposeful steps but she’d still be soaked by the time she reached her apartment. As she hurried through the rain she wondered if she’d ever be able to enjoy a man’s touch again. But there was one man who had touched her since Brandon, one man who didn’t invoke fear in her. Aiden. Her tears intensified as she yet again thought of the married man she was desperately trying to get over.
*
Isla took a sharp intake of breath. She could feel her web of lies closing in around her, tightening around her chest. Soon she wouldn’t be able to breathe at all.
“Aid, I’m so sorry,” she began, her bottom lip quivering madly.
“For what?” Aiden frowned in concern. He hadn’t anticipated that confronting Isla would make her this upset.
“Look, Isla, if you lied about the appointment it’s okay. Just don’t go getting yourself all worked up. You need to think about the baby.”
Isla shook her head making her few loose curls bounce madly.
“It’s about… the baby,” Isla stuttered.
“Okay. Whatever it is we can work out, I just need you to be honest with me.”
Isla blinked furiously, forcing her flow of tears to cease.
“Aid, there is no baby. I was never pregnant.”
For a moment Aiden could only stare at her disbelief.
“What?” he whispered when he eventually found his voice.
“I’m so sorry,” Isla wailed. “Please…please don’t hate me!”
Aiden opened his mouth to speak but he was distracted by the sudden shrill ringing of his cell phone. Groaning, he removed it from his pocket. The incoming call was from Alex.
“I’ve got to take this,” he told his wife as he promptly stood up and paced out of the room, answering the call and raising his cell phone to his ear.
“Alex, hey.”
“Aiden, hi. Can you talk?”
Aiden glanced back into the living room before pulling the door closed and moving into the small kitchen.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“The police report came back sooner than expected.”
“It did?”
“Yeah,” Alex’s voice on the other end of the line was subdued but tinged with excitement.
“What did it say?” Aiden pressed him for details.
“I’d rather not discuss it over the phone,” Alex admitted, speaking quietly. “But you’re going to want to see this.”
“Did the report reveal something?”
“In a way, yes.” Alex replied cryptically.
“That’s good, right?” Aiden leaned against the kitchen sink and looked out at the street beyond his window. Most houses were lined with white picket fences. They stood as little symbols of the perfect life, of a happy household. Aiden sighed deeply and ran a hand over his temple which throbbed with the promise of an imminent headache.
“You really need to take a look at it,” Alex told him forcefully. “How soon can you get back to Greensburg?”
Aiden straightened and focused on the driveway of his own home. His fence was blue and in desperate need of a fresh coat of paint. The whole house needed both time and money dedicated to it to return it to its former glory. But Aiden’s home existed on a foundation of lies, he didn’t recognize it anymore.
“Aiden?” Alex spoke into the bleakness of his thoughts, forcing him back into the moment.
“I can leave first thing tomorrow,” Aiden told his old friend. “I’ll be there by the evening.”
“That’s great!” Alex sounded surprised yet elated. Tomorrow evening was Friday night, which meant that Aiden planned to spend his weekend in Greensburg.
“I’ll see you soon then?”
“Yeah,” Aiden nodded, “I’ll see you soon.” He disconnected the call and remained staring out of his kitchen window.
