The Next Anniversary

"Yes, a little light headed but ok. What's in the IV?"

"It's just a glucose drip to keep your energy levels up. I'll just give you a quick check up and then we will get you some solid food."

The girl who had been in before reappeared with some sandwiches and fruit juice. I devoured it, Ben watched and laughed.

"You've certainly got your appetite back! I think you will be fine physically, we have got a physiologist on staff who will come and have a chat shortly."

"Can I get to a telephone I want to ring my family!"

"They know where you are, it's best if we keep you quiet a bit longer. If the psychologist says its ok the police will talk to you in the morning then we will see about your family."

"The Police?"

"It appears whoever grabbed you ended up dead! They want to be the first to talk to you."

"Oh, I see. What time is it?"

"Just after four pm, you rest, dinner is at six. Lucy will be back to remove the IV before then. If you start to feel off color then get someone to call me."

He stood up and left. I stayed in my room, confused, alone and scared. What did the police want with me?

After dinner I was watching the small television in the corner of the room when an old man came into my room.

"Who are you?" I enquired. "Are you the psychologist?" I added hopefully, maybe if he said it was ok I could ring Dave and the kids.

"No, No, my dear girl, my name is Benito, I'm a friend of James." he replied in accented English.

"Get out! And tell that lying fucker to stay away!" I hissed.

"Calm down little girl, James said you were a feisty one. I come in peace," he said holding his hands up. "It is important a talk to you before the police."

"Don't worry I'm going to tell them all about that arsehole and his pimp mates!"

"Please, Please just stop talking and listen! I am trying to help you." Something in his voice made me scared, this was not a man to get upset. I stopped talking back.

"Unless you want the whole of the country,including your children and your parents to know you fucked a man for money in front of your husband listen very carefully to what I have to say." He sat down on the end of my bed, cleared his throat then continued.

"I'm getting too old for this sort of thing." He sighed. " The police have two bodies of men with known criminal connections shot execution style. They have a drug addicted witness who has told them they had grabbed a high class call girl who should have been the deceased men's property after James sold his business. Some of this has been leaked to the press so there have already been salacious stories of call girls, drugs and organized crime in the papers. Your name has been kept out of it but we have to give the police something so they leave us alone."

"So you're giving them meee?" My voice cracked making the "me" more of a screech.

"James and I wanted to keep you out of this, we expected the girl to stay quiet but she is singing like a canary. We had no choice but to let the police know where they could find you. However we think that we can still play this as mistaken identity, make you the victim of a horrible mistake from two hapless criminals and their drug addled accomplish."

"And how do WE do that!"

"Well, by you doing what you are doing now, be aggressive, assert your innocence."

"I am innocent! I didn't know James was a fucking whoremonger! Why isn't that piece of shit here telling me this? Too scared to face me the coward!"

"He had to leave the country, it was part of the deal I made with him when he asked for my help to rescue you."

"Rescue me? If it wasn't for him I wouldn't have needed rescuing."

He was quiet for a while, I don't think he had expected my reaction to be this hostile.

"Jenny, James loves you."

"Is that what he told you!"

"No but he didn't have too. His actions speak much louder than his words, he got you out when it would have been much easier to forget you."

"Why isn't he here now then?" I said in a normal voice, my anger was turning into fatigue.

"He can't be, he has an outlaw motorcycle club looking everywhere for him, and if they do find him it won't be pleasant."

"What about Dave?" I was frightened about what I was about to hear.

"He knows but not just from us. Apparently your child got sick and when he couldn't contact you directly he rang where you had told him you would be."

"Shit!" Reality was starting to hit home.

"Not really, you were lucky he did. He contacted James, obviously that wasn't a friendly conversation but it tipped off James to what had happened and he then set about putting things right."

"Have you spoken to my husband?"

"Yes, I have had that pleasure, he seems a very nice man." The old man gave me a withering stare, "He told the police that you were going to your cousin's and she has confirmed that so if you stick to that story then the police have nowhere to go."

"How was he? I mean still angry? How did he get James number?" I asked.

"He sounded lost, he didn't want the kids to be hearing about stuff from the media so he cooperated." He stopped looking at me again deep in thought as if he was debating holding something back. "There was someone there with him, a woman she took my initial phone call. Lana? Lena? I'm no good with names."

"Lisa?"

" Yes I think that was it."

Fucking bitch! Couldn't wait to get her hands on him. I bet she told him everything, that's how Dave got James number. It suddenly hit me, where was I going to go? What was I going to do? I was fucked! Tears started to flow and just wouldn't stop.

"I guess you're wondering what you're going to do now? Take your time, they won't be letting you out of here for another couple of days. I'll have a car waiting to take you to the airport."

"Airport?" I gasped between sniffles.

"James has organized an open ended ticket and some money so you can go where ever you want. You need to get out of here till things settle down."

"Can't I go home?"

"And risk the bikers finding your loved ones?" He patted my leg then the old man stood up from the end of the bed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope, he handed it to me.

"Here, This might help you decide. There is a card inside with a number, when you have decided you ring, ok. My son Tony will organize it for you."

He turned and stood in the doorway.

"Goodbye Jenny, good luck." he waved and then he was gone.

I looked at the envelope it had my name on the front but no address, opening it I found a credit card, airline voucher and a printed letter, that looked to have come from an e-mail. It was from James.

* * * * * *

Epilogue: Lisa

Two years Later

Wow, what a train wreck! It was horrific, watching from the outside. Well, sort of from the outside.

Did Dave and I end up together? No, that was never going to happen.

I stayed with him when it all went pear shaped but I could only stick it for a couple of months. He clung to me for the first fortnight, he just couldn't get his head around what had happened. Even after everything Jenny had done she was still his first love, I think he was just incredibly sad. After the first two weeks Dave began to function again, I thought we might make a go of it but his love for Jenny was still there. I was a constant reminder of her infidelity and his own weakness. I went home and we remained friends with benefits for half a year. The frequency of our getting together lessened over that time but we still speak on the phone regularly.

It affected the children most of all, it was a very hard thing to tell them their mother wasn't coming home. They didn't believe Dave at first, but as the days passed it dawned on them that their happy family was no more. I became the target as "the other woman," particularly for the eldest. After a month the two youngest had come to terms with it but Georgia the eldest was still angry. It didn't help that puberty had come to her early, that is a time when a girl really needs her mother. She began acting up, deliberately missing the school bus home and staying in town with some undesirable peers. In exasperation Dave sent her to her mother but that coincided with Jenny moving to the US. Seeing Jenny with James only made things worse, she was back home two weeks later.

Dave is a lot better now, he has a new girlfriend too. A young English lass who was out backpacking after she finished a university degree in vet science. She was doing some harvest work on a neighboring property and they met and hit it off. I'm going over to have dinner there this weekend, Ashley, that's her name, has applied for residency in Australia and I wouldn't be surprised to see a ring on her finger soon. The children have really taken to her, even Georgia. The last time we spoke Dave had asked me about the age difference, it's just over nine years. I told him to go for it, not everybody gets the chance at happiness twice. He was back somewhere near his old self, and it was great to see him happy.

Jenny, she still in Dave's life, they have three kids together so it has to be that way. Jenny speaks to them via Skype a couple of times a week and they go and spend time with her in the US every school holidays. I can see you are jumping to conclusions so I had better fill you in.

The police gave her a hard time in her interview but they told Dave later it was being put down as bad guys killing bad guys so they didn't pursue it further. After being discharged from the rehab centre she went to Britain. She stayed with a distant cousin who was working over there. Our relationship is still frosty but we spoke a lot when I was with Dave. There was never any chance for her and Dave again, after she had been overseas for twelve months they filed together for a divorce. It was as amicable as it could be. The kids stayed in Australia to continue their schooling and because it was their home. Dave had to sell a part of his beloved farm to give Jenny her share but even that worked out for him as that was why he was working for his neighbor. So without that he would never have met Ashley.

James had tried to stay close to Jenny but initially she wouldn't go there. She went to the US after six months and stayed with James at first. He had tried for some sort of reconciliation but Jenny could only remember his deception and what she had lost. Her husband, her kids, the respect of her family and friends. All the foundations she had built her life on had been swept away. She knew it was her fault but she also blamed him.

James came to an ugly end about three weeks after Jenny found her own place.He was found in his apartment. It was a terrible thing, he was strapped to his dining table with his feet and hands cut off. Someone had attacked him with an axe and left him to bleed out. He left everything he had to Jenny. She had gone to his attorney to sign some documents and ended up falling in love with the guy. It had been a whirlwind romance until he found out she had used another lawyer in Australia to set up a trust fund for her kids with most of the money. He dumped her and now she has a little nursery business in the Napa Valley. She is doing ok but still gets homesick and lonely. I hope she meets someone nice and gets a chance at happiness again.

As for me I'm still waiting for Mr Right, although I have weakened and settled for Mr Right Now a few times.

THE END