Reunited: Marriage in a Million

‘Not this time.’

It was all she could ask for.

‘Thank you.’ She frowned. ‘Then how…?’

‘You’re the sweet one in this partnership, I’m the cynical one. When I left this morning…Well, I didn’t. I just parked around the corner and waited until your sister left, followed her back to the squat she’s living in.’

‘But that’s…’

‘Appalling?’ He filled in the word for her. ‘An invasion of privacy?’

She shook her head once, her thoughts a confused jumble of anger that he’d assumed her sister would steal from her. Gratitude that he’d had the foresight to take action. But then that was what Ivo did. He didn’t wait for things to happen. He made them happen.

‘No,’ she managed. ‘You were right.’

‘I didn’t do it because I thought she was going to steal from you, Belle. I did it so that you’d know where she was. In case she didn’t come back.’

‘Oh…’ She was nearer to crying at that moment than she had been in years. He’d spent his morning hanging around, wasting time-something he never did-and he’d done it for her. ‘Thank you.’

‘Unless she’s an experienced thief, she’ll still have the stuff with her.’

‘I can’t believe…’

Won’t was probably a better word, she thought. Didn’t want to believe her sister was a thief. Only, perhaps, desperate…

‘To be honest, neither do I,’ Ivo said, taking her by surprise. ‘I suspect it’s a lot more complicated than that.’

‘I’m not sure I can handle anything much more complicated.’

‘I believe you can handle just about anything you set your mind to.’ He regarded her steadily. ‘I know you, Belle. You’d never give up on anything you really cared about.’

More question than statement, she thought. What was he asking?

‘Can you lend me a little of that confidence?’ she asked shakily.

‘You don’t need me, Belle. If I tell you where she is, you could handle it.’

Under his steady gaze she realised that it was true. That she’d faced the worst that could happen to her- leaving Ivo-and had survived.

She’d found the courage to walk away from a job that no longer interested her.

She’d shed a look that she’d outgrown.

‘Maybe I could,’ she said. ‘But I’d like you to come with me.’

The squat was a five-storey Edwardian town house in the poor part of the area, boarded up, like its neighbours, waiting for the tide of gentrification to reach it.

Ivo had followed the girl on foot. She’d had her head down, barely looking up even when she’d crossed the road, only giving a cursory look around as she’d slipped round the back.

He’d held back then, giving her time to get under cover, before following her. It had been easy enough to pick out which house she was living in. A path had been worn across the overgrown backyard, half the board missing from an upstairs window.

He’d been prepared to step back, let Belle do this on her own, but he was relieved she’d asked him along. Was oddly grateful to Daisy for, unwittingly, bringing them together. For that alone, he’d do everything he could for the girl.

He led the way, testing the boards covering the rear door, the windows, until he found the loose one, slid it aside, climbed in.

‘Maybe you should wait here,’ he suggested as Belle made to follow him. Who knew what they’d find?

‘I want to go to Daisy,’ she said, climbing in after him. He didn’t bother to argue. Instead he offered her his hand, pulling her up after him, steadying her as she dropped to the floor. ‘Ugh! This is horrible.’

‘Watch your step,’ he warned as, hand still firmly grasping hers, he switched on the torch he’d brought from the car and shone it around the floor, checking for gaps. It looked sound enough, but looks could be deceptive. ‘I don’t imagine the boards are in that great a shape.’

‘She can’t stay here, Ivo!’ Belle, responding to the dark, whispered. ‘I can’t leave her here. It’s freezing. Damp. What is that smell?’

‘Dry rot.’ It was a smell the owner of every listed property dreaded. Then, ‘You know if she wants to stay here there’s nothing you can do about it.’

‘You want to bet?’

‘If we take this from her, she’ll just move on somewhere else and we won’t know where to find her.’

‘According to you she’d come back.’

‘Not now,’ he said. Not now she’d stolen from her.

‘We’ve got to do something,’ she said. Then, almost reluctantly, ‘She’s pregnant, Ivo.’

There was something in her voice, something more than the loss of her sister-a transparent yearning that went straight to his gut.

‘She told you that?’ he asked, hoping that it was just another tug on vulnerable heartstrings. ‘She looks anorexic to me.’ She turned to stare at him and he realised he’d said too much. Well, she wasn’t the only one with her emotions being ripped raw, exposed…‘Miranda,’ he said, by way of explanation.

‘Oh.’ Then, as if everything had fallen into place, ‘Oh.’

He’d never told her, had never shared that nightmare with her. It was his sister’s secret, not his. Belle nodded as if it was all the explanation she needed. It wasn’t. They’d started their marriage with a blank sheet. No baggage. That was the way he’d wanted it. But life wasn’t like that. You were made by your family, your experiences.

You couldn’t escape who you were.

‘The nurse in the hospital told me that Daisy’s pregnant,’ Belle said, after a moment. ‘That’s why she passed out. She needs to be somewhere safe. She needs to be with me.’

‘You asked her to stay?’

‘Of course I did.’ She shivered again. ‘I’ve got to persuade her to come home with me, Ivo. Anything could happen to her here.’

‘Don’t worry. I’ll issue an invitation that she won’t be able to refuse.’

‘What are you going to do?’ Then, ‘Not money!’

‘Trust me, Belle. I won’t repeat last night’s mistake.’ He tightened his grip on her hand. ‘Come on.’

They picked their way across the rubbish-strewn floor, a safe path clearly marked by a passage in the dust made by wet footprints, leading upstairs.

Daisy had made one of the rooms at the back into a comfortable nest, using old furniture and bits of carpet scavenged from heaven alone knew where.

There was no electricity, but a little light filtered in through the filth on the window. Enough to see her sitting on the floor surrounded by credit cards, cash, the jewellery Belle had been wearing last night.

The wedding ring he’d placed on her finger.

She hadn’t told him that Daisy had taken her ring, but he knew exactly when she’d discovered it was missing. That moment when she’d checked a drawer, clutched at her stomach as if in pain.

Pulling away from him, she reached for Daisy. ‘Come home,’ she said. ‘Come home with me.’

‘Go away.’ Daisy pushed her away. ‘I don’t need you!’

‘Please, Daisy. Let me take care of you. For your baby’s sake.’

‘I don’t need you,’ she repeated stubbornly. ‘I don’t want you.’

The words were vehement enough, but Ivo recognized the desperate need underlying Daisy’s rejection. The girl had stolen from Belle, putting herself beyond her sister’s love. If she was the one instigating rejection, then she remained in control.

He’d been through this when Miranda had been bent on the same course of self-destruction and knew how desperately hard it must be for Belle. It was hard for him to see her in so much pain.

‘It’s your choice,’ he said, bending down to pick up one of the cards. ‘You go with Belle, or you go with the police.’

He heard Belle’s sharp intake of breath, but she caught his warning look, instantly understood what he was doing and said, ‘I’m sorry, Daisy. You didn’t just take my things. Some of the cards were issued on Ivo’s accounts