Standing with the box tightly clutched in my hand, I stomped to those curtains and removed the wooden rod from the hooks before throwing it to the floor. They no longer obscured my view of the neighbour’s rose garden. Yellow roses stood tall on their stalks, and I stared, glad they weren’t fucking pink too. After opening the lid for a second time and removing the necklace, the chain slipped around my fingers and the locket swung like a pendulum clock with an uneven tick. “Thank you, Daddy,” I whispered, putting it on. “I love you.”
The door to the bedroom was timidly opened.
“Marcus,” I cried out, running into his arms. “You’re back.”
“I told you I’d come today. You’ve been crying again.” His eyes were soft. He pulled my head against his chest and kissed the top of my forehead.
“Did you get much information?” I asked, unsure if it was right to ask such a question in the first place.
“Some. This is killing my parents and me. We just want them to catch the bastard.”
“They will. You have to believe they will.”
“Victoria didn’t deserve to die like that.” His grief was unbearable. “I still can’t believe she’s gone.”
“No one deserves to die in such a way, Marcus.”
“If only I didn’t need to go back to Brisbane that day. If only I’d stayed on the coast, then maybe she’d still be alive.”
Pulling myself from his embrace, I gazed into eyes full of despair and injustice. “You wouldn’t have changed the outcome. You couldn’t have. If I’ve learnt anything over these last couple of weeks, it’s that bad things happen to good people. I’m so sorry she’s gone.”
Marcus cleared his throat. His dark eyes sparkled with moisture. “I know you are, just as I’m sorry you’ve lost your dad. Don’t you think it’s strange we both lost the ones we loved so much on the same day?”
“It’s beyond bizarre, for sure.”
Fate.
“For some reason, I think Victoria brought you to me, Abigail. She made me take the highway. I think she knew our broken hearts would be best shared. I like to think of it like this. It’s the only thing helping. After all, if I hadn’t been on that road, I would’ve never met you, and she’d still be gone. I’d be lost without you. You’re forever mine now. I’ll never leave you. I’ll keep you safe.”
“Ditto,” I replied.
Jerking awake, I suck air into my lungs. “Another memory.”
I’m shocked by how real it felt. Marcus’s sister died the same day as my dad. We were on a highway.
“You’re lucky to be alive,” Marcus had said when I remembered us talking in the hospital. “If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would have never believed it.”
But what did he see? If Dad died on the highway, it had to have been a car accident. Why wasn’t I hurt if I was with him?
“Somebody just tell me, for fuck’s sake,” I whine.
Sammy’s crystal blue eyes blink erratically at first, but they soon open wide, and she stares blankly for a minute or so. “What’s wrong?” Her throat sounds strained when she finally speaks.
“Another memory.”
“A good one?”
“Confusing … scary … still unclear.”
“What was it?” She pulls herself up onto her elbows.
“The necklace. But in my dream, it seemed as if Dad had bought it, not Marcus. Well, I believed it was him.”
Sammy smiles wide. “For a few weeks, you did. Marcus wanted you to think your dad had given it to you. He said when you showed him after you found it, you seemed almost proud your dad had left something behind, like a parting treasure.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It was only when Mrs. M gave you a present on your birthday and explained it was also your graduation present, as it was so costly, you figured out it was a gift from Marcus. It was also the first time you knew it was inscribed.”
“Marcus showed me.”
“He did.”
“Sammy, I got my gold jewellery box for my eighteenth birthday from my parents. I love that jewellery box.”
“I know you do.”
I lay my head back down on the pillow, and Sammy follows suit. Turning inwards, we face each other and lie there silently. The room darkens as the afternoon sun prepares to set, but there’s still plenty of light left for us to see.
“Marcus said remembering would be painful. How painful?”
“I think it’ll depend on you.”
“Did I love him?” I croak.
“More than life itself. You truly did.”
Processing these words is difficult, because the only man I’ve ever loved was Mike, and I gifted him my heart. He chose to break it in the end. I wonder if Marcus would have done the same, if given the time.
“What are you thinking, Dorothy?”
“Everything, yet nothing.”
“Oh.”
“How’s your headache?”
“It’s gone. No crashing, thudding, and grinding happening now. It was super-mild in comparison to the ones I’ve been getting. Now I’m just tired.”
“How long have you been getting them for this time?”
“About five months,” she groans, rolling her eyes.
“I’m causing them, aren’t I? Too much stress.”
“Maybe. But you’re worth a stupid headache, if it is.”
“You know you’re supposed to say I’m not the cause, right?”
“Probably. But I’m not a doctor, so diagnosis is not my forte.”
“Shut up, Ginger,” I slap, gently, at her thigh.
Sammy scrunches her nose and smiles. “I guess it’s time to get up,” she says, tapping my thigh playfully before clambering from the bed.
“Ginger,” I say when she reaches the door.
“Yes, Dorothy?”
“Lend me a casual shirt, will you? I’m over dressy clothes.”
“I’ll go grab my bag. I’m sure I’ll have something for you.”
“It needs to go with my dark-washed jeans,” I shout as she walks through the doorway and leaves.
“Righto.”
THIRTY-ONE
When It Rains It Storms
A dark green T-shirt with the word Guess written in diamantes is the perfect accompaniment to my jeans. I’m so stealing this from Ginger. Taking a moment to tie my light locks back into a messy high knot, I stare at my reflection in the mirror. I actually look the most rested I have in months, which is a pleasant surprise given what’s been going on. Maybe Sydney is just a better shade of lifestyle on me. Who am I kidding? It’s probably my stolen shirt giving me a fake sense of new.
Making my way down the stairs, I hear a voice coming from outside. It’s not long until I’m standing on wet grass, face to face with Marcus.
“You’re back.” I blink, rapidly, in surprise.
“Jackson said you were having a nap with Sammy, so I thought it best to leave you.”
Looking Marcus up and down, I notice he’s no longer wearing a suit. Instead, he’s donned beige cargo pants and a pale-yellow polo shirt.