In Bed With...Collection

‘Come in,’ Laura quickly invited, wanting some private time with her mother, mostly to feel totally assured that going with Nick Jeffries was the right move for her, not an act of desperation or some kind of sacrifice to her children’s peace of mind.

‘Nick has stacked some boxes in the laundry for us to use,’ she said, her blue eyes sparkling with happy anticipation.

‘Mum, you are sure about this?’ Laura asked earnestly. ‘You’re not just taking some…some easy way out?’

‘No, dear. I’m very sure.’ She walked over to the bed and sat on the end of it, looking at Laura with a soft, dreamy expression on her face. ‘I lost myself with your father. I want to find the person I could have been and Nick will let me do that. I know I’m different with him and I like the difference. He touches my heart and makes me feel good, Laura, good in a way I’ve never felt before.’

She’d felt good with Jake until… But this wasn’t the time to be thinking of him. She had to stop thinking of him. ‘That’s great, Mum,’ she said warmly, giving her an ironic smile. ‘I guess I’m still a bit surprised. When did you two open up to each other?’

‘It was just after my birthday…’

Tenth of October

‘Your father had been particularly nasty to me and I was sitting out on the garden bench near the pool, weeping over my miserable existence, wishing I were dead. Nick had come to work and he found me there. There was no hiding my wretched state and he was so kind, so comforting. We talked and talked…?.’

She sighed, shook her head as though it was too difficult—or too private—to explain, but the reminiscent smile on her face spoke of unexpected pleasure found and treasured. ‘Anyhow, the more we talked, the more I realised I wanted to be with him, and he wanted me to be with him, too. We both believe we can make a beautiful little world together. You can’t imagine, Laura. Everything feels so different with Nick. So very different…’

Yes, she could imagine. No problem at all in imagining how it was or how it could be. She pulled her mother up from the bed for a hug. ‘I’m so glad for you, Mum. Make sure you tell Eddie all that so he won’t worry about you.’

‘I will, dear. And you must both come to Nick’s house for Christmas. We’ll have a lovely celebration of it this year.’

‘Mmmh…’ Laura grinned. ‘We’ll be able to have fun together.’

‘Yes, fun!’ Her mother seized the concept with delight and sailed out of the room, no doubt eager to share it with Nick.

Over the next few days Laura and her mother secretly packed what they wanted to take, storing the boxes in Laura’s room, where her father never ventured. Eddie was cock-a-hoop about the plan and in total agreement that it be carried out without their father’s knowledge, not risking any explosive confrontation.

Friday morning came. Alex Costarella duly left for his meeting. Nick arrived in his van within minutes of the all-clear call. He and Laura packed the boxes and bags into it while her mother removed her personal papers—birth and marriage certificates from her father’s safe—and made a last-minute check that nothing important had been missed.

There were absolutely no regrets on driving away from the Mosman mansion. It was like having a huge weight lifted off their hearts. The sense of freedom was so heady they couldn’t help laughing at everything said between them. Laura called Eddie on her mobile phone to inform him of their successful escape and he was out on the street waiting for them when they arrived at his apartment block.

They all moved her belongings into his second bedroom and once that task was complete, she and Eddie accompanied their mother and Nick back to the van to say goodbye and wish them well. Oddly enough her mother looked strained as she nervously fingered a large envelope she’d left on the passenger seat, finally thrusting it at Laura.

‘I don’t know if it’s right or wrong to give you this,’ she said anxiously. ‘It was in your father’s safe and I looked into it while I was searching for my papers. It holds more photos of Jake Freedman—ones he didn’t show you, Laura. I think he lied about those he did. Lied to drive a wedge between you and Jake, wanting to hurt. He always wanted to hurt when he didn’t get his own way. Maybe seeing these will lessen the hurt a bit. I hope so, dear.’

It felt like a knife was twisting in her heart as she took the envelope, but she managed a smile, quickly saying, ‘Don’t worry, Mum. What’s done is done and it’s all in the past anyway. Go with Nick now. Be happy.’

They drove off and she stood so long staring blankly after the van, Eddie picked up the vibes of her distress and hugged her shoulders. ‘It might be in the past but it’s not done with, is it, Laura?’ he said sympathetically. ‘I know you haven’t got over the guy. So let’s go inside and look at what Dad’s Machiavellian streak came up with to destroy what you had together.’

They were before-and-after photographs—before and after the damning shots that had driven her to reject any future with the man she had loved. Jake hadn’t followed the pretty blonde into the house. She’d gone inside alone. Even the shots of them walking down the street together had no hint of any intimacy between them—just a man accompanying a woman.

As for the kiss at the gym, it was clear that the woman had thrown herself at Jake. There were snaps of his face showing surprise, annoyance, impatience, rejection, none of which had been visible in the photo her father had shown her.

‘It was a set-up,’ Eddie muttered, tapping a clear shot of the blonde. ‘I’ve seen this woman around the traps. She’s a fairly high-class working girl. This would have been an easy gig for her and no doubt Dad paid her well for it.’

A set-up…and she’d fallen for it; hook, line and sinker.

‘I didn’t give Jake a chance to explain,’ she said miserably. ‘I posted him the incriminating photos with a message that wrote him out of my life.’

‘Don’t fret it, Laura. I’m sure Jake was smart enough to realise Dad wasn’t going to tolerate a connection between the two of you. He probably thought he was saving you grief by letting it go.’

Yes, he would think that. But he wouldn’t contact her when the business with her father was all over. Not now.

‘I didn’t believe in him enough. I didn’t stay strong,’ she cried, gutted by her failure of faith in his caring for her.

Eddie frowned. ‘You think there was genuine feeling for you on his side?’

‘Yes! It was just the situation making everything too hard. He promised me we’d meet again but I’ve messed it up, Eddie, taking Dad’s word instead of his. I’ve completely messed it up!’

‘Not necessarily. You must have his home address if you posted the photos to him,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘You’re free of Dad now, Laura, and so is Mum. Why not pay Jake a visit, find out where you stand with him? Better to know than not know.’

‘Yes!’ She jumped up from her seat at Eddie’s table where they had laid out the photographs, gripped by a determination to set everything right, if she could. ‘I’ll go. It’s a chance to nothing, isn’t it?’

He nodded. ‘If you have to go there, go there.’

She did.

A wild hope zinged through her heart every step of the way, right until the front door of Jake’s house was opened and she was faced with a young woman holding a baby on her hip.

‘Hello. Are you one of our new neighbours?’ the woman asked with bright-eyed interest.

‘No, I…I was looking for Jake Freedman,’ Laura blurted out.

‘Oh, I’m sorry. He’s gone, I’m afraid, and I don’t have a forwarding address. We bought the house from him two months ago and moved in last week. I have no idea where you can find him.’

‘It’s okay. Thank you. Have a nice life here.’

A nice life in the house Jake had worked on and sold…and he had now moved on.

And Laura had no idea where to, either.

But it wasn’t the absolute end, she told herself on the long trudge back to Paddington. The case against her father was set down to be heard in March next year—three more months away. Jake was the prime witness against him. He had to attend the court hearing, give evidence—fulfil the mission that had driven them apart.

A court of law was a public place.

She could go there.

She would go there.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#ud535c0fb-8216-5cc4-a273-7d8e9771b73f)

LAURA dressed carefully for the first day of the hearing, choosing to wear the professional black suit she donned for business meetings. She wanted Jake to see her as a fully adult woman, established in her career and capable of standing on her own. However, the suit was figure-hugging, accentuating her feminine curves, and she left her hair loose, wanting him to see her as sexy, too, reminding him of the pleasures they had shared.

She had all week to make contact with him, having arranged for the time off work, but her heart was set on sooner rather than later. Arriving early at the court house, she tensely searched the waiting rooms and corridors, hoping to cross paths with Jake. Having no luck at even catching a glimpse of him, she entered the inquiry room, settling on one of the back seats, sure that she would see him here sometime today.

Her father was seated beside his barrister. He saw her, giving her a bulletlike stare before turning away. She didn’t care what he thought of her presence. Only what Jake thought mattered.

The hearing started. Jake had not entered the room. Laura set aside her frustration and listened to the accusations her father had to answer. This was what Jake had been secretly working on—more important to him than their relationship.