Still Falling (22 page)

The view of the balconies, are
amazing!

“
Then there was later that same
day in the Garden shed on the drive on lawn mower.”

“Okay I think I’ve heard enough.” Laughed Serena,
blushing
a little.
 
“So you’re getting
married.
 
Congratulations!”

“Ahh that information wasn’t an invitation for you to ignore my original
question and change the subject.” Aida stated and took a long sip of her own
hot drink.

“Well, I’m not really sure, at first I thought Michelle suspected there
was something between Marco and myself but now.....” she gestured at Aida
clumsily.
 
“Well I guess Michelle thinks
somehow I’m going to hurt Marco.
 
She
must care about him.
 
And Marco, well he
has hated me for years now.
 
I never have
figured out why.”
 
She spoke this last
part quietly staring down into the swirling liquid of her cup.

Aida was quiet looking thoughtfully into the flames, and chewing her lip.

“Are you sure it’s hate?” she asked eventually.
 
“Because I think you’re mistaken.”
 

Serena squirmed uncomfortably in her damp clothes.

I wish I was
.

Before Serena could formulate an answer, the sound of splintering wood,
from the kitchen was followed by a loud curse, a door slamming open and a heavy
meaty thump.

Both women unfolded themselves from their deep sofas and with Aida in the
lead they ran through to the kitchen.
 

Serena’s mouth went dry.
 
Marco lay
deathly still, sprawled face down on the wooden floor on a pile of scattered
firewood.
 
His legs were still outside
the open doorway and snow was billowing in on strong gusts of icy wind.

“Quick grab his other arm, let’s get him inside.”
Ordered
Aida, taking control of the situation.

They pulled him further into the room and Aide quickly closed the door
shutting out the snow and cold.
 
They
rolled him over.
 
A small lump was forming
on his forehead and a thin line of blood leaked from a small cut above his
eye.
 

“The cold is the best thing for that.
 
It doesn’t look too serious.”
 

“What do you think happed?” asked Serena breathless with worry.

“Ummmm probably my fault.
 
Over the years with Michelle I have got into
the habit of leaving obstacles in front of windows and doors.
 
Because of the paparazzi.”
 
Aida was turning a lovely shade of red as she
spoke.
 
“Well I think I left the broom
stick lying in front of the kitchen door.
 
He probably couldn’t see it with an arm full of logs.
 
Maybe this will knock some sense into him.” Aida
had just finished checking him over, when she noticed the tension and concern
in Serena’s face.
 

“I’m a registered nurse by the way.
 
He’ll come round in a bit and might have a concussion and possibly a
head ache but he’ll be fine.
 
Nothing is
broken.”

Serena looked down at his face, not convinced.
 
The evening had just been too much for her
and she didn’t think she could take much more.
 
Her eyes brimmed with unshed tears.

“Oh dear.
 
You have it serious.”
 
Said Aida quietly.
 
“I
tell you
what,
we won’t be able to move him much
further.
 
Would you be able to help me
make him comfortable?”

Quietly and thankful for the distraction, Serena followed Aida’s instructions.

Between them they cleared up the spilled logs, removed his boots, covered
him with a blanket, put a pillow under his head and rigged a cold compress for
his forehead.

When they had finished, Aida drew Serena aside.

“Sweetheart I know this is a bit much to ask but if I don’t go upstairs
and attend to my own little drama queen, we could all be buried under and
avalanche in the morning.
 
There is a
spare room upstairs at the end of the hall.
 
The bed is made up.
 
Could you
please just stay with him until he wakes?”
 
She looked at Serena, her big green eyes begging, like a puppy for a
snack.

“Okay.” Serena sighed.

“Oh thank you.
 
Please call me if
you need me.”
 
With that Aida strode up
the stairs, two at a time.

Serena collected a huge cushion and small blanket from the lounge and sat
on the Kitchen floor.
 
She propped
herself up against a cupboard and pulled the blanket around her shoulders,
hugging her knees to her chest.
 
Her
clothes were almost dry and she was feeling a little more comfortable.
 

Marco was breathing slowly and steadily, the blanket covering his chest
rising and falling gently.
 
His hair had
fallen forward onto his forehead and was damp from melted snow.
 
She noted with pleasure that he had grown it
a little longer.
 
She longed to reach
forward and brush it back for him.

Oh God he’s been unconscious for a
whole fifteen minutes.
 
Please let him be
okay!
 

Sandalwood.
 
I
love that smell.
 
Mmmmmm.
 
Then Marco was standing there glaring at her
and she curled into a little ball again.
 
Those naked women and the baby.
 
Her baby.
 
Then they were going.
 
She was helpless.

Serena jerked awake

“Keep still or I’ll fall down the stairs!”

In an instant Serena assessed her situation.
 
Marco was carrying her up the stairs of his
chalet.
 

Shit I must have dozed off!

“Marco you can put me down.
 
I
appreciate the chivalry but you don’t have to go through the motions.”

“We’re nearly there.”

He pushed a door open and with a click, soft lighting filled the
room.
 
He had brought her to the bathroom.
 
Quietly he sat her down on the closed toilet
lid and knelt down in front of her to remove her boots.

“How long have you been in these damp clothes?”

“Um.... since I fell on the slopes this morning.
 
But they are not that wet anymore.
 
I’m fine.”

Pulling the last boot off he pulled up and turned her briskly to face the
mirror above the washbasin.

“Show me what part of that reflection is fine!” he growled.

Serena took in her face it was very pale and her lips stood out in stark
contrast, bruised and blue from cold.
 
She had been cold for so long, she had just stopped feeling it.
 
Leaving her to study her face he turned and
ran hot water into the bath.
 

“Strip.”
He ordered rummaging through the
bathroom cabinet.

He took out a bottle and studied the label before shaking it and
uncorking it.
 
Hi sniffed and nodded in
approval.
 
Looking up he realised that
she hadn’t moved.
 

“Serena, get those wet clothes off you now before I do it for you!”

God why don’t men say that when you
want them to?

She watched him the bathroom reflections as he poured nearly half the
bottle into the bath.
  
The Bath filled with steam
and bubbles and the head clearing scent of Eucalyptus.
 

Finally satisfied that the water was ready he turned his attention back
to her.
 
She stood hugging herself, pale
and uncertain, leaning against the basin.
 
She had kept her underwear on.

Marco looked at her slender figure appreciatively.
 
She had filled out.
 
At least she had been eating.
 

“You’re going to bath in your underwear?”

Serena nodded, unable to think under his gaze.

“Fine!
 
Have it your way.
 
This is going
to hurt.
 
I’m sorry!”

He lifted her and swung her over the water and lowered her quickly into
the bath.

Owwwwww!
 
It burns.
 
Everywhere.
Oh my god!

His heart tore as he heard he wince and her face screwed up in pain.
 
It would only last a few seconds as the nerve
endings defrosted and got some life back.
 
He didn’t want to cause her pain.
 
Tears started to roll down her cheeks.

He sat on the side of the bath, not touching her.
 
“Why is your young boyfriend not with you?”

“I.....don’t......have.....a.......boyfriend.”
 
She managed through clenched teeth.
 
The pain in the toes was the worst.

“If you are not with him any more then why were the two of you together
on the slopes this morning?”

Please make the stinging stop!

“That was
 
.....Josephine’s.....baby brother.
 
He was driving me .......when it wasn’t safe.....for me to drive.
 
He...is here with ....Jo and the rest...of
the ...family.”

Okay so if I keep really, really
still and don’t move the water, the stinging stops.
 
Still.
  
Very Still.
 
Breathe.

Marco needed to think.
 
Something
was out of place here.
 
Serena’s eyes
were still screwed shut, almost in intense concentration but the rest of her
face had relaxed and her breathing was deeper.

“Lean back.”
 

Slowly, wincing a little, she obeyed, sinking down into the water until
it lapped at her chin.
 
Her cheeks looked
fuller.
 
In fact apart from being a
frozen Popsicle, she was looking much healthier.
 

“Serena.
 
What exactly was wrong
with you when you came home at the end of the summer?”

Okay this is nice.
 
I’ll just lie here for the rest of my life.

“It was the chemo....”

“Shit what!” he yelled, making her jump.
 
She was just dozing off to sleep.
 

God that was rude.
 
I’m sooooooo tired.

“Why the fuck does no body tell me anything?”
 
He was pacing the bathroom floor now.
 
“All that time you were so ill and there I
thought you were knocked up by some high school kid.”
 
He paused to look at her shaking his head and
running his hand through his hair.
 
He
continued pacing.

“I’m sorry sir, but I didn’t realise the private lives of the hired help
and their family were of any concern of yours.”
 
She spat.

The comment made no sense.
 
He had
always been concerned about the well being of his staff, and he had never
thought of Serena as staff.
 
His head was
reeling from the revelations of the last few minutes.
 
A dull pain throbbed behind his eyes making
him irritable.
 
He stopped in the middle
of the room and studied her face trying to decide what to do with this
information.
 
Her face was flushed and
pink and her eyes burned through him as he glared back.
 

“Concern....I’ll show you concern!” He growled.
 
He lent over the bath and clasped her face in
his hands, crushing her lips against her teeth.
 
He wanted this woman so much right now that it scared him.
 
He didn’t want this to happen in anger.
 
Pulling away from her he stormed out of the
bathroom slamming the door behind him.

What.
 
The.
 
Hell.
 
Just.
 
Happened?

Tenderly Serena inspected her bruised lips with her finger tips.
 
Her thoroughly defrosted body was alive with
sensation and that kiss had warmed her up in places she hadn’t known
possible.
 
Suddenly he barged back in and
strode up to the bath.
 
He stood at the end
of the bath looking down on her.
 

That’s how he looks at me in that
dream.
 
The one where
he walks away forever.
 
Noooooo!

Serena gulped and stared back, completely paralysed with fear.

“If Josephine’s brother is not the father of your child.....who is?”

Serena couldn’t talk.
 
She couldn’t
move.
 
Her brain was yelling at her to
tell him something.
 
Anything.
 
Tell him the truth.
 
Lie to him.
 
Just make him stop looking at her like that.
 
But more than
anything,
make him stay.
 
But still, she just lay there.
 
Only her head showed above the bubbles.
 
Her eyes wide, staring at his.
 
Fear oozed from her and mingled with the
heady eucalyptus still wafting in the steam.
 
A minute went by.
 
Then two.
 
Slowly it
dawned on him.