Twelve Days: The Beginning Part 22

Whilst in the shower, Elise had also pondered what to wear as she still wanted to put on the beautiful lace hold ups that Vaughn had bought for her. Initially she had been going to wear them with the 'killer' dress that she had bought for the nightclub, as she knew that when Dale saw them he wouldn't register that they weren't her usual brand. When he had mentioned going for a walk however, she had realised that the dress wouldn't be very practical and realistically Dale would be surprised if she wore anything other than jeans. Perhaps she could wear the hold ups underneath her jeans and put socks on over the top. Then if Dale did happen to notice and think it strange, she could just tell him that she wanted extra layers on so that she didn't get cold.

Decision made, Elise rummaged through her wardrobe until she found the jeans that she was looking for along with her favourite dark green chunky knit sweater. She then dug the stockings out of her handbag and eased them on, completely in awe at the delicacy of the lace and the material they really were the most beautiful things that she had ever seen. It was an absolute travesty to pull her jeans on over the top, but needs must and so to complete the effect she added a pair of chunky socks and her hardwearing ankle boots. No one would ever know what she had on underneath her jeans and she looked perfectly presentable for a walk on a chilly winter's morning. Arriving downstairs, she saw that Dale had found out their hats and gloves so she shrugged into her coat and followed him out of the door.

It felt strange to be out walking with Dale. They hardly did anything together anymore and she couldn't remember the last time that they had been for a walk. Thankfully their volume of chunky clothes put paid to any hand-holding but Dale did put his arm around her shoulders on a couple of occasions and Elise had to struggle not to flinch and shake it off.

They chose a circuitous route which took about an hour and, surprisingly, they chatted easily throughout the walk. As it was Christmas day the roads and pavements were deserted and they enjoyed pa.s.sing many houses and guessing what the people were up to inside. Some were heavily decorated, whilst others, like theirs, showed little sign of acknowledging the season at all, which made them all the more intriguing.

When they got back home they were both frozen through so they huddled under blankets in the warmth of the lounge, drinking hot chocolate and reminiscing. It seemed like they had been doing a lot of reminiscing lately and it didn't escape Elise's notice that Dale seemed to be encouraging it. She didn't know whether he was looking to rekindle what they had once had or whether he just found the past much easier to talk about than the present.

True to his word, Dale prepared the turkey and the vegetables and they sat down to eat a traditional Christmas meal together for the first time in five years. In deference to the day, Dale had opened a bottle of wine but up until then, he had stayed clear of any alcohol and Elise was immensely proud of him. She herself indulged in a gla.s.s of wine, but decided to leave it at the one. She still didn't trust this new side of Dale and she didn't want to dull any of her senses in case she would have to draw on them later on in the day. She hated herself for doubting him he had given her no cause to today but there's was such a long and complicated past that it would take more than this one day for her to let go and trust again completely.

At the end of the meal Dale drank a toast to them and to the future and Elise raised her gla.s.s so as not to arouse suspicion. It felt horribly hypocritical and she hated every moment of lying to him; she was so sick and tired of the lies in her life.

Dale had downed the rest of the bottle of wine by himself during the meal, which didn't escape Elise's notice. In the back of her mind she could hear the faint ringing of alarm bells, however she also knew that it would take a h.e.l.l of a lot more than one bottle of wine to get Dale drunk. He was a hardened drinker and although he had had a few days off, she doubted that a handful of days of sobriety would have made that much difference to his drinking capacity. He was a long way away from being a danger to her and so she pushed her misgivings to one side.

This time she volunteered to clear away and Dale didn't argue. The wine had begun to mellow him and she could see that he was keen to relax. Expecting him to turn on the television, she left him to it and a short while later, after she had finished tidying up, she went back into the lounge to join him.

The first thing that she noticed when she re-entered was the large bottle of whisky that was stood on the side table next to Dale and a tumbler full of the liquid in his hand. Her senses went on to high alert as she registered the old Dale making an unwelcome return and judging by the size of the gla.s.s in his hand, he was back with a vengeance.

He looked up as she entered the room and if he noticed her nervous glance at the gla.s.s in his hand he didn't let on; he merely patted the sofa beside him to indicate that she should sit down. Elise sat, and the second thing that she noticed was that both of her presents had been moved from under the tree and were now on the arm of the sofa next to her.

"Pressie time!" Dale declared and already Elise could hear the slight slurring in his words and she wondered how much whisky he had managed to down whilst she had been in the kitchen.

For want of continuing with the distraction and not drawing attention to his newly inebriated state, Elise took the presents and placed them on her lap ready to open.

Instantly, she was reminded of the presents that Vaughn had given her and hated herself for comparing the standard of the wrapping. These from Dale had been thrown together using last year's Christmas paper at least some things didn't change whereas Vaughn's had had matching bows and tags and beautiful lines. She supposed he could have had them professionally wrapped but somehow she doubted that. He didn't seem to be the kind of man who would get others to do his work.

The first present was a familiar size and box shape and she opted to open that one first. In order to prolong this moment she took her time opening first one and then the other end before slipping the paper open at the middle to reveal the same box of perfume that Dale had bought her every year. In the early days, she had had perfume plus other things that had differed each year. But in the last five years, it had dwindled down to just the perfume nothing else - making two presents this year a surprise.

Aware that Dale was watching for a reaction, she obligingly opened the box and pulled out the bottle, covering herself with a generous spray before putting her nose to her wrists to inhale the scent. This had always been her favourite perfume but overkill over the last few years had put paid to that and she now found the scent slightly nauseating.

"Gorgeous," she declared and smiled across at Dale, waving her arm in front of his face for him to smell also. "Thank you."

He pushed her arm away a little roughly and the warning bells in her head began to chime again. This time she didn't push them away. He had refilled his tumbler again and the bottle on the side table was definitely closer to being empty than it was to full. The ringing became louder and she reached for the second present in an attempt to hide her anxiety.

This present was also poorly wrapped and was fairly small and soft, completely different to the first. She had no idea what this could be; Dale would be unlikely to buy her clothes so maybe it was a new scarf and gloves? Although he had seemed very excited about her presents this morning, and she didn't think her usual perfume and a scarf and gloves set would warrant such a level of excitement.

She glanced across at Dale as she began to open the package and she could see his eyes s.h.i.+ning in antic.i.p.ation. Whatever was in this present, it had him really fired up and for an awful moment she had visions of some kinky underwear or outfit that he would require her to wear later, such was his excitement.

In the same fas.h.i.+on as the first one she slipped open both of the ends and then slowly unwrapped the middle section, pulling the paper away to reveal a beautiful garment nestled in its folds. Clothing? From Dale? Definitely out of the ordinary and from what she could see of the item, it was absolutely stunning.

Uncertainly she looked at Dale again to find that he was by now almost bouncing up and down on the sofa in his excitement and Elise's feeling of unease increased tenfold.

Running her fingers across the fabric, she had a momentary feeling of deja vu as she thought that she recognised the texture, however she dismissed that thought immediately. How could she possibly have felt this fabric before? Dale had only just given it to her.

Slowly she looped her hands underneath the fabric, one on each side, and began to draw the garment upwards and out of the packaging. The paper fell to the floor and as it did so it released the rest of the dress from where it had been folded and Elise sucked in a shocked breath as a huge wave of sickness washed over her from head to toe. Recognition hit and she dropped the dress onto the floor as if it was on fire, only just making it to the downstairs toilet before she silently retched, losing the entire contents of her stomach in the process. It was as if a fog had cleared and everything suddenly began to make sense - Dale's behaviour over the last few days, the walk, the movie, the food, the conversation, the Christmas tree. It was all calculated. More calculated than she could have ever imagined and more sinister than she would ever have given him credit for.

He had built her up. He had set her up and now he was going to take great pleasure in bringing her back down again, bit by humiliating bit by humiliating bit. This was Dale at his absolute best and she couldn't believe that she had been such a fool as to not see through it.

She had known that something wasn't right but she had decided not to question it to go with the flow too wrapped up had she been in her life and the situation with Vaughn. She had completely ignored all of the warning signals and now she knew that she was going to have to pay. There was no escaping this.

The last few minutes played out in her head in slow motion and the excitement that Dale had been showing over the final present abruptly came into perspective. He knew what that present meant and he knew how she would react. He also knew what the end result would be and for the first time ever she realised what a s.a.d.i.s.tic b.a.s.t.a.r.d her husband was.

All of the times in the past she had convinced herself that he was hurting her because he was out of control, too drunk to know what he was doing. But the calculating way in which he had set up this scene finally made her realise what he was truly like. The drink was a factor without doubt, but at long last she realised that he ultimately got off on hurting her - and that was why he was always so aroused. Somewhere over the last five years, the pain that he had inflicted on her had morphed him into who he was now and she rapidly realised that she was in the greatest danger of her life and had absolutely no escape plan. None whatsoever.

The second that she had opened that final present she had sealed her fate - her reaction had just been the icing on the cake and now the game needed to be played out according to Dale's rules. Rules that she had no way of understanding or comprehending and therefore she had no possible way of winning.

The second present had contained a dress.

A dress that with chilling certainty she had recognised.

Her dress.

Her 'killer' dress.

Which meant only two things.

One that Dale knew she had been out without him wearing that dress.

And, two much more d.a.m.ning than the first - Elise knew that both hers and Vaughn's scent still lingered on the dress.

Chapter Thirty-Two.

Elise sat cowering on the carpet by the side of the toilet, s.h.i.+vering and shaking and listening to the monotonous sound of Dale's footsteps pacing the nearby kitchen. He hadn't spoken to her since she had bolted for the cloakroom but she had heard him approach and begin to pace, almost as if testing his nerve against hers. Who would break first?

She needed to get out of here - that much she knew - but in order to do that she was going to have to get past Dale and she didn't see any way of that happening. If only she had her phone with her then at least she could have called Cole or someone for help. But both of her phones were upstairs in her handbag and she wasn't even convinced that her usual phone was charged up anyway.

She glanced around the small room, eyes resting momentarily on the window but that was a non-starter. It only had a small opener at the top and anything bigger than a newborn baby would struggle to get through the gap. She was going to have to go out through the door and take her chances; that was her only option.

Mentally, she began to calculate how much alcohol Dale had consumed, trying to decide if he was anywhere near to pa.s.sing out or not. He had drunk most of a bottle of wine plus a good two-thirds of the whisky but she didn't know if that would be enough or not. The trouble with Dale was that when he got like this, he ran on adrenalin and it didn't really matter how much alcohol he had drunk. If he was going to pa.s.s out, it was more than likely going to be after he had dealt with her in whatever way he deemed appropriate.

A sudden banging on the door made her jump and she inadvertently b.u.mped the top of her head on the underside of the sink so jangled were her nerves.

"I suggest you get out here now, Elise." Dale said in a low and menacing voice. "You are pus.h.i.+ng my patience to its absolute limit."

Silently, Elise groaned and grabbed at her head where she had made brief contact with the sink. She could already feel some tenderness there and a lump forming and she knew that the minor-self-inflicted injury was only the beginning.

Having considered all of her options and realising that she had none, Elise slowly unlocked the door and walked out into the hallway where she was immediately grabbed from behind, her arms locked against her sides and she was rendered immobile.

"So, b.i.t.c.h..." he said, venom dripping from his every word. "Good to see you liked my Christmas present. I thought you would." Using his free hand, he yanked on her hair to pull her head back so that he could look into her eyes. She noticed that his were slightly unfocused but there was anger and, more sickeningly, desire emanating from their very core.

"Couldn't believe my luck when I found that dress." He went on. "Only went into your wardrobe to get the wrapping paper and then I got distracted by the smell of your perfume. Finally traced it to this dress that I knew I had never seen before I definitely would have remembered it if I had. Seemed there wasn't much to the dress and then when I got closer, I realised that there was something else there, someone else's scent. An aftershave maybe. So I reckoned that not only did you go out without me dressed like a wh.o.r.e, you must have also cosied up to someone else. A man." He pulled her hair harder and tighter, pressing his face right up close to hers.

"Didn't make much sense to start with but I kept thinking that the other scent was familiar. I was going to ask you about it but it was when you were away at that conference so I thought I would just confront you when you got back. Thing was, I called your office to see when you were going to get back and I spoke to a very helpful young lady - Olivia. Seemed you were coming back early, something to do with a fight that a Mr Vaughn Granger had got into whilst defending your honour. And that's when it hit me. That's how I knew the scent that b.a.s.t.a.r.d was wearing it when he came to visit me in the hospital and that's how I knew that it was him you had been with wearing that dress. The only time I knew that you were with him was at the conference and, as your dress was still here, that must have meant you had been with him another time when I was in hospital perhaps?" He paused and took a deep breath, exhaling a disgusting smell of alcohol back into her face.

"That's when I knew that my beautiful Elise had been playing around behind my back." He jerked her hair back further, pulling it even tighter, continuing to stare, slightly unfocused, into her eyes.

"I knew that you needed to pay. No one plays around on me. Did you really think that I had changed so much that we could just go back to how we were?" She didn't know if he wanted an answer or not but she chose to remain silent. Her head where he held her hair was really beginning to throb now, not helped by the b.u.mp that she had already sustained.

"I admit, I did enjoy the last few days almost felt like the old times but that's not me anymore. It can't be me. I can't exist like nice old Dale used to, things have changed too much for me now. This is me now, this is who I am and now you, my beautiful darling wife, are going to pay."

Abruptly, he released her and she stumbled forwards before he caught her and spun her around pinning her against the hallway wall. The first blow came as no surprise he had hit her before but the second one did; he usually only ever hit her once. Registering that he was way beyond any sort of control Elise tried to relax her breathing a bit, allowing herself to calm so that she could begin to escape to the safe s.p.a.ce in her head. The place where she went when reality was just too ugly to bear.

She breathed in as deeply as she could, transporting herself to a calm and peaceful lake where the sun was s.h.i.+ning, reflecting dappled light across the ripples on the surface. The birds were singing happily and in the distance she could hear children shouting, playing, laughing. The warmth on her face was a tonic and in her mind she turned her head to the light, allowing its soothing rays to soak through her tired brain.

Elise was rousled momentarily as Dale pushed her roughly towards the stairs, a hand on her back guiding her, ensuring that she complied with his wishes. She did. There was little point in doing anything else. In her dreamlike state she was aware of the physical pain but she had become an expert at blotting it out. It was jostling with the tranquillity of the lake for her attention but she didn't want to grant it access yet she knew that there was still more to come.

They reached the top of the stairs and Dale's ugly voice penetrated, his anger far from concealed, his language foul.

"You f.u.c.king b.i.t.c.h! After everything I have done for you who the h.e.l.l do you think you are to mess around behind my back? You deserve everything that you have got coming to you and don't think that I won't enjoy every last f.u.c.king second."

He pushed her towards the bed and she landed on the soft downy covers, snuggling subconsciously into their warmth. She heard his words but she paid them no heed. There was nothing to say and even if she did, he was beyond the point of listening.

Dale covered her body with his as he joined her on the bed and she felt his anger radiate as he continued to teach her his lesson, using the only tools that he had. She retreated to the lake again, this time watching the ducks flapping and playing, eating sc.r.a.ps that the little boy was feeding them. There was a sailboat on the lake a remote controlled one and she scanned the surroundings, trying to see who was operating it. It was a beautiful sight, the little boat, bobbing peacefully on the water, rolling to one side and then the other as the wind caught its sails. One of the ducks briefly gave chase, clearly thinking that it was an imposter and then hastily returning to his friends when he realised his mistake, his metaphorical tail between his legs.

Jolted back to the present, she was vaguely aware of Dale removing his clothing and then roughly dispensing with hers. He was speaking again, breaking into her reverie. He was removing her jeans. He had found her stockings.

"b.i.t.c.h!" he ground out. "You're even dressing for him! You must think I'm a total idiot, stupid even, thinking I wouldn't see these and realise. I know you are not wearing them for me!"

Almost gently he fingered the delicate lace at the top and then yanked on them, ripping and tearing them in the process. His fingernails grazed back up her legs once the stockings had been removed and this time she pictured the leaves on the trees, watched them blowing in the gentle breeze, momentarily blocking out the sun as they swayed this way and that. There was a beautiful bird sitting on one of the top branches and she squinted as she tried to focus, tried to identify the tiny being who had the freedom of the world at its wing-tips.

The birdsong was loud, louder than she thought it would be considering how far away the bird was. She tried to focus on it, drawing on her limited knowledge to see if she could work out what the bird was by the nature of its call.

A sudden movement caused her to return to the present and Elise realised that it wasn't the bird that was singing, it was her phone ringing, buried in the depths of her handbag. Dale had heard it also and he jumped off the bed, grabbing her bag and upending it, searching through her belongings until he found her phone.

"Some b.i.t.c.h called Celeste calling. How the f.u.c.k does she have your number?" Dale asked as he pushed the remaining contents of her bag off the bed and onto the floor, tossing the unanswered phone down beside them. The conference Elise had eventually given Celeste her number at that b.l.o.o.d.y conference.

Pus.h.i.+ng her bag to one side, Dale began to climb back onto the bed but just as he was about to settle himself down he stopped, hesitated and then retraced his steps, picking up her bag again, turning it over and examining it. Elise knew a moment of sheer terror as she realised that he must have seen her new phone, nestled as it was in the secret compartment. She mustn't have zipped it up properly this morning when she checked on it.

Slowly he reached inside and Elise watched, her heart in her mouth, as he began to draw back the zipper on the secret compartment and then ever so carefully remove the lime green diamante case.

"You stupid b.i.t.c.h." His voice was low and menacing, each word carefully drawn out.

"Did lover-boy give you this? Eh? Is it so that you can have secret calls, secret messages? You really are unbelievable. Did you seriously think you could hide all of this from me you stupid b.i.t.c.h? I can't believe that I am married to such a s.l.u.t!"

Before Elise could respond Dale launched the phone against the wall with a force so great that the phone shattered, leaving a hefty dent in the wall. Elise watched mute as the remnants of her beautiful present scattered all over the carpet. Her contact with Vaughn was now gone just like that. Gone.

The bed dipped as Dale joined her again and Elise retreated back to her safe place, back to the lake and the sun and the sailboat and the ducks and the children and the little boy. She followed the path around the lake with her eyes, it wasn't a big lake; each side could easily be seen from where she sat on the old wooden bench at the top of the hill. This was her favourite place to sit. It was the best place to take in the view and to fully appreciate the beauty of what lay below and the vista of the water's edge.

A family were walking around the lake, a Mum, a Dad and a baby in a pushchair. The Dad had stopped by the ducks and was crouching down beside the buggy, taking the baby's chubby little hand in his and using it to point to the ducks. From where she sat Elise could hear the work "Ducks" being repeated over and over. A father teaching his child. Dale teaching his wife. She watched as the family retreated, heading back to their life, their family, their happiness.

It was nearly over she could tell. The spite and vitriol coming out of Dale's mouth was crude beyond comprehension but in her world, in her wonderful safe place she heard none of it. She was completely numb, completely lost, sitting on the bench at the top of the hill beside the lake, enjoying the view.

A group of children were running around in the field next to the lake. They had a cheerful red kite, which they were trying to coax to fly, its tail long and adorned with brightly coloured paper. They ran one way then the other, each having a turn, running faster and jumping higher, building up the pace until eventually it launched into the sky and as Elise watched, it sailed high and free, soaring peacefully above the land, dancing on the breeze, quiet and beautiful as calm reigned once again.

She was weightless too as she watched the kite and listened to the chatter. The sound began to retreat getting quieter and quieter until eventually there was no sound at all. The birds had stopped singing, the leaves were no longer rustling in the wind, the ducks were quiet, swimming away. The people had all gone home and stillness had returned.

In the quiet aftermath the only sound she could hear was that of her breathing as it began to resume its calm pace, bringing her back slowly back from her safe place, allowing her to register reality as and when she was able.

And, as she listened very carefully in the almost surreal silence, she thought she could hear the sound of her soul as it was finally and brutally, broken into tiny little pieces.

After a while Elise realised that her arms were painfully dead and she flexed them experimentally to see what Dale's reaction would be, lying as he was on top of her. He didn't move so she tried again, this time moving her legs a little - still he didn't move. His breathing was heavy and regular so she tried to wriggle out slightly from underneath him in order to see his face. His eyes were closed and she realised that he was either asleep or pa.s.sed out she hoped that it was the latter as that would give her the precious time that she needed to try to escape.

Tentatively, she pushed against his shoulder and he moved slightly and grunted but he didn't wake. She continued to wiggle underneath him; bit by bit, until eventually she could sit up. Her legs were still stuck beneath his torso but now that she had some leverage she was able to gently rock him until he rolled onto his side. She remained motionless and held her breath, praying that the movement wouldn't wake him, and when she was sure that he was still asleep, she gently and painfully moved from the bed.

She was in agony; her face burned where he had slapped her, her legs were sore where he had scratched her with his nails, her arm was still numb where he had leaned on it and her side and ribs made even the tiniest movement excruciating. Moving purely on adrenalin, she silently pulled up her jeans around her ripped stockings and fastened them. Fortunately he had left her jumper alone so she slipped on a pair of flip flops, the first shoes that she could find and quickly collected as many of the belongings of her handbag as possible leaving behind her brand new but now completely battered and therefore totally useless, broken phone.

Silently she exited the room, all the while holding her breath in case he woke and then crept down the stairs, her heart thumping so loudly that she felt certain he must be able to hear it. Every step was agony and it was all that she could do to stay upright, but she knew that this would be her only chance. She had to get away.

Grabbing her car keys from the rack in the hallway, she opened the front door and walked on unfeeling legs to her car. Dimly she was aware of the front door slamming behind her as she exited in haste but she couldn't worry about that now. Her car and the end were in sight and she concentrated all of her efforts on getting into the car and automatically going through the motions of starting it up and driving.

She had no idea where she was going but she needed to just drive; get away, create some distance from Dale, from this house, from this life. The only thing that she knew with absolute certainty was that she had just embarked on the first part of a journey that would inevitably lead her onto a very long and very painful road.

That she would be embarking on this journey had become inevitable over the last five years but today had been the absolute end. Today she had realised that she could take no more. She was done. She could no longer make excuses for Dale, no longer pretend that she had a marriage and no longer deny to anyone that her heart belonged to Vaughn.

At the thought of him, she smiled against the pain in her face and her gaze dropped to the dashboard where she registered the date the 25th December. Of course. It was Christmas Day.

Unbidden, another date popped into her head; the 13th December, the date of the office Christmas party, the day that she had first clapped eyes on Vaughn and the day when, unbeknown to her, the path to her future had been totally and irrevocably changed.

The 13th of December. And it was now the 25th of December. That meant that it had only been twelve days since her life had spiralled out of control.

Twelve days since she had had any kind of influence on her life.

Twelve whole days.

And in that significantly short s.p.a.ce of time, she had managed to cheat on her husband, fight off unwanted drunken advances, cry almost endlessly and hold her best friend's hand as he had begun to realise that he too was battling some demons. She had been hit more times than she could remember, she had had phone s.e.x in a disabled toilet, she had pa.s.sed out on the floor of a car park, been threatened with legal action and had countless knives put in her back by so-called friends.

Those twelve days had unwittingly marked the beginning of her future and they had meant that she had finally found the strength to leave her husband and hopefully her past behind.

And above all else, during those long and trying twelve days, she had done something she never thought she would do again. And she now realised that it was actually for the very first time.

In those twelve days, she had fallen hopelessly and inexplicably, in love.