A Different Class - 22

Chapter 22

Rebecca wished she could enjoy the late sun. She'd had a busy day in work and was struggling with this interminable exhaustion that Meredith her new secretary had told her was perfectly normal. The hotel she was living in was the flagship hotel, clean, modern...but it wasn't a home, and so she'd lined up a couple of apartments to view over the next few weeks. It was amazing to imagine that a week ago she'd been ensconced in Nate's home, his life...she tried not to think about him, it was too painful.

She knew he’d never let her go if he knew she was pregnant, she couldn’t risk him knowing. After living so much of her time alone she wanted this baby, more than anything. The thought of terminating was against everything she believed in. She was going to have this baby, and she’d rather leave him than lose it, one way or another. Her fear that someone would take it from her was so powerful. She knew these people could do anything, and the last thing she wanted was a legal battle or worse.

Stopping at a coffee shop she grabbed a tea, she'd not been able to stomach coffee since before she'd taken the pregnancy test...she should have realised then! Adding milk at the small condiment station, she was stirring the drink when the door opened. Her eyes snapped up guiltily, but it was just a young couple, happy and holding hands, giggling as they perused the menu. Shaking her head she secured the lid, then made for the street complete with her tea.

When had she ever gotten so paranoid? She knew the answer. It wasn't Sir Ed, or even this Olivia Martin business. She'd have fronted that out. No it was the voice on the answer phone, the name she'd dreaded hearing.  

Michael Burford-Mills. 

Her cousin.

She'd never run from anything in her life, but that name, the images that name conjured up sent her scarpering. The following morning she'd driven to her boss Steve's house. She didn’t elaborate greatly, only to say that the Groves family were harassing her since the project, and that it had become unbearable. She either wanted him to terminate her contract, or find her a long term contract elsewhere. When he started to flounder she whispered the words 'the temp'. She had no intention of blackmailing him into helping her, but she was desperate. As he headed to the office shaking his head full of dread to find out what he could do, she called a storage company to come and vacate her home. She didn't intend to come back for quite a while.

By mid afternoon he had found her a six month secondment to a project in the South West, there was a new string of hotels being built, and she would co-ordinate the publicity campaign. It was perfect, but she knew he'd had to pull a lot of strings to get it. 

She had a week off before she started, so she busied herself, firstly supervising the emptying of her home, then she packed up the few belongings she had at Nate’s flat. The hardest part was locking the door behind her.

Rebecca couldn’t believe how smoothly the transition had passed. She’d had a few days before she was expected in Bristol, so she’d gone back to Brighton. Katy still lived there; they’d been best mates in care, neither found a suitable foster home, so they bonded. Whilst they didn’t catch up very often, she knew that if she landed at her door there would be a hearty welcome. Katy had stayed in Brighton, and gone into Child Services, initially as an office worker, but as time had gone on they realised she had so much invaluable insight and empathy, that she’d now been trained to be a counsellor. She spent her days trying to make life more bearable than it had for the two of them 15 years earlier.

After booking into a hotel near the town centre, then unpacking, Rebecca wandered up to the council building that housed the Family Services. It was like a step back in time, everyone from the receptionist to managers both knew and welcomed her. It took her almost an hour to get to Katy’s office.

They had coffee and chatted, then Bec left to allow her friend to finish work, they arranged to meet for dinner that evening.

Over a lovely meal Bec ended up telling Katy everything, knowing that she’d neither betray or judge, the only thing she omitted was the baby. With a load lifted off her shoulders, she agreed to stay for a few days, walking the beaches by day, and chatting to her oldest friend by night.

All too soon Monday had come around and she had to be in Bristol, the base for the company, and was met by Meredith, the secretary who had so quickly become invaluable. She’d been given a room in their flagship site, and within an hour was swimming in the heated indoor pool. She’d not had time to even begin to really comprehend the changes in her life over the last ten days until today.

The next morning she'd called Steve mainly to apologise for the blackmail, as much as she hated what he was doing, it wasn't her place to tell his beautiful wife.  He'd sighed when she'd said sorry, then confessed that she'd actually woken up at the thought of it all coming back to haunt him.He was going to tell his wife and beg for her forgiveness. Bec felt awful, but on the other hand knew it was the only thing she could do. It was only after that that he told her Nate had been pestering the office. At the mention of his name, she felt nausea waft over her. She missed him in every breath she took.

She switched off to the nausea as she had to the tiredness or the swollen and tender breasts, ignoring all thoughts that there was a baby growing inside her. She already had an affinity to it, but to think about medical appointments, scans, all meant acknowledging that she was alone, and dealing with the fact that she’d ended things with him, and more importantly that she wouldn’t seem him again.

There was so much work to do, that she had barely had time to think for the first few days. She screened all her calls. Johnny, Lyle and Tara realised within a few days that something was wrong, but she couldn’t face dealing with things, so she returned innocuous messages that she’d catch up with them soon enough. Her exhaustion seemed to aid her in not thinking about life.

But how long could you pretend you old life didn't exist?

After two weeks she called Johnny, he was the most easy going of the three friends.

“Hello?” She almost cried at the familiar sound of his voice.

“Hi Johnny!”

She could hear him cover the mouthpiece and mumble, “it’s Bec."  Then, "Bec where the hell are you?”

“That doesn’t matter; I just need some time, and some breathing space.”

“We are so worried about you, don’t you realise that?”

She smiled, and looked up to fight off the tears, “I miss you all, but I just need to sort things out, put a bit of space between me and everything.”

“He’s in bits Bec.”

She was silent for a moment, “well I just wanted to let you know that I’m ok.”

“Don’t go! Just talk to Lyle for a minute.”

Before she had chance to argue Lyle burst on to the line, “Bec, where are you?” he was more aggressive than Johnny.

“It’s not important Lyle, I’ll be back at some point, I just need to finish this job, have a bit of time.”

“Not important? We've been worried sick! I’m not going to pretend I’m happy about this, about you Bec, you need to come back to us, we’re your family. Family don’t treat each other like this.”

“Like what Lyle? I’m on a business trip, just because I’ve chosen to not see Nate again doesn’t mean I have to report to you guys and explain myself.”

She hung up before he could respond. but she knew their words had hurt because they were the truth. They deserved better from her. All these years she'd needed them every day, and now at the first sign of trouble she'd abandoned them and taken off. 

Nate couldn't believe that they'd got nowhere. She wasn't using her phone, or her bank account, no private detective had been able to get a sniff of her for the last three weeks. He was barely managing to function, and his calls to the detective and Patrick were eating into his work time hugely. Another trans Atlantic trip was on the horizon, and the thought of leaving with out finding her filled him with dread.

He day before he was due to fly, Patrick called, "I've got a lead!"

Nate thought his heart had stopped beating. "Really?" His voice was a breath, "what?"

He could hear the satisfaction in Patrick's voice as he explained, "her last project was in Rochester, yes?" When Nate agreed, he continued, "well I found out the manager of the that company was Paul Craven. So I called her office and pretended to be him. Angry! Eventually they transferred me to another office.  Harlequin Hotels in Bristol." 

Nate gasped, "you think she's there?"

Patrick laughed, "only one way to find out. Whilst you're in New York, I shall be casing the joint! I'll find her Groves, promise!"

Nate was so touched that he could barely speak, but Patrick immediately understood, "when I find her, don't let her go again, ok?"