LITMIR.BIZ

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that was only going to increase once those sunglasses were removed.

      ‘Ribs,’ Ellie explained, an awkward smile on her face.

      ‘Jeez. I’m so sorry, honey. You OK?’ Sandy took her friend’s free hand, closing both of her own around it.

      ‘Yep. Fine. Fine.’

      ‘I almost didn’t recognise you. You didn’t tell me you cut your hair.’

      Ellie withdrew her hand and tugged at the hat, a shadow passing across her face. ‘I hate it.’

      ‘OK, so then we don’t talk about it. Let’s go home.’

      Ellie nodded. Sandy had used the right phrase. It did always feel like coming home when she came back to Kansas. Seeing her friend at last, in addition to the emotional and physical rollercoaster she’d just come off, had made her throat tight. For a moment, she didn’t trust herself to speak.

      ‘Oh!’ Sandy remembered her manners. ‘Obviously this is Todd.’

      Todd smiled and held out his hand. ‘It’s really great to meet you properly at last. Although obviously I wish it were under different circumstances.’

      Ellie gave a smile, although to Todd it looked a little stiff and he guessed the make-up she wore hid more damage. ‘Yes. Me too.’

      He touched her arm very gently and briefly, silently adding to his fiancée’s reassurance that she was safe now. ‘Let me get that,’ he said, reaching for the handle of the luggage trolley. Sandy took Ellie’s arm and tucked it through her own as they walked to the car. As Todd busied himself loading the case into the trunk, the women got in the cab and made themselves comfortable.

      ‘Can I see?’ Sandy asked quietly.

      Ellie paused then lowered her head. Slowly she removed the cap and carefully removed the glasses.

      Behind them, Todd shut the cover of the pick-up. Hesitantly, Ellie looked back at Sandy.

      ‘Oh, Ellie,’ Sandy cried softly, tears welling in her eyes. Immediately, she pulled her friend to her once again, this time remembering the delicate ribs.

      ‘All set?’ Todd asked brightly as he got in, looking up from the ignition when he got no reply. Sandy was wiping her eyes on a tissue, and her friend’s head was bent towards her, but Todd could now see the damage she’d been hiding. His mouth set in an angry line. Settling his breath, concentrating on driving rather than anger, he turned the engine over and pulled out. As he turned the corner, his peripheral vision caught Ellie’s bruises again. He just couldn’t understand guys that did that to women. Women they claimed to love! To Todd, those guys were the lowest of the low. There was no excuse to hit a woman. Ever. It really was that simple. Thankfully, Sandy had told him that at least this guy had now been arrested and Ellie was finished with him. For good. Glancing across again, Todd really hoped that was true.

      The two women sat quietly in the car on the way to the Danvers’ family home, their hands gripped in an unspoken gesture of friendship and support. There was so much to say but when she’d removed the sunglasses, the exhaustion in Ellie’s eyes was clear for anyone to see.

      After a few miles, Sandy brightened.

      ‘Hey, want some music on? I have Ben’s latest album on my phone.’

      ‘That’d be great.’ Sandy tapped her phone and scrolled for a moment. Soon the familiar sound of Ben’s music filled the car. Ellie rested her head back against the seat, her hand still tightly within her friend’s, and let the music surround her.

      *

      Molly Danvers was out on the porch before the car pulled up. As they stopped, she hurried down the driveway towards them. Ellie looked up, seeing Ted as he stood back by the house.

      As much as Ellie wanted to be wrapped in the comfort of her own family, for the moment, she had kept the truth from them, having asked the Danvers to do the same. Still great friends with the Laings, they had been reluctant, but agreed to Ellie’s wishes not to worry them, understanding her reasons.

      Andrew Laing’s blood pressure had always been fairly high. A career that he found both stressful and rewarding had only contributed to a genetic propensity to readings higher than was ideal. He’d been making changes and things had appeared to be going in the right direction but on a visit about eight months ago, Ellie had found her father looking grey and her mother looking worried. He’d laughed it off, saying that it was fine, his attention more focused on the bruise on his daughter’s temple, something she had explained away as a tennis injury from a friend’s wayward racket. Thankfully, they’d accepted it. She had wanted to tell them everything – how much Carl had changed since they’d moved in together and how she wasn’t sure what to do now, that he’d promised it would never happen again, and had surrounded her with attention and gifts since it had happened – but couldn’t. She’d always valued her parents’ opinions but looking at them both that day, she knew she couldn’t ask them about it. Not right then. They clearly had enough to worry about. As Carl’s behaviour got worse, so had her father’s health and she’d had to time her visits to when any bruises she had were out of sight.

      Six months ago, she’d been woken with a call from her mother who, in an eerily calm manner, had told her that they were at the hospital and that her dad had suffered a massive heart attack. Her mum’s calm manner had frightened Ellie more than any hysterical crying could have done. It was almost as though she had already accepted something that her daughter just wasn’t prepared to. She couldn’t even remember the drive that day and had ended up with a fine in the car park as her mind had been on her dad rather than feeding a meter.

      Andrew Laing’s heart had stopped once in the ambulance as they raced to the hospital, but the paramedics had managed to resuscitate him, his distraught wife watching on. Having been informed at the nurse’s station that her dad was still in surgery, Ellie had run to the waiting room and found her mum, and together they had just sat. And waited. Several hours later, the surgeon had come to them, his face unreadable. Ellie’s mum’s brave façade had crumbled before he’d even opened his mouth. When he told them that her husband was stable but critical, having once more arrested on the operating table, Ellie thought her mum’s heart would break from sobbing. She’d held her as tightly as she could, almost as if by holding her so close she could keep her, and perhaps both of them, from falling apart.

      She’d finally persuaded her mum to get a little rest but not until she’d been allowed to see her husband, just for a few moments. The medical team understood that she’d needed that moment, that reassurance that the man she loved was still here, at least for now and hopefully for a lot longer yet. After, Ellie had sat there holding her mother’s hand as her head lay in her lap, a reversal of roles for the night.

      Thankfully her dad had fought for his life and it had been the catalyst for her parents changing their lifestyle in a more dramatic way. They sold the large house in Surrey they’d lived in since returning home to England, cut down on their social commitments and found a small, but beautiful cottage in a tiny village down by the sea in Cornwall. It had recently been renovated to a very high standard so there was nothing to be done but relax and enjoy the life that had been spared. It had been a huge scare for all of them and, however much he told his wife and daughter that they were fussing, Ellie knew her dad had been scared too. The ease with which he’d agreed to her mum’s plan of cultivating a much quieter life proved that. The change had been good for them and Ellie had no intention of putting any undue stress their way. She would tell them, in time. And she knew they’d be upset with her for not telling them – but she also knew they’d understand.

      ‘Ellie, darlin,’ Molly said, pushing the auburn curls back from the forehead. ‘Oh, sweetheart,’ she whispered, pulling the young woman to her.

      ‘Mind her ribs, Mama,’ Sandy warned, her own voice thick with emotion. Molly wrapped an arm around each of them and together they walked back to the house.

      ‘Thanks for letting me stay here.’

      ‘Don’t be silly, honey. Of course

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