CORAL - Fallen (A Romance Trilogy, Book 2) (40 page)

“It was just a b-bad dream,”
I
stutter.

“
Want to talk about
it?
”
he asks again, I smile
weakly at him.
“
You ca
n tell me anything baby, you know that right?”
he adds.

I hesitate, wondering whether I want him to
know, surely he doesn’
t have to live through the horror
of it too, then I think differently, he wants me to talk to him and I shouldn
’
t fear letting him in, s
urely?

“
Yes it was them,
but it was other stuff too,
”
I
sigh heavily
. “
I was dreaming
about my parents,
”
I add. I
’
m not sure if I want him to know that
Susannah was involved too.

“Your parents?” He questions softly.

“Yes,” I whisper.

“What about them baby?” he asks.

I think of all that happened last night,
Tristan getting the truth out of me about my past, and I know Tristan
talked to George. I think about how easy going and funny he was as
we ate Chinese
food and drank wine, talking until the
early hours of this morning. Then I think about how wonderful he was when we came
to bed, and he made soft, slow love to me.

“Baby, talk to me,” he pleads. “After last night...” He
breaks off his jaw clenching. “You should know that you can tell me and I’ll
still be here,” he adds, his eyes penetrating deep within me. I push him onto
his back and lie on top of him, my chin on his chest.

“
I know...it
’
s just....
”
Tell him Coral!
“
Ok, I
’
m worried if I tell you something about my Mother, that y
ou might think the same could happen to me or...”
I shut the hell
up, and shake my head at
myself. “
She was put in a Psychiatric Hospital
.”
I whisper.

Tristan’
s face
doesn
’
t falter.
“
And you thought I would think th
at you may have some of her...tendencies?”
Tristan says reading me easily. I nod my head in embarrassment.

“
Yeah...
”
I mumble staring into his beautiful brown
eyes.

“
You
’
re nothing like your mother Coral
,”
he tells me
firmly.

I frown deeply at him. I’
m not so sure
. “
Before
Gladys took me in. I
was with my Nan for a couple of
weeks, she seemed to think it would be good for me to still see my Mother, keep
that connection, she didn’
t know what she
’
d done to me. I told all the social workers
that
she was a good Mother, I was so afraid of losing
another parent, and I knew by then that my Dad was never coming home, that he
would never come back for me. So I went to the hospital, only a couple of times
though,” I laugh sarcastically as I recall the memory. “
S
he was completely deranged of course, tried
to attack me. I never went back again.”
I gaze at
Tristan, trying to read his reaction.

“
I
’
m so sorry Coral
,”
he softly says, gently stroking my cheek.

“
I haven
’
t dreamt about that place for years? I
think the last time I
did I was a stoned teenager,”
I say laughing at myself. Tristan smiles at
me. “
Wh
at?”
I
question smiling up at him.

“
The rebellious teenager
,”
he chuckles
. “Oh,
I’
d have loved to have seen that
,”
he laughs. I frown deeply, remembering
how lost and confused I was back then.

“
No, you wouldn
’
t
,”
I argue. Tristan cocks one eyebrow up at
me, his cheeky grin appearing.

“
Yeah, I would. You
know why?
”
he says
, flipping me over so my back is against the mattress, his body
pressed against mine, his erection digging into my belly –
Yes!

“
Why?
”
I smile, feeling my blood igniting inside
me
–
I want him!

“
Because we
’
d have fallen in love
,”
he says his voice
soft and sexy.

“
No, we wouldn
’
t have
,”
I argue
petulantly.

“
Yes…we…would,
”
he growls kissing me
in between each word.

“
Ok, we would
.”
I relent, flipping him over so I can
straddle him....

IT IS YET ANOTHER
beautiful Saturday morning, the sun is shining and the sky is blue. I don’
t know why, but weekends always seem so much better when the sun is
out.
We are in Tristan’
s car
heading over to Gladys
’
s. P
art of me is dreading it. I really hope Gladys and Debs keep a lid
on it, and don't embarrass either of us.

“
Are you really ok
about your family moving away?
”
Tristan asks as we wait for the traffic lights to go green.

“
Not really much I
can do about it
,”
I say smiling
back at him.

“
That doesn
’
t really
answer the
question,”
he states taking my hand in his and kissing
the back of my hand.

“
I know
,”
I sigh and look out the window.

I don't know why I'm feeling so moody
today? I can't work out if it
’
s
the fact that I have to share Tristan, or the fact that it hasn
’
t really hit me that Gladys will no longer
be he
re for me, close to me, or if it’
s the fact that I had such an awful nightmare? Dreaming about the
abuse is always bad enough when it happens, but seeing my parents
then watching Susannah kill Tristan was...horrifying – I swallow
hard and try to shake the thought away.

I try to concentrate on something else –
Susannah comes to mind – I'm trying not to freak out about her. Part of me
wants to tell Tristan, but I want to wait for the P.I results. It may come up
with something that I can show to Tristan, to prove to him that she is crazy.
At least then, I can tell him about what Bob told me and about someone
(Susannah) entering my property.

Thinking about her makes me want to ask
Tristan if he’
s spoken to her, and whether she
’
s told him what she told me about moving
here and getting divorced, s
o I decide to be brave and
ask the question.

“
Did you speak to
Susannah last week?
”
I ask as
we head east along the A259.

“
Briefly. W
hy?”
Tristan asks.

I shrug. “
No reason
,”
I answer keeping my gaze out the window,
there are so many boats out on the wa
ter today.

“
Coral.
”
Tristan admonishes
.
“
Look at me
.”
Reluctantly, I turn my head and our eyes
meet. “
Why did you just ask that?
”
I sigh heavily, running my hand through my
hair. I decide if I am going to talk to him about my concerns, it can't be now,
no
t here in the car.

“
Later
,”
I say smiling back at him, trying to
lighten the mood, my mood.

He looks frustrated. “
Why can't you just say now?
”
he asks.

“
Because...
”
I clench my teeth unable to get the right
words out, I decide to plant a seed, let him know I know something.
“
There is some
thing
you should know about, but I'm not sure if I should tell you or not. I'm not
sure it’
s my place to say
,”
I answer.

“
Is it about
Susannah?
”
he asks.
I nod my head. “
Then you should tell me
,”
he states sounding very much like a boss,
not a future husb
and.

“
I will, but right
now we have a whole day of happy families to get through. Can you trust that I
’
ll tell you when we get back?
”
I ask,
praying
this won't come back and bite me on the ass.

Tristan pulls my hand to his lips and
kisses my knuckles. “
Of course
,
it can wait,”
he says.
Thank
God!

AS TRISTAN PULLS UP OUTSIDE MY CHILDHOOD HOME,
I realise how nervous I am. My stomach twists as I watch Tristan
exit the car and walk round to me. Opening my door, I take his hand and step
out of the car. Tristan shuts the door, and I'm about to walk off when he stops
me by tugging on my hand.

“
Coral
,”
he softly says.

I turn and look up at him, wearing
flip-flops was not a good idea, he’
s so tall compared
to my short arse, but I didn
’
t
feel like making too much of an effort today, so I opted for my
white linen trousers, my light-blue vest-top and my flats.

“
What are you so
nervous about?
”
he asks.

“
Everything
,”
I choke, sounding just as nervous as I feel.

Tristan grimaces. “
Spill
,”
he says watching me vigilantly.

“
Ok, first off I
have to go meet new people. Malcolm is nice, so I'm sure his family will be
too...I just...I
’
m not very
good at it, I get tongue tied
.”
I blurt
running my hand through my hair. “And I get
embarrassed and shy, and now everyone is going to meet you too and…” I stop and
take a breath. “I told Gladys, well she kind of guessed we’
re seeing each other, but
I played it off as
friends,”
I add, hoping he
’
ll just go along with it.

“
Why?
”
Tristan asks in astonishment.

“
Because you don't
know what they
’
re like when
they get together. It
’
s like
they enjoy watching me squirm
,”
I
say scowling at the floor.

“
Hmm…
”
Tri
stan pulls me
into him, leans down and kisses me forcefully. I lose all other thoughts. “
Feeling better
,”
he
breathes against my lips.

“
Yes
,”
I squeak.

“
Good. Now, I'm not
going to walk in there as your
‘
friend
’
Coral. So be
brave, take my hand and walk w
ith me,”
he tells me firmly.

“Ok.” I take a deep breath and place my
hand in Tristan’
s open palm.

We walk the few steps towards the garden
path and stop. Tristan takes a deep breath, squares his shoulders then looks
down at me and smiles shyly.
Holy crap!
He’
s nervous? I never thought he would
be!

“
You
’
re nervous
,”
I guess.

“
A little, I want
your family to like me
,”
he
answers.