Fulfillment (Book 3 in The Temptation Series) (35 page)

Bryce was by
my side as I hopped along with my crutches, crutches I wanted
nothing more than to burn by way of a celebratory bon fire. He was
quiet; they all were, but not in a bad way. I guess doing this
annually for the past 16 years had made each year just that little
bit less harrowing...then again, possibly not. Maybe they had just
found their own mutual way to emotionally deal and communicate
during this particular day, either way, I was still glad to be by
his side supporting him.

“Hey, you
alright?” I said under a low voice.

He looked over
at me. “Yeah, it just doesn’t get any easier, you know?”

“I don’t think
it’s supposed to get easier. I just think you learn to accept that
you are supposed to believe that it does.”

Bryce scoffed
mildly “Yeah, we do tend to fool ourselves more than we fool those
around us.”

“Uh huh, we
do. It’s one of life’s greatest fallacies,” I said
disappointedly.

He placed his
hand on the small of my back. “I’m glad you’re here with me.”

I looked up
into his sad but appreciative eyes. “Me too.”

There was
silence for a minute, then Bryce slowed his pace, forcing me to do
the same. “I need to warn you.”

“Warn me of
what?’ I asked curiously.

“There’s a
very good chance you could meet Deirdre today.”
Deirdre?
Oh...Deirdre.
Deirdre was one of Gareth’s alters, an alter that
was not only female, but elderly and a mother-hen type, so to
speak. From what I had been told, she kind of held the other alters
in check and tried to keep the peace.

He struggled
to retain a straight face but I could see a trace of humour
creeping in. “Let me just say she is...um, how do I put it?
Pushy...and forward...and...” He leaned in closer, “fucking
annoying.”

“Bryce!” I
whispered back, my eyes darting from him to the back of Gareth’s
head.

“She is,
you’ll see.”
Oh God. I hope Deirdre doesn’t want to hurt me like
Scott does.

The thought of
Scott wanting to hurt me entered my mind, giving me wave of dread
and a vision of my fall again.
Alexis, stop linking the two
together. Scott was not there in the apartment. You would have seen
or heard him.
I had to keep telling myself that. He couldn’t
possibly have been there that morning, could he? No, he didn’t have
access to the apartment, Bryce made sure all keycard access numbers
were changed after his last uninvited visit.

“Here we go,
Hunny.” Bryce said, snapping me out of my thoughts and compelling
me to a halt before I ran right up the back of Gareth.

I looked up
and noticed Lucy and Nic bent down on their knees, placing the
lillies on each of the three graves. Lindsay and Stephanie Clark’s
headstones were on either side of Lauchlan Clark’s headstone, and I
found it both touching and fitting, as if they were both still
nurturing and protecting their young son even in the afterlife.

Gareth moved
forward and propped the book up against Lauchie’s headstone. “This
one’s a good one little mate, you’ll like it,” he said, his voice
soft, endearing and obviously holding an enormous amount of love
for his young cousin. It was heartbreaking, but also enlightening
to see this side of him. He stood back and took in the grave before
him.

Bryce noticed
me staring and leaned closer to my ear. “Lauchie loved books, and
so does Gareth. He brings him a new one every time he visits.”

Gareth removed
a weathered paperback that I’m assuming he’d left here the last
time then stood back up while gazing down at Lauchie’s grave with a
lost expression. Bryce moved forward and placed his hand on
Gareth’s shoulder, giving it a tight squeeze before putting his
hand back in his pant pocket.

“God, I miss
them,” sighed Lucy as she traced her finger along the letters of
her mother’s headstone.

Nic wrapped
her arm around Lucy’s shoulder, pulling her head closer to gently
touch her own. Alexander squealed at his mother’s sudden closeness
while trying to grab at her hair. I hopped two steps forward so
that I was standing next to Bryce again, then I slid my hand into
his pocket, taking a hold of his and removing it so that I could
encase it in my own and let him know I was there for him. He looked
down at our interlaced fingers then up to my eyes. His eyes were
mildly moist, and the hurt and pain he felt was clearly visible,
destroying a small piece of me at the sight of him this distraught.
In that moment I decided I absolutely hated the man who ran the red
light and caused this overwhelming feeling of grief, hurt, and
loss—I hated that man.

Lucy laid out
a blanket next to her mother’s grave and put her hands out for Nic
to pass Alexander to her. “Come here, my big boy,” she cooed at
him. “Let’s tell Nanna what you have been doing lately.” Her sad
demeanour now pushed aside and a forged happy alternative replacing
it.

“Yeah, tell
Nanna how you keep rolling around everywhere, and that Mummy bought
you a jail because of that,” Nic said while clapping Alexander’s
hands in her own.

“Don’t,” Lucy
groaned. “I already feel bad about the stupid kiddy pen.”

“Mum would
absolutely freak if she saw that thing, then she’d throw it right
over the balcony,” Bryce interjected, with a knowing smile.

He took a seat
on the grass next to Lucy then stretched out his arms to gently
pull me down into his lap.

“What is so
wrong with a kiddy pen? I used one with both my kids, and they
don’t have a jail-complex,” I said defensively.

“I don’t know,
they just kind of look punishing. Maybe if they replaced the bars,
I’d feel better. Hey...” she addressed Bryce, by lightly flicking
the back of her hand on his leg. “Remember that time when Mum’s
friend, Ros, came over and her son, Jacob had one of those child
restraint things on—”

“Yeah,” Bryce
smiled as he traced his finger up and down my leg. “Mum took it off
him and threw it straight into the fireplace.”

“How shocked
was Ros?” Lucy giggled.

“Well it did
look like a leash, Luce. Mum was appalled.”

“I know. That
was so funny,” she reminisced, while lightly shaking her head.

I looked at
Nic, who shrugged her shoulders as if to say ‘I don’t know, I
haven’t heard this story before’.

Bryce caught
our exchange and offered an explanation. “Mum was a strong believer
of free will; no restraints, no restrictions. And that included
restraints of all kinds, including kiddy restraints.”

I raised my
eyebrows. “No restrictions?” I teased. “So that’s where you get it
from?”

He gave me a
playful glare.

“If I remember
rightly,” Lucy added, “Ros asked Mum what the hell she thought she
was doing, and Mum replied with something along the lines of
‘freeing Jacob from the confines of madness.”

Bryce shook
his head and smiled as he recalled that particular memory of his
mother. “Yeah and then Ros yelled, ‘How is keeping him safe
madness?’ and Mum yelled back ‘because
you
are
supposed to keep him safe, not a dog lead! He is not a dog!’

“Well, she was
correct,” Gareth added, his feminine sounding voice grabbing my
attention. “This Ros woman was the boy’s mother was she not?
Therefore, it was her responsibility to teach him to obey without
the use of a restraint. When my son was a young boy, he did as he
was told. No ifs, buts, or maybes.”

Bryce
whispered in my ear. “Alexis, meet Deirdre.”

Gareth turned
in our direction. “Bryce, my dear boy, look at how handsome you
have become. And who is this injured young lass on your lap?”
Deirdre asked.

I was
dumbfounded, stunned, at a loss for words. Gareth was staring me in
the face, but it wasn’t him, he had lost all of his mannerisms.
Instead, having a whole set of new ones, feminine ones; ones that
suited an elderly woman such as Deirdre.

“Well?” she
said with a hand on the hip. “Aren’t you going to introduce
me?”

“Sorry,
Deirdre,” Bryce said with dry amusement. “This is Alexis, my
girlfriend. Alexis, this is Deirdre.”
Fuck! What do I
say?

“Well aren’t
you just a modern day beauty. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dear.”
he extended his hand, or was it her hand?
Oh, God! I’m so
freakin’ confused right now.

“And Lucy!”
she squealed in a higher pitched voice, “You look simply exquisite
and...oh...don’t tell me...is this? Is this little bonny boy your
son?”

Gareth
gracefully pranced over to Lucy and smoothed his pants down as if
he were wearing a dress before he sat on the blanket next to Lucy,
legs together and to the side.

“Yes, Deirdre.
This is my and Nic’s son, Alexander,” Lucy happily replied.

Deirdre gave
Nic a sideways glance, wrinkling up her nose. “I don’t see how
that’s possible,” she said in a pompous tone.

She turned
back to face Lucy, fussing over Alexander.

Nic looked at
Bryce and me and deliberately went cross-eyed.

I burst into
laughter.

“Something
funny, Dear?” Deirdre asked as she played with Alexander’s
finger.

“Oh no.
Nothing’s funny,” I answered, like an adolescent child trying to
cover up a secret.

“One does not
laugh unless one deems something funny, Dear Alexis.”
One needs
to get the fuck out of here before one puts her broken foot in it.
Help!

“I told her a
joke,” Bryce added quickly, sensing my inability to find my
maturity and act responsible in this bizarre situation.

“Well...let’s
hear it then?” she probed, with an encouraging flick of her
hand.

“Dyslexic man
walks into a bra,” he said, stone faced and in an extremely flat
tone.

Again, I
couldn’t contain myself and burst into laughter. Nic and Lucy
followed suit and Bryce couldn’t help but chuckle along with
us.

Deirdre just
looked downright confused. “How does one walk into a bra? Was it
hanging out to dry?”

***

We stayed at
the cemetery for a couple of hours longer, Bryce and Lucy recalling
moments of their childhood, a childhood which sounded just like
most—innocent, fun, and full of love-filled moments. Gareth—or
Deirdre, I should say—continued to nosily retract little pieces of
information from our lives. She was actually an endearing, if not
an overly inquisitive alter, and it wasn’t long before I relaxed
around her and took her not at face value, but character value.

“So, Alexis
Dear, how did you break that ankle of yours?” Deirdre asked as she
tilted her head to the side to study my boot. “That’s quite an odd
looking contraption you have there.”

Bryce pulled
me to my feet and helped me balance while getting my crutches.

“Well, I fell
down the stairs...” I paused, standing on one foot, feeling
slightly uncomfortable in explaining to Deirdre of the series of
events that led to my fracture. I couldn’t help shake the feeling
that she kind of already knew.

Bryce handed
me my crutches which I secured in place under my arms.

“And how did
you fall, Dear?”

“I don’t
know,” I said rather sharply.

Lucy placed
her hand on Gareth’s shoulder. “It’s time to leave, Deirdre,” she
said softly as she turned him around to face Lauchie’s grave. I
noticed him put his hand to his head for a moment.

“Deirdre
normally leaves and Gareth returns about now,” Bryce whispered into
my ear.

Moments later,
Gareth turned to face us and almost instantly I could recognise
his
demeanour, it was so surreal. He lowered his
gaze looking embarrassed, I’m assuming because he realised what had
happened. I tried to ignore him and act as though nothing had
happened, thinking that was the best thing to do.

Lucy and Nic
had already started walking to the car, so Bryce and I turned to
follow, Gareth behind us.

Bryce stopped.
“Shit! Give me a second,” he said then turned back toward the
graves walking past Gareth. He kneeled down and placed something
small at the base of his father’s headstone.

Gareth slowly
walked up to me as I watched what Bryce was doing. “You didn’t have
to tell her,” he said quietly, sounding partly angered and partly
dismayed.

I looked up at
him. “Sorry?”

“Sam. You told
her about my condition, and now she is ‘taking a break to clear her
head’.” He held my gaze.

“Gareth, I’m
sorry, but she deserved to know.”

“I liked her,
Alexis. A
lot
,” he bit out as he leaned in
closer, giving me an uncomfortable chilled feeling.

Unpleasant as
it was though, I could see the sincerity in his eyes.
He really
does like her.
I tried to reassure him.

“Gareth, give
her some credit. She may just need some time to come to terms with
it.”

“That’s just
it, I do give her credit. She’s smart and, because of that, she’ll
stay away from me,” he sighed. “Once, just once, I wanted to be
selfish and have a normal relationship.” His shoulders slumped and
he walked away as Bryce approached.
That’s just it Gareth, it
wasn’t normal. Hiding something like that is not normal.

“Is everything
alright? What were you and Gareth talking about?”

“Nothing,” I
dismissively answered.

“Alexis, don’t
keep things from me. Not where Gareth is concerned.”

I exhaled in
defeat. “I told Sam about the DID and he is unhappy about it.”

“Fuck!” he
said quietly as he looked up after Gareth.

I felt I
needed to defend my actions and it annoyed me, but deep down I knew
this was not so black and white. “She had a right to know. It was
killing me.”

“You should’ve
told me of your intentions first.”

“Bryce, I’ve
never run anything about my life past anyone for approval. I’m not
about to start doing it now.”