I lasted just a few days with my parents and the kids, both of them noticing my dejection, and the kids disappointment.
"Stevie if you need to be with him, just go. You can take another holiday when he finishes the case, right?" Dad assumed me after reading Joe a bedtime story, while I'd minded the girls.
"I guess so, are you sure?"
"Of course, I think you'd better off back in Washington. Come back here when his case is done."
"Are you and mom going to stay here?"
"For a week or so, we'd like some time alone too you know." He smirked.
"Dad!" I ejected in disgust as he shrugged. "I'm going to pack."
I sorted mine and the children's luggage into the small hours of the morning, figuring we could surprise Lindsey the next evening. The kids weren't too thrilled about the long car journey, but didn't mind being back home if it meant they'd see Lindsey.
It was dark when we arrived, but before I'd opened the gate I could see that lights were on downstairs. Entering the house, pushing Sara's pram in which she was fast asleep, holding the others hands in a line with my other, I heard voices in the kitchen. Before I could check them out myself Lindsey came into the hallway looking startled. "Stevie?"
"I thought we should be with you, we can go on holiday anytime after the case. Uh, suprise."
"Yeh...I just..." He came to kiss me, then leant down to greet the little ones.
"Sara's asleep, and these guys will be too soon, I'll take them upstairs. Rupert's here I assume?"
"I'll help you." He deflected, taking Sara out of the pram, careful as not to wake her, and followed me upstairs with Leia in one arm, Joe in the other, and Bella in our tracks. Once I'd tucked in the others, them dozing off before the mention of a bedtime story for once, I crept toward the nursery, bumping into Lindsey's chest.
"Shit sorry!" He gasped, clasping my hands.
"It's OK, shall I come and say hi downstairs or are you too busy?"
"No, we were just wrapping up it's just..."
"What?"
"Me and Kate are the team for the case."
"She's...Here...?" I asked futilely, knowing the answer from the guilt-stricken look on his face.
I shoved past him, slamming our bedroom door behind me, bolting it shut and falling to my knees in sobs.
"Stevie? Please." He whispered desperately, softly tapping on the door as to not disturb the children. He repeated himself as I ignore him but continued to cry.
"Go to the fucking guest room. Or hell, go home with her!"
I heard him slope off, sighing.
I tossed and turned all night, half wanting his arms around me like I'd travelled here for, half wanting him to leave and never return. He didn't return to our room that night at least, and had been at work for hours when I took the children downstairs for breakfast, glad of some help again from my assistant Karen. We spent the day in our gardens, the kids loving the lush green lawns and thickets they could pretend were battlefields or enchanted forests, little Sara simply enjoying the sounds of nature around us. Lindsey was missing out on this. His children. Me. Did he not mind at all anymore?
He returned way past dinner again that night. I'd intended to have it out with him but he strode into the lounge with yet another business-related guest. I was only in my short, low-cut nightgown that suited three functions:
1. Keeping me cool during stuffy, summer nights.
2. Providing easy access for breast-feeding.
3. Turning on Lindsey, which I love to do whether he was furious with me or not, and even more so if he was.
"Oh sorry to hurt in. This is my wife Stevie. Stevie, this is..." He tried to flash me an apologetic look, loosening his tie as he nodded toward his vaguely recognisable guest.
"Don. I'm Don Henley, nice to meet you Stevie."
YOU ARE READING
The Years Disappeared
FanfictionStevie had always wanted the best for Lindsey, and she knew he was capable of attaining it. She'd just never have imagined that this was the type of success he'd wanted.
