Courtship

Part 45

"When our parents died," Marina decided to start from the beginning, despite the fact it hadn't been the original plan. The original plan was to show him the centre and work backwards, let him see what they did now and explain how they came to be here. But his reaction to her working in this area suggested that she ought to change the sequence. Start with the background. Rafe heard the sadness in her voice and he instinctively put an arm around her shoulder, "we, well, we weren't expecting our lives to change." The fact she allowed him to drape an arm along her shoulder was a surprise and at the same time it renewed his hope. If she really thought they were over, she would not allow this gentle intimacy. Bringing him here, was not about putting an end to their relationship that thought brought some measure of relief. But why come here then? What was so special about this part of town? He knew she hadn't grown up here, so that wasn't it.

"But everything did change." Rafe said. Of course their lives would change. They had gone from having both parents in their lives to being orphans. Three young girls on the cusp of womanhood were suddenly bereft of parents. Of course it would change their lives. He brushed his lips to her temple, offering solace.

Instinctively Marina leaned into him. The fact he let her lean on him had to mean he cared. Didn't it? Or was she reading too much into things again? Maybe he'd forgiven them for keeping him in the dark all these years. Maybe he had forgiven her for not telling him about their financial situation. Best not to rely on guesswork. Time to tell him everything whether he knew bits or not now he'd have her side of the story.

"Yes. But probably not the way you imagine." She said and hoped that every thing she had come to know about this man over the last couple of months held true. Please give me a chance to explain, she pleaded silently.

"What do you mean?" The one thing he had learnt over the last two months was that she appreciated straight, direct questions. Marina was a straight talker, which is why when he sensed she was keeping something from him, it worried him, for it was not in her nature. She was direct. Straight. She was also not one to be soft-soaped. She expected directness in return. That's why last night came as a shock. She was direct. But there had been nothing in her previous conversations that even hinted at the fact she wanted to break up. Nothing. He simply wasn't expecting their conversation last night to take that particular direction. He certainly wasn't expecting to have ended the evening having ended their relationship before it had even had a chance to get going. That was like taking an unexpected punch to the gut. Winded and bereft. Hurt and disorientated it had taken him a while to process last night's events. Everything he'd assumed had in that one fell swoop disintegrated before he could even begin to address it. It was the shock. The sheer shock of finding out last night that she wanted out and didn't know how to tell him!

Marina wondered just how much to tell him. Then she remembered her sister's advice. Marina decided to be completely honest. "When mum and dad died, it was a hell of a shock. Not just their loss. That was bad enough. I don't know, but you just don't think about it actually ever happening, do you? " He nodded. She closed her eyes, "I mean we all know we are going to die at some point, but it's so far removed from actually believing it is imminent. We went from one day they were with us, and the next they were gone. Just gone. I remember leaving home really happy, can't remember about what, but I just remember that feeling you know, of happiness. It was probably something trivial. But I left home that morning happy. Six hours later, I couldn't feel anything. It was such a shock. They were gone. Both of them. They were gone. Belle, Giana, and grandmother of course, and Cara, if it weren't for them I'm not sure how I'd have coped. At any level. " She took another deep breath and reminded herself that the purpose of this conversation was to reveal their financial situation, not to garner sympathy over the sudden loss of their parents.

He gave her a gentle squeeze. He could hear the pain in her voice, and given more than ten years had passed he could only begin to wonder at just how painful it had been at the time. Again he pressed a kiss to her temple. Offering his condolences would sound trite, and what he wanted to do was just wrap her up in his arms and cuddle her close. But it was clear from the fact she was telling him this that it was a prelude to something that she wanted him to know about that might just be equally shocking.

Before she could think about it she blurted out, "But that loss was compounded within days when we learnt that we were practically destitute." She gestured toward an alleyway, "We go left here." She announced and used her body to steer him toward the alley.

"What?" They turned down a narrow alleyway and walked along in the near darkness with only the light from the barely lit street to guide their progress. If Rafe hadn't been so thrown by what he was hearing he would have asked why they were in a seedy part of town heading down a frighteningly dark alleyway. "What do you mean destitute?"

She looked at him. He sounded surprised. He really did not know. So what was last night about? "I mean too broke to even pay for funeral expenses." She announced.