Shattered Hearts

Chapter 19

"I seriously think Nick must be insane," Rosalind said her eyes widening. "He must know you're not going to go back to him after all this time?"

Charlotte gave her a rueful smile. "I'd hope so but..."

Dale waved his hand, cutting her off. "He's playing games, don't engage with him."

"I'm trying not to," she said as she idly pushed her food around the plate. Rosalind had gone to the trouble of making them dinner and her appetite had deserted her. "I've heard it all before, and he'll never change. He might be able to keep his hands to himself nowadays but who knows how long that will last."

"Charlotte?" Dale said hesitantly. "Please don't kid yourself that he's a reformed character."

"I'm not!"

Dale exchanged a concerned look with Rosalind. "I know but it sort of sounds like you have. Losing the baby was obviously a massive shock to his system and a huge wake-up call but in time that will fade. You can never trust him with your wellbeing."

Charlotte sighed putting her fork down. "After Caroline died he never came near me, never raised his voice, never mind his hands."

"But that's cos he's guilty," Ros snapped. "He knows what he did."

"Actually he doesn't," she said remembering Nick's insistence that it was all an unfortunate accident. It very well might have been but it never would have happened if he hadn't manhandled her in the first place. "Look, I'm not going to go back to him, those last few months living with him almost killed me. I was losing my mind."

Dale cleared his throat. "A word of advice, don't let anyone other than Ros and I hear you talking like that."

"For God's sake, Dale, whose side are you on?" Rosalind asked sharply.

"Please don't question me, I've got Charlotte's best interests at heart. Nick isn't going to make this easy for her and he isn't going to play nice. Any talk that implies she's unstable supports his lawyers narrative."

Charlotte closed her eyes while Rosalind argued back. Dale was right however, she'd done herself no favours staying with Nick until she was at breaking point; she'd practically made his case for him.

"I'm beginning to think this is a lost cause," she said when Dale and Ros ceased arguing.

"No it isn't," Dale said but his words lacked certainty. "I'll find a way through this even if I have to get a witness statement from John Lombardo." He laughed ruefully and Rosalind's face heated up.

"John never saw anything," Charlotte admitted. "He just knew something was going on." She closed her eyes remembering John sat by her hospital bed, listening pale-faced to her confession.

"But how did he know?" Dale asked, almost muttering to himself. "He must have seen something, heard something."

"Surely the fact that she ended up in hospital goes against Nick," Rosalind said stabbing a piece of chicken with her fork. "And what about that woman he was seeing, where did she go?"

Charlotte grimaced at the mention of the other woman, of Nick's final betrayal.

A loud, persistent knocking at the door stirred Charlotte from her slumber. The tablets she was taking made her foggy-headed and her limbs were slow to move. Rubbing her eyes, she pulled open the front door where she was faced with a vaguely familiar older woman.

"Can I come in?" the woman asked staring determinedly at her.

Taken aback by the authoritative tone she stepped aside and the woman followed her through to the living room.