Heartbeats in Moonlight

Chapter 62

David went home, utterly distraught. He unexpected this deluge of confusion, anger and anguish. The fact that Ella had gone, without a word, left him rattled, which was surprising. And he wasn't expecting to feel so upset. She was just a woman. Just a woman. Nothing more, the thought was vetoed immediately: She was more than that, his heart reminded her. He went looking for a distraction before he ended up in a straight jacket. He decided to search the web. He needed time to regroup his feelings and he needed time to re-establish his equanimity. The whole day vanished as he spent his time searching the web for information about Ella and her family.

David found contact details for her father and he'd phoned. It was just lucky that he hadn't got her father because David was certain her father would not tell him where Ella was. But that phone call was useful. He learned that Ella was not in the UK.

David trawled through various articles seeking information about Ella's sisters. He knew she had sisters. The search hadn't thrown up much information. There were newspapers articles of their wedding, because of their father, but apart from telling the reader that they were married and the name of their husband, but it didn't add any more. He didn't know whether they lived in the north island or south island or even in New Zealand. Their husbands had common names, which meant it would be hard to trace the right one. David knew that Ella had gone to be with one sister who had been expecting a baby, but he couldn't for the life of him remember whether that was in Auckland or Hamilton. If only he had paid more attention at the time. From David's position, Ella had just disappeared. The trail of crumbs she left, were miniscule and led to a futile cul-de-sac.

He knew he needed a credible informer. And that was Amelia. She would have details for Ella's sister. So David put away his laptop, poured himself a whisky, ignored the rumble of his stomach, settled on the couch and his mind started to review his relationship with Ella. Not a good idea. He could not stop thinking about her. Why? What was special about her? He fell asleep on the couch with that thought in his mind. He the following morning he woken up, feeling rotten. It was confirmed when he looked at the mirror. He looked awful, his eyes shot with red, there were bags below his eyes, and his frown didn't help. With a crick in his neck, he attempted to massage his neck and stepped into the shower without thinking, still in his clothes. He groaned when he realised that and he undressed like a robot, and took a cold shower. At least that made his mind work.

A few days later, David went to visit Amelia. Even before Amelia had unpacked from her honeymoon, and even before David asked about their holiday, he asked for contact details for Ella. Amelia had a mobile number for Ella and her sisters, but Amelia flatly refused to give the numbers to David!

"What do you mean, you can't give me her sister's numbers?" David barked.

"I told you, she will be back." She ignored his tone. She took him to task and she didn't spare him. "If you wanted to talk to Ella, you would have to wait! In any case, you should have done that before!"

David looked over at Jack seeking support but Jack shrugged. "Your battle. And Dave, my money is on my wife!"

David shook his head. "Thanks bro." David turned around and growled at Amelia. "I have tried to talk to her. You know that."

"Really? When?" She shred him without any concession.

"I asked her to do my place...."
Amelia interrupted in exasperation, "Have you noticed the difference between the way you treat women in generally, and Ella?" She brought up David's conduct and demeanour. "Cheese and chalk."

"That is rubbish." David snapped and folded his arms.

Amelia straightened up her spine and glared at David. "Really," Her voice became more strident "you asked her to come around to discuss your place and you invited women for dinner, some schedule to talk! The same venue, the same date, the same time, with two women for different agendas!" She took a moment, and attempted to reining in her anger. "I expected better from you, David! I really did. You were so nice to me on that cycle trip. Compassionate, kind, empathetic, caring, thoughtful." She narrowed her eyes, "What happened to that man? Did you invite those women for dinner, just to rubbish Ella's ideas? Just to persecute Ella, to humiliated her?"