Shattered Hearts

Chapter 22

"It's Charlotte, for you," Rosalind said passing the telephone receiver to Dale, a slight frown on her face. "If it's about her case I wish she wouldn't call on the weekend."

Dale placed his hand over the receiver. "So do I but she's not just another client, she's a friend." Rosalind nodded, sitting back down on the sofa so he couldn't speak privately. "Hi, Charlotte, what's up?"

"Hello, I'm sorry about calling on a Sunday but this couldn't wait until our next appointment," she said sounding anxious. "Did Ros tell you about her idea? Only I was talking to Louis about it and he said..."

Dale removed the receiver away from his ear, silencing Charlotte's words as he gave Rosalind a stern look.

"What?" she asked shrugging her shoulders.

He placed the phone back to his ear. "Sorry, we got cut off for a moment there. Can you go back to this idea of Ros's?" He looked over at Rosalind again and she squirmed in her seat.

"Oh, she was just saying that maybe I should confront Nick's mistress or girlfriend - whatever she was calling herself - about their affair." She let out a hollow laugh. "Like if I could get her to admit adultery with Nick then I could soon get the divorce over and done with."

Dale groaned loudly. "And what does this have to do with Louis, or should I not ask?" If ever a client was determined to sabotage her case, it was Charlotte.

"He said it was a bad idea and I should speak to you," she admitted sheepishly.

"Finally sense prevails," he said not even attempting to hide his sarcasm. "And I never thought I'd use the word 'sense' about Louis Kinsella." On the other end of the phone, Charlotte remained silent and Ros shot him an angry look. "Look we'll discuss this properly at your next appointment but in the meantime do not do anything without my say-so first." Great, now I sound like a pompous ass.

"Fine," she said sounding anything but. "I just thought you should know."

"No, I'm glad you told me," he said trying to inject a conciliatory note into his voice. "We'll talk next week." She hung up without saying goodbye and he turned to Ros. "What the hell do you think you're doing interfering in my work?"

She blanched. "I was trying to help. Charlotte's case is going nowhere, you said it yourself. I thought maybe she should take a different approach."

"By making herself look liked a god-damned lunatic!"

"She wouldn't have," Rosalind said standing up so they were almost at eye level. "I'd have spoken to this woman on her behalf."

His mouth dropped open as he gaped at her. "Let me get this straight. You thought as Charlotte's lawyer's wife that you'd go and gather evidence against her ex-husband? You'd go and harass his friends and work colleagues and accuse one of them of adultery?" He threw his hands up. "Of course, the other woman is going to admit to you what she's denied to everyone else. Detective Ros to the rescue."

Rosalind bit her lip, and he could tell she was trying not to laugh. "Well, when you put it like that it sounds bad but I wanted to try and help."

"If you want to do her a favour, tell her to keep Louis at arm's length until her divorce is finalised."

She rolled her eyes. "They're just friends."

"Frankly I don't care what they are but it'll look bad if Nick finds out." He shook his head, thoroughly exasperated. "This is hardly the best time for her to get reacquainted with an old boyfriend."

"That's kinda unfair though isn't it?" Rosalind said folding her arms. "Nick knows he cheated, everyone knows he cheated, they're not together anymore. It's none of his business what she does."

"It doesn't work like that," he said sitting down and gesturing for her to join him. "But seriously Ros, please don't interfere with my cases."

"Sorry, it's just..." She paused and he held in a sigh, knowing exactly where she was going with this. "It's just that I get bored being at home all day. Once you've gone to work and the housework is all done, I sit around going stir crazy. I don't even have any friends I can go visit. Charlotte's at work, Judy won't talk to me and I'm dead to Darlene. "

Here we go again. Poor Ros, the victim of her actions.

"You can't blame Darlene for that," he said his jaw clenching. "There's no coming back from what you did to her."

She let out a long, exaggerated sigh. "I know that but she's forgiven John."

"She has to if she wants to keep her marriage intact." He gave her a pointed look. "But to be honest, I'm more concerned that you're saying you're bored again. Wasn't that the excuse for having an affair in the first place?"

She grabbed his hand. "Dale I would never do anything so stupid again."

"I know," he said leaving his hand limp in hers. "But it all goes back to you being dissatisfied sat at home all day. Maybe you should get a job or do some volunteering?"

She grimaced. "But that all sounds so dull. It's not like there's anything I particularly want to do. It would be different if we needed the money."

"Then I don't know what to suggest but going 'rogue' with one of my cases is not the answer."

"You're right as usual." She smiled at him and he suddenly felt apprehensive as he tried to read her face. "And that's why now, more than ever, I think we should have a baby."

A deep frown formed on his face. "I'm not sure now is the right time, and I'm not sure your reasoning is correct."

"Why do you have to be so rational about everything," she snapped. "We wanted to have a family together, we always planned to. Can't you throw caution to the wind for once?"

He took a deep breath. "I could have when we first got married, I wanted to, but you wanted to wait. Now when our marriage is...well not in the best of places, you want to bring a baby into it. It could bring us together or it could break us."

"What happened to 'for better or worse?'" she asked pouting. "I think we've already got through the worst but even if it is hard, a baby won't break us. We'll be a real family, the baby will be ours, something we've made together."

"It's tempting when you put it like that," he admitted but his chest tightened. "I want us to start a family at some point."

"And we will, and it will be perfect!"

"And what happens if the whole thing bores you?" She flinched, clearly hurt by the question but he had to ask. "What if we have a baby and you can't stand the diaper changes, the puking, the sleepless nights. I think you might feel trapped in the house and bored in a different kind of way."

"Then I'd have to deal with it wouldn't I?" she said finally meeting his eyes. "And I will deal with it."

He swallowed hard, his mouth dry. "What do you mean?"

"I think I might be pregnant."

                                                                       ~~~

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