In The Darkest Hour

Part One - Chapter Six: Moving In

“This place is amazing,” Joanna whispered looking up at the house were Isla now had a job, she was a little worried about what her friend was undertaking but she was going to support her no matter what.

Isla nodded her head, she had no idea what to expect from her new job but she was sure that it would be fine; she had been reassured by Montserrat that Gerard wouldn’t find out who she was.

“So what is the new boss like?” Joanna asked carrying another box into Isla’s ground floor bedroom, it was nice and it meant that she would have some peace away from her new boss.

Isla would be working six days a week and she would have every Sunday off, she would be free to do whatever she liked as long as it didn’t cause bad publicity for Gerard.

“As expected,” Isla replied carefully, she didn’t want to say too much about Gerard’s shutdown even to her best friend; she didn’t want to cause any leaks to the press.

Joanna nodded, she remembered what Isla had been like when she had lost Louis and it had been far from easy; it would take time for Gerard to recover from Isabel’s shock death.

The two worked quietly moving the boxes that held Isla’s things into the small room, it was going to be odd not living together and it would take some getting used to.

“Have you told your parents yet?” Joanna asked, she doubted that Tracy and Theodore would be pleased that their daughter had taken a job working for the man whose fiancée she had been accused of killing.

Isla shook her head, she had only told her parents that she had found herself a good job; she didn’t want to worry them by telling them what she was doing or who she was working for, she would tell them when she was surer about her job.

“I hope you know what you are doing Isla,” Joanna mused doubting that this was going to end well, she didn’t want to see Isla hurt and that was going to happen.

***

“Hola Milan,” Isla whispered picking up the little boy who had just woken up from his nap, she had been quick to pick the infant up before he could disturb his father; she cuddled him wondering who wouldn’t want a little boy like this.

Milan pouted a little, his big blue eyes staring at the strange woman that was now in charge of his care; he was going to be spending a lot of time with her from now on.

“How was your nap?” Isla cooed moving out of Milan’s bedroom, she peeked at Gerard’s closed bedroom door before she headed downstairs to the kitchen.

Isla had barely arrived at the house a couple of hours ago and now she was looking after Milan, she sighed doubting that she would see Gerard at all for the first few days.

Isla moved quietly down the stairs, she didn’t want to disturb Gerard and she doubted he would speak to her anyway; Montserrat had promised to pop by every few days to make sure that everything was okay.

“How about some lunch?” Isla murmured stepping onto the first floor, she had no idea what she would do about Gerard but for now she would leave him alone to grieve.

Milan babbled making Isla smile, she pressed a kiss to the little boy’s cheek knowing that it wasn’t going to be long before he had his father wrapped his tiny fingers.

Isla didn’t know what would happen if Gerard didn’t snap out of this, it was hard to get out of a funk and she doubted that anyone would know how to deal with Gerard right now.

“Let’s hope your padre gets better,” Isla whispered to Milan, she didn’t know what Gerard would be like when he finally snapped out of this but she was sure that Isabel would want him to be happy one day again.

***

Gerard stared up at his bedroom ceiling, he could hear Isla moving around downstairs and he closed his blue eyes; he didn’t like the idea of another woman living in his house but he had no choice.

Milan needed someone to look after him since Gerard couldn’t bear to even look at his son, he was a reminder of what Gerard had lost; he didn’t want to think about how he had buried his fiancée a couple of months ago.

Gerard swallowed the lump in his throat, he knew that Isabel would be disappointed in him; she would have wanted him looking after their little boy, not wallowing in bed.

Isabel had been his soul-mate and Gerard knew that for a fact, he didn’t think that he could ever love anyone again like he had loved Isabel; he wanted her back but he knew that it was never going to happen.

“I don’t know what to do Isa,” Gerard whispered opening his eyes again, it was dark in the bedroom since the curtains had been shut since Isabel had passed away and he wasn’t sure if he would ever be ready to open them.

Gerard lay silently, he had stopped drinking because he was hurting his mother and he had knew that she was doing her best to look after him; he hadn’t been much use in the past four months and he knew that it couldn’t carry on like this.

“What would you do if it was me?” Gerard whispered as if Isabel would tell him the answers, he wanted her home with him but that was never going to happen.

Gerard continued to stare at the ceiling, his stomach grumbled making him swallow; he was starving and hadn’t eaten since yesterday, it was something that he was going to have to change.

“You’d carry on without me because that’s what I would want you to do,” Gerard muttered already knowing the answers, he would never want Isabel to do what he was doing right now; it was just so hard and she was a lot stronger than he had ever been.

Gerard slowly pushed himself up and swung his legs over the side of the bed, he planted his feet gently on the floor; he swallowed deeply wondering if this was what it felt like to rebuild your life over.

Gerard got to his feet, he felt shaky and it was the first time in a long time that he had wanted to move towards bathroom; he couldn’t remember the last time that he had willingly moved.

Flicking the light to his en-suite on, Gerard shakily moved towards the mirror that hung above his white sink; he frowned at the sight of the man before him, he barely recognised himself.

His once youthful face was gaunt from his lack of appetite and his facial fluff had grown into a mattered beard that really didn’t suit him; he looked over than his twenty-six years.

Gerard stared for a moment, Isabel would weep if she could see him now and he was going to make her proud of him; he knew that she wouldn’t have wanted him to shut himself off.

Turning on the taps of water, Gerard slowly filled the sink so that he could shave the scruff off; he felt terrible that it had taken him so long to get to this point and move.

Gerard knew that he had been out of it for months and his mother had been worried sick, he wished to make things better and he had to start making changes in his life.

“I promise Isabel… I will find out who did this to you and I will make them pay, I’ll make you proud of me again,” Gerard vowed wanting to complete his mission, the person who caused Isabel’s death shouldn’t get away with it and Gerard was determined to make that person suffer; it had taken him long enough to get to this point.