Her One Mistake(78)

I nodded, praying he’d walk away as he stumbled on the rocks and I saw a flash of the fragile, old man he’d become since I’d last seen him. My heart fractured at the sight of him trying to stop himself from falling. Automatically I held out my free hand to steady him, but before I could, Brian pushed me back and lurched toward my father.

I stumbled and fell as Alice’s cries filled the cold air. Brian grabbed for my dad, clasping his hands around his neck.

“No!” I cried out, as Alice screamed louder. “Let go of him, Brian.”

But Brian wasn’t listening. Amid Alice’s screams and my own, I couldn’t tell if Brian was saying anything to him as he shoved him backward. All I could see was the terror in my dad’s eyes as Brian lunged for him and propelled him to the rocks.

“Leave him alone,” I cried. “This isn’t his fault. Please. He’s an old man, Brian.”

My dad steadied himself, but Brian held out a hand to block me from getting to him or Alice. I was helpless as I watched my father place his hands carefully in front of him, trying to get back up. Alice stood shaking and crying, “Mummy, make him stop.”

But Brian wouldn’t stop. I knew that. His back formed a solid wall between us and he had shut us all out.

Slowly my dad pushed himself unsteadily to his knees and eventually to his feet, holding his hands up in surrender as he struggled to catch his breath.

“Brian!” I begged. “Please don’t hurt him.” I tried pulling Brian away from my dad, but he thrust his arm backward and pounced once more, catching my dad off guard as he sank his thumbs into my father’s neck.

I watched in horror as fear appeared in my father’s glassy eyes and the skin on his thin neck rippled around Brian’s fingers where they dug into his throat. “Don’t do anything stupid,” I sobbed. “Please. We can all just go home.”

“You must know that can never happen now!” Brian roared, and with one last push he flung my dad to the rocks with such force that I heard the back of his head crack.

There was a moment of pure silence before the air was filled with screams. By then I could no longer tell whose they were: mine, Alice’s—they blended together and rose deafeningly above us.

There was no sound from my dad, who lay motionless, as Brian swiftly turned away from him and back to me. His breaths were shallow and quick, his eyes so dark they were almost black. Every muscle in Brian’s body was tight, and I knew he was still ready for a fight. I could see how much he wanted to hurt me for what I had done.

Alice had now quieted into a whimper. I too had stopped shouting and the beach was eerily silent once more except for the rhythmic lap of the waves as they hit the rocks.

Brian’s eyes didn’t leave me. They devoured me, absorbed me. I could see his mind working overtime, wondering how he’d lost me and what he’d do about it. Then he snatched my injured arm and began dragging me toward the jetty. I called to him to stop. I reached for Alice as he swept me past her, but she was too far away.

“Brian, what are you doing?” I looked back at my little girl, whose lips were quivering in fright as she stood frozen to the spot.

He ignored me as he continued to push me toward the boat, though he paused when he reached it and I caught his flicker of indecision. Surely he wasn’t planning on getting in? What could be going through his mind to make him put his greatest fear to the side?

“Brian, stop this,” I said urgently. “We can’t leave Alice. You don’t want to get in that boat.”

But Brian knew he had lost control and somehow he needed to get it back, even if he wasn’t sure how. He shoved me into the boat. “Alice will be fine,” he muttered.

I scrabbled to get back out, but Brian pushed me into the corner. “We can’t leave her here,” I cried. “And my dad needs help. Brian, you’ve got to stop.” My father lay motionless on the rocks and Alice had inched toward him.

“Brian, stop.” I tried pushing myself up, grabbing on to his shirt, gripping handfuls of the cotton and crumpling it into balls.

He ripped his shirt away from me and with one hand untied the rope that held the boat to the jetty then turned on the engine, which whirred into action. Winded, I lurched toward the side of the boat but now he had hold of my ankles, and as much as I tried to pull myself forward, his strength overpowered me.

Slowly we started to move away. Alice’s arms hung limply by her sides, her little pink boots pointing inwards, her mouth open wide—and in that moment I had never hated him more. Never before had I such an intense desire to hurt my husband.

With everything I had, I prepared to swing around and push Brian away when I saw a figure running down the beach. Briefly paused in my tracks, I watched the figure run closer until I could make out the long gray cardigan and the skinny jeans, with a ponytail swishing behind.

Charlotte?

My breath caught in my throat, relief washing over me as the woman I now knew must be Charlotte turned in Alice’s direction. My hesitation meant we’d drifted farther away from shore. If she was calling out I couldn’t hear her, yet Alice must have because she’d turned away from the boat and had started carefully climbing toward her.

I pressed a hand over my mouth to stifle my sobs. At least my daughter was safe. And they’d call an ambulance for my dad, who as far as I could tell was still not moving.