Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,60

a second thought, that she would do anything in her power to experience that again.

Vaughn dropped her back at her car just after 6.30am and left without saying another word. He had been silent ever since he had left the bedroom and she had not bothered to try to engage him in conversation other than to apologise. He had just brushed her off and so she had left him to his brooding silence. She had far too much to filter through in her own head without trying to psychoanalyse his.

The day looked like it was going to be dawning fairly bright and for that, Elise was glad. Whenever the sun shone, it always made things feel better and it was particularly hard this time of year when there was hardly any sun and the days were so much shorter. She was not really a winter person - far too chilly - but she did love the turn of season to spring when all the leaves and blossoms started appearing and the birds began to sing. Once Christmas was over, the shops would start stocking Easter gifts and that’s when Elise felt like the seasons were turning. Christmas for her was never a joyful time so if there happened to be a sunny day in December then she considered that a real bonus.

How ironic though that the sky should decide to be cheerful and celebrate on the day that Elise had well and truly broken her marriage vows. What kind of twisted logic was that?

Her car was freezing so she sat and shivered for a while, waiting for the engine to warm up and the heating to kick in. Once her numb hands had thawed enough to respond, she began the short drive home and briefly hoped that Celeste and the others had had a good night and had got home OK. Maybe they had linked up with Stephen and his friends? No doubt she would find out tomorrow at work. She would have liked to text Celeste today to find out but once Dale was home, she wouldn’t be able to use her phone without him getting suspicious so there wasn’t much point. She would wait until tomorrow.

-

After a shower and some food, Elise felt much more human and began to organise things for bringing Dale home. She tidied the house to make sure that it was up to his standards and then went to the local shop to get some essentials and food for dinner. It was crazy but she was actually nervous about bringing her husband home and in many ways she was also sad. Despite the madness of the last few days it had been absolute bliss having her life to herself for a change and she knew that the moment Dale walked back through the door, everything would return to its usual way.

Going back upstairs to do one more final last minute check, she realised that her dress from the night before was still laid out on the bed where she had left it ahead of her shower. As Dale was unaware that she had bought it and she couldn’t think of a feasible reason for owning it at present, she decided to hide it in the back of her wardrobe – Dale never went anywhere near her wardrobe anyway. She did consider handing it to the local charity shop to re-sell but it was a beautiful dress and it held certain memories that she wasn’t ready to relinquish just yet.

The traffic was fairly light as it was a Sunday and she made good time to the hospital, arriving on the dot of 11.00am. As was usual with hospitals, there weren’t many doctors around for routine discharges on the weekend so the nurses had made sure that all the paperwork was in order so that Dale would be released on time. Elise had thought that this was considerate of them but she suspected it also had something to do with them wanting to see the back of a difficult patient.

Dale was sat on the bed fully dressed when she arrived – she had brought him in a change of clothes so he had managed to have a bath and freshen up and apart from the cuts and bruises still showing on his face he looked much more presentable and a lot better.

He looked up and smiled at her when she walked in and for a moment she had to look away, afraid of what her eyes