Annie tried to hide her panic. She guessed she got good with it, but it wouldn’t last forever.
Marcus’ instincts hadn’t been wrong that night he brought her home after O’Malley’s. Annie’s were not wrong now. Someone had been watching her the previous week.
Saturday afternoon, she had a name. Kent Brodie.
Annie couldn’t miss him. She had been the first to leave the restaurant, followed by Meghan, Maddie and Jennifer. Kent was sitting in a car parked right in front of the restaurant, not trying to hide. He was just watching her and Maddie with an expressionless face.
The fear almost enveloped her. She wouldn’t be able to hide it from Maddie or her friends for long. Why had Kent come back now?
Her eyes left Kent’s cold stare, and she said goodbye to Meghan and Jennifer in a hurry. She grabbed Maddie’s hand to drag her to the car.
Annie had pretended that Kent’s presence hadn’t affected her, not in front of Meghan and Jennifer, but it did. It scared her so much that she didn’t want to go home. Luckily her car had faced in a different direction than Kent’s, and she drove around Stellenbosch, panicking about what she must do.
She had been driving around for a long time, and Maddie had fallen asleep. Then the realisation hit. She had been stupid. She should’ve gone straight back to Blue Mountain. Who said Kent was not waiting for her somewhere along the road to Blue Mountain? No, she couldn’t risk it and made a swift decision.
When she was sure Kent hadn’t followed her, she drove to Cape Town. She had stopped at a mall and contacted Kathleen Delahunt, her best friend. Kathleen had warned Annie against Kent, but when Annie arrived back in the country, proving Kathleen’s instincts right, her friend had never said, “I told you so.”
Annie had seen Kathleen often the last two years when Kathleen came to visit her brother Sean, the owner of O’Malley’s. She was Annie’s confidante and her biggest supporter. Kathleen was also the only one who knew about Annie’s summer fling with Marcus.
She was the only one Annie could think of at that moment, apart from Marcus and calling Marcus now was out of the question. She knew she would be safe at Kathleen’s as her friend had moved into a complex with state-of-the-art security. Kent could not find her there.
When Maddie woke up and found that they were still not home, she was at first confused. Annie reassured her, saying they were having an adventure, and because they first went shopping for clothes and toiletries, Maddie accepted it.
Shortly after Annie parked the car at Kathleen’s, the phone calls started. The first time Annie answered without checking the caller ID. She could feel the sudden chill when she heard Kent’s voice for the first time in over two years. He hadn’t changed at all.
Annie knew then he had followed her that week, and he had been at the school that morning, “You think you can play happy families with Marcus Walker now, Annie? Think again. I’ll kill him before I let you go. You’re mine.”
He disconnected without giving her a chance to reply. The next moment a photo came in her message box. It must have taken it that morning when Marcus and Annie were sitting on the grass with Maddie and Cody spread out on their laps. Annie tried to control her breathing, biting back her fears so she would not scare Maddie.
She might have been able to fool Maddie, but not Kathleen. Her friend just gave her one look when she opened the door and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Annie looked at Maddie and shook her head. She did not want to have that conversation when Maddie could hear. It was only later that night when Maddie had fallen asleep, and Annie had settled her in Kathleen’s guest bedroom that Annie took out her phone again. She had it on silent so she couldn’t hear any incoming messages, but when Kathleen asked, “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” Annie had no choice.
There was not only one message. There were about twelve messages from Kent, sent every half an hour. Some contained images, and others were just nasty messages, telling her what he would do to her or Marcus or the children.
There were two messages from Marcus, but Annie was not ready to deal with him yet.
She closed her eyes and then opened the first message with the photo. She handed her phone to Kathleen. Kathleen took the phone and said, “You look like a happy family. Do you want to tell me something, Annie?”
Annie shook her head, “No. There’s nothing to tell you. I was just stupid.”
“Why?” Kathleen frowned when she handed Annie’s phone back to her.
“Because I made the same stupid mistake as I had years ago. I had fallen in love with Marcus Walker.”
“What happened? Tell me everything,” Kathleen instructed while she refilled their wine glasses. Grateful that she had someone in whom she could confide, Annie did. She started with the kiss at the Charity Ball and ended with Marcus’ comment that morning that they had been a family for a long time.
“So, it’s true, isn’t it?”
Kathleen was only playing devil’s advocate when she stated the obvious, “It is. It was just the way he said it. It was as if he saw nothing other than us being family as if he was my brother.”
“Nonsense, Annie. He wouldn’t have kissed you like you said he did if he considered himself your brother. I know Marcus had not dated once since Linda had died.”
At first, Annie thought Marcus was just discreet, but something like Marcus dating would not have stayed a secret for long. Not in their household. One sibling would’ve found out. No, she had heard how more than one of them had told Marcus that the mourning period was over. Marcus had just ignored them.
Kathleen was right, but Annie’s discomfort did not all relate to Marcus’ words. Annie had thought a lot about it since she’d fled the school grounds this morning. Marcus wouldn’t have kissed her as he did if he only saw her as a stepsister. She’d hoped again—until she’d read the last messages from Kent. Annie couldn’t do it. She couldn’t involve Marcus and his kids in her sordid affair.
She’d made the choice years ago to ignore Kathleen’s warnings not to marry Kent. She needed to deal with the aftermath now.
“That’s not it, is it, Annie?”
Annie shook her head. She was oblivious of the tears that had slipped down her cheek until she could taste the saltiness of it running over her mouth. She took a deep breath and said, “Kent is back.”
“What do you mean Kent is back? Back with you?” Kathleen asked, shocked.
“No! Not with me. I’m not that stupid. No, he’s back in the country.”
Kathleen sounded concerned when she asked, “Have you seen him?”
Annie took a deep breath which she exhaled before she nodded, “Yes, I’ve seen him for the first time this afternoon after I had lunch with Meghan and Jennifer although he had been stalking me for the last week at least.”
Annie opened her phone again and showed it to Kathleen, “This was the night at O’Malley’s.”
Annie didn’t have to say more. Kathleen had been there, and Annie had told her that Marcus took her home that night.
“There are other photos of me in town and one with Marcus and the boys…” Annie trailed off, taking a deep breath before she said, “I can’t do it, Kathleen. I can’t.”
“Do what?” Kathleen asked, confused.
“I can’t involve Marcus and his boys in my affair. Kent had threatened… Kent had threatened to harm them. I can’t let it happen,” Annie cried.
“Oh, Annie,” Kathleen commiserated, shifting so she could hug Annie. When Annie stopped crying, Kathleen scolded, “You can’t let Kent get away with it, Annie. You still have a restraining order against him, don’t you?”
Annie nodded, “But I’m not sure if it’s valid here. The judge issued it in the US when our divorce became final.”
“Then we must find out,” Kathleen decided. Without waiting for Annie’s answer, Kathleen grabbed her phone off the table and searched through her contacts. As an investigative journalist, Kathleen had so many connections in the strangest places that it didn’t surprise Annie that Kathleen knew someone who might give them the information—even on a Saturday night.
“Hey Jack, my boy,” Kathleen greeted the person on the other side. She listened for a couple of minutes and laughed, “Yeah, you know me so well. Thanks for taking my call. Listen, I need advice.”
Annie listened while Kathleen reiterated the whole story. When she finished, she listened to the reply and nodded before she said, “Let me ask her.”
“You got the restraining order in New York, what? Three years ago?”
Annie nodded, and Kathleen asked, “Do you still have all the messages he sent you today?”
Annie nodded again.
“Yeah, she got out the first one in New York three years ago, and she hadn’t erased the messages,” Kathleen relayed to the Jack person. She listened again, thanked Jack and turned to Annie.
“Jack said the previous restraining order might be valid, but he suggests you don’t waste time verifying it. Rather take it, with all the evidence to a local police station and file for a new restraining order.”
Annie slumped against the pillows, “I’m not looking forward to going through that again, but I guess I have no choice. Please, say nothing to my family. I don’t want to involve them.”
“You may not have a choice, Annie. I won’t say anything, but I promise you if I find out that Kent had gone near you or Maddie or Marcus and his kids, I won’t keep quiet. Not this time,” Kathleen said.
Annie nodded, “I promise you. I’ll do it. If Kent doesn’t get the message after they served him with the restraining order, I’ll tell the family. I promise.
“I know you will take out the restraining order because I’m going with you,” Kathleen insisted.
“I have to go to the police station in Stellenbosch,” Annie pointed out.
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll follow you when you go home tomorrow, go with you to the police station and follow you home. I’ll stay with Sean tomorrow night and come back Monday morning. Easy peasy.”
Annie just hugged her. She didn’t know how she would have coped at that moment without Kathleen’s support. She would need a lot of strength and help if she wanted to stand up to Kent again. She took a long time to do that the last time. This time she dared not wait. She only had to look at her daughter to know she should be strong.
She learned from experience that abuse did not get better. If she would not do anything, it would just get worse. She had remained silent about what went on in her home for far too long. Annie now believed that it was her silence that had enabled Kent to continue with the abuse.
She couldn’t allow it to happen. Not again. And she could not let Kent harm the people she loved.