The following morning, Annie leaned against Marcus as they watched the sunrise over the valley while they were drinking their coffee. Well, Marcus had coffee, but Annie preferred ginger ale.
There was another discussion to come when Annie sighed. Marcus looked down at her and said with a tender expression, “There are still things we need to talk about, my Love.”
Annie grimaced, “Yes, I know. I didn’t want to spoil last night, but after I’ve read Linda’s diary, things made more sense. For example, the reason Kent hated you so much—and the reason he even married me. I think for him and Linda it was just a power game.”
Marcus nodded. “Yes, I think so too. I couldn’t understand it, Annie. Why did you marry him? You told me you never stopped loving me, and I believe you, but…”
Annie looked him straight in the eyes and admitted, “You must know, Marcus, you hurt me. I believed you loved me, and then you betrayed me by sleeping with Linda, as I thought then. That afternoon when I left here, I vowed that no man would ever hurt me like that again. When Linda introduced me to Kent, I was still vulnerable. I know now that people like Linda and Kent flourish on other people’s vulnerabilities. Unfortunately for them, they were wrong about both of us. Yes, I had been vulnerable, but after I read the diary, I now understand Kent’s reaction when he realised he couldn’t manipulate me as easily as he thought. I think it might have been the same with Linda. When we didn’t want to play their vulgar sex games, Kent used abuse to control me. It hadn’t worked.”
Marcus saw her tears. He had to bite back his own so that he could be strong enough for her. All he could do then was to hold her and let her cry. It had to be a relief because she had to keep her emotions under control in the last few years. Marcus knew as he felt the same.
When her tears subsided, Marcus pushed her away gently to look her in the eyes. “I only kept that last diary in which Linda admitted all her dirty deeds. There were more. I wanted no one to see it, especially not the boys. Some were about her exploitation of other people, and they were not only men. She wrote it all down. I especially never wanted Samuel to find out how he was conceived.”
Annie frowned, but Marcus shook his head, “You now know what happened between your mum and my Dad—our conversation and the result. I had been so upset afterwards I went to hide in the cellars. That was where Linda found me. I had been so upset, and I had blurted everything out. Linda used the opportunity to convince me to make you angry. I could blame it on the alcohol I consumed throughout the night but that next morning when she came to pick me up, and I heard your horse, I panicked. I only pulled my shirt over my head when you opened the door. Your face, Annie? I’ll never forget it. I always regretted it. I never wanted to hurt you. Not like that.”
Marcus stared down the road as he remembered that day. “When I heard your horse gallop away, I realised I made a terrible mistake. I jumped up and ran. I called your name, but you couldn’t hear me. I’ll never forget it. I could hear your sobs over the sound of your horse’s hooves. I went back home to search for you. When you hadn’t come back at lunchtime, I accepted that it was over. I didn’t wait. I was angry and sad and embarrassed. I fled without saying goodbye—not to you nor our parents. Linda stayed in touch that first three years when I refused to speak to our parents. I lived for every piece of news about you, even though it hurt. I didn’t know then that everything she had told me was lies. When she told me about Kent, I had to come back. I needed to fight for you, but then it was too late.”
He turned back to Annie, his eyes as bleak as his voice, “You still hated me. That night when you got engaged, you looked so beautiful. I had to try one more time to convince you, but as you know, it didn’t work out. I argued with my Dad then. For the first time, I confronted him about the lies he told me about our trust funds. I took a bottle of whisky to my room. When Linda arrived, I had already been ten sails to the wind. I couldn’t remember what happened. The next morning I woke up with Linda in my bed and I still can’t remember how it happened. She told me we had sex and then came to tell me she was pregnant. I didn’t have a choice.”
Marcus looked down the valley while he struggled to find the right words. He turned back to Annie and said, “I couldn’t witness your wedding, Annie. When you walked into that church, I knew I'd lost you. I was a coward, but I couldn’t witness that. I had walked out. Then I found out…”
He trailed off. Annie had to probe him by asking, “What did you find out?”
“When Samuel was born, it was love at first sight for me. I still had my doubts he was mine while Linda was pregnant, but when I saw him and held him for the first time, I didn’t have much choice than to accept it. Linda and I… Our relationship was strained from the start. By then, Linda accepted that there was nothing more to our marriage than a piece of paper. I couldn’t sleep with her. I couldn’t even look at her. I found out the hard way that Linda wasn’t the person people thought she was.”
“The family might’ve suspected that I was unhappy, but I told no one what happened at home. In front of them, Linda was full of smiles and sunshine. Behind closed doors, the true woman appeared when she realised I would not reciprocate her feelings or play her dirty little games.”
Marcus snorted, “No, I won’t call them games. Linda manipulated me to stay in the marriage because I worried I might lose Samuel. I couldn’t expose my son to such a lifestyle. That was what she threatened to do when she was drunk. Nobody knew how many nights Linda disappeared and left me alone with Samuel. From her diaries, I gathered that she spent those nights in Cape Town’s BDSM clubs to find men to ‘service’ her, as she called it. Men who she could manipulate. Men she allowed to do things to her so she could get something in return, such as Samuel’s conception.”
“What do you mean?”
Marcus grimaced, “It appears I’ve never slept with Linda—not even on the night of your engagement.”
Annie frowned, “What? I don’t understand. I thought you made a mistake that first night when we made love when you said you couldn’t remember when you last made love. What about Cody’s conception? You had to…”
Marcus shook his head, “No, we had conceived Cody through artificial insemination, the same as Samuel.”
Marcus saw Annie’s disbelief, and he nodded, “Yes, I never thought things like that could happen, that there are people like Linda and Kent who could be so devious, so manipulative, so... If it hadn’t happened to me, and I hadn’t seen Linda’s admission in her handwriting, I would’ve thought it was just someone’s imagination running wild. Anyway, that night I had been so drunk I didn’t even know that Linda stole my sperm. The same gynaecologist who had been responsible for Cody’s procedure had done it. He was a submissive of Linda and a friend of her father. He had to do it because Linda threatened to expose him.”
Annie still looked like she didn’t believe him and Marcus snorted, “I didn’t want to believe it but… After her death, I spoke to some people who knew Linda and her double life. Yes, she had frequented the BDSM clubs, she and Kent both. That’s where they met, but they were not welcome there for long. According to that friend, it was a lifestyle not everyone would condone, but they still have a code, and the community didn’t tolerate Linda and Kent’s behaviour for long. It was, however, long enough for Linda to find a few cohorts and make enemies.”
Annie shook her head. Marcus had enough of that conversation, however, and continued his story, “It surprised me when Linda wanted another child. I didn’t know it had just been one of her little games to keep us apart. She had still been in contact with Kent who told her you’re pregnant. And, just like Kent was jealous of me, Linda was jealous of you. She thought another child would prove to you that she had won. Of course, I didn’t know that then. Linda had an ace up her sleeve, however. She knew I wanted out of the marriage because I made no secret of that fact. She told me if I gave her another child, she would agree to a divorce after the child’s birth. I agreed but refused to sleep with her. Artificial insemination was the only option.”
Marcus sighed, “We had drawn up an agreement. We would’ve shared custody of the children. Then, when she was about four months pregnant, she came with another suggestion. She will sign over the children if I expedite the divorce. She wanted to get out of the marriage as soon as possible. I wondered about it, but I didn’t care because it would suit me just fine. We never finalised the divorce, however. When she was six months pregnant, they found cancer, and I found her diaries. I understood then.
“Why did she agree to a divorce?” Annie asked.
“She met someone else. The new victim had the money Linda liked, and he was part of a lifestyle she craved. The children would’ve been a hindrance in her new life.”
He looked down at Annie, noticing the tears in her eyes and said, “When you came back two years ago, and I saw you, and I saw the fear in your eyes and the bruises on your body, I blamed myself for letting you go. I was afraid to let you see I still loved you,” he admitted.
“I thought you avoided me,” Annie whispered.
“I did. I had to, Annie. You still looked like you hated me. You never spoke to me. I suspected something bad had happened to you, and I blamed myself. Those kisses at the Charity event and Christmas made me realise that thirteen years apart had still not diminished my feelings for you. I accepted it. I had to give you space to heal and to grow before I made my move. This time, however, I will not let you go.”
Annie pulled his head down for a slow kiss. When she pulled back, she smiled, “You don’t have to. This time we have a chance.”
She turned her head and looked down at the vineyards and their house in the distance, and she smiled. “Look,” she said, pointing to the sun now painting the vines in a golden hue. “Look, how beautiful it is. We both had to come back to heal—to complete the full circle, Marcus. How can we not be happy now we’ve found each other again? This is where we fell in love between the vineyards. This is where we can raise our family—in our own little piece of heaven.”
Marcus leaned down and whispered against her lips, “You’re right, Annie. This is where we belong, in the vineyards with our children and you in my arms. I love you.”
“And I love you, Marcus.”
THE END