Her Quiet Legacy

Chapter 6

Creating an image using a series of dotsI spent the morning bouncing around the prison switchboard without success. In desperation, I drove my truck to Auckland and took a room at one of the less expensive hotel chains. Larger establishments proved too busy to fuss over single occupants. They took my cash, gave me a view of a brick wall, and left me alone. Most guests wanted a view of the ocean. They didn’t tend to look so thrilled at the idea of counting bricks for the next twenty-four hours.

Julia phoned again as I dumped my overnight bag on the carpet and checked the sheets for marks or stains. I found nothing and celebrated by taking her call. “Leave me alone!” I barked. “Mother’s sick and they won’t tell me where she is.”

“You’re in Auckland?” Hope infused her tone and her voice rose. “Let’s meet, mon cher. Where are you?”

Emptiness gnawed at the edges of my psyche. The need to repel her vied with the desire to transfer my security to her. With my mother missing in action, it left me vulnerable. Despite my better judgement, I conceded. I wouldn’t tell her my location but agreed to meet her in a restaurant at the Viaduct.

Showering and dressing again restored some of my equilibrium and activity stilled the twitching of my fingers. I arrived at the restaurant before her but loitered across the street until she got settled. Julia’s fiddling with everything from the tablecloth to her cutlery drove me insane. This Thursday had already gone as wrong as Wednesday. Adding an argument to its catalogue of disasters wouldn’t help.

She alighted from a taxi with the grace of a swan, gliding up the front steps in a long coat which hid a shimmering cocktail dress. The stirring of an unnamed emotion woke in my chest and I fought to douse it. My fingers ached for her ebony ringlets to run through them like water, and I closed my eyes to dispel the fog of desire. Even a glutton pushes food away when his stomach hurts, but Julia’s claim made me eager to feast until I exploded. I counted to one hundred and forty-four before using the odd steps to the front of the hotel. A waiter approached me and I jerked my head towards Julia. She’d picked the seat facing the door and her long lashes fluttered as she spotted me in the entrance. Her gaze drank in my muscular build, stroking me from toe to forehead with a lascivious smile across her lips. A sensible voice in my head urged me to turn around and go back to my hotel. I ignored it in favour of the one suggesting I book a room upstairs and stop resisting.

“What do you want, Julia?” I paused while the waiter hauled my chair from under the table and waited for me to sit. His eyebrows knitted in response to the tension swirling around my head. It entered with me, creating a dark cloud of protection and cloaking me in disdain.

“Just sit down, Jacques.” She sighed, indicating the seat and glancing up at the man whose hands hovered over the leather backrest. “A fruit juice for me and whatever he’s drinking, s’il vous plaît.”

“Water.” I gave him a cursory nod and allowed him to push the seat behind my knees. He left my a*s hanging in mid-air a moment too long and the brewing rage in my chest bubbled. Hitting him seven times over the head with the chair might help, but I didn’t do it. Instead, I glared at Julia, venting my instability on her. “I don’t need a menu. I’m not staying.”

She released a sigh of exasperation. Her pretty lips drew together in a pout, although she’d lost some of the tension from her delicate olive features. Her eyelashes fluttered, and dark shadows beneath her eyes made her appear tired. “Can we have a sensible conversation for once?” she asked, and it sounded more of a plea than a demand.

I shrugged and bit my tongue as the waiter poured water into tumblers and set one before each of us. “Will the lady require a menu?” he asked, and the smirk rose to my eyes before I could stop it. I glanced across at Julia and saw her shake her head.

“No. Thank you.”

My right index finger strayed to the glass and halted a bead of condensation as it tracked an eager path towards the tablecloth. Julia leaned forward. “Thanks for not saying something cutting,” she said. Her expression held sincerity, and I nodded, making a gruff sound I hoped would stop her venturing along paths ruined by rubble. “When he called me a lady.” She licked her lips, and I saw longing in her unguarded hazel eyes.

“What do you want, Julia?” I demanded, needing the conversation finished so I could visit Auckland hospital again and trawl the corridors on my quest.

She exhaled and sat back in her seat. “I have a commission for you.”

My gaze rolled to the ceiling and back again, exasperation bursting through to the surface despite my best efforts. I shook my head. “I said no. How can you not understand?”

Her pupils dilated, and I realised my mistake. “Understand you?” she mused. “There’s no hope of that, mon cher.”

“Goodbye, Julia.” I rose and pushed my chair back. The waiter halted on his reluctant trajectory and made a swift about face. I saw him shake his head at another server and annoyance sparked in my chest. Public displays of emotion weren’t my thing, and yet the guy looked at me like I was a serial loser. “Don’t contact me again.”

“I wanted to see you.” She sniffed and her eyes watered. Injustice lay over her shoulders like a cloak. “I knew you’d reject the commission, and I wanted to explain it to you myself.”

My head shook from side to side and I shrugged. “I don’t have time for this. And don’t even think about leaking anything to the media because my lawyer will trash you.”

“I promise I won’t.” Her tone surprised me and didn’t contain the edge of spite I’d expected. She’d threatened it last month. Something else lurked beneath her request and I paused, my feet pointing away from the awkward meeting, but my head turned towards her. Curiosity set up a nagging beat in time to my raised pulse. “Please stay.” She patted the neat place setting I’d abandoned and appealed with her eyes. “Jacques, please. We both know how much you hate regrets and if you don’t do this, it’ll haunt you for the rest of your life.”

I sat.

I heard her out.

And I discovered she was right in her assumption. I would have turned it down and I would’ve regretted it.

Chapter 7