Life after Death Ch. 11

"I want your baby Steve, please can we have a child of our own, I always wanted lots of kids and I just had Alice, but I want a child of our own please?

"There's nothing I would like more sweetheart, than for us to have a baby, but lets get our lives settled first, I promise you that once we decided a date for the wedding and where and how we are going to live then ofcourse, we can try for a baby, let's just get us sorted first. Is that okay? I'm not holding back, I just want to cement everything we have achieved so far, before we take such a huge step"

Hugging her close, I realised I was still inside her and that our combined juices were dripping all over me and onto the bed, I didn't care at that moment, I just wanted her to be okay with what I was saying. In truth, I was shocked at her request, but not to the point that I didn't want it, I just had never thought about it. Although the more I did think about having a child with her, the more it seemed the most natural thing to do.

"Okay that's fine with me love, I wasn't saying I wanted one now, but I want you to understand, that if we can, I would like to have your babies... Oh God, I'm dripping, I need a shower, I must stink."

I smiled at her nodded my head in agreement as she laughed, then rolled off of me and stood up. I grinned as I started to get off the bed to join her, but she shook her head.

"One at a time tonight or neither of us will get up in the morning." Her beautiful tight bum swayed as she sauntered away towards the en suite.

She returned after a few minutes wrapped in a towel. I took my turn, and when I came back she was already under the duvet, her towel draped over the chair. I wanted to be close, feel her softness against me, and caress her again as we fell asleep together, drying quickly I slipped under the covers beside her. As she snuggled up next to me and put her head in the hollow of my shoulder, I was pleased she had not taken off her ring, somehow it meant a lot to me that she wanted to wear it while she slept. Kissing each other tenderly and holding each other before she turned so that we were spooning, her bum resting against my now soft penis, my hand resting against her belly, I could feel the little jewel she wore in her navel, I don't know why but I find that little piece of jewellery so sexy, my mind was drifting abstractly as we continued to hold each other close falling asleep within minutes.

The next few days were a blur, Rachel worked constantly, my workload increased with the preparation for the merger, and the fact that Sarah, as we hoped, accepted her new role and was also training another PA who worked for my Supply Chain Manager to act for me also, whilst we found a full time replacement making my working day a little more fraught which didn't help. Rachel and I hardly saw each other for more than a couple of hours each evening, and I knew that we needed to make some time soon or we would begin to put some strain on each other, especially with only a short period pf time before we went away. I had phoned Miles and Helen to let them know I had asked Rachel to marry me and Helen had been really pleased, but Miles seemed a little shocked that it had happened so fast. Never the less he soon recovered and wished us the very best.

By Friday morning, I was feeling the strain; we had agreed to take the kids shopping on the weekend for clothes for the holiday and I was looking forward to a weekend of just being with Rachel and the kids. We had arranged a sitter for that evening so that we could for a meal and to a movie, but other than that we had nothing planned. I had a quiet day compared to the rest of the week, the only meetings scheduled were a with Ed and Sarah to discuss what resources she felt were required for the new structure and a follow up meeting with security about what they had found out about Mark – Rachel's ex-husband. The first meeting was fine and we all agreed the immediate strategy for the merger and agreed to meet just before I went on holiday, when Sarah would deliver a more detailed programme plan, after agreeing to her request to second two members of staff to work with her, I was left with only the security meeting to deal with.

So just before mid day I found myself reading a report about how Mark and Rachel had lived as a married couple and how he conducted his lifestyle today. Reading about the abuse, both verbal and physical upset me greatly, especially when I read about the fact that he had hurt Rachel so badly that he had put her into hospital more than once, he appeared to have been obsessive about whom she spent time with and where she went. More importantly he had a history of fairly abusive behaviour when he drank, although in recent years, he seemed to have that under control, and was now a well-respected member of staff in the hospital, where he worked. However, there was still evidence of his temper showing through, a little over six months ago he had caused a scene during an operation he was performing because a junior nurse had dropped some medical instruments. She apparently ran out in floods of tears after he screamed at her infront of other staff members present. So not all was as rosy as Rachel believed it to be with her ex. I decided it was safer to keep the information I had obtained under lock and key at the office and try and persuade her to be careful, without appearing jealous in some way.

I rang her at the practice just before lunch to wish her luck, as I knew she was meeting Mark for lunch today to let him know that we were getting married, I had managed to persuade her to meet him in public as I was worried that if she told him at her house as she originally planned too, then there he might become abusive or even aggressive in some way. She laughed assuring me he wasn't like that anymore and that he would be happy for us, and as long as he could see Alice as normal, then he would be cool with our news. I almost had two of my security staff go and have lunch at the same restaurant, but I thought better of it, the last thing she needed was an over bearing, paranoid fiancé, reminding her why she had got divorced in the first place.

She even asked how many of my staff would be 'planted' in the restaurant to protect her, I promised her that I didn't have anyone there, teasing her – and half hoping she would agree – I said it could be arranged though. Seeing the funny side of it, she said that she would be fine, but would ring me when she was finished, I told her how much I loved her and left her to get on with her work before meeting him. The next two hours were really tough for me, I knew so much about Mark and his behaviour that I was sure that he would try and spoil our happiness, the report I had on him suggested that he may well still believe that Rachel belonged to him and that he would feel that I was trying to replace him in Alice's life. I hoped that it was wrong, but I still couldn't forget how he had looked at me when he saw me at Rachel's house on the Sunday he brought Alice home. In my mind, I knew we were not going to have an easy ride with him, he would try and damage our happiness somehow I was sure.

My mobile went at about 2.45 and it was Rachel, she was very quiet, when I asked her how lunch had gone, she answered,

" Fine"

"Rachel, tell me what happened sweety, you seem really quiet, how did Mark take it?

"He was ok at first, then he told me that he forbade me to marry you and that no wife of his was going to marry someone who was just looking for a nanny and housekeeper to bring up his dead wife's children."

"Oh God! I'm so sorry babe, where are you now?"

"I'm at the practice, I can't believe it Steve, I really can't... I thought he was going to hit me. I really did. It was like before... I was so scared"

"Give me ten minutes and I'll leave and meet you at the practice."

"No sweety, I've got to go and get Alice, I'm taking her for new shoes after school, will you come to my house later though? I want to be around my own things tonight, is that ok?"

"Ofcourse it is love, I'll get the kids and come on over."

"Thank you... I'm sorry Steve, I didn't think this would happen, but I love you so much, you do know that don't you?"

She was sobbing down the phone; I knew all the pain of her marriage had just come crashing back to her.

"Ofcourse I do sweety, don't worry we'll sort this out, I promise"

"Okay, I'll see you later, I love you so much"

"I know, I love you too, don't worry now, you get Alice from school, and I'll see you later... Ok?"

"Ok" she almost whispered as she hung up.

I immediately phoned my security manager and told him what had happened and got him to prepare the dossier so that it could be handed to the police at a moments notice if necessary. I had a really bad feeling about what Mark might be capable of and I decided to tell Rachel that we had looked into his background too; otherwise I could cause problems later. I rang her back and told her that she should be extra careful, as I was worried about what he might do. She asked me what I meant, and I told her that after the Sunday at her house and what she had told me about the way he had treated her, I had checked him out. I explained that I was worried about her and Alice and that I wanted to be prepared, if he tried to do anything to jeopardise our happiness. She asked me if I had done the same thing for her and I said no, and she told me she wasn't happy that I hadn't told but understood my reasons for doing it. I said that I was sorry but was not going to lie to her now or ever, and that I would have told her but not until I had verified it contents and assessed the risks to us as a family.

Sighing she said she had to go, and that we would talk about it later, then after we had said our goodbyes, I tidied my desk and told my staff that something had come up at home and that I could be reached by mobile if required. I was driving out of the city by 3.35 and had left a message for Vanessa that I would probably pick the kids up early, when the phone rang again, and it was Rachel again. Sobbing, she said she was at Alice's school and that Mark had arrived at 2.30 and told them that she was ill and that he had come to pick her up for her, he apologised for being early, but said he was taking her away for the weekend and that would they mind if he got her early, so that they could beat the rush hour traffic and make an early start. She was hysterical, but said the school had phoned the police, and that they were on their way, I said I would get there in twenty minutes or so, as I was already on my way home. My heart sank as I listened to her sob, saying that she should have listened to me, and that she was sorry for not trusting me, and that she thought he had changed, all the things you would expect from a mother who felt she had betrayed her child.

I soothed her as much as I could, telling her to stay calm and that I would be there as soon as the traffic allowed. She sobbed again, telling me to be as fast as I could. I promised her that I would get there as soon as possible, telling her I loved her, I hung up. Ringing Vanessa again, who by this time was home, I told her what had happened and asked her if she could keep my kids until I could get there, she said that they were going out later, but did I want her to call my parents or Rob & Claire to get them to fetch them? I said that might be necessary, but could she keep them for a little while until I knew what had to be done. She readily agreed and told me to keep her informed and if the worst came to the worst, she could take Tim and Issy with them to the cinema, I thanked her and said I would call her back as soon as I could. Then I rang the office and got security alerted to get the file ready to be sent to the police if necessary and just as I finished my calls, I pulled into the schoolyard.

Rachel ran to me as I walked towards the main reception area, crying her heart out, closely followed by Alice's class teacher and the Headteacher who looked ashen faced at what she had allowed to happen. The police were just taking statements from the school secretary and the schoolyard seemed to resemble a major crime scene rather than a sleepy village schoolyard. Rachel burst into tears as I hugged her close, asking me why I thought he would do this, I answered, by saying that I thought he would do anything to stop her and Alice making a new life, and he believed that Alice belonged with him and that one day they could all live together again. Alice had said as much the previous weekend, the investigating officer overheard and asked me why I thought this and I began to tell him about the way Mark had acted at Rachel's a few Sundays earlier and that I had my staff check him out and that the report including the psychological profile was available to him if he required it. He thanked me and asked me to have sent to him as soon as possible. I agreed and said I would get it couriered there straight away; he then proceeded to ask us if we had any idea where he might have taken her.

Rachel mentioned a few places she thought they might go, but didn't really have much of an idea, but just kept sobbing, and asking for them to find her baby. This was going to be awful ordeal for us, whether it lasted a few hours or longer, my main worry was that if pressured how Mark would react, I told the officer that the reason for the divorce was that he had been abusive and that he had history of hurting Rachel, and that I was worried about what he might be capable of, if provoked. They assured me they would do everything they could and perhaps we should go home and check Rachel's house in the event that he had gone there, they said there would be officers there to meet us, so that we were not alone when we arrived.

I suggested that we left one car at the school and travelled together, but she insisted that both cars should be at her house just incase we needed them, so I agreed to follow her, I phoned Rob and Claire as they were nearest and told them what had happened and asked them to get in touch with Vanessa and fetch my kids and take them to their house, then I phoned my parents and told them, and finally checked with my security guys that they had sent the report over to the police as requested. Five minutes later I followed Rachel up the Gravel driveway to her house and was met by two police officers that had already checked the exterior of the house and its grounds for any sign of Mark or Alice. The house was secure and showed no sign of them having been here, however when Rachel opened the door and it was immediately obvious that Mark had been there as there was one of Alice's dolls on the hall floor, which hadn't been there that morning when Rachel had gone home. After checking her room, it was plainly clear that Mark had taken enough clothes and toys for them to survive for some time. Rachel was beside herself; she had no idea where he got a key from or where he would have taken her. The police were fantastic, assuring her that he would soon realise his mistake and that it wouldn't be long before he was found and Alice would be home with her safe and sound. One thing was certain as I tried to console and comfort her that this was going to be a long and painful few hours whilst we waited for information.

Rachel sat at her kitchen table, staring into space, as I tried to find things to do as we waited for some news, the two officers that had been at the school arrived about an hour or so after we did, and told us that they had contacted the hospital, and his parents and had put out alerts for him and his car and were currently going to his home. They seemed confident that this was a spur of the moment decision on his part and that he would be found very quickly and that he would not hurt Alice.

We could only hope that was the case and settled in for what would become the worst 24 hours of our lives...

TO BE CONTINUED...