Double Glazing

"I don't think it was you so much, as Aubrey getting back at me. He must have realised that hurting you, would hurt me more." Eve thought about that, then agreed with me.

"Yes. I think that's right. Oh John what are we going to do?"

"Nothing at the moment, let's see what the Law does first."

Eve's recovery was gradual. After two weeks they had her up and walking, very slowly with a frame, and two weeks after that she was walking steadily on her own. Doctor Emerson explained her injuries to us.

"Eve, you have been lucky." She looked at him in amazement.

"Lucky?" He grinned.

"Yes. Lucky. Without going into the medical terms it was the bone above the hip that was fractured. We pinned it, and it is healing well. If it had been the bone at the back, the Sacrum, we would have been in quite a lot of trouble. Now it is up to you. You must try to walk steadily every day. There will be discomfort so we will give you some pain-killers to counter that. Try not to depend on them too much. Now do you feel up to going home?"

"Yes please." Emerson looked at me.

"Eve will need your care. I know that you will give her that, but she must understand that she is not to overdo things." I agreed.

"I will make sure she doesn't."

I was so pleased to get Eve back home. I installed her on the long couch in the Lounge, with plenty of pillows which she argued about.

"I want to be back in our bed. I know we can't do any sullying, but I need to feel you next to me." I wanted Eve there as well, so compromised.

"It's easier for me to look after you down here during the day. But at night I will carry you upstairs." She was content with that.

"My Hero!" She smiled.

We had a stream of visitors during the day. Her friend Jillian was first, and told me firmly that she would help, allowing me to get back to my desk every other day. Andy called and let me know that Yvonne was doing as much of my work as she could.

"She can do the posting, John. But anything else and she's lost." We then got into a discussion about why Aubrey would do this. Eve added snipetts about Aubrey's character, that neither Andy or I had seen.

"Aubrey has to be the winner. I know that if he lost an order to a competitor, he would go to see the client and tell them that they had been stupid, that the job would not be done right, and the components were rubbish. He told me gleefully on one occasion when he knew that a competitor was calling, he called on the prospect half an hour before the other agent was due. Then he kept the client talking until the other agent got tired of waiting and drove off." I was aware of some of his tricks, it explained some of his stunts with the paperwork, quoting a ridiculously low price to get the order, then sneaking in the add-ons.

Aubrey had already been charged in the Magistrates Court, and had opted to go to Crown Court for Trial. He had shocked the Court by instructing a lawyer to appear for him, rather than a Solicitor. The Court allowed him Bail, much to the anger of the CPS Solicitor. DC. Whittaker had given us the news when Eve was still in Hospital. It was therefore a surprise to have him call a week after we got Eve home.

I gave him coffee and he sat with Eve chatting casually, until I joined them in the Lounge.

"I'm afraid that I have some bad news for you. Aubrey, or rather the person calling himself Aubrey Chatsworth has skipped Bail. One of the conditions for Bail was reporting to the Police every week. He hadn't reported for three weeks and a Warrant for his arrest was issued." I was confused, as was Eve.

"Excuse me. The person who was calling himself Aubrey Chatsworth. What does that mean?"

"Your Aubrey Chatsworth flew to the States ten days ago, using a Passport in the name of Jackson Adams. An American Passport. We did some checking, and all Aubrey Chatsworth's in the UK are present and accounted for. The only one who hasn't been verified by local Police is an Aubrey Chatsworth who died aged three." We were to say the least stunned.

"How do you know it was him?" I asked the detective.

"All departures are monitored on CCTV, and recorded on DVD. We got the recording. It was definitely him." Eve was bitterly angry.

"So if Aubrey wasn't really Aubrey, who did I marry?" Whittaker shook his head.

"We don't know. It wasn't Jackson Adams either, the FBI have already told us that is a false identity. They are pretty certain as to who he could really be, and if they are correct I'm afraid that we will never see him back in this country to stand Trial. The FBI want him for other crimes. In any case we find great difficulty in trying to extradite a citizen of the United States from the United States." I was shocked to hear that.

"Aubrey was an American? He sometimes used phrases that seemed American, but he certainly had no accent, in fact he sounded more like English Public School." Eve agreed with me.

"I am sure that Aubrey told me once he had been educated at Repton School." Whittaker nodded.

"According to the statement he made he was born in Lincoln. But of course he had to have been as that's where the child whose identity he took had been born." He paused and looked at Eve. "I am sorry to tell you Mrs. Birch that your marriage to Aubrey is null and void. As he married under a false identity." Eve shrugged her shoulders.

"I suppose I should be angry, but it wasn't much of a marriage anyway. I am angry with myself that I could be taken in so easily." She looked at me, then in shock cried. "John! All that time we waited and we didn't do anything. Bugger! I didn't need to divorce him either. Bugger!" DC Whittaker had more to say.

"I need to tell you about the property. As Mr. Chatsworth has skipped Bail, the state will seize the property to recover the one hundred thousand that was set for Bail. The Inland Revenue are interested as well, and have registered a Lien with the Land Registry as it would appear that Mr. Chatsworth was making false declarations, they are looking for something in the region of sixty thousand. Having seen the property I would imagine that there will be a reasonable balance, but you will have to make an application to the Court to receive any monies."

"Why?" I asked.

"Difficult situation. Who ever he was he legally owned the property, but forfeited it when he skipped. Normally as his legal wife you would automatically be in receipt of the title to the property, after the State has been satisfied, but you were not his legal wife. However you lived there as man and wife and an application to the Court to have you recognised as the legal owner will probably be accepted."

"But I divorced him." Cried Eve.

"Not recognised, as the marriage was not legal, the divorce was not legal either. As a Common Law wife you have rights." I smiled wickedly. Aubrey/Jackson whoever he was, had tried to destroy Eve and I, and finished by losing everything he owned to Eve. Who says there is nothing like poetic justice?

Over weeks Eve gradually recovered, and was walking as well as she ever had. Apart from the tiny operation scars there was no indication that she had ever been injured. It took months to get the 'Sycamores' settled. Eve's attitude was that as Aubrey had messed up her life, my life and our life together, we were entitled to pick the bones. The State sold the 'Sycamores' and eventually Eve got a cheque from the Exchequer for a rather nice sum.

DC Whittaker called once more to inform us that a certain Avery Carson had been indicted in Alabama on two counts of Rape and Murder, committed sixteen years ago. A mother and daughter. He showed us the mug shot taken by the Police there. It was Aubrey!

"He is on Trial for his life. They still execute murderers there." The CPS are letting our charges lay on file just in case he beats the rap, as they say in the States. In that case we will then apply for extradition. The FBI have let us know they will help in that, they feel that justice one way or another should catch up with Avery Carson.

By that time Eve had recovered fully, and we celebrated by going back to Formentera. It was a repeat of our first holiday there. Eve took off her clothes at every opportunity, tantalising me in the pool, on the beach and by reminding me that she wasn't wearing underclothes when we in La Savinas, by flipping her skirt occasionally when there was no one to see her, to exhibit her now shaven cleft. The result was that she was sullied often, much to her satisfaction and mine.

Six weeks after we got back she asked me casually.

"What do you think of the name Maryanne." Not realising what she was asking I replied.

"Quite a nice name."

"Oh good, then you won't mind me calling her that."

"Calling who?"

"Our daughter."

"We haven't g..." She was grinning at me.

"We will in about six months time."

The End

*

For those who are interested. The Love Poem John used is thought to be by Francis Davison, but published anonymously in 1602. The full stanza is:-

My Love in her attire doth show her wit,
It doth so well become her,
For every season she hath dressings fit,
For Winter, Spring, and Summer.
No beauty she doth miss
When all her robes are on:
But Beauty's self she is
When all her robes are gone.

No. The poem was not culled from memory, I am not that clever. I had to look it up on the internet.