Grieving Time Pt. 04

Please read from part 1 first.

Hope you enjoy the story.

~~~~~~

#1

January turned into a quiet month for Brian. Ashley's new shop was very busy keeping the three women and their daughters busy. He had only been visited once by Veronica and Christina and each time he had chickened out on ending his relationships with them. He had to admit that having sex again was a boost to his ego and had worked in reducing his depression. He was able to concentrate at work better which was noticed by his coworkers and boss. He had never underachieved, always maintaining the required goals, but his demeanour was less than it could be. He was now acting much happier and willingly talking and occasionally meeting socially outside of work.

It was the last Friday of the month when he was out with work colleagues for a few drinks at the end of working day. It was his turn to buy the round and as he was waiting to be served at the bar, a hand touched on his forearm. Turning his head he was pleasantly surprised to see Patricia smiling at him.

"Hello Brian. I never expected to see you again. How are you going?"

"Well, hello to you Patricia. What a pleasant surprise. I'm well," a barman interrupted seeking his order, "Oh excuse me," as Brian turned to the server and told him his order, then returned his attention to her, "I'm here with a few blokes from work."

"Yes, me too, but it's some girls from work. Oh, here's my turn" as another server asked for her order which she gave.

Brian's drinks arrived and as he paid he took a gamble, doing something he had never thought he would ever manage, as he turned back to Patricia to ask, "Say, I thought about you after we met at the barbeque, but I didn't have your number. Would you like to find a spot now and we could talk some more, just the two of us?"

He found himself on tenterhooks as he realised he will probably be shot down for making an idiot of himself for assuming she might be interested in him.

"I'd like to do that, but what about your wife. What would she think. She looked a pissed off that night at the barbeque to see you talking to me."

It took a moment for him to work out what she was talking about until he realised she was referring to Christina, and that he was still wearing his wedding ring. At the reminder of his late wife he did have a moment of sadness which Patricia took as him being caught out in a compromising position. There was no way she wanted anything to do with cheating husbands. She took his silence as guilt and turned to face away from him, sad that a nice guy was a cheating slimeball. His change arrived and he returned to his workmates, knowing that he had struck out of even being able to talk with a woman. Brian just shrugged his shoulders as though it was no big deal when asked who the good looking woman was. He tried to show it was no big deal but those who knew Brian well could see something was wrong. It was obvious to them that he had returned to his previous state of depression, which made them feel the loss of their old companion again. Staying quiet, feeling depressed and not even knowing what he had done wrong, he drank his beer quickly and bade his workmates a good weekend as he left.

What he didn't realise was that one of his mates had seen him at the bar when the woman approached. Dan had felt the loss of Jennifer as well, as he and his wife Betty had been friends with them. They had enjoyed many evenings together socially, and not just at work outings. He felt Brian's pain but had been unable to bring him out of his funk over the past three years. The obvious spark between his friend and this new woman had been obvious to Dan, and he was floored when she had shot him down. Brian's face went from animated and happy to that of a dog used to being ignored when not being kicked.

Curious to find out what had happened and wanting to see if he could help his friend, Dan approached the group of women at the other table. He tentatively stopped at a spot near to where she was sitting.

"Excuse me for interrupting, but I wonder if I could ask a question?"

He found himself the object of five sets of eyes expressing everything from open hostility to curiosity. When Patricia turned to see who had stopped at their table she saw a man looking at her with a pleading look.

She spoke up, "Look, we're just here to have some drinks after work, not looking for company or a night out on the town. Sorry if you thought you could find a warm body."

Dan raised both hands in surrender, "Sorry, not my intention. I was just hoping to find out what happened to my friend at the bar when you spoke to him. He looked really happy then suddenly the opposite. I thought at first you were a friend he knew, is that so. Or were you just talking as strangers."

"Not that its any business of yours but we had met before, and as it turns out I got the wrong impression about him. If he is a friend of yours then you should tell him to not go cheating on his wife. That makes him a really low level of scum to me," and he noticed her companions nodding and commenting in agreement.

"Okay thanks for letting me know. Just for the record though, he's not married. Lost her a few years ago. She was a great girl we all loved dearly. I thought you might have been special, he hasn't shown interest in any woman since she died along with their unborn child. You're the first female we have seen him talk to. He has only been smiling showing any happiness for a short while. Tonight is the first time he has been out with us for a drink after work since his loss. I wondered if you could have been the reason for that, but I guess you weren't. Sorry for interrupting your night."

"Wait, I am confused. He was with a woman when I first met him, and tonight he certainly acted guilty, like he was married. That is why I gave him the cold shoulder."

Dan had been turning away when she started talking to him just then, "Yea, he had a problem of survivor's guilt at how she had died and not him. He had mentioned to me that his sister has been recently working on getting him out and about again. Maybe it was her you met. Only thing I can say is that he is definitely not married now, but had trouble letting go, although he has made tremendous progress so far this year. Anyway, thank you for hearing me out. have a nice night ladies."

He was again turning to leave them when Patricia stood to delay him, "Look I'm sorry I acted that way towards your friend. I was happy to accidentally bump into him tonight, now I feel horrible for treating him the way I did," she thought for a moment then reached into her handbag to grab a biro, and using a coaster on the table wrote her work number down and passed it to Dan, "Here, this is my work number. Can you ask him to give me a call so I can explain and apologise to him?"

"Course I can. By the way my name's Dan. My wife and I were great friends with Brian and his late wife Jenny. We really want him to be happy again, he's a truly terrific guy."

"Thanks Dan, I'm Trish," and they shook hands, "Get him to ring me please. Maybe the four of us can get together some time."

"Okay, thanks. See you soon maybe."

With that he left the table of women, hearing their congenial jabs at their friend, to return to his workmates who couldn't resist ribbing him about trying to pick up women at the pub and what would his wife think about that. They all laughed as friends.

#2

It was a poor start to the weekend for Brian who had been feeling really good after work. Bumping into Patricia was a bonus to cap off the week. But it had turned sour, and he reflected on how she had suddenly stopped talking to him and turned away.

"What went wrong," he asked himself, "All was good, then she just stopped, like a switch turned off. Oh well I guess that Jenny is still looking after me and she saw something wrong in her," then he called aloud, "Jenny, was she wrong for me? You were okay with Tina and Ronnie, but not this woman. Do you still want me to remain loyal to you?" then he shook his head as he continued, "Now I'm really cuckoo. Obviously Patricia just didn't want to be with me, not her type I guess."

Just then the phone rang and after introductions he laughed and said, "Speak of the devil Tina. I was just thinking about you. Please tell me you want to see me, I could really do with cheering up at the moment."

"What's up Bri? Hard time at work or something?"

"Something like that."

"Okay, you can tell me all about it when I get there. Be about thirty minutes. See ya."

"Great, can't wait."

He had time for a shower and shave before Christina arrived, dressed in simple denim shorts and blouse. In her hands was a platter of cold meat and salad, with a bread roll sliced and buttered. Brian was really pleased to see an overnight bag strung over her shoulder as they shared a kiss. Grabbing a bottle of wine and glasses he joined her at the table as she laid out the food. He then laid out a couple of plates and cutlery. Toasting each other they settled to eat and talk, enjoying the company. Brian began to feel better after his disaster earlier. By the time they were in the hot tub, naked, he had forgotten all about his earlier female problem. Christina really was very good at making him forget bad things, although he admitted to himself that she brought other bad thoughts into his mind. He never heard her complain about these bad thoughts though, no matter how many times he acted on them. It seemed the more he had them the happier she became, he even found himself feeling much better as well. They never got around to discussing what had gone wrong for Brian, but he didn't mind trying to forget it.

Christina had to leave early the next morning as it was her day to work at the shop, so after a quick breakfast she was gone. He was left with his thoughts all day and they kept returning to Patricia. He was attracted to her and it rankled him that she could just switch off while they had been talking. He couldn't recall what they had been saying just before she went cold, but he could only think he had said something wrong. Despite the great night with Christina he was feeling low by the end of Saturday and went to bed early, not wanting to be awake to dwell on her any more.

#3

His phone was again ringing, but this time it was dark and he had been asleep. Cursing that he was disturbed, he answered feeling bitchy towards whoever was calling. His bitchiness lasted all of one second when he recognised his niece's voice and that she was almost hysterical.

Diana was sobbing as she tried to tell him something, but he had trouble understanding all her words. All he got was, "Oh Bri ... help ... mum ... dad ... quickly."

Now fully alert and standing he asked one question, "Di, are you at home?"

Amidst her sobs she answered with one word he could make out, "Yes."

"I'm on my way. Be there as fast as I can."

He hung up yelling, "Shit!" as he turned a light on to find his clothing he had left on the floor. He didn't even bother with undies, just his shorts and a shirt that he had worn. He grabbed his keys, ran to his ute and drove it onto the road as quickly as he could. Later he could not remember any of that drive to their house. When he pulled up, the gates were open and he was able to park near the front door. Diana was crouched on the front porch waiting for him. Her legs pulled back as close to her body as they could get with her arms cradling them. The porch light was off casting everything in shadow or in pale lighting from the street lamps. She was in her sleepwear, oblivious to anything around her. Brian knelt to talk as she hadn't moved from her crouched position, even after seeing him. She was still crying, totally distressed. In the half light from the street he saw what looked like discolouration on the side of her face.

"Di, what's up. Why are you so," that was as far as he got into his question when he heard the commotion from inside the house.

He heard Ashley yelling, then a man roaring overriding her shrill voice. There was a lull for a moment then he heard china smashing, followed by a scream then a dull thud. Before this finished he was racing through the front door following the sounds of a scuffle, plus other sounds like slapping and more. Arriving at the family room all he could determine was a body on the floor with a man looming over it. Brian didn't stop or even think, he aimed towards the man and launched himself as powerfully as he could. He bowled into him with as much as his body could bring, getting a satisfying 'umph' sound when he hit and toppled the man over. He rolled further off the other man stopping against a chair which got pushed over with a crash due to his momentum. Using the chair as a crutch Brian stood and went back onto the offensive, he had identified the woman as his sister and the man was Martin. Brian had never been a particularly strong man, nor one easily goaded to fighting. Only once in high school had he been in a fight and that lasted all of ten seconds before a teacher intervened. They never even got throw a punch, which is possibly lucky as they only got a lecture and detention. It was strange his brain should bring this up at this time, but who can control your sub-conscious.

With his sister on the floor, crying, distressed and most likely injured he saw red. With what could only be a battle cry of the insane he ran at Martin who was now almost standing, and punched him repeatedly with everything he had. His opponent fell back to the floor not moving as Brian remained hovering over him with fists clenched, yelling for him to get up so he could hit him again. Martin put a hand up in a semblance of defence and slithered backwards as best he could away from his attacker. Brian stayed put waiting for another chance to let his anger loose, but Martin was beaten and didn't try to stand until on the other side of a doorway to the hall.

Brian yelled, "Come and get some more you coward, or get the hell out of here. We never want to see you again."

Martin was a beaten man as could be seen by the cringing stance, but he did stagger to the front door, yelling a parting shot, "You're welcome to the whores you sonofabitch. The pair of 'em disgust me with the fucking way they act, like the sluts they are. You can have 'em, I know you already have been, you fucker."

With that he left the building out the front door. Brian was still breathing heavily and sweating with the adrenaline still pouring through his body. He was checking Ashley when he remembered that Diana was at the front of the house where Martin had run. He raced to the front door to be met by his niece as she was entering.

"Are you okay Di. Oh shit, what happened to you. Did that arsehole do that?"

He was about to go out the front when Diana held on to him, still crying but able to speak more coherently, "I'm okay Bri. He's gone now, he got into his car and roared off like hell was after him," then she moved to hold him close in both arms, "Oh Brian, thank you for coming. I was so scared. It was horrible. He was like a madman," at which she stopped and pulled back to look at his face, "Mum! Is she alright. What did that bastard do to her."

They disengaged and ran back to Ashley who was now sitting on the floor with her head bowed, sobbing. The two bent down to be with her and Brian circled his arms around her and held her close as she now sobbed into his chest. Diana got as close as she could and held them with her head resting on her mother's shoulder. Nobody moved for a long time.

Brian eventually calmed down enough to worry about any injuries to his sister and niece. He let go enough to check her over, seeing some bruising to her face and arms. He dreaded what the parts he couldn't see would be like.

Trying not to say platitudes he inquired if anything was broken or bleeding as she did have some blood on her shirt. After a quick check it was from her blood nose that had already stopped bleeding.

"We need to get to the hospital and call the police. He can't get away with this."

Ashley held him and pleaded not to call the police and she didn't need a doctor. He acquiesced but didn't like it, and looking at Diana she wasn't impressed either. He left it for the moment. He did tell them to pack a bag each as they will be going home with him tonight. Ashley tried to say no, that she'll be alright here. He took no notice and herded her to the bedroom to put some essentials into a bag. Diana had already gone to her room to do as he wanted and was soon helping her mother. The pair were becoming like a automatons, running on autopilot as their bodies went into shock. He managed to get the bags packed and into the back his vehicle, and both women into the cab with seat-belts fastened. Fortunately he knew how the house alarm system worked and set it going before locking behind himself, having grabbed Ashley's set of keys and their phones at the last minute. They could return tomorrow for anything else as he was determined they would be staying with him for a while. There was no way he would let them get in harms way if he could do anything to prevent it.

He only half obeyed his sister, taking them to the hospital emergency room instead of calling an ambulance. Ashley wasn't impressed with him for doing this and tried to resist going inside. He talked her into it only because he was worried she might have internal injuries. They were lucky it was a particularly quiet night allowing Ashley and Diana to be quickly seen to after checking in at the front desk. The clerk kept looking at Brian, after noticing his bruised knuckles, as though he was a piece of dirt. After the women were taken to the cubicles Brian was shown to a waiting area off to one side. He settled on a seat, glad they were getting seen by a doctor and he had a lovely quiet room to get some rest.

He was relaxing as two policemen entered the room and pulled up chairs facing Brian. They looked like they meant business so Brian sat up straight and asked if he could help them. He was curious for a moment when they introduced themselves and wanted to ask him some questions, followed by one reading from a little card about his rights and such. Brian thought it was like those cop shows on TV and was slightly bemused. After the police had finished the required bits they went through some identification and basic questions on where he lived and what he did. When they got to the part about his relationship with the two women with bruises he finally got what they were leading to. It actually made him nervous and embarrassed that they would think he could do that to anyone. He did manage to rein in his immediate retort and with careful words let them know he had not touched them. They were his sister and niece, and Diana had rung him at home distressed. He went through everything he could remember off hand from when he received the call. By the end the two men had relaxed their attitude towards him and actually thanked him for his efforts. They then suggested he could go through to his family members whilst being treated by medical staff, also suggesting they get a look at his own knuckles at the same time. Brian had not even realised he had bruised his hands in the scuffle. Thinking to himself it was no wonder they had all looked and treated him so warily. The officer also mentioned to the woman at the front desk that I had rescued the women and could go back to be with them. He also suggested someone check his hands for any damage. Brian noted the woman's attitude towards him was markedly different to before.

As a parting gesture the older officer advised that a female officer would be there soon to talk with his sister and niece. With a good night they left, explaining they had happened to be there from an earlier episode and were about to leave when Brian had turned up. He was sent back and found Diana with her mother.