The Secrets of Love Story Bridge, page 22
“Liza and I found a letter from Victor at your apartment,” Mitchell said.
Yvette’s face grew pale. “He found out my new mobile number and texted me. He wants to meet me tomorrow in the city.”
“How did he find it?”
“I don’t know...”
“You’re not going to see him?” Mitchell stated, astonished she could be considering this.
Yvette bit her lip. “I’m scared about what I did, reporting him, but he’s Connor’s father, Mitchell. I didn’t tell him I was pregnant but somehow, he found out. It’s best if I meet him, in public, and get this over with. I’m so tired and I just want to face up to my past so I can move on.”
“You’ll need someone with you,” Mitchell said. “You can’t meet him on your own.”
“Liza said she’d look after Connor for me. I don’t want to worry Mum. I’ve put Naomi through enough, asking her to lie for me...”
“You should tell a police officer.”
She shook her head. “He went to prison because of me, but Victor has never harmed me—I don’t think he’d do anything violent.”
“He was locked up because of something he did, not you.” Mitchell thought for a while. “I’ll come with you.”
“I can’t ask you to do that. You’ve done enough for me already.”
“I want to do it,” he insisted. He again thought of Anita and his sense of shame and loss. This time he could help. “I want to be there, for you and all of your family.”
She took a while to consider this and gave him a small nod. “Thank you.”
After leaving the conservatory, they headed back through the green wrought-iron entrance gates of the park. Yvette attempted to hold her umbrella over Mitchell’s head, but the spikes jabbed where his stitches had been.
“Ouch.”
“Sorry,” she said. “I told you I was clumsy.”
“You did. On the riverbank.” He remembered. “You knock over wineglasses.”
“And spike people in the head, it seems.”
They shared an awkward small laugh that made them both feel stronger. And the smiles on their faces remained as they walked along the path.
The rain pelting against Yvette’s umbrella sounded like a drumroll and Mitchell wondered what the hell they were both going to do when they encountered Victor.
26
BENCH
The following day, when Mitchell sat in Liza’s sitting room with the Bradfields, the air was thick with tension. He was glad Poppy was out of the way in her school club.
Sheila sat on the sofa, clasping her hands anxiously. Naomi flitted around, plumping cushions, fetching glasses of water and squeezing Yvette’s shoulder reassuringly. Liza pasted on a smile, though Mitchell could see the stiffness of her body and the strain in her eyes. Yvette sat rocking Connor on her lap, soothing and whispering to him.
They had all gathered here together before Mitchell would accompany Yvette to see Victor. She’d arranged to meet him in the middle of the Slab. Out of all the city bridges, Mitchell was glad it was this one. It was plain and wide, without any ornate railings or intricacies in its design. It meant Yvette would be in out in the open with lots of people around. Even so, his stomach was a tight knot, uncomfortable as he sat on the sofa beside Sheila.
“Are you sure about this, Yvette?” Sheila asked. She kept a hand pressed to her chest and her breathing was heavy. “I’m so worried about you. We’ve only just got you back, and now you’re going to meet the man you tried to escape from. I blame him for all this.”
“It wasn’t all about Victor, Mum,” Yvette said. “It’s more about the decisions and actions I made over the last twelve months. He is Connor’s father.”
“We’ve read his letter,” Naomi insisted. “I saw him in the café with you, and how he treated you. He’s been in prison...”
Yvette nodded solemnly. “I’m scared of him, too. He’s shaped my life for a long time. But this is more for me than him. I’m desperate to start afresh. I want to feel stronger with no more running or hiding. I want to be with my family and not have to look over my shoulder. I know I could do this officially, through mediation, but that could take weeks and months to set up. I thought about writing him a letter, but I’m just so tired and I want to take charge of things. I don’t want anything hanging over my head any longer.”
Mitchell could see both sides of the situation. He could feel the worry and stress humming around the room. However, he could also understand how Yvette wanted to take this big step forward and move on.
“I’ll be with you,” he told her. “You’re not on your own.”
“Thank you.” She nodded nervously.
The others didn’t say anything and Mitchell’s spirits faded when he sensed they didn’t think he was enough.
“Everything will be fine,” he assured them. “Really.”
Liza raised her eyes at him. “What if that’s not enough?”
* * *
The air was warm and thick outside, so Mitchell’s breathing felt labored as he walked with Yvette toward the Slab. She looked twitchily around her, and Mitchell’s own legs felt jellylike from nerves.
“The last time I saw Victor, he was hammering on my apartment door,” she said. “He’s probably still furious with me.”
“We’ll be in a public place. You’re not alone.”
She walked without speaking for a while. “I know. Thanks for coming with me, Mitchell.”
Everyone who passed them was in a happier place, buoyed on by the reappearance of the sunshine. Dogs scampered along the pavement, joggers wore smiles along with their Apple earbuds and office workers donned sunglasses and chatted on their mobiles.
Mitchell and Yvette reached the middle of the bridge five minutes before the agreed rendezvous time with Victor. The pavement was lined with low concrete benches. A couple lay draped across one of them, kissing languidly. On another, a man lay on his back with his socks and shoes off and a newspaper covering his face.
Mitchell and Yvette approached an empty bench. She perched on the edge, and her feet shuffled on the ground. Mitchell decided to stand a few meters away, surveying his surroundings until Victor arrived. He pressed his back against the railing and when he crooked his leg, he felt his mobile phone pushed down in his pocket.
Last night, he had used it to call Graham, and he thought back to their conversation.
“What can I do for you, Mitchy Boy?” Graham had asked when Mitchell said he’d like to call in a second favor, if possible.
“I’m trying to find out what I can about a man called Victor Sonetti. Yvette knew him through work and discovered he was embezzling funds. She reported him to her company and Victor was sent to prison. He got out recently and Yvette could be in danger. Do you think Mason and Tony can help us at all?” He recalled Graham’s words, about how he was glad the men were his friends not his enemies.
“I told you, Mitchy Boy. They know everything about everything. Do you want them to do some digging around?”
“It’s just some background information, if we need it.” Mitchell explained the situation further and told Graham he was accompanying Yvette to meet Victor.
“Do you want the boys to come along, too, as backup? Brute force?” Graham asked.
“Hopefully I won’t need that. And I’m sorry to ask you to do this.”
“That’s what friends are for,” Graham said. “Now what do you want to know?”
On the bridge, Mitchell saw Yvette’s eyes widen. He sensed her stiffening as he watched a small bald man walking a Pomeranian dog on a leash. He whistled nonchalantly as he approached them.
Mitchell frowned, thinking this couldn’t possibly be Victor. In his head, he’d imagined him to be big and muscly with tattooed arms, or maybe a slick guy in a pin-striped suit. But this man was now smiling. He wore jogging pants and a faded lilac T-shirt. “Is that him?” he asked.
“Yes,” she murmured. “Appearances can be deceptive.”
“It’ll be okay.”
She nodded at him and stuck out her chin. “We’ll see.”
“Yvette.” Victor picked up his small dog and held it to his chest. Though his tone was friendly, he didn’t acknowledge Mitchell’s presence. “It’s wonderful to see you. You look fantastic—well, maybe a touch pale. This is my new friend, Penny. I brought her to say hi.”
Mitchell studied the man. Although he smiled, his eyes were small and purplish like pomegranate seeds.
Yvette shrank like a caterpillar curling against touch.
Victor lowered his dog to the pavement. “Where’s Connor?” he asked lightly, looking around.
“He’s at home with my family.”
“That’s a shame, I so wanted to meet him. You kept it from me that I was a father, but that’s not the only thing you didn’t tell me, eh? I only borrowed that money for us, you know, so we could have a better future together.”
“You stole thousands, Victor. What did you expect me to do?”
“Didn’t expect my own girlfriend to turn against me, that’s for sure. And you didn’t tell me you were pregnant, either.”
“I didn’t know about it, until later.”
“Would it have made any difference? Would you have kept your mouth shut? We could have been a family with nice cash to spend.”
“No,” she said firmly.
His eyes narrowed instantly. “I thought not, should have known you were a conniving cow.”
“That’s enough.” Mitchell stepped forward. “Yvette agreed to meet you here as planned. Don’t abuse that.”
Victor’s lips twitched into a smirk. “Ah, you’re the new boyfriend I presume?”
“Leave him out of it,” Yvette ordered.
Victor raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her before he suddenly lurched forward, squaring up to Mitchell.
Mitchell’s heart thumped. However, he was used to people reacting aggressively when he stopped them from hanging padlocks on the bridges and he was not going to let Victor intimidate him. He’d played a big part in bringing Yvette and her family back together again, and this angry man wasn’t going to taint that.
Mitchell got in Victor’s face. “I’m a friend of the family.”
“And I’m supposed to be impressed by that?”
“I don’t actually care what you think,” Mitchell said. “I’m here for Yvette and the Bradfields. You’re a thief and Yvette was so worried about what you’d do to her, she ran away from you. She was protecting her unborn baby. A baby with a heart defect. Does that make you feel like a proper man?”
A flicker in Victor’s eye told Mitchell he wasn’t used to being questioned. He grabbed the front of Mitchell’s shirt. “Don’t you ever speak to me like that again,” he hissed.
Mitchell jerked away and shoved the smaller man so he stumbled backward. Mitchell reared up to his full height. “Yvette wants to start afresh. She acknowledges you’re part of Connor’s life, but you are not going to see him if there is any risk to the baby, or to Yvette. You need to speak civilly to her and prove you’re worthy of them both.”
“I would never hurt my own child.”
“Really? From my perspective, you look exactly like the kind of man who would do that.”
Victor’s eyes bored into him, but Mitchell stood his ground. “Yvette did what anyone with proper values would do when she found out you were stealing,” he said.
Yvette inched forward. “I’ll take steps for you to see Connor through the official, proper channels and you need to go along with that, if you want to see him,” she said.
Victor smirked at them both in turn. “What if I’m not an official kind of guy?”
“Well then,” Mitchell said. “A couple of friends of mine have told me a few more things about you... Very interesting things.”
Victor’s eyebrow twitched up. “Who?” he growled. “What?”
“Never you mind.” Mitchell began to circle him, caging him in. He bent in close to Victor’s ear. “This is what I know about you...”
He reeled off all that Mason and Tony had passed on through Graham, about Victor’s other dodgy business dealings. They had uncovered several businesses he’d set up under a fake identity, where he had stolen funds from investors before disappearing. The information could easily land him with more months, even years in prison, if brought to light.
“If you ever do anything to jeopardize Yvette’s and Connor’s happiness, I will be onto you,” Mitchell threatened. His words made him feel stronger as he spoke them. “My friends will not let this go.”
Victor barked a laugh, but it sounded hoarse and unnerved. He picked up Penny again and gave her head a ruffle. “Hey, no need for that. I just care about my son. I’m a changed man since I got out of prison.”
Mitchell stared at him disbelievingly.
“It’s true.” Victor looked over at Yvette. “I’ve made bad choices. Had therapy for it, to understand myself better. I just want a second chance.”
“I saw the letter you sent to her...”
“If it’s any consolation, I’m sorry about that. It was a mistake. I’d found out I was a father through the grapevine, and I was angry at first. But now I can see why Yvette did what she did, and why she ran. She’s a decent person, and I’m not.” He smiled at her. “I don’t blame you for any of this, okay? I brought it all on myself. Can we just talk for a while?”
Yvette eventually nodded. “Okay. But I want Mitchell close by.”
“No problem. Anything you want. I apologize for how I spoke to you before.”
Mitchell paced up and down for twenty minutes. He watched, making his presence known, as Victor and Yvette talked together.
Eventually, Victor walked over to him. “Thanks for that,” he said gruffly and held out his hand. Mitchell reluctantly shook it. “I’ll wait until Yvette gets in touch, okay? No trouble from me. I just want to get to know my son. You have stuff on me and I know it.”
Mitchell jerked his head in acknowledgment. He watched as Victor and Penny walked away, and he returned to Yvette. “Are you okay?” he asked gently.
She nodded in reply before taking a deep breath. “I’ve done it. I’ve taken another step to returning to normal. I can look forward to everything being okay again. As much as it can be.”
“I’m here whenever you need me,” he said. “If you’re ready to go home, I’ll walk back with you.”
“You don’t need to. I can do it alone.”
“I want to make sure you’re back with your family safely.”
She smiled at him gratefully, and they started to move away from the bench. “I heard from Liza that people call you the Hero on the Bridge. And you really are,” she said.
Mitchell took a moment to let this sink in. He hadn’t felt truly worthy of the label before, but reaching out to others had helped lift some of his guilty burden about not being there for Anita.
As he walked into the shadow cast by a tree, Mitchell’s face felt briefly cool. But when he stepped out of the gray chilliness, he felt the heat of the day again, warming his cheeks. He smiled as he walked into the sunshine.
27
FAMILY
As Mitchell walked with Yvette through Upchester, he had a new bounce in his step, a pride in himself that he hadn’t felt for a long time. When he’d helped Yvette from the river, it had been a gut reaction, an impromptu act that he didn’t have time to consider. But this was different. It felt even bigger.
He and Poppy were a great team and they always would be, but it felt good to be a key part in helping the cogs of the Bradfields’ family life to start turning again.
Mitchell could already see that Yvette looked brighter, too. Her body seemed lighter and her steps more determined as they headed along the main road and past each of the bridges. She asked Mitchell about the opening ceremony for the new white bridge and if he was going to take Poppy along. She said she might try to take Connor, making even more effort to bring herself back into the outside world.
Their conversation together felt warm and natural, and Mitchell realized that he didn’t feel any attraction to her, other than the enjoyment of spending time with a friend.
When they reached Liza’s house, she opened her front door and reached out to take Connor. Her face was etched with concern. “How was everything? Are you both okay?”
Yvette nodded tentatively. “I think so. I feel so tired after seeing Victor again. We talked, though I’m not sure if he’s the changed man he says he is. When he first meets Connor, I’ll make sure it’s a supervised visit. I want to give him that chance, for Connor’s sake.”
“You look worn-out. Why don’t you call Mum and then go for a lie down?” Liza suggested. “She’s gotten herself all worked up, so I drove her home. Naomi had to get back for the kids.”
“I’ll do that, thank you.”
“Poppy is upstairs, too,” Liza told Mitchell, avoiding looking at him. “She was reading a book, but dozed off about half an hour ago.”
As Yvette made her way upstairs, Mitchell could detect a coolness exuding from Liza, directed at him. He wondered if it was worry about Yvette. She walked into her sitting room and sat down heavily in a chair. He wasn’t sure if it was an invitation for him to follow her, but he did so anyway.
Over the couple of hours he and Yvette had been away from the house, purple shadows had appeared under Liza’s eyes. She sat with her body turned at an angle away from him. The air of worried tension in the house had gone, replaced by something more unspoken and unsettling.
Mitchell sat down in the armchair opposite her. “Has everything been okay?” he asked cautiously.
“With Poppy, yes.” Liza folded her arms and directed a piercing glare at him for a split second.
“Um, is anything wrong?” he said.
