He held her close, and the bond between them began to mend. Noelle closed her eyes as she thought about everything she had missed. She wasn’t just thinking about the last two years but what she’d missed since the accident. Time truly could heal old wounds.
With that thought in mind, she wondered if she could forgive Isaac. In the moments of being in her father’s arms she knew she could forgive him.
****
Noelle spent the next couple of days with her family. Her cousins were visiting from up north, and the family were having several trips down memory lane. She didn’t see her father drink once during their time together. He took her out to the local diner, and they ate together mending the barrier that had been erected between them. She knew she had to go back home but had promised to return for Christmas.
On the day before her last, she was clearing away the dishes when the door bell rang. Her mother went to answer it as her dad and cousins were getting ready to watch a movie. Noelle put some condiments away in the cupboard.
“Noelle, a gentleman is here to see you.” Her family charged toward the porch to see the man who’d come to call on her. Shaking her head and smiling at the same time she went to see who had decided to visit. She stopped when she saw Brad at the door. He looked pale and terrified. Staring at him, she knew something was wrong. His whole demeanour was off. When he saw her, she saw the relief flash across his face.
“Everyone, I’d like you to meet Bradley Welch. He’s my friend who I shared an apartment with in the city.”
They all offered him thanks.
“Let’s leave Noelle with her friend. He looks like he wants to speak to her alone,” her father said.
She watched her family leave. When she thought about seeing Brad, she imagined it would have been in privacy. Taking his hand, she noted how clammy he felt to the touch, and took him to the dining room.
****
Brad took a deep breath as her family left. The people were making him nervous. Since leaving Ben at the cemetery he’d been lost. He’d spent the last few days trying to find the only rock he had in his life.
Her touch made him nervous. Could she feel the change inside him?
She dropped his hand and began clearing away the table. He followed her around, unsure of how to ask for her help.
“I need to talk to you, Noelle,” Brad said. His hands were shaking. He was so close to falling off the wagon. He needed his tower of strength, the one woman who’d stood by him through thick and thin. Isaac was a mess from her loss, and he knew the only thing to keep him from going under was Noelle.
“I don’t want to talk to you. You interfered in my life, Brad. That kind of shit you don’t forgive. Why did you come out here?” She slammed around the room putting away jars of pickles. The rest of her family sat in the sitting room. They’d given her privacy while he visited.
“I know I f**ked up,” he said. Getting his brother to play the role of being an escort had been a mistake. He should have introduced them like a normal couple. Instead, he’d been a bastard and gone behind her back.
“Yeah. You f**ked up in a big way. I can’t believe you did that to me,” she said.
Brad heard the words while he was nervous about what he had hiding in his jacket. The burning inside him grew.
“Help me,” he asked.
“What?”
“I’m really sorry, and the only consolation I can give you right now is that Isaac does love you. I know you don’t believe me, but, Noelle, I need your help.”
He’d gotten her attention as he began to close up inside. The struggle to breathe began as he saw the grave-stone in his head. Through his own useless acts, he’d been responsible for the death of a wife and child. He hadn’t been able to talk to Ben. He’d left Ben to go to his apartment and find Noelle.
Staring at his friend the usual peace he felt was failing him. The desire to grab what was inside his jacket and lose himself was strong.
“I can’t handle it anymore. I need your help.”
“What’s going on, Brad?” The tears began to well in his eyes as the hunger gripped him.
One sniff and one drink, and you’ll be at peace. No more remembering. Just the sweet bliss of oblivion.
He shook all over from the effort to try to hold it inside.
He was failing.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“What’s going on, Brad?” she asked again.
Noelle watched as he pulled the spirit bottle out of his jacket along with a couple of hits of some drug. She saw the white powder and knew it was coc**ne.
“What the f**k?” She grabbed his arm, pulled him out of the house and down to the shed at the bottom of the garden.
Taking his jacket off, she checked his arms for any signs of open track marks, her heart pounding the whole time. For the past couple of weeks she hadn’t been able to keep her food down. She felt dizzy from the movement and ended up leaning against him for support.
“What’s the matter, Noelle?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I just came over a little light-headed.”
“I shouldn’t have bought this problem to you. It was unfair.” Brad went to grab his jacket. Her dizziness subsided, and she slapped his hand. Then she slapped his face.
“What the f**k is wrong with you, you ass**le?”
“I ruined Ben’s life,” he said. His tears returned with full force.
“What?”
“He holds me responsible for the death of his wife. She found out about us when I was hyped up on drugs. She crashed into a tree killing herself and the baby she carried in the process. Ben will never forgive me.” He cried, collapsed to his knees, and sobbed against her waist.
Noelle couldn’t help the tears which came as she mourned for Ben and his wife, and she mourned for her friend as well.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” Brad said over and over again.
She held him through his pain. Looking down at the white powder in her hand she planned to dispose of it later. Putting it into her back pocket, she wrapped her arms around him.
“I’ve got you, Brad. Let it all go.”
Closing her eyes, she tried to deal with everything he was telling her. Ben had been married, and he had an affair with Brad. The whole sordid affair had come out while Brad had been in one of his high alcohol and drug moments.
“How could I have been so stupid? I’ve broken him, Noelle. There is nothing I can do to make it right.”
“I don’t ever want to hear you talking like that again, Bradley Welch. Do you hear me? You’re not responsible for the death of someone else’s wife. Ben should know better, and I’m disappointed in him for blaming you,” Noelle said.