An Unexpected Gift (3 page)

They
had been friends since the age of three, meeting at Kindergarten. Their mothers
had become best friends, sharing similar interests, mainly the same toddler
clubs and aerobics class at the local sports center. Luckily, Kerrie and
Caitlin had similar interests and had taken an instant liking to each other
too.  Kerrie's father, who ran his own printing company, had invested in a
beautiful two bed roomed flat in Butler's Wharf, overlooking the River Thames.
This flat she shared with Caitlin and insisted that Caitlin pay only a quarter
of the usual monthly rent. Otherwise, there was no way at all that Caitlin
would have been able to afford such a swanky flat in such a central London location.

The
upside was that Kerrie's parents felt reassured knowing that their daughter was
living with her best friend and a girl that they knew and liked very much.

And so the living
arrangement worked out well for both girls and their families.

The
weekend came around soon enough and though Caitlin’s injuries were quickly
subsiding, the emotional trauma was just beginning. She was having trouble
sleeping and was glad that her parents had offered to come to London to see her
over Christmas. She didn’t feel up to making the train journey back home.

"I
can wait until your parents come,” said Kerrie on the Saturday morning. It was
a few days before Christmas and she was fully dressed to brave the chilly cold;
her deep green scarf with matching hat and gloves accentuated her fiery auburn
hair and green eyes. 

"No,
I’ll be fine. You go. My folks will be here soon enough," replied Caitlin,
rubbing her face. 

Her
bruises were starting to pale but her face was still sore. She would have gone
down to Hampshire  to spend Christmas with her parents but they had been
so shocked to hear about her attack that they told her to stay put. They would
have come up to see her the minute the attack happened, had she told them of
it. Not wanting them to see her bruises Caitlin had managed to convince them to
stay in Hampshire and to come up on Christmas Eve. Otherwise her devoted
parents would have driven up the moment she had told them. She had done her
level best to play down the gravity of the situation.  

As
much as she loved them, the thought of four days cooped up in the tiny
apartment, with her parents filled Caitlin with doom. She knew how her mother
liked to fuss over her. She would be ten times worse than Kerrie. "Hurry
back," said Caitlin, kissing her friend goodbye.

Kerrie
hugged her tightly. "I'll be thinking of you. Say "hi" to your
parents for me. Be good now!" Then, with bags laden to the brim with
gifts, she swept out of the apartment.

As
soon as Kerrie had gone, Caitlin slumped onto the settee once more. Her boss
had signed her off work for a week and she didn't have to go back now until
after New Year's Day.

From
the settee, the view of the River was breathtaking. Over in the distance, in
the skyline, she could see the famous Gherkin. The dark, silent river only had
a few boats on it today. This was one of the few places in London that afforded
such an amazing view. She knew she was lucky to be living here in the heart of
it all. Christmas wouldn't be so bad. And with so many places and shops to
visit and walks to be undertaken, her parent's few days in London would be over
before she knew it.

Just
as they had promised, Caitlin's parents drove down from Hampshire on Christmas
Eve to spend a few days with their only child.  Her mother’s face visibly
crumpled when she set eyes on her daughter. She steeled herself to put on a
brave face but inside she was torn to shreds, wondering who would do this to
her little girl. Her father had been a tower of strength. Inside, he had
seethed with bitter rage unable to put a face to the man he imagined attacking
his daughter that night. The truth was, he couldn’t get the picture out of his
head. He had been angry that Caitlin hadn’t phoned him right away. She had
waited until the next day to tell her parents the disturbing news. But his wife
had managed to calm him down enough so that when he first saw Caitlin when they
arrived at the flat, Roger Quinn held his daughter tightly, comforted her no
end and cherished her dearly. He wanted to put a name and a picture to the man
who had attacked his girl but as yet Caitlin had told them there was no further
news from the police.  Being the pragmatic man that he was, he bought with
him two rape alarms, “one as backup” and insisted that Caitlin carry these
around with her at all times.

On
Christmas Day, her mother had produced her usual amazing Christmas feast which
they had completely pigged out on. And on Boxing Day her father treated his
family to an unforgettable meal at Terence Conran’s Chop House which was just a
short walk away from the flat. Afterwards the three of them had gone for a long
walk along the river, enjoying the sights along the river as they walked along
the cobbled streets of Tower Bridge.

They
had tea and cakes at one of the little cafes in St Katherine's Docks, watching
the magnificent moored yachts dotted all around.  

It
had become slightly foggy and the darkness that started at around half past
three in the early afternoon soon enveloped the tiny streets, save for the
lights from shops and restaurants that glistened like shiny jewels in the
impending darkness. This was the other extreme of London weather and although
Caitlin loved London in the summer, winter truly was one of her favorite times of
the year.  She loved the thought of nights drawing in, the turn in the
weather, the countdown to Christmas and everything that went with it.

But
now she would forever associate Christmas with the brutal attack that had come
out of nowhere and shattered her already fractured life. A life that she was
trying to get back on track again after the mess it had become with Carl.

But
she wouldn’t dwell on that now. Nor would she think about the attack. Having
her parents with her for Christmas was a good way of ensuring that she focused
on more positive things and happy times. And when her parents finally left the
day after Boxing Day, Caitlin found herself all alone once more.

Kerrie
would not be returning until New Year's day. She had offered to return sooner,
not wanting Caitlin to be by herself but Caitlin had declined and did not want
Kerrie to break up her family visit on account of her. So she told a little white
lie and said she would be spending New Year's Eve with some of her friends. But
Caitlin didn’t feel up to doing anything. She had nowhere she wanted to go and
nobody she particularly wanted to meet up with.

And
her thoughts kept straying towards Daniel. Each time she thought of him, she
thought of his blue eyes, his quiet manner and his defense of her. And each
time she thought of this, she immediately relived the attack, which left her
feeling low again. It was like a vicious circle made worse by her parents’
departure. Only now that her parents had left, there were no distractions to
break the vicious circle of tormenting thoughts and terrible memories.

Caitlin
pottered around the house aimlessly for the next few days.  The time in
between Christmas and New Year's seemed to run differently from usual. All the
days melted and meshed into one continuous period, such that the start of one
day and the end of the next was well blurred. With no  specific boundaries
in place, no work to get up for, no timetables to stick to, no place to be at,
and nothing to specifically do, Caitlin found herself sleeping, eating and
watching TV all day long. It was as if her batteries and body needed some
serious recharging.

*         
*          *

New
Year's Eve arrived and by this time Caitlin could no longer stand the daily
ritual of getting up and flopping around in her pajamas all day. Daniel had
been on her mind all during the night and it had now reached the point where
she had to do something about it. Grabbing her black leather bag from behind
the sofa, she ripped it open and hunted through it feverishly, throwing out
tickets, a packet of unopened M&Ms, a hairbrush, a lip balm and a pack of
tissues until she found, it folded up and placed inside her travel pass. A
crumpled old Starbuck’s receipt on the back of which she had scribbled down
Daniel's address.  There was only one thing to do now and perhaps after
that she would be able to put him out of her mind and get a decent night’s
sleep for a change.

Her
thoughts about Daniel had been pushed to the background while her parents had
been over. Now that they had gone, she found herself dwelling on the night of
the attack; she replayed the incident over and over in her mind. It was as if she
was only just starting to acknowledge what had happened to her. If the man who
had saved her had been old, or short and fat, and not particularly
good-looking, would she have been thinking about him as much?

She
tried to dismiss the notion that she was romanticizing him. That somehow, the
very act of him rescuing her had turned him from a stranger into
her
hero. Sometimes she wondered what would have happened to her if he had not
stopped his car and come to her rescue?  She had the niggling feeling that
her attacker had not been after her handbag or possessions because he had not
tried to rip them from her as soon as he attacked her. The feeling made her
uneasy. Because all the attacker had wanted,
was her.
He had rifled
through her handbag but that had only been after she had thrown it to him in a
bid to distract him. There were some nights when she sat bolt upright in bed
knowing that he hadn’t been after her handbag at all. He hadn’t taken anything
from it anyway.

Had
she simply been unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? Was
she the one he had come upon to assault, attack and rape?  Unable to
answer this question, her thoughts would invariably lead to Daniel and then she
would remember all the details starting with how he had saved her right up
until the last minute in hospital when she left him sleeping.

And
so, she felt compelled to visit him. She wasn't sure exactly why but she felt
that she owed him a thank you in person at the very least and to find out how
he was doing.  Even though she had thanked him at the hospital, she wanted
to know that he had recovered from his injuries. If he hadn’t been as good
looking as he was, she might not have felt the compulsion to visit him in
person. But she would still have felt a bond of kinship with him.

As
it was, she was now tired of languishing around in her pajamas all day doing
nothing so she had made up her mind to go and visit him in person. She had
phoned the hospital a few days after the attack to find out how Daniel was
doing – and they had told her that he had suffered a couple of cracked ribs but
had been discharged the next day. He would need to take things easy. She had
been relieved to hear that he had had no life threatening injuries. Cracked
ribs were not so bad; it could have been much worse.  

She
stared down at her scribbled handwriting :
22 Winterbourne Crescent
,
Ladbroke Grove
.  When had she written this down? It didn’t
matter.  She knew where he lived and that was enough.  Dressed up and
ready to leave, she decided to visit him before it got too dark. She felt a
slight sense of trepidation leaving the flat. Today would be the first time she
would be going out by herself. No Kerrie and no parents for support. She
steadied her jittery nerves by taking a few deep breaths.
You can do this.
You’ll be back before it turns dark again.

She
flicked through her A to Z and saw that Winterbourne Crescent was not too far
from Ladbroke Grove station. Before she knew it, she was on the Central Line
heading West. She had picked up a box of chocolates from Thornton’s on her way
there. She wasn't sure if he was a chocolate lover or not but given that she
didn't know much about him, she figured that a box of chocolates would be a
safe thank you gift to give. 

As
she found herself walking down Winterbourne Crescent, counting down from number
one hundred and eighty eight, Caitlin knew she would be on Daniel's doorstep in
a less than ten minutes. Her heart raced uncontrollably so she slowed down her
footsteps even more. She felt her breathing quicken and briefly considered
turning around and getting the tube back into London.  But it was too late.
She was almost at number twenty two now. She could see the black door of the
large detached house a couple of doors down. Forcing herself to go through with
her plan, she walked up to the door, as her insides turned to mush and her mind
emptied quickly.

The
doorbell sounded its loud and booming clang. There was silence from inside.

She waited patiently,
wrestling with the thoughts in her mind that told her she had wasted her time.
Try
once more
, she said to herself, almost praying that nobody would answer.
Now that she was here she felt foolish standing on his doorstep with an
assortment of dark and milk covered chocolates, to give to a man who had been a
stranger a few weeks ago.

She
rang again and this time heard the solid trotting of what sounded like high
heels from the other side. Before she had time to process what the high heels
meant, the door opened and a pair of exquisitely made up hazel eyes stared
disinterestedly at her. Caitlin stared back, feeling immediately underdressed.
She found herself gaping at a tall, slim and blonde beauty. Caitlin’s eyes were
so riveted to the woman’s perfectly applied pink lipstick that she almost
didn’t hear what the woman had said.