Breaking Point (Drew Ashley 1) (33 page)

"If I admit that they'll want to know why I did it, and we're not allowed to tell them that News24 was in Rwibya."

"Well, we can come up with another reason that'll convince them."

The room telephone rang, and Harvey answered. "Breakfast is here," he said when he hung up. Then he walked out.

A few minutes later I decided to join him. I found him in the lounge. He lowered his newspaper. "Breakfast is in the kitchen."

"Aren't you eating?" I asked.

"No."

I went to the kitchen and sat down at the big table. A full English breakfast was set out. I gagged on the first few spoons, but managed to keep the food down. After that it was smooth sailing. I ate slowly, but ate quite a bit.

After breakfast, I went back to the room, passing Harvey in the lounge. His head was still buried in the newspaper.

I lay down on the bed, my conscience tugging at me. Eventually I went back to the lounge. "It's not that I'm not grateful——"

"Save it, Drew," Harvey said, not looking up.

"Okay. I was just trying to apologize." I went back into the room and lay down. Before long I fell asleep.

***

It was dusk when I woke up. I turned over in the bed and was startled to see Harvey in the room. He was removing his clothes. I pretended to still be asleep, and even gave a fake snore. I didn't want him trying to talk to me.

"I know you're awake," he said.

I didn't respond, but I cut out the fake snoring. How embarrassing. I kept my eyes shut.

"When I told your mum and Kale—"

My eyes shot open. "You told Kale I was captured?"

"Yeah, he was the first person I told."

"Well, why didn't they come to get me?"

"What? Should I have let your mum come? This is an Islamic country. She would've been arrested for her skimpy clothes. And as for Kale, I'm sorry to say this, but he doesn't care enough."

I sat up. "How dare you!"

"Crucify me for marrying you, but at least I had a plan. Even if you don't like it, at least it worked. As for Kale, he had no plan, and he wasn't willing to come."

I didn't believe him.

"You're lucky I didn't yank that ring off your finger while you were asleep," Harvey growled. "Because that's what I felt like doing!"

Harvey was angry. I sank against the big soft pillows on the bed, feeling terrible for being the cause of his anger.

He rummaged around in his suitcase, his eyes still on me. "What?"

I swallowed. "Nothing."

Harvey's frown relaxed into a slow smile. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm not thinking anything."

"You're my wife, Drew." Harvey's smile was dangerous.

I had a feeling I knew what was coming.

"God won't be angry if we…get to know each other in the Biblical sense."

I couldn't believe my ears. "Harvey—"

"It'll be okay," he said, his dark eyes pulling me in from across the room. "We'll get a divorce later, but for the present moment, we're married. We should take advantage of the benefits."

Maybe the heat was getting to him. He rose to his feet, letting the suitcase lid fall. I held my breath, fear creeping up my spine. What if he tried to do something to me? I tried to convince myself that Harvey wasn't like that. He was a responsible man. He was a director at work, he had children, he was a churchgoer.

Harvey suddenly cursed under his breath. "You're scared." His tone was accusatory.

I just stared at him.

"For heaven's sake Drew, I wouldn't hurt you. You should know that. I was only joking."

Yeah right. If I'd accepted his proposition he would probably already be butt naked. And what was up with him swearing? Wasn't he supposed to be a Christian now? I turned over, turning my back on him.

I heard him move back to his suitcase. "Don't look now unless you want to see me naked."

That was the last thing I wanted.

"Okay, I'm decent," he said moments later. "There's dinner in the kitchen. Our flight back to England is at seven in the morning. I'm going to bed now."

"Is there another bedroom?" I asked hopefully.

"No. I'll take the couch."

The next morning, I felt guilty as I got onto the plane. For me Rwibya had been a ten day nightmare, but for people like the little boy that had sold me the diseased water it was a nightmare that would last his entire life time, if something didn't happen soon. I thought of his dad in jail and offered up a prayer for their family. Then I prayed for myself. "God please sort out this ridiculous situation I've found myself in. I can't be married to Harvey for a year."

***

My mum and Kale were waiting at the airport when Harvey and I arrived. Kale stepped forward to hug me, but my mum pushed him aside and grabbed me. She was crying. "Drew, I can't imagine what you must have been through out there!" she cried. "I'm so glad you're back."

"So am I," I said. It was muffled by her hair.

"Thank you, Harvey," my mum said, not letting me go. "Thank you, thank you."

Harvey didn't reply. All day he'd been really cold with me. The flight had been an awkward seven hours.

I observed Harvey and Kale over my mum's shoulder. They gave each other one of those brief nods that guys give each other.

"See you all later," Harvey said.

"Wait, Harvey," my mum said releasing me. She grabbed him and squeezed him tight. "Thank you so much."

I smiled at Kale and he came over. He gave me an awkward hug. "You look like you've been to hell and back," he said.

"You could say that."

"I've been so worried."

I noticed that Harvey was watching us.

"Is it prison that did this to you?" Kale asked. "You look like——"

"I know how bad I look, Kale." Unexpected tears filled my eyes. I didn't really know why. Maybe it was because I expected a better welcome from Kale. What was that stupid side hug about, like I was diseased? Well actually, I was diseased. Maybe he didn't want to catch my malaria. Or maybe he'd found out about my sham marriage to Harvey.

"Let's get you home," my mum said. She wiped her eyes and then took my bag.

I was almost giddy with excitement when we got out of the airport and I saw that it was raining. Hallelujah. It was cold.

Harvey moved off in a different direction when we got to the car park. My mum and Kale had come together so we piled into Kale's car, and forty five minutes later I was at home, in my own room, with my own clothes, my own shoes, my own laptop. Even the art on my walls were a source of thanksgiving. I felt like Rwibya and England were two completely different worlds.

After Kale left I sat on my bed in prayer for a few minutes, then had a shower. My mum was cooking something that smelled lovely. It was probably her fried rice. She hadn't made that in ages. I heard the doorbell while I was dressing up so I put on makeup. I didn't want to scare whoever it was that had come round.

I heard feet on the stairs then my room door swung open and Jazz and Destiny bounded in. "Girl what happened to you?" Jazz demanded.

"Trust you to be the one to get into trouble," Destiny said with a smile. "Come here."

We had a group hug and then I told them everything. I wasn't going to be able to tell my mum about it all, because she'd probably pass out, but Jazz and Destiny could handle it.

When I told them about Harvey rescuing me by marriage, they gasped. "Shut up!" Jazz practically yelled.

I hated it when people said that. "I'm not joking. That's what he did."

"Does Kale know?" Destiny asked.

"No."

Destiny sighed. "Wow, you had your very own prince charge in on a white horse to save you."

"I wanted to be saved not married."

"Well you can get divorced," Jazz said.

"Not until after a year."

"Then how do celebrities get divorces two days later?" she asked.

"I don't know, but I plan to do some research."

Destiny shook her head. "God hates divorce."

"Well me and Harvey are not really married. I didn't consent to it."

"Jacob didn't consent to Leah, but he still had to keep her," Destiny argued.

"But that's because they'd consummated the marriage," Jazz said.

They both looked at me, their eyes widening. "Did you and Harvey by any chance—" Jazz began.

"No!" I glared at them although I was laughing. "Do you think I could even do that in my physical condition?"

Jazz grinned mischievously. "Especially with a man like Harvey. He's huge, he'd probably break you or something. You wouldn't survive it."

I snorted in disgust and looked at Destiny. "I swear Jazz is lying when she says she's a virgin."

Jazz sighed. "I am. But that doesn't mean I'm clueless." She sighed again. "I'm doing a night shift tonight so I have to go. If I'd known you had such juicy information to share, I would have swapped my shift."

Destiny giggled. "You'll have to let us know if you and Harvey decide to stay married and uh…consummate it."

That was the last straw. I shooed them out of my room and switched on my laptop. It was time to start looking into a divorce.

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

I went to work the next day. I wasn't really sure why because I was in no shape to work, and it was Friday anyway. I guess I just wanted to get back into my routine and push Rwibya as far away as possible.

Rosie looked up when I walked in. She rolled her eyes. "You would have been forgiven if you'd taken today off."

"When did you get back?" I asked her, slumping into my chair.

"I flew back once we were released. Are you okay?"

"I don't know."

"Please go home," she said. "You look dreadful."

"I'm already on a verbal warning for being off sick," I reminded her.

"Well, you need to be off. You have malaria for crying out loud!"

I reluctantly agreed to leave. I went back to the lift and looked at the button for the top floor. I wondered if Harvey was in. I pushed the button. We really needed to talk about our marriage. I'd emailed him last night after doing some research about divorce. I'd even sent him a text, and he hadn't responded to either. Eventually I'd called and left a voicemail, but Harvey still didn't get back to me. He was obviously ignoring me.

I made my way up to the director's suite when the lift opened, apprehension causing my heart rate to quicken.

Harvey looked up when I entered his office, and I felt winded. How could Harvey do that to me with just a look? I cleared my throat. "Hi."

Harvey leaned back in his seat. The black t-shirt he was wearing was pretty lethal.

"You gonna sit down?" he asked.

I nodded quickly.

"Shut the door," he said.

I shut it and sat down opposite him at his desk. His t-shirt was a little too snug. That wasn't right. He shouldn't be allowed to dress like that for work. It just wasn't professional. It bordered on lewdness, actually.

"You okay?" Harvey asked.

"Huh? Yeah."

Harvey was watching my face. I cleared my throat again.
Snap out of it, Drew.

"Um, Harvey, thanks so much for coming to my rescue in Rwibya. I really appreciate it, and I owe you. I don't know how to make it up to you."

Harvey just looked at me.

I raked my hair back, feeling all jittery. Gosh, what was wrong with me? "Is the air conditioning working?"

"Yeah."

Then why was I roasting! Harvey's lazy smile appeared. Great. He knew he was affecting me. I collected my thoughts. "I tried to contact you last night about you and I, you know, getting that divorce. Did you get my email? And my text? And my voicemail?"

Harvey was still just looking at me.

"What?" I asked.

"You're not well, Drew. What are you doing here?"

"I'm leaving in a minute. So anyway, I tried to contact you because I found a website—"

"Yeah,
divorce in a day
or whatever. I checked the link you sent me." Harvey's eyes seemed to darken, if that were possible. Kale's eyes were beautiful and unusual but Harvey's eyes were intense with a depth that could drown you. And they were so expressive, although half the time I couldn't read them.

"So, we can get a divorce," I said.

Harvey shook his head. "I called them and they were willing to dissolve our marriage until I told them we'd only been married a few days. Like I told you in Rwibya, you can't get divorced in the first year."

"We need to seek legal advice then. Can we just go see a lawyer together? Can't we get an annulment?"

"I saw a lawyer before I married you. He said we have to wait until the year is up and even then we have to prove that one of us committed adultery or has been behaving unreasonably. He said the best thing for us is to wait two years, after which we can divorce by mutual consent without needing to prove adultery or unreasonable behaviour."