Page 41 of The Facilitator, Part 2

The stiffness, initially, from Alex settled as he hugged Mackenzie back.

The British elite didn’t do open affection.

I laughed. Mackenzie then walked around the table and he took Gabriella’s hands in his.

He helped her to her feet and just smiled at her.

I wanted to cry tears of joy at the love of friendship that flowed between the two.

He kissed her cheeks and then placed his hand on her stomach.

“Hello, you in there. I can’t wait to meet you,” he said. He smiled and then left her.

“I think we need to go,” he said, rather quietly. Gabriella went to speak. I gently shook my head at her not to.

“I’ll call you later,” I said, as I gathered my bag.

Mackenzie drove us slowly home. He didn’t speak on the way and I just let him be.

As we walked through the house, he kicked off his shoes and pulled off his socks.

He wanted the feel the sand under his feet.

He’d told me before, it grounded him. I let him go alone for a few moments.

I watched him sit, bring his knees to his chest, and rest his head on the arms he’d crossed over them.

He looked out to sea, and he just sat and stared.

I padded barefoot across the garden and onto the sand. I lowered myself behind him, placing my legs at either side. I wrapped my arms around him and rested my cheek on his back.

“I want to take all your hurt,” I whispered.

“You can’t, but thank you. I didn’t think it would affect me in any way, but it did. It was a jolt that went right through me. I’m sorry, I just needed to distance myself for a while.”

“Don’t apologise, please,” I said.

“I can’t give you the joy I saw in her face. I can’t give you the fluttering in her stomach she’s going to feel. I can’t make you a mother,” he whispered. “I can’t make myself a daddy. I can do anything I want, Lauren, but I can’t do the one thing I need.”

I had no words for him, only tears. Those tears weren’t for me; I’d reconciled not being a mother when I decided I wanted Mackenzie. He needed to do the same.

We sat and watched the waves, the sun shimmering on the top of the sand causing mirages. We didn’t speak. We both hurt in our own way, but we shared that with each other.

It was in the early hours of the morning that we heard shouts. Mackenzie woke before me. He was out of the bed, pulling on his jeans, when I was startled into a sitting position.

“What the…?”

“It’s Daniel. Will you stay here?” he asked.

“Err, no.” I slid off the bed and grabbed my own jeans and a T-shirt. Mackenzie sighed.

Shouts demanding Mackenzie come down here were followed with bashes against the front door. Mackenzie grabbed his phone and sent a text. He didn’t tell me to whom. I followed him down the stairs and he stopped halfway across the living room.

“Please, Lauren, stay here. He’s likely to get violent. I can’t deal with that if I’m worried about you. Do you understand me?” He had grabbed my arms.

“Don’t fight with him. Just call the police, please?”

“This has been a long time coming. I’ve texted Alex, he’ll call the police, don’t worry.”

“Then stay in here,” I said, as another barrage of thumps and kicks to the front door happened. I wasn’t sure the locks would hold.

“Soon enough he’ll kick down the door. Stay here, I mean it. Don’t make me have to worry about you.”

All I could do was nod my head. I wrapped my arms around myself as Mackenzie strode to the front door.

I covered my mouth to quell the scream as he pulled it open sharply and punched Daniel clear in the face.

Daniel fell backwards on the veranda. Mackenzie followed him out.

He reached down and grabbed the front of Daniel’s shirt.

I watched as he raised his fist again; at that point the front door began to naturally close.

I could hear Daniel shouting about losing everything.

His voice was heavily slurred, and I wasn’t sure if it was drink, drugs, or losing half his teeth as I imagined he might have.

I ran to the window and looked out. Although dark, I could see the bare back of Mackenzie and the prone form of Daniel.

Mackenzie stood over him. I saw him look back at the front door before he leaned down. He appeared to be checking for a pulse.

“Oh fuck,” I whispered to myself.

I ran from the house. “Is he okay?” I asked.

“The fucker is still breathing, if that’s what you mean. He passed out before I could assist in ending that.”

I checked Mackenzie over. He had a blood splatter on his chest but no broken skin—as he had when he’d hit Scott—across his knuckles. Daniel had a bloodied nose and a split lip but not much more. I sighed in relief. It didn’t appear that Mackenzie had fought with him.

“Go and wash your hands and your chest,” I said. He looked at them.

“Lauren, it’s okay. I’m entitled to defend you, my property, and myself. I could have shot the fucker and gotten away with it. And I would’ve had we had a gun on the property.”

“I don’t want to hear that,” I replied. At that, the wail of a police car could be heard coming along the road.

It was a half hour later before Daniel was removed by ambulance. An hour before all statements were taken and the police left. I sat at the kitchen table with Alex and Mackenzie. Gabriella had called twice, and I was sipping coffee I knew would only exasperate my jangling nerves.

It seemed Daniel had been seen in a local bar getting very drunk.

He’d been threatening and telling everyone he was going after Mackenzie before being thrown out.

The bartender had called Vivienne, not having a number for Mackenzie.

Alex had been alerted to possible trouble before Mackenzie had even called.

On Mackenzie’s text, he’d called the police.

The sun was rising when Alex left. I had insisted he get back to Gabriella and Vivienne; they would be terrified, and I didn’t think it fair they were alone. Mackenzie and I sat in silence for a while.

“I think I might like to go home,” I whispered. The angst was just too much.

He nodded and took up my hand. “I’m so sorry, this really has been an awful trip for you.”

“And you,” I said. “I understand if you need to stay on for another few days just to get everything finalised.”

“Can I persuade you to stay with me?”

I sighed. “I’m tired. How about we see if we can get a few hours sleep? I’m probably making rash decisions. I’m jet-lagged, jangling from caffeine, and I don’t know which way is up.”

He stood and followed me to the bedroom. I stripped off my clothes and climbed back under the sheet. He did the same and I lifted his arm so I could snuggle into him.

“I love you,” I said.

He turned his head and kissed my forehead.

“I love you more,” he replied.

If I thought the trip was spiralling faster than a downhill skier, I wasn’t prepared for what came next.

I’d put my I’d like to go home on hold for a few hours.

Mackenzie needed me; it was way harder for him.

As much as I was quite happy to run away, I needed to pull my big girl pants up.

He promised he’d get as much done that day as possible and then we’d see how I felt.

The police returned to Vivienne’s and a second statement was taken.

It appeared, once Daniel had sobered up, he had accused his mother of cutting off his funds, and he’d simply turned up inebriated in the early hours of the morning to ask for Mackenzie’s help.

Instead of help, according to Daniel, he was met with a vicious attack where he feared for his life.

I witnessed some of what happened. I explained about the noise, the shouting, and the way he was kicking at the door. That wasn’t someone politely knocking to come in.

Vivienne then had to explain how she believed he had forged her signature, and although she didn’t want to press charges, the matter had been resolved.

That had triggered just one of a long list of grievances Daniel had against his own family and Mackenzie.

She asked for them to consider an order be put in place, so he couldn’t return to the house other than once, accompanied by a police officer, so he could collect any belongings he owned.

She wasn’t acting when her shoulders slumped and her voice cracked.

She wasn’t pretending when a tear leaked from one eye and ran down her perfectly made up face.

It wasn’t just Mackenzie who needed my support, but Vivienne and Gabriella as well.

It was decided Alex was to head on over to Boston in a few days, and Gabriella was to stay with her mother for another week, until she was sure measures had been put in place to protect her. I wasn’t sure a week would be long enough; especially after a visit from Father Dickhead.

“I swear I didn’t know,” he pleaded.

Although I was sitting on the veranda with a cold juice, I could hear his brash voice boom around the kitchen and out to where I was.

“I believe you didn’t. The fact remains, however, knowing the relationship Daniel has with his family, a check should have been done.

It doesn’t matter now, of course, the trust has been redesigned so all trustees have to countersign any and all documents.

It’s a prudent security measure. I might get senile at some point, as may you.

It’s protection for us all,” Vivienne informed him.

He then mumbled something I didn’t quite catch.

“If my husband were alive today, I can assure you, David, Daniel would have been cast out a long time ago. I’d advise that, since you aren’t a parent, you don’t tell me how to be one,” Vivienne said, with such a steely voice she reminded me of my old headmistress.

Father Dickhead left shortly after that.

“Lauren, I absolutely envy you with just your mom and brother to worry about,” Gabriella said, as she joined me. “Gosh, that was super insensitive of me, wasn’t it?”

I laughed. “Yes, but absolutely true. Now sit with me for a while. I want to talk to you.”