Prologue
She clawed her skin as her nails dug deep, drawing the blood that lay beneath the surface. The pounding of her heart rising within her ears, running at the speed of her racing thoughts.
She peered between the leaves, holding her breath in fear of being heard, hoping, praying he wouldn’t find her cowering here in the bushes.
Slowly she moved out from behind the shrubs looking for her father’s car. She felt the tattered remains of her dress hook itself onto one of the branches and the cold breeze lick against her bare skin. This was meant to be the happiest night of her life. Her graduation from high school. The start of a new chapter. Yet here she stood, shivering in the cool night air, as the stench of him still clung to her skin.
He had come out of nowhere, it felt. Grabbing her and thrusting her into the toilet, trying to tear her clothes as he assaulted her. She’d known him for the past six years and never had she thought he’d be capable of this. He had always been charismatic, the popular one whom everyone loved, always attentive, fully engaged. She shuddered. If it hadn’t been for the stranger who rescued her, she wouldn’t have managed to get away.
She squinted, moving back behind the bushes, trying to recall the strangers face. His silhouette seemed vaguely familiar, yet all she could recall was the sound of his fists pounding hard at her tormentor’s face, his voice gruff with burning anger, screamed at her to run.
Her sweaty palms tried to smooth the dress her mother had chosen for her. After months of excitement to find the perfect one, they’d settled on a floor length coral satin dress embellished with silver sequins to define her tiny waist.
Her waist. Right now, she detested it. The same waist he ran his filthy paws up and down as she tried to fight him off with all her might. The pounding in her head grew worse, as her fingers wiped away the blood pouring from the cut on the side of her face. He’d seemed determined to ruin her. Determined to defile her. A chill sprinted up the ridges of her spine as it dawned on her what would have become of her had she not been rescued. She had no way of even thanking the person who rescued her now, no way of telling him how she appreciated him saving her life. If only she had seen who he was. She was eternally in his debt.
The bright headlights jarred her thoughts as her father’s car pulled up. Breathing deeply, she rose like a phoenix from the ashes, with a determination not to let this consume her.
The flaps of torn satin betrayed her confidence as she ran, barefoot, to her father. His eyes met hers as he flung open the car door and ran towards her, tearing off his jacket to cover her. His strong arms wrapped themselves gently around her as he lifted her and carried her to the car. Tears pricked his eyelids, as the realisation of what had happened dawned on him.
Slowly and gently, as only a father could, he lay her on the backseat of their SUV, kissing her cheeks as tears from his eyes washed over her bloodstained face.
‘We will get through this, my baby, if only I was there to protect you.’
‘It’s okay, Dad, someone did come and help me. I just don’t know who he was,’ she said, as he tucked his jacket around her. Hope sparked in his eyes that the worst hadn’t happened.
Slowly, he got into the driver’s seat, and let the car move forwards, to a new future. A future that would forever be tainted.
She lay motionless, his final words ringing in her ears,
‘This isn’t over, this isn’t the last you’ll see of me!’
Chapter One
‘You have got to be kidding me,’ Amelia said, giving Rachel a pretentious scowl through slated eyes. ‘I thought I was only meeting you for lunch, not the two of them.’
Rachel laughed, knowing all too well Amelia loved Max and Snuggles as much she did. ‘What would lunch be without some slobber around your ankles?’ Rachel giggled, giving Amelia a kiss on the cheek before giving her two golden cocker spaniels space to go and lick Amelia hello.
‘Aargh, you two are lucky you’re so cute,’ she said rubbing them merrily behind the ears. Max and Snuggles enjoyed the attention before settling in a shaded spot underneath the table.
‘So, how’s the new office in the looney bin?’ Amelia asked, referring to her friend’s new post at St Theresa’s Psychiatric Hospital in Pretoria East.
‘It’s going well. The new hospital looks more like a hotel. You should come past and have a look.’
‘I think I’ll pass thanks. You can send me pics. I still don’t understand how you choose to go to a psych ward every day as a job. I prefer clothing.’
Rachel laughed as she signalled for the waitress to place their usual order of peppermint tea and pistachio and chocolate cheesecake. They’d become regulars here at Jane’s Tea Garden, a quaint restaurant flanking a massive public park.
The afternoon breeze whispered against their skin, reminding them that Spring had sprung a few weeks earlier. The telling sign of the purple jacaranda trees marked October off on their calendar, as the warm South African sun began to make its way back into their lives, leaving behind the cold winter days.
Jane’s Tea Garden had a long entrance path leading up from the park, lined with the infamous Jacaranda trees. Who choreographed their spectacular show each Spring by blossoming their purple flowers in perfect splendour during the eight weeks of October and November. It was said that there were almost seventy thousand jacaranda trees planted in Pretoria, imported from South America. The city became so alive with its purple hue that the locals called it Jacaranda City.
It was their perfect weekly meeting spot, and Rachel had to admit it was the calm she needed from her life as a psychologist. Amelia had never understood how she could choose to listen to people’s problems all day, but for Rachel, it was so much more than that. The ability to see someone transform week after week gave her joy.
Amelia would argue that she got the same joy from seeing people wearing the clothes she sold in her boutique, but Rachel knew that the two jobs could never be compared. They had their rewards, each in very different spheres of humanity.
The tea and cake arrived drawing Max and Snuggles’s attention, Rachel reached in her bag to give them both some dog treats.
‘So, how’s Will?’ Amelia enquired between sips of tea.
‘He seems okay, I guess. We just seem to be missing seeing each other. With me moving offices and him juggling his teaching and music careers, there just aren’t enough hours in the day.’
‘You both need to figure it out. Life gets busy but you’ve been dating for what? Ten years now? Either get married or move on.’
Rachel knew Amelia was right. She and Will had been together for eleven years, actually. And with them both a year away from turning thirty, she knew it was about time they tied the knot. Will hadn’t yet proposed, and she wondered whether he had the same reservations about marriage as she did. The only problem was, she could never figure out whether her reservations were about marriage or about him.
They’d started dating in university. Although they’d attended the same high school for six years, somehow their paths hadn’t crossed. Then, during her first year of university, he’d caught her eye as he sang in one of the student bars. Maybe it was the dark musty club, or maybe his silky voice, she never knew. But that night, she’d stopped in her tracks as his voice floated through the speakers and into her heart.