Tried With Fire - (Ruth Harris Series)

Chapter 9

Unable to even entertain such a threat, I laughed. Everyone looked at me.
'Sorry, it's just,' I held my tummy, 'you guys are unbelievable! You've spent the last nine years in Dubai, with barely any contact with Hunter or me or Olivia, and now you turn up on our doorstep one night and expect to take her away with you!? - And all because you think I'm crazy!?'
               Hunter and his father both stared at me, while Katherine set down her cup of tea, barely touched, and smiled. It was a cruel, wicked smile, like the kind of grin the Cheshire Cat wears in the picture books Olivia loves so much. Olivia certainly didn't love Katherine and Phil Brookes though - she hadn't met them enough to form any sort of opinion on them! And she certainly would not be going to live with them!
               As I tried to control my giggling, Hunter's spirit finally returned to him and he sat up, squeezed my hand and looked his parents in the eye.
'Ruth's right. You don't even know what Olivia looks like now! You don't care about her. You can't have her.'
'I understand how you feel, Hunter, Ruth,' his dad said calmly, 'but we just want what's best for Olivia.'
'And why the hell is that not living here with us?' Hunter asked angrily, before I could. We looked up at his speechless father, and then at his mother when she said,
'Because Ruth is unstable, and probably a threat to Olivia.'
               Now we both froze, stunned. Then the hysterical, infuriated shouting started.
'How dare you -'
'I am not unstable, and I am NOT a threat to my own daughter! I would never hurt a hair on her head! How dare you accuse me of that!?'
'You two have no right to show up here and start insulting my wife!' Hunter added, just as passionately. His hand was on my back as we both stood up from the sofa. 'We are the best parents for Olivia. She has a home here, and friends and a brilliant, caring mother and, and -'
               Still caught in disbelief, I continued,
'You, Katherine, are a prejudiced, bigoted old cow but you don't see me turning up at your door in Dubai to tell you that!'
'You are not going to raise our daughter for us!'
'Enough.' Mrs Brookes demanded, standing up from the armchair to tower over me. I narrowed my eyes at her and straightened out my back, still falling an annoying few inches short. Hunter was much taller than us both, however, so he stepped forwards too and glared down at his mother. Mr Brookes stayed out of the whole thing. He only watched as his wife said, 'Ruth, you have said quite enough. You always were one to run your mouth off to your elders, but I'd hoped you would have learnt some respect in the last few years since I saw you.'
               Julie was so close by now. Hailey too - and her fists were clenched. Mrs Brookes eyed me up and down, visibly disgusted, and sighed, 'Apparently not.'
'Don't dissociate, Ruth. Don't give these sharks another reason to want to take Olivia away from you. You can deal with this. Put this bitch back in her place, but whatever you do, DON'T dissociate.'
'I am your son's wife.' I told her sternly, squaring my shoulders. 'I married Hunter. We have a child together and she is everything to us. You have no right to come in here, threaten my family and expect me to bow down and kiss your ring.'
               I could feel the pride radiating from Hunter's side. His hand held mine again as he said,
'I think that's all that needs to be said. You know where the door is.'
'No, no, I think there is more to it than that.' Katherine said smugly, returning to Hunter's armchair and sitting down comfortably. We frowned. 'You see, your father and I are not fools.'
               She spoke solely to Hunter, avoiding me completely as if I was an elephant in the room and not a thinking, feeling human being.
'Is that so?'
'Yes. Of course we didn't expect to waltz in here and have you give Olivia over to us willingly - although I would have liked to be able to do it the easy way. So, I suppose we will have to try the hard way, next.'
'W-What's the hard way?' I asked, more phlegmatically this time. Hunter glanced at me with fearful eyes.
'Court.'

The relish in Mrs Brookes' voice as she said that word is the last thing I remember from that horrible, horrible night.

The next time I returned to my body was at 5 o'clock the following morning. I was lying in my warm bed, but it still took me a few, very confused and panicked minutes to stop shaking and recognise that I was safe again. The threat was gone. Hunter was right beside me, lying on his chest and breathing deeply and looking so tranquil, and that was enough to soothe me. I rolled onto my side to watch him sleep. I didn't know if I had slept at all, but I was too anxious for Hunter to wake up and tell me what happened last night to try now. The word 'Court' was ringing in my mind over and over and over, like a song with a fading outro that never actually ends.
               It felt like only two minutes passed between my awaking and Hunter's alarm clock going off. It was loud and aggressive and suddenly made me feel very tired. I suppose people always want what they can't have.
               I watched as Hunter's eyes squeezed shut before opening. He sighed and heavy-handedly smacked the top of the digital clock, which suddenly fell silent. Then he lay back down.
'Hunter.' I whispered, poking his side.
'No.' he groaned. 'Too early.'
'I'm sorry, amore mio. What time do you have to be at the office?'
'Half seven. But I've got to go to the gym first.'
'You'd better get up then. If the traffic's bad -'
'I know, I know.' Hunter sighed again and rolled onto his back. He finally opened his eyes long enough to look at me. 'How did you sleep?'
'I-I don't know.' I leant up on my arm and used the other to stroke his chest. 'You know, you don't have to go to the gym, amore mio. You're plenty fit already. Why don't you stay with me a little bit longer?'
'I'd love to, amore mio, but I've been putting it off for two weeks. I have to go, or I'll get flabby and fat and end up with a big old pot belly.' Hunter smiled.
'As if.' I chuckled. We looked at each other. 'Hunter...'
'We don't have to talk about last night if you don't want to.'
'Okay. Just, I, I,' I started to tremble, so Hunter pulled me in for a cuddle. 'I dissociated. When your mum said 'court'. I don't remember anything else.'
'I know.'
'What did I do?'
'Nothing major, don't worry. I just noticed that your mannerisms changed. Anyway, Ruth, while you were you last night, you were amazing. I was so proud of you. You really stood up to my parents, and showed them how much you love and will protect Olivia. Really, Ruth. I am so proud to be married to you.'
               Hunter held my face in his hands as he said that last sentence, and then kissed it. My heart felt so full it could have burst.
'Thank you, amore mio.'
'And by the way, I think you dissociated into Julie.'
'Oh. That's alright then.'
'Yeah. It meant I had to do the rest of the shouting though.' Hunter smirked and slid off the bed. I followed him into the bathroom.
               'So what happened?' I asked.
'Well,' he started, squeezing some toothpaste onto his toothbrush and putting it in his mouth, 'after Mum said about taking us to court to get custody of Olivia, you were kind of spacey for a few minutes. I yelled at her and told her she was way overstepping, and that she doesn't have any grounds to take us to court on. She was her typical, high and mighty self, and Dad said that they were just trying to get Olivia somewhere safe. So you dove at him, but I held you back and you calmed down pretty quickly. Then I kicked them out,' Hunter spat, 'and we just came straight to bed. You didn't miss much.'
'I think I would have dove at your dad even if I hadn't dissociated. Probably your mum too.'
'And you probably would have resisted me trying to hold you back a lot more.' Hunter smiled and put some toothpaste on the brush I was holding out to him. However, before I could put it in my mouth, a weird, burning sensation grew in my lungs. I took a deep breath, which only stung more.
               'Ruth, are you alright?' Hunter asked. My answer came when I rushed to the toilet and threw up in it.
               Hunter jumped into action, opening the window, scooping my hair back into a ponytail and rubbing my back as I heaved. There wasn't much to sick up, but that's not the worst part about being sick, is it? No, it's the gagging and clenching of your stomach as bile burns away the skin of your throat, all the while knowing that one of your loved ones can only stand back and helplessly, and a bit disgustedly, watch.
               'I guess I can't go and visit Grandma this morning, huh.' I sighed tearfully, when the gagging finally stopped and I sat down on the floor, my back against the bath. Hunter knelt beside me. He kissed the top of my head and said,
'Best not. We can't risk making her even more ill.'
'I'm sorry.'
'What for!?'
'I, I can't do anything right.'
               Hunter pulled my head up from my knees and looked me straight in the eye.
'What are you talking about?'
'Everything! We've been bickering so much lately, and I keep not sleeping and losing my temper and now I can't even be with Grandma when she's...near the end.' I exhaled shakily. 'I'm sorry.'
               My husband sighed and stroked the side of my face.
'Ruth, you're delusional.'
'Excuse me?'
'You're delusional!' he repeated, half jokingly. 'None of those things are your fault. Grandma has been sick for a long time - and you always make sure to visit her a few times a week! And I've been way too distant from you, for no reason. I should treat you better. And you only lost your temper because my parents are bigots. Didn't you call my mum a 'bigoted old cow' last night?'
'Prejudiced, bigoted old cow.' I corrected him with a grin. He laughed. I love how he laughs, with a scrunched up nose and shut eyes and his head leaning right back.
'Well, you're not wrong. I'm just sorry she's like that. I'm so sorry she doesn't appreciate who you really are.'
'I'm sorry she's going to try and take Olivia away from us.' I said.
'She can't. She can't, Ruth! You, me, and Olivia all belong together - as a family. I won't let her or anyone else threaten us.'
               I looked up into his sparkling, green eyes, and smiled. I believed him.
'I love you, tesoro mio.' I said, sliding my arms around his neck. Hunter kissed my cheek and helped me stand back up.

My husband left the house fifteen minutes later, after a quick coffee while I made him a to-go breakfast. He picked up his gym bag, brief case and suit, and left the house in a pair of tracksuit bottoms and t-shirt. He was just hugging me goodbye when Olivia came running down the stairs. Her hair was knotted from ten hours of sleep and she was wearing her elephant pyjamas again.
'Hey, bambina!' he exclaimed. She jumped into his arms for a goodbye cuddle.
'You weren't in your bed!' she said.
'I'm just leaving for the gym, and then work. I'll be home this evening - but I'll go and visit Grandma first.' he said. Olivia smiled.
'Can I come to see Grandma? It's been ages!'
               Hunter glanced at me for approval, then nodded his head.
'Of course you can. We'll give Mummy the evening off.'
'Yay! Thank you!'
'But remember, you have to be on your best behaviour when we go to the hospital to see Grandma, because there are a lot of sick people there that need peace and quiet.' I added. Olivia agreed.
'Mummy helps sick people, like Grandma!' she said to Hunter, as if he didn't know. He smiled. 'She teaches people how to look after them.'
'She certainly does.'
'We're working on it.' I whispered to him amusedly. 'Now, bambina, let's let Daddy leave on time.'
'Okay.' the child groaned. 'Bye Daddy!'
'Bye Olivia, be good at school!' They pecked each other on the cheek and he put her down so she could run into the kitchen for breakfast. 'And you, gorgeous lady, be good today.' he said to me. 'Don't strain yourself if you're not well.'
'I told you, I'm fine.' I replied. 'Go on now, you don't want to be late.'
'Alright, bye sweetheart.'

I hesitated before joining Olivia in the kitchen. When I finally did, the very sight of her pricked my heart. Could Hunter's parents really have a chance against us in court? Please, God, no. She was so young, so sweet, so innocent. She was beautiful and confident and secure. She was funny and carefree and cheeky. Currently, she was standing on a stool attempting to steal from the biscuit tin. I crossed my arms in the doorway.
'Ahem.'
'Oh!' she gasped. Her face flushed red and she slowly climbed back down. 'Sorry, Mummy.'
'You know we don't eat biscuits for breakfast, Olivia.' I said, giving her a motherly look, then a kiss, and getting the cereal and milk out. I flicked the kettle on.
'Can I have a cup of tea please?' my bambina shyly asked.
'Yes, but if I make you tea you have to drink all of it, because you always waste it.'
'I will. I promise.'
'Alright then. Oh, and having tea doesn't mean you get a biscuit to dip in it.' I added. Olivia sighed. 'You don't want one now, do you?'
'No thanks, Mummy.' she admitted. I sighed, but when my back was turned I couldn't resist smiling. Olivia may have been cunning, but she is my daughter and I love her. I will not lose her to anyone, nor allow her spirit to get lost to this world.