Part thirteen
As she walked in her were hands shaking and her vision was blurred: by the tears she was trying to hold back. Lara acknowledged her presence by staring at her, as if trying to work out why she was there. Holly couldn�t meet her gaze and she glanced away like a naughty schoolgirl caught out. As she sat by the bed Lara possessively grabbed Patrick's hand. The silence in the room was oppressive to say the least. They both felt guilty for being there but new they couldn�t leave. Eventually the silence got to Holly and she tried to start up a conversation.
"So do you want to go home? I mean you must be tiered as you've been her a lot longer than I have."
"You just want to get rid of me!"
"Why on earth would I want to do that?"
"So you can keep him all to yourself!"
"You'll have to believe me that that isn't the case!"
"I believe you." She said quietly. Holly smiled; maybe Lara wasn't the evil bimbo she had thought her to be. Infact as time went by they found out that they had allot in common and they got in quite well. They talked about Lara's work in Australia, Holly's work in Germany. There bad experiences with men (Patrick included). And the fact they both loved working with children. It was getting late when they both eventually fell silent and once again began to listen to the beeping of Patrick's heart monitor.
It was around 2 in the morning and they were both dosing in chairs by the bed. Suddenly the door slammed open and they both sat bolt upright. As they looked round they saw a figure of a woman standing at the end of the bed. Sweat was dripping on her four head and she was panting, out of breath.
"How is he?" she gasped. Holly's eyes darted from this woman to Lara looking for an explanation. But Lara just stared at her blankly. She was as confused as Holly was.
Part fourteen
"How is he?" The woman repeated.
"He's umm� Well, they've managed to stop the bleeding but he hasn�t come round yet." Said Holly. She was still studying the woman. She had been crying and her make-up was running down her face so even though she was in a police uniform Holly could tell she was here on unofficial business.
"Who are you?" asked Lara bringing Holly out of her thoughts.
"I'm Rachel." She said smiling sweetly. It was the same smile Holly had given Lara when she'd first met her. It was a please-get-out-of-my-life-and-away-from-my-man sort of smile.
"Miss married with kids." Lara muttered, more to herself than anyone else.
"What?" demanded Rachel.
"Are you the Rachel that�s married with kids?"
"Kid. And how did you know?"
"Oh come on he works in that hospital that you two have been sneaking around in for Christ sake! Did you seriously think people wouldn't see you and gossip about you?"
"No I didn�t. Who are you anyway? My conscious?"
"I'm Lara, miss casual partner. This is Holly, miss long term and long distance girl friend."
"No you're lying! Patrick would have told me!"
"Don�t worry." Said Holly "You're just going through faze one: denial. You'll soon get onto faze two though: contemplating murder." Holly was trying to remain calm, to act as the peacemaker and stop these two pulling each other's hair out. But inside she was hurting. Lara said exactly what she was feeling.
" I really can't believe the cheek of that man! I mean three girlfriends at once is excessive even by his standards, especially as one of them is married!"
"Oh yeah and your loads better!" retorted Rachel. "You were only here 5 minutes before you were in his bed!"
"Come on now." Said Holly trying to reason with them "Cant we all just get along?"
"Get along? With you? The person who stole my Patrick away from me? I don�t think so!"
All at once every one started shouting, claming they were the one who had the right to say he was "My Patrick". It all ended with every one sitting down in a sulk having run out of swear words to yell at each other. They stared at the ceiling or the floor, anywhere except look at each other. There was a small cough from the bed and they all looked up. It was Patrick.
"I see you've met Rachel then."
"Yes we have, another addition to your collection is she? Any other skeletons in there we should know about?"
"No, its just you three."
"Just? What do you mean just? Most people are happy with one girlfriend but you have to be different! I'm going, I'll move into a hotel as soon as you're out of here. Don't expect to ever see me again." Lara walked out and he surveyed the other women's reactions. There faces showed pure hatred.
"Me too, I'm gone. See you around Patrick. Have a nice life. I know I will now you're not in it. I just can't believe I jeopardised my marriage and the thought of losing my daughter for you." That was Rachel gone. "Two down and one to go." Thought Patrick.
"And you can get to f**k if you think I'm staying around here any longer. I'm not going to move house, or job or country, like I have done every other time you've hurt me but I am going to move on. Mentally at least. I know I'll never find anyone else like you and I don�t think I'll ever love any one as much as you but you've hurt me to much to often and if you break my heart one more time the pieces will be to small to stick back together. This is what it's come to. This is what you've reduced us to and this is what we've become. We could have been happy, it would have been hard work but we could have been happy. Never forget that, and never forget that you were the only person stopping us."
Part fifteenFebruary 2011
Patrick rushed to get the mail. He knew there'd be a letter that he'd been waiting for. These letters and the occasional phone call were all the contact he got with her since she moved back to Germany. He was grateful that she was writing to him he knew that even though she was the most important part of his life he wasn�t the most important in hers. The phone calls were best, he loved hearing her voice and knowing what she'd been doing but even that didn�t stop the stabbing pains he felt in his chest every time he knew he was going home and she wouldn�t be there to greet him.He knew he was lucky to even know about her. He knew it would have been easier for all parties concerned if he'd stayed out of her life he knew that and so did Holly. This was the only chance he'd get with her and he knew if he messed this one up he'd never hear from her again. He opened the letter.
To daddy,
Thanks for the prezzies, there great! I especially love the teddy and the photo. I take the teddy to bed with me every night and I have the photo on my table by my bed along with a photo of me you and mum taken ages ago when I was little. It's a good job you sent me that photo as I'd nearly forgotten what you look like. When are you coming to see me? Mummy and Peter say I can come and see you as soon as I can fly by myself but that wont be for a year or two yet. Yesterday I had a big party with all my friends and I had a massive cake with the number ten on it. It was great and I got loads of toys and a new bike from mum. Today I went to the cinema with aunty Shell and uncle Tim and we had the fabest time. I ate so much popcorn I was nearly sick! Any way I have to go for tea now. Phone me!
Lots of love, Sophie XXXXXX
Patrick sighed, he wished he could visit her but he didn�t have the money or the time and it would be far to confusing with Holly. It turned out Sophie had been the reason for Holly's return all those years ago. While Patrick had been fighting with Holly over his other girlfriends it turned out that Holly's mum just a few miles away was raising his daughter. Patrick was well aware that he could have Holly and Sophie here at home with him if he hadn�t messed it all up like he always did. He'd managed to get her pregnant before she left and not notice, break her heart and not care and not guess he had a daughter. He couldn�t believe how stupid he'd been. He could have been happy, they could have been happy. He could be sitting at home with the two women he loved most in the whole world. Instead of sitting in an empty house feeling sorry for himself as he was at the moment