AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We’re just going to move you up the hall to examine you.” She didn’t recognise the man who spoke. He was dressed in blue and had kind eyes.
She could see Dodge standing outside the bathroom, his shoulders hunched. The police were trying to get him to move. He took a swing at one, the other grabbed his arm and they pushed him back into open space. There was shouting and swearing, somebody cried out.
“Abby?” Scott was beside her. “I need to talk to the police. I won’t be long, I promise.”
She couldn’t breathe. “Don’t leave me.” The words stuck in her throat. He was gone.
The man with the kind eyes stood in his place. He was speaking, but Abby couldn’t hear him. An oxygen mask was fitted around her mouth and nose. She closed her eyes against a light shining at her. There was so much noise. All she wanted to do was sleep.
The scentof antiseptic cut through the fog. She tried to move, but her limbs felt heavy, unresponsive. Was she at the hospital?Mum?
She jolted upright, making her head scream as though she’d been hit by a truck. Panic surged within her as her eyes focused on the unfamiliar, beige curtains surrounding her. This wasn’t her mother’s room at the hospital. As she came back into her body, the low hum of medical equipment and distant chatter became an unsettling soundtrack. Abby's gaze darted around the space, searching for something, anything, to ground her.
Fragmented memories teased the edges of her consciousness—gunshots, blood, screaming. She tried to call out, but only managed a raspy whisper. A knot tightened in her chest. Where was she?
The curtain drew back and Scott stepped inside. Abby sagged against the pillows, the adrenalin evaporating as quickly as it had blazed through her. Her mother was dead. So was Zep. Wretchedness overwhelmed her.
Scott wore a look of uncertainty, and Abby felt the pieces of her heart begin to disintegrate. Silent tears slipped down her cheeks. The weight of loss bore down on her, threatening to consume her completely.
“I need you.” Her voice was barely audible. “I can’t do this on my own.”
Scott took a step closer. "You don't have to do this alone, Abby.”
Guilt gnawed at her, a reminder of her failure as a partner. “I’m so sorry, Scott. I didn’t understand…” How could she explain that she finally got it, after everyone had been trying to tell her for so long. Why had it taken losing her mother to understand Rachel wasn't her only anchor?
"We'll get through this together," he said softly. "We'll find a way to heal, to move forward.” He smiled. “I couldn’t leave you, even if I tried.”
Abby surrendered to the vulnerability that she’d been fighting against for so long. She reached for him, and he wrapped his arms around her. The fear and tension fell away. Abby could feel Scott's strength seeping into her bones, a lifeline in the midst of the storm that had consumed her.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you, too.”
She’d lost so much, but not everything.
Epilogue
Eight weeks later, Abby and Scott stood hand in hand in the East Ballina Cemetery. After the violence and loss, the community had needed some time to recover. Now they gathered together to say their final farewells to Rachel, and to Zep.
The beginning of winter kept the air cool and crisp, despite the brilliant blue sky overhead. Birds sang in nearby trees, and the ocean gently serenaded the people gathered for the service.
Demi held Abby’s other hand, and Trish and Henry stood beside Scott. Most of Lennox Head had turned out for the memorial. As Rachel had instructed, the mourners were dressed in bright colours. It was in stark contrast to the dozen of bikers who wore their leather cuts and jackets declaring them members of The Devils MC. The police had decided to turn a blind eye to so many bikers gathered in one place, sporting their affiliation.
In the distance, the Road Gypsies sat on their bikes, providing a respectful guard. Not that anyone feared reprisal. The entire Isobel syndicate had been wiped out. There was no one left to seek revenge.
Rachel Sloane and James Page had been cremated together several weeks ago. Abby spread some of their ashes into the ocean, at the place where both her parents had breathed their last. Connor, an older member of The Devils MC, had helped her. He’d known Zep for decades, and knew her mother when her name was Becca, and she’d lived for a brief time at the clubhouse. It seemed fitting that Connor was part of the ritual.
As the celebrant began, Abby focused on the steel sculpture, gracefully crafted into angel wings that reach skyward above the shrubs that separated the cemetery from the sea. The monument housed the remaining ashes of Rachel and Zep. A sculptor friend of her mother had designed it as a symbol of transcendence, and when it caught the sunlight, shadows and reflections danced upon the surface.
Abby’s heart ached as she listened to the celebrant's words, memories of that devastating week flooding her mind. She glanced over at Scott, his grip on her hand tightening with each passing moment. He’d been her light in the darkest of times. Every day was a little better than the last, because he was at her side.
“You okay?” he whispered.
She nodded.
The ceremony ended and people began to drift away. The wake was to be held at a little gallery back in Lennox Head. It turned out the owner of the gallery had commissioned an exhibition of Rachel’s work, and most of the pieces had been collected weeks before the world had been tipped off its axis. Discovering that some of her mother’s art had been saved brought more joy than Abby could have wished for.
As the crowd thinned, Abby saw Brodie, Dodge and Mick lingering near the sculpture. She squeezed Scott’s hand and told him she’d meet him at the car. She had some unfinished business to deal with.
