Part 31

Caroline let out a sharp, nervous laugh that sounded a little too casual. She smoothed the gold fabric of her collar with her hand, 'Honestly, Liam,' she said, her voice dripping with a practiced, weary amusement. 'I think you've already had one too many whiskies. I have no idea what you're talking about'. She turned her back on Liam, a dismissal as sharp as a blade. 'Can we please go in? I'm freezing.'

As if on cue, the heavy glass doors groaned open again and Peggy poked her head out, her face glowing with festive cheer. 'There you all are! Dinner is served, and that roast will not wait for another cigarette. Inside, now!'

The tension didn't vanish; it just went underground. Noel's hand settled lightly on the small of Caroline's back, as he guided her into the warmth. Liam stayed behind for one last, long drag, his eyes burning holes into the back of Caroline's neck.

The dining room was a sea of crystal, holly, and the suffocating scent of pine. As the first course was served, the wine flowed a little too freely. Sara, sat across from Caroline, downed another glass of wine, she had always looked at Caroline like a smudge on a clean window but this time her eyes shot daggers at Caro.

'I must say, Caroline,' Sara began, her voice cutting through the clink of silverware. 'That dress..or jumpsuit or whatever it is meant to be..is... brave. A bit too much for Christmas Eve though, isn't it? Or has your new title of tourmanager gone to your head? Or did you just want to try and outshine the hostess..which would be me..I think you want something I have, don't you? It's rude, really.'

The table went quiet. Caroline felt the heat of the room rising, the bruises beneath her collar beginning to itch. 'Leave her alone, Sara,' Debbie snapped from the other end of the table.

Everyone turned. Debbie, usually the peace maker in the room, was gripping her wine glass tightly. She looked toward Liam, then back to Sara, her expression unusually fierce.

'I happen to love her outfit, it's so bold and so typically Caroline, anyway Sara, you could learn a thing or two about fashion from her' Debbie said firmly. 'Let her eat in peace without the commentary on her wardrobe, thank you very much, or am I also not allowed to confront the hostess?'

Liam looked at his woman, a flicker of pride crossing his dark features. Noel finally looked up too, his eyes sliding from Debbie to the rigid line of Caro's shoulders.

Suddenly, Caroline's phone didn't just buzz; it let out a sustained, shrill ringtone that cut through the chatter.

The table went dead silent.

'Aren't you going to get that?' Sara asked, her voice a sharp, venomous whisper. 'Must be quite the emergency to call during dinner. Or is it just your little friend Rob again with the loose hands that my husband needs to come and save you from, so you can think he's your knight in shining armour?'

The air in the room curdled. Liam's chair screeched against the floorboards as he shifted, his pride in Debbie instantly replaced by a dark, murderous focus on Sara.

'What did you just say?' Liam's voice was dangerously low, the kind of quiet that precedes a storm.

Sara didn't flinch; the wine had made her brave and she was tired of the secrets. She leaned across the table, her eyes locked on Caroline's terrified ones. 'Oh, don't act so shocked, Caroline..if you're going to play the victim to get my husband's attention, at least have the decency to turn your phone off while you're doing it.'

'Sara, that's enough!' Peggy gasped, but the damage was done.

Noel's hand, which had been resting on the table, slowly curled into a fist. He didn't look at his wife. He turned his head slowly toward Caroline, his eyes narrowing as the phone continued to wail in her pocket.

Caroline felt the walls closing in. The gold fabric of her jumpsuit felt like it was shrinking, choking her. The phone stopped ringing, only to immediately start again, the caller's persistence was a threat she couldn't ignore.

'It's... it's just work, I have to take this' she whispered, her voice paper-thin.

'Work doesn't call six times in an hour on Christmas Eve,' Sara snarled, her frustration with her lies really boiling over this time. She looked at Noel, then back to Caroline. 'Show him the phone, Caro. Show him who's calling..or shall I tell everyone that it's Rob calling, a little birdie told me that you spent the night with him last night?'

Every eye was fixed on the gold fabric of Caroline's pocket, which pulsed with the rhythmic, neon glow of the incoming call.

'Noel, please, it's not what she thinks' Caroline stammered, her fingers twitching near her collar, an instinctive move to ensure the silk hadn't slipped to reveal the bruises Rob had given her.

'If it's not what she thinks, then you have nothing to hide,' Noel countered, by now his eyes had turned into big question marks,..she had slept with Rob?? what?? and who the hell told Sara about that?

Across the table, Liam swallowed hard, Sara's attitude made his blood boil. 'She said she has to take it, Noel. so back off!' Liam interjected, his voice gravelly. 'Back off?' Noel repeated, the words coming out like a slow leak of venom. He turned his head toward Liam, his neck tendons straining against his shirt.

Caroline took a deep breath and stood up! 'Stop it!'. The table fell into a sudden, vacuum-like silence. 'Stop it! All of you!' she snapped, her voice finally breaking through the suffocating layers of accusations. She looked at Sara, whose face was twisted with a cruel, drunken triumph, and then at Noel, whose grip on the table was so tight the wood seemed to groan.

'You want the phone? You want to know who's calling, Sara?' Her hand dived into her pocket and she threw the device onto the Egyptian cotton. 'Here! See? It's the police, happy now? Listen, I know you hate me, despise me even, and that's alright, really it is, but my personal life and everything happening to me now, is not something for you to ridicule or mock' Caro tried her best to stay calm 'and right here, right now is definitely not the time or place to do so, you're a woman, a mother and a wife, you of all people should have the decency to behave!'

Noel was stunned into a rare, open-mouthed silence, while Sara's smug expression had curdled into genuine shock, 'Caroline, I..' Noel started, his voice cracking as he finally found his breath. He reached out as if to touch her hand, but his fingers hovered uselessly in the air.

Caroline didn't give him the satisfaction of a response. She snatched the phone back from the tablecloth, the gold fabric of her jumpsuit whispering against the wood as she got up 'whatever, Noel, I'm just gonna take this call, in the meantime I beg each and everyone of you to calm the hell down, if only for their sake,' she pointed at the kids sitting at the smaller table 'they deserve their first Christmas they're spending together to be a memory that will last them a lifetime. Their Dads have finally found each other again this year and that is a massive achievement, and frankly, in my book that's all that matters, so let's keep it that way, shall we?' she said as she caught Peggy's eyes who gave her a grateful nod.

She walked away from the table, putting the phone to her ear, her knuckles white as she stepped back out on to the terrace, the biting cold air hitting her face.

'This is Caroline,' she said in an unsteady voice. 'ah Ms. Di Benedetto, finally, this is Officer Miller, from the Met Police' a heavy, professional voice replied. 'I'm calling regarding the incident from last night at Robert Evans' residence. I'm sorry to call on Christmas Eve, but there's been a development.'

Caroline closed her eyes and leaned against the freezing stone wall of the house. 'we've processed the CCTV footage from the driveway,' the officer continued. 'It confirms your statement of the physical struggle already at the door'

Caroline felt a wave of nausea. She instinctively touched the silk collar of her jumpsuit, thinking of the marks hidden beneath. 'Ok good, what happens now?'

'We've just taken Mr. Evans into custody,' Officer Miller stated. 'Given the evidence from the CCTV and the reports of the medical examination we received from you earlier,' He paused, and Caroline felt the world tilt. 'We are charging him with rape and harassment, we are remanding him in custody, he won't be released on bail before his first hearing."

'Rape,..' Caroline whispered, the word finally out in the open, no longer a suffocating secret she had to carry alone. 'He's really... he's not coming back tonight?'

'No. He is being held in a police cell until he can be brought before a magistrate,' Miller confirmed.

'Thank you,' she managed to choke out. 'Thank you so much, Officer'

She turned back toward the glow of the house and was met by Liam who pulled the door open for her. 'What did they say?' his face was a frown riddled with question marks.

'It's over..they confirmed..I can't believe it really..' Caroline said in a soft voice so nobody else could hear, 'Rob has been arrested. They're charging him with rape and harassment. He's being held without bail.'

Liam's arms instantly wrapped around her and it felt like the only solid thing in a world that had been crumbling for weeks. He held her tight, his chin resting on the top of her head, his breath hitching with a mix of fury at Rob and immense relief for her.

'I knew it,' Liam muttered into her hair, his voice thick with emotion. 'I knew that bastard would finally get what was coming to him'.

Caroline leaned into him for a few seconds longer, letting the reality sink in. The threat was behind bars. 'Caroline...?' Noel started as he walked up to them in the hallway, puzzled by the scene of his brother and Caro hugging. 'Liam, what's going on?'

Liam slowly let go of Caroline and looked Noel straight in the eye, 'I don't think it's my place to say actually..' Liam said while Noel's confused gaze drifted from him back to Caroline who put him out of his misery 'The Met Police called, they've arrested Rob. He's being charged with rape and harassment.'

The word 'rape' hit Noel like a physical blow. 'Rape? what???' he repeated, his eyes widening as they drifted to the silk collar Caroline was still subconsciously clutching. 'Shhh, will you keep it down?' Caroline snapped at him and looked past him to check if Sara hadn't followed him, 'I'll tell you, Noel, but not now, and not here. Right now, I'm going to finish this dinner and I'm going to sit at that table, and you two are gonna do the same, you'll go back in there. Sit down. Eat. Act like the father and the man you're supposed to be. If you make a scene now, if you give Sara another reason to start a fire, I will never forgive you. Do you understand?'

'Yes,' Noel muttered, his voice still thick with the shock of what she had just told him, 'Let's... let's just eat.'

Caroline took one last deep breath, squared her shoulders, and smoothed the gold fabric of her jumpsuit. She wasn't a victim seeking shelter anymore; she was the only person in the house with the strength to hold the wreckage together. With an iron-willed composure, she led the way back into the dining room.

Caroline took her seat with the grace of a queen returning to a battlefield. She picked up her linen napkin and settled it over her lap, her hand finally steady.

'Sorry for the interruption,' Caroline said, her voice clear and resonant, cutting through the tension. She picked up her fork and knife as if the world hadn't just tilted on its axis. 'The turkey really is wonderful, Peggy. Shall we continue?'

Sara opened her mouth to speak, but she caught Noel's gaze, he was looking at her with a cold, simmering resentment as he sat down next to her, pointedly pulling his chair a few inches away, creating a physical gap that spoke volumes. He looked toward the children's table, watching them laugh, and for the first time that night, he followed Caroline's lead.

The rest of the meal passed in a relatively normal way, punctuated by the clink of silver on porcelain as Debbie took the lead in distracting everyone with a hilarious story about their dog, Buttons, and his encounter with a delivery man.

From across the table Caro felt Noel's stare burn, but she pretended not to notice. Caroline focused entirely on the children and Debbie's animated storytelling, using the mundane chatter as a shield, she was safe now, and she was not alone and for now that was all that mattered.