Warning: Episode may contain strong language, violence and sexual content. Reader discretion is advised.

PREVIOUSLY…

• It was revealed to the village that Emma was Nick’s biological mother. Distraught at the news, Nick drove off and was later involved in a car accident that left him fighting for life while his fiancé, Jasmine, kept a bedside vigil.
• Having discovered Tom’s affair, Kate ended their marriage after a heart-to-heart.
• Carol struggled to get hold of Tom and set off to Greystone Downs with her mother, Audrey, to check on him.
• Julia received a panicked call from Jasmine.
• Tragically, a comatose Nick flatlined.

WARNING: This episode contains sensitive material that readers may find distressing and/or triggering. Reader discretion is advised.

Greystone Downs Farm,
Glendale

Greystone Downs, a historic farmhouse made of flint and stone and as old as time itself, was eerily still and quiet for a Monday afternoon. There was no carry-on from Harry and Noah Spencer as they roughhoused or kicked a football about; there was no thumping pop song blaring out of Ava Spencer’s bedroom; and there was no chatter and laughter as Kate Spencer and Audrey Granger sat down in the living room for their weekly cup of tea, a chinwag, and watching of “The Chase.” There was nothing but silence and stillness, as if the house had been abandoned.

In the living room, sunlight streamed in through the large bow window while dust motes danced lazily through the air. On the small coffee table in the centre of the room, a half-drunk mug of cold tea left a ring marked into the wood, while beside it a half-eaten apple was wrinkled and brown. The battered but comfy sofa, usually the gathering place for Harry and Noah to lounge about on while they played Mario Kart, was empty, and a crochet blanket – made by Audrey as a present to her great-granddaughter, Ava, from three Christmases ago – lay draped haphazardly across the cushions, as if it had been discarded when someone had gotten up to leave. On the mantelpiece, a golden carriage clock – a wedding present to Tom Spencer and Kate from her parents – kept time perfectly, surrounded by a scattering of photographs of all different shapes and sizes, each one capturing a moment of joy, happiness, and celebration.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. 

The kitchen, usually the heart of the home, was a whirlwind of abandoned chaos. Dirty breakfast dishes were dumped in the sink, a loaf of bread was left open and going stale, tea-stained mugs littered the benchtop accompanied by several tea spoons and granules of dropped sugar, a single shoe – discarded by Noah – lay on its side under the kitchen table along with the crusts of his toast that he had dropped on the floor for Buster the Border Collie to eat, while a shopping list – scribbled in Kate’s messy hand – was fastened to the fridge with a bumblebee-shaped magnet that garishly proclaimed “DON’T WORRY, BEE HAPPY” as the kitchen tap dripped with rhythmic precision.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Through the window above the sink, the farmyard – usually bustling with activity – was ominously still, and off to the side, the backdoor was ajar. It moved ever so slightly in the gentle breeze while the faint bleating of sheep in the distance beckoned one outside. A short distance from the house, Tom’s silver Land Rover was abandoned in the driveway; its driver’s side door was still open from when he had jumped in a hurry out after arriving home just over an hour ago, while just beyond it in the distance was the barn – its doors firmly closed.

Carol Kennedy’s silver Renault Captur cautiously approached as it bumped down the long gravel drive, the small rocks crunching and grinding under the tyres.

“He’s home,” said Audrey from the passenger’s seat as she noticed her grandson’s vehicle just up ahead.

A heavy unease settled over Carol as she saw the driver’s side door wide open, and as they pulled up alongside the SUV, she brought her car to a stop before putting it in park. The mother and daughter sat in silence for what was only a few seconds but felt like a few hours, each one taking in the unusual scene before they exited the vehicle and stepped out into the pleasant September afternoon.

Carol hovered cautiously close as ninety-two-year-old Audrey hobbled across the gravel driveway towards the farmhouse, aided by her walking stick. Under the portico, Carol pressed the doorbell, which chimed throughout the property.

Silence.

Audrey’s face crumpled into a frown, her lips puckered as if she had sucked on a lemon, and she looked back over her shoulder at the Land Rover. “He’s definitely here.”

Carol pressed the doorbell once more, and again it chimed loudly throughout the house. She knocked forcefully, her knuckles striking against the wood with a power that seemed to highlight the urgency and anxiousness rising within her.

“Tom?” She called out as she stepped back and looked up at the second storey. “Tom? It’s Mum and Nana. You up there, sweets?”

Silence.

“What about the back door?” Audrey suggested with a voice that quivered slightly with her own amplifying concern.

Without a word of reply, Carol nodded, and the two women moved around the perimeter, their eyes scanning each abandoned room through the windows as they walked around to the kitchen door.

“It’s open.” Carol frowned and instinctively stopped in her tracks. “He’s definitely here somewhere. Tom? It’s Mum.” She looked around the unusually quiet farmyard. It was then that Carol spotted Buster sitting at the barn door. “Wait here,” she instructed her mother.

As Carol walked across the farmyard and approached the barn, the gravel crunched heavily underfoot, and the sad whines of the dog grew ever louder. Buster sat obediently at the closed barn door, his brown eyes desperately sad as he gently scratched a paw against the wood. From the marks now heavily scratched through the forest green paint, it was clear this had been going on for some time.

“Hello, boy,” Carol said in the same high-pitched voice that usually elicited an excited response from the young dog, but today, it didn’t even stir up the flinch of an ear. Instead, Buster remained staring at the barn door, scratching at it and whimpering. She scratched his head and under his chin, expecting his tail to thump heavily against the ground, yet still there was nothing. “What’s wrong, Buster? What’s wrong? What’s in there?”

As a slight breeze fluttered past, softly caressing her cheek, Carol saw a flicker of white out the corner of her eye. She lifted her head as she heard the faint sound of paper flapping in the breeze. A single sheet, taped to the barn door, carried six handwritten words that would change her life forever.

don’t come in
call the police

With an unsteady feeling mixed with confusion and what felt like sorrow, Carol disobeyed the instructions written in desperation and pulled open the heavy barn door. As light from outside flooded the dark structure, her eyes caught sight of the most horrifying thing a mother could witness, and an involuntary bloodcurdling scream that rose up from the depths of her soul echoed around the village.

–  G L E N D A L E  –

General Intensive Care Ward,
St. George’s Hospital, London

Julia Harrington-Jones and her husband, James, barely waited for the lift doors to open before they raced through them, their hearts thumping and panic gnawing at them as their feet pounded against the scuffed floor. They had received a call from Jasmine Atkins, their son’s fiancé, altering them to the fact that Nick had suffered another medical emergency and nothing but adrenalin had fuelled their 55-minute drive from Glendale to St. George’s, in the southwest of London.

As they hurried down the corridor and rounded the corner that was near Nick’s room, Julia caught sight of Jasmine and her father, Ed Atkins. The duo looked deflated, and as Julia’s eyes locked with Jasmine’s, she noticed they were glistening and bloodshot. Her stomach twisted with fear.

“Jasmine!” She said, swallowing hard and rushing towards the father and daughter. Out the corner of her eye, she noticed that Nick’s intensive care room opposite was empty. “What happened? Where is Nicky?”

Jasmine looked at her future in-laws with the same stunned confusion of a boxer that had just been beaten around the head. Everything seemed surreal and appeared to move in a strobe-like slow motion. There was a slight delay between hearing Julia’s desperate questions, processing the words, and formulating a response. “He… he had a heart attack.”

Julia felt her world tilt and unthinkingly held a hand to her mouth as the weight of Jasmine’s words crashed down on her.

James let out a deep exhale and ran his hands through his floppy blonde-brown locks. “What happened?”

Jasmine shook her head and opened her mouth to speak, but no words were forthcoming. Her eyes quickly filled with tears as she recalled the terrifying moments.

“I don’t know what happened,” Ed said as he instinctively wrapped an arm around his daughter’s shoulder while looking back at James and Julia to offer them some sort of explanation. “We were in there talking, and then the machines flatlined, and he just…”

Julia sucked in her lips and turned her head to the heavens, trying desperately to rid herself of the tears that filled her eyes but failing. This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t be losing her son, not today.

Seventeen years ago, to the day, Julia had had a falling out with her brother, Michael Bancroft – Nick’s biological father. Following a heated argument between the siblings, which ended with Julia lobbing a cruel and crushing barb Michael’s way, he had been involved in a car accident that claimed his life. September 2^nd was a day that haunted Julia, and now, nearly two decades later, the inauspicious date threatened to tear her heart in two once more.

“Is he…?” James’ voice trailed off, the question hanging in the air, as he struggled to bring himself to say the four-letter word that they were all thinking.

As Jasmine sobbed, Ed squeezed her tightly. “No,” he said, with a gentle shake of his head. “They managed to resuscitate him again and then rushed him for surgery. That’s all we know.”

With a shuddering breath, Julia wiped the tears from her eyes. “We need to call Emma,” she said in her usual resonant voice. “She needs to be here.”

–  G L E N D A L E  –

Greystone Downs Farm,
Glendale

Tony Kennedy’s grey Hyundai Tucson careened down the long driveway of Greystone Downs, kicking up a cloud of dust in its wake while the tyres crunched against the gravel. As it slowed – but didn’t stop – Kate flung open the passenger door and leapt out, her heart racing with adrenaline as she hit the ground running and sprinted across the farmyard towards the barn.

“Tom!” She yelled, her voice raspy and panic-stricken. Since the horrifying phone call from Carol, alerting her to what Tom had done, Kate had done nothing but count every tick of her watch on the eleven-minute and sixteen-second drive from the village to Greystone Downs, willing Tony’s car to go faster, and silently praying to her husband to not let go. Kate saw the ambulance parked a few feet away and could see the paramedics through the open door of the barn as they knelt on the ground. Panic gripped her as she could see Tom’s boots sticking up in the air as he lay on his back, while the sight of one of the paramedics performing what was obviously chest compressions sickened her. “Tom!”

Kate rushed through the open doorway, and her breath caught in her throat. The scene was chaotic. Two paramedics, both young-looking men – one with blondish hair and another with jet-black – knelt beside her husband, one performing frantic chest compressions while the other held a rubber resuscitator as they worked furiously to save his life. Tom’s face, bruised and swollen from his earlier run-in with Jack Campbell, was now pale and lifeless. In the corner, Carol watched on in horrified silence.

“No! No! No!’ Kate cried, her wails piercing through the silence of the structure and sending a shiver down the spine of all those that heard it as she rushed forward and dropped to her knees. “Tom! No! Please, God, no!”

Suddenly, Tony burst into the barn and stopped in his tracks, shocked at the confronting scene that greeted him. His eyes darted about, struggling to take everything in before he finally saw his wife standing in the corner, looking dazed and confused as she watched the paramedics try desperately to save her son.

“Carol!” He said and rushed over, wrapping his arms around her and engulfing her in a hug as he pulled her in close and held her tightly. “Sweetheart, what’s happened?”

Carol didn’t respond. She couldn’t. Instead, her eyes moved slowly along one of the beams in the roof and settled on the scene that had greeted her when she opened the door.

“Ma’am, we’re doing everything we can,” the blonde paramedic said with a slight tremble to his voice as he swapped the rubber resuscitator for a defibrillator and began to prepare the device. “Just please give us some room.”

Kate’s breathing shuddered as she watched them rip open Tom’s cotton shirt and stick the pads to his hairy chest. Memories flooded her mind – his laughter, his smile, the touch of his lips, that day in the HMV on Oxford Street, their wedding day, the family days on the farm, holidays abroad, how good Tom was as a father, and then the darkness that had settled over them less than an hour earlier after Kate had discovered his affair with Lee Campbell. She wanted to scream, to shake him awake, but she could only sit frozen, watching two young strangers battle to save his life.

“Wha…? What is happening? I don’t…” Kate struggled to find the words to convey her horror.

“Stay clear of patient,” the robotic voice of the defibrillator instructed as the high-pitched squeal of an active charge rang out, ready to release its lifesaving jolt. “Deliver shock now.”

The dark-haired paramedic pressed an orange button, and Tom’s lifeless body jolted with electricity before they quickly resumed CPR. Carol buried her face into Tony’s chest, unable to cope with the traumatic nightmare she was stuck in, while Tony found himself unable to look away.

“Tom!” Kate sobbed as tears began streaming down her cheeks. “Please, Tom, fight! Fight, Tom, fight! Fight for the kids. Fight for me. Fight for us. Please, God. Oh, please, God, please!”

Two minutes passed, and the defibrillator reassessed Tom’s heart rhythm – only there wasn’t one. “Charging,” it advised.

The two paramedics shared a concerned glance, one that Kate noticed.

“Stay clear of patient. Deliver shock now.”

Again, the same paramedic pressed the orange button, and once again, Tom’s body jolted. Kate clamped a hand to her mouth, suddenly nauseous.

“We have a heartbeat!” Said the blonde paramedic. “There’s a pulse!”

-:-

The kitchen of Greystone Downs felt eerily quiet, and the only sound was the ticking of Audrey’s gold wristwatch – a gentle reminder of time slipping away. She sat alone at the kitchen table, her trembling fingers tracing the printed pattern of the tablecloth, while Buster sat at her side and rested his head on her lap, sensing the heavy emotion in the air.

Audrey’s gaze drifted toward the window above the sink. She could see the barn across the farmyard but couldn’t bring herself to look directly at it. The reality of what was happening inside was too much to bear and made her stomach churn. She had seen Kate and Tony race inside a few moments earlier, and her heart broke at the horrible scene they would come to witness.

Audrey closed her eyes, trying to block out the sight that had greeted her when she had followed Carol’s screams and entered the barn. It was something that would haunt her dreams for the rest of her days. In that moment, she had felt so helpless. She squeezed her eyes tighter, trying to banish the sight from her mind and hoping for a positive outcome. She wished she could turn back the clock, while the ticking of her watch felt louder, as if a reminder of the little time she had left with her grandson.

Buster offered a comforting nuzzle, and Audrey opened her eyes, greeted by the sight of the Border Collie’s sad and pleading brown eyes. A very faint smile tugged at the corners of the elderly woman’s mouth, and her eyes began to fill with fragile tears, heartened at the love and devotion of the family pet. She scratched behind his ears and then let her hands glide softly over the top of his head. “Good boy, Buster,” she whispered softly, thinking how much Tom loved the four-year-old dog. “You’re a good boy.”

–  G L E N D A L E  –

General Intensive Care Ward,
St. George’s Hospital, London

In the small waiting room on the general intensive care ward, Julia sat hunched on the edge of her seat, her elbows resting on her knees as she picked anxiously at the nailbed of her thumbs with her index fingers. Time seemed to be standing still yet again, and it was torturous. Beside her, Ed sat staring blankly at the television fixed to the wall opposite, barely paying attention as an episode of “Pointless” began, while Jasmine stood at the window. The sky was almost electric blue in colour, and she couldn’t help but marvel at the serene beauty.

The door swung open, and James returned, having tried several times already to call Emma and alert her to Nick’s condition. Each call had thus far gone unanswered.

Julia straightened in her seat as she watched her husband move effortlessly through the room before slumping onto a chair under the television with exhaustion. “Any word?”

“No,” James said with a frustrated sigh, shaking his head. “It just keeps going to voicemail. She must have it turned off or something.”

Before Julia had time to respond, the door opened once again, and Doctor Carter stepped into the waiting room.

“Doctor,” Julia started, instantly springing to her feet as she practically flew across the room towards him. “How is he?”

Doctor Carter hesitated, and the air immediately thickened with tension. The silence pulsed. Julia’s heart thumped in her chest, and she was convinced those around her could hear it. Jasmine locked eyes with the doctor and silently begged him not to tell her the news she was so terrified to hear.

“He’s stable,” Doctor Carter finally said, his words chosen carefully and his tone calm. “Nick suffered a coronary thrombosis, which is a blood clot that formed in one of his arteries.”

“How?” Ed frowned, his concern obvious as he glanced at the man who was so intimately known to him.

“There was a small rupture in one of his arteries, most likely caused by a trauma while receiving CPR.” Doctor Carter moved his gaze from Ed to Jasmine, then James and Julia in turn, his look lingering for a beat longer than a moment with each one. “The blood coagulated around the rupture and caused a blockage of the artery.”

Julia rubbed her hand over her mouth, trying to take in everything she was being told. It was good news, right? “So, he had another cardiac arrest?”

“No.” Doctor Carter shook his head and tried not to sound condescending. “Nick suffered a heart attack, which is when the blood flow to the heart is blocked, whereas cardiac arrest involves some sort of malfunction or trauma that causes the heart to suddenly stop beating, like when he had the car accident.”

“Is he going to be okay?” Jasmine asked. She felt Ed hold her hand, and she was grateful for the support of her father.

Doctor Carter gave the faintest hint of a smile. “He should be,” he said with a tone that sounded cautious. “Nick was taken into theatre, where he’s undergoing a thrombectomy to remove the clot. All going well, he should make a full recovery. But I must stress that we are still waiting to see what, if any, lasting effects the cardiac arrest has had on his system and brain. He certainly isn’t out of the woods yet, but we’re hopeful.”

For the first time in nearly 38 hours, Julia felt her shoulders relax. While it wasn’t a guarantee that her Nicky would be fine, she suddenly felt like there was now hope where there wasn’t before.

–  G L E N D A L E  –

Greystone Downs Farm,
Glendale

“Let’s get him on the stretcher,” the dark-haired paramedic instructed, as the blonde one nodded in agreement and hurried out of the barn and back towards the ambulance parked a short distance away.

Kneeling at Tom’s side, Kate recognised the underlying urgency in the young man’s voice and denied herself the chance to breathe a sigh of relief just yet. Her eyes remained trained on the heart monitor, watching the faint line of a heartbeat that separated life from death, and she chose to believe that this was just the end of a chapter and not their story.

With her face buried into Tony’s chest, Carol sobbed heavily, unable to shake from her thoughts the horrific image of her son when she had opened the barn door. She didn’t know how long he had been there, but instinctively, she knew it was long enough for this not to have a happy ending.

Tony rubbed his big, rough hands against his wife’s back as he tried to soothe her distress. When he had gotten the call from Carol, the world had stopped. Her panicked, breathless words made no sense, but from the pieces of information he could tease out of his distressed wife, Tony knew it was something of monumental consequence and importance. As his eyes looked around the barn, he noticed the rope and quickly turned his head away, unwilling and unable to accept reality. It was then that his eyes settled on a piece of paper lying atop a haybale a few feet away. Tony strained his eyes and could make out the handwritten note, scribbled in Tom’s usual scrappy hand. The ink was smeared in places, distorted by what must’ve been tears, and the words were clearly written in distress.

im sorry
i cant do this anymore
im not strong enough
tell the kids i love them
im sorry kate
i never meant to hurt you
i never meant any of this to happen
please forgive me
i love you
always and forever

Kate gently brushed the back of her hand against Tom’s unshaven cheek as her chin quivered and her eyes pooled with tears. The face that was so familiar to her was now alarmingly pale. She tenderly brushed a strand of his sandy blonde hair from his forehead.

“I’m here,” Kate said, while her voice, with its usual Welsh accent, was breathless and faltered. “You’re not alone, sweetheart. I’m here.” She leant forward and softly kissed the heavy crease that was a permanent fixture on her husband’s brow. “Hold on, Tom. Just hold on.”

The blonde paramedic returned with the stretcher, and, along with the dark-haired medico, they worked swiftly, checking Tom’s vitals and preparing to move him. But suddenly, everything changed.

The heart monitor let out a frantic pinging while lights flashed. Tom’s body jerked suddenly, a shocking and violent movement that sent a shockwave of terror and fear through the barn. Carol, ripped from the safety and security of Tony’s embrace, watched on in horror, while Kate’s eyes widened as she struggled to process what was happening. The two paramedics scrambled to stabilise Tom, barking instructions at each other that Kate couldn’t hear as the world blurred around her. Her eyes darted from Tom to the heart monitor, and the furious digital spikes, frantic beeping, and wailing alarms terrified her.

And then it all shattered. Tom’s body went still, the fight draining out of him as he slipped from this world to the next, and the frantic beeping of the heart monitor changed to a bone-chilling flatline.

Kate trembled uncontrollably, and tears streamed down her cheeks as she watched the two paramedics work frantically to save Tom’s life. CPR failed, while several attempts with the defibrillator were unsuccessful. Time stood still, and when she caught the grim glances exchanged between the two young men, Kate knew that her Tom was gone.

The paramedics ended their attempts. The flatline echoed around the barn.

“I’m so sorry,” the dark-haired paramedic said with a heartfelt sincerity.

“What?” The breath caught in Kate’s throat. “What do you mean?”

Carol, still wrapped in her husband’s arms, placed her palms against Tony’s chest and looked up at him with eyes that begged him to tell her this wasn’t real. “W-what’s happening? Tony, please, wh-what…?”

Tony stared at the scene in disbelief, unable to comprehend what had just happened before his very eyes. “I… I…”

Kate felt the ground shudder beneath her. “Why have you stopped?” She asked, although she already knew the answer. “Why aren’t you still going? Go on! Do something! Go on!”

The blonde paramedic lowered his head. “I’m sorry.”

Uncontrollable tears rolled down Kate’s cheeks as her body shook and she became breathless. “Do something!” She yelled, pleading with the two men as her voice cracked and quivered. “PLEASE! PLEASE DO SOMETHING!”

The paramedics looked at each other in silent understanding and then turned off the heart monitor.

“KEEP GOING! DO SOMETHING!”

“I’m so sorry,” said the dark-haired medico with a sympathy that gave Kate goosepimples. “There’s nothing more we can do.”

The words hit Carol hard, and her knees buckle beneath her. Tony bent as he supported her body weight, holding her up as she trembled and wailed in raw agony, as only a mother who had lost a child could.

“What?” Kate looked at Tom’s lifeless body through eyes blurred by tears. “What? What do you…? What?”

The dark-haired paramedic swallowed heavily, trying to control his own emotions. “I’m so sorry, but we’ve done all we can. He’s gone.”

“Nooo!” Kate let out a spine-tingling scream that rose up from the depths of her stomach and threw herself down onto her husband’s body. Floods of tears poured from her eyes as she rested the side of her face against Tom’s unmoving chest. “No! No! Not, my Tom! No!”

Kate’s heavy sobs and heartbreaking wails carried on the warm breeze that blew into the barn through the open door. She sat up, leant over Tom’s body, and grasped her husband by the shoulders. “Tom! Tom, wake up! Wake up, Tom! WAKE UP!” Kate begged and pleaded, shaking him gently as if trying to rouse him from a nap. “Please wake up. Please, Tom, please. Please. Please. Please. Please.”

There was no response, only silence. Kate released her grip of Tom’s shoulders and cupped his pale, unshaven face in her trembling hands. Already cool to the touch, it was then that Kate fully understood that her husband had died. “Tom…? Tom…?”

There was no response. No reply. No smile, wink, or tender kiss. There was just silence and the horrifying realisation that Tom was gone.

“NOOOOOO!” Kate screamed with a raw, primal sound that seemed to simultaneously shake the foundations of the barn and reverberate around Glendale.

-:-

In the kitchen, Kate’s bloodcurdling scream shattered the silence, and Audrey turned her head towards the window while Buster’s ears pricked up. The haunting cry of her grandson’s wife left little doubt in the elderly woman’s mind as to what had happened. Tom had died.

As if he knew that his master was gone, Buster let out a whimper and rested his head against Audrey’s lap. His sad, downcast eyes looked up at her, and Audrey’s heart ripped in two. A single tear, filled with agony, rolled down her cheek, and she patted the pooch in sympathy as silence once again settled over them.

–  G L E N D A L E  –

The Oak & Vine,
Glendale

Upstairs, in the living room of the flat above The Oak & Vine pub, Pamela Granger sat in an armchair nursing a mug of tepid tea as she gazed blankly out of the window, watching a series of puffy clouds slowly move across the stunningly blue sky. While Harry and Noah – the sons of Kate and Tom, who she was looking after while the tragic events played out at Greystone Downs – lay on their tummies on the floor, bickering as they battled it out in yet another game of Mario Kart, Pamela couldn’t ignore the worry and anxiety that churned within her.

After she had heard the news about the terrible thing that Tom had done, Pamela questioned why she hadn’t paid more attention to her nephew and why she hadn’t seen that he was struggling.

“Mum?”

The distant call from her son, Ben Granger, pulled Pamela from her thoughts, and she soon heard his heavy footfall coming up the stairs. Pamela placed her mug of tea down onto the coffee table and gave a warm smile to Noah as she rose to her feet. “In here.”

Appearing in the doorway, Ben wasted no time in taking to his mother and enveloping her in a warm, comforting hug. Pamela held her son tightly and breathed in the familiar scent of his Ralph Lauren cologne, grateful yet simultaneously guilty at being able to hold her offspring while her sister-in-law, Carol, faced the prospect of not being able to do the same to her own son. “Any word from Tony?”

“No,” Pamela replied as she and Ben parted. Over her son’s shoulder, she noticed his girlfriend, Emma Blake, and gave another smile. There was a look of worry and apprehension on Emma’s face that troubled Pamela.

As Ben knelt to greet the young boys and engage them in some frivolous chatter about who was winning, Emma stepped forward and rubbed Pamela’s arm in support.

“What have you said to them?” She asked, looking towards the television as Luigi passed Princess Peach, and Harry let out a gleeful cheer.

“Nothing yet.” Pamela looked back at the boys. “Kate asked us not to.”

“And Ava?” Ben asked, talking in short sentences so as not to raise concern within Harry and Noah, as he straightened and turned back to his mother.

“She’s staying at a friend’s house at the moment. She’s aware something is going on, but we haven’t really told her what yet.” Pamela suddenly felt herself choke up. “What if…?”

“Don’t,” Ben said and hugged his mother once again, rubbing her back. “Don’t think like that. Tom will be okay. He will be. He has to be.”

–  G L E N D A L E  –

Greystone Downs Farm,
Glendale

Lying on the dirt floor beside Tom’s lifeless body, Kate was silent. They were alone in the barn, allowed one final moment of privacy and intimacy. Kate rested her head against Tom’s shoulder, her body pressed against his side, as she held a hand against his cold chest, willing his heart to beat once again under her palm. They would lie this way in bed, Kate’s hand flat against Tom’s chest as she counted the number of heartbeats in a minute. The lowest she could remember was 68 and the highest was 124, shortly after a passionate moment of intimacy. Now, there were none.

“Tom?” She whispered as a tear dropped from her cheek and darkened a fold of Tom’s open shirt. “Come on, sweetheart, wake up for me. Please, Tom, please.”

There was silence.

Kate shifted her head slightly and looked up at Tom, the way she would so often in bed when he would glance down at her and smile. Only this time he didn’t. His eyes remained closed, and his face was soft and at ease. It seemed wrong that he was so peaceful, so untouched by the chaos that had surrounded him in those final moments, but Kate was grateful that he was.

“Please, sweetheart,” she whispered once more and nuzzled her head into his shoulder. “For me. Please.”

-:-

The back door opened, and Tony appeared, gently guiding Carol into the kitchen. She leaned heavily against him, her face pale and drawn, as she struggled under the weight of her grief. Her legs felt like lead, and her heavy feet barely shuffled.

At the table, Audrey turned in her seat and looked back at her broken daughter, her eyes glistening with tears.

“Oh, Mum,” Carol said, as she broke down with uncontrollable sobs that saw her body heave.

Audrey struggled from her chair, and her expression crumpled at the sight of her daughter’s distress. She rushed to Carol, as fast as her elderly frame would allow, and wrapped her in a tight embrace as Carol suffered a complete breakdown. Her heartbroken tears fell onto her mother’s shoulder, soaking the fabric of Audrey’s baby blue cardigan.

As mother and daughter stood locked in a shattered embrace, Tony realised it would be up to him to make the call to Pamela. He backed out of the kitchen silently and gently shut the kitchen door behind him. Outside, he paused and took stock of events. He looked to the sky, closing his eyes, and took in a deep breath, allowing the warmth and light of the sun to wash over him in a silent moment of reflection and peace.

Reopening his eyes, Tony exhaled deeply and removed his phone from his pocket. He unlocked the device, scrolled through his contacts, and tapped on Pamela’s name. As the phone rang, Tony noticed movement in the distance as a police car moved towards the farmhouse at a respectful pace.

–  G L E N D A L E  –

The Oak & Vine,
Glendale

In the doorway of the living room, Pamela leant against the doorframe and watched mindlessly as Ben and Emma entertained Harry and Noah with a four-way Mario Kart battle. There was a sweetness to the laughter that filled the room and an innocence to the two young boys that Pamela worried would soon be stolen from them.

In her pocket, her phone began to vibrate, alerting her to an incoming call. Pamela fished it out of jeans, and her heart clenched at the caller ID.

“Tony?” She said, trying her best to mask her unease as she slipped from the doorway, moved across the landing, and entered the kitchen, closing the door behind her. Pamela listened to her brother-in-law deliver the devastating news and pressed a hand to her mouth. “Oh no. Oh, Tony, no.”

–  G L E N D A L E  –

Greystone Downs Farm,
Glendale

Having moved into the living room, Carol and Audrey sat on the sofa in silence. Carol curled into her mother’s side, her shuddering sobs muffled against Audrey’s shoulder, while the wool of her cardigan absorbed Carol’s heartbroken tears.

Audrey wrapped her arms around her daughter, holding her close, though she felt just as lost. Her heart ached for her daughter, but the shock of losing Tom left the elderly woman feeling numb. She brushed a hand gently through Carol’s hair, the same way she used to soothe her and calm her when she was an upset little girl, knowing that words were inadequate but that her tender actions would provide the comfort as only a mother’s touch could.

At Audrey’s feet, Buster lay whimpering, his chin resting against her black slip-on flats.

-:-

Having spoken with the police and paramedics waiting outside the barn, Tony stepped inside, careful not to startle Kate as she remained lying beside her husband’s body. As he moved closer to the tragic scene, Tony swallowed heavily, getting a good look at Tom for the first time and the ligature that had ended his life. He looked serene, as if he were merely sleeping, yet the stillness and slight greying of his body were a sad reminder that he was not.

“Kate?”

Kate was silent as she lay at Tom’s side, her body pressed against his as she clung to their life together, unwilling to let go. She had lost track of time, disorientated in a haze of grief. Her fingers traced the contours of his face, committing every detail, every blemish, and every line that told Tom’s story to memory. Her heart ached. How could she possibly say goodbye?

“Kate, sweetheart,” Tony said gently as he moved a few steps closer. “We need to give the police and medics some space so they can deal with the body.”

“Tom,” Kate replied, her attention unmoved from her husband’s face as she corrected her father-in-law. “It’s Tom.”

Tony bowed his head, silently scolding himself for the mistake. “Sorry. You’re right. Tom.” He moved a few more steps closer and knelt, placing a supporting hand gently on Kate’s shoulder. “We need to let them do their work on Tom.”

Kate’s breath hitched. “Is this it?” She asked with a sadness that Tony felt in his core. “He’s just taken away, and, what, life just goes on? This is his home, Tony.”

Tony’s heart broke. “I know, sweetheart.”

“He belongs here,” Kate sobbed, moving a hand over Tom’s cheek. “He belongs here, at home. Here, with me and the kids. This can’t be it, Tony. This can’t be it.”

There was movement in the doorway as two police officers hovered.

“Please, just give me a minute,” Kate said softly, realising that her time with Tom had come to an end. “I just need to say goodbye.”

The police both nodded solemnly and stepped out of sight.

With her head still resting on Tom’s shoulder, Kate shifted and kissed his cheek as she would when they were in bed. His stubbly skin was cold against her lips. “I don’t want to leave you,” she whispered softly just below his ear. “But I have to, my darling. I’m sorry.”

Kate sat up and looked at her husband’s lifeless body. She ran a hand over his sandy blonde hair, smoothing it, before she leaned down and pressed her forehead against his. She closed her eyes and breathed in his scent one last time. Her eyes reopened, but their foreheads remained touching. “You are my everything,” she said, her voice trembling. “You made me whole, and I am going to miss you every day for the rest of my life.”

Sitting back, Kate took one final look at her husband. “I love you,” she whispered before leaning down and kissing Tom for the very last time. “Goodbye, sweetheart.”

NEXT TIME…

• Glendale says goodbye to Tom.