The Monroe Legacy - G.3. Chapter 5 - Gone Girl

All things considered Gray thought Aisha had taken it pretty well. Maybe too well.

There had been no tears, no argument, just a tacit acceptance that they would never get back to where they had been. After a long discussion they agreed that the best thing for Eva, at least for the time being, would be for Aisha to stay at the house as long as she wanted to and for them to continue to parent as they had been, in shifts. If a time came where Aisha wanted to leave or either of them moved on to a new partner they would arrange custody at that point.

This was how it came to pass that an uneasy family group gathered around a birthday cake with a single candle. Gray couldn't believe that Eva was turning one, he couldn't believe everything that had happened in that year. Aisha stood slightly apart from the rest if the group, a strange almost hard look in her eyes and Gray wondered if their arrangement could last much longer.

As much as he wanted Eva to grow up with a loving family and two parents, he couldn't deny the tension that them sharing a house was causing and soon their daughter would be old enough to pick up on it.

Still he pushed his worries out of his mind to focus on the little girl trying to blow out her candles. With a little help from her mom the job was done and Gray stood back to admire his gorgeous daughter.

She had Aisha's colouring and his features and hair, her eyes were a strange almost luminous green that he couldn't place at all. She was a beauty. The party was a quiet one and finished when Eva's bedtime rolled around. Aisha had vanished so Gray took his time, reading a story and tickling her until she was falling asleep in his arms.

As a Eva was growing up and getting more independent, so too were her grown up uncle and aunties. Sienna was working at the local police station having decided against college, training as a forensic specialist. She was living with Ethan but it seemed to be a little rocky, Hallie hoped she'd find someone less selfish to settle with.

Jet was technically still living at home but he spent months at a time off on training programmes and drills, learning his way around a horse and a barracks. He seemed happy and focused which all his parents had ever wanted for him.

Saffron was working her way up at the studio. It was a slow process but they'd hear through a little bid (Violet) that she'd made quite an impression on one of the current projects leading men, an up-and-comer named Trent Martin. He had apparently taken her for a drink and she was now playing hard to get, Or maybe just being her usual coy self.

As Eva grew and began to learn new skills Aisha was around less and less. When she was there Gray often wished she wasn't, her attitude was so dreadful and she seemed so indifferent to Eva. To compensate, Gray tried to read with Eva and help her to walk and talk when he wasn't working but Hallie had had to step in a lot, filling in the gaps that Aisha's absence was leaving in her daughter's life.

For Hallie it was a welcome distraction, her granddaughter was a lively little thing, a little crazy in her mood-swings and behaviour but utterly loveable. When she wasn't with Eva she was with Cai, a recent trip to the doctor had confirmed what they'd both been trying to ignore, he was sick again and this time there wouldn't be any recovery.

Eva was coming up for two the day that Hallie went upstairs to find him collapsed in the bathroom, doctors rushed to the house but could do no more than make him comfortable as his body slowly failed. He passed away a week later, leaving a gaping hole in their family life.

Gray coped by working as much as he could, he didn't have time for anything except work and Eva, even being around his mother and siblings was hard for him. Hallie coped by inventing and playing with her granddaughter, but nothing could mask the jagged pain of losing her partner. It was the little things she missed, hearing him snort at something ridiculous in the paper, the tapping of his computer keys and having someone to turn off the light on the other side of her bed.

Saffron brought a man to the funeral. They all assumed it was the film star and were shocked when she introduced him as Leyton Kidd, one of the runners on the set. It seemed that she hadn't been playing innocent all along, her heart was elsewhere. Gray felt a pang of envy when he saw the way Saffron looked at Leyton, Aisha had never had that look for him.

Aisha was barely at home and when she was she was either locked in her room or looking for a fight. Gray was pretty sure she was seeing someone, an idea that didn't bother him at all, but what did worry him was that he didn't trust her to look after Eva any more.

One evening he came home from work, Hallie was visiting with Violet and found Eva screaming in her crib, her lunch still in the fridge and her blankets soaked through.

Aisha was in the bath, the radio blaring completely oblivious to her daughter's distress. The next day Gray consulted with a lawyer, knowing that if things kept going as they were he might have no choice but to fight to keep Eva with him if he asked Aisha to leave. The lawyer promised to start building a case, as Gray and Aisha weren't married and had shared parenting responsibilities he would have a hell of a fight to gain full custody, regardless of the allegations that Aisha was an unfit parent.

Months ticked along and not much changed. Hallie seemed to be on the brink of the big discovery she'd chased for years and a large structure was gradually taking shape in the garden. Eva was babbling her first baby words and toddling about and Saffron had asked Leyton to move in so they could save for a place together. Hallie loved having another guy around the house, she couldn't have picked a sweeter man for Saffron if she'd had the chance and she was dropping some less than subtle wedding hints!

Gray came home one night to a voicemail on the house phone from the lawyer, he had found something that might help and could Gray pop in the next day. Carefully deleting the message before Aisha got in from wherever she had been, Gray went about his evening as usual, singing Eva a lullaby and tucking her in with a kiss.

Gray woke the next morning with the feeling that something wasn't quite right. The sun was pouring in, much was much to bright to be 7am, the time that Eva would usually start yelling for her breakfast. Running his hand through his hair and rubbing his eyes he rolled over to look at the clock. 10am.

Maybe Hallie had got his baby up and dressed. Noticing the empty cot on the landing he went downstairs to see if they were in the living room. But the ground floor was deserted. No Hallie, no Eva, no Aisha.

Strange. Heading back upstairs and throwing on some clothes Gray checked every room. Saffron's and the spare bedroom were empty. In his parents room he found Hallie, still asleep, she had taken to sleeping a lot in the last few weeks and Gray could see her age was beginning to catch up to her.

When he asked, 'Have you seen Eva?' she looked so confused he knew immediately that Aisha must have his daughter.

Worried now he rushed to Aisha's door, pounding it hard, unable to shake the feeling that something was very wrong. The door flew open under his barrage to reveal a deserted room.

On the bed, staring at him, a single white envelope.

Gray darted in and picked it up, his hands shaking as he broke the seal.

Inside was a sheet of folded paper and in Aisha's scruffy handwriting two words.

'I'm sorry'.

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Read Chapter 6 - Tears and Fears now!