by Douglas, Michelle; Gordon, Lucy; Pembroke, Sophie; Hardy, Kate
‘Eight years ago,’ she said—because wasn’t that when everything had started?—‘when Zeke left...he asked me to go with him.’
‘Why?’
‘Because we were in love.’ Facts, even painful ones, were the only way to do this. The only way to make Flynn understand what had happened tonight.
Flynn shifted in his chair. ‘I should have brought whisky.’
‘Yeah. Sorry.’
‘So. You didn’t go with him. Why?’
‘Because...’ Could she tell him? It was Helena’s secret. She’d told Zeke, but that had been her choice. Flynn deserved the truth... In the end she plumped for the simplified version. ‘Helena needed me. She was sixteen, and she had a lot of stuff going on in her life. Our mother had died...she needed me. I couldn’t leave her.’
‘But if it hadn’t been for Helena?’
The million-dollar question. ‘I don’t know.’ Except she did—in her heart. ‘Zeke and I...we’re very different people. Especially these days.’
‘Okay. So what does this all have to do with tonight?’
Heat flooded Thea’s cheeks as the shame of her actions hit home. ‘I slept with Zeke tonight.’
‘On the terrace? Where anyone could see?’ Flynn’s eyebrows shot up. ‘That...doesn’t sound very like you.’
Thea blinked at him. ‘That’s your concern?’
Flynn sighed. ‘Thea, I’m not an idiot. I knew the moment Zeke came back that there was unfinished business between you. I guess I was away at university when he left, so maybe I didn’t know the ins and outs of it then. But seeing the two of you together this week, seeing how you act around me when he’s there...neither of you are exactly subtle, Thea.’
‘Oh. Okay.’ Thea swallowed around the lump that had formed in her throat. ‘Do you...do you hate me?’
Flynn’s smile was gentle, far gentler than she deserved, and tears stung at Thea’s eyes. ‘Of course I don’t hate you, Thea...’ He sighed. ‘Look. We know this isn’t a love match. We’re not married yet, so the fidelity clause isn’t in effect.’
She’d forgotten all about that clause. One moment of Zeke’s hands on her skin and she’d lost all reason.
‘Quite honestly, if you have doubts like this and things you need to resolve, I’d far rather them happen now than in a year’s time.’
‘So...what happens now?’
‘Well, that’s up to you.’ Flynn sat back in his chair and studied her. ‘You need to decide what you want, Thea. If you think you could be truly happy with Zeke, that he can give you everything you need, then we’ll go and talk to our parents and call the wedding off right now. But if you want the life we have planned—the business, the family support, kids, everything—if you still want that, then you need to forget about Zeke and marry me tomorrow.’
Thea stared at him, waiting for something more—something to make the choice for her, to make sure she made the right one. To tell her the right answer to this test.
But Flynn didn’t offer advice. Didn’t counsel...didn’t help her reason it out. He just sat there and watched her. How could he be so impassive? But then, she’d wanted businesslike, detached, practical. She hadn’t wanted Flynn to love her. He was giving her exactly what she’d always said she needed. And, against all the odds, she was still enough for him. She could still give him what he wanted, too, even knowing how much she’d messed up.
‘It has to be your choice, Thea,’ he said.
And, worst of all, she knew he was right.
CHAPTER TEN
‘ARE YOU OKAY out here?’
Zeke turned at the sound of Helena’s voice and saw the concerned crumple of her forehead as she stood in the door, watching him.
‘I’m fine.’ He patted the swing seat beside him. ‘Wanna sit? Your sister has left us a little of the champagne.’ He thought it wise not to mention exactly how Thea had been distracted from the champagne, right there on that very swing.
But Helena didn’t sit anyway. Instead she leant against the railing opposite and reached out a hand for the bottle. Her high heels had been discarded, Zeke realised, and she seemed far smaller than the loss of a few inches should achieve.
‘Everything okay in there?’ he asked as Helena lifted the bottle to her lips. Of course what he really wanted to ask was, Where’s Thea? How did Flynn take it? When is she coming back?
‘Fine,’ Helena said, passing the bottle back. ‘The guests have all gone, or retired to their rooms. Thea and Flynn are in the library, talking. Your dad’s in the study, and Isabella and Dad are sipping brandy in the back parlour, I think.’
That strange split again, Zeke thought. Everyone with the wrong person. Mum with Thomas, Thea with Flynn, and him out here with Helena.
‘Do you know what they’re talking about?’ he asked.
Helena raised her eyebrows. ‘Dad and Isabella? I dread to think.’
‘I meant Thea and Flynn.’ Zeke paused. ‘And why dread to think?’
‘Who knows what those two find to talk about?’ Helena shrugged, but the look in her eyes told him there was more to it than a weird choice of phrase.
‘Helena. What am I missing here?’
She tilted her head to look at him. ‘Are you missing it, though? Or just pretending you don’t see it, like Thea?’
‘I’ve been gone for eight years, Helena. I might have missed some stuff.’ But he suspected. Always had. And the horrible certainty was already rising up in his gut.
‘I knew when I was fourteen,’ she replied.
How much more of life had Helena seen before she was an adult? What else had she been doing while Flynn had been at university and he and Thea had been sneaking around thinking that they were being so clever that no one knew about them?
‘Knew what?’ Zeke asked, even though he was sure he didn’t want to know the answer.
‘That my father and your mother were having an affair.’
Zeke grabbed the champagne bottle and drank deeply. ‘Knew or suspected?’ he asked, after wiping his mouth. Because he’d suspected, even when he hadn’t wanted to. And he’d been very careful not to look any closer just in case he was proved right.
‘Knew.’
Helena looked him straight in the eye, as if she wanted to prove the truth of her words.
‘I saw them once. And once I’d seen...it was so obvious. I saw the proof of it in every single thing they did. It was a relief, in a way. At least I understood at last why Isabella was so determined to try and be my mother.’
‘Yeah.’ It explained a lot, even while Zeke wished that it didn’t. What a mess. Tipping his head back against the wall behind the swing, he let his mind rerun the memories of twenty-one years of watching them but not seeing. Helena was right. Once you knew it was impossible not to see.
Was that how people had been with him and Thea?
The thought made him sit bolt-upright. ‘Why are you telling me this now? I mean, there’s no chance that I’m...’ He couldn’t even finish the sentence.
Helena’s eyes widened. ‘Our half-brother? God, no! That’s...’ She shuddered. ‘No. Mum was still alive then, and I’m pretty sure it didn’t start until after her death. Besides, Zeke, you look exactly like Ezekiel Senior. I don’t think there’s ever been any doubt about who your father is.’
‘True.’ Zeke’s muscles relaxed just a little. ‘Funny. For years I hated how much of him I saw when I looked in the mirror. Now...I’m profoundly grateful.’
‘Hell, yes.’
‘So why tell me now?’
Helena paused, her lower lip caught between her teeth. Suddenly she looked like the naughty schoolgirl he remembered, not the poised, sophisticated woman he’d found when he returned. Where had she gone, that Helena? Had all her rough edges and inappropriate comments been smoot
hed out by the things that had happened to her? By all the secrets she’d had to keep buried? He’d seen a glimpse of her at dinner, though, winding his mother up about the pearls. Maybe she wasn’t gone for ever. He hoped not.
‘Did you ever wonder why Isabella stayed with your dad?’
Zeke blinked. He hadn’t, he realised. But he should have. ‘I guess the money. The family. The business.’
‘But if she’d left him for my dad...’
‘They’d have had all of that, to some degree.’ And Zeke would have grown up with Thomas Morrison as his stepfather. He really couldn’t be sure if that would have been an improvement, or not.
‘Yeah.’
‘So why?’
Helena shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I never asked. But maybe somebody should.’
‘Why?’ What did it matter now, anyway? He’d be gone tomorrow—leaving all this behind for his future with Thea.
‘Because...’ Helena took a deep breath. ‘Because I think Thea is about to make the same mistake.’
Zeke’s world froze. ‘No. She’s not. She’s in there right now, telling Flynn she can’t marry him.’
Helena’s gaze was sad and sympathetic. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes,’ Zeke lied. ‘I’m absolutely sure.’
* * *
Isabella was waiting for her outside the library when Thea finally left Flynn alone with the books and headed for bed. It wouldn’t do for the bride to look tired and distraught on her wedding day, after all. Just as Helena had said.
‘Oh, my dear,’ Isabella said, clasping her hands together at the sight of her. ‘Come on. We’ll go and have some tea.’
‘Really, Isabella, I’m fine.’ The last thing she wanted after the surrealism of her evening so far was to sit and sip tea with her future mother-in-law. ‘I just need to get some sleep. It’s been a long day.’
But Isabella wasn’t taking no for an answer. ‘You’ll never sleep like this. Come on. Tea.’
Dutifully Thea trailed behind her, wondering how much longer this day could feasibly get. It had to be past midnight already. Even if the wedding wasn’t until tomorrow afternoon she couldn’t imagine she’d actually get a lie-in, whatever happened. Apart from anything else she still had to talk to Zeke. Flynn had insisted she did, before making any final decisions.
The kitchens were in darkness, the last of the staff having gone home at last. The dishwashers were still running, though, so Thea suspected it had been a late night for all concerned. Isabella found the light switch without difficulty and flicked it on, before heading unerringly for a cupboard which, when opened, revealed a stock of different varieties of tea.
‘Camomile?’ she asked, glancing back at Thea. Then she frowned. ‘Or maybe peppermint. Good for soothing the stomach.’
‘My stomach is fine,’ Thea replied. It was just her mind that was spinning and her heart that was breaking.
‘As you say.’ Isabella selected a tin then, opening another cupboard, pulled out a small silver teapot and two fragile-looking cups and saucers. ‘I always make it my first priority to locate the teapot, wherever I’m staying. I just can’t sleep without a soothing cup of something before bed.’
‘I didn’t know that.’ Thea watched Isabella as she pottered over to the sink to fill the kettle then, while it was boiling, selected a couple of teaspoons and a tea strainer and stand from another drawer.
‘Now, Thea...’ Isabella placed the tea tray, complete with lace cloth, onto the kitchen table and took a chair opposite her. ‘I want to talk to you about Zeke.’
‘About Zeke?’ Thea’s fingers slipped on the handle of the teapot and she pulled back. She should let Isabella pour, anyway.
‘Yes. I know you’ve always been...close to my son.’
‘Your husband already asked me to talk to him about This Minute,’ Thea interjected, wishing she didn’t sound as if she was babbling so much. ‘And I tried—I did—but no dice. I think tomorrow he plans to leave and sell to Glasshouse, regardless of what we offer.’
‘That’s interesting,’ Isabella said. ‘But not what I wanted to talk about.’
‘Then...what? Did you want to know where he’s been? Because I have a pretty good idea, I think. Or what his plans are now? Because you’d really have to ask him, except...’
Except he was probably still waiting for her on the terrace. Did he know what she’d planned to tell Flynn? Or did he hope...? No. She couldn’t think about it.
‘I wanted to talk about your relationship with him. And my relationship with your father.’
Thea blinked. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘Then you haven’t been paying very close attention.’ Isabella reached for the teapot and, placing the strainer over Thea’s cup, started to pour. ‘This should be brewed by now.’
‘What exactly is your relationship with my father?’ Thea asked, even though she suspected she already knew the answer. Should have known it for years.
‘What exactly is your relationship with my youngest son?’ Isabella didn’t even look up from pouring the tea into her own cup as she turned the question round on Thea.
‘I haven’t seen him in eight years,’ Thea said. ‘I think that any relationship we did have will have been legally declared dead by now.’
‘Except he was the one who came after you when you were upset tonight. And I suspect he’s the one who’s left you looking like your whole world is upside down.’
‘Tell me about you and Dad.’
Placing the pot back on the tray, Isabella picked up her teacup and saucer and sat back, surveying Thea over the rim of her steaming cup. ‘I think, in some ways, our situation is very similar, you know.’
‘I don’t know,’ Thea said. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘After your mother died your father was a wreck. I tried to help out where I could. And then, after that nastiness with Helena...’
‘You saw your chance and pushed me out,’ Thea said, her hackles rising. But Isabella merely raised her eyebrows a few millimetres as she sipped her tea.
‘I did what was needed to keep things...settled.’
Sending Helena away and taking over Thea’s home. Smoothing over the rough edges of the actual truth and providing a glossy finish. Thea shook her head. ‘I don’t see how this applies to me and Zeke.’
‘Wait,’ Isabella said. ‘Drink your tea and listen. Over time, your father and I grew close. We talked a lot. We listened a lot. That was something we both needed. You might not have noticed, but my husband is not one of the world’s great listeners and his only subject of conversation is the company. It was...different with Thomas.’
Thea’s hands tightened around the warmth of her teacup. ‘You fell in love.’
‘We did. Very deeply.’
No wonder her father had chosen Isabella over her. For the first time Thea saw her past through new eyes. No, she hadn’t been up to the job her father had thrown her into. But maybe that had been because it was a role that was never meant to be hers. Maybe he’d wanted Isabella there at his side all along.
Except he’d never got all of her, had he?
‘You never left Ezekiel.’
‘I never even considered it,’ Isabella said without pause. ‘And your father never asked me to.’
‘Why?’
Isabella sighed. ‘Because I was old enough and wise enough, by the time I fell in love for real, to know that love isn’t everything. Thea, we all need different things in this life. Yes, we need someone to listen to us, to laugh with, to love. But we need other things, too.’
‘Like money,’ Thea guessed, not hiding the bitterness in her voice. How different might her life have been with Isabella as a real stepmother rather than someone who had to help out because Thea couldn’t manage things on her own? �
��Dad could have given you that, too, you know.’
‘Not just money. Yes, Thomas could have given me that—and stability, and lots of other things. But what about the business? What about our social standing? My place in the world? What about Ezekiel and the vows I made?’
‘You mean, what about the scandal?’ Thea shook her head. ‘Is that what it’s always about with you? Was this just Helena all over again?’
‘All I am saying is there are many aspects of a woman’s life for which she has needs. You need to look at your requirements over the course of a lifetime when you’re making a decision about whom to marry.’
‘And Ezekiel gave you what you needed over the course of your lifetime? Because, if so, why did you feel the need to have an affair with my father?’
Isabella sipped at her tea delicately before responding. ‘That’s what I’m saying. Did it ever occur to you that perhaps it is unreasonable to expect one person to fulfil your every need?’
‘No.’ The response was instinctive, automatic. Even if she were willing to contemplate such a thing, neither Zeke nor Flynn was the sort of man who liked to share.
Isabella gave her a sad smile. ‘You’re young. You’re still holding out for the dream. So, which of my sons do you think can give you that?’
Thea had no answer to that at all.
‘If that’s the way you feel you have only two options,’ Isabella said. ‘One: you marry Flynn as planned. Everyone is happy and no one needs to be any the wiser about your...indiscretion. You go about your life and probably never see Zeke again.’
‘What’s option two?’ Thea asked, her mouth dry.
‘You call off the wedding and leave with Zeke. You leave behind your career, your family and reputation, your chance at a stable and loving future, for a man who has already left you behind once. In an effort to put a good face on the company my husband will probably marry Flynn off to someone else pretty quickly. Helena, I imagine, would be the best candidate.’
‘No.’ The very idea chilled Thea’s core. ‘She wouldn’t.’
‘She would,’ Isabella replied, with certainty in her voice. ‘She couldn’t bear to let everyone down again. Besides, surely you’ve noticed the way she looks at him.’