The Guest List

by Melissa Hill

  She raised her eyes to look at him. ‘Maybe this is the universe’s way of trying to tell us something,’ she continued sadly. ‘Maybe not getting married is the smartest decision.’ She loved Shane, so much, but she was also willing to face the fact that maybe this situation wasn’t right, and they should just call it quits and move on.

  ‘Cara, I love you—’

  ‘I love you, too Shane. But I’m not sure if that’s enough any more. Think about if we go through with this. What kind of future relationship will you have with your parents if you refuse them now? How will I ever feel comfortable around your mother? I doubt she’s the forgiving type. She was so threatening today, you should have seen her. And then there’s the money. I honestly don’t think there is anything else I can say about that. You know how I feel about the subject. I don’t want it. But it seems that you do.’

  Shane opened his mouth to say something but Cara put up a hand and continued. ‘Do I truly believe that you are as money-obsessed as your parents? No, I don’t. But you are concerned enough about that investment you made that went south to put a value on the money you would be receiving in a few years’ time. The rub is that you didn’t tell me about it. That I am only finding out about this now. Why wouldn’t you tell me something like that? I’m supposed to be your partner. Pretty soon, I’m supposed to be your wife – or was supposed to be,’ she added, looking away. ‘I just don’t know why you would leave me out of stuff like this. It makes me wonder what else I don’t know about.’

  ‘Cara, I’m sorry, I should have said something, but I didn’t think it was a big deal.’

  ‘Only because you knew you had your parents’ money behind you. But then this situation presented itself and you realised that of course I would have to be told.’

  He shook his head. ‘That makes me sound so devious – honestly, it wasn’t like that.’

  She bit her lip. ‘In any case Shane, I can’t be responsible for making such a big decision. And I still want the St Lucian wedding – or I did.’

  ‘Then we’ll do it,’ Shane said, sitting forward determinedly. ‘We will tell my parents to just sod off.’

  ‘And then we will be right back at square one,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘Worse, actually. Think of the long-term effects. If we had kids, would they ever know their grandparents? And then of course, you are apparently worried about a divorce somewhere down the line. Shane, that is not how I work. When I said I’d marry you, as far as I was concerned I was making a lifelong commitment. To me, marriage means that we would be pledging ourselves to each other, and if problems presented themselves in the future, then we’d just work them out together, not head straight for the divorce courts.’

  Her eyes started to water as she thought of the beautiful vision she’d had in her mind about how a life with Shane would be. It seemed so elusive now, something that wasn’t hers and maybe had never been.

  ‘Cara, this can’t be it. I don’t want this to be it. I don’t want us to be over. I love you so much.’ Shane’s voice broke, a sob caught in his throat. ‘I want you to be my wife. Please, honey. Please, let’s just work this out.’ He reached out to her and Cara allowed herself to be pulled in to his embrace.

  She felt his warmth and breathed in his scent; everything about him was so familiar but now felt so foreign. She felt as if all truly was lost, and this was the end. She clung to him, as if she could stop time from moving forward, as if she needed to memorise everything about him because soon she would no longer have him in her life. She let the tears in her eyes spill forth and sobbed openly.

  This is what heartbreak feels like, she thought. Every bone in her body wanted to forget about everything that had happened today, but the consequences weighed too heavily on her mind. She thought of the problems that would be caused if they just went ahead and did what they wanted. His parents had stripped them of that right, and she felt deep resentment flood through her body. If they got married, how on earth could she ever forgive his parents, his mother in particular? She would feel resentful of Lauren Richardson every day of her life. That wasn’t healthy, she couldn’t live that way.

  Shane and Cara looked into each other’s eyes. He kissed her, tenderly and slowly. He tried to appeal to her, show how much he needed her and wanted her, but Cara couldn’t help but think that it felt like a goodbye kiss.

  When the kiss ended, she pulled away slightly. She looked at her left hand and slowly removed her engagement ring.

  ‘You should take this,’ she said softly.

  ‘Cara . . . no.’

  ‘Shane, you know as well as I do that if we get married there are always going to be situations like this. One after another. I’m not trying to punish you, or make a statement, but I honestly don’t know if I can live with your parents acting this way. Yes, I was marrying you, but I was marrying into your family, too.’

  ‘Cara, I will tell my parents to mind their own business I swear—’

  ‘We have tried that and look where it got us. I’m not prepared to live my entire life that way, Shane. There are no boundaries. I mean, I realise my family can be crazy, too, but they would never try to make us do what they want us to do through the means of a chequebook.’

  She placed the ring in his hand but he shook his head.

  ‘No, this is yours,’ he insisted, although his tone seemed ever so slightly resigned that this was happening. That this was the new reality.

  Cara sighed and bit her lip, fighting off a new round of tears.

  ‘I’m going to go,’ she said softly.

  ‘No, no, I’ll go,’ Shane said, looking into her eyes, as if memorising every contour of her tear-stained face.

  ‘Please really, I’m going to go to my mum’s. You stay here. We’ll – well I guess, we will work out everything later, what with cancelling St Lucia and everything,’ she said, choking. She stood and looked around the room, the room in which, up to now, they had shared so many happy memories, and a stark realisation hit her. She and Shane weren’t just cancelling the wedding; they were cancelling their life together.

  There was so much to figure out. As a couple in love it seemed effortless to acquire things, to plan and weave your life together with the other person. So much harder to go about separating it all.

  ‘I’ll give you a cheque to cover my half of the lost deposit at the resort,’ she offered sadly.

  ‘Please, no,’ Shane said. He held his head in his hands, his gaze firmly on the floor.

  As Cara went round the room gathering clothes and fetching toiletries from the bathroom, Shane didn’t make a sound. He couldn’t watch her, feeling that that would make it all real. As it was, he pretended to himself that she was just packing to go on a trip, something temporary, something she would be returning from. But as each minute passed, it started to sink in that this was it, Cara was leaving, they were finished. Their relationship was over.

  A thousand thoughts ran through his head. He considered getting on his knees, grabbing her legs and holding on to her, or blocking the door, refusing to let her leave. But he didn’t.

  When the moment came, she simply said, ‘Shane?’

  He looked up. She held a small suitcase and her handbag. She had washed her face, scrubbing the mascara off, leaving her skin red and raw.

  ‘I’m going now,’ she said. There was no malice, no anger. Just sadness. Regret.

  ‘There’s nothing that I can say that can make you stay. Is there?’ he asked, hoping she would provide him with a solution to this problem.

  Instead, she just shook her head.

  ‘You know I love you,’ he said, searching her face.

  ‘I know, and I love you. But I don’t think it’s enough any more.’ She turned towards the door.

  ‘Cara?’

  She turned around. ‘Yes?’

  ‘I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.’

  ‘I know you are, Shane. So am I. I never would have thought that this would have happened to us,’ she said. ‘I would have never th
ought it in a million years.’

  Chapter 26

  The phone rang in his study, and somehow Gene Richardson knew that nothing good was to come from the call.

  ‘Hello?’ he answered warily.

  There was a brief silence on the other end on the line. Finally, Shane spoke.

  ‘I hope you are happy.’

  ‘Shane? his father said, surprised by his son’s tone. It comprised equal amounts of sadness, bitterness and vitriol. And all of those components were directed firmly at him.

  ‘She left me.’

  Gene felt something cold and hard sink down into his stomach. Without another word being said, he knew exactly what had happened and what his son was referring to.

  ‘Cara?’ he questioned dumbly. He liked Cara, always had.

  ‘Yes, she left. Because of that despicable contract. Because of your interference. Thank you. Really, thank you, you have done such a good job. The wedding is off. Cara wouldn’t sign it, but more to the point, she also wouldn’t put me in a position where my relationship with you was ruined because of her. But really, she was wrong there, it didn’t matter. Because our relationship is ruined anyway. I want you to know that. From now on, I want nothing to do with you or Mother.’

  Gene had never been spoken to by his son in such a manner, and it disturbed him. He knew at that moment that he and Lauren had overplayed their hand. In their attempt to get their own way, they had set in chain a series of events that not only caused grief and hurt in Shane’s life, but also very effectively turned their son against them. This was all their fault. They deserved this. Their interference had backfired on them spectacularly.

  He should never have gone along with Lauren’s idea. Of course he would have preferred to have his son get married here, in a big shindig at the K-Club and all that. But now there was no wedding, and he was lucky if he didn’t lose – if he hadn’t already lost – his only son for ever. Everything was falling to pieces.

  ‘Son, I’m sorry,’ he said weakly.

  ‘I don’t accept that. Why did you have to do this? Why couldn’t you just leave it alone? I warned you not to interfere. I told you that this was about us, about what Cara and I wanted, but that wasn’t good enough, was it? It seems Cara has proved herself to be much more genuine and nobler than you and Mother – better than any of us. But now she’s gone. And it’s your doing. Remember that.’

  The line went dead. Shane had hung up on him.

  Gene stared at the phone in his hand, feeling sick to his stomach. He placed the handset back on the desk and thought the entire situation through. This really was their fault. There was no denying that.

  At that moment Lauren swept into the room, resplendently dressed for business in an Armani suit, even though it was eight in the evening.

  ‘Who was that?’ she inquired, taking note of her husband’s drawn expression.

  ‘It was Shane.’

  She smiled. ‘Ah, then I take it the decision has been made? When are they bringing the paperwork over?

  ‘There is no paperwork,’ Gene stated, still lost in his own thoughts.

  Lauren frowned. ‘What? What do you mean?’ she demanded. ‘Surely the girl couldn’t be that stupid.’

  Gene snapped to attention, coming out of his reverie and focusing on his wife.

  ‘There is no paperwork because there is no wedding. It’s all our fault, Lauren. What’s more, she walked out on him and Shane wants nothing to do with us. He’s not stupid you know. Neither is Cara. And apparently she isn’t quite so money-hungry either. But she won’t let Shane’s future be affected because of her.’ He put a hand to his head, as if the realisation was dawning on him. ‘We lost, Lauren. You lost. Our selfish gamble has cost our son his happiness, and it has also cost us our son. I hope you are happy,’ he spat.

  Lauren felt as if she had just been slapped. The full weight of her actions began to pile up on top of her. She had never meant for this to happen. She’d merely thought that it would get Cara to come round to her way of thinking. As far as she was concerned there had been two options. She didn’t think that Cara would eventually decide on a completely different one, namely calling off not just the wedding but also her relationship with Shane.

  She felt her heart rate quicken as she thought of the repercussions of her actions. And now Shane had written them off too. He didn’t want anything to do with his own parents! What had she done? In the effort to get her own way, she had essentially cut off her nose to spite her face.

  ‘But—’ Lauren started lamely. No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t figure out an angle, a trump card.

  ‘No buts, Lauren. This is our fault. We should have just set aside our own stupid notions and let them be,’ said Gene angrily. ‘And do you know something? I don’t blame Shane; I would cut us off too if I had just lost the woman I loved. We cost him his happiness, and hers. You realise that don’t you?’

  Lauren swallowed hard. Yes, she knew that. She knew that this was all her fault. She hated to think about her son upset and unhappy. What mother could stomach the thought of her child suffering? And to know that she had caused it was even worse. Truthfully, she hated to think about Cara upset, too. She had never had a problem with Cara, and it was only recently that she had been vexed by the girl and her intentions. She cringed inwardly as she considered her actions that afternoon, about the way she had spoken to Cara. About the pain and suffering that she had caused.

  Simply because she wanted to be the one who called the shots for the wedding. Because she and Gene had wanted to use it for their own ends.

  She lowered her eyes and bit her lip, the guilt flooding her like a plague. And talk about diving straight into the role of the dreaded mother-in-law . . . Monster-in-law would be a more fitting title.

  But maybe she could fix it, she thought, her mind going into problem-solving mode.

  ‘What can we do, Gene? There has to be something we can do.’

  ‘Any idea where we might be able to find a time machine?’ he said sarcastically.

  She bit a freshly manicured fingernail.

  Gene looked at his wife. For all her ruthlessness and determination to get her own way, there was no denying that that she was now genuinely troubled by the developments. He wished they had considered this happening when first looking for a way to get what they wanted. If he’d thought that there was a chance of everything backfiring like this, he knew he would have never gone along with the idea. He might be very well focused on what the outside world thought of them and their standing in business circles, but at the same time, it wasn’t worth sacrificing a relationship with Shane, or a future daughter-in-law.

  ‘Well, I know the concept is foreign to you, and probably to me as well, but we could probably start with an apology,’ he said gruffly. ‘A real one, from the heart, to both of them. Although by now, we’ll be lucky if either one of them could ever consider forgiving us.’

  ‘So it seems the wedding is off . . .’ mumbled Danielle as she read the latest email from Cara. She felt an automatic wave of relief rush over her but then immediately felt guilty. Imagine what Cara must be going through at that moment? After all of her planning and excitement over her big day, she was probably now dealing with overwhelming heartbreak.

  Danielle’s heart went out to her, and despite herself, she felt like picking up the phone to find out more and see if there was anything she could do to help ease Cara’s distress. Cancelling a wedding was not an easy task. Never mind undoing all the arrangements already made, it must be so difficult to contend with emotionally too.

  Scanning the email for more information as to the reasons for the cancellation, she saw that it was brief and to the point – in itself testament, she guessed, to Cara’s upset. Apparently Cara and Shane had run into some kind of roadblock, there had been too many problems and complications, and Cara had decided that it was best if they just called off the entire affair. In closing, she apologised for putting Danielle out and hoped that she wou
ld end up seeing her soon.

  See her soon? Danielle thought, wincing at the slight formality. In truth, and despite her anxieties, she’d been rather enjoying being up to date with the goings-on back home, albeit from a distance.

  But while her heart ached for Cara’s misfortune, she couldn’t deny that the wedding cancellation eased the burden that lying to Zack had created.

  Lying about a client who didn’t exist in order to keep him in the dark about her travels had become a real challenge, especially since he loved talking business, even when it wasn’t his own.

  Now she would no longer have to lie and make up stories, and she felt as if she had a new lease of life of sorts. She no longer had a client who wanted to buy a house on St Lucia.

  She thought about it and decided on the best way to present this new information to her boyfriend. At least the last lie that she would have to tell was more of a slight half-truth. Her client had cancelled, she would say, and backed out of the deal, so she no longer would have to travel to St Lucia.

  Really it was barely a lie. All that she had to do was replace ‘client’ with ‘sister’ and it would have been the truth.

  Danielle took a deep breath. Was it wrong that as well as feeling sorry for Cara she also felt relieved for herself?

  She wondered what the ‘complications’ Cara had mentioned in her email were. Then she grimaced. She would be willing to bet that it had something to do with Betty.

  Most of the problems began there after all. She just hoped that, if her mother was responsible for the wedding being called off, she felt appropriately horrible about it. Clearly Betty still hadn’t learned to keep her nose out of other people’s business or stop trying to control their lives.

  Danielle bit her lip, again wondering if she should pick up the phone and talk to Cara, try and comfort her maybe. Not that she was much good at that kind of thing, but perhaps she should at least try . . .