by Lee, Corri
"Breakfast?"
She groaned and raised a hand to me, rubbing at her stomach with the other. "God no. Bloody Mary, please, and don't skimp on the 'bloody'. I'll be sitting outside seeing if I sparkle in sunlight because, honestly, I feel like I've been dead for a thousand years."
Blaze and I made our orders for breakfast and fooled around like we had in the lift while we waited for our coffee. 'Happy' wasn't a word I could apply to my life often, but that morning, I could. It was short-lived.
We carelessly stormed through the glass doors, attached by the mouth, out onto the terracotta tiled terrace leading out into the hotel's small but luxurious garden. Only Blaze's fast reaction's saved our coffee from spilling when I froze solid, eyes wide.
"Emmeline?" I opened my mouth and croaked, stepping back from Blaze like I'd been caught in the middle of something heinous.
Henry, Ivy and Tallulah Tudor stared at me from a round white table looking almost as shocked as I did. Esme gave me her best 'caught with my pants down' look and inched down a little in her chair. Like us, my family were in the same clothes they'd worn for the mixer, which meant they'd stayed in the hotel too. Of course. Ivy would have had us put in one of the nicest suites and insisted that we didn't pay.
"Oh, um... hello."
"Henry," Blaze took my coffee from my hand and ushered me over to the table calmly, "you know of my best girl?"
"I should say so," Esme, Ivy and I winced pre-emptively, "as your best girl is also my best girl."
The noise that came out of my mouth was the strangest I'd ever heard. It was half strangled laugh coupled with a dry heave and a definite sob. When I swayed on my feet, Blaze pulled me back into the dining room by the elbow so he could plant me down into a chair.
"Why the hell didn't you tell me Henry and Ivy are your parents?" Shit. I knew he'd be angry.
"You didn't ask?" His eyes narrowed to slits and made me squirm. "You know enough about my family to know that I'm not an active member. If it doesn't matter to me, it shouldn't matter to you."
It felt like we'd glared at each other for an eternity when he said, "you're right," and pulled me back to my feet. Taking advantage of my stunned silence, he pulled me into a deep, lush kiss and gave me a 'fucklust' stare of his own. "So if you don't mind, I'm going to go and find out if you come with a dowry."
"What? Hey!" With a laugh and easy grace, Blaze took our breakfasts from an oncoming waiter and paced back out onto the terrace, setting my plate down at the table between Esme and Ivy before I could argue.
"Henry, old boy. I believe it's customary for me to seek your blessing. Let's take a walk."
Dumbstruck, we watched the manly backslapping and negotiations head down the garden to a trellis that reminded me of the screens at the restaurant for our first date.
Esme broke the silence. "That went rather well."
"It did somewhat." Confused, I wilted into my seat and stabbed at the scrambled eggs I didn't really want anymore. "I guess we don't have any more secrets left." And yet, I felt uneasy and mithered. All of our revelations had been too easily handled and drama free. There had to be some fallout somewhere. My anxiety was not helped by Tallulah snorting across the table at me before she lifted a magazine to cover her smirk. "Problem, Tally?"
"Oh no, I'm just imagining how awkward your wedding ceremony is going to be when his wife turns up."
I dropped my fork with a loud clatter. "Come again?"
"Wife. The thing you're not allowed two of in this society."
Ivy laid her hand over my bunched up fist and admonished her eldest daughter with a sigh. "Don't be rotten, Tally. I didn't bring you up to tell ugly lies."
"I'm not lying." Tallulah turned the page of her magazine without looking up, face trained into a smug but unsmiling, contemptuous expression. "He left his band to look after her when she got ill. They did the ceremony privately and didn't intend on telling anyone. I just happen to be privy to the information is all. Can't see her being awfully happy about moving you in though, Emmy. Not enough space in the marital bed for three."
THE feelings that collided inside me in the following seconds ranged in extremes— vehement disbelief and a will to defend the accusation melded with ambivalent disappointment, apoplectic rage, and a strange kind of pensive tranquillity like I'd known all along. Not one of them showed on my face when I pushed to my feet and turned my head fractionally towards Esme.
"We're leaving."
"You should talk to him about this." Yes, I should have. But it all made too much sense. He seemed too perfect but talked about being damaged, so logically he had to have something this twisted working against him. When life posed an obstacle that threatened my mentality, I had no choice but to walk away from it. I left Hunter behind in Cardiff. I could leave Blaze behind in this hotel.
"We've been talking for months, Esme. He had his chance to tell me himself."
Ivy stood and looked out across the garden. I could see in her eyes that she was somehow trying to twist the situation around to not be so grim. She'd never been wrong about a couple's compatibility before and she'd be damned if her first failure would be the one that would hurt us all the most. "Would it have made any difference if he'd told you himself? It may not be as simple as you think."
"Yes, it would have. I would never have gotten this involved if I'd known. Ah god!" I shoved my hands into my hair and tugged hard. I was this close to snapping but for my mother's sake, I had to keep it together. Esme stared vacantly down at her Bloody Mary and I knew it was because she was mentally planning out how to have someone with me at all times so I'd neither fall into old destructive habits or be left open to be stupid and call Blaze. Saving me from myself was all par for the course in her world, but it was something I'd hoped to avoid putting her through again.
Tallulah tossed her magazine down on the table and reached over it to pick at my abandoned breakfast. It reminded me of being fourteen again, when I really got trapped in my eating disorder. She'd quaff my leftovers and loved it, and had the fat arse to show for it. "He doesn't deserve you if he's a liar, sis. It's really not enough just to love you more." I scowled at her disingenuous pout and pulled my plate out of her reach. I was grateful that she'd told me the truth but the motive was written all over her face and dripping from her voice. This was no mercy mission by a loving sister who'd seen her younger sibling suffer enough already, it was spite-charged vengeance for the fact I was smarter, prettier and loved more than she was— finite jealously over my happiness.
"Don't think I'll forget this, Tallulah."
And with that, I turned on my heels and walked out of that hotel with Esme and Ivy close behind. I climbed into the Mercedes I hated and let Oscar drive us back to my flat, said my goodbye's to my mother and trusted that she wouldn't make it easy for Blaze to talk to me. Esme called the guys and we sat in my flat drinking whiskey, devising plans to keep me attached to my sanity.
Not once did I let the tears out. There was no regret from walking away. I kept it all locked away and pretended it wasn't there. I just wish I'd been a fly on the wall when he found his ring squashed into my scrambled eggs.
Fifteen
THE FLY ON THE WALL
EMMELINE WHITE BLASTED into my life like an ice cold tidal wave, leaving me disorientated but revitalised. The calm monotony of my life was left skewed the instant she looked up at me with her olive-green eyes and whispered, "wow". Despite the boldness of her body language, she emitted a timid, almost childlike vulnerability that made me think she'd suffered horribly, and the shadows in her eyes seemed to scream "accept me, please".
There was no way I couldn't fall in love with her.
FINDING her in the bookshop was a shock. Finding her book was a bigger shock. She was obviously an intelligent and complex little thing, and the more I looked at her, the more invisible walls I saw guarding her. She was damaged, maybe irreparably. The sensible thing to do would have been to walk away and never look back, accepting that she looked too
jaded. She was too attractive to not be taken, but too stunning to keep herself tied down— the most beautiful contradiction I'd ever laid eyes on.
I needed her in my life, but something about the way she carried herself told me that if I went with my impulse to be inside her physically, she'd feel like she'd fulfilled her purpose and walk away. I got that; I got that she felt like she was worth nothing more than a one night stand. If I wanted her around, I had to find out what lay beyond the beauty.
That seemed easy enough, but I never imagined that she'd look more perfect when she looked free-er, and at the same time more trapped up in her insecurities. She was glorious but she just didn't see it, and she didn't know how to kick back.
The more time I spent with her, the more I understood why her eyes were clouded and distant. The scars, the voices, the feelings of worthlessness... Hell, even the fact that she'd cared too much about the wrong person was something I could appreciate and relate to. I was determined to make her see that she was perfect just the way she was and that she didn't need to meet anyone else's expectations. That's why I took her shopping and showed her how everyone saw her. Her eating habits had already told me that she had a distorted view of her own body, so that grim tale of her past was no surprise.
I should have guessed that I was in trouble when that New York stiff was flirting with her and it played on my nerves. I should have realised that it wasn't some kind of priapic programming that made me want to kiss those brutal scars when I first saw them. I should have been smart enough to know that it wasn't just a case of getting it out of my system when I saw a way to satisfy that lust without losing her. The simple fact of being afraid to lose her should have sounded the first alarm bell.
But I don't regret that I took that chance. I don't regret that the moment I was inside her, it sparked a need to stay there until my dying day. And yes, I'm kind of happy that she got caught up in that disaster with me even though it couldn't have been clearer that she really didn't want to.
I'll admit that I became obsessed with her. Every free evening I had, I jumped into my car and drove to Esme's bar. Not being close to her became a physical ache and a thirst I had to quench. But being close to her just wasn't enough, and no matter how much I tried to screw her stupid until the novelty wore off, it just never did. I woke up in the middle of the night with a hard on after dreaming of her and found myself getting irritable over the stupidest things when I knew I wouldn't get to see her. It was like being a teenage boy crushing on one of the popular girls all over again, so horny the slightest breeze had me ducking away for a 'personal' five minutes.
She was always surprised when I came back and I never understood why. I didn't really understand at all until I found out about that idiot in Japan who'd caused her so much hell. I hated him. I hated that he'd made her feel so worthless. She'd been downtrodden for so long and she thought that she loved him, but me— I knew she didn't. I knew she just wanted to be loved but didn't feel like she deserved it when she came with so much baggage— baggage he'd created. What she didn't see was that I loved her baggage as much as I loved that dimple in her left cheek. In fact, the more I found out, the more there was to love.
That's why I gave her the ring, so she'd have some reassurance in physical form. It was so much more than a gift given with the intention of marrying her, which I would one day, despite my own complications. It was given so she'd feel some permanence in our connection, which I knew she thought was temporary. It was my way of saying that nothing she'd told me could scare me away. My way of telling her that she was mine, and she didn't need to worry about not being his anymore because I wanted her myself, and I wanted him to know that he couldn't have her. His bullshit would have to stop if he had me to answer to when she got upset over him talking to her like dirt.
Nothing made me happier than seeing how much she settled when that ring was on her finger. The day I'd had to spend away from her and sacrifice the opportunity to watch her wake up was worth it. I'd spent the whole drive to Birmingham worried that she thought I was rejecting her as well as worried that she could tell I was on the brink of making a pretty wild gesture and was lacing up her running shoes.
I felt complete when I knew that I'd marry the first woman I'd ever truly loved, a woman who blew all my inhibitions to hell. I just hoped I'd have chance to fix my own life now I'd fixed hers, and that I wouldn't undo any of my own handiwork in the process.
THERE WAS NO way I could have foreseen the way she'd panic when I told her we were going to the mixer. I put it down to the fact that I'd dragged her out of bed and refused to let her sleep. A selfish part of me wanted to take advantage of how receptive she became to honesty and affection after an orgasm took hold of her like a drug. She was the most open with me after we'd made love, and I wanted to string that out so she'd learn to never be afraid to say anything to me. And I wanted her to curl up into me and just be held— let me brush my fingers through her hair and tell her how gorgeous she was without recoiling like she usually did.
Looking back, I guess she didn't do it because she didn't know how. She'd never been with the person she wanted before, so she'd never let anyone in. She'd never been loved. I don't think she knew how to be held and worshipped. She trained herself to fall asleep in self-defence so nobody could ever try to make that kind of romantic connection with her. Some of the most basic parts of life most people picked up in their teens didn't hold a place in her heart because she'd never learnt them. Spending those years hating herself had stolen her life, and that explained so much.
I was going to teach her how to be loved, and show her that loving didn't have to hurt. I thought that I might be halfway there already.
WHEN I walked into The Roses with her on my arm, I felt like the luckiest man in the world. She couldn't have looked any more different from the woman I'd met, but I knew that she was still in there— fragile, lost and confused. But she was wearing a ring that I knew she wouldn't have accepted under sufferance when there was such an easy exit. That was all that mattered to me; that she loved me enough to take it even though she would never say it out loud. She had enough faith to take the risk. She loved me more than the man who made her ill, and I'd earned that love fair and square.
The dress I'd picked out looked perfect on her, the viridian satin clinging to the lush curves she'd grown into since we'd met. It had looked great on the assistant who'd modelled it, but Emmeline made it. Her hair swept over her shoulder and tumbled in soft curls down to her ribs on the right side— the unscarred side— leaving me access to kiss the dimple that creased her left cheek every time she gave me her shy, lop-sided secret smile. God, I loved that dimple, and I loved how she'd sat there patiently and let me dress her and curl those soft tresses that were definitely better blonde. I got to see and touch so much more of her than anyone else, and that was my honour.
She took the chaos of the mixer in her stride like she'd been doing it forever. People loved her dry, quick wit and congratulated me on finding her as much they congratulated us both on our engagement. When everyone else could identify and appreciate what a rare and amazing beauty she was without even seeing her face, how could she not realise that it was true?
Whenever we were torn away from each other, I felt her eyes on me. She was obsessed as I was, and so acutely attuned to me that she knew where I was without even looking. And I was watching her. I watched the way she chatted with my long time friend, Cornelia, like she was her friend too, and I couldn't help but smile when she felt comfortable enough to laugh. Emmeline was an enigma— my enigma, and worth standing in the heat of my personal hell when she caught my gaze and told me what she couldn't put into words. I love you.
I DIDN'T HEAR most of the conversations I had, and I barely tasted the wine. All I could focus on was being next to her— getting back to her and keeping my arms wrapped around her satin sheathed frame. When I had to answer a call of nature, I was overcome with irrational concern that she wouldn't be there when I came back. Then, to
add to my irritation, I was roped into several conversations on my way back to her. Thank god the cavalry arrived.
Henry Tudor was a great man. His business ethic was a little off, but he was jovial and obtusely hilarious. He didn't excuse or pardon himself when he pulled me away from Cornelia's boyfriend— a man who was ridiculously self-reverent— just spoke over him until he went away on his own like only a successful man who took no crap could.
"Looked like you needed saving there, young man." He had no idea. I knew he'd keep me in one place and Cornelia would encourage Emmeline to come over for introductions.
"I appreciate it, old boy. You never stop saving my bacon, do you?" He grinned and beckoned me over to his table, where he retrieved a large glass of brandy. I noticed that he was one of just a few people not drinking the wine circulating the room. My unusually audacious fiancée was another.
Seemingly reading my mind, he raised his glass in a solitary toast. "What's the point of babysitting the establishment if you don't get to raid the liquor cabinet, eh!" Babysitting? I didn't probe, just laughed along with him, getting caught in his good mood that rivalled my own. Henry had done so much for me in the past and I still owed him. He wouldn't let me give him back all the money he'd frittered away on my university fees for years and I could never repay him in kind for all the times he'd let my band perform in his upmarket venues so we'd get noticed by the right people. But I could afford him my utmost respect. He deserved that of me for all the magic he'd worked.
"So is everything going well in Tudorland?" Not probing. Just making conversation.
He grunted and shook his head at himself. "No, New York sorely needs someone to go out and throw their weight around at The Seymour. I just don't have the time to go myself and Tallulah is a halfwit."