by Miranda Lee
She could not wait to see Antonio again today. He’d flown in from London early yesterday morning, having had to work right up to the last minute to have everything tied up to his satisfaction before handing his job over to his second in command. He’d offered to come over straight away from the flight—he’d called her from the company car—but she’d been able to hear the exhaustion in his voice, so she’d told him to go home to bed for the day instead, and rest up for the wedding the following day. She would see him at the church, right on the dot of three. She’d promised faithfully not to be late.
They were to be married in the local Catholic Church, followed by a reception here at Fortune Hall. She’d tried to keep things small, but her father had insisted on giving her a big bash and inviting all his business cronies. She’d let him have his way, overcome by how sweet he was being to her. Perhaps he loved her after all!
Antonio had drawn the line, however, when she’d told him one night that her father wanted to buy them a house. He’d said he would buy his own house, thank you very much. He’d already auctioned the penthouse, and moved his furniture into storage. Several estate agencies were busy on the look-out for a house which fulfilled Paige’s wish list.
Something not too large; she didn’t want live-in staff. It was to be near the ocean, and with a large, enclosed yard which could keep children and a dog safe.
‘Whatever you want, Paige,’ Antonio had promised. ‘Even the dog.’
A knock on the door interrupted her happy thoughts.
‘Yes? Who is it?’
‘Evelyn here, dear. I’ve brought you a special wedding breakfast. Can I come in?’
‘You surely can. It’s time I was up and about.’
Evelyn entered with a bright smile. ‘Well, the big day is finally here!’
Paige smiled back as she bounced out of bed. ‘I could hardly sleep for excitement,’ she confessed.
‘Same here, dear. Same here.’
Paige wasn’t late for the wedding, but she was so nervous she could hardly remember a thing afterwards, except for how handsome Antonio looked in a dinner suit.Her own appearance produced much oohs and aahs from the guests, though in reality her wedding dress was quite simple, with a fitted lace bodice, a full tulle skirt, and a matching tulle and lace veil. No trains. Nothing too fussy.
Her one bridesmaid—dressed in a cerise silk suit—was an old boarding school friend she’d kept in touch with, though not often. Antonio’s best man was a fellow executive in the company, a nice enough man but a stranger to Paige. Having to scrape together a wedding party—even one so small—had been a telling indictment of their lives so far.
‘The first thing we have to do once we’re settled in our new house,’ she told Antonio in the car on the way back from the church, ‘is to start making some real friends of our own.’
He smiled and patted her hand. ‘Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to do that.’
‘How’s that? I’ll be at home, having babies.’
‘Not all the time. An intelligent girl like you needs more than babies to stop you from being bored. I have a job proposition to put to you.’
‘Really? What?’ she asked excitedly, because in all honesty she’d been a bit worried about her impulsively romantic offer to give up work and stay home all the time. She was a people person. That was why she’d enjoyed waitressing and serving drinks, and even sitting at a reception desk.
‘I’ll tell you tonight.’
‘Why not now?’
‘I have to speak to your father first. And I don’t want to speak to him till after the reception is well and truly over.’
‘Is it something to do with Fortune Productions?’
‘Yes.’
‘Oh, goodie, I’ve always wanted to work there.’
He shot her a sharp look. ‘Why’s that?’
‘Why not? I’ll have you know I have some very good ideas for some new programmes. I believe I have my finger on the pulse of what people want to watch these days. Much more than Father has!’
‘Mmm. I’m glad to hear that, darling.’ And he leant over to kiss her on the cheek. ‘We’ll discuss your ideas at length tonight.’
‘What? I’m not going to let you spend my wedding night talking business! You’re going to be busy making babies.’
She just loved his look of mock disappointment. ‘Must I?’
‘You must! I positively insist!’
‘Oh, well…’
They arrived at their reception, laughing.
Evelyn watched their joyous arrival, the feeling of pleasurable anticipation already building. She managed to control herself till the reception was drawing to an end and she saw Antonio leave his bride’s side to speak to her father, both men leaving the room to go to Conrad’s study. Clearly, Antonio was about to collect his contract. The deal was done, and about to be delivered!
Evelyn eavesdropped as a smiling Paige made her excuses as well, telling her bridesmaid that she was going up to change into her going-away outfit.
The happy couple were supposed to be going to some swanky Sydney hotel for the night before flying out for a honeymoon in Tasmania, then returning to Fortune Hall to stay for Christmas and the New Year.
Or so they thought!
Evelyn doubted there would be any honeymoon after what she had to tell the daughter of the house. Her dark excitement grew as she walked up the stairs towards Paige’s bedroom. Her car was already packed and her letter of resignation in her hand, ready to be given to Conrad on her way out.
This time she didn’t bother to knock on Paige’s door but walked straight in, catching the blushing bride in nothing but a G-string. With her final moment of triumph at hand, Evelyn allowed her jealousy full rein, glaring her hatred at the girl’s body, which had not a hint of fat, or a single physical flaw.
How good it was to see uncertainty cloud those far too beautiful blue eyes, so bright and happy a few seconds earlier, but now harbouring just a hint of worry.
‘You could have knocked, Evelyn,’ Paige said, snatching up a robe and hurriedly drawing it over her near nakedness.
‘I suppose I could have,’ Evelyn returned smugly, and swung the door shut behind her.
Everything inside Paige froze, a chill invading the room, and herself.
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked, but deep inside she already knew. Evelyn had been pretending to be nice to her these past few weeks. It had all been an act.
But why?
‘There’s nothing wrong,’ the hateful woman said, with a malicious gleam in her mean, beady eyes. ‘Everything’s absolutely perfect. I couldn’t have planned it better if I tried. I’ve always thought you were a fool,’ she sneered, ‘but today you were played for the most prize fool of all!’
Paige did her best not to react, not to give this ghastly creature the satisfaction of seeing her instant inner turmoil. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,’ she managed to say in a surprisingly cool voice.
‘Don’t you now? Well, perhaps I can enlighten you. Your husband of a few hours doesn’t love you, my dear. He didn’t marry you because he wanted to, but because your father blackmailed him into it.’
Paige could feel herself staring at the woman, horror in her heart. It couldn’t be true. Antonio did love her. She knew he did.
But Evelyn seemed to know differently…
‘It was the morning after you came crawling home with your face a mess. Antonio had just flown in and Conrad had Jim bring him straight here. Marry my daughter, Conrad said, and I will make you CEO of Fortune Productions. At first, even with that carrot dangling, it was obvious Antonio wasn’t keen. After all, who wants a slut and a fool for a wife? But your father isn’t one to take no for an answer. Don’t marry Paige, he added, and I will offer the job to Brock Masters. Naturally Antonio understood that the American’s becoming CEO over him would mean the end of his career with the company altogether, so he reluctantly agreed.’
Even in her state of deep shock, Paige’s
mind still managed to go back to that night, when she’d walked downstairs and discovered Antonio there with her father, drinking champagne. What was it Antonio had said? They were celebrating a future merger…
That merger, she realised with growing horror, had been their marriage!
‘Conrad wanted Antonio engaged to you before he went back to Europe,’ Evelyn raved on. ‘When he asked how he could convince you to marry him in such a short time, your father gave him some sound advice. Seduce the little fool, he said. Tell her you love her. If all else fails, get her pregnant!’
Paige thought of their first time together, and how Antonio hadn’t used a condom. Not an act of uncontrollable desire, she realised wretchedly. But one of cold-blooded deliberation.
‘But he didn’t have to go that far, did he?’ Evelyn jeered. ‘You wanted to believe Antonio could love a little fool like you. You wanted to marry your handsome hero of a husband. But it wasn’t you he wanted. It was the company! He’s getting his contract as CEO right this minute, in Conrad’s study, signed, sealed and delivered. Some hero he turned out to be!’
Paige could not take her eyes off the woman’s ugly mouth. Neither could she say a word in Antonio’s defence. Because she could see Evelyn was speaking the truth, the most ghastly, horrible, despicable truth!
‘Knowing you,’ the woman scorned, ‘you probably won’t have the guts to even tell him you know. You’d probably rather go on abasing yourself at his feet, and in his bed. Either way, it’s going to be very hard, isn’t it? Living with the truth, knowing your father was forced to buy you a bridegroom just to get you off his hands! People say beauty and wealth don’t bring happiness. I can finally appreciate they’re right. Happiness is feeling what I’m feeling at this moment!’
Paige wasn’t sure afterwards how she managed not to fall apart right then and there. Somehow, she found the courage and the pride to keep the demons at bay and face her enemy with dignity, and disdain.
‘Sorry to disappoint you, Evelyn,’ she said scornfully, ‘but you’re not telling me anything I don’t already know. Antonio revealed all about his bargain with Father when we were away together. He simply had to tell me once he actually fell in love with me. I’ll have you know he also offered to give up being CEO of the company, but I begged him to take the job. So unfortunately, Evelyn, your happiness is short-lived, and you’ve lost your job here for nothing. Or have you already got your resignation ready?’
When the stunned woman glanced down at an envelope she was now crushing in her hands, Paige jumped to the right conclusion. ‘Would you like to give it to me?’ she asked, stretching out her hand and using every ounce of will she possessed to keep it steady. ‘I’ll hand it to Father myself. I do so hope, however, that you’re not expecting references.’
There was satisfaction in seeing the woman thrown. She actually handed the envelope over before she rallied. Though it wasn’t an over-confident rally. ‘I…I don’t believe you! You…you didn’t know till I just told you now.’
‘Like I didn’t know about your killing my dog all those years ago?’ Paige threw at her.
The woman’s mouth dropped open.
‘I’m not the fool you think I am, Evelyn. Yes, I wanted Antonio, and now I’ve married him. I don’t give a damn who pushed him in my direction. Father did me a big favour, because I’m his wife now and I intend to stay that way. I suggest you get the hell out of here right now, because if you don’t, Antonio will make you wish you had. You should have seen what he did to the man who dared to hit me once.’
Paige held her ground till the woman actually left. But the moment she was alone she sank slowly to the side of the bed, her emotions in tatters. In desperation, she tried to work out if anything she’d just said to Evelyn could possibly be true. Was there any hope Antonio had fallen in love with her? Or had it all been lies, right from the start? Was the charade going to be over now that he had what he wanted?
She was still sitting there, dazed and oddly dry-eyed, when Antonio came rushing into the room.
‘Paige, come quickly! Your father! He’s ill.’
She stayed where she was, and just stared up at him.
He frowned back. ‘Didn’t you hear what I said? It’s your father. He’s having a heart attack, I think. He collapsed, complaining of pains in his chest. I’ve called an ambulance and Jim is with him, ready to give CPR if needed. What on earth’s wrong with you, Paige? Why are you sitting there staring at me like that? Are you in shock? Oh, God, I suppose you are. I forget sometimes how sweet you are. How…soft. Should I find Evelyn and send her up to help?’
His mentioning Evelyn’s name finally snapped Paige out of it. ‘No,’ she said brusquely. ‘No point. Evelyn’s left.’
‘What do you mean…left?’
‘She quit. She was just here. Left her letter of resignation. And now she’s gone. For good.’
‘Why in hell would she do that, today of all days? Oh, who cares, anyway? You don’t, do you?’ he asked, shooting her a puzzled look.
‘No,’ Paige returned coldly. ‘No, I certainly don’t. You go back to Father,’ she told him. ‘I’ll get dressed and come down straight away.’ She stood up and turned away from her husband, feeling his hesitation and his slight bewilderment. But she could not bear to look at him. Not right at that moment.
‘Go on,’ she said sharply over her shoulder.
And he went.
Only when he was gone did her mind turn to her father. I hope you die, you unspeakable bastard! And I hope you rot in hell!
But even as she cursed him she knew she didn’t really mean it. She wanted to hate him, wanted to hate them both! But she found she could not.
The tears came then, tears of confusion and humiliation and misery. Maybe Evelyn was right. Maybe she would not have the guts to confront them with their dastardly deeds. Because if she did there would be no future for her, and no children.
Not Antonio’s, anyway.
But how could she live with this knowledge, and this pain?
Wretchedly, she pulled on the blue silk dress which she’d been going to wear to start her honeymoon, and carried her despair downstairs.
The ambulance had arrived and taken her father away before she could get to him. Antonio was waiting for her in the foyer, looking anxious. ‘Are you all right, darling?’ he asked as he took her arm and steered her through the already open front door. ‘You look very pale. But the news is not too bad. The paramedic said it’s probably only an angina attack.’
Jim was waiting at the bottom of the steps with the company limousine to follow the ambulance to the hospital.
‘I had no idea he had a heart condition,’ Antonio muttered as he helped Paige into the back seat, then joined her.
‘But he didn’t!’ she protested. ‘Did he?’
‘Apparently so. He was advised to have a bypass, but he said he hated hospitals. And operations. That’s why he was retiring. To take it easy. If he’d only told me the truth I would have done things differently.’
‘What…what do you mean?’
His eyes carried worry as he looked at her. ‘I hope this doesn’t upset you, Paige, but I…I resigned from Fortune Productions today.’
‘What?’ Jim squawked from behind the wheel. ‘Hell, Tone, you’re the only decent guy in that damned company. What did you want to do that for?’
‘Had to, Jim,’ he said, and settled a searching gaze on his bride. ‘I wanted to be my own man. Make my own life, with my new wife by my side. The woman I love more than anything else in the world. I couldn’t do it working for her father, could I? People would have called any promotion I received nepotism of the worst kind. They would have lost respect for me. Respect is very important to Italians, you know. And to a husband,’ he added, taking Paige’s hands in his. ‘I would never want to do anything to lose my wife’s respect.’
Paige gulped. Oh, God, she was going to cry. All those things she’d said to Evelyn; all those made-up mad defences…they were true! Ant
onio might have been pushed into pursuing her, but once he had he’d really fallen in love with her. His love was so great, in fact, that he was prepared to give up what he’d worked for all his life!
Moved beyond belief, she searched for the right response.
What to do? Tell him she knew the truth?
No, no, she couldn’t do that. He would believe it belittled him in her eyes. He would not be able to stand that. She had to keep it a secret, had to pretend she’d never been told.
‘I think,’ she said shakily, her eyes shimmering, ‘that resigning was the right thing.’
‘But I upset your father terribly.’
‘Lots of things upset my father,’ she said, still unwilling to forgive his part, no matter how it had turned out. ‘He’ll get over it. And he’ll get well. You couldn’t kill my father with a bus.’
‘I know you probably won’t believe this,’ Antonio said, ‘but your father loves you, Paige. I didn’t believe it myself till just now. He told me how worried he’d been about you, and how guilty he felt over being such a rotten father. He blamed himself for what he saw as your restlessness. When he found out he might die soon, he wanted nothing more than to see you settled and happy with the right man. He told me that today was one of the happiest days of his life!’
Paige didn’t believe that for a moment! His happiness was not so much for her, but for getting his own way. Look what happened as soon as he didn’t! He had a damned heart attack. Still, if she was never going to reveal anything about this blackmailing business, then she supposed she would have to appear to believe Antonio.
‘I suppose he does love me in his own warped way,’ she admitted, the words sticking in her throat somewhat. ‘And I suppose I love him back. He’s my father, after all.’
‘So you forgive me?’ Antonio asked, with the most heartfelt emotion in his face.
‘Forgive you for what?’
‘For resigning. And for upsetting your father. I only hope I haven’t killed him.’
Paige gave her husband’s hand a comforting squeeze. ‘There’s no need for you to feel guilty,’ she said firmly. ‘Father will be just fine.’