‘Utter garbage,’ Nathan fumed. ‘Why would I do that?’
‘I had to ask.’
‘It comes down to my word against hers and she was drunk and I don’t drink. ‘Listen, Naims, look at me.’ With effort, Naomi did. ‘Do you trust me? Because if you don’t there’s nowhere to go in this relationship.’
Naomi felt the onset of panic. ‘Of course I trust you.’
‘What more is there to say then? And as for your so-called friend, it’s obvious she’s as jealous as hell even though she thinks she’s Mother Theresa or something. Fact is, you’re slim, she’s not. You’re engaged and happy, she’s not and never will be. You’re hot, she’s definitely not. You have money, a nice house. Need I go on?’
‘Please don’t. She is my friend.’
Nathan’s voice rose. ‘Oh you reckon? I’m telling you now, I’m not having that . . . girl at the wedding.’
‘Nathan please –’
‘No,’ he shouted. ‘She’s tried to come between us and stir trouble. What right has she, that miserable ugly bitch?’
Naomi was stunned. Nathan’s eyes looked darker. ‘I’ve never seen you like this before.’
Nathan dropped his head and lowered his voice. ‘I’m sorry. I just hate to see you unhappy. I know I’m over-reacting.’ He found her eyes again. They looked more natural. ‘The problem is I love you too much.’
‘I didn’t know you had a temper.’
‘Neither did I,’ Nathan said. ‘I suppose when you care about someone so much, it can arouse feelings you didn’t know you had. Can you forgive me? Please?’
‘Course.’ Naomi melted and put her arms around him. ‘Hey, it’s OK.’
She pulled back to look at him. His eyes were still troubled. He touched her face and pushed her hair back. ‘We can’t have secrets. I might be furious, but I’m glad you’ve told me what’s on your mind.’
‘Actually, I haven’t yet.’
Nathan waited, inches from her lips, expression serious.
‘Nathan, my family is divided and yours don’t even know we’re getting married. I’d feel so much better if I could at least meet your family. I’m not expecting much, honestly.’
‘I’m going to talk to Dan soon, I promise. You’re right, we can’t get married without telling him. But I still don’t want you to meet him. When we’re married, things will have to change. I can’t leave you every other weekend to spend time with Dan. He’ll have to understand that we’ll be visiting him together, just for a few hours.’
‘It will be a big change for him.’
‘I know,’ Nathan sighed. ‘That’s why I keep putting off talking to him.’
‘What about your parents?
Nathan paused. ‘Babe, they already know.’
‘They do?’
Nathan nodded. ‘I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want to hurt you. I’m sorry, but they don’t want to be involved. They’ve said they won’t come.’
‘They don’t even want to meet me?’
‘Apparently not. Your mum has been trying to contact them. She’s written to my mum twice and only had a short response, which was negative.’
‘I don’t believe it.’
‘They’re being stubborn, like Annie. I’ve always taken Dan’s side not theirs, and now they’re punishing me. It’s a pride thing. There’s nothing I can do. Sorry.’
Unexpectedly, a pool formed in Naomi’s eyes at the bottom. Her voice shook. ‘Can I tell you what’s really bothering me Nathan?’ She went on without waiting for an answer. ‘With all this going on, do you think we should go ahead? Do you think we’re doing the right thing?’
He drew closer, slowly. His eyes dropped. Naomi couldn’t focus on him and closed her eyes too. A tear escaped her right eye as her head fell to one side. His hands were holding her neck. His voice was tender. ‘I know we are.’
Naomi savoured a rare and special moment, of being alone like this with Nathan. He never normally allowed it. The problems drifted as he reached her lips and whispered her name without kissing her. His hand slid down her back and drew her closer. Naomi’s pulse was driving hard. She didn’t have to lean very far forward to meet his lips. He edged back, delaying. ‘What do you think?’ he whispered.
Naomi found she couldn’t think so she nodded instead. Nathan took command and kissed her fiercely, crushing her to him. The alarm system that normally operated inside her head was switched off. She was aware only of a torrent of pleasant sensations, the pressure of Nathan’s warm hands, the blissful movement of his mouth. Naomi bound herself more tightly to him. He pushed forward and laid her flat. His hands were travelling now.
‘Nathan?’
As if pulled out of a trance, Nathan sat up and pushed his fingers through his hair. ‘I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t –’
Naomi sat up, covered his lips with her fingers, covered his lips with her lips, pulled back just enough to speak. ‘Nathan, it’s OK. Don’t stop.’
He kissed her again, but she could tell his brain was functioning now. He withdrew and stood up, panting hard. ‘No. No. We shouldn’t. We can’t do this.’
Naomi was confused. ‘Why not?’
‘Because we decided. Because waiting is important to you, so it’s important to me.’
‘Nathan, we’re engaged. I do want to wait, or I did. But right now, I want you more. I need you. I struggle to feel that you’re mine sometimes. I want to feel close to you.’
Nathan sat down again and took her in his arms. ‘Oh babe, I’m always here. I don’t let myself get too close to you because I can’t control myself when I do.’
‘I’m going to repeat your words to me when we first met – stop trying.’
He squeezed her tight. ‘No. We’re not going to do this because you’re worth the wait. Nine weeks, Naims and we’ll be on honeymoon. I’ve dreamt about taking walks on the beach in the evening with you, then making love to you all night. I never pictured us on this sofa on a lousy summer day in England with a dirty mug digging into my leg.’
Nathan produced a stained cup and held it up. Naomi had to laugh.
The heat died down. ‘OK, you win.’
Nathan touched her face with his fingers and produced a winning smile. ‘Hey, you’re not getting cold feet are you? I never pictured myself on that beach or in that bed without you.’
‘No,’ Naomi said. ‘My feet are toasty warm.’ She looked at her watch. ‘In fact I’d better not stay too long. I have a dress fitting with Lorie.’
‘What’s it like?’
‘Not telling.’
‘What colour is it?’
‘White.’
‘For purity,’ Nathan said.
‘The only thing keeping me pure right now is your amazing restraint. I wish Annie knew you like I do.’
Nathan reached inside his pocket and held up her ring. ‘Don’t forget this, soon-to-be Mrs Stone,’ he said, pushing the ring back onto her finger.
‘How could I?’ Naomi smiled. Her mood had transformed. The doubts had been miraculously swept aside. She slid her ring back on.
‘Hey, don’t tell anyone that we got a bit carried away just now,’ he said.
‘Who would I tell?’
‘I don’t know. Lorie? Friends tell each other everything, don’t they? I’d just like things to be private between us.’
‘My lips are sealed.’ She leant forward to kiss him, briefly. ‘You know, I can’t wait for the wedding.’
Nathan stood up and drew her into a final hug. ‘I’m looking forward to the honeymoon much more.’
<><><>
It had been a forty minute drive to reach a town called Bury on the north side of Manchester, a side Camilla had never had reason to visit. Frequently and frantically, she kept consulting a piece of paper with scribbled instructions lying flat on her lap. Her glasses, only needed for reading, were on and off and hung round her neck.
Henry had begged her to make life easier by taking his Jag with built-in sat-nav.
Camilla had refused. She wanted to use her own car, not that flashy thing, she’d told him, and she didn’t want to listen to that nameless woman bleating out instructions in her patronising voice either. With the help of a simple map, she could rely on her own intelligence, thank you.
With a pleasant mixture of relief and satisfaction, Camilla signalled to make her final turn. She intended to report to Henry that she hadn’t made a single wrong turn all journey. She’d been so distracted by instructions, it wasn’t until now that she focussed properly on the area. Confusion crept up on her. She drove slowly down the narrow avenue, too slowly for the red car making its point up her bumper, concentration divided between searching for number forty-four and noticing how appalling the houses were.
The odd numbers were on the left. She pulled over to allow the red car to pass, then continued, eyes on the houses to the right, passing the twenties, then thirties, stopping outside a tired-looking quasi semi that needed everything doing. She was trying not to stare in case anyone had seen her stop, but in one lingering glance she’d clocked that the paint was peeling, the windows were dirty, the curtains were barely open and hung unevenly, and the front door, a faded green, had no number and was identifiable only from the house numbers either side. The tiny front garden was chaotic and without colour, except for dandelions that poked through every crevice of the broken paving stones.
Only Henry knew about her visit. Camilla hadn’t discussed with Naomi or Lorie the need she felt to try and reason with Nathan’s parents in advance of the wedding. Convinced she could say something to alter their minds, she’d planned the visit without invitation, determined to come away with a commitment from them not only to attend the wedding, but also to help pay.
She didn’t want to cause bother. She’d planned how polite and reasonable she’d be; how she’d accept a cup of tea offered in an already-imagined delicate floral cup sitting on a saucer. But as she looked about her and smoothed her pinstriped trousers that matched her navy jacket, her well-rehearsed scene died. She felt overdressed. In no rush to knock on the green door, she slowly undid her seatbelt, put her glasses in her bag and wondered if she’d made a mistake.
Nathaniel Stone, who talked about philosophy and music and literature as if he was master of all three, could surely not have been raised in a house like this. Now she was taking in the whole street, she realised that most of the houses looked shabby and neglected, like a mish-mash of odd socks, old worn ones that had lost their other half. There were more wheelie bins stranded on the pavement than there were flowers in the gardens.
From her bag, Camilla withdrew the short letter she’d eventually drawn from Nathan’s mother. She’d put it in her bag as she would a hospital appointment letter. She looked at it now to delay getting out of the car. It was almost three months old, dated 3rd April. It was articulate, written in careful handwriting on expensive paper. It was not the kind of letter that Camilla imagined could be produced from behind dirty windows and an ugly front door. Holding it down below window level, she checked the address and ran her eyes over the two paragraphs again. It read:
Dear Mrs Hamilton,
I appreciate your reasons for writing to me and I apologise for the delay in response. I’m sure Nathan has explained the family problems, which I hesitate to share with anyone outside the family. Seeing as it now looks as though the wedding will go ahead and our families will come together through marriage, I want to be clear that Nathan and his brother Daniel have chosen to remove themselves from our lives. We see them occasionally on their terms. As a mother, you’ll understand how hurtful and debilitating this feels. Without going into detail about the reasons for this rift from our point of view, which are lengthy and complex, I need only say that my husband and I have grown to accept the situation and move on with our own lives, given it was the only option.
I hope you’ll accept our decision to be absent from the wedding in September. There are no bad wishes. We will be sending a gift, but we feel that our being there would dredge up the recent pain of ill-feeling, which is unfair to Naomi on her special day. Daniel is too unwell to attend in any case, so we will be on duty during the wedding weekend and honeymoon period. We’ll look after him if necessary. I hope this clarifies our position.
Regards,
Valerie Stone.
‘Clarifies?’ Camilla said out loud, putting the letter away, ‘it’s as clear as mud.’
Since the letter had dropped through the door, Valerie Stone’s words had done nothing but plague Camilla and confuse her on the position of Nathan’s parents. She couldn’t understand how they had no bad feelings, but were willing to miss their son’s wedding. How they wanted the best for Naomi – a girl they hadn’t taken the time to meet – on her special day, but they were willing to hurt her by shunning her. How they were willing to care for Daniel in Nathan’s absence, but were unwilling to visit him regularly when he had a serious illness. And how they were planning to send a gift, but had not offered to contribute a penny to the wedding. Something wasn’t right.
Having only ever heard Nathan’s side of the story, a side she had no faith in, she’d grown determined to hear about the other half of the Stone tale. It was more than an interest by now, it was a compulsion. There was something else. Having failed with Annabel in every possible way, Camilla had sympathy for Valerie Stone. It was all too easy to understand how quickly things got out of hand and pride strangled the life out of relationships. Valerie’s perspective would be different. And Camilla felt hopeful of unearthing the real Nathan Stone, if she could get to his roots. His attempts over several months to be more-than-reasonable and ever-so charming had made her more suspicious of him if anything. He wasn’t real.
Camilla opened the door and stepped onto the drab street. She put her bag carefully over her shoulder and made her way to number forty-four that had no number. There was no bell either. She took hold of the door knocker, tapped three times.
She heard heavy footsteps. She straightened and took a breath. A young man in a red football shirt and a bloated face, only twenties, answered the door and looked at her blankly.
‘Daniel?’ Camilla ventured, though he looked nothing like Nathan.
He frowned. ‘No.’
‘I’m sorry, I’m mistaken. I’m here to see Valerie if I may.’
He paused to gawp at her and shuffle his feet. ‘You’ve got the wrong house, I reckon.’
Camilla felt some relief. This man in front of her with his bulbous hairy belly showing beneath his shirt belonged here. Valerie Stone didn’t.
Camilla, not one to waste time, turned. ‘Sorry to have troubled you.’
<><><>
Lorie was passing Camilla’s bedroom later that day. She caught enough of one sentence to make her stop and listen hard.
‘Not a penny from them either. I’m telling you, Henry, something’s not right.’
‘You must have got the wrong house. I told you to take my car.’
Camilla raised her voice. ‘And I’ve told you I had the address in the woman’s own handwriting right in front of me. There was no mistake.’
Lorie’s heart almost stopped.
‘If Nathan’s brother is ill, maybe he just wasn’t responsive enough to understand what you wanted.’
‘Oh for goodness’ sake, Henry, ill or not, the lad must know his own name. I asked him if he was Daniel. He said not. He looked as much like Nathaniel as you do.’
A pause. ‘There’ll be some perfectly logical explanation.’
‘Well, I’d like to know what it is,’ Camilla shot back. ‘What’s been logical about any of this so far?’
Lorie had heard enough. She raced downstairs out of the way to dream up a way to make Henry’s words and not Camilla’s, make sense. Lorie’s first instinct was to contact Nathan. A problem shared, etcetera. But it wasn’t the right place to do it. She needed to call him with a solution, not a problem. And fast.
As the beginnings of a plan started to germinate, Lorie realised
with a sinking feeling that she’d have to get directly involved. She didn’t see any another way. It would be risky. She thought of September when all of this would be a memory, when she’d leave work and Naomi would be gone and Nathan would be hers for a heavenly week away – a time they could really begin to plan a future. She felt calmer. It was a necessary risk.
25
Later that night, Lorie was alone in her flat staring at a dinner she’d pecked at and couldn’t eat. Nathan would be home by now. She abandoned her food and reached for her phone.
Two rings, Nathan’s voice, ‘Hey, gorgeous.’
‘We’ve got a problem.’
‘Go on.’
‘Camilla took a trip to see your mum today and met your mate, Dave.’
‘What?’ Much shriller than before. ‘Why?’
‘Because, reading between the lines and I didn’t hang around for many, she’s not convinced.’
‘The interfering old cow! What does she want?’
‘Money, for one thing.’
‘Hasn’t she got enough?’
‘Not the point. She obviously doesn’t buy the explanation we sent her about not going to the wedding. We’re going to have to up our game.’
‘Game’s over by the sound of it.’
‘No, it’s not. We just need to stay ahead. Find out exactly what Dave said to her. Hopefully nothing, I’ll take it from there.’
Nathan was silent a moment. ‘Are you saying I’ll have to tell my mum I’m getting married?’
‘No, you can’t do that. If your mum gets with Camilla, the game will be up in seconds. If your parents come, they’ll expect Dan to be there, which will blow the cover altogether. I never saw it getting this complex.’
Nathan panted. ‘So what’s the plan?’
‘I’m going to call Camilla from an old phone of mine. I’ll have to pose as your mum. Your job is to get some money.’
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