By Request Collection April-June 2016. Оливия Гейтс
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gold wedding band ‘—means nothing? Is that it? Well, think again, sweetheart. It means a great deal to me as it happens.’
The hypocrisy was too much. ‘I know someone was with you the night I phoned about the divorce papers,’ she said stonily.
‘What?’ His brow wrinkled, then cleared. ‘Yes, you’re right,’ he said with silky smoothness. ‘There were several people present actually. I was holding a dinner party for my mother’s birthday, just her and several old friends of hers. I don’t know who you heard, Melanie, but I can assure you every woman present was eighty years old or above.’
Wonderful, just wonderful. Not only had she forgotten Isabelle’s birthday but had revealed herself as a jealous, mean-minded shrew. Gathering the remnants of her dignity around her, she stared at him, her chin lifting. ‘I see, but you don’t have to explain to me. I was just saying you’re free to do whatever you please.’
‘No, Nell, I’m not.’
The return of his pet name for her after the Melanie of a few moments ago made her want to sag with relief. But she didn’t. Stubbornly, she began, ‘I have no right—’
‘You have every right to demand of me the same faithfulness and honesty I demand of you, Nell. And let me just say this for the record. When I made my wedding vows I meant every one of them. And they hold firm. Got it?’ Forde was secretly rather pleased at the jealousy she’d betrayed but knew better than to belabour the point. ‘And I’ll pick you up at eight tonight.’
She wanted to object but when she looked at him there was an unsettling blend of concern and tenderness in his face. It wiped away her resolve. Weakly, she said, ‘James should never have said anything to your mother. I’m not pleased with him.’
‘Be as hard on him as you like,’ Forde said cheerfully, ‘but he did say something and I’ll be at yours at eight.’ He opened the truck door and then paused, turning to face her once more. ‘You were going to tell me about the baby, weren’t you?’
His uncertainty made her feel like the worst sinner on earth. She answered with obvious sincerity, her voice soft. ‘You would have been the first to know, Forde, even if you hadn’t turned up here this morning.’ And then honesty forced her to continue, ‘But it might not have been for a day or two until I’d adjusted to the idea.’
He stared at her. ‘Is it really so bad, being pregnant with our baby?’
It was the worst thing and the best thing in the world, but how could she explain that to him when she couldn’t explain it to herself? ‘I have to go,’ she said tightly.
He nodded. ‘Drive carefully.’ And then, as an afterthought, he added, ‘What are you going to tell my mother? She’s worried about you, Nell.’
She bit down hard on her bottom lip. ‘The truth, I guess.’ But that was going to be nearly as painful as these last few minutes with Forde. Isabelle wouldn’t understand why, in these new circumstances, they weren’t getting back together for a start, and who could blame her?
This was such a mess. She was a mess. And things were going to get even messier in the next days when Forde realised she wasn’t going back to him.
Her voice brittle, she said, ‘Goodbye, Forde. And—and thank you for coming.’
He smiled. ‘You don’t have to thank me. I’m your husband, remember?’
He stood and watched her as she drove away, his hands thrust in his pockets and his shoulders slightly hunched. He looked big and solid and very sexy, and she was indisputably pregnant by this wonderful man who was also her husband. She should have been the happiest woman in the world …
ISABELLE must have been by the window looking out for her, because the minute she drove onto the drive and parked the truck, the front door opened. ‘Melanie, dear.’ Isabelle was leaning on the stick she’d used since the accident with her hip. ‘Could you spare a moment or two before you go through to the garden?’ she called as Melanie slammed the truck door.
Better to get it straight over with, Melanie told herself as she obediently followed Forde’s mother into the house.
‘I was just making a pot of coffee and was going to take a cup to dear James with a slice of the fruit cake he likes,’ Isabelle said, leading the way into her farmhouse-style kitchen. James had become ‘dear James’ very quickly, which didn’t surprise Melanie in the least. ‘Sit yourself down while I see to him, and perhaps you’d like to cut yourself a slice of cake and pour us both a cup while I’m gone?’
Overcome with the strangest urge to burst into tears for the second time that morning, Melanie didn’t trust herself to speak, merely nodding and smiling. In the days when she had still been with Forde she had spent many mornings helping Isabelle with something in the garden, and their eleven o’clock coffee and cake break had been something she’d looked forward to. A time of cosy chats and laughter. But she didn’t think there’d be much laughter today.
Isabelle’s fruit cake was one of her mother-in-law’s specialities and, in spite of how she was feeling, Melanie discovered she was ravenously hungry, having skipped breakfast that morning after oversleeping. She’d done that more than once recently due to tossing and turning for the first part of the night and then falling into a deep sleep as dawn began to break. Consequently she felt tired all the time. Or she’d put down the exhaustion she felt lately to that, she thought, biting into a hefty piece of cake. Now, of course, she understood there was another factor too. In the early days with Matthew she’d felt drained.
Isabelle came back, beaming as she said, ‘Such a nice boy, that James, but I don’t think he eats enough living with those friends of his. He always wolfs down his cake as though he’s starving.’ The silver-blue eyes fastened on Melanie. ‘And you, dear? Are you eating enough? You’ve looked a little peaky lately, if you don’t mind me saying so, and James said you’d gone to the doctor’s this morning?’
Melanie swallowed a mouthful of cake and nodded. ‘I have been feeling unwell but there’s nothing wrong, not exactly. I—I didn’t realise but—’ she took a deep breath; this was harder than she’d expected with Isabelle’s sweet, concerned face in front of her ‘—I’m expecting a baby. Forde’s baby,’ she added hastily, just in case her mother-in-law got the wrong idea.
Isabelle’s face was the third that morning to register stunned surprise, but she recovered herself almost immediately. ‘Well, that’s wonderful, dear,’ she said warmly, reaching out and squeezing Melanie’s hand. ‘When is the baby due?’
‘In the spring, May time.’ It was so like Isabelle not to ask the obvious questions, Melanie thought gratefully, but feeling obligated to explain a little, she said, ‘Forde came to see me one night in August to discuss— Well, to discuss my doing the work here actually. And—and one thing led to another …’ She stopped helplessly.
‘Well, I’m thrilled for you both,’ Isabelle said briskly. ‘Does Forde know?’
Melanie nodded. ‘He came to the surgery as I was leaving.’ Then quickly, before she lost her nerve, she said, ‘This doesn’t mean we—we’re getting back together, Isabelle.’
There was a moment’s silence. Then Isabelle said gently, ‘Do I take it you don’t love him any more?’
‘No. I mean, I do love Forde. Of course I do.’
‘And I know he loves you. Deeply. So forgive me but I don’t quite understand …’
Melanie tried, she really tried to keep back the tears but it was hopeless. And this wasn’t polite, ladylike weeping either. She wailed heartbrokenly, her eyes gushing and her nose running, and even when she felt Isabelle’s arms go round her with a strength