Nine
‘I’m sorry for this inconvenience,’ Marcus said, reaching out his hand to me as he came into the kitchen. ‘You’re Erin. Hello. I’m Marcus.’
‘Hi,’ I said. ‘It’s, erm. nice to meet you.’
‘I’m Noelle,’ Noelle said, giving me a little wave. ‘And this is Alec.’
Alec gave me a nod and a small smile as he tried to stifle a yawn.
‘Is everything okay?’ Sam asked, and Marcus shook his head.
‘Is it Adele?’ I sounded like a mouse as I squeaked the words out. ‘Has something happened to her?’
Marcus let out a long sigh and shook his head. ‘Yes. But she’s fine. All things considered. But she is the reason I’m here. She’s asleep right now after a rather disturbed night and a lot of tears. Which is why I had to gather you all here so early, and again, I apologise for this. I knew you were here, Sam, and you too, Lucy, because I’d seen you arrive last night, and I hadn’t seen a taxi pull up after that.’
‘What’s wrong with Adele?’ Noelle asked, looking somewhat frantic. ‘Should I go and see her? Why have you got us all together? And why here?’
‘Please don’t panic,’ Marcus said. ‘It’s nothing bad. Well, it was, but that’s over, I think. This part is good. At least I think it is. But I need your advice. And your help. Sorry. I’m probably not making much sense. This was all … such a surprise and a bit of a blow. I’m not sure how to handle it.’
‘Sam’s made coffee,’ Lucy said. ‘Why don’t we all sit down and have some? Sam, would you bring some chairs in from the dining room, please?’
‘I’ll help,’ said Marcus, and Alec followed behind.
Noelle looked at Lucy. ‘What is going on? When did you last see Adele? We’ve been away for a couple of days, dropping Melody off with Alec’s wife’s parents. She’s spending a week with them.’
I knew Alec’s wife had died but I didn’t say anything about that.
‘I saw Adele yesterday afternoon,’ I said. ‘She was absolutely fine then. We had a pot of tea together in Fairlight Bakes café and we chatted for some time. She was happy and smiling and humming to herself when I left.’
‘Then whatever’s happened must’ve occurred after that,’ Noelle said as the men returned with the chairs and I helped Lucy with the coffees.
‘Someone seriously upset Adele yesterday afternoon, at Fairlight Bakes,’ Marcus said, before everyone had sat down.
‘Oh God! It wasn’t me, was it?’ I blurted out.
He gave me an odd look and furrowed his brows. ‘Why would you think that?’ He shook his head. ‘On the contrary. When Adele had eventually calmed down, she told me that she’d had tea with you and said that she wished you had still been there because she was sure you would’ve done something about it.’
‘Done something about what?’ Noelle said. ‘What do you mean by someone seriously upset her? Did they physically attack her? Or verbally?’
‘Verbally,’ he replied, gritting his teeth as though he wanted to yell at someone. ‘Although the damn woman did grab Adele’s arm. So both, in fact. But you know how sensitive she is. It was what the woman said that really hurt her. And she took it to heart. I know the woman who did it, and she is a nasty piece of work. She’s … a friend of my ex-wife, and she knows how to twist a knife.’
I must admit, I almost laughed. All this drama because of a nasty comment, made by someone who knew his ex? Seriously? I had to get out of bed at seven-thirty a.m. for this?
And yet, I was clearly missing something. Everyone else looked genuinely concerned.
‘What did the woman say?’ Noelle asked, taking a deep breath.
Marcus screwed up his eyes as though he was in actual pain.
‘She said that she couldn’t believe I was so desperate. And that Adele was an idiot to think I actually cared for her. She said I still loved Cara and always would. And that I was only with Adele because I hated living alone and she was convenient. That I’d stay with her until someone better came along and then I’d toss her aside like the garbage that she was. And that no man would ever love such a fat and ugly woman. And then she asked if Adele owned a mirror and suggested she take a look in it, adding that men like me want women like Cara. Not useless lumps like her who were so dim that the best she could do was work as a waitress in a grotty little coffee shop.’ He shook his head again and bowed it. ‘Adele said she remembered every word the woman spat at her. She wanted to walk away, but the woman had grabbed her arm and held it while spouting the vile abuse.’
‘Oh my God,’ said Noelle, clearly fuming. ‘I know the old Adele would’ve taken all that to heart. But surely she knows none of it is true? She knows you love her, Marcus. Doesn’t she? Did she tell this evil cow that you had proposed?’
He nodded. ‘She said the woman knew, and that she sneered at the ring and said that it looked like something out of a Christmas cracker. And said that Cara’s ring was four times the size and probably ten times the price. And a ring meant nothing anyway. Cows had rings in their noses. And then she added that if Adele was stupid enough to wait a year or more for a wedding, she deserved all the heartache she would get when I left her at the altar, if not before.’
Even I was furious now. ‘I wish I had been there,’ I said. ‘I would’ve threatened to arrest her for assault, especially as she grabbed Adele’s arm.’
‘I agree,’ Marcus said. ‘Although, as a former solicitor myself, I know what would’ve come of that.’
‘Yeah. You’re right. But didn’t anyone in the café step in?’ I asked.
He shook his head again. ‘This happened as Adele was leaving to come home. They were standing on the pavement the entire time. Adele told me she thought some passers-by did look at them, but that all she could really see and hear was the woman’s sneering face and jeering, cruel words.’
‘How awful for her,’ Lucy said. ‘She must’ve been frightened.’
‘She was terrified. Adele doesn’t cope well with confrontation.’ He closed his eyes for a second and then reopened them. ‘As I know only too well from experience.’
The room fell silent for a moment, and I remembered Lucy telling me that when Marcus was married to Cara, who was now his ex., Cara had bullied Adele, and Marcus had, not only turned a blind eye, he’d sided with his then wife, and believed all the lies Cara had told him. On top of that, he’d been less than kind to Adele himself, when he’d ended their friendship and told her to stay away from them.
‘What can we do to help?’ Noelle asked. ‘I’ll come and talk to her later, when she’s up and about. I’m sure once she’s had a good sleep, even she’ll realise none of it was true.’
Marcus shook his head and took a deep breath. ‘I truly hope so. But I’m not sure it’ll be that simple. She’s … not been herself lately. I’m worried that, even if she says she’s fine, this will eat away at her.’
‘It will,’ said Noelle. ‘And I’ve noticed she’s been acting … a little differently lately, but I didn’t really think that much about it, until this morning and what you’ve just said. One minute she seems to be on top of the world, the next, the old Adele is rearing her head and thinking she’s not good enough, and she’s too fat. I should’ve said something other than merely, “you’re perfect as you are”. I know she never truly believes that. But there’s been so much going on that I … I didn’t sit her down and ask if something was wrong. Some friend I am.’
Alec wrapped his arm around her as Marcus said, ‘This is not your fault, Noelle. I should’ve said something, or done something.’
‘But … she seemed so happy when I met her yesterday,’ I said. ‘Are you saying that was all an act?’
‘No,’ said Marcus. ‘She is happy. Or she was. But … well … Adele has always suffered with an inferiority complex. I realised that on the first day we met many years ago now. And that can be debilitating. She retreats into a shell. I wanted you all to know about this because you know Adele, and you know what this will do to her confidence. But that’s not why I wanted to meet up like this. When I proposed in February, we did briefly discuss setting a date, but as we were living together, we both felt there was no urgent rush and we’d set a date later. Or that’s what I thought we’d agreed. We haven’t done that yet. I love Adele with all my heart, and while I can dismiss this whole nasty episode as the ravings of a sad and possibly jealous woman, Adele will not. I spent all of yesterday evening and most of the night trying to convince her it was all rubbish, but although she says she does believe I love her, her tears and her behaviour make me think the damage has been done. So here’s the thing. I want to arrange a wedding. A wedding that will take place as soon as possible. Assuming Adele agrees, and I’m determined to convince her to do so, we’ll give the twenty-eight days’ notice today, and get married on day twenty-nine. But Adele will need all the help she can get to rebuild her confidence and to accept that she will be a beautiful bride, and that she’ll be making me the happiest man in the world. I let her down very badly once before and I won’t do that again. Will you help us plan a wedding?’
Everyone in the room looked at one another and then we all let out loud shrieks and cheers.
‘Of course we will,’ Noelle said.
‘Absolutely,’ said Lucy.
‘We’re here for you both,’ said Alec, ‘So yes. We’ll help in any way we can.’
‘Yep. You can count on us,’ Sam said.
‘And me,’ I added, not wanting to be left out. ‘Just one tiny thing. Erm. How do you intend to get Adele to agree if she really believes everything that awful woman said?’
‘By doing everything I can to show her how much I love her. And by all of you reminding her of that. And, equally important, reminding her that she’s a beautiful woman who is talented, bright, and funny, caring and loving and so very special in so many ways. By showing her she has friends who love her exactly as she is. By rebuilding her self-esteem. I’m sure she’ll agree to us registering our intention to marry, because, as arrogant as this sounds, Adele has loved me for a long time. But all her doubts will creep back in. I genuinely believed she was sure of my love for her and yet that damn woman has destroyed that with one diatribe. Maybe I need to try harder. I honestly don’t know. This has come as a complete shock, not just to Adele but to me. I thought our love was stronger than that. I had no idea that one evil woman could do this to us.’
‘Words are powerful things,’ I said. ‘And self-doubt can be all-consuming, as can self-loathing. The happy woman I met yesterday must have deep rooted fears and doubts to have crumpled like this. An inferiority complex will do that to you.’
Noelle nodded. ‘She does. And yet, she was over the moon at Christmas when you told her how you felt, Marcus. And she didn’t hesitate to move in with you, and she’s seemed so happy since, so I don’t understand, either. I’m sure she’ll bounce back from this. Unless there’s something else going on that none of us knows about. I really need to have a long talk with her.’
‘Perhaps,’ Lucy said, ‘she was swept away by the thought that her dreams had finally come true. And maybe she jumped at the chance to be with you, Marcus, and decided to put everything else aside to take a final chance at happiness. And perhaps she thought that if she loved you enough, you would love her in return. And that even if you didn’t really love her, she could be happy just being with you.’
‘Where did that come from?’ Sam asked, giving Lucy a curious, and somewhat anxious, look.
Lucy shrugged. ‘I’m not really sure. But I do know a little of what it feels like to love someone even when you think they may never love you. I’m more confident than Adele, and I do believe people when they tell me how they feel. Adele clearly isn’t like that.’
Sam pulled Lucy close and held her tight. ‘You do know I adore you, right?’
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I do. Ooh. I can design her wedding dress. That should go a small way towards making her feel special.’
‘That would be fantastic, Lucy,’ Marcus said. ‘I’ll pay whatever it costs for Adele to have the best dress on this planet. You have no idea how grateful I am that you’re all on board with this. Making Adele happy is all that matters to me.’
‘No pressure then,’ I whispered in Lucy’s ear.
‘You should call and tell your boss you need more time off,’ she said, giving me a serious, and yet slightly pleading, look.
Oddly enough, that thought had already occurred to me, even though I’d only met Adele the day before, and despite the fact that I was supposed to be here on holiday, not here to help arrange a wedding for two people I’d only just met.