Chapter Nine #2
This not least because she loved Holly, loved Jenny and this whole topic felt disloyal.
Her gut folded at the thought of her best friend, wondering again how on earth she would handle the news?
Aiden, she felt sure, would make the hate list, probably knocking Poirot off the top slot, but they’d find a way through, they always did.
‘How do I cope without him, Jen?’ she had bawled after Jonathan’s funeral.
‘You’ll cope because we are next door but one, here for whatever you need, whenever you need it...’
Aiden tutted, drawing her back into the moment.
‘God, not that! Although yes that, but we just can’t stop talking.
About everything! I want to know what she’s thinking.
I love her opinions, her views, and we knew we had to sleep, but there was always something important to say, we didn’t want to waste a minute of being together sleeping, so we’d sit up all night, watching the sun set and rise on the city.
I won’t ever forget a minute of it, not ever.
We want to go back to Rome and take our kids when they come along. ’
Enya twisted her body to fully face her boy, trying to accept that he was talking about forever, and kids! This from the man who had stated with confidence that babies were not on the agenda for a good while yet.
It was rare that she couldn’t find the words.
‘You’re going to love her, Mum.’ And there it was again, that beaming smile, like flicking a switch.
‘She’s beautiful, and smart and funny and it’s like she’s mine, like she was always mine and I was hers and we just didn’t know it.
But now we do and there’s no way we want to waste a minute longer than we have to being apart. ’
Poor Holly! She managed to swallow the thought and not let it leap from her tongue, knowing it might be incendiary in the midst of his admission of love.
‘You said you spoke to her dad?’ Enya carried the vague hope that the girl’s family might be similarly concerned and would encourage the couple to slow things down.
Maybe hoping, like her, that it would fizzle enough for them to see reason, to not jump in too hastily, but to give things time, to understand that this heightened feeling would not last, probably just an infatuation, an attraction, but certainly nothing with a foundation that would last a lifetime, because what the bloody hell could you learn about someone in just three weeks ?
‘Yes, her family seem lovely, so lovely! They’re really excited.’
Damn.
‘She’s close to her cousins, who are in Australia, and I haven’t met them yet obviously.
Her nan is still alive and a right old character, won’t leave her flat in Brighton, thinks it’s dangerous to travel further than Horsham, they all sound wonderful.
Her dad runs his own company. Her mum is Trish, she’s already made me feel so welcome, just with texts and whatnot.
They live in a little village on the outskirts of Bath with a view right over the city, it looks beautiful, I’ve seen pictures. They’re all really excited.’
Outskirts of Bath, an hour away at most.
It was hard to control the misplaced surge of jealousy at the fact that the Sutherland family seemed to be well up on proceedings, and had probably celebrated the engagement of which she was unaware while she was cleaning out Pickle’s litter tray, listening to Holly’s plans for her bedroom décor, and fretting over her son’s welcome-home dinner.
‘We’re getting married at their house in the garden, there’s a side area with fruit trees and an incredible view. We’re going to have a marquee, it’s always been Iris’s dream.’
‘It all sounds amazing,’ Enya smiled, more conscious now than ever of hoovering up his joy and hiding her feeling of despair at his news. News that would no doubt damage Holly and upset her best friend. ‘So, when is the big day, what date have you set?’
‘August the eighteenth. One month yesterday, four weeks!’
What the flippin’ Aida!
Enya placed her hand over her mouth to stop herself from saying anything at all.
Four weeks! She let the fact settle, already thinking about travel arrangements, frocks, and who would look after Madam Pickle Paws if they were away overnight?
Immediately, she thought of asking Holly to look after her, and Jenny to do the flowers of course, before dismissing these thoughts as quickly as they had risen in her mind.
Her pulse raced as the repercussions of her son’s news, his change of heart, started to crystallise.
It felt horrible, knowing she would be front and centre of this chasm, when she had done nothing to cause it and couldn’t avoid it.
She and Jenny had always joked about wearing matching hats as mothers of the bride and groom. She now tried to imagine sitting alone among the fruit trees in the garden of a family who she didn’t know, strangers, while Aiden married a girl who could have been anyone, a girl Jonathan had never met.
Enya started the engine, aware that the short-stay window was closing.
‘Well, say something!’ Aiden urged. ‘What are you thinking?’
‘I was wondering what your dad would say.’ She spoke the truth.
‘I think he’d say if you really love her then go for it, don’t you?’ He stared at her with such hope in his eyes that it was almost painful to witness.
‘I guess he would, love.’ She managed a thin, watery smile. ‘What do you want to do now? Would you like me to find somewhere else to park, or shall I head home?’
He closed his eyes briefly and sighed, as he leaned forward in the seat.
‘Let’s head home. Is Holly there?’ He swallowed.
She nodded.
‘Okay. I’ve got to do this, and it’s better for us all if I do it sooner rather than later.’
‘Yep.’ She smiled at him, doing her best to keep one hand steady on the tiller, while keeping lookout, and burying the crest of fear in her gut, as she pulled out of the car park.