Maddy Kind Lifts the Veil

Chapter 1

One

Maddy didn’t notice she was getting proposed to at first.

She was standing near the drinks table at her great aunt Margaret’s eighty-ninth party—they weren’t waiting for her ninetieth birthday to throw a bash just in case—while a stranger was telling her a story about getting lost on the way here.

The woman was funny and dry. She had dark hair pulled back loosely. She spoke with emphatic hands.

‘So, I’m driving around for ten minutes thinking, this cannot possibly be right,’ the woman said, smiling. ‘And then I see a balloon tied to a gate. Has to be it, right?’

Maddy smiled and nodded.

‘So, I knock on the door and it just kind of opens. And I go in and yell, “Happy birthday, Margaret!” And guess what it was.’

Maddy shook her head, rapt.

‘A dog birthday party,’ the woman said. ‘Not even a big one. Just four adults standing in a kitchen singing to a spaniel in a bow tie.’

Maddy burst out laughing. ‘How did they react?’

‘After we sorted out the confusion, they were just excited at having another guest. They tried to talk me into staying.’

Maddy chuckled and took a sip of her wine.

The woman tilted her head. ‘So how do you know the family?’

‘Oh. Um.’ Maddy hesitated, like she always did when it was her turn to talk. ‘Margaret is my great aunt.’

‘She’s my gran’s friend. I guess I’m just here to make up the numbers,’ she said with a half-smile. ‘You here with a boyfriend, or…’

Maddy nodded. ‘Yeah, Adam.’

‘How long have you guys been together?’ the woman said, eyebrows lifting slightly.

The attention on Maddy caused her shoulders to tighten a skosh. ‘Twelve years.’

‘That’s impressive,’ the woman said. ‘You must have met youngish.’

‘Uni. My house gave a party, and he turned up.’

The woman studied her for a moment, and Maddy felt an odd nervous flutter in her tummy. Her social anxiety had kicked in.

‘I’m Jess,’ the woman said, holding out her hand.

‘Maddy.’ Their hands touched. Maddy noticed the strength in them, the softness in them. She bet Jess gave a hell of a massage.

‘So,’ Jess said. ‘Twelve years. How does that feel?’

Maddy opened her mouth to answer and then paused. How did it feel?

‘Fine,’ she said. ‘Good. Normal.’

Jess smiled. ‘Normal.’

‘Yeah,’ Maddy said, then added quickly, ‘I mean, it’s not like it’s boring or anything. We’re just comfortable.’

‘Comfortable is underrated,’ Jess said kindly.

If you were my friend, everything would be better, Maddy thought.

She felt that flicker in her tummy again, stronger this time. Slightly different from her normal anxiety. She tried to pinpoint the feeling, but never quite found her way to it.

Because at that exact moment, the music stopped. Conversation around them faltered and then gave up.

‘Maddy,’ her mother said quietly yet meaningfully. For a split second, Maddy thought she was in trouble.

That instinct wasn’t exactly wrong.

Maddy turned, still not getting it. Only thinking that she didn’t want to stop talking to Jess and was annoyed at the interruption.

Adam was standing near the coffee table. He had a weird look on his face. He was holding something small.

No, Maddy thought. No, no, no.

She took half a step backwards without realising it, bumping lightly into the drinks table. Jess glanced at her, concern flickering across her face.

‘You okay?’ Jess asked quietly.

Maddy nodded automatically, though nothing about this felt okay.

‘Hey, everyone,’ Adam said.

The room turned toward him as one. Someone gasped softly. Someone else laughed, already delighted. Cousin Emma’s hand flew to her mouth.

Maddy felt like a spotlight had swung onto her during a prison break.

Adam was talking. Saying how long they’d been together, talking about growing up together, about building a life.

Maddy heard only fragments. But she heard the word, ‘Love.’ And then, ‘Forever.’

Her gaze flicked to Jess. She was moonwalking out of the situation as quickly as she could, absorbed into the rapt crowd and gone.

Then Adam opened the something in his hand. The box.

This is not happening, Maddy thought.

Adam dropped to one knee. Phones went up.

Adam looked up at her, beaming, holding out the ring. ‘Maddy Kind,’ he said, voice trembling. ‘Will you marry me?’

Maddy stood frozen. She knew she wasn’t supposed to be angry in this moment. But he should have known she wouldn’t want this type of thing. Why was he doing it like this? And why did she want to slap him for it?

But there was no time to think about any of that. Everyone was looking at her. Adam was still bloody kneeling.

Maddy knew what she was expected to say.

And that’s exactly what she did say. And only after everyone had finished yelling and congratulating them, and the men had slapped Adam on the back and pumped his fist, and the women had asked to see the ring ten thousand times, did Maddy really understand what the little word really meant.

Yes. It meant that this was her life.