Chapter Nine
Marcus
“Glass of wine, Wren?” Dad asks. “The sun’s over the yard arm.”
“Ooh, yes please,” she says, lowering onto the sofa, “that would be lovely.”
I ask for half a glass as I’m driving. While Dad pours and tops up everyone else’s, I say, “I’m glad you’re all here. Wren and I have something to tell you.”
Mum’s eyebrows rise. Aurelia stares at us. Dad passes Wren her glass, then pushes mine over to me, looking curious.
“We’re engaged,” I announce.
I’ve already told Caesar and Aurelia, because I wanted to make sure they didn’t comment negatively when I announced it, but my parents both look completely shocked.
Then, all at once, they burst into a cacophony of exclamations and cheers.
“Congratulations!” Mum comes over and flings her arms around Wren, who laughs. Aurelia squeals and jumps up to hug me, then Wren. Dad looks a mixture of stunned, thrilled, and amused, and comes over to kiss Wren on the cheek, then shake my hand.
“I asked her a couple of days ago,” I tell them, “but it was off the cuff, and I didn’t have a ring. So… I’d like to do it properly now.” I stand and slide my hand into my jeans pocket, and extract a black velvet box. Then I turn to Wren and lower down onto one knee as I open the box.
“I know this isn’t exactly an Instagram proposal,” I say, looking into her eyes. “But will you marry me?”
Behind me, I hear my mother inhale, and Aurelia murmurs, “Oh my God, wow.”
Wren stares at the ring. I bought it this morning. It’s a public holiday, so the shops are shut, but a friend owns a chain of jewelry stores and opened one especially so I could browse in peace.
The ring is platinum, the four-carat round diamond resting in an attractive setting that looks like a flower. There were bigger diamonds in the shop, but even this one will overwhelm her, and besides, I liked it and thought it suited her.
The silence stretches out, and I glance over at Caesar, sitting beside her, who lifts his eyebrows.
“Wren?” I murmur. “It’s customary to say something at this point.”
She lifts her gaze to mine. “Is it real?”
My mother says, “Awww.”
I take it out of the box and hold it out so Wren can look at it more closely. “Marry me,” I say softly.
She’s breathing fast, and her face is flushed. But she finally brings her gaze up to look me in the eyes. Then she nods, her lips curving up.
Relieved, I slide the ring onto her fourth finger, and everyone cheers. To my surprise, Wren lifts her arms around my neck, and she gives me a big hug. I hug her back, then eventually shift onto the sofa next to her when she releases me.
“A wedding!” My mother is flushed with pleasure. “How wonderful!”
“Don’t get too excited,” I warn. “You’ll have to wait for Aurelia to get married to have the big ball I know you’re hoping for.
We just want a quiet wedding, and we’d like to get married soon.
In three weeks, actually. Sixteenth of January.
And before either of you say anything, no, we don’t ‘have’ to get married. We just don’t want to wait.”
“Is that what you want?” Mum asks Wren. When she nods, Mum says, “Well, in that case, I’m all for it! Oh, we could even hold it here, if you wanted? Or did you have somewhere in mind?”
“No,” Wren says, “I hadn’t really thought about it. But here would be lovely.”
“We could have a marquee on the lawn.” Mum gets up and beckons to Wren. “Come with me, I’ll show you the perfect place for the altar.”
Wren rises, glances at me with a smile, and follows Mum through the dining room and out into the garden.
I lean back on the sofa and look at my father, who’s sitting there quietly. “What do you think?” I ask.
He tips his head to the side. “I just hope you’re not doing this for me. I know what I said in the boardroom, but it was meant to be a wake-up call for the three of you to start thinking about the future. I didn’t expect you to propose to the first girl you met.”
I open my mouth to defend myself, but to my surprise Aurelia speaks up. “That’s not what this is, Dad. I’m surprised, but not shocked. I knew Marcus liked her back in the day.”
Caesar’s eyebrows rise. “Did you?” he asks me.
“I asked her out,” I tell them. “When I was eighteen. She turned me down. Said I was too young. Broke my heart.”
Caesar smiles slowly. “I didn’t know that.” I can see understanding dawning in his eyes. He’s realizing how I must have felt when Wren asked him to donate. And why I leapt at the chance to ask her to marry me.
“In that case,” Dad says, “I’m very pleased for you. She’s a lovely girl—intelligent, with her head screwed on right. She’ll be good for you. Keep your feet on the ground.”
“I hope so. She wanted me to tell you that she’s expecting a prenup, and she wants a clause that says if we ever part, she doesn’t want a single cent of my money.”
Dad’s eyebrows rise. “Really? Well, I’m glad, for your sake.
I didn’t have to worry about that with your mother, as the money didn’t come until after we were married.
” His gaze drifts out of the window, and he smiles to see Mum wandering around the garden with Wren, gesturing enthusiastically.
“You’ve made her day,” he says softly. “For that, I’m very grateful. ”
“I admit the thought of making Mum happy did cross my mind.”
“Are you sure you want to get married so quickly?” Dad asks. “The girls might enjoy having longer to plan.”
I shake my head. “We’re both certain, and I think it’ll be good for Wren to have less time to panic. She won’t want too much pomp. Just friends and family, nothing too fancy, or we’ll have to have oxygen on standby.”
Aurelia giggles. “Poor Wren.”
“And although I haven’t done it for the company,” I tell him, “it is, of course, a factor. The sooner I’m married, the sooner we can have a child and secure your legacy.”
“The board will probably see it as a stunt,” Dad says.
“We’ll have to make them understand that it’s not. Your ultimatum was a catalyst. It brought me to my senses, that’s all.”
Dad nods, apparently satisfied.
“I was thinking of taking her to the farm for the honeymoon,” I add.
“What?” Aurelia rolls her eyes. “Is that the best you can do?”
“Go to Japan,” Caesar says. “You’ve got the food and the history. She’d love it.”
“Or England,” Aurelia continues, “she’d adore the art galleries and, yeah, the history there, too. As long as she doesn’t mind the rain.”
“Prague’s beautiful,” Caesar states.
“I think the farm is a lovely idea,” Dad says. He looks genuinely touched.
“She wants to see where it all began,” I tell him. “I think it’ll be a lovely place to spend a honeymoon.”
“I’ll tell Jacob and Ruth,” Dad says, naming the couple who runs the estate. “Ask them to spend some time getting the place ready for you.”
I smile. “That would be great.”
“… I think we could keep it to fifty,” Mum says as she and Wren come back into the room. “What do you think, Ed? Wren would prefer a small wedding, and I said we could probably limit the guest list to fifty.”
“Sounds perfect,” he states.
“Anyway, lunch is ready,” she says. “We can talk while we eat.”
The housekeeper has set lunch up outside, and we rise and go out to the table on the deck. On the way, I grab Wren’s hand and pull her to one side.
“You okay?” I murmur. “You look like a rabbit in the headlights.”
“Your mum wanted two hundred guests,” she says. “I nearly fainted.”
I chuckle. “It’s okay, I’ll talk her down.”
She lifts her hand and looks at the ring. “I can’t believe you bought this for me.”
“Only the best for my future wife.”
She raises her gaze to mine. “Fake wife,” she whispers. Her eyes dance, though, so I know she’s teasing me on purpose.
“Nothing fake about how much I want you,” I whisper back, dipping my head a little. I want to kiss her, but I don’t want her to freak out with everyone nearby.
“Oh.” She moistens her lips with the tip of her tongue. “I’m sure your mum thinks I’m already pregnant.”
“Don’t worry, you soon will be. I intend to make sure of it.”
She pushes me. “Stop teasing me.”
“I’m not. It’s a fact. We’ll have a whole week alone in the middle of the Waikato to make love as many times as we can manage it. I’m telling you, if you’re not pregnant by the end of January, it won’t be because we haven’t tried.”
Although she knows I’m provoking her a little, she still looks thrilled. “I didn’t expect that,” she says. “When the clinic first said it would take two years, it felt like a dream. I still can’t believe it might really happen.”
“We’re going to make a baby,” I tell her firmly. “And have a lot of fun doing it. Now come and eat something before you fall over.”
We join the others, and Wren’s eyes nearly fall out of her head as she looks at the food on the table.
I don’t know what she was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t platters of oysters on crushed ice beside bowls of lemon wedges, or smoked salmon blinis topped with crème fra?che and dill.
There’s rare roast beef, grilled kingfish with charred asparagus, fresh sourdough with whipped feta—and, to finish, a magnificent pavlova piled high with strawberries and cream.
She doesn’t say anything, though, and tucks into everything, which makes me smile. It’s nice to see a woman enjoying a meal. So many girls pick at their food, which is a shame when it’s this good.
I know she’s nervous about fitting into my life, and keen to distance herself so she doesn’t get hurt.
But when I don’t push her to speak, she surprises me by chatting away about her job and what she’s been up to over Christmas.
I watch her laughing at something my father says, and feel a warmth deep inside.
She’s not a bird that should be kept in a cage.
She needs to be set free. Then hopefully she’ll come home at the end of each day…
and eventually be happy to stay by my side.
“When do you want to announce the engagement?” Mum asks, smiling at Dad as he pours her some of the homemade lemonade from the jug in the center.
“I was thinking we could hold a party on Waiheke,” I say. “We could get the Midnight Club to organize it.”
Wren’s eyes nearly pop out. “You said it would be small! I’ve read about the Midnight Club. It’s a huge, exclusive resort!”
“And a business club,” I point out. I’ve thought this through. “We can hold it at the vineyard nearby, on New Year’s Eve. The press will all be on the mainland covering the prominent parties. By the time they hear about the engagement, it’ll all be over.”
She looks somewhat mollified.
“Don’t worry,” Aurelia says, “we’ll look after you. It’ll be great fun.”
“Oh God,” Wren says, making us all laugh. “I feel like Cinderella.”
“You have to remember,” Mum tells her, “we know how it feels to be out of your comfort zone. It is tough. But you’re a member of the family now. You’re one of us, and we’ll take care of you.”
Wren smiles, then drops her gaze to her food and eats quietly. I watch her, concerned. What’s bothering her? The thought of being in our world? Or is she still telling herself this is a marriage of convenience, and it’s making her feel bad to think she’s lying to my parents?
She’s quiet for the rest of the meal, and although we stay for a little while afterward, she doesn’t say much.
Eventually I state, “Well, we’d better get going,” and we rise and say our goodbyes.
I promise Dad that I’ll call him to organize the party on New Year’s Eve, and, while Aurelia tells Wren she’ll be in touch to discuss outfits, I give Mum a kiss.
“She’s lovely, Mars,” Mum says softly, so Wren can’t hear. “I haven’t seen you like this before. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to see someone so in love with my baby boy.”
Her words make my heart jolt in my chest, but I just roll my eyes and chuckle. I wait for Mum to give Wren a kiss on the cheek, and then I take Wren’s hand and lead her out to the car.
We get in, I start the engine, and set off back to Birkenhead.
She’s very quiet on the way back. She answers my questions about the house and the lunch, but otherwise she just looks out of the window, or studies the ring on her left hand.
I leave her to her thoughts, caught up in my own musings.
Mum’s words linger in my brain and refuse to depart.
She’s only seeing what she wants to see, obviously.
Wren’s not in love with me. She’s made that quite clear.
But mothers often see things that other people don’t, and the thought that Wren might have stronger feelings for me than I realize—maybe even than she realizes—makes my heart race.
Eventually, I pull up outside her house. Leaving the engine running, I turn to her and say, “I’ll organize everything for the party. We’ll make it seven o’clock. I’d like you to invite whoever you want. Your mum, Clare, your friends and colleagues.”
She studies me silently, with wide eyes.
I sigh. “Come on. Out with it.”
She swallows hard. “It was just what your mum said, about being a member of the family. Suddenly I felt awful.”
“Why? We’re getting married. You will be one of the family.”
“Yes, but she thinks it’s a love match. While we were out in the garden, she said how pleased she was that you’ve found someone normal, and how she can’t wait for the wedding.
She was so excited, Mars. And she’s been ill, and I just felt like a heel.
Don’t you feel bad too? For pulling the wool over her eyes? ”
“Do you think I’d be doing this if I thought I was going to cause her any distress? If I thought that, after you got pregnant, I was going to have to tell her we were breaking up?”
She frowns.
I dip my head to try to catch her gaze, but she looks down stubbornly. “Sweetheart, I know I can’t make you love me. I know you won’t take my promises on faith. I understand that. You need evidence, and I damn well intend to provide it. I’m not just going to get you pregnant.”
Her eyes snap up to mine, and her breath hitches.
“I’m going to prove to you that I’m serious about making this work,” I continue firmly, meaning every word.
I’m not going to let my mother down.
And I’m definitely not going to let Wren down. I have every intention of proving to both of them how I feel about her.
I just need a little time.