Epilogue
Ben is happy enough in D.C., his job thrilling enough to have warranted the move and the life change, his new marriage a better fit, the power dynamic more manageable.
He is happy, that is, until he gets a text from a friend back in the UK.
He clicks on the link and reads:
MailOnline | Showbiz
Exclusive
Aoife Doherty looks effortlessly chic as she enjoys coffee with a friend
Irish beauty and full-time bonnet wearer Aoife Doherty, 29, who was caught up in the wrong sort of news last year when the Williams House murderer was revealed to be operating just streets away from her glamorous London pile, is now back in full press tour mode.
And it’s safe to say, Aoife will soon be a fixture on our screens now that filming has completed on the final series of the international bodice-ripping hit drama The Making of a Lady, with more roles to come down the pipeline.
The Daily Mail can reveal these latest shots of Aoife walking in the park with close friend, confidante, and the brand strategist behind Doherty’s new cosmetics line, Softest, Frankie Green, 40.
Aoife stunned other Sunday walkers looking shapely, while showcasing her figure in trendy sportswear in an East London Park.
Doherty’s hair was styled in an updo that wouldn’t look amiss at a “Fletchely Ball” in her binge-worthy show whilst Green favored a more relaxed look in jeans and a chic sweater.
The pair are now frequently seen together since the arrest and conviction of former NHS doctor, rapist, and murderer Simon Williams, 39, in 2026, just streets away.
And while Green may be newly engaged Aoife is currently taking time out from the dating scene. After being tied to several popular co-stars, and soon to appear in a certain comic-book franchise universe, Doherty appears to have given love the back seat over work for the time being.
When asked about finding Mr Right, in British Vogue, earlier this month, Aoife’s response was adamant.
“Listen, I think the last thing I need right now is to be worrying about all that.”
But there’s hope still for all the men out there—if they’re tall, that is. “God, who knows,” she adds, “like, I’ll probably end up with some tall, moody fella with ten kids in a big country house. But right now, I like the peace of being single, you know?”
Ben’s forehead creases as he scrolls back up to the photos at the top of the article. He wonders if Frankie always looked that good. He doubts it.
He opens up Instagram and searches his ex-wife’s name, something he hasn’t done since long before the divorce.
Frankie’s grid fills his screen, and a handsome man’s face smiles back at him from several frames.
Ben scrolls through the photos, the captions; there are names he does not recognize: Matt, Pam, Arabella, the people and the tapestry of Frankie’s new life—and of course Aoife.
There is a photo of an engagement ring.
A wave of nausea hits Ben. Frankie will remarry, too.
He clicks on a photo of the couple’s new house, the scale of it hitting him.
He feels an odd dread filling him up as he clicks on Matt’s account: his full name, his work, Frankie.
Ben frowns at the screen. This is pointless, he tells himself.
Ben blocks Matt. Then he blocks Frankie. Then he blocks the friend who texted him the article in the first place.
And just like that, they’re gone.