Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Over the course of a few months, I began to spend more and more weekends with Richard. It was such a change from my shitty life during the week. His home and his outlook were so mature and I always felt content with him. Almost as if I was safe with him from the start.
After the childhood I’d had, it was great to sleep somewhere without having to be alert for anyone coming into my room.
It was fabulous to see fresh food and lots of it instead of making myself toast or a sandwich with what was left in the fridge.
Even working full-time, all my money went on food and rent.
Every time we drove back through the gate of White Oaks, I pictured myself returning as his wife, having children and living happily ever after. Well, everyone has to dream, don’t they? I could, and I wanted it so much.
I’d never been in such a large house before.
It took me a while to get used to the space.
There were so many rooms. Then there was a quirky annexe in the garden as well as the studio.
There were places in the house that I would certainly change.
It could have done with a woman’s touch.
But maybe I’d get to add my taste to it one day.
Richard never worked when I was with him, which gave us time to explore the property, the village and ourselves.
Occasionally we dined out with a few of his friends but mostly there would be the two of us.
I didn’t mind that. I cherished the time we had together as it was only a couple of times a week at that stage.
You could see people from the village glancing our way.
I guess that might have been because of the age gap, but no one ever said anything to us about it.
Everyone seemed to like Richard. Whenever we went into The Valley Arms, people would come and chat to him.
It was a nice establishment too. Nothing like the dives I’d been used to drinking in.
I loved going into his studio. The smell of the paint and imagining him at work was what kept me going through the week until the following weekend.
Often he would come to see me during the week, but I never invited him to see my mum or go to her house.
I’d always get him to pick me up somewhere else and we’d drive to a nice pub not too far away.
He never wanted to meet my family and friends anyway.
I guess he wanted me all to himself, and for his home to be for my eyes only.
The day he took me by surprise, we’d been together for four months and were sitting out in the garden. The weather was quite warm but there was a storm brewing. You could feel it coming in, the air becoming oppressive and heavy.
We were walking in the woods as the heavens opened and he dragged me into the middle of it. There was a clearing and to my amazement it was hardly wet at all.
‘It’s so beautiful here.’ I sighed. ‘I wish I could stay forever.’
‘Then why don’t you?’
I turned to him and laughed. ‘As if it were that easy.’
‘Anything is possible.’
I slapped him playfully on his arm. ‘Stop teasing.’
He pulled me into his arms and kissed me. ‘I’m not. Stay here with me.’
‘You mean move in with you?’
‘I mean much more than that.’
He gazed into my eyes and I found myself falling into him. I couldn’t help it. The man mesmerised me, like some kind of magician hypnotising his audience.
‘Marry me,’ he said.
I laughed.
I couldn’t help it. Here I was, twenty years old, having confessed to him my real age a while ago, being asked to marry a man who I cared for and live in a home that I’d longed for. It was a dream come true.
I was waiting for the catch.
‘I’m being serious,’ Richard insisted after I said nothing. And then, in the middle of the woods, while the rain lashed around us, he dropped to one knee. ‘Will you marry me?’
‘Yes!’ I waited for him to stand up again and then flew into his arms.
Richard was my everything. He made me feel secure, he was protective and always a gentleman. I didn’t need anyone else. It was just us against the world.
We were wed three months later. There were only the two of us, plus a couple of witnesses. Richard didn’t want the whole big affair and neither did I. I was aware of what my family and friends in Derby would think about the age gap and the quickness, so I didn’t tell them.
We went away for a week, to Spain. It was romantic and fun. We were consumed by each other and I had never felt so content. I loved him, with all my heart. So what if everything had happened so suddenly? Richard and I were made for each other.
On our wedding day, he told me he’d been looking for someone like me for a long time. Like I mentioned, he was a charmer. And I fell for him, hook, line, and sinker. I was powerless to resist him.
Little did I know what I was letting myself in for. Had I known then what I know now, I would have realised how manipulative and dangerous he was. I wish I could have seen through his scheming, his lies and insecurities. I would have been safe, and far away if so.