Page 57 of The Wedding Proposal
When she’d been quiet for a minute, he tried a gentle prompt. ‘But you didn’t have any reason not to.’
‘But I was too naive to notice his lack of substance. That he didn’t seem to have many mates to hang out with and those he had were always younger than him. The girls he went for were younger, too. Looking back, I suppose it’s because people his own age saw how superficial and phoney he was. At the club, he used to say he “helped out on the promotions side” and was “an ideas man”. In reality, I suppose he was a mouthy DJ with a big opinion of himself, but I took everything he said at face value. He wasn’t that smart but he was crafty.’
Her sigh seemed to come up from the soles of the bare feet she’d curled beside her on the sofa. ‘He boasted about things that were hard to check, like being an ace on a surfboard — we were miles from the sea. He’d been brought up in East London and I never really knew what had made him leave because he countered a lot of questions with answers like “That was a different me, babe” or “You don’t expect me to tell you all my secrets, do you?”’
She covered her eyes. ‘I was so stupidly trusting. A couple of guys actually took me aside to tell me I should be careful. They told me—’ She paused for so long that he thought she wasn’t going to start again. Then: ‘They told me he owed them money. When I asked him about it he said he’d “had a word and sorted everything out”. When I wanted to know what there was to sort out he got sharp. “If you’re going to listen to people you don’t even know, what future have we got?”’ Another hot sigh. ‘Then he flattered me with a lot of “You’re the one person I thought understood me, babe”, stuff. I fell for it, even when he didn’t want to introduce me to his family and said he wasn’t close to them, and put on a big sad face.’
She sniffed and reached for her bag, sorting through it to find a tissue. He was almost afraid to breathe in case she stopped filling in all the blanks that had irritated him so much and for so long.
But when she’d blown her nose, she returned to her story. ‘I never knew whether his mum had really died tragically after being given the wrong dose of something in hospital and if his father had really beaten him up on a regular basis but treated his sisters like princesses. Or whether it was just fantasy.’
For a moment Lucas forgot his strategy of not asking questions. ‘Why would he make stuff like that up?’
‘Maybe it was to support his gripe about not having parents to help him through university. I wouldn’t put anything past that bastard. I discovered — too late — that when he opened his mouth it was usually lies that rolled out. I closed my eyes to the fact that he probably hadn’t been to university because he wasn’t bright enough. I was too gullible, young and in love to properly question his “poor me, I never got the breaks” act. And I never asked why he hadn’t made his own breaks.’
Lucas’s fingers had come to rest on her neck. Absently, he moved a thumb over the delicate skin. ‘I can see that he might not be the kind your parents would go for.’
She snorted a bitter laugh. ‘Not much.’ Then, reflectively, ‘I must have acknowledged it to myself because I didn’t tell Mum and Dad about Ricky. I was spending as much time as I could with him, so I wasn’t going home to Bettsbrough much. My parents decided to come up and check I was working hard and it was an unfortunate first meeting with Ricky. They arrived one Sunday morning and Daisy let them in. By the time Daisy banged on my bedroom door and shouted that they’d arrived, they’d heard Ricky’s voice through the door. We had to get dressed before I could introduce him.’ She winced at the memory. ‘Not the greatest start.’
‘Oops,’ said Lucas. His Green Jealousy Monster began to stir at the thought of Elle in bed with Ricky, but he resolutely chained it down. Jealousy directed at past lovers was futile at best.
‘Not kidding. They asked way too many questions for Ricky’s liking, and he was too charming, or “soapy” as Mum called it, to impress them.’
She groaned. ‘I took his side against them. I said they were too caught up in their middle-class standards to value someone like Ricky. After a host of icy remarks they left, still spouting about how important my masters was.’
Slowly, she sat up, taking her water bottle from the table and drinking from it. The place on Lucas where she’d been pressed felt cold and empty. She stretched, easing her neck. Then she leaned back into him, tilting her head to rest once again on his arm. He was shocked by the degree of relief he felt.
‘The thing is, my parents were wrong if they thought Ricky didn’t think my masters was important. He actively encouraged me in my education. He was always asking if I was studying enough and creeping around quietly so as not to disturb me.’
Lucas was surprised. ‘So maybe he had some good qualities.’
With an air of elaborate patience, Elle sighed. ‘He wanted me to get the best possible result that would get me the best job and earn the greatest amount of money. He was preparing to climb on board the Elle Gravy Train. First stop: Ricky not having to work any more.’
After that, there was no need for further prompts. It seemed as if Elle was operating on automatic, set to ‘regurgitate’. It crossed Lucas’s mind that he ought to say, ‘Are you certain you want to tell me all of this?’ But he found himself quite unable to be so generous of spirit.
‘He wasn’t even subtle,’ said Elle, sadly. ‘But I still fell for his crap. When he said that it would help get my parents onside if we went to live in Bettsbrough, it didn’t even occur to me to ask myself whether he was right, but I agreed because it seemed as if I would be pleasing both Ricky and my parents. Then he developed the theme into how horrified they’d be if we went back there and lived together — so, let’s do the right thing and get married before we go. They might like him more if they could see that he had done the right thing. He even said “If they can see that I’m making it all about you.”’
She flung up her hands. ‘Why hatch a clever plan when Elle will fall for a simple one? I went along with it. I even felt flattered that he’d give up his life in Manchester for me. Looking back on it, I expect he’d hacked so many people off in Manchester that he wanted to leave it behind, but it didn’t occur to me at the time.’
He tightened his arm, pulling her closer. ‘Don’t be so hard on yourself. I don’t think your parents provided you with many street smarts. Condemning you and going off in a huff even when they saw what kind of guy Ricky was didn’t make you see that you had choices or help you recognise a user.’
‘No.’ She shook her head, wearily. ‘But they were still mega pissed-off when Mr and Mrs Ricky Manion turned up on their doorstep.’
She yawned mightily and Lucas finally let concern for her override his thirst for knowledge. She’d had bad news; she’d sobbed as if her heart would break; she’d bared her soul. Her eyes, now they’d lost their pinkness, were huge with exhaustion. ‘I think it’s time for us to go to bed,’ he said.
Chapter Eighteen
Even though she felt like over-boiled spaghetti, the words shot straight to Elle’s groin. Wow, that would be . . . ! ‘O-OK,’ she managed.
Lucas was as still as a rock, probably wanting to yank those words back out of the air. She tried to think of a light remark to skip them over the awkwardness, but her mind was blank.
Suddenly, everywhere they were touching felt supercharged: his arm strong around her, their sides pressed together.
No wonder the child protection training had taught her that contact could be misunderstood. She was feeling twice as hot as the Mediterranean evening and completely unequal to giving him a quick grateful smile and extricating herself gracefully. Every inch of her screamed to be in Lucas’s arms for more than a comforting hug.
‘I didn’t mean it to sound quite like that.’ His voice was strained.
She snorted a mildly hysterical laugh. ‘And I didn’t mean that to sound as if going to bed would be OK. I m-mean . . .’
