Page 87 of The Wedding Proposal
‘I wouldn’t ask if there wasn’t a good reason. But I can’t talk here — I don’t want passers-by to hear.’ And then, lowering her voice urgently, ‘Ring me back if you can meet me. Up to you, but someone came to see me and gave me a whole load of information about you, and it affects us both—’
‘All right. I’ll meet you this afternoon, Midsummer Meadow, down by the river.’
She let out a snort. ‘No thanks. I remember the kind of people you hang out with. It has to be more public than that.’
He sniggered. He hadn’t changed his modus operandi of using scorn and derision to make her feel in the wrong. ‘The market square public enough for you?’
‘Near the entrance to The Grosvenor Centre, three o’clock,’ she agreed, thickly, and ended the call. Wiping her eyes, she blew her nose and squared her shoulders.
There were still arrangements to make and bureaucracy to clear and she made time for yet another call to the authorities before feeling strong enough to return to the ward. She still needed to find out who to talk to about discharging her mother and whether she’d need an ambulance or if a taxi would be OK.
In her heart she knew that meeting Ricky was the right thing to do. She had to confront her past before she could move on. But the prospect still made her stomach lurch and she’d feel better if she kept as busy as possible.
Elle leaned on the ironstone wall beside the Market Square entrance to Northampton’s flagship shopping centre, listening to the chatter of the shoppers as they passed. Jumpy, she somehow felt both cornered and exposed.
She watched what was going on around the market stalls and half-expected to catch sight of her ex-husband fencing dodgy gear to unsuspecting punters under one of the red-striped awnings.
But Ricky, when he sauntered up ten minutes late, came through the doors of the shopping centre.
‘What’s up then?’ He took out a Marlboro packet and lit a cigarette.
Elle jammed her hands in the pockets of her jeans, determined not to let Ricky see if her hands shook. Resisting the impulse to clear her throat, she took a deep breath, not wanting to stutter over a single word. ‘I hear you tried to blackmail my ex-boyfriend’s mother.’
Ricky shrugged as if he had no idea what she was talking about, gazing past her at the market. Lines had settled beneath his eyes, but he looked prosperous.
She let injury resonate in her voice. ‘You know that your nasty threats put paid to my relationship with Lucas. But I didn’t think you’d try and get money out of his family once I’d left town.’
Ricky glanced at her. She caught a glint of something, as if he were amused or pleased at being the cause of her dismay. ‘You were always too much of a cow to play fair with me,’ he commented, obliquely.
‘You don’t know what fair is!’ she snapped. ‘And that kind of emotional abuse doesn’t work with me now. I’m not a silly little girl you can bully any more.’ Then she let it all pour out, her disgust of a man who would expect to live off her while he played at being a crook, then run away before the police turned up. How her relationship with her parents had been affected, and how, just when she thought that she’d got it together again with Lucas, her ex-mother-in-law-to-be had appeared ‘and tells me that you’re still sending your shit my way!’
Ricky’s expression grew steadily more impatient. ‘Why are you bothering to lay all this stuff on me? You don’t think I give a fuck, do you?’
‘Not really.’ She sighed, letting her shoulders droop. ‘I just thought you’d like the satisfaction of knowing.’ Then she straightened her spine and forced herself to keep speaking, to say the words she knew would antagonise. ‘Because that satisfaction’s all you’re going to get. You have nothing left to gain because I have nothing left to lose. You’ve pulled your masterstroke of trying to blackmail Mrs Rose and it hasn’t worked. You’re even a failure as a small-time crook, Ricky.’
Slowly, Ricky drew himself up, stepping into her space and right in her face, the all-too-familiar strategy to intimidate and quell. Elle was swept by sickening memories. Bellows of rage. Anger hurled like rocks. Though it was difficult not to cringe from his menacing bulk and the smoke from his cigarette, which burned her eyes and throat, she remained perfectly still by the wall, heart beating hard against her ribs.
With relief, out of the corner of her eye she spotted dark shapes rounding the nearest stalls and heading purposefully in their direction.
She forced herself to ignore Ricky taking control of her space, her air, to look up into his face. ‘I’m drawing a line under you. There’s some really unpleasant stuff still to come but I’m free of you and it feels pretty good.’
Ricky sneered like a goblin, the sourness of cigarette smoke on his breath. ‘What are you going on about, you stupid tart? What unpleasant stuff?’
Elle didn’t waver. ‘Giving evidence against you. I’ve already made a statement.’
And as Ricky opened his mouth again, he halted, eyes swivelling to what Elle had spotted seconds before. Two uniformed police officers striding his way. ‘Shit!’ He tried to dart towards the glass doors to the mall but two more police officers emerged from inside, neatly blocking his escape.
Spinning on his heel, Ricky made a lunge for the narrowing gap between the uniforms but the police officers, all burly men, put on a burst of speed and were on him. ‘Easy mate. Don’t do anything stupid.’
Ricky, bravado and cockiness overwritten by blank shock, stared at Elle as his arms were pulled deftly behind his back. ‘You fucking bitch, you ratted me out.’
Elle laughed, taking a deep breath of fresh air. ‘And I enjoyed every minute. The police were glad of my help because it turned out they had quite a few reasons to want to pick you up. See you in court, Ricky. I’ll be the one in the witness box.’
Her heart was still beating hard. But now it was with exhilaration.
* * *
Elle had been in England for only ten days but it seemed longer. Lucas had called her and she’d been polite but in a hurry. When he’d texted her: Found hotel for Mum and Dad for a few days. Costing them! But it means they’re no longer on the Shady Lady xxx she’d returned a polite but neutral: OK. It pained him that she didn’t sound bothered. At least Charlie’s out of hospital. Kayleigh’s taking him home provoked a Good! ?
