Was it true? Had she been so consumed with everything that had been going on that she’d neglected the most important person in her life – her fiancé? But even if that were true, it didn’t excuse the fact that he’d been dating someone else behind her back! Suddenly she experienced a whoosh of indignation, an overwhelming desire to stand up for herself. Instead of simply accepting Elliot’s explanation because it was the easiest way for the conversation to come to an early end, she would force him to consider what had happened from another perspective.
‘So, you’re saying what happened was my fault?’
‘I wouldn’t—’
‘That because my attention was elsewhere you sought solace in the arms of another woman?’
‘Well, it doesn’t sound very nice when you put it like that.’
‘That’s because it isn’t very nice, Elliot!’
Lexie leapt to her feet and strode over to the pond, exasperation swirling through her whole body. It was time she took control, time she said all the things that needed to be said instead of burying them in the deepest, darkest corner of her mind, where they would fester and grow horns sharp enough to spear her with. She felt a sudden sense of empowerment, that she now had the upper hand and whatever she said, he would have to listen.
‘You cheated on me three weeks before our wedding. What kind of person does that?’
‘I…’
‘What were you thinking? And what did you plan to do, exactly? Marry me and continue your affair with Amy in secret because you couldn’t face breaking off the engagement?’
‘No, I…’
But she knew from the tone of his voice that was precisely what he had planned to do and she gasped at the enormity of what she had just dodged. If she knew who had rigged up that bucket of ice-cold water, she would hop on a train back to London and give them a hug! The pain she had experienced since discovering his betrayal was a drop in the ocean compared to how she would have felt if she’d found out after signing her marriage certificate in front of her friends and family!
As soon as it had flared, her anger dissipated and she was suffused by a welcome feeling of calm and relief. Freya, Pippa, Jasper, her mum, even Theo, they had all told her that it was good to talk and they were right. Her conversation with Elliot had answered the majority of the questions that had been ricocheting around her brain, and she could have saved herself a whole lot of agony if she had only found the courage to follow their advice sooner. She could have arrived in Cornwall, her heart torn to shreds, but knowing the truth about what had happened, and the reasons behind it, which would have given her the building blocks to make a start on coming to terms with their break-up.
Well, she had certainly learned a valuable lesson, and as her mum always said to her when she had these revelations: better late than never!
‘Lexie? Are you still there?’
She suddenly had the sensation that she was talking to a complete stranger, and whilst she knew she and Elliot still had unfinished business – what to do with their apartment, the furniture, their wedding savings – at that precise moment she couldn’t think of a single thing she wanted to say to him, so why should she prolong the conversation?
‘Thanks for calling, Elliot. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a bride and groom to attend to.’
And without waiting for his reply, she swiped her finger across the screen, slotted her phone back into her bag, and made a promise to herself to check the caller ID from now on so that she wasn’t ambushed again before she was ready to talk about dismantling their lives together.
With her heart back in the place where it belonged, she strode through the French doors, her head held high, and a delicious sense of weightlessness surging through her veins. She had come a long way in the last few minutes and she knew who had provided the catalyst for her new found confidence.
She couldn’t wait to find him and tell him.
Chapter Twenty-Two
‘Oh, thank God, Lexie, there you are, where’ve you been?’
‘I’ve been— What’s wrong?’
The look on Theo’s face made her conversation with Elliot fly right out of her head.
‘It’s probably easier if I show you.’
‘Theo…’
But he had already spun on his heels and marched across the terrace, through the French doors into the Chandler Suite, along the corridor to the foyer, and then almost cantered up the stairs to the gallery as if he had never injured his leg.
God, this must be serious, she thought, before rolling her eyes. Here we go again!
‘Theo, wait! Tell me what’s going on!’
They’d arrived outside Rachel’s room. The door was slightly ajar, and through the gap Lexie caught a glimpse of Rachel, still in her bridesmaid’s dress, but with her hair cascading down to her shoulders instead of in its neatly pinned chignon, her tiara cast aside on the bedside table. She stared at the duvet cover which was no longer the pristine white Dalston Manor expected all its linen to be, but instead daubed in a kaleidoscope of colours that Monet would have been proud of.
‘What’s… what’s that?’ asked Lexie, hardly able to believe her eyes.
‘Paint, the kind children use for their art projects. I recognise the smell,’ whispered Theo.
‘But, how… oh my God, don’t tell me that—’
‘Jasmine! She’s really taken things too far this time,’ cried Rachel, pacing backwards and forwards across the room. ‘Okay, a few little pranks are fine, funny even, especially that toy mouse in Nadia’s bed – it’s a gold star from me for that one – but this? This is not funny! I wouldn’t like to contemplate what the laundry bill is going to be.’
‘I think it’ll wash out…’ began Lexie, but she couldn’t drag her eyes away from the splash of primary colours across what was the perfect blank canvas for a budding artist to experiment their passion for creating on, except for the fact that this was a luxury hotel bedroom in a country manor house that had probably never seen anything like this before.
Forcing herself to look away from the artwork, Lexie clicked into calm, sensible, wedding planner mode.
‘Okay, Theo, you help Rachel to strip the bed while I nip down the corridor to the laundry cupboard and grab a fresh duvet cover, then we’ll take the soiled sheet with us for when we challenge Jasmine – and this time we need to do that in front of Dan. I want to keep Zara out of this, if possible. I don’t want to upset her.’
For a couple of beats Theo and Rachel stared at her uncomprehendingly before launching into action and within minutes the bedroom had been returned to its former immaculate glory – all gilt-edged Regency furniture, damask-covered upholstery and sumptuous carpet.
‘Good as new!’ declared Theo, grinning at a job well done.
‘I’ve texted Dan and he’s on his way over here from the orangery, although he wasn’t happy about leaving the bar, I can tell you, but I think it’s better if we do this away from the rest of the party.’
‘I thought you’d already had a word with Dan about Jasmine’s antics?’ said Rachel, sitting at her dressing table and re-fixing her hair, then replacing her tiara, the crystals glittering in the shafts of sunshine slicing through the window.