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‘Oh!’

‘Don’t you like it?’ Alan asked anxiously.

‘Yes, yes – of course. I love it,’ Sylvia assured him. It was beautiful, but it wasn’t the ring she’d been expecting.

‘Are you sure you like it, darling? If not, I can change it for something else, you know that.’

Although her heart was breaking, Sylvia reached up and kissed her husband’s cheek. ‘It’s perfect!’ she told him. ‘It’ll go beautifully with the new dress I’m wearing tonight. What time have you booked the restaurant for?’

‘Eight-thirty. I’ve booked a table for six – and I’ve arranged for the table you like. You know, the one by the window.’

Sylvia raised her eyebrows. ‘Six? Who else is coming?’

‘Janette and Matthew.’ Alan grinned. ‘Janette was most insistent that they be present to wish you a happy birthday!’

Sylvia’s heart gave a jolt. Janette, with her red mouth and long talons, and the woman she considered most likely to be having an affair with her husband! Surely Alan wouldn’t invite his mistress along on his wife’s special day?

‘Must we have them there?’ she answered peevishly. ‘After all, it’s
my
birthday! Shouldn’t I be the one to choose the guests?’

‘Sorry,’ Alan said sheepishly. ‘I thought you’d enjoy their company – your father and aunt aren’t exactly livewires, are they? And you know what a madcap Janette is. I thought she’d add a bit of fun to the occasion.’

Sylvia grimaced. ‘I suppose there’s nothing that can be done about it now – but I wish you’d asked me before inviting them.’

‘I didn’t actually invite them – I bumped into Janette as I was coming out of the jeweller’s, carrying your gift bag. She wanted to know what was inside, and who it was for.’

Sylvia bit her lip angrily. Janette had probably been
with
him at the jeweller’s – no doubt the beautiful ring had been bought for her.

‘When I told her the gift was for your birthday, Janette invited us for drinks at their house,’ Alan added. ‘I explained that we were having dinner at La Strada with your father and aunt, and she insisted that she and Matthew join us.’

Sylvia bit her lip. She felt like crying. Her birthday was already ruined.

In La Strada, the wine flowed freely, the conversation was lively and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. It was impossible to fault the restaurant. The table Alan had booked was situated exactly where Sylvia liked it, the waiters were attentive, the food delicious. As expected, her father had given her a cheque as soon as they arrived at the restaurant, and even Sylvia had been surprised by the large amount. Her father had seemed pleased by her reaction, and Sylvia wondered if he’d somehow guessed that she needed cheering up.

Aunt Maud had knitted her a sweater, in a hideous yellow colour that Sylvia instantly disliked. But she assured her aunt that it was a colour she adored. Her aunt’s face was pink with pleasure, and Sylvia could feel the tears forming as her heart filled with affection for the older woman. It was good to be surrounded by people who would never hurt you. But as she glanced across the table – at Alan and Janette, who were engrossed in a private conversation – her heart contracted. She’d always believed that Alan would never hurt her. Now she wasn’t so sure.

Sylvia glanced around the restaurant. Every other table was full, and all the other patrons seemed to be enjoying themselves. As the waiters delivered the several extra bottles of wine that Matthew had ordered, Sylvia wondered how long she’d have to endure the proceedings. But, as the guest of honour, she could hardly leave before the party cake was brought out and she was forced, child-like, to blow out her candles. Her only hope of surviving the evening was to get drunk.

This was something she usually avoided, believing that her position as Alan’s wife demanded a certain level of decorum in public. But to hell with Alan tonight, she thought. Let him dare comment!

Sylvia sneaked a glance at Janette’s husband. Clearly Matthew had a head start on her – he was already well oiled, and pontificating to anyone who would listen about some theory of his for converting water into fuel. Then her gaze moved to Janette again. Or more specifically, to Janette’s left hand. The woman was wearing what looked suspiciously like the ring listed on the receipt in Alan’s pocket!

Sylvia took a deep breath and leaned across the table. ‘I love your ring,’ she said loudly, and was gratified to see Janette blush. She glanced quickly at Alan, but he was already deep in conversation with her father, and didn’t appear to have heard her comment.

‘Oh, thanks,’ Janette said off-handedly, then quickly changed the subject, seizing the nearest bottle of wine and topping up Sylvia’s glass. ‘Do you like this St-Emilion?’ she asked eagerly. ‘It’s a nice wine, isn’t it? Personally, I prefer a Châteauneuf-du-Pape, but Matthew always orders what
he
likes, regardless of what
I
want. Before we left home this evening, I made him promise to go with
my
choice this evening, but, oh no, he has to start showing off his knowledge of wines every time!’ She smiled at Sylvia as she took a gulp from her glass. ‘Although I can’t fault him on this one – although I’d never let him know that!’

Sylvia was both embarrassed and relieved when the birthday cake finally arrived. She felt embarrassed because all eyes in the restaurant had turned towards her, and relieved because the candle-blowing episode signified that the evening was drawing to a close. Sportingly, she blew out all her candles in one go, and was rewarded by a round of applause from her own table, and catcalls from inebriated diners across the room.

At the end of the night, as Alan helped her put on her coat, Sylvia watched carefully for any interaction between her husband and Janette. But other than a perfunctory kiss on the cheek, they had no further contact before Alan steered his wife outside to the waiting taxi.

‘I haven’t seen you drink so much in a long time,’ Alan said mildly as they settled into the back seat of the taxi.

Sylvia arched her eyebrows. ‘So?’

Alan laughed, holding up his hands in appeasement. ‘I didn’t mean anything by it – I’m just glad to see you enjoying yourself.’

Sylvia said nothing. If Alan thought she’d enjoyed herself tonight, he was very much mistaken. But maybe, when a man had eyes for only his lover, he could hardly be expected to notice that his wife was suffering.

The following morning, Sylvia was surprised to receive a phone call from Janette.

‘Hey, birthday girl, how are you feeling today?’

‘A little hung over,’ Sylvia admitted. In fact, she had a monumental hangover from all the wine she’d drunk. But it had helped her to get through the otherwise intolerable evening.

‘Look, about the ring –’

‘Sorry?’

‘You admired my ring last night –’

‘Did I?’

‘Yes, and I’m sorry I changed the subject so quickly. But Matthew doesn’t know I’ve bought it. I mean, he got me the new Merc convertible last month and I didn’t want him to think I was ungrateful. But when I saw the ring – well, I just couldn’t resist it. So I put it on my gold card –’

‘I’m sure you did,’ Sylvia said dryly, remembering the night before, when she’d watched Janette coquettishly whispering in Alan’s ear while Matthew swayed drunkenly in his seat, waffling incomprehensibly.

‘You won’t mention it to Matthew, will you?’

‘Of course not,’ Sylvia replied, unable to think of anything else to say. But now she no longer believed a word that Janette – or Alan – told her. And she surmised that the mistress was now cleverly asking the cuckolded wife to help keep knowledge of the affair from the mistress’s own husband!

‘Let’s do lunch some day soon –?’ Janette added brightly.

‘Of course, that would be lovely,’ Sylvia replied, thinking to herself: ‘Over my dead body.’

‘I’ll call you, okay?’

‘Okay.’

C
HAPTER 15

L
aura looked pale as she lay in her hospital bed. She was just beginning to doze off when Kerry burst into her private room.

‘My God, Laura – are you all right? Is the baby okay?’

Laura sat up. ‘I’m fine, and so is the baby. It was a false alarm – I had a show of blood last night, then another at work today, and my colleague, Maria, drove me to the hospital. But the doctors say that everything’s okay.’

Kerry gave an exaggerated sigh of relief. ‘I was worried sick when Maria texted me! She just said that you’d been taken to hospital, so I didn’t know what exactly had happened.’

Laura smiled apologetically. ‘Sorry, love – I didn’t have time to give anyone a detailed account of what was happening.’

Kerry looked worried. ‘I assume you’ve contacted Jeff?’

Laura nodded. ‘Yes, he’ll be in later.’

She felt too ashamed to tell her friend that Jeff had hit her again the night before, and that his aggressive behaviour during sex might well have been a factor in her threatened miscarriage. Despite claiming that he longed for the baby, Laura feared that Jeff’s erratic behaviour was starting to put her pregnancy in jeopardy. Lately, his temper had seemed to flare up in an instant. It was making Laura miserable, but she didn’t know what to do.

Stifling a sob, she turned it into a cough as Kerry looked at her. She couldn’t understand why her marriage had suddenly
gone sour. They were married such a short time – wasn’t this meant to be ‘the honeymoon period’? Or did Jeff feel that having won her and made her pregnant, he could now revert to being the man he truly was? And what kind of man was that?

After Kerry had gone – with promises to ring later and bring in anything she might need – Laura lay back on her pillows and awaited her husband’s arrival. She’d chosen to text rather than to speak to him, since she didn’t relish another explosion over the phone. Perhaps he was having a difficult time at work? Yet she didn’t dare ask him about it, since he’d told her that she couldn’t. Perhaps his recent brush with death in the restaurant had made him more fearful for his life? He’d been adamant that he’d brought the pen with him to the restaurant, and Laura realised by now that Jeff hated being wrong about anything. So she’d said nothing further about the matter. She longed to be able to help him, but Jeff seemed determined to keep his problems and insecurities – whatever they were – to himself.

‘Hello, love,’ Laura said warmly, as Jeff arrived at her bedside.

‘Is the baby all right?’

Laura nodded, deflated that he hadn’t enquired about her own health or given her a hug. She didn’t like to admit it, but she’d become sadly aware that Jeff’s charm and warmth had disappeared very soon after they were married. It was as though he didn’t feel the need to please her any more.

‘Yes, it’s fine,’ she replied. ‘Hopefully, I’ll be home in a few days.’

‘What happened?’

‘I don’t really know – I’d just finished giving a lecture when I suddenly developed cramps. Then I discovered I was bleeding, so Maria drove me straight to the hospital.’

Laura realised guiltily that she was giving Jeff an edited version of what she’d told Kerry, by avoiding any mention
of the bleeding the night before. When Jeff had taken her in anger, she’d known that something was wrong, and a visit to the bathroom afterwards had confirmed it. But right then she didn’t want to draw any attention to his involvement, since that might precipitate another burst of anger, which would somehow end up with her being blamed.

Laura also avoided mentioning that she’d phoned Kerry, and that her friend had already been in to visit her. She was gradually coming to realise that it was safer to avoid any mention of Kerry when Jeff was around. Despite Kerry’s attempts to be nice to Jeff, her husband wasn’t making a similar effort. Nor had she told Jeff about her night at the pub with Kerry. Since he’d been out himself that night, she’d felt it wiser not to draw his attention to it. Let him think that she’d been at home, waiting for him. He seemed to like her best in the role of acquiescent wife.

‘So my son is definitely okay?’

Laura nodded, exasperated. ‘The
baby
is okay, Jeff – we don’t know whether it’s a boy or a girl yet. The doctor said that everything seems fine. I’m just supposed to take things easy for the next few weeks.’

‘Then maybe you should give up work?’ Jeff said hastily. ‘Standing at a lecture podium all day can’t be doing our child any good.’

‘Jeff, I only give two lectures a day, and they’re less than an hour each,’ Laura protested. ‘The rest of the time is spent giving tutorials or correcting exam papers – all of which are done sitting down. Anyway, the doctor says that I can continue working.’

This last bit was a lie – the doctor hadn’t expressed any opinion – but Laura wasn’t planning on spending her pregnancy lying on a couch and being bored. She loved her job too much to stay at home.

C
HAPTER 16

W
hen she missed a period, Ellie paid little attention, since it never crossed her mind that she might be pregnant. As she’d never conceived during her marriage, she’d assumed that becoming pregnant wasn’t ever going to happen for her. But when she missed a second period, she was excited and frightened all at once. Since she was now in her late thirties, she wasn’t going to miss the opportunity of having this child. And having this baby would tie her to Alan in a way that even a marriage certificate couldn’t. Giving Alan a child would put her on a par with Sylvia.

Ellie was bubbling with a mixture of excitement and tension as she waited for her beloved Alan to arrive. She’d now passed the first trimester, and since her pregnancy was no longer in doubt, she’d decided that the time was right to let him know. She’d been anticipating this moment all day. In her own mind she’d played the scenario over and over like a continuous newsreel, and in it he’d expressed his delight and excitement at her revelation. She’d gone through the scene so often that she felt certain it would play out exactly the same way in reality.