‘Two weeks,’ Natalie told her. ‘But now that Keith’s gone and we’ve split up, I’m thinking of moving back to the UK again. I’d like to meet your husband while I’m here as well.’
Tears suddenly stinging her hot eyes, Merry nodded jerkily, not trusting herself to speak. She understood why her mother had wanted the story told but wasn’t at all sure that she could give the older woman the warmer relationship she was clearly hoping for. But then too many of her emotions were bound up in the bombshell that had blown her marriage apart, she conceded guiltily. Roula’s confession had devastated her and at that moment having to turn her back on the man she loved and her marriage was still all she could really think about. It was the thought, the terrifying awareness, of what she might have to do next that left room for nothing else and paralysed her.
She shared photos of the wedding and Elyssa with both women, glossed over Sybil’s comment that she seemed very pale and quiet and returned to Foxcote Hall as soon as she decently could, having promised to bring Elyssa back for a visit within a few days. The limo travelled at a stately pace back up to the elegant country house that had the stunning architecture of an oversized Georgian dolls’ house. Informal gardens shaded by clusters of mature trees spread out from the house and slowly changed into a landscape of green fields and lush stretches of woodland. Foxcote was a magnificent estate and yet Angel had not even mentioned that he owned a property near her aunt’s home.
She had originally planned to go to a hotel from the airport, but when she had yet even to see and speak to Angel such a statement of separation had seemed a tad premature. Walking into the airy hall with its tall windows and tiled floor, she heard Elyssa chuckling and stringing together strings of nonsense words and she followed the sounds.
Several steps into the drawing room, she stopped dead because Angel was down on the floor with Elyssa, letting his daughter clamber over him and finally wrap her chubby arms round his neck and plant a triumphant noisy kiss on his face. He grinned, delighting in the baby’s easy trusting affection, but his smile fell away the instant he glimpsed Merry. Suddenly his lean, darkly handsome features were sober and unsmiling, his beautiful dark eyes wary and intent.
‘You never mentioned that you owned a house near Sybil’s,’ Merry remarked in a brittle voice as he vaulted lithely upright with Elyssa clasped to his chest.
‘My father bought the estate when he was going through a hunting, shooting, fishing phase but he soon got bored. Angelina used it for a while when she was socialising with the heir to a local dukedom. It should really be sold now,’ Angel contended, crossing the room to lift the phone and summon their nanny to take charge of their daughter.
A current of pained resentment bit into Merry when Elyssa complained bitterly about being separated from her father. That connection, that bond had formed much sooner than she had expected. Elyssa had taken to Angel like a duck to water, revelling in his more physical play and more boisterous personality. If her father was to disappear from her daily life, their daughter would miss him and be hurt by his absence. But then whose fault would that be? Merry asked herself angrily. It certainly wouldn’t be her fault, she told herself piously. She had played by the rules. If their marriage broke down, it would be entirely Angel’s responsibility.
‘So, what’s going on?’ Angel enquired, taking up a faintly combative stance as Sally closed the door in her wake, his long powerful legs braced, shoulders thrown back, aggressive jaw line at an angle. ‘You blew me off at lunch and all day you’ve been ignoring my calls and texts…why?’
Merry sucked in a steadying breath. ‘I’m leaving you…well, in the process of it,’ she qualified stiffly, her face pale and set.
‘Why would you suddenly decide to leave me?’ Angel demanded, striding forward, all brooding intimidation, dark eyes glittering like fireworks in the night sky. ‘That makes no sense.’
Anger laced the atmosphere, tensing every defensive muscle in her body, and she cursed the reality that she was not mentally prepared for the confrontation about to take place.