Her Best Worst Mistake (23 page)

Two weeks turned into three before she was able to
trade her cast for the increased mobility of a medical boot. Or
what she’d hoped would be increased mobility, anyway. Her
expectations were brutally downgraded after she spent the first
half hour hobbling around. Her still-healing bones hurt as they
knitted together and she was sweaty and shaky and more than a
little tearful by the time she was back behind the counter in her
store.

“
This is a disaster,” she told
Martin when he rang to see how her appointment had gone. “How am I
going to get onto the plane? I won’t be able to go to the bathroom.
I’ll have to wear a bloody astronaut diaper or something to survive
the trip.”

“
We’ll work it out,” he said
calmly.

At the time it was enough to calm her, but it wasn’t
until she was two days out from her departure date that she learned
what Martin’s version of them “working it out” entailed.

“
I can’t ask you do this, Martin,”
she said as she stared at the plane ticket he’d just slid onto the
table between them.

A ticket for him to accompany her to Australia,
playing the role of her own personal nurse/aide/valet.

“
You didn’t ask, I’m offering.” He
was fresh home from work and wearing one of the three piece suits
she’d once found stuffy and boring. Now she thought they were the
sexiest, most provocative item of clothing in the history of the
world. “I’ll get you on the plane and through customs, then I’ll
disappear. I’ll stay at a nice hotel, take in a few galleries,
check out some kangaroos and koalas, and when the wedding is over
I’ll meet you somewhere and we’ll have our own private
holiday.”

Tears filled her eyes as she processed the
extraordinary, selfless generosity behind his offer.

“
I love you for offering, but I
can’t let you do it. It’s too much.”

“
It isn’t, Violet. It’s the bare
minimum as far as I’m concerned. I want you to be happy. I need you
to be safe.”

She couldn’t speak then because the stupid tears that
had been pressing at the back of her eyes were sliding down her
face.

“
Those are happy tears, right?” he
asked as he pulled her into his arms.
“I’m-glad-we’ll-be-flying-to-Australia-together tears?”

She pressed her face into his shoulder and finally
found the courage to voice the certainty in her heart.

“
I don’t deserve you.”

His arms tightened around her, a fierce, indomitable
band of muscle and sinew. “You do, Violet. And I deserve you. We’ve
both more than earned our chance at happiness. And I will not feel
guilty about grabbing it with both hands, and I won’t let you feel
guilty, either.”

She didn’t bother trying to talk him out of his
gallant gesture after that. The reality was that she desperately
needed his assistance, something that became more than evident
before they’d even left for the airport. Despite culling her
wardrobe down to the bare essentials, it was almost impossible for
her to hobble along in her boot and haul her very modest-sized
suitcase behind her.

“
Relax,” Martin said as he took the
suitcase handle from her grasp. “That’s what I’m here for. Think of
me as your own personal Tenzing Norgay.”

She thought of him as her own personal savior by the
time they’d endured nearly twenty-hours in the air to land at
Melbourne airport. He’d wrangled with air hostesses on her behalf,
escorted her to the bathroom, let her rest her head on his shoulder
while she slept, shared his iPad with her when she grew bored, and
generally treated her as though she was the most important,
precious person in the world to him. She hadn’t thought it was
possible to love him more, but being on the receiving end of his
tender, considerate care and thoughtfulness made her wonder how
she’d ever survived without him in her life.

At the same time, the closer she got to Australia,
the more nervous and anxious she became. She told herself over and
over that there was nothing to be worried about—she’d already made
the decision not to throw herself on Elizabeth’s mercy until after
the wedding—but it didn’t stop her stomach from churning and her
heart from racing as she and Martin made their slow, laborious way
along the concourse after disembarking from the plane.

“
Do you want to sit down for a few
minutes?” Martin asked quietly once they’d cleared
customs.

She shook her head. She had yet to collect her
luggage and she was very aware that Elizabeth would be waiting for
her on the other side of the arrival gate.

“
I just want to get this over and
done with. And once I see her it will all be okay.” She sounded
more confident than she felt. She wasn’t sure of any such thing. In
fact, a part of her was terrified that the moment Elizabeth looked
at her she’d be able to discern her secret guilt.

“
I brought you something for luck,”
Martin said. “They’ve worked an absolute treat for me ever since
I’ve had them.”

She frowned as he pulled something small and black
from his coat pocket before leaning across and slipping it into
hers.

“
What is it?”

He simply cocked an eyebrow mysteriously. She slid
her hand into her pocket and encountered the cool slipperiness of
silk. It took her a full second to understand that she was feeling
her own underwear, the pair she’d gifted him at Bronwyn and Perry’s
dinner all those months ago.

A bubble of laughter welled up inside her. Martin’s
eyes smiled into hers, his mouth quirking up at the corner. He
looked pleased with himself and a little rumpled and so very, very
dear to her.

“
You carried these across the
international date line for just this moment, didn’t
you?”

“
I figured you might need a secret
weapon.”

She slipped her finger into the belt loop of his
jeans and dragged him closer. “You’re my secret weapon.”

Someone jostled them from behind and she glanced over
her shoulder, realizing that they were partially blocking the
walkway.

“
Come on. Let’s do this,” Martin
said firmly.

She let him sweep her along to the luggage carousel,
then she let him usher her through the final quarantine check. Only
when they were within sight of the opaque glass doors that led to
the waiting area—and Elizabeth—did he come to a halt.

“
Call me when you can, okay? I
programmed my hotel details into your phone. I’m a few minutes away
by taxi if you need me. Any time, day or night. Got it?”

“
Yes.”

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, his face
very serious. “No matter what, we’ll be all right, Violet. No
matter what.”

He wrapped her cold, damp fingers around the grip of
her wheeled suitcase and took a step backward. “Any time, day or
night,” he repeated.

He stepped to one side to allow other passengers to
go past. She stared at him, then glanced toward the glass doors.
She took a step, then another. But it felt wrong to be leaving him
behind like some dirty secret she needed to hide. It felt wrong on
a visceral, primal, undeniable level.

She loved him. He was her future, her heart. She may
have mixed, messed up feelings about the fact that he’d once
belonged to her friend, but there wasn’t a doubt in her heart that
he was the man she would spend the rest of her life with, God
willing.

She couldn’t simply abandon him so she could keep up
a childish subterfuge that had gone on far, far too long. She
couldn’t put Elizabeth’s comfort and happiness ahead of his. She
simply couldn’t.

Moving awkwardly, she pivoted on the heel of her
boot. He was watching her, his face solemn, and his eyebrows rose
toward his hairline in question as she shuffled toward him.

“
What’s wrong?” he asked, reaching
for her hand.

How like him that his first thought was for her, for
her happiness and well-being.

“
Come with me.”

His hand tightened around hers. “Elizabeth will be
waiting for you.”

“
I know. Come with me.”

“
Violet—”

She didn’t give him a chance to talk her out of it.
“I don’t want to lie about you, about us any more. I know it’s
crappy timing because of the wedding, but it’s exactly like you
said—there will always be something. I don’t want to hide you,
Martin. I love you. And if what’s happened between us is a problem
for Elizabeth, then so be it.”

She felt as though an enormous weight lifted from her
chest as she said the words. As though she’d drawn her own personal
line in the sand. She loved Martin. She wasn’t leaving him behind
as though she was ashamed of him.

He studied her face for a beat, then he nodded. “If
that’s what you want.”

“
It is.”

“
Then let’s go.”

He took a moment to stack her case on top of his,
then they moved toward the exit as one, his arm supporting her all
the way. There was a split-second as they reached the doors when
her stomach dipped so dramatically she felt sick. Then they slid
open and they were facing a chaotic sea of hopeful, expectant
faces.

She scanned the crowd, looking for Elizabeth’s blonde
hair. She’d seen pictures of Nathan but wasn’t confident she would
recognize him easily. Her gaze slid over unfamiliar faces,
adrenalin making her pulse race her and palms sweaty.

“
Over there,” Martin said, his voice
calm and deep.

She followed his sightline past a cluster of people
pressed against the barrier to where a tall, tanned couple stood
side by side. She found herself looking into Elizabeth’s blue eyes
as Elizabeth pressed her fingers to her mouth in an unmistakable
gesture of shock. Violet lifted her chin, bracing herself for
condemnation as her old friend processed what Martin’s presence at
Violet’s side must mean.

The man standing beside Elizabeth said something and
Elizabeth shifted her gaze to him. Violet registered for the first
time that she’d been holding her breath and she sucked in a big
lungful of air. Martin’s hand pressed warmly against her lower
back.

“
She loves you. Remember that,” he
said.

Violet barely had time to nod before Elizabeth
started pushing her way through the crowd to get to them. Violet
shuffled forward, doing her best to clear the barriers. Then
Elizabeth was in front of her, her eyes filled with questions.

“
I tried to tell you a dozen times,
but I was too scared,” Violet said, the truth bursting out of her.
“It just happened, I didn’t mean for it to, but I love him, E. I
love him so much...”

She burst into tears, six months worth of confusion
and guilt finding its way out through her tear ducts. Martin’s arm
came around her shoulders even as Elizabeth stepped forward and
took her hand.

“
Violet.”

The concern and warmth in her friend’s voice somehow
cut through the emotion swelling Violet’s throat. She blinked,
dashing the tears away with the back of her hand. This wasn’t the
way she’d wanted to do any of this. She’d wanted to be calm and
adult and she’d wanted to give Elizabeth every opportunity to vent
her feelings. Instead, she was standing here with a stupid medical
boot on her leg and girlish tears rolling down her face.

“
Why don’t we find some place more
private, get out of the way a little?” a deep voice
suggested.

She glanced at Elizabeth’s husband-to-be, taking in
his short dark hair and piercing, pale blue eyes. Like Elizabeth,
he was tanned, even though it was the middle of the Australian
winter. Violet shot Martin a quick, wordless look and he nodded
slightly to let her know he was fine with the arrangement. Violet
was very aware of Elizabeth registering the small exchange and she
fought the urge to rush into explanations again as they made their
way to the coffee shop in the far corner of the arrival hall.

Without anyone saying anything, she and Elizabeth
gravitated to a table in the far corner while the men retreated to
the counter.

They were both silent for a moment after they’d slid
into their chairs. Violet fought the urge to fidget, pressing her
hands flat against the table.

“
I’m sorry. This isn’t the way I
wanted to tell you,” she said quietly, forcing herself to meet
Elizabeth’s eyes.

What she saw there was predominantly confusion.

“
How long...?” Elizabeth
asked.

“
Nearly six months. Pretty much
since he came back from seeing you in Australia. I felt sorry for
him and I took him a bottle of schnapps. A sort of peace offering
for him to drown his sorrows. He refused to take it, but I left it
for him anyway. Then he got drunk and came calling, wanting to know
why I’d bought him schnapps and...things got a little
crazy.”

Elizabeth frowned. “Why
did
you buy him
schnapps?”

“
Because he liked it. Remember that
time we tried it after we saw that show at the
Criterion...?”

Elizabeth shook her head, still looking
mystified.

Violet smiled a small, tight smile. “Even then I
noticed things about him, even though I didn’t want to. I guess
that was why I always disliked him so much, because he got under my
skin. Even when he was yours.”

She looked straight into Elizabeth’s eyes as she said
it, wanting to be brave about this one thing, at least. Tentative,
she reached out and took Elizabeth’s hand. She waited for her
friend to pull away or stiffen, but Elizabeth’s fingers closed
around hers in a warm, firm grip. It was salve for Violet’s
guilt-ravaged heart. She needed her friend’s forgiveness so
badly.