He nodded sadly. ‘Jane filled her head with a fair bit of fanciful nonsense, and she’s at the age where she believes in all of it, unfortunately. I thought she’d grow out of it, come to understand that much of what her mother used to say was entirely metaphorical, but . . .’
‘Well, if you think about it, it seemed for a while like that ring
was
magical and
did
have a mind of its own.’ Terri laughed, trying to make him feel better. ‘Anyway, she’s still very young. If it were me, I’d try to let her hold on to that innocence for as long as I could. Real life is hard enough sometimes.’
‘Perhaps you’re right.’ Ethan smiled back and Terri felt her nerve endings tingle in response. What the hell was wrong with her? ‘But I’ve never been a big believer in fairy tales,’ he continued, his voice tinged with regret, and Terri couldn’t be sure if he was thinking about Jane or Vanessa.
‘Me neither,’ she replied truthfully.
Chapter 45
The following afternoon, Ethan landed at Heathrow, his heart heavy. He walked through the airport as if in a trance, Daisy at his side.
He thought again about Vanessa and Brian and wanted to take his so-called friend and tear him limb from limb. Talk about betrayal. But of course that wasn’t the only secret Vanessa had been carrying; there was something else that, much to his humiliation, he’d discovered from Daisy.
During all that hullabaloo at the bistro yesterday, when his daughter had mentioned a baby and explained about the pregnancy-test kit she’d found, Ethan hadn’t known what to think. As far as he was aware it wasn’t possible for Vanessa to have children, so why the pregnancy test?
So when Vanessa had returned to the table at Stromboli, he knew it was the first thing he had to ask her, even before discussing Brian. Her eyes were still red-rimmed from crying and her face was pale, but when he broached the subject, her skin turned so white it was almost translucent.
‘What do you mean?’ she asked, looking rather like she had when Gary had accused her of being in the taxi in New York. Like a rabbit caught in headlights.
‘It’s a simple question.’ His voice was hard. ‘Why was there a pregnancy-test kit in our dustbin?’
‘What?’ She continued to look at him, her eyes unsure. ‘How did you—’
‘It was supposed to go in the recycling,’ Daisy put in guiltily, by way of explanation, but Ethan patted her hand as if to quieten her.
‘It’s OK, buttercup, you don’t need to explain.’ Turning to Vanessa again he said, ‘Is there something important I should know?’
She shook her head, her eyes downcast. ‘No. I thought there might be. With the US time lag, I thought I might have made a mistake with contraception, but I hadn’t.’
‘Contraception? How odd. I was under the impression that you couldn’t have children.’
But Ethan realised now that this too had been a barefaced lie, same as all the other lies she’d been telling him right from the beginning of their relationship.
In fact, when he thought about how Vanessa was so dogged about getting what she wanted professionally (or to avoid what she didn’t), he wondered why it had never crossed his mind that she might do the same in her personal life.
‘Well, yes, but there’s always the chance . . .’ But her words were weak and they both knew it. She had played him along all the time, played on his gullibility.
‘Why, Vanessa? Why did you agree to marry me, knowing that our relationship was built on lies?’
‘I don’t honestly know,’ she replied, tears in her eyes. ‘I did – do – want to marry you. But I never wanted to go through the whole childbirth thing and I suppose I thought that, with Daisy, we were a ready-made family. I wouldn’t have to be a mum, and nobody would expect me to replace Jane. Not that I could have done, even if I wanted to,’ she added, her tone bitter. ‘No one could replace that paragon of virtue.’
‘How dare you!’ Ethan said, his tone hardening. He was so enraged by this that he hadn’t noticed Daisy quietly slipping away towards the restaurant’s kitchen.
Vanessa stood up to leave. ‘I’ll be staying at my parents’ house, if you need me,’ she said. ‘Believe what you like, Ethan, but no one will ever fill the shoes of your precious Jane.’ She put on her coat and there were fresh tears in her eyes. ‘I’m sorry that this happened. For what it’s worth, I do love you, and Daisy. But you were never truly going to let me in.’
Ethan thought about that now, and wondered if there was any truth in it.
She loved him with too clear a vision to fear his cloudiness . . .
But obviously not enough.
And whatever he’d thought before about his daughter’s crazy notion of the ring being definitive proof of true love if it fitted, perhaps she’d been onto something all the same.
As expected, his daughter was still confused and upset about what had happened. She was so young, and had no idea about the complexities of an adult relationship. Despite Vanessa not being the right fit for the ring, the little girl had accepted her as part of their lives and Ethan knew she had been looking forward to being a family. Now it would never happen. They weren’t a family and Vanessa would not be a replacement mother.
After the incident at the bistro yesterday they’d gone their separate ways, Vanessa back to her parents’ house and he and Daisy to a nearby hotel. They’d spent today just enjoying the sights and each other’s company, before getting the Sunday-evening flight back to Heathrow, as planned.
Ethan tried to clear his head as they got into the back of a taxi and told the cabbie their address. Maybe there had been signs for a while that things weren’t right, and all this business with the ring had helped him realise it. As Jane would no doubt have said if she were here, everything happened for a reason.
He spent the rest of the journey so deep in thought about what had happened that he didn’t even realise that the taxi had come to a stop in front of their town house in Richmond. He was staring out of the window, but he did not register where he was or recognise any of his surroundings.
‘Mate? Is this the address?’ the taxi driver asked.
Daisy nudged him. ‘Dad, we’re here.’
Ethan snapped to attention, surprised. How could the place look so different after only a few days? How could so much change in such a short amount of time?
‘Oh yes. Sorry. I’m a bit tired,’ he explained quickly, so he wouldn’t look like a lunatic.
He paid the driver and grabbed his and Daisy’s bags. Then he trundled up the steps slowly and extracted his key from his pocket. After placing the key in the lock he turned the door handle. Walking into the hallway, he immediately realised that something was different.
Going straight into the bedroom, he realised what it was. After what had happened, Vanessa must have taken the next available flight out of Dublin rather than spending the last day with her parents. It hadn’t taken her long to remove the few boxes she had brought with her when she moved in. In retrospect, her decision to keep her old apartment and all of her furniture should probably have been the first indication that this arrangement wouldn’t be forever.
‘She’s gone,’ Daisy said unnecessarily. ‘Vanessa’s gone.’
‘I know, buttercup,’ Ethan said, his heart sinking. ‘Looks like it’s just you and me again.’
‘I’m sorry, Dad,’ she said, through a large sob. ‘It’s all my fault for losing the ring, isn’t it?’ Suddenly she began to cry openly, and Ethan’s heart went out to her. She took so much on herself, when really none of this had anything to do with her.
He pulled his daughter close to him and led her towards the sofa. ‘No, no, of course not. None of this is your fault. These things just happen sometimes and it’s nobody’s fault.’
Daisy buried her head in his shoulder. ‘I’m sorry for not taking better care of it,’ she mumbled through her tears.
‘Honey, it doesn’t matter. The ring has nothing to do with this.’ But of course that wasn’t strictly true, was it? It was precisely because of that damned ring that all of this had happened.
‘Are you cross with me?’
‘No, darling. Of course, I’m not cross.’
‘But you and Vanessa aren’t going to get married, are you?’
‘No, we’re not. And that test you found? There was no baby. It was only a test to see if there might be one.’
She nodded thoughtfully. ‘That’s a pity. I think I might have liked a brother or sister.’
‘I know, poppet.’ Ethan sighed. ‘I would have liked that for you too.’
‘Vanessa’s never coming back.’ It was more of a statement than a question.
‘No. But it’s OK, Daisy. You and me, we’re a team; you know that. We only need each other, don’t we?’
Daisy sniffed. ‘Did Vanessa give you the ring back?’
‘Yes, she did.’ She’d taken it off and placed it on the table right before she’d left the restaurant. Given all that had happened, Ethan was almost reluctant to pick it up, afraid that the cursed thing might scald him.
‘Can I see it?’
Ethan pulled the ring from his pocket and placed it in Daisy’s hand.
‘Dad?’
‘Yes, darling?’
‘Do you like Rachel?’
‘Rachel from the bistro? Yes, of course I do.’
A woman who’ll bake you bread . . .
Ethan no longer knew how to feel about that and he was still haunted by her reaction to the truth. That wasn’t because of any personal feelings for her; he knew that now, and guessed that any imagined feelings he’d had were merely a side-effect of his desperate quest to get the ring back. Really, if he thought about it, he was no better than Daisy for creating significance and meaning where there was none.
‘Does she like you?’
Ethan knew where she was going with this; she was still fixated on the fact that the ring had fitted Rachel. He tried to fudge it. ‘Well, unfortunately Rachel is very angry with me at the moment.’
‘Why?’
Ethan explained how Rachel had thought the ring had been bought for her and was naturally upset when she realised it hadn’t been.
Daisy digested the information. ‘But that wasn’t your fault.’
‘No, that’s true. It doesn’t stop her from being angry anyway.’
‘You should call her and keep telling her you’re sorry. I’m sure she’ll forgive you.’
Ethan smiled. ‘I’m afraid it’s not like that.’
‘Yes, it is! Call her, Dad. Call her now and tell her you’re sorry. Then she’ll like you again and you guys can be happy ever after.’
‘Please stop, darling. I need to leave Rachel alone now. Goodness knows I’ve caused her enough problems.’
Daisy’s face crumpled and she turned to look at him. ‘But she’s the right one, Dad. I know she is.’
‘Daisy, just because the ring happened to fit Rachel doesn’t meant anything.’
‘But—’
‘Daisy,’ Ethan repeated sternly, tired all of a sudden. Of the ring, of Rachel, of everything. ‘Let it go. I know you mean well, but you have to remember that things don’t always work out like they do in your storybooks.’
Chapter 46
‘You know, staring at it won’t make it ring,’ Justin said, passing Terri on his way to the storeroom.
‘Tell me about it,’ she replied with a sigh.
He shook his head sadly. ‘No word from her yet, I take it?’
‘No.’ Terri was climbing the walls. It was two days since the big bust-up at the bistro and they still hadn’t heard anything from Rachel.
While Terri hadn’t expected her to turn up for her shift yesterday, she’d been hoping for at least a phone call to let them know how she was. When that wasn’t forthcoming she’d phoned Rachel at home, but her friend wouldn’t pick up.
‘I just wish she’d talk to me,’ Terri sighed. ‘She’s right, you know. I’m as much to blame as Gary for this. I should never have kept the truth from her, and I definitely shouldn’t have interfered like that.’
‘You were just trying to help. At the end of the day you had her best interests at heart.’
Had she, though? Terri wondered now whether she had just been blinded by her distrust of Gary and sidetracked by Ethan Greene and his endearingly bumbling attempts to resolve the situation.
She wasn’t sure. But one thing was certain; although she was sorry Ethan had been hurt, she was glad that that Vanessa looked to be out of his life. Terri had disliked the silly woman on sight, and what she’d subsequently learned about her reaffirmed this.
‘Heck of a day, wasn’t it?’ Justin said, echoing her thoughts. ‘Talk about drama! Such a pity the little kid got caught up in the middle of it, though.’
‘Yes. She’s a sweet girl.’ Terri was still thinking about Daisy’s childish insistence that the ring had found its way to the ‘right’ person.
Was there any truth in that? She had to admit that fate had got it right when it came to Vanessa, hadn’t it? Clearly, given her lies and infidelity, she wasn’t the right person for Ethan and definitely didn’t deserve that ring. But did that automatically mean that Rachel did? Terri had suspected before that there was some spark between the two of them, but given Rachel’s genuine devastation the other day, and Gary’s insistence that he was ashamed to tell her the truth, it seemed that there was another element to
their
relationship that Terri had never been aware of.