Marcus
Aurelia’s text says:Told Wren everything. Good luck.
Well, thank you sis. I thought she might have been more helpful considering she was the one who revealed all the details to Caroline.
I’m not angry at her, though. The fault, such as it is, lies with me for offering marriage as if it was a business deal. I thought I was solving all our problems. I didn’t consider what might happen if the truth was revealed.
As I lock up the helicopter and walk toward the farmhouse, my heart races. I have no idea if Wren is even going to be there. She promised she wouldn’t leave, but my attempts to show her how I feel haven’t always gone down well. Maybe after Aurelia told her what I did, it freaked her out and she fled.
The sun is setting, and the farmhouse is the color of treacle. The front curtains have been drawn, and no light shows through the cracks. She’s gone. She must have packed her bags, shut up the house, called a taxi from Cambridge, and left. Oh God. Have I lost her?
I slot the key in the door, open it, and go in.
After closing the door behind me, I stand there for a moment, listening, as I toe off my shoes. I can’t hear anything over the pounding of my heart. I look toward the living room, which is dark, and then toward the bedrooms. Is that a glimmer of light?
“Wren?” I call, my voice sounding hollow with fear.
“In here.”
My heart leaps at the sound of her voice. I stride down the hallway toward the bedroom we’ve been sharing, open the door, and go inside.
Then I stop, staring at the scene.
Wren is lying on her side on the bed, head propped on a hand. She’s wearing a black lacy bodysuit, a black garter belt, and sheer black stockings.
The bed and floor are covered in red rose petals. More rose petals float in a bowl of water with a tea light. Other candles placed around the room fill it with a soft glow.
“Hello,” she says. “Husband.”
I should say something charming and clever, and be suave and sophisticated. But my brain has fogged up. I can’t think what to say.
Wren’s expression softens. She sits up, moves to the edge of the bed, and rises, then walks around it to stand before me.
“Hello, Mars,” she says. “Welcome home.” And she lifts her arms around my neck and kisses me.
A variety of emotions collide inside me: elation, confusion, relief, bewilderment, and hope. I let her kiss me, enjoying the feel of her lips moving across mine. Then I put my arms around her and give her a long, heartfelt hug.
“I thought I’d lost you,” I whisper furiously. “I thought you’d left.”
“I won’t leave,” she says, kissing my ear, my neck. “I promise.”
“Do you mean that?”
She moves back and looks into my eyes. “I do. When you were gone, all I could think about was how much I missed you. I knew you loved me, but I was scared, Mars, so scared of loving you and losing you. And then Aurelia rang and told me what you’d done.” She shakes her head in wonderment. “I can’t believe you did that.”
“I know you needed proof. Evidence of how I feel about you. So… it worked?”
“It did, but not in the way you mean.” She takes my hand and leads me to the bed, and I sit next to her. On the bedside table, amber liquid is cooling on ice in a glass, and she passes it to me. “I thought you might need one when you got in,” she says.
“I really do.” I have a big mouthful and give a long sigh, finally releasing the tension that has been building since the call from Dad.
Wren lifts my hand and kisses it. “When Aurelia said you’d told the board you’d rather quit than give me up, it made me realize how much you were willing to give up for me. And while that was amazing, and I can’t quite believe it, the most shocking thing is that you were going to do it without a guarantee that I’d stay. In fact, I know you were convinced I’d leave. I suppose it showed me how truly loving someone isn’t about having proof. It’s about trust, and hope.”
I stroke my thumb over her knuckles. “I guess you’re right.”
“You were willing to put trust in me, even though I’ve insisted so many times this is a marriage of convenience. Before the honeymoon, I thought you were being arrogant, assuming you were so charming that I couldn’t help but fall for you.”
“There might have been a bit of that.”
