Edie didn’t know anything about them; Ralph hadn’t told her.
Her husband’s face crumpled and he let out a small cry of anguish, which made her heart hurt.
‘I’m so sorry, mate,’ he said, putting his head in his hands. ‘I should have realised something wasn’t right. I should have asked more questions. It just never occurred to me.’
‘You don’t have to put up with this any more,’ Edie added gently, shuffling closer to Mac. ‘Why didn’t you say anything? You should have spoken to us, or rung the police. Or preferably, both.’
Mac sniffed and wiped his red, puffy eyes with the corner of his napkin.
‘I don’t know. Fear, I suppose.’ He laughed bitterly. ‘Hannah’s right, Iamweak and pathetic. She tells me that all the time. And she says if I leave, I’ll never see the kids again. Plus, I’ll have nowhere to live and nothing to live on. She’s threatened to ring my clients and tell them I’m a wife beater. She says no one will believe it’s the other way round and I’ll lose my business and she’ll make sure I don’t get a penny from her. I know she’s right; she always wins. I wouldn’t stand a chance against her in court.’
Edie took a deep breath. She’d read about women who abused their husbands, but had never been able to imagine how the situation could arise in reality, given that men are physically so much stronger.
Now, here was the evidence, sitting right beside her, and suddenly she understood completely. Mac was no different, really, from women who suffered domestic abuse; he’d been broken down, bit by bit, until he had no self-esteem and couldn’t see a way out. He felt trapped.
A sudden thought crossed her mind.
‘Don’t you ever fight back? I mean, don’t you want to hurt her after she’s hurt you?’
‘No.’ Mac was emphatic. ‘I’ve never laid a finger on her. I couldn’t. I wouldn’t hit any woman; it’s been ingrained in me virtually since birth.’
He seemed truthful and Edie wanted to believe him. But she had one more question.
‘Do you know anything about Jessica? You can tell us, you know. We’re friends and we’ll do everything we can to help.’
She watched him carefully and to her immense relief, his expression didn’t change.
‘The last time I saw her was just before she left the house to go to Knossos,’ he replied. ‘While I was running I was all alone. I didn’t see her at all – I really did go off-piste. There was a lot on my mind and I completely forgot about the shopping. Jessica thinks I’m the devil and I dislike her intensely, but I wouldn’t want anything bad to have happened to her. Like you, I’m desperately afraid.’
15
They didn’t see Hannah again that night and Mac slept in Jessica’s room. Edie and Ralph sat up in bed and talked into the small hours, trying to piece together everything they could remember about the times they’d spent with the other couple, both individually and together.
Edie found it hard to set aside her previous assumptions, especially about Hannah, whom she’d considered to be one of her best friends.
She’d seemed so plausible when she’d talked about Mac’s filthy temper, and Edie had never doubted her.
Now, Hannah’s ability to manipulate, and the lengths to which she’d gone to deceive everyone, took Edie’s breath away.
Given her behaviour with other men, and her fondness for rubbing Mac’s nose in it, his jealousy made complete sense. He must have felt so miserable, frightened and insecure, never knowing when she’d next lash out – or tell him the marriage was over. Edie doubted he’d ever fully recover.
She was angry with herself for being so blind, but as Ralph said, Hannah was an excellent actress. And though Ralph blamed himself for failing to question Mac more about his injuries, the truth was, they’d seen very little of each other lately and their conversations had been pretty superficial.
When Edie and her husband finally dropped off, they slept fitfully, and Edie woke with Marina’s strange words filling her ears:
‘You need to know, things are not always as they seem and what you think is real may be a lie. Keep an open mind and try to trust the process. Nothing happens in this world by mistake. So long as you keep the faith, all will be well.’
Edie had always been sceptical of psychics, clairvoyants and the like, but the artist’s pronouncement seemed strangely accurate now.
She couldn’t help thinking if Marina hadn’t told her to‘Keep an open mind’about what was real and what wasn’t, she mightn’t have been willing to challenge her perceptions about Mac and Hannah’s relationship.
With her mind closed to the possibility there could be another version of events, she might have remained loyal to Hannah, perhaps helping to condemn Mac to yet more years of misery with his wife.
But what did Marina mean by saying,‘Nothing happens in this world by mistake’and‘Keep the faith’?
Was she suggesting all this wasmeantto happen, even Jessica’s disappearance? It sounded like mumbo-jumbo to Edie.
Furthermore, why had Katerina warned Edie and Ralph:‘Look after what you have. It’s very precious’, as if she knew their relationship was about to be put under a lot of strain?
