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“He was twenty-two. His birthday fell on the eighth of December.”
“Okay...he was more of an acceptable age for a committed relationship I suppose, but not many parents I know would be happy their daughter had already cut herself off to other experiences and—”
“Other experiences being other men?” I scowled. “Isn’t it good to find love early and avoid sleeping around, running the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, and heartbreak?”
“Of course, but...those experiences also make us grow.”
“Aslan made me grow. We evolved together.”
Margot stopped walking. I copied her. Dylan paused behind us, his head volleying between us as we took turns speaking.
“All I’m wondering is...were your parents truly okay with you two getting engaged, or are you perhaps remembering the past with rose-coloured glasses?”
I linked my fingers and studied her. I appreciated her question. I liked that she was thinking about everyone’s point of view and not just accepting my own as gospel, but she wasn’t there. She didn’t know my parents, and she didn’t know me.
Smiling at Dylan as he scratched his short beard, staying out of this particular line of questioning, I said quietly so as not to disturb the stars, “You have to understand, Margot, I was a wild child. An intuitive, rebellious little thing. I’d been raised with freedoms and trust. I could test certain boundaries and become my own person as long as I obeyed my parents’ scant rules to keep me safe. So...by the time I was an adult, good luck to anyone who tried to stop me from doing what I wanted to do.”
Dylan chuckled. “You wouldn’t have taken no for an answer.”
“Not for a second. I loved my parents. I still do even though they’re gone. They gave me the best childhood I could’ve imagined. But even they knew my love for Aslan was different, just like his love for me. They knew they wouldn’t be able to stop me. They knew I’d had sex with Joel, so I wasn’t a delicate little virgin. They knew Aslan couldn’t truly get married, not unless we performed a visa miracle...so...what was the harm in indulging us?”
I ran my hand through my time-whitened hair, long and breeze-teased by decades of salt and sun. “After hearing what Aslan did to Ethan. After seeing first-hand the depth of loyalty Aslan had for me...why wouldn’t they agree to let him protect me for the rest of my life? And if our relationship petered out, what was the harm? A ring was just a ring. A promise was just a promise. I can’t say if they truly believed we’d last the distance, but I can tell you that they believed in our fantasy. And that was what they allowed us to have.”
“You were fortunate to have such open-minded folks,” Dylan said. “I’m not sure if I’d be okay with my boy getting engaged so young, but then again...” He shrugged. “If he mutilated a rapist, all for the girl he loved, then...I guess that’s a pretty big flag that they’re rather deeply involved, and I’ve lost all say in the matter as his father.”
“Exactly.” I grinned. “Better to support than deny. Time always has a way of taking care of things, despite your opinions on the matter.”
Margot caught my eyes with a worried smile. The nerves she claimed made her bladder overreact, glowed in her kind stare. “Please, please tell me you did get married, Nerida. Tell me that the ring you keep spinning truly did bind you in the eyes of the law, and you had the ceremony, cake, and happily ever after.”
I wasn’t prepared for the way my heart faltered. Or the way my bruised soul flinched with a typhoon of agonising memories.
I swayed on the steppingstones before rubbing my bleeding heart and forcing a smile. “There are questions I can answer now and questions I cannot. That is one I cannot. Not yet at least. How about we find that bathroom?”
“God.” Margot tipped her head back to the velvet-dark sky and groaned. “I’m going to die. I think I need to go home. Hearing about the rape almost did me in. I don’t think...I don’t think I can listen to any more tragedy.”
Tears pricked my eyes, but I swallowed them down. “But doesn’t tragedy make true love all the sweeter?”
“As long as there’s a happily ever after, sure.” Margot stepped into me, clutching my hand with her slightly clammy one. “But not if you’re going to break my heart.”
I squeezed her fingers, shooting Dylan a look. “If it gives you peace of mind, there are still two years to discuss before I break you,” I said. “Before I was broken. You don’t have to be in pain...just yet.”
“Oh God, two years?” Margot untangled her hand from mine and placed her delicate wrist to her forehead, swooning dramatically. “I won’t be able to cope. Two more years of falling in love with your husband through your eyes? Two more years of worrying that any day now, Zara will announce her dirty secret and that Wayne character will rip Aslan out of your arms and deport him for murdering Ethan...” She scowled. “By the way, what was his last name? Ethan’s?”
“Don’t tell us,” Dylan muttered, his eyes scanning the gorgeous moon-glowing garden with its fairy lights swaying from the frangipani trees and the turquoise glow of the infinity pool up ahead. “The less information we have on him, the better. Especially as you don’t want us to redact that from the finished interview.”
“Fine.” I nodded, striding back into a walk, dragging the reporters with me. “I do know his last name, but you’re right. It’s probably for the best that we leave that part out.”
“Wise.” Dylan caught my eyes and smiled, falling into step. “Anyway, you were saying...we have two more years before the ‘incident’.”
I winced. “It wasn’t an ‘incident’, Dylan. It was the day my world collapsed.”
“You could just tell us now; put us out of our misery,” Margot whined. “I’m not lying when I say I truly don’t know how much more of this I can take.”
Stopping by the pool house where the changing rooms and luxury bathrooms were, I turned and looked at both journalists. They’d already sacrificed so much for me. They’d come here expecting to spend an hour or two interviewing me before returning to their own lives and forgetting all about me and Aslan. Yet they were still here, twelve hours later, dedicating their time to knowing how our love story ended.
“I’m very grateful to you both. I hope you know that,” I whispered. “I had no intention of revealing all of this when you arrived this morning. I feel rather guilty for taking you down a long and twisting memory lane when you came for the simple version of Lunamare’s creation but...it means a lot to be able to share him with you.”
Margot smiled, her young, pretty skin glowing in the darkness. “And it means a lot that you’re willing to share him with us too. I feel as if I know Aslan. As if he’s mine. I’d prefer to hear about the more kinky exploits than the fade-to-black commentary you’ve been doing, but...I’m head over heels for a man I’ve never met.” Her eyes narrowed, peering into the darkness surrounding us as if searching for something, someone. “Are you sure we can’t meet him? It would be so great to get his side of the story. To learn more about his culture and how he found being thrust into an Australian way of life.”
