None of it was that much of a surprise. There were several times I’d had these gut feelings that Harry’s business trips were not just for business. All the wealth and power had morphed him into a complete stranger of a man. I didn’t even recognize the parts of him that I had fallen in love with three years ago.
I had been too afraid to let him go, so when he proposed, I had so naively agreed to it because he insisted that it was for love. In reality, I knew it was because with the more money he made, the higher the taxes, and being married provided a good tax deduction for the both of us. I smoothed a hand through the smooth and elegant braid my hair was pulled into. I found the bobby pin with blue flowers on it and placed it in my lap.
“You don’t seem so surprised by any of this,” Peyton said, frowning. “Did you think something like this could happen?”
I si
ghed heavily.
“I’ve had my suspicions for a while,” I said. “There were so many unexplainable trips and strange phone calls to our flat at night. I put the pieces together, but I didn’t want to look at the actual truth.”
“Did you ever confront him?”
“Never.” I stared across the old and decayed cemetery. “I wasn’t even ready for marriage in the first place. The more I tried to talk myself out of it, the more loving Harry got about the entire thing.”
“Typical man,” Peyton muttered, cynically. “They want what they think they can’t have, so they do everything possible to get it. Then, they walk all over it with muddy shoes.”
“That’s an accurate description,” I said and wished right there and then that I had a way to escape from the mess that awaited me inside. My parents, Harry’s parents, and our family and friends. All of them were about to be witnesses to a shit-show.
“I can’t go in there to say the wedding is off. I can’t look at people,” I said, grimacing. “My parents—I can just hear them telling me, ‘I told you, Molly. We told you something like this would happen.’”
“I can handle that if you need me to,” Peyton said. “I will let the wedding planner know that the wedding is off. If people ask, I can tell them to ask Harry.”
A smile tugged at the viciousness in Peyton’s voice. Reaching out, I embraced her tightly with a quivering breath. “Thank you, Peyton. I’d seriously be lost without you right now.”
She patted me on the back warmly. “Don’t thank me. I’m your best friend, and I know you’d do the same thing for me if I were in your shoes.” She pulled back to smile at me. “Everything will work out, but I don’t have to tell you that. You already know.”
“I’d like to think I just avoided the biggest mistake of my life because of your great observational skills.”
“I’ve been known to be a great spy,” she whispered and then giggled when I nudged her in the arm. She looked back across the green acreage in front of her. Dark clouds were starting to roll in over the horizon. “I’m glad you showed me around here. It’s beautiful. I can see why you came back.”
Guilt filled me then, thinking of half the family and friends who had saved up for this trip. Flying to England was not cheap, and it was a rather long trip across the ocean.
“I’m sorry you came out here for nothing,” I said.
Peyton looked at me in surprise. “I came out here to see you, so I wouldn’t say any of my time was wasted. I’m just sorry that I have to fly back to the States tonight.” She made a face at me. “Work wouldn’t let me take another day off, so I’ve gotta be back by Sunday.”
“I know. Work never sleeps or takes a vacation.”
“In your case, it should.” I looked away from the landscape at her suggestive tone. “I have plenty of miles racked up now. Come back with me. We can find you a hot American to have a rebound with who’ll instantly make Harry jealous.”
I laughed at the thought. Harry hated American men. He claimed they were arrogant and rude. I didn’t see a difference between them; besides that. Harry was worse at the moment.
“I have to stay here,” I said. “We didn’t book a honeymoon until this summer, so I have to work on Monday.”
“You need to take some time to yourself, Molly. This isn’t something any of us expect you to power through like it was not a big deal.”
“I know. I’ll just work from wherever I go.” I honestly had no idea where I was going to go. Harry and I shared a flat. I couldn’t bear the thought of seeing him now. He was going to be furious at me for calling the wedding off.
“What about coming back to the hotel with me?” Peyton asked, reading the expression on my face. “That way, you don’t have to face him again. It’d really piss him off if you just left here without saying a word.”
“It would,” I agreed, but I couldn’t bring myself to get up just yet. “I just want some time alone out here to think before I do anything. No one knows we are out here, anyway.”
Peyton stood up from the stone bench we had been seated on. The fabric of her magenta dress shimmered in the sunlight. She looked beautiful, her blonde and fair locks pulled back in a matching braid to my own hair.
“I suppose I will find the wedding planner,” she said. “Then, I’ll make a quick getaway before anyone can question what happened or if I know where you are.”
She winked playfully at me before heading back across the field to the church parking lot. A few wedding guests were congregated outside. I leaned across the bench to peer around the stone wall Peyton had led me to for privacy. I bit the inside of my cheek to contain my laughter when those guests, friends of Harry’s, inquired what was going on. Peyton ignored them. She walked into the church without sparing them a glance.