The venue Kevin had chosen for the ceremony was the old breezeblock church in the town nearest to the farm. It was unlike any other house of worship Jade had ever visited, and without the wooden crucifix planted in the ground by the road with the signpost reading‘Baptist Church’, most passers-by would assume it to be a dilapidated storage building. Inside the altar was made from an old porch door on bricks, the seating consisted of faded-white patio chairs and the single window had been decorated with coloured tissue paper so as to resemble stained glass. But as derelict and shoddy as it appeared, there was a certain quirky charm to it. Nothing about her life in the last few weeks had been ordinary, so why should the venue of her wedding be any different?
The ceremony was held in front of an intimate congregation, consisting of just Kevin’s immediate family, his last remaining grandparent, two cousins and some of their farmhand staff. Quite selfishly, she hadn’t even informed her parents, but it had happened so fast and they wouldn’t have flown over anyway.
The ceremony was as brief as the time it took Jade to choose a dress from the slim pickings her suitcase held. As the elderly and affable reverend began reading passages from the well-thumbed pages of a Bible, Jade made sure to maintain eye contact with her husband-to-be, even when she could feel Mark’s eyes gazing at her. She knew that if she so much as glanced at him, she’d have put the whole charade in jeopardy. As Kevin’s best man, he stood behind him in case his arms grew too weak to lean on his crutches. However, Kevin was a stubborn soul and refused to remain seated. He couldn’t stop grinning at Jade.
Her parents had texted her frequently during her trip, demanding to know what the hell she thought she was doing. If they could see her now, she thought, standing at the altar in a make-shift church about to marry a terminally ill man when she was actually in love with his brother, they’d have tried to talk some sense into her. She wouldn’t have listened, but she did feel a tinge of regret that they weren’t there.
Although it was merely part of the ceremony, when the reverend asked if there was any reason why the couple shouldn’t marry, a tiny part of Jade hoped that Mark might take it as a prompt to profess his undying love for her. But that only happened in romcoms and she knew she wasn’t going to get her happy ever after.
Once they’d been declared man and wife, Jade braced herself before she kissed her husband, under Mark’s watchful eye.
Jade had come to Australia by following her heart. But in marrying Kevin, she had followed her head – or, more specifically, her conscience. She had put someone else’s needs above her own and, for a moment, she allowed herself to feel proud of that selfless act.
However, it didn’t stop a little voice in the back of her mind from telling her she’d made a mistake. She’d married the wrong brother. But there was little she could do about it now.
Chapter 59
NICK
The fairy lights pinned around the window gave the bedroom a warm, buttermilk glow but they didn’t help Nick to relax or calm down.
He felt more tightly wound up than he could ever recall. Moments earlier, he’d made a scene and stormed away from the dinner party he and Sally were hosting, after assassinating the characters of Sumaira and Deepak. Now, he lay on his bed, propped up against the headboard, and took another swig straight from the wine bottle he’d brought up with him. He checked his mobile to see if Alex had texted, and at the blank screen he threw the phone down on the bed in a rage.
‘You said “him”.’
Nick was startled by Sally’s sudden appearance in the doorway. He hadn’t heard her enter their bedroom. He wondered if their guests were still downstairs or if they’d left.
‘What?’
‘Downstairs, when you were tearing a strip out of our best friends. God knows why you did that.’ She gave a small hysterical laugh. ‘You said, “Nobody in the world exists right at that moment apart from you and him.” You were referring to Alexander, weren’t you? When youwent to that appointment, you felt it, didn’t you? All that stuff you said about love being like a tsunami … You’ve fallen in love with him.’
Nick said nothing. He couldn’t bring himself to raise his head to look Sally in the eye. He’d already lied to her enough of late.
‘I’m a fucking idiot.’ She laughed. ‘Have you been seeing him?’
Again, Nick didn’t reply.
‘Of course you have,’ she continued. ‘All those late nights at work, the weekends where you and your boss were supposed to be laying out new campaigns and strategies. You were with him, weren’t you?’
Nick nodded reluctantly.
‘So youaregay.’
‘I don’t know what I am or what this is, Sally.’
‘But you have feelings for him.’
Nick paused before saying, ‘Yes.’
‘And does he have feelings for you?’
‘I guess so.’
‘You mean you’re unsure?’
‘We haven’t discussed it.’
Sally laughed again, a dangerous glint in her eye. Her voice was getting louder and louder as she questioned him. ‘How come, because you spend all your time screwing and not talking?’
