But he loved her, didn’t he …? You didn’t hit people you loved.
In the bathroom, she shut the door. She considered locking it but then thought that might make him angry because he’d hear the click of the lock. She didn’t want to do that. No, no it would be better not to make him angry. Better just to pretend that this hadn’t happened because he wasn’t saying sorry. It was a mistake, obviously it was a mistake, because he loved her.
She looked at her face in the mirror, fingers tenderly feeling around the livid red mark on her cheek. It ached. Her whole head ached, actually.
Calum was strong.
Would she have a bruise? The fingers touching her face began to shake.
A bruise.
‘You all right in there?’
‘Yes,’ she replied and she didn’t sound like herself.
She wet a corner of the hand towel and held it to her face to cool the skin.
Concealer would tone the red mark down a bit. They could eat in their room for a few nights, that would be lovely. People expected honeymoon couples to eat in their room. Yes, that was it. Nobody would know, it was just one of those things, wasn’t it?
She wouldn’t say anything to anyone. It had been an accident. A one-off.
Savannah smiled at herself tremulously in the mirror of the beautiful villa, the best place ever for a honeymoon. It would all be fine.
11
Wednesday Evening
Eden and Savannah walked into the restaurant together. Eden looked preoccupied and was withdrawn, Savannah thought, which was odd, because nobody did public performances like her sister. She stopped herself; that sounded cruel and bitchy and she hated being like that. But they used to be so much closer and …
Savannah bit her lip. Her fault. She knew exactly why they weren’t close anymore. Nobody could be close to her. She pushed people away, subtly. It was easier that way, easier to stop people seeing. Tonight was going to be different. Tonight Clary was at home with Marie-Denise and Calum was out at a work event. So it was like a free night. Nobody minded that she was out. Nobody would be timing her evening out, waiting with annoyance for her to be home. Her sore finger still throbbed but she barely noticed it now. Calum rarely hurt her, after all. He said things, yes, but he didn’t hurt her physically. So it was OK.
The unexpected thrill of free time out made her giddy and she reached over and grabbed her sister’s arm, so that they were linked going through the restaurant.
‘Will we sit together, and we’ll be safe among all Mum’s crazy friends?’
Eden grinned and held on to Savannah.
‘Sounds like a good plan, actually. I’m terrified Vonnie’s going to start some longwinded story about what they were like when they were younger. Vonnie is,’ she paused, ‘deliciously eccentric and getting more so as she gets older.’ The sisters giggled. They both loved Vonnie, an ersatz aunt. But she lived on her own adorable planet, a place full of unicorns, sparkly pens and little handbags that girls might bring to their First Holy Communions.
‘I’d love to be like Vonnie sometimes,’ said Eden wistfully. Savannah looked at her in surprise.
‘Really?’
‘Just sometimes,’ said Eden. ‘You know it must be so relaxing in there, in Happy Fairyland with no worries.’
‘She has got worries,’ said Savannah, thinking of Gerry of the bad back.
‘I know, but nothing major. Everything is simple in their world.’
Savannah couldn’t help but shiver.
‘You don’t know what’s going on in other people’s lives,’ she said dully.
Chantal probably should have gone to the hen night, Rory thought as she got out of the taxi outside the restaurant. Mum and her sisters would have loved Chantal to come. They probably got on better with Chantal than they did with her, Rory thought irritably. But that wasn’t the reason she hadn’t brought her partner. No, Chantal was still hassling her to discuss the book with the family and Rory felt unaccountably anxious. She wasn’t used to this: anxiety wasn’t one of her primary emotions, not like Savannah, who was always quivering. Rory felt an unaccustomed pang of guilt at thinking of her sister in that way. Savannah was as much a survivor of the Sorrento as she was.
Eden and Indy seemed untouched by it all, delighted, happy to be the children of Meg and Stu Robicheaux. And it wasn’t that Rory was unhappy with her parents, per se, it was just that it had been chaotic and chaos was no fun. She’d wanted stability – not her mother wanting to paint one wall of the ballroom in a rainbow-pride mural.
Her mother had never understood that Rory wanted to discover her own path in life without Meg in front of her, strewing rainbow symbols all over the place, being Mama Lesbian while Rory was still trying to live a quiet life with her friends. And yet, her motherhadbeen Rory’s safe place. All the love her family and Mum had given her had made her strong enough to fight the bullies.
