“Come on, Ashford. Your estate is so huge you could spend days without ever bumping into each other!”
“Forget about it! I don’t want her in my house!”
“Fine, that means you’ll have to move in with Jemma in her basement studio flat.”
“I don’t want to live with him!” Then, lowering my voice, to Derek: “I’m at my sexual peak, I’m not going to live as a recluse for a whole year!”
Ashford gets closer and cuts in. “Well, the same goes for me. I have a private life and I’d like to keep it that way.”
“Don’t make a drama out of it! Your parents lived as strangers for their whole marriage, didn’t they? You should be an expert. Anyway, it won’t be for long, and nobody will be shocked when you simply find out that you were not made for each other in the first place. It’s a last minute marriage, after all. In the meantime you’ll just have to keep up appearances and your reputation will be safe.”
We take some minutes to think it over, then Ashford announces: “We can do it, but I have conditions.”
“So do I,” I hasten to add.
“Separate rooms,” he starts.
“I will have no obligation to let you know what I do and where I go.” I go on.
“At public events, you’ll be my wife, in private, we’ll live our separate lives.”
“I want to feel free to hang out with other men,” I reply.
“All right, but you won’t do it in my house. I have many servants and I don’t want them to gossip.”
“Your mother,Lady Bedlam: I don’t want to have anything to do with her.”
“My mother is already leaving for Bath, so you won’t even see her. If we’re lucky enough, she will stay away for quite a long time after this morning’s angry outburst.”
“We have a deal, then!” Derek announces. “From now on, you’ll be living in Denby Hall, leading your lives separately, and you will only appear as a couple at public events.” He then looks at both, satisfied. “Once again, we did a great job.”
10
Ashford’s Version
I’ve been trapped. All my plans have gone down the drain.
I can hardly stop myself from shaking with rage as Jemma is getting in my car to come to Denby.
I drove her home first where she gathered some of her stuff in a sports bag. She then tossed it inside the car and now she’s sitting beside me in a cloud of incense, smelling like a Shanghai opium den.
“Do you live far from here?” She asks straight away.
“That depends on what you mean by ‘far’.”
“Don’t know, far. Like, far away.”
“Compared to what?” I insist.
“Can’t you just answer a question without making a fuss?”
I ignore her attempt to provoke me but when I turn to look at her, what I see sends a shiver down my spine. “Hey, get your feet off the dashboard, you’ll scratch it.”
“So much ado for such an old car.”
Are you kidding me! “It’s classic, not old!”
Jemma shrugs. “Whatever you think.”
