“With your daughter,” Marnie said bluntly. “You said he’ll be bringing your daughter.”
“Um, yes,” Ari said. “I’m sorry, it’s not very professional, I know, but—?”
“Your daughter’s father,” Marnie interrupted. She felt on the precipice of something big, of something huge, and she needed toknow. “What was his name?”
Ari stared at her, her eyes wide and uncomprehending. “I don’t see why that matters.”
“I have contacts,” Marnie lied on the spot. “They might be able to find him, you know. He was British like you, yes?”
Ari cleared her throat. “Actually, no. He was American.”
There it was again, that slight rush to Marnie’s head and stomach. As the adrenaline running through her blood made her feel queasy, she picked up her tea, bringing the motif of pink flowers to her lips and taking a sip.
“American.” Marnie repeated.
“Yes.” Ari gave a small smile. “American.”
“What was his name?” Marnie demanded, clenching her cup in her hand.
“Tom,” Ari said simply.
“Another Tom?” Marnie gave what even to her sounded like a hollow and entirely fake laugh. “I have a Tom. The groom. The groom’s name is Tom,” she chattered on, full of nervous energy. “Looks like they’re everywhere.”
“Maybe.” Ari smiled back. “This one was called Tom Miller.”
The cup in Marnie’s hand shattered, pink and blue flowers raining onto the tablecloth, tea spilling in every direction.
“Marnie!” Sasha jumped up, brushing spots of tea from her immaculate white dress, while Marnie sat there, her hands empty and shaking.
Ari reached over and took Marnie’s hand. “Good God, are you all right? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
For a moment, Marnie stared into Ari’s kind, soft eyes.
Tom Miller. Eight years ago. They had six months, and Ari... Ari had a baby.
“I’m fine,” Marnie replied, a strange kind of calm running through her. “Although I should probably go and clean up.”
She watched as Ari and Sebastian exchanged looks.
“Well, we should probably head to the hotel,” Sebastian said slowly. “As for contracts—”
“No hotel,” Marnie announced. “You’ll need access to the bride and wedding venue. You can stay here.”
“Oh no, we couldn’t ask you to—”
“I’ll have rooms made up for you. And for Luis De León,” Marnie said firmly. Then her voice softened. “And for your daughter, Miss Lightowler.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” Ari said gently. “She’s very exuberant and—”
“A big old place like this could do with a young child about it,” Marnie interrupted. “I’ll have the rooms made up immediately, and as for contracts, I’ll sign one now.”
Sebastian stared at her. “We could run through it with you first if you like.”
“That won’t be necessary.” Marnie dusted the remains of one of Julie’s teacups from her fingers. “I’ll sign them all and transfer you your deposit. In fact, do you have the contract with you? I can sign it right now.”
Wordlessly, Sebastian pulled a pile of paperwork from his bag.
“This is the standard contract,” he explained, “obviously I’ll send you an item-by-item breakdown of the expenses and—”
