Tom swallowed as an uncomfortable thought struck him. He didn’t hate Sasha. But nor did he love her, he realised.
“Right,” Sebastian said, ushering Sasha up. “Let’s go and get you ready for Luis. He’ll want to measure you right away, darling. I know you look dazzling and rake-thin in that trouser suit, but let’s go upstairs and slip you into something a little easier for an initial dress consultation.”
“Yes, you’re right,” Sasha replied, staring at herself critically in a mirror. “I have this summer dress that would be perfect. Bring Stella up too. I want every frame of this moment captured by her camera.” She gave Tom and Marnie a dazzling white smile. “I’m going to have a hardback book produced of the wedding photographs, did I tell you?”
“You have a publisher interested in your photos?” Marnie asked tightly, but Sasha gave a flippant laugh.
“No, of course not, I’ll self-publish — at your expense, naturally, given that you’re paying for the wedding. It should sell like hot cakes though. Me, a one-time model, marrying Tom Somerset of the Somerset family, in a De León dress with Stella photographs. I mean, whowouldn’twant to see those pictures?”
Marnie rolled her eyes, but Sebastian had already laced his arm through Sasha’s and sped her from the room. “Stella!” Tom heard him calling out. “The bride would like you upstairs!”
With a relieved slump, Tom collapsed back into his chair. All at once, Marnie was upon him.
“You have a child,” she said fervently. “You have a little girl.”
A child. A little girl. Tom felt himself grow pale.
“Yeah,” he said weakly. “Yeah, I do.”
“Reine,” Marnie said, and now her voice was warm. “Reine. My granddaughter.”
Tom could hear the pleasure in her words, and he turned to her worriedly. “Mom,” he pleaded, “don’t get too excited, or carried away—”
“Why ever not?” Marnie cut him off. “I have agranddaughter, Tom. I’m going to celebrate that fact and love her. A little girl, Tom. A little girl.”
She clasped her hands together, closing her eyes, and Tom sighed. His mother was picturing ballet lessons and tap class, horse riding and pink dresses. His mother was picturing a little girl with his eyes sitting primly at their table, with Marnie beside her, brushing out the fine strands of her hair.
She’s already carried away with this,a voice in his head warned him.She’s already redecorated a bedroom and is building a playground, and she hasn’t even met the kid yet.
“Mom,” he said slowly, trying to be gentle, “you must know that Ari might not want us in... in the girl’s life.”
Marnie frowned at him. “Notthe girl. Reine. She has a name. A beautiful one. It’s French... It meansqueen.” For a moment, she paused. “Queen and Country Weddings,” she finally said, “that must be where her name came from.”
“No,” Tom corrected her softly. “Her name is from a hotel. The Hotel La Reine. In Rouen.”
Marnie’s eyes snapped towards his own. “Reine was conceived in Rouen?”
“Yes,” Tom confessed.
For a moment, Marnie looked stunned. “My, my, my... how the world does turn,” she finally whispered, then shook herself together. “But of course, Ari will want us in Reine’s life. Wehave money and influence. We can give that girl everything and more.”
“It’s not that simple,” Tom argued, and heard Marnie give an annoyed grunt.
“Why aren’t you more excited by this news?” she asked him crossly. “You have a daughter, Tom. A daughter. There’s a whole person out there with your genes, and you’re sitting here like a dull-witted idiot, hardly able to say her name.”
Tom shook his head. Where Reine was concerned, he was without words. “I need time,” he replied. “I just need time to process this—”
“You want time?” Marnie snapped. “In about ten minutes, your ex-lover — sorry, yourwedding planner— is arriving with the daughter you sired upon her eight years ago. You want time? You have ten minutes.”
“I don’t — I can’t . . .”
“Tom, you need to get yourself together. I don’t know what happened between you and this Ari all those years ago, why you broke up and why you never knew about the child, but—”
“We didn’t break up,” Tom whispered. “We never broke up.”
“She’s here to plan your wedding to another woman,” Marnie replied waspishly. “I would hardly call that still together.”
“No, I didn’t mean—” Tom stopped, taking a deep breath. “I mean, we were together, and I had to come back because of Dad, and I meant to go back for her and just...”
